Nitrozilla

Ooooooo. Ahhhhhhhh. Oooooooo. Ahhhhhhh. Installed the suspension, then stuck some goodies on to get a vision of where I'm going. So far so good. Two correctable errors I can see from the pics on the roll cage. Need to blend in the added support at the back of the cage. Easy peasy. Next item is directly attributed to old age. Anybody notice the missing cross bar on the right side? I still have the piece I made. It somehow got into the "rejected parts" pile. If you notice anything else, shout out, but use your indoor voice. Thanks for looking.

Moving right along, got the boots trimmed and the distributor installed. I mentioned earlier that I needed a coil, so I made one from stretched sprue. I also made a bracket so I could mount it to the front engine plate. Simply bent a piece of solder around the sprue and drilled a couple of holes, then hit it with CA. You can see it in the second picture under the distributor. Wiring was pretty straight forward. Forgot to look up the firing order. More to come......

Thanks Mike. Hard to believe it's only been 3 weeks since I started this.

Here I go sweating the details again.Finished the distributor; that's when I realized by force of habit I made what I thought was going to be a magneto. I'll get the elves to start checking parts boxes for a good looking coil. I'm really jazzed about the detail on the battery. I placed a couple of labels on top. Wasn't until after I took the picture that I could read the top one. Old eyes. As you may be able to tell, I managed to salvage the kit fuel pump. Added a piece of shrink tubing at the bottom. The relay box is scratch built. I ran a piece of wire in front of the butterflies on the scoop. It looks more realistic in person, although I may scribe out a trench under the wire so it lays flatter. The ends will hook up to linkage and a return spring. I'll figure out the throttle cable during assembly. The oil filters are ready to mount and I just noticed I'll have to move or replace the one on the right. DAGNABIT and TARNATION !!!! Lastmost, the plug wire boots are installed and ready to trim. I always put a drop of CA on each one first. Not to make sure it doesn't come out, but to make sure it won't move during trimming. Thanks for looking.

Not a CarToon, but.......

Found one. Ain't Google a wunnerfull thing?

Woot !!! Got the parachute pack done. I sure hope they had spring assisted parachute deployment doo hickies back in the day, 'cuz it's got one now. Ignore the shiny on the Simpson decal. I just put dullcoat on it. Might be hard to tell the difference, but I've made battery terminals out of both solder and aluminum tubing. Hard to tell in the pic, but the aluminum ones are much better looking. Lastness, since the valve covers had to have the spark plug nipples removed, ( ), to drill out for the boots, I had to lose some chrome. I'm trying to keep as much chrome as possible on here, so instead of dechroming them, I repaired the damaged area, painted silver, then transparent red. Enjoy the pics.

Been messing with the front spoiler and truly messed it up. Sanded off some rib and rivet detail. Then I tried to fix it. Yuck!!! So I pulled the front and rear spoilers from a Hawaiian kit. Figured if I'm replacing the front with something incorrect, might as well do the rear too. Here's a great shot of the battery and box. Very happy with it. Also getting closer to starting assembly. All individual parts are done with the exception of an MSD box and possible fuel pump I need to scratch build. I get less happy with the kit pump daily. Wonder if I have a decent one in my stash.....? Thanks for looking.

They say the Devil is in the Details. I've been working on lots of goodies over the last couple of days. I needed a better gauge cluster and that required a piece of aluminum tubing for the steering column because of the larger mounting hole. I also, (in an act of whimsy), laced the steering wheel. It just seemed too cool not to do. It looks huge in the pics so close up. The tires and wheels are done, complete with valve stems made from solder and aluminum tubing. Glue a slice of tubing to a piece of .032 solder with CA, then a drop of aluminum paint on top of the cap. Again, the caps look huge in close up, but they are close enough for the girls that John Teresi goes with. Then there's the battery. Still needs the posts and a couple of label decals on top. Speaking of the battery, I added the battery tray and also installed a parachute loop. Needs a little paint, huh? Thanks for looking.

Thanx Mike. That address in Las Vegas is......... Ya' know what? I'll pm you. Since this car has a starter, I guess it's going to need a battery. Since batteries don't defy gravity, guess that means we'll need a battery tray too. Still need to make the battery hold downs. For simplicity's sake I'll build an upside down "J" hook setup. The battery posts and terminals are made of solder, drilled and squished to suit my evil purposes. Blower Belt. Ooooooooo. Ahhhhhhhhh. Pretty. Thanks for looking All.

I just love it when royalty stops by.

You rocked it Derrick. The tank and wheels really make it a unique build.

Bill and Jeff, thank you so much for your thoughts. I'm getting the impression that most people don't care for them. At the same time I'm being encouraged to do what I think is best. I'll wait a little longer before I make up my mind. It can be a last minute add on. Got some engine assembly done. The belt I'll be using is from a dollar bill acceptor called a "transport." I used to work at a casino and got some from a slot technician. This is my last belt and I had to narrow it with scissors the entire length. The ribs that contact pulleys will be removed to keep a low profile. If you want to find belts like this for your blown projects, I recommend contacting any vending companies that do maintenance on machines that accept bills. Beats trying to make them. YUCK !!! Thanks for looking.

