Ian McLaren

Daniel you just keep forging ahead, with inovative solutions to modeling issues. There is hardly an update that goes by when I don't pick up another valuable tip. You just keep making all of us better modelers.

Part of it is still in Calgary, it resurfaced about a year and a half ago. I'm going in early January to photograph and measure it. I've been thinking of doing a proper version of the car when it still had the Boss 429 in it ( Chuck has Decals). I know the front half was cut off and I assume lost, years ago. But with measurements from the cage section and the photos out there that show the front half, I think I can come pretty close. I'll post some photos here of the original.

I'm with Daniel on the plating, and the control arms are great as usual. Don't fear the joints, if they were well cleaned,properly dry fitted and the correct flux was used along with sufficient heat the joints are close to indistructable

Just for reference, north of the boarder version.

Starting off with the chassis, all brass and based on the photo showing it on top of Norm's Pontiac forits trip to Spokane to be certified. The photo in the lower right shows the chassis being built and you can just see the roll bar of the titanium chassis in the background. Also shown are the very early stages for the chassis sides out of the jig

Another new project, with the BubbleUp car stalled due to the Canadian Postal strike and indecision on the direction of the R-M Camaro Pro Stock: I'm starting a new model of a car I have history with. It is also a car that has a history of it's own. The story starts when a gentleman by the name of Mickey Thompson spent $6500.oo on an all titanium chassis for his latest car ( a funnycar chassis normally sold for $2000-$2500 at the time). The car had a firery if not stellar career, first with a Boss 429 and then a more conventional Hemi engine. It went through several bodies and at least 4 fire suits but it did meet with some sucess as well as an AA/FC. Eventually it was retired and found its way to Calgary Alberta Canada and began a second career in the lower ranks of the original Pro Comp Series. A short time later Norm Rousseau (RIP) took ownership of the car and it aquired BBC power in the form of an injected 512 C.I. nitro engine as an A/FC. Run for a part of the season in this form the Achilles heel of the titanium chassis showed itself in a proliferation of stress cracks that could not be stopped or repaired. The decision was made to copy the original chassis in 4130 chrome moly tube with a few updates required by the Chevrolet power and rule changes. The next spring the new combination started to compete in NHRAs Division Six. This is where I joined the team, and it soon became apparent that injected nitro just was no longer competitive with the blown alcohol cars and was much more expensive to run. The change was made to BB/FC with a new blower and Lenco three speed transmission. This is the version of the car I'm going to build. We raced the car for the next two seasons, primarily match racing with three other local funnycars as a booked is show aswell as the NHRA divisional meets. This is another bucket list build that I've wanted to build for decades, I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to ask questions or just comment when the spirit moves you. BTW that's me nearly five decades ago beside the car between rounds

Sometimes you have to back up to move forward. Such is the case of my BubbleUp funnycar model project. I knew going in the only body available had some proportion differences to the Bonin car (not errors just based on a different slightly newer original). I made all the adjustment I thought necessary and started the graphics assuming adjustment could be made to get the correct look. This turned out to be the wrong approach. I contacted a proffesional decal manufacturer and together we came up with an acceptable solution. This however has resulted in removing most of the graphics I had previously done. Now if Canada post could just get their act together and get the decals here (plus everyone elses mail), I should be able to enlarge the green lower panel at an angle to match the decal stripes touch up the existing white area (some adjustments and repairs in this area have also been done) I should be able to finish and have a much better model that is much more accurate. Here are the photos of the step backwards .

Thank you Francis, sanding small printed parts seems fairly easy and so I thought a body would be similar, wrong, your reference to rocks is very appropriate for sure.

I can only echo what everyone else has said reicently regarding the rad and it's construction and perhaps Francis said it best. Well Done!

Francis every time I see one of your updates you manage to take the mundane and elevate it to a higher level, making each piece a model in itself. It truly is like watching a real car come to life piece by piece, simply amazing!

Daniel, I am so impressed with your scratch building skills and your perserverance to find a way to make it work. The intake manifold and injector stacks being the perfect example as is the Sun Super Tach, both are simply amazing. I always look to your builds as a source of inspiration and a resource when I am faced with a new challange. You are the real deal when it comes to defining what an all round modeler is and I am proud to be able to call you a friend!

