stump

Thanks Brandon and FujimiLover.. FL, yes, the suspension is fully functional straight out of the box, I've only reinforced things by making sturdier joints.. And I knew what I wanted with regard to wheels and tyres.....finding them in the size I wanted drove me to this nuttiness...... ..Hope to have some available soon... cheers mate Greg

DOH !...You guessed my secret George.....hehehehe....... Actually, I just received a second hand Haynes manual the other day..... I got it to help in the lay out and installation of brakes and fuel lines.... Most of what I have found online, has been cars already into a restoration, and they have most of this stuff removed already..... Got some great pics from a young bloke on a 1:1 Z site the other day...he was just starting a build and graciously offered to take some pics before he got into it..Thanks Owen. Many thanks to you too Bill, Mike, Pete and Santiago.. Yes, Tamiya did do a fantastic job engineering these big kits....It's funny, I was ever so tempted just to do an "out of box" build, because of this fact..... But I'm kinda glad I decided to press myself for something a bit more.....I'm really pleased you're all happy with my progress so far. Stay tuned, more updates to come..... cheers Greg

Hehehe... Thanks George and Brandon.. George, nah..she wont be getting that well built....though I've heard it said, I should at least make the wipers and washers work..... I'm finding it hard enough trying to work a "working" throttle......not gonna give up on it........ Brandon, the 1/18 looks pretty kool....So, you going to drop an LS1 in there, huh..? Can't wait to see that. UPDATE....May '09 Thought I'd better bring you guys up to speed on this....it's been a while. The rear tyre is almost complete...I'll be sending the wheels and tyres away for casting very soon....... Tackled a little body work as well..The G-nose is now in place. Lots of sanding and re-shaping to get a nice result with that..... Whilst at the front, I finished my new radiator panel and joined the two piece firewall.... Those of you with a keen eye may have noticed a couple of "spare" bolts sticking up in the engine bay area.....?? I'm "bolting" in the struts, as they are on a 1:1 car.....I'm not sure yet if they will be adjustable, but it allows me to lower the front about 3mm without cutting stuff... I've then switched my attention to the rest of the suspension.... The rear end requires that you glue the 2-piece upright, around the lower control arm...being ever so careful not to let glue contact the actual joint.... I thought about it for a while, and knowing first hand that the joint is quite sloppy when built, figured there had to be a better way..... The area in question I've circled in red on this diagram..... My solution......I jumped right in and glued the two 2-piece uprights together.. Who reads or follows instructions anyway.... After giving the glue plenty of time to cure, I ran a drill through the bore, ready to accept a length of plastic tube. I removed the old pivot bar from the control arm and drilled a couple of holes to accept 2 bolts.. And finished up with 2, very neat, better fitting, control arm sets. There is minimal free play, yet it still has full movement. After all that, I re-assessed the front.....Here too, I also knew that there was way too much free play in the joints.... The area of concern was where the lower control arm attached to the front cross member.....It is designed to just "clip" into place on either side... The locating pins are on the right hand side in this pic.... After removing the pins and drilling yet another hole...(yes, more bolts..) this is a "test" mule being tried.... Ready for installation..... That's about if for now guys....Still a good way to go, but at least I'm having fun.... Thanks for stopping by..... cheers Greg

That is sooooo kool, it's not funny. I LOVE it ! If I ever get to buy one of these, I'll be using this as my reference...(if you don't mind, of course... Great build. cheers Greg

That's a sweet looking build mate, great work. And the wheels suit it much better than on the Camaro too...nice swap. cheers Greg

Thanks very much Mike and rv1963.. Update...kind of a large one too, sorry... First up...front tire.......DONE ! Work has begun on the rear too, but as it will be built the same way, I won't bore ya's with that... Spent the best part of the last few weeks working on an exhaust system...I knew I did not want it standard....Off to Bill's Muffler Shop..... Headers, these were first started in 3mm plastic rod, but after bending up 3 tubes, gluing in place and test fitting...it became obvious that the next 3 would not fit...My bends just weren't tight enough.... So, off to the hardware store...I returned with some 3.2mm solder, and the bends were much easier to get right. I think they come out ok... From the twin 3-pipe collectors (ex Ferrari...) I made a 2-bolt collector to mount an over-size single sportz system. The hotdog centre muffler is scratched, the rear is a kit part, slightly modded...I'll add a second "U"-bolt as well..scratch-built too. 2-Bolt collector.. HOTDOG.. REAR.. More soon guys...I have an 8 day break coming up..the 4 days after Easter, so I expect this to roll on... cheers Greg

