Phildaupho

Hi Steve - I am going to ask a friend who built a model of Dan's 66 Galaxie for the colors he used. You are obviously a slot car guy. I am going to an event this weekend that has a preliminary race using only Monogram 1960's stock cars supplied with your entry fee. I have requested Dan's 63 Galaxie. We will be racing a 6 lane replica of the Suzuka F1 circuit.

Thanks Guys for posting the photos of your Dan Gurney racecars. I like them all. I know there has not been any activity on the Dan Gurney Scale Race Car Forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dangurneyscaleracecars/ since I completed the Deltawing model but there is a lot of info that was previously posted. I am hoping to complete my Ford GT MKIV before the end of March and then get started on a new Dan Gurney project.

Very attractive!!

Great job. One of my favorites which has been on my want to build list for a long time. It will be a challenge to come close to your model.

Great photos. Thanks. Great event. The creativity and skill of car modelers blows me away.

1957 METEOR RANCHERO – Rancheros were always amongst my favourite vehicles but I guess I was waiting for a new tool kit to come along and was not interested in the chopped version I occasionally saw at swap meets. Recently a friend for whom I had built a model of his Shelby GT350R a number of years ago asked me to build a model of the vehicle he used to tow his racecar with back in the day – a 1957 Meteor Ranchero. [Meteors were Canadian Fords sold at Mercury dealerships]. Who knows how long it will be before a new tool Ranchero is available so I acquired two previously started stock roof height 1/25 original 1960 tool Revell ’57 Ford Ranchero from one of my car modeller buddies. One was in pretty rough shape but the other was not too bad at all and it is always great having extra parts. All things considered I am pretty impressed with what is essentially a fifty-year-old tool. The chassis actually has separate rear leaf springs, axle/differential and driveshaft. The dull exhausts are molded in. THE BUILD - I resisted the temptation to take apart the largely assembled body, as I feared something would break, although I did manage to reattach the taillight area. - I started by smoothing the front fender tops where the join was uneven and the ridge left something to be desired. I added a new ridge of Evergreen Styrene half-round - I de-chromed some parts and was surprised to find the plastic under the chrome was clear. As a result I lost the piece that surrounds the rear window. Thankfully I had a spare. I removed the bars attached to the longitudinal bed trim. The window trim and bed trim were glued to the body for chrome foiling after painting. - Because this was going to be a Meteor, scripting was removed from the body. I also removed the door handles, which had poor definition to be replaced with separate items after painting. - The model was engineered with the pickup bed attached to the interior door panels and wheel-wells part of the chassis. I decided to attach the pickup bed and wheel-wells to the body. In addition I made the tailgate non-functioning. - The front bumper was incorrect so narrowed front bumper and gravel pan was acquired from an AMT 57 Ford as is hood ornament and engine - Narrowed Torque Thrusts from AMT 49 Ford - centers will be grey, polished rims to be added later - Headlights and taillights from AMT 57 Ford - Fender skirts fabricated from Evergreen Styrene - Meteor grill from AMT ’57 Ford with fabricated wrap-arounds - Side trim made from Evergreen Styrene - The paint scheme will be blue and white - While I have it, the GT350R requires from freshening

Gorgeous!! {Oxford dictionary definition - richly colored, sumptuous, magnificent, spendid}

From one Phil to another, you did an admirable job on one of those regrettably unloved Lindberg/Pyro kits. Oh, how I wish the Lincoln, Cord and Auburn were better kits.

Absolutely awesome model and slot-car. I missed it when originally posted. I have always loved the last configuration 2D and did a coversion of the Revell kit. I took the model to the Monterey Historics in 2005 and got a photo of my model with the real 2D in the background. My friend convinced me that I should also get Jim Hall to autograph the model. I was kind of taken aback when I presented the model to Jim Hall to sign and his first words were "What model is this?" I first thought that he should recognize his own car and then remembered that a certain diecast model company had not gotten proper licencing to produce Chaparral models. He was impressed when I told him I had built it myself. Fujimi currently produces a 2D kit based on the previous Modellers kit. I am At present I am involved with a group build of six 1/24 Scale-Auto Porsche 911 GT3 IROC style slot-cars.

Merry Christmas - Waiting for family and the turkey I have always liked building models for other people. Even though my wife Peggy is in no way what you could call a “Car-Gal”, she really likes her 1989 Chevy S-10, which is mainly used to support her gardening hobby. For Christmas, I decided to build her a reasonable facsimile model of that truck. Because I did not have a stock S-10 kit, I started with the Revell GMC Cyclone kit and made a few changes like eliminating the turbocharger system and the front-drive components of the all-wheel-drive system. I also modified the grill, front bumper and spoiler as well as the rear bumper. The grill is actually modified from a ’55 Chevy. In side I installed a bench-seat upholstered with Scale Motorsports Mexican blanket decal. There are a couple of things that got done on the model that I still have to do on the real truck. On Peggy’s truck, the pickup bed really needs to be re-coated and there are a number of areas where the clear-coat needs to be re-sprayed. I used Scale Motorsport Faux-Fabric for the bed liner. This project probably would have been a good opportunity to learn weathering but time was of the essence as I did have a deadline of Christmas Eve. The paint is the closest Dupli-Color I could find and the red pinstripe is thin cut sign vinyl. The wheels are eighties Camaro which I think look pretty close to stock ’89 S-10 wheels.

