GrandpaMcGurk

SUGGESTION: Do a little admin. head scratching. Pick & choose the stuff that feels good & will benefit the site the most......Pop the clutch and let's take the tuned up ol' gal for a test drive?

You're not hallucinating Stump, sorry I can't help you with the respirator. I looked through your linked build pics.........great stuff.

Heard that.

Sounds like a winner to me.......you original investors will be the first kids on the block to get a fiberglass body. TDR has made it clear that no bodies will go to market until you have been taken care of. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with them...lots of possibilities. I know you guys have waited a long time for these to see the light of day, I'm not going to go into all that. TDR has only had it for a short while in comparison but I'll keep you posted on it's progress. We want you guys to be happy with them and feel like you got your investments worth. If any of you original guys have any suggestions, questions or just want to do a little pipe dreamin' about what you are going to do with yours...please feel free to post in this thread. That will make them easy for me to find and we can share a little think tanking while I'm slinging glass & frustrating myself. Besides, it keeps me on my toes and focused to get it done.

For what it's worth Harry, it looks to me like you have a handle on it. Well thought out my friend. After reading through your revised set-up, I guess us Biggie guys don't have enough of a following yet to warrant a little more elbow room......oh well, we'll just keep hammering away and appreciating what we have.

Gregg, an easy to use scale calculator...you know the kind, the user plugs in one scale size or another and the calculator spits out the desired size in inches or mm. This is be something I've found very useful especially when scratch building & kit bashing. As long as you are considering a bit of expansion could you possibly allocate a little more real estate to large scale? Perhaps under the Big Boyz section add subtitles for 1/16th, 1/12th, 1/8th, 1/6th & larger. As is......1/8th posts get bumped by 1/16 etc. so on & so on. If nothing else perhaps a section just for 1/8th and larger. Thanks for listening.

How 'bout a wheel? Pictures are of the wheel for this car but I stuck it into a couple of R/M tires just for giggles to see if it would fit the opening.....yep. Well, gang...that's where I'm at to date on this project. Now it's off to the final sanding and prep work on the body and getting a mold made. The mold will be a 5 piece bolt together assembly constructed of fiberglass. I want to hand laminate the body (unless I run into a problem) in glass as a one piece unit. There is no way that would be possible without a mold I can take apart to remove the casting from the mold without destroying the mold or the casting. The mold will be constructed from fiberglass as well and unlike the silly putty used for resin casting it doesn't have a lot of give or tolerance for undercutting. No worries, I have the Madd Fabricator looking over my shoulder and if the mold doesn't pass his calibrated eyeball test I'll have to do it over.

If you want the real deal go to the source.....most of the full size automotive paint suppliers can hook you up with a quart of the "correct" paint code for a specific year or model vehicle. Use care though and do a test piece...some automotive paints are "hot" and will destroy your plastic model.

No need to dump your stash Bill, there is still much work to be done on this project. Grab yourself a "Fish" bowl and start tossing your spare change in it. One of the biggest reasons I'm posting this in progress development of the car is to give you modelers time to offer suggestions, make running changes, etc. Changes or any of that can be accomplished at this point, once I have the finished molds done it will be very difficult to change or correct anything. TDR has been putting in a lot of hours to bring you guys some new goodies including bodies, starter kits to include a body and many of the other parts to complete a car. The goal here is to allow you modelers to either purchase just a body and add the support pieces as your hobby budget allows or purchase the whole thing at one time and save a couple of bucks on shipping etc. We have no intention of now or ever offering a product to you guys for sale that was rushed to market just to make a few bucks. If a product isn't up to TDR's standards it gets scrapped or re-done.......period. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you Len....glad you like it.

The stance and the proportions you've built into the body are sterling Dave. Even as a mock-up the car has some serious attitude. It's going to be a fantastic build.

Just how big is 1/8th? It's this big.........that's a 1/24th scale R/M Hemi 'Cuda next to the 1/8th master. See what I meant when I said earlier in this thread that the 1/24th just didn't look right?

Thanks Dave, I want everyone to understand that I don't deserve all the credit for this...the 'Cuda project was well under way and the "bones" I have were very well done indeed. I'm taking a started project up a notch or two with the help of TDR and large scale enthusiasts like yourself. We have been stuck with what the big kids (Tamiya, R/M, etc.) have deemed fit to supply us with for far too long and we certainly aren't in a position to compete with the mass production injection molding corps. Rather than go the wish list route or whine about it, TDR was formed. Through old school craftsmanship and the new technology that the TDR design team brings to the table. It's all good, my friend. There is a lot of stuff available in smaller scales but up to this point 1/8th has taken a back seat, as dedicated as TDR is to scale and accuracy...that's going to change.

Steering wheel, horn button, and steering column. No....I'm not going to add the ignition switch to the steering column,

Here's a shot of a full size stock '71 interior, note the lack of a center console. As far as I know a console wasn't offered in this car for 1971. The red interior is a 1970 and it shows a console. Also note the difference in the pattern on the the seats. I'm asked occasionally if I scale things up from 1/24th or 1/25th when working with these biggies, the answer to that (at least in my case) is no. I'm sure some folks do but I find that the little kits already have too many "fudge" factors built in and for the most part are some what lacking in detail. I bought the R/M Hemi 'Cuda (1/24th) and will be posting some pics of it beside the 1/8th for size comparison but (in my opinion) it just doesn't look right.

