The Creative Explorer

A small update, not a lot is happening, but whatever I am doing now, is taking a lot of time. The first structural difference in comparison with the NAE, is going to be aerodynamic changes. One thing I always thought was weird, was the open structure of the rear-wheel mounting. I can imagine that that would cause massive turbulence at high velocity. Therefore I am going to cover it with a wing-style cover. To add for stability and lower the drag. 3/4th of the wing is done, it shows in this picture that the rearwheel assembly will be covered up with a oversized wing The wingshape is starting to come It looks a little if there is a Concord stuck underneath ;-) And a rear-view. Note that things are still very rough and needs to be adjustes.

90 euro is about 120 dollars, but still spendy for a resin-body

Thank you for the links and information, but I already had these. The problem is that the pictures found on the web and on landspeed.com are simple photographs, and can hardly be used as reference material. I needed some good detailled pictures of the livery, wheels, suspension, cockpit and chair etc... But I didn't receive anything. Basically because of that lacking attitude I got from them, I have no fun in recreating the NAE no more. That is when I came up with a new idea, and because it is non-existent, I can do whatever I want and need no reference material But I do appreciate the help given by you guys, it is just them that I have a new plan.

Then we take the rear-wing, so I can use it for a nose-wing That looks like this: I will put this on the nosecone, for extra stability at high-speeds And a idea for the falcon, the weird shapes are masks, that will help me with the basic-lines for the bird, the rest will be done free-handed.

Next to the TR Spider, I will start to finish this project as well, it is a ambitious project, but on the other hand not to bad. I've been walking for years now with the idea to make the North American Eagle, that was to be seen at Discovery, it is a F-104 Starfighter, a yetfighter/bomber converted to be a landspeed record breaker. I've started somewhere last year, but it hasn't caught my passion yet. But I've had some interests in it and some new ideas, so I will finish it now. The main idea was to recreate the NAE, but I've let that one go. It is do-able, but appearantly it is too much asked to respond to my e-mails wherein I ask for some good reference pictures, on 10-some e-mails I've gotten no replies, so it is for me not worth to recreate that project. I'd rather build something that I would enjoy, therefore I started; the 'Fryske Falk', or Frisian Falcon in English. It is going to run on the great salt-plaines in northern Netherlands ( we have all included; 0 haha ) The livery will be mostly blue/white with on it's tail some red lotusleaves. And instead of an Eagle, it will get a Falcon on it's side. I was going to make a decal for that, but I decided to go and practice my airbrush techniques and will airbrush it on the plane. We start with a previous build F104 Starfighter And pull the wings off Together with some more unusefull parts The parts that will be clipped of And the frame for under the fusilage That needed some braces for strength And so the putty-fest starts....

Thanks guys, In essence, the detail is there, it has just been done simple. With some elbow grease, it must be possible to make this into a show-worthy car. I am not being able to buy those aftermarket stuff, but I do get the hang of scratchbuilding better and better. So I hope to learn some new tricks and techniques along this ride. @Rodney, I think you are right, it does look cleaner in the picture than I thought it was. maybe it is the flash or I might already swept some paper-towels over it, I don't know. But fact is; the car was just so darn dirty. I will tear up the engine completely, since the previous owner must had a paint-allergy, since there is no paint to discover at all. Most important is to bring the sandmold-structure in the build. @Aaron; My thoughts exaclty, if I had such a expensive kit, I would make sure that I wouldn't let the cats come close or get is just so dirty. Next to the fact that I would've tried to detail the car a bit more. On the other hand; it is now a nice project for me to give the car a second chance.

That 1970 Superbird is my all-time favourite muscle-car, it's just so awesome

Then it is time for the Ferrari to get stripped butt-naked Which I had to do the hard way, no matter how many times I asked the car to undress politely, it only stared point blank back So I used paintremover, which did the job, but still was a hassle, the paint had a very good adhesion And basically all the parts were stripped down. This is where the work stopped for me in 2009, after that, the car got into the archive But I started a few days back on body work, First thing I want to do is to Eurolise the car, I will get rid of the side-markers But also get rid of the molded in recesses for the badges, I hope by time to make my own photo-etch badges. another thing I will try is to remove the metal behind the intake, to give it a more natural look. The moldlines are there too, so I have to work on those as well

