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Ian McLaren

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Everything posted by Ian McLaren

  1. After an involuntary two week modeling layoff I'm back on the Bonin car and I'm focusing on going back and upgrading a lot of what I had already done starting with the engine. New and improved 14-71 Ed Pink style blower still needs the magnesium finish applied but the basic part is much improved, I scrapped the previous injector and redid the plumbing, and the hat is now much closer to scale. Some how I managed to model the entirely wrong magneto for this car, I knew it had a Mallory Super Mag in it and I already had the remote coil in the parts tray. How I put all of the time and effort into building a creditable Vertex mag and then looking at the motor for weeks is beyond me. Thankfully a very knowledgable friend pointed out the error, so the motor now has an all metal Super Mag in place which I put together yesterday, and instantly what has been nagging me about the motor disappeared. Next is the port nozzels and lines and the unique upper plumbing that was on the Bonin car in 78. I'm already much happier with the current result.
  2. IT"S DONE! Who would have thought this would be my most eventful model built to date. Firstly it was commisioned by my grandson to give to his grandma (other side) as a memorial to her departed husband who actually had just started to build this model (not much more than unboxing it). Secondly this is essentually my first truck model (and I had very little knowledge in this area). This is about as close to an out of the box build as I will every get with the only changes and additions being, all of the clear parts (missing from the box), front drive shaft changed for aluminum tube (original was very badly deformed), additions included trailer uncoupleing lever, air brake hoses, photo etched seat belts (a safety feature), rear license plate bracket and upgrading the exhaust stacks with aluminum tubing ( I just had too) LOL. Paint is out of the can Tamiya Mica Blue overcoated with Tamiya Pearl clear and two coats of Tamiya clear. Lastly I had to take five days off in the middle due to getting a pacemaker. So while I was honoured and pleased to build this for my grandson! ----------- No More Trucks!
  3. A guy is away for a week and you have advance this project greatly, the front suspension and axle a great and I see you've rediscovered the engine turning secret. Your well on your way to another great model. Well done!
  4. So this project is on hold for a while. I had a routine checkup with my cardiogist last week and during on of the test they found an 11 second gap in my heart beat. I got a phone call and 4 hours later I was in the cardiac wards advanced monitoring room. After a wait of 3 days I got a pacemaker Sunday morning and was home late Sunday afternoon. Everything went exactly according to plan during the surgery and I have been home for two days now.. I am limited in what I can do for the next 10 days of so the incision heals and secures the pacemaker and its leads to the heart. As all of the restrictions are shoulder height and up most modeling is on hold. I can walk, climb stairs, go outside and even have a mild set of exercises to do, however I cannot drive for two weeks after the surgery. All in all I'm in pretty good shape and feeling good, except for the left shoulder and incision site which will pass fairly quickly I am told.
  5. Still futzing with the body, chassis, engine alignment. Not haveing measurements of how far out the engine was has made this endevour exponentialy more difficult. first I had to get the chassis ride height correct. Then space the body up the correct amount above the chassis to get both the ground to body height correct and well as how far through the body the blower sits and how far forward in relation to the windshield. Almost all of this stems from the rear motor plate ( the main numbers I don't have). Add to this a generic body whose measurements may or may not be the same as the BubbleUp car (not the manufacturers fault just a fact). All of this added up to serveral motor plates, body mounts (front and rear), 2 different blower manifolds, two sets of front motor mounts and a third set (more scale appearing) in the works, but I now have measurements. Two different blowers and several adjustments to the front blower extension. Also needed were two different approaches to the actual firewall tin and mounting proceedure. Another reprofiling the rear edge of the hood and lower windshield frame was needed to eliminate the kick up that was cast in as part of the body. The following photos show the end results of all this nonsence and I now have the look I was aiming for. Now back to just straight adding details and building
  6. It's great to have you foiiowing along, lots more to come. In regards to fast company, I was at Sheppard Raceway and Edmonton International Raceways driving the RaceCar Distributors A/ED the days they were filming for the movie. I think Norm may still have the fake Montana plates they stuck over the Alberta plates while filming.I also have a copy of the movie. I have a lot of photos from that era so documentation is not really too bad and I can find most of what I need. The Swindahl car was quite different from most so it has been a bit of a challange to document.
  7. Thanks Daniel, not on this one. I did try on the 1/12 Camaro Top Sportsman's rack, using the parts from a Tamiya 1/12 F1 kit. The problem was the shaft angles from the steering wheel to the rack. I have no idea how that would been done in this scale, but there would be some awesome machining involved.
  8. This is my most ambitious scratch built part so far. The steering box for the Bonin car is mostly brass except where aluminum looks more correct. If anyone is interested I do have the in progress photo showing the process I used to assemble this part
  9. I have been considering getting a resistance soldering system for a while now and it very well may be the next major addition to the shop. I am assuming it is used primarily for small details as opposed to primary fabrication or am I wrong in that assumption
  10. Thank you Francis, yes the front suspension was one of the things that made me want to model this car. No plans or drawings and the original car is long gone, but there was enough information to piece it together. I knew the front track width and the wheelbase which set where the front tires needed to be. Some great photos of one of the sister chassis were on an old Bring a Trailer add from a few years back. They really showed good details of the front suspension and chassis. From knowing the chassis tube dimensions ( the rules govern that) I could calculate the rest of the tube sizes that I needed. Kind of the long way round but it got the job done.