It is great news about the forecoming new tool '57 Ford 2-door post 3 in 1 coming next spring. Now we have to encourage Revell to do what Trumpeter did with the 64 Falcon and bring out a new Ranchero. I friend recently asked me to build him a '57 Ranchero model like the one he towed his Shelby GT-350R racecar with of which I built him a model about eight years ago. I managed to track down a previously started stock roof height Ranchero which will be OK for a bookshelf display but it made me realise that world really needs a new tool '57 Ranchero. For those who do not know the history of the old Revell '57 Rancher that came out in 1960, it was based on the '57 Country Squire Station Wagon that goes all the way back to 1957. In 1963 the Ranchero received a chopped top which carried though on a all subsequent releases. The model featured a multi-piece body like most of the early Revel kits.To its credit it had an engine and separate running gear components. I think many of you would agree that a new tool '57 Ranchero would be a big seller for Revell.

DELTAWING Project 56 Le Mans 2012 Racecar - This is my version of the DeltaWing racecar under development at Dan Gurney’s All American racers facility and soon to be tested by Duncan Dayton’s Highcroft Racing squad in preparation for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The model was sliced out of the Revell of Germany Audi R10 with the addition of a lot of Evergreen styrene and Tamiya putty while the engine was adapted from a Tamiya Toyota 84C. In no way am I claiming that this is an exact replica but I also think the real show car will change in many ways by the time it is on the grid at Le Mans. The paint is Testor’s Modelmaster gloss red lacquer and various Metalizer colours. The decals were made with the Testor’s program and printed on an ink-jet. The only after-market parts I used were Eduard seatbelts and Sakatsu wheel nuts. This was certainly an interesting and challenging project. I have always enjoyed building “custom” models and this may in fact be the most customized model car I have ever built.

Does anyone know if the re-release of the '32 Ford 3-Window under the Monogram label actually contains the wide white-walls as shown in the art work on the Revell website? http://www.revell.co...rs/85-0887.html

DELTAWING Project 56 Le Mans 2012 Racecar - Testing versions of the real DeltaWing racecar are being built at Dan Gurney’s All American Racers facility in Santa Ana California. Michelin has signed on as the tire supplier and there was a full size version of the car at the press release at the Petite LeMans race at Road Atlanta. This was the first time I was able to get an idea of the true size of the car. It looks smaller than I previously thought. It has just been reviles that the monocoque being used is from the ill-fated 2011 Aston-Martin AMR-One LMP1. So far the bodies of the presentation cars have all been one piece, which, does not seem practical to me for an endurance racecar. I also predict there will have to many more inlets, outlets and vents before the car goes racing. No engine has yet to be announced although it is planned to be a small displacement four-cylinder. My model was based on the Revell of Germany Audi R10. I fabricated the body and chassis with a lot of Evergreen styrene and Tamiya putty. The engine I used is based on the Tamiya Toyota 84C turbo dual-spark & coil 4-cylinder. I had to modify the exhaust/turbo arrangement and intake for packaging purposes. There will be a lot more equipment in the engine area than I depicted so other than a radiator and inter-cooler located in relation to the presentation cars vents, everything else is pure speculation. I have also increased the depth of the diffuser. Next up will be the driver's compartment, paint and decals.

There was an enlightening interview with Duncan Dayton regarding the DeltaWing Le Mans project with Dave Despain on Wind Tunnel Sept. 4. There were a couple of quick photos of what looks to be a completed full-size body outside All American Racers with an Eagle sticker on the nose. One difference I notice from the rendering is the different shape of the rear headlights, which I will have to modify on the model. I will be unable to make any further progress on the model until October as I leave Thursday for the Italian Grand prix at Monza followed by a tour of Northern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

I have pretty much completed basic body shape of the DeltaWing Project 56 2012 LeMans car. I would have to call my model an approximate replica because a full-scale car does not yet exist only as an artist rendering and 3-D computer images. Even the DeltaWing Indy car proposal only got as far as a full-scale solid foam mock-up. There are bound to be many changes before an operational racecar starts real world testing. It took a lot of slicing and dicing, Evergreen Styrene and putty to get the model to this stage. This has got to be one of the most enjoyable modeling projects I have ever attempted as it combines all the elements of model car building I really love such as customizing, research and racing car technology.

Being a Dan Gurney All American Racer fan, I really like your model. Can you give some details on what kit and decals you used?