... .. Thank you very much for your very kind words and encouragement George... I'm sure I'm getting NUTTIER.....that's a given, it's the next natural step ain't it...... To be honest, I'm enjoying this challenge more than any I tried/started in the last couple o years......Must've been meant to be.... Yeah, I'd be a hell of a lot happier if there was more aftermarket bits for 1/12.......I may have to change that.. I have a giant (1/12) turbo I'm going to set in resin as well.....see what else I can find to do...... hahaha....I been called lotsa things George, don't think angel has been used since I was in diapers..... Cheers mate Greg

Thanks John.. I say, go for it mate.....you'll have a lot of fun building one of these, and it will surely rekindle fond memories for you... Small update... A good percentage of the weekend was consumed getting the tyre smoothed....putty, sand......putty, sand...... Then I added the TOYO detail...didn't go the direction I first planned... The T and Y are cut from .005 sheet stock, the two O's are sliced from tube stock..The O's were squashed slightly to make them oval.. DISCLAIMER:.."These tyres are my interpretation of a Toyo tyre, any similarities between them and the 1:1 is purely coincidental".... As you can see, I also started on my treaded area....talk about consuming time..... I added a solid centre bead, then a row of tread blocks around one side to see how it looks....not totally symmetrical, but close enough... I hope to complete this tyre this week.....need to start on a rear....real soon...... Thanks for lookin', more soon..... Greg

Small update.... Just checking fitment....good side showing.. Stock height.... This is where I want to get it sitting...it rubs the front when turned, but I'm hoping some more sanding/contouring will fix that... Lowered height.... More soon.... cheers Greg

Thanks George....Hey, y'know....you whacked the nail right on the head....they were two of my first choices. Think I'll go with TOYO, cause it'll be easier... Got it all planned out using very fine wire to form the outline of the letters and probably the smaller size designations around the tyre as well... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/uploads/emoticons/default_wink.png' alt=';)'> Just gotta make it happen..... Cheers mate Greg

Thanks Nick. I've got one side almost smoothed enough...just applied another lashing of putty..will sand it again soon. I made an adapter from a spare inner wheel half so I could mount the tyre on my Dremmel (cheap imitation...)..It has showed me that when I glued the two sidewalls and the tread layer together, I must have allowed one sidewall to move... I'll get my good side all true, then redo the other side to match... Maybe another update this evening.... cheers Greg

Ok...my first tyre is getting close.... Finally added enough thin layers to build the sidewall up and added my first tread layer... The first pic gives an indication of what I had to start with... Stock wheel/tyre combo, bottom left...Tamiya "spare parts" wheel/kit tyre, bottom right...and my version, top.... Still a very long ways to go....be so much easier with a lathe.... I'll sand and shape the sidewall to give that s t r e t c h e d look which is so common on these style of cars.... I decided to leave it hollow at this point...allow for some bagging, to a certain degree.....? If the first popped one does not look like it will hold the weight of the model, I'll make them solid.... You can follow along here too if you wish... Thanks for dropping by, more soon........ Greg

That's just kool.... Love the colour you chose, and the black adds great contrast. Two big thumbs up from me.

Thanks guys.. Jeff, Thanks for your input mate. Yeah, I thought they were both Fairlady's.....but that's cool, I prefer the long-nose variety... I actually like the colour of the blue one, s'pecially with the silver flares...but I think I'm leaning towards a red....?? Thanks for the links too...I joined Hybridz a week or two ago. Nick, I have a set of triples floating around the bench....webbers.. I'll need to fab up a manifold though...it's gone missing over the years..... Bowtienutz, Thanks for the offer man..I'll see how I go. I've looked into getting some Smooth-On plus some regular resin and molding rubber.. The trial packs will give me enough to pop a couple of sets, allow for mistakes too.... so if they look alright, I'll see if anyone is interested in some....?? Tiny update.. Been going flat out on the tyres...slow going all the same. Not having a lathe sure makes it interesting...... I'm building up the sidewalls by glueing .010 strips around each other, gaining size with each strip......phe-eew.......I'm at about 5mm, so I'm just past half way..... Getting the rims closer to my satisfaction too....There's only 1 inch difference in the 1:1, so it's not much in 1/12.... Shot some dark paint on the centre just to give some contrast...The pic below shows the same centre with the two different outer rims in place...I think they'll look ok......Test fitting shows they should sit pretty close to the outer lip on the flares... More soon guys, hopefully a tyre to show......?? cheers Greg

.. Thanks George and Pete. Hey Pete, no worries mate...all good. I'll be keeping her RHD, as if owned by an Aussie. Nealy got the wheels to a stage I'm happy with....I'll make the centre, part of the inner rim, with separate outer in two widths.. That way I'll be able to paint the spokes and alclad the rim with ease... Future "options" will include a rear spoiler (can't believe it doesn't come with one... ...) and possibly a front air dam....undecided as yet..Try and copy a style I've seen.... Though I think they look pretty kool without.... The motor is in for a treat as well.......more on that as it takes shape. This is the "look" I'm hoping to achieve.... Cheers guys Greg