  11. Puke tank system rear components (tank, filters and hoses) fabricated amd test fitted. Have to add a drain, hose clamps and hardware
  12. It's time for another little update and I don't know when the next one will be because the low season for my favorite hobby is fast approaching. Francis your updates never disappoint and this one is no exception, other than the part about life intruding on your modeling time, which is very much a reality for most of us. Looking forward to your next update. The rear suspension assembly is amazing!
  13. Straightliner59 said I made the tops for the inner door panels, and added a trim strip, to give it a more finished look. For the strip, I started with .060" half-round, and laid it on the benchtop, between two strips of metal banding I'd picked up somewhere, in one of the board yards I used to work at. Then, I only needed to sand across them all, until the top of the half-round was flattened. That made the half-round not just look like a strip of half-round. I like this approach very much, The rest of the interiour is coming along very nicely.
  14. Swindahl front funny car suspension late 70s, correct scaled stainless tubing and rod ends will replace overscale radius rods and centerlink as well as scale nuts and bolt installed at final assembly. I have not seen this particular front suspension system modeled before. This run of chassis was primarily found with either Trans Am or Corvette bodies. From what I can gather there were somewhere between 10 - 15 of these built with some minor differences the buggest one being mounting the torsion bar ahead of the axle rather than behind, I'm not sure which version was first, but the Bubble Up car had it behind the axle and I think it was an earlier car
  15. Thank you so much Roger. It's not so much skill, as it is patience and paying attention to and learning from other modelers the best ways to approach certain tasks. Also no matter what your budget is always buy the best tools you can afford. The modeling is better and in most cases turns out to be cheaper in the long run. A good set of files is usually less than and cheap set that is replaced by better set later on, and should out last both of them.
  16. Thanks Daniel this is my third rack, the first was styrene, the second was mostly brass but had some sytrene bars added and this one will be all metal (some aluminum details). This one is by far the sturdiest and most accurate and so far the easiest to do. Once you get the heat deal handled (very hot and quick with a few heat sinks) brass starts to show itself as one of the easier building methods. Thanks for your tips!
  17. Starting to add bits and pieces to the chassis, front radius bar mounts integrated with the twin front body lock strikers,front part of the fuel system fabricated as well as puke tank initial plumbingand the start of the side engine mounts. Rear motor plate has the firewall sealing surface added as well
  18. Good progress Daniel, I like the pencil trick and the aluminum work is looking very good as well!
  19. I said I would show the process for the front tree supports. Here it is. Mounting the body Part 2 Starting on the front body mount structure (measurments based on 3/32 frame rails but the process is the same for any size) Main support posts are .093 in diameter which I fish mouthed to fit the 1/8th tubing that will form the saddles themselves, ID is the same as the OD of the frame rails. Next drill a .090 hole parallel to the notch ( it may be eisier to drill the hole first as aligning the notch to the hole is easier than the other way around). Next clean all of the pieces with 320 grit to promote solder adhesion. secure the now cleaned 1/8 tube in preparation for soldering as shown (I used aluminum furnace tape to hold the parts as is stands up to the heat of the process) Make sure to put flux on the areas where you are going to attach the support tubes. Cover the fished mouth end of the supports with flux (the tooth picks are to keep the solder out of the holes and also alignment guides). Solder the pieces together as shown and clean the joints. Then cut the saddle tube to release the supports, trim to size for width ( be carefull here as cutting and or grinding can heat the joint to the point the solder will melt). I used a disc sander to grind away the top half on the saddle tube (again be mindful of the heat) You now have a chassis stand that just needs to be cut to length to set the ride height. The photo show how I mount the supports to the body but you can choose you own path here. I use this method as it allows easy instaallation and removal that will be necessary throughout the res of the body mounting process. On final painting and assembly the plastic tubes on the body with be sanded down to scale for a proper bodymount plate. I hope this will be of use for some of you. Next will be adding bracing and support bars to stablize the main support tubes
  20. Back to the chassis and body support structures.Rear body retaining bracket built and attached , rear body support structure fabricated and installed temporarily (removeable for paints and other construction, front body stands fabricated and support bars added( also removable for further painting and tin work fabrication and installation). Final ride height set ( a bit lower in the front). This just about wraps up the structural work. Now it's about adding the detailing items, tin , brackets, lines and hoses, drive train etc. Still a lot to do but the basic frame work is now set. I'll post how the main supporting structure was fabricated shortly.
  21. Setting the chassis and body aside for a bit to work on the LPH1320 Keith Black Hemi. Constructed an Ed Pink style 14-71 blower and a vertex style Magneto, the block, heads and valve covers were as close as you can get right out of the package.
  22. John thank you so much, I love it when I can help other modelers learn something new or remind people of old tricks that still work.
  23. If either one of us manages to traverse the miles (kilometers) between our provinces perhaps we can in person.
  24. I'm liking where you are going with this model, as usual the work is top notch. I know all too well the mood shift after an intense long term project but I can assure you it disipates fairly quickly. Glad to see you working on the though, it's a good sign.
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