MarkJ

I made the front springs, but after looking at my ref pictures again, I have made them too thick. I placed the engine in the frame just to see how things are lining up and you can see the upper A arms which need a little more added to them. The top half of the engine is one piece including, manifold, throttle body, distributor, and valve covers. If I want to make the engine more realistic I will have to do some surgery on it and add some stuff which doesn't look like it will be much fun. The build has a Holley carb. They really tried to cut corners on this kit.

Thanks , Pierre, but I think I have made them too thick now as you will see in the pics below. It's okay they are relatively easy to make

Good, I'm too lazy to clean it up. Just shove everything to one side and make a space to work.

Looking at all those drilled holes makes my head hurt. Let's see, if it took you 5 hours that would have taken me 15, and there would have been a lot of misshapen holes.

Started working on the front suspension. Made the lower spring arms from square tubing. Made the springs from small rod, .030 thick, wrapped around another rod to form the spring. I have to do over on the springs because they are just a little too thin. you wrap them around a smaller rod, than the diameter of the spring needs to be, because after you wrap the plastic around tightly and you let go of it, it relaxes to the correct diameter. Unlike kit springs, these look like real springs even though they are hard to see after they are installed. Already did the upper A arms but forgot to take a picture of them. Basically, just triangles sitting on top of the frame.

Jim, I forgot all about that wip. Seems like a million years ago. Shows me that I need to clean up my workspace for my current build. It's getting way out of hand. The longer I spend on a build the messier it gets.

I'm going to call the steering box and shaft finished. I need to shorten the little nub on top of it and may have to shorten the lower shaft where the pitman arm attaches. When all these loose parts get finished, I will have a mass primer session and then a mass painting session to get them all the right colors.

Ken, I agree with you on the seats and your solution is awesome, but the work is going to be astronomical drilling all those holes and installing all those crimp tubes. The addition of the seams and wrinkles goes a long way to adding some fantastic realism. Keep up the amazing work. This build is going to be one for the ages.

I guess you have a point there, Ken. But I know if yours was in 1/25 scale it would still look a lot better than mine. I'm just getting too old for this stuff anymore. The eyes and fingers just don't want to do what I'm trying to tell them to do. Take care, and thanks again for dropping by.

Thank you, Ken. if I could only put out the level of scratch building that you do, this build would be fantastic. Your work on the Ford GT40 is very upper-level work. It's amazing how your parts look better than the kit parts. Thanks again for dropping by and saying the nice words about my build. I'm in great anticipation about seeing your build come to the finish line and the awesome work that will be revealed.

Pretty much finished the steering gear. Added some more bars to the engine compartment.

Ken, really awesome build on the Vicky. Sounds like you did a lot of work to make it look just right, which it does. Really love the flat head v-8 and the stacks for exhausts. Thats a really cool touch. Again, excellent build.

Wow, Dustin. Such a great detailed and nicely weathered build. Excellent job adding the resin nose. I think a lot of people pass on doing this car because they don't think they can handle that part of it. Your skills keep getting better and better. Glad to hear you are healing nicely from your surgeries and this model is proof of that. Oh yes, and the Harley J. Earl trophy is a really cool addition to the build. Was that scratch built? If so, that is really impressive.

I took the pictures I made of the 1987 Monte Carlo nascar kit chassis and made them into actual size of the model, or 1:1 photos of the front suspension of the model. That way I can make parts right off the images like the steering box and the other parts of the front suspension. I've done this in the past for bodies of the models to make decals that fit exactly on the model like the roof and door numbers and all the other decals as well. The steering box is so small that it just needs to be a simple part with not much detail added to it, like the actual kit parts that come in the nascar kits. You can see below what I have so far for the steering gear box. It needs some more cutting and sanding and some sheet styrene added to the top of it. Just need something to connect to the steering shaft coming out of the firewall and the tie rod link for the front suspension. I will have to make a tiny pitman arm to connect steering gear box to linkage.

Thanks, Jason. I appreciate you dropping by for a look and comment.

I like everything about it. Your modeling skills are undeniable and your ability to crank them out so quickly is amazing. Keep up the great work.

Another great one, Jason. It checks all the boxes. Cleanliness of build, paint work, decal work, stance, and attention to detail. Lots of fabulous models come from your bench.

I was thinking about the steering box and remembered that on my Dale Earnhardt first cup win Monte Carlo, I used a 1987 Monte Carlo chassis with a 1977 Monte Carlo snap kit for the body. I figured the best ref pics would be of the actual model I made. I took some pictures from different vantage points of the steering gear and also measured it so I could just duplicate the one on that model the best I could. It's a good thing I did, because the one I started to make above is way too big. I also can use these pictures for reference when I build the front suspension. It's a Banjo chassis from the late eighty's which is the one they used on the real 1987 IROC Camaro. In the pics below the steering gear is close to the middle of each photo. One from above and 2 from below.

Thanks, Steve. Always appreciate visits from all the fine folks out there who enjoy this awesome hobby that we all like to do. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for dropping by, Joe. And thank you for the kind words too.

Yup , probably too big.

Finished the brake reservoir. Starting on the steering gear. Had to make the frame wider where the gear will be installed. the stock Camaro is a front steer car, but the IROC car was rear steer. No steering gear comes in this kit, and it would probably not be correct anyway. Hoping I did not start making this one too big to fit. The one in the race car is a tight fit.

Jim , the Salvino next gen kits are well engineered kits, but the instructions will make the build more difficult than it needs to be. Do a lot of mock ups while building before you glue just to make sure everything goes together correctly. The rear suspension and front suspension and engine areas can be hard to decipher the way the instructions are presented. I doubt if I will build anymore of them just because the fun factor is lacking on these kits. Can be very frustrating at times.

Thank you for dropping by, Atin. I am glad you have enjoyed the build so far. Still a lot to do but I'm in no hurry. Like some say, it's the journey not the final stop of an endeavor that is the most enjoyable sometimes. Thank you for the kind words about the build.