Now the Granny T is done, I've got the appetite for big-scale's back and this car has been looking at me for a long time. I bought this already built 1/8 Pocher Testarossa Spider back in 2009 at an modelshow in Portland, Oregon. It was in a very sorry state, but complete. I decided to purchase it, since it has been a dream to own and built a Pocher for a long time, but this one finally came within budget. When I got home to my wife's appartment in Portland (in 2009 my GF, now my wife living with me), I got quite dissappointed at the Pocher-kit. It was virtually a large die-cast that one needs to assemble himself. It also was very dirty and I gave it a small clean up in her appartment. After my time was up, I took it on the plane with me home. (cheapest way, but a bit oncomfortable haha) The idea is to rebuild this kit, improve it with a small budget and also perfect the many imperfections. I will build it as close to #62897 as possible, but will also give my own twist to it, when it comes to colors. This is how the Spider looked like when I purchased it. When I came home to The Netherlands, I started to dissasemble the Ferrari It is quite obvious that the car is quite simple for such a expensive kit. Quickly my partsdrawer filled up with many parts and the body starting to be cleared A couple of picture's of the car's heart.

Thanks Due to the nature of the builds, I've kept it quite simple, but all in all the kit is not that bad, But I am so glad I got rid of all that gold, such an improvement.

I flocked the interior And added some detailling to the engine This is the last in progress picture, after that I was too much focussed haha And the endresult so far, I will take some better pictures soon.

Together with the new aircleaner, this is how it looks And finaly time to assemble! I started with the frame Adding the new brakediscs Got to the engine Dressing it up with the valve-covers testfit in the frame Engine a bit more dressed up Radiator placed And the rear axle

After that, I put the lower part in the mold and glue the upper tube to the top dish When it is dry, I can glue the lower to the upper tube The discs of the car didn\t look right either, so I decided to make ventilated disks Made a master for cutting So I could cut them, but appearantly I made the holes to big The aircleaner didn't escaped my attention either, here you can see the new one on the right I inserted a brass tube in the carburator And 4 venturi's in that tube Together with a divider

I haven't been able to make the final photo's, but I do have some of the last in progress pictures. The shocks were little convincing, so I decided to make my own I made a little device, to help me make consistent shocks They fit snug, so every shock will have the same size. The wheels after a last brainwave, I decided to give the wheels a redline trim I think they look so much better with it. One finished shock and one of the old ones compared I start with the toppart of the shock in the mold Then I glue the lower tube to the lower part of the shock Put the coils around it And shuf the uppertube in it, without glueing.

Sounds a little like your temperature is too low.

I don't think it is all that doomsday, he had a 7 hour operation and the doctors are positive, he is being kept in a coma, so his hand can relax a little. They say that if his hand heals the way it should, it could take up to a year for complete healing and might be back in 2012 racing season, possibly earlier.

You're welcome Yes, I've heard of Holland, MI, a forummember (DIYMirage) is living there too, but he is a 1st gen, so he is still Dutch. I had plans of going to Holland when I was living for a year in the States, but it never came to it. Now I have a american wife and soon with child, but I still hope to go to Holland one day, and look around. Do you still speak Dutch or did it got lost through the generations? About the Ferrari; best thing is not to go full-detail or expect too much. It will build nicely as a showmodel, but with low detaillevel. If you want more detail; go for the 1/16's from Fujimi or the 1/8 from Pocher. (even though the Pocher has not that high level of detail either)

Yes, I will use flocking, it does something extra to the model instead of just using glue. Well... goodbye, I am off to the 24hr build and probably have the endresult tomorrow.

I don't need to have the actual blueprints, just drawings with the views that I mentioned to create a body. On the-blueprints.com you can find quite some blueprints, just not of the car that I need.

Actually, I did found these too, but I am not sure how accurate they are, since they are from a computergame. From what I can see, it does look good in proportions, but I am not sure. Plus it is hard to see the actual contour lines in these computergraphics, they are there, but hard to tell. Thanks for the effort though

http://www.scalemotorcars.com/catalog/index.php You can try this.

Ian and Casey; Thanks for the links, unfortunately they not give me the information that I seek, however, they have tons of other reference material which I can use, so they are absolutely welcomened. What I am looking for is something that Don's shows, unfortunately that is the site that I always use, but they have nothing on the Superbird and nothing good for a Roadrunner. Unfortunately, the Daytona is no good either for 2 reasons, first, the front is in a weird perspective and the side isn't accurate. 2nd, it differs too much from a Roadrunner, to make it into a Superbird. But thanks for showing Don! I need all views in the same dimensions, with the right aspect-ratio, so that I can use it for making a body.

I have been looking all over the net, but I can't find good side, front, rear and top pictures/blueprints of the Plymouth Superbird, is there anyboy who can point me in the right direction?

Just aim precisely Without joking; you can heat the tire slowly and when you start noticing some distortion, press it on a flat surface.