bobss396

I think that Randy Ayer's NASCAR modeling forum is still around. I used to go there some years back. Those guys would be best to ask.

I just did a mild clean up of my model stuff. I put away parts and kits I had laying around. I'd say that I have a pretty big styrene-footprint.... Nice weather coming, lots to do outside. I'm going to tackle my dining room table next and put away things that I rarely use.

I started watching the USAC series in 1983 on TNT. They ran on dirt and pavement. At that time they were running 1979-ish Monte Carlos with 427 power under the hood. I still catch them on cable, channel 810 on Fios.

Very well done, it has the "look". I will have to get some of that wire form material. I picked up some spatter screens at the Dollar Store that are pretty good too.

The shocks, front and rear, were always a struggle for me to get them in and to stay in. Nice work. I came up with another way for the rears and only recently started pinning the top of the fronts to the cage tubing.

How did you get a picture of my kitchen? The only thing missing is the 45 cans of paint on the counters... ?

Thanks all. I like the kits but I hate them too. I grew up with these cars at the race tracks and it pains me to see what people will settle for. This is my 5th build since around 2011 of them. I did an AMT '37 Chevy body on one, the Pinto and Vega recently and a '36 Richie Evans coupe as a consignment (deals with the devil) for a good modeling friend. I tried a lot of new things on that build. I went through my 3D printed header stash and have a couple that may be workable on this build. I'll have to extend the header tubes and see how well it plays with the side rub rails. It may be time to start making my own rails from brass tubing, the kit ones are another struggle. Ron Coon also has 2 sets of big block headers I would like to pick up. Another option is solder, but all I have is .062" and anything else is too fat. The solder also droops in long lengths. I have also been eyeballing a 427 Ford engine I built for another build. The generic engine that comes with the kit (could be built as a Chevy or Ford) is fairly ambiguous. I had a set of injectors made up for a previous build, but had problems plumbing them up to look realistic. I picked up some other injectors, one nicer one from 3D Scale Parts that may be workable.

This has been kicking around for a few months. I had wanted to do a build with all the MPC kit issues resolved. 1. The engine needs to be set back around 5/16". What I realized on this one was, a similar amount had to be added in front of the motor mounts, or the tires are too close to the headers 2. The kit cage is junk. So I kit bashed this one. I will move it to the left so the seat fits better. 3. The rear springs need a lot of work too. I used some from Ron Coon Resins and made perches from 1/8" square tube. The too-big axle tube was replaced with 1/8" tubing. Now the springs mount from the bottom. 4. The kit floor pan is very tight for the engine set back. I grafted in a partial pan from my junkyard. I squared off the floor pan to fit the coupe body 5. The headers are almost not worth messing with. I added about .100" to the tube lengths, something that needs to get done with the Vega and Pinto as the bodies are wider. I have a couple here to look at, also Ron Coon and VCG Resins have something worth a look. Other things, the transmission cradle also has to move. The kit coil overs are crude, I make my own from .120" diameter springs. I still have to do the back ones. I'm working on this a little at a time. Next will be the rear coil overs and mounts. That bar over the rear end makes the installation difficult. I may use a stud at the top The side rails always fight with the headers. I may have to make those too.

Deja vu.... someone had a VERY similar build at the LIARS club meeting last night, a real twin to your build.... ?

Ugh... I have removed them on stock car builds. A ton of work. I used the '66 Galaxie chassis, from the firewall back on one I did. I wanted to retain the steerable wheels.

Excellent question. I transfer drill from one part into the other pretty often. I have even glued 2 parts together with a water-soluble glue and slpit them apart later. I have made up quick-and-dirty "drill jigs" from styrene scraps. I have learned to make the clearance holes bigger than I would expect. For an .031" pin, I use .040" so the mating parts fit together easily. Some I open them up if I have to, it permits a larger glue-line and will be stronger. I have a couple of holes I need evenly-spaced in a modified rear axle, the items to be located are .093" tubing with a .047" hole, the spacing is .50" and not critical, they do however have to be lined up. So I will fixture that.

I have a bunch that were being chucked out at work, boxes and boxes of 50. So if one snaps.... grab another. I like them in my Micro Mark drill press. I do use mainly HSS drills, I have lots of them as well. I did pick up a 60-80 HSS index at a show... a really poor design, as the plastic case that is difficult to open even with both hands. I picked up a 1.0 mm thru 1.6 mm small case at a hobby shop, handy sizes, but 2 of the 6 were improperly sharpened, the rake is backwards. So I have a big number drill index, 1-60 that I used in my shop. Now I work out of 3 old endmill plastic tubes, some drills I have tagged with the size. I also have some envelopes with real small drills, .013 to around .025.

It definitely looks better stock rather than custom. Someone makes a '52 truck grille, 3D printed. I'll see if I can come across it. Nice work. I have a Foose kit somewhere here.

Shiny black paint is tough... a lot of shiny black paint is tougher... nice work.

Nice rendition. Those were great cars, I had 4 station wagons, a '79, an '80 (for parts), an '82 and my last was a '84.

The carbide drills are fragile over HSS drills. They mainly break when they break through or when they bind up with chips. They are best for starting a new hole as they don't tend to wander off.

I have a good NASCAR junkyard to pick parts from. I scavenge roll cage pieces all the time. I have more plastic stock than most hobby shops. I but up .093" tubing #223 when I see it. Works well for any cage work.

I have been a judge in many shows over the years. I have judged the best-of-the-best entries and the worst-of-the-worst too. There was one class with around 6 cars entered, it was a general class and didn't attract many entries. So we had to come up with 3 that we had trophies for. It came down to the winner being the one that had a driveshaft in it. I recall leaving parts out as a kid if they were problematic. Junior classes are always interesting, quality has a wide range. Unfortunately there have not been too many entries at shows in later years. Sometimes there are only 2 cars entered where it used to pull 10 or 12.

I like the bumpers quite a bit, were they in the kit? Probably not. Really, check out what Ron Coon has. He's a super easy guy to deal with is and is also a racer.

Some years back there was a palpable fear when molds were going to China and the entire kit industry was going to implode. Hence I grabbed kits a little at a time, now I probably still have 250-300 un-builts and maybe 25 started (and stalled...). I have known a couple of "modelers" who while they have not built ANYTHING in 25 years, they have over 5000 kits and are still buying. I was selling at a show last fall and had a couple of bites when I offered everything I had on the table for $1000. There was over 100 kits plus other things I had for sale.

I am going to pick up some Future or Quick Shine and try it on something. How long does it dry before it reaches maximum hardness, will a dehydrator work? Do foam brushes work over conventional brushes?

I hold most parts by hand when I'm drilling. I have padded tweezers (aka parts launchers..) before. I also use a small Palmgren vise quite a bit, it is 1.5" wide and less than 1" deep. Pin vises are good to hold round parts. If I am making parts that need pinning, I make them extra long, drill the hole where I want it and remove the excess. An old machine shop trick, adding a :handle" to the part.

I got one on sale at Hobby Lobby. I was supposed to do a '55 Chevy gasser build-off with my brother, but he bailed on me. Truth be known, I'll be using the AMT kit over the Badman.

Bleu and Brie fixing to nap.

Engine turning in scale, I saw that someone used a round pen eraser held in a drill chuck and it worked. I built my 1st Badman, I was probably 12. I thought that it was a GREAT kit... I recently got another.... hoo-boy does this take a ton of work to look 1/2 way decent.