Niko!!!!!! Thanx for the input my friend. Let me see if I can swing you and others to "The Canard Side." While Charlie never used them, this was the age of experimentation and whatever they could do to keep the tires on the ground and from smoking was fair game. He was obviously in favor of aerodynamics to cut the air with the front and rear spoilers. I have a feeling the front spoiler hurt more than helped. Also, NHRA allowed them until they didn't any more. Are they ugly? Well, I guess that's in the eye of the beholder. Thankfully, something better came along and eliminated the need for them in the first place. I guess what I'm saying is that they were a symbol of American Ingenuity that is period correct for this subject. Does that make sense?

Woah!!! Two updates in one day? Madness, I tell you. Madness!!! Okay, from my last post until now, I got another bright idea. Actually, the idea came from Daryll, Mister Twister. I decided to do an open parachute. So I opened up a basic parachute pack and attached some flaps made with a 3x5 card, attached with CA and slapped it with some paint. I'll use Daryll's method of painting facial tissue for the parachute and I guess I'm going to have to hit Michael's or Hobby Lobby for some cord material.

That was my original thought The centers on all 4 were painted by hand with Tamiya X-12 Gold and a 5/0 brush. They still need valve stems. Canards my friend are the downforce producing wings in front of the rear fender well. They were banned due to the NHRA's fear that it wouldn't be a happy car if they tagged the railing. Also, I'm the kind of guy that would do an internet search for you if you asked me to.

As you're about to see Vince, I'm not real big on rivet counting. The Nautilus from Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea started that nonsense when I became aware of it. A guy actually lost Best of Show due to missing rivets. All kinds of goodies await in this installment. Before we get started, I want to take a poll. I'm seriously considering installing canards, like I did on my Jungle Jim Charger. I'll post a pic for memory jogging purposes and for those who haven't seen it. Tell me what you think. Canard Si, or canard No? Next up, we have the completed suspension before installation. Also in the picture you'll notice a pair of slicks. The smaller one is the kit rubber, the other is from the AMT parts pack. They are the same width but are easily 1/4" taller. Based on other builds I've seen using the same chassis, this is gonna make the stance killer. Also, the seat and spoiler are nearly done. Lastly, the tanks and fire extinguisher in progress. Let me know your thoughts on the canards. I'm at 80% in favor. Thanks for looking.

Can't wait to see it done Chris. It just doesn't stop with you, does it? Good thing you don't need to make rotors too.

Slow but sure getting stuff done. The grill is at 90%. Still needs a little touch up on the parking lights. Next up are the springs. I start by trimming a little off of each spring mount to get a flat surface to drill into. I do a pilot hole with an X-Acto, then a small hole for the wire to insert into with a drop of CA.. Notice wire inserted at bottom, then wrapped around the existing coil. On reflection, I believe I will unwrap them and paint the kit coils black. Now, before everybody freaks out when you see the blower and other anodized appearing items, no, it's not accurate. I'm painting for pretty. Thanks for looking.

That would explain the UFO I saw from my patio the other nite. Looks great in primer Clay. Keep on keepin' on.

Surprise extra update. Almost done with front and rear grills. I added a piece of styrene to the top of the front grill where the hood trim is supposed to be. The piece from the kit didn't fit the contour of the resin body hood. I shot them in aluminum, then did a black wash, then an aluminum dry brush for touch up. The headlight covers are still drying. Smart story, dumb story here. I got the bright idea to use the clear kit headlights and glue them in upside down to give me a flat surface to replicate the headlight cover plates. Silly me thought the lights would only have mesh ribs on the round part. Wrong. There's light mesh on the flat part too. Since it's too small to sand smooth, I have to cover it with aluminum brush paint. Hopefully it will dry right. It's still wet in the pics. I really like the way they look mated up to the bumpers. Just the look I was going for. Enjoy the pics. Thanks for looking.

Not much of an update. The Apple Red paint is drying very slowly. It was still tacky overnite so I'm going to give it plenty of time to dry. In the meantime I'm thrilled with how the grill is turning out. I have this picture of the painted car with the aluminum grill and the chrome bumpers in my head and it won't go away. So, I'll tell the story of how this car and model building got me my first job. My mom and I went grocery shopping. That means she goes while I hit the small department store next door that carries models. THERE IT WAS!!!!!! GOTTA' HAVE IT!!! GOTTA' HAVE IT!!! GOTTA' HAVE IT!!!! I ran to the grocery store to get a $5.00 advance on my allowance. "Not happening young man. Blah, reason, blah, whatever." When we got home, I helped put the groceries away, made a lame excuse about going to a friend's house and went job hunting. Within walking distance was a place that made rubber floor mats and truck flaps. No good, workers sweep their own areas. Next door, canvas shop, family run. RATS!!! Next door was a little tire shop called Golden State Tire Distributors. Gentleman by the name of Tom Kurka took me over to a Coats 10-10 tire changer and asks, "You ever work one of these?" I worked for him after school and after I graduated for years. He let me borrow his Burgundy '70 Chrysler New Yorker for my prom and was also at my (first) wedding. All of that because no one recognized my styrene addiction. Here's a pic of my messy desk. Hang in there. We'll get to it. Blah, reason, blah, whatever.

Another mind blowing build Tyrone. Concept, execution, detail, the whole ball of wax.

Thanx for the mock up Brad. Awesomeness On Wheels.

Now THAT is a work of art. Shame this board won't let us use the words to describe it.