First coat of primer on but there is a lot of body work that still needs to be done, but at least it's all one color, for a while, after the first two photos. Next two photos after a lot of blocking and sanding you can plainly see the ghosting of the low poly flat plains this STL file was full of (roof, fenders , doors and quarters). The two second photos do show that the overall proportions of the body are quite good when conpaired with photos of the original car. I guess I'm fairly happy with the progress so far and the lower windshield support and upper dash areas have been built and installed to stablize the body and position the hood properly, 5th photo

Well here it is. A couple of very minor touchups and I will post in the Drag Racing Completed section. As stated before this is a tribute model and not a recreation. I knew the owner as a friend and he and this car were sort of regional celebrities in the western Canada drag racing community. Edward J. Beasau (RIP) much better known as Fast eddie raced this Corvette in several classes over the years and so the car was continiously evolving,. I chose to incorporate it's most interesting features but still capture the essence of how we as his friends remember them both. Lots of scratch built pieces, chassis, gauges, instrument panel,front grill filler, aluminum interior panels and roll bar/cage. Self 3D printed items, complete engine, Doug Nash 5 speed transmission, wheels and tires, seats, hood scoop and rear 9 inch differential. Custom designed and self printed decals by me. None of the kit except the body, trim pieces and glass was used.

Getting very close, some clean up and finish, adding emblems , moldings, etc should be one the shelf early next week

Thank you Scott, this ones a ways off, after the 57 is finished and I wrap up the BubbleUp Trans Am. Not sure how detailed and accurate I'm going to make it but with the Corvette being a more layed back project and the heavy lifting on the funnycar behind me (just the body graphics and some details left) I'm feeling modeling rested. If I can get the body to come around I may give it a serious go, Lee and this car were always one of my favourites. I have already checked out your 1/16th products that would be appropriate and I would want the best possible parts included in this project and yours certainly fill the bill in that respect. I thank you for your contributions to the advancement of scale modeling!

Going back to Fast Eddies 57 Corvette Super Gas car. But the two and a half hours spent on the R-M Pro Stock hood gives me an idea of the magnitude of this project getting the body coutours and surface finish to acceptable levels, let alone the chassis, drive train and interior. This is the surface finish on almost every square inch of the body. This isn't the printer, I just printed two Jaz seats and the scoop for the car from Ron Olsen's files and all the surfaces are perfect. All reactions:

OK now the personality is starting to show, all of the Z28 parts are gone, front bumper is close to the correct contour, printed the scoop tonight,now it's just a matter of refining the body contours and removing the quite frankly poor surface finsh, there was very little or no attempt to blend in the flat surfaces used to create the curves in the body. There is going to be a ton of sanding and filling before it's even close to paint ready, the only saving grace is that the proportions are pretty good.

While waiting for parts to print and decals for the other two projects spent some time on the R-M Camaro cleaning up the seam through the doors where the print was split and also removing the front Z28 flares and spoiler . I also managed to cut out the hood with only minimal damage to the surfaces

A different but also apparently correct front end treatment, probably came about from trying to lift the toothed grill back into the nose. I think I like this better. Thoughts?

This is still on hold however there was a major break through. Ever since the start of this build we have been searching for high res photos of the Firebird graphic on the hood but to this point nothing suitable has been found that could be used in a photo rendering format. I had pretty much given up and had made one last request to a few of the historic drag racing groups I belong to a couple of weeks ago, and the numerous replys that I got didn't product anything significantly better to work from. A couple of days later I got a PM from a gentleman (David Ferrin) offering to draw and color the emblem for me. At this point I had nothing to lose so after a couple of emails I send him the dimensions of the hood area and wheel blisters and began the wait. Three days later I recieved a message with two different line drawings and some questions that all of the photos did not really answer. After some discussion I was confident we made the right decisions and David felt so as well. He said he would get back to me in a few days. Four days later I recieved a fully colorized proof photo of the emblem that blew me away. I have every confidence this it is perfect, or so close it absolutely won't matter. The proof is now being added to the rest of the decal set that has been done for a bit. Once printed they will be sent to me. I can now go back and completely strip the body, refining the surfaces on the way and put the final gloss white finish on in preparation for the decals arrival. The lower green will also be removed and re applied once the decals arrive so I can match the angle of the stripes perfectly. David you have basicly saved the whole project, you are a gentleman and an extremely talented graphic designer and artist in the truest sence of the word! Thank you again so much! The photo posted is intentionally blured and the ink used on my printer ran when I wet the paper (normal bond) to make is conform. Trust me the final product will be outstanding!

Some progress interior tin is started, dash instruments fabricated Autometer Monster Tach, and Moroso bracket, Autometer Shift Light and Autometer 2 5/8" Competition Series gauges once the paint is completed

The car is now fully supported by the front and rear suspensions. The major building is now complete what is left is adding detail improving finishes,accessories paint and final assembly, almost forgot decals and lettering.

Built the rear suspension and rear coil overs today. First time resting on the rear suspension. Not a lot of room back there but everything fits,just, just some detailing and minor adjustments to do. The major work is completed in this area.

Pretty hard not to get excited by a 10,000 RPM small block in a tri five Chevy or Anglia, pulling the front wheels and rowing the lever somewhere north of 9000. Great memories!