Hey guys, Back with another project....I'm stepping up my work load to 1/12, the 1/25 stuff is giving me nightmares.... The ol' eyes aren't as good these days..... I scored this off ebay a short while ago, after thinking/wanting one for so long, this one come up at a price which I was agreeable too.... Just the size alone is amazing with these things.....plus it'll leave the door open for some good detailing.... One of the "options" I've gone for is to dump the standard wheel/tyre combo.....they were never gonna cut it...... I decided on Watanabe's, they seem to be a very popular choice with enthusiasts who have the 1:1 cars... I'm making them up in 16 x 8.5 and 16 x 9.5 inch, the outer rim is a 16inch rim from an old Porsche kit. The centre is scratch built. I'm going to make tyres to suit (wish me lotsa luck there please...) in sizes 225/45VR16 and 245/45VR16. I've started them as well, building them up in strips of sheet stock approx 3mm wide (each sidewall) till I get to the tread area, then I'll use full width sheet stock. Hopefully, this will enable me to cast them hollow and reproduce them in rubber... I'll throw some pics up when I get one to a castable state... If anyone can throw some ideas/hints in my direction with regard to casting rubber, I'm all ears.... I've found a distributor down here in Aus. who sells Smooth-On ReoFlex, so I'm heading down that avenue.... More updates to follow.....this could be a long thread.... cheers Greg

Aahh......See, there's the rub Rob......I've not eyeballed the diecast counterpart. Not interested in diecast, never have been, never will be. If the DC version looks this bad, why would Revell even consider doing this plastic version as an option ? Save money...Yes. Do they care what some may think......obviously not. I know a lot of guys are going to buy it regardless.....I just think if it was taken onboard by Revell to offer us a real new tool kit, it may have sold a lot more for them. Doesn't matter anyways... I like what Revell have given us in the past, just think they short-changed us on these new ones.

Pass....... I may as well vent my disapproval here as well....most know how I feel about this kit, not that it will worry Revell that I don't buy one, or buy 20.... I have been looking forward to this for so long it hurts.....hurts to see what they have offered us.... C'mon Revell.....BB motor with heads/manifold as 1 piece, slab-sides, did I see a hole in the engine block too (?)...Metal axles...?? Sheesh...I thought we'd outgrown all that. Guess not. I mean, the Nova was a great kit (IMHO) and had oodles of parts...135+......what's this thing get......83.......WOW, don't over do it guys. I'm sorry, rant over.

Thanks very much Bob and Marcos.. Aye, I want to get some better pics Marcos, just need to set my "area" up a little better....or get a nice day for some cruizing pics.. The decals..well....that's another story.... ...... Believe me, they aren't that good..... I told Harry, it's all to do with how you photograph it......ya gotta know where the bad spots are, and leave them out.... Cheers guys Greg

Niiiiiiiiiiice.... The metallic in the Jeeps paint is just gorgeous.. The old truck will be a nice project too.....koolness factor 10+.. And the Challenger is shaping up nicely as well Spike, you have been busy...well done man.

Thanks Uwe.. Aye, it may not be for a while....but I at least now know how I want to build it.. Cheers mate Greg

Thanks Gil, Bill and Harry.. Bill, yes, it was almost destined for the never-ever pile....it was a moment of weakness which made me finish it..... I would've been a lot happier had I stripped it, but could not convince myself that 3 coats of Tamiya clear was going to give up it's final resting spot that easy..... Cheers guys Greg

That's very very clean James. B) Nice work. Sure wish I could find an alternative to future down here in Aus. ... I certainly adds a very nice luster to the model. cheers Greg

Yes, I'm liking the steelies Jürgen .. You did a great job making those. Look forward to seeing this one come together mate. cheers Greg

Very kool project man. Tough call on what to do though..... Maybe.... Roof: Looking at your second last set of pics, the roof looks to be slightly twisted towards the front ? Looking at the passenger side. If..you unglue/cut it off again, could you possibly reattach it so its slightly back....I know I'm only talking mm's or fractions of an inch, but it may help the A pillar line up a bit better..? You may still need to add a pie-shape piece to the center as well.... Front: Is there any excess plastic inside the front fenders you could trim out..? Either very carefully with a dremel or #11 blade.. The 74 header panel doesn't look to have much more to trim off the sides. Alternatively, add a strip of styrene down either side of the hood you want to use, sand to shape once dry. This will help eliminate the gap. If you don't want to keep the second hood, put the one with the hole on top, trace/mark the hole cutout on the lower hood. Then remove that section, leave it a little large, so you can trim it neatly to fit in the hole.. Hope this helps a little mate, I wanna see this one come together....I have the Vert version and I was going to try and glue the roof on and make a T/A but I like your idea better now. Good luck with it. cheers Greg