Phildaupho

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.

For my next Dan Gurney racecar build I decided it should be the 1967 Le Mans winning Ford GT IV Dan shared with AJ Foyt for probably the most significant international victory for a totally North American car and driver combination. My starting point for this project was a couple of swap-met purchased previously started MPC Mark IV kits which included only one set of incomplete instructions. Researching these kits I discovered that Bud “The Kat†Anderson was the project leader for the IMC Ford J-Car kit which begat the MPC MarkIV kits. Fortunately I found a web link with instructions for virtually every MPC kit ever made except of course for the Mark IV but the J-Car instructions helped fill in the gaps. Although I am fairly impressed with the body proportions and complexity of the running gear, there are many aspects that require revision. The biggest problem I had with the old MPC kit was the brittleness of the red styrene. The decals in the kit were not that great but I got a set of Fred Cady decals before he closed shop. Gurney bump on driver’s side roof & door, engine cover hinges removed, added roof louvers, side vents molded, NACA scoops opened, brake ducts closed, filler door repositioned from left side to right side, scribed spare tire access door on rear cover, reduced thickness of rear spoiler. Dashboard reconfigured Scratch-built oil cooler ducting, oil tanks and suitcase box. Using engine from Revell Thunderbolt with oil sump configured for dry sump and deck height of intake manifold reduced, replaced styrene spare with vinyl. Experimented with the spare body the possibility of opening everything up.

My Falcon kit arrived yesterday. First impressions - it comes in a very big box, the parts are well packaged and I was glad to see the dual exhaust option. Generally I think I like it and because I do not plan to build it as a factory stock replica, the accuracy issues will not be a big problem for me. Overall the parts remind me of the Fujimi 427 Cobra which was a nice kit but not entirely accurate and was considered expensive compared to the R/M Cobra [which also is a nice kit for the money but has always not included engine compartment/wheelwell panels].

Thanks Gregg for all the photos. Definitely a great GSL. Looking forward to full results.

Very neat project. This is a lot pretty than some of the home-builts I have seen at vintage car races or in the pages of old sports car magazines.

Very nice restoration and conversion. Great stance. The wheels look good for this application.

There is something to like about the new kit, however. The engine compartment (Shock towers and braces, etc) look pretty good. It's also the only kit to have a proper generatot bracket, so props for that. Here's a link to my photos of the box contents. Gotta love the two barrel intake manifold with the two runners and the offset carb mounting flange. Trumpeter 64 Falcon kit contents.

From one Falcon guy to another, I really like your build and think the brushed affect will look great. I like the brushed panels on the back of the Ford Flex and think it would look good on the sides as well. Sort of the modern equivalent of a country squire. I remember the first model I saw of Gregg's - a 48 Woodie with chrome foil and carbon fibre rather than wood.That's thinking outside the box. It looked awesome. Have a great time at GSL

I have been following the postings relating to the Trumpeter ’64 Falcon and I am nervously awaiting my pre-ordered kit. Although I am prepared to be disappointed, I already know how I am going to build it. This ’65 Falcon was built using a Modelhaus body and AMT ’67 Mustang running gear as a replica of my own Falcon I owned a few years back. It had been cloned by the previous owner as a Canadian only Hi-Po 4-speed. I later added front disc brakes, black-walls and Torque-Thrusts. For more photos see http://public.fotki.com/phildaupho/falcons/