W-409

This is what it says in 1968 NHRA Rulebook in Gas Coupes & Sedans: UPHOLSTERY: Interiors may not be gutted. Must run full upholstery equivalent to factory specifications. Floor mats optional. Bucket seats may replace stock seats (two required) only if they are fully upholstered. Rear seats are optional. Factory-type upholstery and/or paneling must be used in lieu of the above. Altered was a category where the rules were much more free and there were often some very wild rides in Altered classes. But these Gassers could not be modified that much. I know the kit's interior though, it's not that great. You really turned it into a good looking interior and the engine is looking super nice too.

Yep the interior isn't 100% like it was on the '79 Skyhawk, but I think the basic shapes are really close. Some details, like cauges, radio etc are different though... But those are of course modified for the Cannonball Racer. Charger Daytonas didn't have six lug nuts, but I guess most Stock Cars from that era had. And my plan was that the suspension would be built using those old Stock Cars as a quide to make it handle well on the high ways at high speed. Here are a couple of pics as I finished the fuel lines in the engine bay. I still need to run a line from Fuel Pressure Regulator to the fuel tank but that should be an easy job to do. I added some minor paint touch ups and now I'm ready to move on working with the carburetor linkages... One thing that has never been one of my favorites...

Yep I've heard the same thing that Finland looks pretty much the same as Northern Minnesota. I've never been there, though, but yep many Finns have moved over there during the years. If I had a Ford, I'd like to go to the Freak Race just to watch the action. But while I don't have one, I guess I won't.

This is a good looking project even if lowering is not quite my style. Looks like you're doing a good work with the engine and that roll bar looks really good too. I haven't lowered many leaf spring cars, as I said above, I'm quite rarely lowering these things. Anyway one trick that is easy to do is adding little styrene blocks between the leaf springs and the rear axle. Some other ways, like finding different leaf springs or bending the ones that you have are much harder to get right. This is how the lowering block looks: I hope this helps.

Yep I've done better on other paint jobs. Unfortunately I have no clue what caused the orange peel, I painted and cleared this one just like I always do. The place was also the same, in a garage without any actual paint booths or anything. I would like to know, too, why it happened so I can avoid causing the same problem again. Well, luckily I'm pretty sure I can save it by polishing it. That always gives good results. Well I was working with the fuel lines today. I didn't get them all done as I hoped, but it was more work than I remembered. The fittings were scratchbuilt from Hex-Styrene Rod and painted them first with Revell silver and then with either Tamiya's Clear Red or Clear Blue. The braided line is made by Pro Tech which is by far the best stuff that is available. I had to scratchbuild T-Fitting too, as well as the fuel pressure regulator is also scratchbuilt from different types of styrene rods. Scratchbuilt Fuel Pressure Regulator: Fuel Lines of the 2nd Carburetor. Some minor cleanup is still needed, but my air cleaner will hide the carbs mostly so I don't think it's a good idea to go full detail with the carbs especially when the Deadline is getting closer and closer. I also painted the wheels. They are from Plastic Performance Products and they're excellent. These are the only wheels where the bolts and nuts are molded so that both of them can be painted with different colors. I will need to add valve stems on the wheels though.

I did the same thing on mine and it works great. That chassis fits almost perfectly under Jo-Han's '64 Dodge Polara too.

Looks good from here. This is a neat looking car, and you did a great job from what I can see... Do you have any bigger pictures of it?

Good looking Mustang for sure. Your builds are always nice to follow and this one was no exception. Nice detailing and great stance... Very nice build overall.

Yep that turned out fantastic. I'm glad you were able to save the paint and it turned out fantastic! What else can I say, your typical quality (Perfect in every way). Extra clean BMF work and great assembly finish it off.

This will definitely be interesting. I have the same kit but yours will be a good reference and inspiration for mine. You do always very good work so I will keep watching this one closely.

Very nice Mercury Comet. I really like seeing these older Drag Racers being built. Especially old Stockers and Factory Experimental Cars are my favorites. The overall look is excellent, I like the stance and wheel and tire choice is really nice too. Good job creating an Old School Drag Car. I like this very much.

Heh, it might be true that it's in the blood! I've never been in Freak Race, but it's mainly for Fords (or vehicles containing Ford parts) and one thing they do is that they run circle track. Here is another cool clip from 2014 Freak Race. This time it's on gravel, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdSyDmz_z5E

I think there's no need for any aero kits or anything like that. Drifting can be done on good looking cars, too, this clip is filmed here in Finland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNX5PmOJW8U

Yep, here's an older picture of that car. According to the subject, a Hudson Hornet Gasser has been on my "To Do - List" ever since I saw Moebius is tooling a kit of one. When I get myself another one of those Hudson kits, I will definitely start building a Gasser out of it.

