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Everything posted by Dennis Lacy
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Nice work on the headlight mounting. These kits are a pain to build full fendered with all the separate pieces. It makes for a more accurate model but a pain nonetheless. Looks like you got the fronts of the fenders glued down to the frame nicely, too. A ton of people don’t and then there’s a huge gap that looks terrible. Nice work on the chop, too!
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Very cool project idea. It had not yet (I say “yet” because it might have sooner or later, haha) occurred to me to take advantage of the narrowed Model A kit ‘32 frame on a full fender street rod model. Brilliant! Looks like the makings of a sweet modern street rod. For the engine how about an LT5 from a C4 Corvette ZR1? Dual Over Head Cam and 405hp would make for a trick looking and plenty powerful motor to move a Deuce Vicky. Aside from the obvious Corvette kits there is also a very nice one in AMT’s ‘39 Chevy Wagon Rod.
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1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
UPDATE! I didn’t have a full afternoon at the bench today (spent the earlier part of the afternoon procuring a Christmas tree, setting it up and hanging stuff) but at least I had a few hours to sit down and work on the Mustang. Despite my late start I did get some important boxes checked: mocking up the rear axle & springs to check ride height, rear disc brake conversion and adapting the front and rear wheels. After some thought and offering up other possibilities I decided to grab another pair of front brakes from a second Mustang LX kit and adapt them to the axle. This was easy as all I had to do was file the end flanges of the axle into a “D” shape to fit the depressions in the brake hubs. You can also see a stub sticking out of the end of the axle. I drilled the axle ends and brake hubs out to .080” and inserted pieces of Evergreen rod of the same size. To adapt the wheels I cut the center spokes and hubs out of the wheel backs for the Speedline wheels, cut the spokes away from the hubs, turned the hubs upside down (one end has a bigger hole than the other) and glued them to the insides of the wheels. I enlarged the hole in the hubs with a 1/8” drill bit then glued in a piece of Evergreen 1/8” tube. Once the glue was dry I trimmed the tube off flush with the hub and then drilled the inside of the tube to .080” which will now push onto the .080” rod I glued into the axle ends. Here’s a finished rear wheel and tire with the inner rim fit. Rear axle and springs mocked up with the disc brake conversion and rear wheels and tires fit. Here’s a view of the rear disc through the wheel. Here’s the stance out of the box. Can’t beat that! Needless to say, I won’t be lowering the rear. With the rear wheels adapted I moved to the front and decided to simply repeat the process since it worked so well. I glued .080” rods into the “spindles”. I then went ahead and modified the front wheels the exact same way. Here’s a view of how the brake fits down into the wheel and how the A-arm clears the inner rim no problem even with the “dropped spindles”. Full mock up with the tubular k-member and wheels adapted. And lastly, a front stance double check. That’s all for this go around. -
1963 Chevy Nova Wagon Street Rod FINISHED 3/20/22
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Luckily that squirrel is the owners, kids stuffed animal. No harm will come to the audio equipment! Haha -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks and THANKS! ? -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
I can appreciate the idea and workmanship if it was done cleanly BUT that doesn’t excite me in the slightest. My neighbor has a 2020 Ecoboost Mustang with cat-less exhaust and other mods. It may be fast but it’s one of the worst and obnoxious sounding cars I’ve ever heard! ? -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks, Craig! The major issue is that the greenhouse is several scale inches too short, and there’s no argument there. I forget how many years ago the original issue came out which only had factory stock and SSP (Highway Patrol) goodies but it’s taken me all this time to warm up to building one. One of the other issues is that the radius of the rear wheel openings is enlarged. They did this because of the drag race version but unfortunately with there being just one body tool then we are stuck with it for any version we might build unless major corrective work was done. I’ve decided to just roll with the inaccuracies because in the end it will still look like a Mustang and I think I can pull off a pretty cool take on it. One things for sure, despite the body many other aspects of the kit are very well done and if anything could serve to improve some of the other Fox Body Mustang kits that have been around for decades. -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks! I always thought the Cobra engine swaps were really cool back when they were a new yet fairly uncommon thing in the late 90’s. Nowadays every other one of these Mustang’s are getting later model engine swaps, in particular the 5-liter Coyote engines. To me, it’s honestly getting kinda boring… -
Chop looks really good and you can never go wrong with maroon on a ‘40 Ford.
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1963 Chevy Nova Wagon Street Rod FINISHED 3/20/22
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
That’s why I went with an automatic transmission. Free hand to hold my beer! -
No, it wasn’t. 1988 was and they had the same flag mirrors on the doors as convertibles. ?
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1963 Chevy Nova Wagon Street Rod FINISHED 3/20/22
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
UPDATE! I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve had an update on this project and I assure everyone it has not stalled. I’ve been chipping away at getting the body and interior parts not only in primer but in their final body-worked primer coat, ready to paint. Below are all of the parts except for the interior tub which turned out nice but just needs some touch up around the big floor patch and a fresh coat of primer. Here’s a small group of parts that are painted including the spare wheel, squirrel mascot, subwoofer faces and scratch built amplifiers. I couldn’t be happier with the amps! Lastly, here’s some aftermarket goodies that recently came in the mail to finish off the interior. Billet gauge panels with digital gauges, speaker grills and radio faces. That’s all for now. Next time I make an update should have parts in color. Stay tuned! -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
It totally wasn’t planned, either. I have a strong feeling that after this Mustang I’m gonna need to do a bread and butter hot rod project. -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks! And no worries. It will be fun having a side by side build going on based on the same kit. -
What a great idea! Considering the Fox Body Mustang Convertibles were made from cut-down coupe bodies by ASC it already looks natural. Looking forward to following along.
