STYRENE-SURFER

Started working on the motor mount, will be attached to the motor until final assembly. In order to make something in scale-ish dimensions I had to try to figure out a way to make it strong enough. Evergreen .060 (1.5 mm) Channel sandwiched around .036 Carbon Fiber rod fits together perfectly and is robust for the task. Going to glue two more pieces to two sides to create a scale 2.5" x 2" or so , rectangular dimension. Not very exciting, but all I have had time for today.

Joe, I think you're correct. will probably have to narrow the roof (smaller car), have to see how it fits when I start this. Thanx!

Hey, thanks for all of your thoughts/opinions on this. The hardtop Rambler roof seams rather squareish and blocky after i took more time to google image it. Maybe the "64 dodge would work if that kink/crease above the front of the C pillar could be either sanded in or cut and tilted a bit. Found this line drawing on line, > points to crease across top of roof. Again thank you for the input.

If I where to try to convert this kit to a hardtop, is there something close that I could use as a donor roof? Trying to end up with something like this, just not the trendy wheels/tires.

When the part is soon out of the stripper (Super-clean, Easy-Off) use an old tooth brush and in tight areas a sharpened tooth pic to get the varnish out of the problem areas. It's amazing how thick this clear varnish layer can be, especially on older kits. It does soften when soaked in these products and can be completely removed. Its just a mater of how much time and patience you have to completely remove it.

Somehow I remember the underside body being white, but after just googling again can't find a sprig of information. Wish I could help, got an old Jo-Han Sox & Martin kit (unfortunately moulded in green)kit that I may put together someday. It's one of those legendary drag cars I never grow tired of.

I've got this beauty(glue bomb) and an other one (un-started) in a kit I purchased (still-sealed), but opened it anyway.

Never liked Brussel sprouts as a kid, they where always over cooked and bitter. Took a long time for me to try them again, much like the lousy canned mushrooms I was brought up on. Here is a nice recipe I have found and made several times for a really tasty salad, give it a try. https://wholefully.com/shaved-brussels-sprout-salad-apples-walnuts/

Misha, Those also are great ideas. Ive made many flubs while working on this project and gone back and remade parts two or three times. Oh, and also that it completely changed gears if you look at how this project began.

Good idea Snake, Ive got a Joanne Fabrics store nearby, will have a look around.

Thanx for that Steve. I wonder what kind of material could be used to replicate something like that?

One thing that I can not find is any kind of depiction of the Simpson "flexible shield" that they used on there C6. Look in the upper right of that last pic. Were they using Kevlar back then? Strange but I have searched and searched for pictures of shields used on C6 transmissions back then and can not find one.

That might very well be the case, I really don't know much about how these old drag cars where put together but this project has been a learning experience. Most of what I'm doing is looking at the few photographs I've found and trying to go from there. Lots of google researching also.

Bill, That is crazy awesome. Don't know how you found it/searched for it. I like it. Yup, Star Trek fan here.

Fun build Dan. Candy cane radius rods are a nice touch. Wasn't water injection a fad back in the 50's or 60's?

Back at the other end of the car I did a little work cleaning up the ladder bars and raised the rear about .030 of an inch. Cut some rear coil springs from a Revell SSR kit to the correct length and got very lucky, because all the tires touch the ground. This end of the car strays from being accurate, just getting the rear axle located rite and the tires within the wheel opining looking OK was real pain. In the photos Ive got of the car I can't see any sign of a Panhard bar or Watt's link. Certainly there has to be something I'm missing. This page from Drag Strip magazine has a shot of the rear suspension (car depicted in this article is a later version w/longer wheelbase). Yah, I know the ladder bars are different. Still might fix that.

There are some saying this may have some repercussions pertaining to the Renault Formula One team. I guess he was a bit of an F1 fan and thru some corporate money that direction. Wonder how Daniel Ricciardo is feeling about his team change now.

Bill, great to see you are still working on this. It takes a great amount of skill and perseverance to muck around with fiberglass and epoxy mold making and to do it at this scale is quite amazing. My only experience is with much larger models (1/8th and larger scale R.C. warbirds). Your projects are always interesting, thanx for showing us how you do it.

John, as usual another inspiring build. This is just absolutely breathtaking!

Thanx Mike. The painting part, when it is ready for it, kinda scares me. Going to have to do some tricky masking because the frame is black and the rest is aluminum, oh and some small bits on the front in the engine bay (the ones perforated w/lightening holes) need to be Poppy red like the rest of the body.

Thanx John...You didn't see the first attempt

Thanx J.C. It took some planning, actually had to make a saw (2 saw blades glued together then honed down to the correct thickness, then gluing on stops to set the depth) and temporarily glueing guides to the frame rails to get the slots in the right place. Here is a pic of the tools used for the slots and making shackles, front spring mounts.

Got some more done on the mustang. Built a new steering gear box, just wasn't happy with the way the first one looked (well 2nd one if you count the ones I actually made) Put keyways in the frame rails to accept tabs that are glued to the ends of the leaf springs so I could get rid of the temporary front axle locators. Made the front spring hangers and shackles, I have chosen to glue to these to the chassis. Now working on the tie rods, drag link and other tinny bits. Hopefully in this last pic you can see the keyways and corresponding tabs, not the greatest lighting in my shop

Got totally hosed on a trade with a forum member! Not only did this person withhold the lousy condition of it (this is the kind of thing that I would only expect in 1to1 car salesmen) but also MISREPRESENTED (I'm using this word in place of LIED in the case this person has no real model building knowledge and is only here to trade and sell models) the fact that it had been painted and poorly stripped. You know who you are "BUDDY"

John, when I saw your thread I remembered I had bookmarked a site that mentions the Sox&Marten Colt (first one). The car was purchased and transformed into a match racer. Story and Chassis pics here... https://www.hamtramck-historical.com/vintageRacing/missile/BaddestBeastAround.shtml