Jeff Sauber

I usually only drill into the rod about a 1/8-1/2 inch or so. After that, the drill will want to wander off center and you'll end up with fittings that are crooked and will look like poop. It takes a little practice to get the drill going in straight, but even only a 1/2 inch or so into the rod will still yeild about 5 or 6 decent fittings which is pretty good. Always start with a smaller size drill bit and gently work your way up till the hole is big enough to accomodate the hose diameter. If you don't drill the piece out wide enough, the fitting could tear open if you force it over the hose. Most of the red fittings will have a taper to them so be sure to sand the taper before cutting the fittings off from the rod stock. Once the fitting is a seperate piece, it will no longer be very easy to work with and re-shape unless you slide it onto a peice of aluminum rod, toothpick, or the like to use as a handle.

At first, the hex rod can be a bit fussy to work with, but after a little practice, it's gets pretty easy. The hardest part is trying to drill out the center of the rod evenly. Cutting them off isn't too bad. You just roll the rod back and forth under a sharp hobby knife. You can also try using a miter box for more even and uniform cutting for those with unsteady hands.. I've got a little system for doing this that I use, and I can usually produce about 15-20 fittings in about 20 minutes or so. After they are all shaped and painted up, it's pretty hard to tell that it's hex rod and not some fancy aluminum piece....besides, with as much race car stuff that I do, I'm not about to spend 300 or 400 bucks in itsy bitsy hose fittings......Sorry, not going to happen. For me, making as much stuff as I can is much more rewarding than buying mass produced items off the rack.

I use plastruct hex rod in various diameters...It's a little more tedious to cut, shape, and drill....etc, but once painted, it's nearly impossible to tell them apart from the aluminum ones. I also use pro tech braided hose exclusively. It's the best scale hose on the market.

If I recall correctly, I think I encountered that same issue back when I built one of these kits....At least it's an easy fix. Keep the updates comming.

That's comming along well. Not a bad shade of blue either. Does the hood shut all the way? also, that front suspension dragging on the ground scares me!!.....lol. I bet that would look cool at night going down the road......we'd have to call you "sparky" as a nickname......

I have to agree with this. This is more of a "tips, tricks, and ideas subject rather than a personal "workbench project" thats underway. Besides, I'm really not sure if this thread has any real intentions anyway. It seems more like just another "carrot dangling session" to me. We all know what happened in the first dance, so why come back here in the same fashion with the same cocky attitude just a couple days later to spin up more useless jibber jabber? This entire topic is a big *yawn*....Either shut the heck up and post the darn tutorial or go do something else, and quit the nonsense. This forum has had enough B.S. lately to last all the rest of the year......Put it up, or shut it up, but stop beating around the freakin bush already.

By the way Dave, restarting this thread with a cocky attitude isn't in your best interest......I hope you have your football helmet and flame suit handy.

The sequel has arrived!!......................... I wonder if it will be better than the original? and will contain more or less attitude and arrogance? Guess I'll go grab the skittles and a cold soda....................

I'm assuming this will have a fully balanced rotating assembly....... complete with bearings, pistons/rings, crankshaft, and main caps.....as well as a working cam/valve train? The transmission work should be interesting as well.

Super nice job, man!!...........That turned out sweet!

All this scratchbuilding stuff seems way out of my league.....

Yeah, I'll try and get some good closeup shots when I finish getting the panels all setup and adjusted.

Thanks, the metal grille strips will really standout after the body color had been applied. I wanted to try and accent the "teeth" a little.

The purple trimmings are just a little paint and some purple flocking. The rest of the panels were created from evergreen sheet, strip, and some v-groove styrene. The door hardware was scratchbuilt from k&s aluminum rod and some wire.

Oh man, some of the humor was epic indeed, but hopefully it's all out of our systems by now. I never really enjoy seeing a decent builder get chased off the board even if they were stretching the truth a bit. The treehugger seems to self indulge a bit, but overall I think he tries to mean well...Anyway, I'm done here. I've got two more paint jobs to do tonight....Night, everybody.

I really don't think theres much more to add to this thread...I suppose it's time to dig a 6 foot hole and put it to a final rest. We've all basically had a couple of turns taking swings at the pinata and theres no more candy left to fall on the floor....

Another great looking ford....very nice.

Man, Poor 'ole Treehugger-Dave is getting owned bad in this thread....I haven't seen this much mockery in a long, long, while. I think it's safe to say that he's been officially tarred and feathered here on the model cars forum............Let this be a lesson to any other snake oil men we may have lurking about....

I'm having some web browser issues, so I'm jumping below the accessory bar that's now back in the middle of my response window....I'll get to fixin things up soon......No really, I promise.....seriously....I'm not being fraudulent here....

I've seen some lewd and crude Britney shoppage, but this is a family forum.....Posting those images here will result in instant bannage....

Remember, the underlying theme of this thread is..... "Keepin it real"! One fraudulent snake oil salesman per thread, please.....

the flo in leather pic has been shopped.....

That's a real nice looking fairlane......

True, but I'd rather smell burning wood rather than melting plastic. I knew all this leather interior jibberish would end up in flames....

Something tells me that the Treehugger-Dave isn't going to approve this thread....... But then again, trees and fire don't usually go well together.