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1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
UPDATE! Yesterday I spent some quality time at the bench. The way this kit is made has the floor pan, front frame rails and lower core support as one piece and then the engine bay side panels, upper core support and interior floor as another. Now the full size car is a unibody so the frame rails and engine bay are not separate, they are a constructed unit. The thing I don’t like about the way the kit has them separate is it leaves the frame rails flimsy and also without any positive locating tabs at the front it makes keeping the rails and bay together and aligned a pain. After studying the situation for a bit I found no reason why these two big pieces can’t be permanently joined now to make life easier during construction. It just means a bit of masking when I eventually get to painting. I’d rather deal with masking later than clumsy separate pieces now. The only thing is that when you place the two parts together there is a gap between the frame rails and bottom of the engine bay walls. If you push them together they will touch at the front but still leave a wedge shaped gap. There’s also a gap at the back edge where the frame rails should butt against the lower part of the firewall. To remedy this I added strips of .010” Evergreen to the tops and back sides of the frame rails. The excess was trimmed and sanded flush and then the floor/frame rails piece was permanently joined to the engine bay walls/interior floor piece. Now the chassis has some sturdy structure to work with. Moving on, the next thing was to figure out how to lower the front of the car. After mocking up the tubular k-member and struts I realized I only needed to get a 1/16” drop to have the little bit of tire tuck I want. After some staring and thinking I realized I could cut the “spindle” area off just below the raised D-shaped registers for the brakes then cut the “spindles” off at their base from the unused stock k-member piece, graft those pieces onto the tube k-member and create a set of “dropped spindles” which actually do exist in the aftermarket for these cars. I added some support strips to the backside to strengthen the graft. I’ll clean those areas up some more later. Tube k-member left and stock k-member right. See the pencil cut lines on each: Modified “dropped spindle” and tube k-member on the left, Unmodified “spindle” and tube k-member on the right: Support strips on back side of modified “dropped spindles”: For use with the tube k-member the kit gives a set of front struts rendered with coil over springs. With the “spindles” made taller it means that the struts are too long. I shortened them the necessary amount and inserted .040” rod into the tops. The kit has these locate inside 2 shallow circles up in the bottom of the strut towers but it’s not a positive locating fit so I drilled shallow holes for the pins that I added to the struts to register in (circled in red.) Here is the left front held together. With the struts pinned this is now a sturdy assembly. And here is the resultant tire tuck with the wheel lined up on center. Just right! The last thing I accomplished yesterday was building some front motor mounts to hold the engine in proper location. These are not prototypical (that would be a big undertaking) but they get the job done and sit on the mount pads of the tube k-member. In the end I will paint these so that they look like something. Thats all for now. Next I will move on to the rear axle and suspension and determine if the rear stance needs to be lowered. After that I’ll address adapting the wheels and a rear disc brake conversion. Stay tuned! -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
I remember you telling me that story. I’m sure it was fun while it lasted! -
K&R Kustoms+Rods S'Lincoln Coupe finished by Bruce Rathbun
Dennis Lacy replied to Kit Karson's topic in Model Cars
I had totally forgotten about this one @Kit Karson and @Rocking Rodney Rat Awesome that someone was able to take it on and get it finished. Looks killer as a two seat sport coupe! -
Turned out really nice, Jim! That’s about the best (basically) out of the box ‘30 Coupe I’ve seen yet. Beautiful shade of red, restrained flames and just enough extra details. I also think the Nailhead engine suits the Coupe better than the Chevy (and the Chevy suits the Roadster better than the Nailhead.)
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Man, this looks awesome as a Pro Street car! Looking forward to following the build and can’t wait to see it finished. I’m a bit nostalgic about these SS Impala’s. One of my good friends had a low miles, mint condition teal ‘96 SS about 15 years ago. Only modifications were dark window tint and Flowmaster exhaust. He was fanatical about keeping it perfect. He kept towels covering the carpet at all times and if we were out to lunch he wouldn’t let us get refills on our drinks to go. ?
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A is for Attitude - the builder's block buster
Dennis Lacy replied to mrm's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Black walls for sure considering your theme and back story. Looking good. That metallic red is killer! -
I mocked this up a couple of weeks ago when I picked up my Mooneyes kit. The AMT chopped ‘25 T body fits down over the extra frame nicely. The front tires are original 60’s Revell parts pack that were made to fit the extra Halibrand front wheels in the Mooneyes kit.
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1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Thanks, Steve! I’m not sure if the front will be quite as low as my mock up as there’s some limitations the way the front suspension is made. There’s probably only one vehicle from the 70’s I might actually see myself building and that’s a ‘77 Trans Am SE because Smoky & The Bandit is one of my favorite movies. Naturally, it wouldn’t be factory stock if I did… As for the 80’s, my 42nd birthday is next Friday and I have it on good authority that one of my kids picked me an ‘88 Mustang GT kit so if this one goes well I’ll have to dig into the GT. -
A is for Attitude - the builder's block buster
Dennis Lacy replied to mrm's topic in WIP: Model Cars
Nice to have you back and you can’t go wrong with a pair of ‘30 Coupe hot rods to get you jump started back into building models. It’s hard to see in the pictures, how “metallic” is the metallic black? -
1990 Mustang LX - SVT Cobra DOHC Powered! UPDATE! 1/22/23
Dennis Lacy replied to Dennis Lacy's topic in WIP: Model Cars
That is a huge advantage for me, true. Between my own Mustangs and the vast amount I’ve helped many of my friends build over the last 25 years I know them down to every last bolt. Is that the 1995 Cobra R kit from Tamiya that you have? That’s a kit I’d love to get my hands on one of these days. I remember seeing them on the hobby shop shelves back as a teenager in the mid 90’s and passing them up because I was put off by the odd Tamiya brand name that I knew nothing about, LOL!