Thanks Guys! I really like the colors too. I've always thought that red and silver fit perfectly together, especially when there's a clear coat on. It is also true that these cars are very nice, just like Chevrolets from the same years. Both are also good starting points for different styles of builds... Stock, Custom, NASCAR, and of course the best... Junior Stock or Gas Coupe Drag Car. It looks like I will have to shoot another coat of clear on the body. It's not too shiny, which is not a problem but it looks like the clear coat is not thick enough to be polished. Now there would be a too big risk to go through the clear when polishing.

Great job with the Skyhawk's interior, Fred! It's pretty much like I remember how it was on my dad's '79 Skyhawk. But I got to say that I thought of the same thing as Jonathan, it might be that the Cops smell those donuts and start chasing you. Anyway here are a couple of better pictures of the clear coated body. It looks like there's some orange peel, but I'm pretty sure it will turn out alright when it's polished out. Today I started making the fuel lines, or actually the fittings. I should get them finished tomorrow and then I can start installing the actual Braided Lines, so stay tuned...

Just a small teaser shot of the body as I got it clear coated today. Luckily it looks good at least so far, I will have to look at it again in the morning though. The reason why I'm posting only this one shot is that it's the only one I was able to get on the foggy garage full of paint fumes.

Thanks Jonathan! Great job with the Dart, too. Especially the shade of grey on that intake manifold catches my eye... Fantastic color for many parts, what is it? Nice work with the wheels too. Here's a small update. I was able to smooth out the decal to look good and then I headed to the paint booth again. I shot some clear over the body and so far it looks good. Hopefully it is good looking when dry also so I can polish it out and complete this build in time. I also sanded the hood smooth and shot some Primer on it. I forgot to take a picture of it in Primer, though. I gotta fix that tomorrow.

I'll continue building these that have been under progress during the Summer, too. Of course I will probably start some new ones, too and continue other older projects of mine, but at least I should complete these: '50 Olds Mild Custom. '55 Chevy Bel Air... My "Summer Project" that ended up having lots of modifications even if it was supposed to be a fast and simple build that could be finished during the Summer... Not! '69 Charger Daytona for the Cannonball Run. This should be finished in approximately two weeks as the deadline is December 1st. '60 Plymouth Fury Mild Custom: Others include for example '60 Impala (Replica of what my 1:1 car will hopefully be), Don Nicholson '61 Impala OS/S, Grumpy's Toy '66 Nova and of course Fiat Topolino Altered. Let's see what I will be able to do. I can say that the High School and 1:1 cars slow my progress down for sure.

Here's an update to the Charger Daytona - project. I installed the Bumble Bee stripe decal on place and it fits pretty nicely. A little of Micro Sol is still needed before I can move on to clear coating the body. Hopefully I can smooth it out today so I could shoot some clear on it already in the evening. Of course the clear coat will need to be completely dry before polishing can begin. Chassis was painted orange and the subframe got some gloss black paint, just like the gas tank. I also installed the engine on place. First I added a decal to the oil filter. It's from Slixx decal sheet and it looks like those are high quality decals. I also installed the headers, battery cable to the starter and alternator wires to the alternator. I still need to do lots of more wiring and plumbing, but it required that the engine is on place. The one piece rear axle/driveshaft/leaf springs was painted too. ' One thing I knew that had to be made was a new radiator wall. This is what the kit offers and it's really horrible looking piece: So I took one from my parts box and after some cutting it fits pretty nicely. I need to mock it up with the body though before I can paint it, as I don't want unpleasant surprises when doing the final assembly. The hood got some more Bondo, too.

I think those tires look much better than the first ones did. Also I like the Dual Dominators better, somehow they just fit into this kind of car. I think the stance looks excellent just like this so I hope you don't lower the front end...At least much.

That Edsel turned out really nice. Excellent work on the paint work and foiling, and the clean assembly looks very good too. It is a beautiful body style for sure. I bought one of those (Mine is HT version though) a while back and it is a good looking kit overall. I can't wait to start mine, hopefully it'll turn half as nice as this! How about some outside pics, BTW? I think your builds looked better when you posted outside shots. I mean it looks very good in these pics too, but it might look even better outside?

Well, if I buy a kit, my plan is to build it. I don't see a reason on buying something that I would not build, so they all will be unwrapped anyway. As I like to see what's in the box, I open those kits almost immediately.

I like to paint the body when chassis, engine and interior are mocked up and I have seen that they fit. Otherwise I would probably mess the paint job while doing the mock ups. On the body, I like to glue the front and rear valance panels on place before painting, but otherwise I usually paint parts before gluing them together. For example I think that an engine is really easy to mess up with too much paint so that it looks like the block and cylinder heads are all one piece.

Great to see you back building this one. The Vega is looking really good. Nice work with the paint job and smooth BMF makes it look like a real deal. Good looking details in the interior too.