Hey there Dave, as you know I'm already excited about your Pro-Mod 'Cuda. If I live long enough I've been thinking about doing an early altered wheelbase Cuda "funny car" in 1/8th. I hope you don't mind if peek over your shoulder and pick up a few pointers as you go along. Your builds have really rekindled that old detail to the max spark in me. Thanks bud.

Looks like a proper banger to me Syd...nice going.

I'm waiting on a few supplies supplies to start making the fiberglass mold for this beast, so let's take a look at few more of the "support" pieces that are in progress. These are not items that will be included with the basic body but down the road a bit they may be offered as part of a package deal available to you guys that would like to build a Cuda that doesn't require as much scratch building on your end & is a bit closer to stock. We'll see how it goes and if there is enough interest TDR will, no doubt, put them into production. So understand guys, TDR reacts to input from you when it comes to new products, in progress project goodies etc. Before I open a can of worms let me say if you want an Edsel chances are slim...LOL. Without your input...it ain't gonna happen. In other words....TDR listens to you, that's why we started this thing. This thread is about the Cuda but it's a simple thing to contact TDR and talk to any of the TDR group, we're here because of you........so speak up. Anyway, all that aside here's a few pics of some interior tub chunks in progress.... Front bucket seat...3 pieces, seat, back & back panel. Rear seat...2 pieces.....seat & back. Big deal you say...where the door panels? Well my friends, here's the door panels and a rough mock up of the beginnings of the interior tub.... Next up......steering wheel and column.

SWEET!

Hey gang, for those of you following this thread, I'd like to pass on a little info to you. I been asked several times why we choose to go with fiberglass rather than resin for the body and some of the parts. It certainly isn't the quickest way to produce a number of bodies. I'm going to turn these questions over to the Madd Fabricator (my glass mentor), he been doing bodies this way longer than I have and can give you more info than I can. I've been sold on glass for large bodies since I first laid hands on some of his Willy's parts, anyhow I'll turn this area over to him as I'm sure he will be able to answer any questions that pop up far better than I could.

Here's a couple of pics of the stock front 426 K-member. Bottom side The resin 426 will sit on these pads

Good question Rick R. You're in luck, I agree pro-street isn't everyone's cup of tea, neither are funny cars etc. Personally I'm an old school gasser guy. Bear with me, there will be more photos coming of a number of stock parts and I won't be using the "factory" tack on front fender gills or the rear spoiler specific to the Hemi Cuda. The '70 grille with 2 headlights rather than the four on the '71 is in the think tank. Same with the tail lights as the bodies are virtually the same. Here's a pic of the Sox & Martin '70 cuda. Eventually I'll probably do a stock or the dual scoop hood rather the the shaker and if you get enough guys to bug TDR you may be able to convince them to do a 440,383 or 340.

Along with the parts I got with the original master there were some other goodies already started.....I'll be tweaking this 426 for casting in resin.......why you may ask? Because as sweet as it is the TDR RP version of the 426 is simply not within the grasp of many modelers, especially when combined with the cost of the body. Some folks just can't afford the price of admission, that's understood. TDR is all about promoting large scale by providing a high level of detail at the lowest price possible. This engine will be cast in resin and available only as part of a future "starter kit" along with the Cuda body. There is much more work to be done before it's ready but it's well on it's way. The TDR 426 is the way to go for you guys that have the means and skill to build at that level, this engine is for the guys that really want one that has more detail than the run of the mill stuff and doesn't require all the fiddly finishing. It will be a bare bones high quality resin engine specific to this Cuda. As a side note it is a drop in as far as fitting goes with a stock Cuda K-member (yes I have one of those too, pics of the K-member to follow soon). Note that it has motor mounts to make attaching it to the cross member fool proof.

I guess this is one of things that's going to have to be left up the individual modeler to decide what works best for them. I've found (personally) that a light touch using a pin vise with a sharp quality micro bit works well for most stuff including pilot holes without the bite that causes the material to break out. However at 62 I tend to get a bit ham fisted at times and bugger up a part. I've also thrown parts at a high velocity across the hobby room using a bench mounted drill press. Can you yell INCOMING! In Mario's case, he drills taps and does all sorts of things that are way beyond my skill levels. I also found that in many cases it's easier (for me, whenever possible) to bond the parts together with CA and then drill the holes for the real or fake bolt. This approach allows me to drill both parts at the same time with less chance of break out as there is more material to prevent my over exuberance.

Here's a sneak peek at the grille & dash board. I have some final tweaking and fitting to do but until I get a glass body cast to fit them to they are on the back burner. Just thought you guys might like to see what I meant when I said we will be adding parts as time allows. More pics tomorrow.....the old orbs are getting tired. I had to chuckle a while back when someone asked if we were trying to replace resin casters with the RP stuff we do......obviously not, LOL This car will have a fiberglass body, cast resin parts and whatever other medium we find that works while holding the amount of detail TDR requires before we put it on the market.

We will more than likely offer it as a just the body at first for the guys that want to build pro street or an all out gas car. However as time allows we will be adding many more parts to complement it. As Rick said, we already have the correct engine in our catalog and masters for the dash board, wheels, steering wheel, stock buckets, front grille, rear seat, inner door panels are close to done. I'll be posting pics of those items soon, but they aren't going into production yet. For the time being it will just the body and perhaps a few trim parts......we'll see how it goes before committing to a multi-media kit.