arick

d only I agree with your comments Don. Dave is a quality guy, not only because of what he does, but because of who he is. Despite his amazing skills as a scratchbuilder, he is the first one to offer support and complement us "little guys" for what we are trying to accomplish in our builds. I'd like to add a few comments of my own, not necessarily for Romell, but for anyone who is interested. I've learned that we need to push our own limits with the tools and abilities we possess. Not to take anything away from the "Dave's" of our hobby, but we've all seen some incredible builds by folks who use their imagination, styrene and metal scraps, glue, solder and paint etc. Heck, there's one guy who makes killer moon disc's useing the bottom of a pop tin. Here's my point........before you go out and spend thousands of dollars on machinery, push your limits a bit more and get creative with the tools and goodies you've already got. Use your imagination! Final comment.......the great thing about our hobby is that we're all individuals and no matter what level we build at, we can learn from each other. Romell.........if you haven't already picked it up, get "Tabletop Machining". Its a great resource.

Magnificant Dave! How did you carbon fibre the injector hat?

Gregg, if you can find a GZ five window, grab it. They are very rare and hard to find. The three window I have is from Edeuce and they put out an excellent product. PM me if interested.

Guys, keep in mind that there have been some very successfull all wheel drive street rod builds so Don may be onto something. By the way Gregg, another option is to do a "mid engine" build with a trans axel. This is getting interesting!

Magoo Street Rods built a deuce useing the Ferrari 365 GT 2.2 engine. I think this is the same engine that Brizio used in his 1:1 build. I'm not aware of this engine being available in 8th scale, but it is available in 12th scale from Autograph. There is a "Real Steal" 8th scale tin deuce out there and its got the Autograph GT engine in it. I've seen photos of it and its quite cool. Chris Garcia did the wheels for it. If he's watching this thread, I'm sure he'll post some pictures of the model. Whatever the case Gregg, you've stirred the pot enough that you need to get those creative juices flowing. So, I'll throw out a challenge......I've got an extra set of deuce rails and a spare three window body..............wanna play?

Just do it Gregg!

Al/Don........Please don't think I'm trying to provoke a cat fight, but I'd like to comment on the discussion between the two of you. I'm no longer involved with TDR but during my tenure there, I was responsible for promotions and sales. You may be interested to know that sales of some products were brisk with customers in Japan, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Ireland, The Netherlands, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. If my memory is correct, more than half of our customers were in Europe, with some large orders going to Japan and The Netherlands in particular. I'm in total agreement that trying to make a buck selling large scale stuff is extreemly tough, (especially when one looks at the price of that board) especially in North America. I also agree that there are some very good producers of resin products both locally and abroad. Are TDR products perfect? Certainly not. Do they require clean up? You betcha. Has there been complaints about quality? Ya, two that I dealt with. Here's the bottom line.......as far as I know, nobody else has been willing to invest the time and money to produce anything similar in quality and availability to what TDR produces.

Nicely done Dave. This is something your friend will be very proud of.

I think Jims comment "if it ain't fun, its not a hobby" nails it.

For several years, Don and I have chatted about how we build our models. Don puts a lot of thought into his builds. He builds as if it were to be "functional" as would be a 1:1 car in real life. I, on the other hand, tend to build for fun. I want my model to look real, but it may not "work" in real life. My attitude is that "its just a model". This is not an argument over either style, its just the way Don and I build. We're not talking high end kits (like Pocher) that are designed to be built as would be the 1:1 car. The subjects here are typical kit builds, scratch built models and the aftermarket. I'm curious, do you guys prefer to build for function or fun? By the way, it really dosen't matter............

Nice build, I like it. Just wondering though, you put so much thought into the interior.......are you going to add clutch/break/loud pedals? Keep it coming Al, great builds.

Got a little farther along with the roll cage this morning. This is a pro street build so I'm going with a fairly basic cage. I still have to add some down tubes that run from the top of the cage to the rear end along with a couple more support tubes. The joins and bends still need some clean up. A tour through the parts box came up with these seats. I have no idea where they came from but with some risers under them they will be a perfect fit for this build.