I have fabricated the steering arrangement and front wheels and tires which are probably the most unusual and controversial aspects of the DeltaWing design. The front track is only 1.7 meters and the tires only 4 inches wide. There is 23 degrees of steering lock with 12 degrees of caster giving negative camber on lock to both tires. The designers claim – “Locking propensity of the un-laden front wheel at corner entry is greatly reduced due to virtually no front lateral load transfer with the narrow track & wide rear track layout, steered wheel scrub drag moment is virtually zero greatly increasing tire utilization and reducing mid turn understeer.” Check out the steering simulation video at bottom of post

The DELTAWING racing car which initially was a proposal for a new Indy Car has been invited to race at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans as a special unclassified 56th entry. This car which has got to be one of the most innovative and intriguing different racecar in a long-time will be built at Dan Gurney's All American Racers facility and campaigned by Duncan Dayton's Highcroft Racing squad. For more about the project see http://deltawingracing.com/ I have decided to build a model of the Deltawing. I am starting with the Revell of Germany Audi R10 and will use the 4-cylinder turbo engine from the Tamiya Toyota 84C. My first step was to start cutting the Audi to see if this model project is feasible. Currently it looks a bit like a wreck but I think I can make a Deltawing out of it and it is going to be fun!!

ENGINE & ANCILLIARIES - Replaced engine with 427 from Revell ’64 Thunderbolt. Modified oil pan to dry-sump configuration and reduced intake manifold deck height. Parts by Park pre-wired distributor. Did some mods to the air-box. The exhaust system is disappointing. I used the kit headers connected to aluminum tubing. The GT-40’s had a very elaborate “bundle of snakes†exhaust arrangement, which would be difficult to replicate from scratch. I decided not to swipe the exhaust system off a rather nice GT-40 MKII diecast I have. I did make a heat deflector, which some Mk IV’s were later fitted with. The coolers and other ancillaries were scratch-built. This will be the last “On the workbench†update†before the completed model is posted “Under Glassâ€

Thanks for mentioning the front wheel lip flares which plainly were not on the LeMans car but were on the Sebring car. The winning Sebring car also wore the #1. It was driven by Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren.

For reference I used the J-6 In Focus from Racer magazine Oct 2001, a feature on one of the other Mark IV's that appeared in Vintage Motorsports Sept/Oct 2003, Dave Friedman's book Shelby GT40 and Ronnie Spain's book GT40. I also downloaded many photos from a google image search.

The rolling chassis is complete except for engine and ancillaries. I am quite impressed with complexity of suspension, which was built box-stock. The wheel mounting arrangements was modified with knock-off hubs using an old set of Owen-Craft cast silver knocks-offs. The Mk IV used opposite threads side to side to secure the wheels. To avoid confusion, the knock-offs were red on the left side and blue on the right. The wheels were directional with turbine centers for brake cooling. The brittleness of the plastic continued to result in breakage during construction. Fortunately I had two kits to draw from.

Hi Mark - I am not much of a model car kit historian myself. As a follow up to your comments, I found this interesting post regarding the history of the MkIV kits that Randy Vandraiss wrote on the GPMA forum in 2002 - I hope to shed some light on the matter of these kits for those interested. To the best of my information to date, the 1/25 scale IMC and MPC kits of the Ford Mk IV (and their earlier J-Car variants) were designed and engineered by Budd Anderson during his successive tenures at these two companies. He first did the J-Car for IMC, and then in mid-'66 his contacts at Ford informed him that the upcoming Mk IV would be mostly are-skinned version of the J-Car, and gave him info on the proposed body designs, which Budd then had the IMC tooling engineers fit to the earlier J-Car chassis and running gear. When Budd was let go from IMC shortly after that, he accepted a position at the same level over at MPC, and (among other projects) talked them into doing the same J-Car and Mk IV models, and which were designed in much the same fashion as their IMC counterparts (which is why the IMC and MPC kits share many similar design features). So while the J-Car kits from both companies are fairly close to the actual car, the Mk IV kits are mostly repeats of their respective J-Car kits with different body panels. The engine and transaxle setups in the IMC kits have always appeared too small to my eyes, but those in the MPC versions appeared to be closer to scale and had better engraved details. The IMC Mk IV was later reissued by Testors in their "Those Famous Fords" series, and the tooling was later used by Union for their issue of the kit. This tooling (along with some others from similar-era Testors kits) has been unaccounted since that time. A last item: if anyone has an MPC J-Car or Mk IV kit with missing or damaged chassis or running gear pieces, replacement parts can be found in the old MPC "Hardcastle & McCormick" Coyote kit (which can often be had for a reasonable price), as it was merely a re-bodying of their Mk IV kit. Not a very close copy of the actual car used on the TV show, but a boon to those who want to repair or complete an example of the MPC Ford race car kits. I hope this helps. Have a nice day! - Randy Vandraiss

FORD GT Mk IV J-6 Interior There are very few photos available on-line or in books of the interior of the Ford GT Mk IV. Fortunately I saved the Racer magazine In Focus featured on the J-6 from October 2001. I reconfigured the dash and installed safety harnesses and a fire extinguisher.