bobss396

I like the air cleaner, dare to be different.

I find the later PPP cages to be MUCH cleaner than the older ones. The old ones had lines in the plastic, a chore to clean up. I narrow them if I have to. Files, a good subject. Most of my files are Nicholsons from my machine shop days. I have a nice tapered round one I use to fish-mouth the bars. I use almost exclusively 3/32" Evergreen tubing, stock #223. I'll have to check the HF ones mentioned.

I build on my dining room table, I'm single, just me and the cat these days. I may move up to my son's old bedroom and make that a dedicated modeling space. But I like being on the main floor, I can dash out the back door and shoot some paint quickly. I was on a building bender earlier in the year, I had over 60 cans of paint on the kitchen counters at one point, now I'm up around 45 or so. The table, I build on a 8.5" x 11" green mat, taped to the table top. I have another one I keep tools on. All my builds are in storage boxes, so they stay clean and dust-free-ish. I am getting better at organization. I have many plastic shoe boxes for new parts and use small plastic bags to keep in-process parts handy and clean.

Gotta have that hood medallion to make it legit.

Steering wheels were often wrapped with old fan belts and had friction tape over that, It was all about the grip.

Do you have a stock number for what you found? I'm on their site, sifting thru #15 beads, (54 pages...) nothing in hex. I did learn that anything round starts with an "RR". Thanks.

I am not going to mention names, but it was a BIG official at Islip. That was a great division. I was on a monthly bowling league about 12 years ago and ran into one of the former drivers, he was quite a bowler.

I have one almost done, I put the Talladega nose on it decades ago. I'm onto the 2nd paint job and had the stock car decals go bad. Back in the box...

My mom worked for a big store and would bring home coat boxes for us. We used them for dioramas and keeping spare and salvaged parts in. BUT.. the boxes were big and tough to sift through. Now I have 2 empty model boxes I'm using, 1 for regular leftover parts and 1 for stock car stuff. A guy in the club does slot cars and sells spare parts at shows. I have his items stored in a plastic photo-box or 2. One is sorted by engines, the other general parts. Everything is bagged up. I just went through some of it to get a pair of bucket seats I needed. Those "shoe" storage boxes are perfect for sorting parts and they are stackable if you get the same ones. I have most of my supplies and decals in them. I work out of one box of opened detail parts. I have another with all new items. Other boxes I have are general wheels and tires, stock car wheels and tires, street rod stuff, decals and rollcage parts.

A must read... The Bad Seed Chevette with the Caddy 500 for power... I do happen to have a Chevette kit somewhere... https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/bangshift1320-drag-racing-feature/magnante-speaks-you-loved-or-you-hated-it-heres-the-true-story-of-the-bad-seed-chevette-epic/

I found some on eBay... they showed up and are ROUND. I have to send them back, I will try the site suggested. How well do they file if I have to shorten or square them up? I got some Plastruct .040 and .060 hex stock.. way too fiddly to work with especially the smaller one. I was going through some Detail Master hex fittings, it seems like the #2 product may work for lug nuts, it has a .028" hole in them. They are a tad pricey at $1 per fitting.

Lorenzen was big into real estate at the time he quit the series. His comeback was short-lived. Bad crashes have an impact for sure. I had a friend who raced dirt bikes, he said that after a bad injury, you will never be that fast again. Look at drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Richard Petty. they all sustained serious injuries and were never as fast as they once were.

The mini-mods were an evolution from the old VW class at Islip. Slowly the VWs were edged out by the fabricated chassis cars, which were wicked fast. Then one day the division was GONE, around 1983. I ran into someone who was on a team around 1987 and found out what happened. An Islip track official tried to shake down the series sponsor for a kickback, who was Amsoil. The sponsor said NO and that week the division was kicked out.

I have one started (why finish ONE when you can start SIX more...) and am using a kit bashed 409 in it. And a chopped resin body. I;m close to assembling the rear, I have to look at another one on the shelf, the instructions are not that great.

I have both of those cars on the bench right now, the '67 is a little ahead. The '66 needs a ton of work to correct kit issues, but both have a very simple back half to them.

I'm looking to find a 3D source for NASCAR wide-5 modified wheels, the older style with the safety hubs. 4 bolts on the front centers and 8 on the rears (for floating axles). They could fit the existing PPP modified tires, or new ones could be made up. Lots of guys I know are looking for them. I have been cobbling some sets together from slush cast resin. I used to make a few sets when I had machine shop access, but 3D printing is the way to go.

Nice work on the rear. Other options are cutting the entire back half off and doing some extensive surgery. This is where at least for me they turn into Frankenstein projects. There is a guy on eBay, Juan4you that does a lot of 3D stuff. He has aback half that looks interesting. Possibly something in a Jaguar format too. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ssn=juan4you&_trksid=p3618104.m570.l50838

VHT also makes a nice silver paint for wheels. Argent Silver, made for older Ford wheels and splash pans. Their Rollcage & Chassis black is also quite good. As a kid, most of us brush painted the silver on the interiors, we thought it looked GOOD. I did graduate to spray cans of Testors flat black to do the bulk of chassis painting.

Freddy was one of my favorite drivers back then. He took a break, tried to come back and definitely lost his groove. Other greats of the day were Paul Goldsmith (fast in the Pontiacs), of course the prophetic Fireball Roberts,Junior Johnson and many others.

The Salvino kits are supposed to be iin this format. However I have found them to be made for the Buick Regal bodies (like the GMP Buicks) and other bodies need work to fill in gaps between the body, firewall, etc. I have a Pontiac Lemans of theirs going and had to add a lot to make it presentable on the flip side.

I have "conversed" with Steve on his model builds on IG. He makes his own decals and is into AWB Mopars. I really hope he will be okay.

Some 1965 Impalas had the 409. There was an AMT kit with one, IIRC a convertible.

I'm doing a Richie Evans coupe as a consignment for a good friend. While I'm deep unto it, I'm also making items up for an upcoming '36 Chevy modified. I have the cage (from scratch) built, also made up a simple jig to build on. I need to get a CAD program on my new PC so I can make a better cage. The ones in the kits are not so great.

This is where I saw them first, around 1966 probably at Islip. By 1970 the coupes were slowly being replaced, by 1972 the Vegas and Pintos were all over.

I love that kit. I did a '66 NASCAR and laboriously swapped a '65 chassis under it, I clipped it actually. I wanted steerable wheels.