I made a bit more progress today. Before going any farther with the roll cage, I thought it best to rough in the floor. I also wasn't happy with the first set of wheel tub inners so I roughed in some new ones. After a bit more fitting, I'll be able to continue roughing in the roll cage, followed by the trunk inner structure.

After working on several MF glass bodies, I'm hooked on glass over resin. Its stronger, dosen't warp and there are no thickness issues. A word of caution though, use good eye protection, gloves and a respirator when working with glass.

Thanks for the positive feedback Dirk. The body came from the Madd Fabricator. Unfortunatly, its no longer in production and I can't tell you whether or not it will be revived in the future. I know that MF follows these threads so perhaps he may be able to add more information. I can also tell you that Don is working on a 71 Baracuda body in 8th scale and it will be of the same high quality as the MF Willys. If you check the threads on the "Big Boyz" page, you'll find it and I know that Don will keep you informed of its progress.

Thanks guys! The nice thing about building it this way (thanks Dave for the photos) is that all the little details, including the tach and fire extinguisher that Don mentioned, can be "seen" simply by lifting the body off the chassis.

Aftashox, you can find TDR products at www.tdrcatalog.com. I've scratched front and rear engine plate's and have the engine trans where I want them. The plates are only roughed out so I haven't photographed them yet. Now that I know everything works, I can finish shapeing them and add some attachment fittings and a drive shaft. I still need to add an additional cross member and a trans mount along with some further modifications to the chassis. The mock up consists of a TDR Hemi block, a George Zurowski bellhousing and Dave's Lenco trans. Now that I know where the engine/trans are going, I can build a floor and finish the roll cage, wheel tubs, fuel cel and trunk.

I haven't had a lot of time to work on this project in the last couple of weeks, but after seeing what Dave and Don are doing, I was inspired to spend a few hours on the Willys. I've used one of my unfinished Hemi's as a mock up engine and mounted it in the chassis. For this build, I'll be useing front and rear engine plates, rather than typical mounts. The rear plate will be attached to a custon, reinforced firewall. Due to some clearence issues with the chassis, I had to move the engine back and build a recessed firewall. Once I had the engine and firewall sorted out, I was ready to start building a roll cage. The roll cage will be a typical pro street style and will help to tie the chassis together and provide some added strength front to rear. Once the cage is fully mocked up, I'll build a complete floor pan and attach the cage to it. Thanks to my pal Dave, I've got some great reference shots to work from. After adding the mock up blower and dual fours, I'm thinking that I may need to find a way to move the engine forward just a bit. This could require some minor chassis surgery but I won't do it until I tinker a bit more. I still have to mount the GZ bellhousing and the lenco trans and that will help determine the final location of the engine. I hope you like where this project is going.

I wanted to do one final mock up of the chassis to check the wheel base. Now I can glue the chassis sections together, mount the engine and trans and tie it all together with a roll cage.

Mocked up the front and rear suspension useing styrene tube at attachment points. I'm going to build a wild Jag engine and trans so have set it between the rails to check for position. As soon as my Chris Garcia wire wheels arrive, I'll mount them so I know what the ride height will be. Following that, I'll start with engine/trans mounts and X members.

You've done it again Syd. Well done!!

Good grief, you've got talent Dave!

I'm ready to start on the roll cage but before I get too far ahead of myself, I've decided that the next logical step is to mock up the entire drivetrain. I plan to run a blown TDR Hemi with a billet Lenco trans that my friend Dave machined for me. I have several TDR Hemi's so am starting with a bare block. The bellhousing that comes with the engine will not work with the Lenco so after a bunch of searching, I found a bellhousing in my collection of George Zurowski goodies. George's Hemi engine came with a competition style bellhousing. It will require a significant ammount of modification to make everything fit, but it has the "look" and it will save me from having to carve up a a good TDR bellhousing. Once the trans and bellhousing are attached to the block (with motor plates at both ends of the block) they will be set in the chassis. From there, I'll start on the floor and trunk and then tie it all together with the roll cage.