W-409

Helsinki Cruising Night (Stadin Cruising as we Finns call it) is a large American Car event in Helsinki, Finland. It is on the first Friday evening/night of every month in the summertime and there are lots of cars driving around on the streets of Helsinki and/or meeting friends at the Market Square. I will be posting pictures of 2014 Cruise Nights here... The first Cruise was in April. It was really cold weather so there weren't that much cars as usual. Anyway here are a few pics and then I'll post a link to the full gallery. Here is the link to the Full Gallery with all pictures: http://tapahtumakuvia.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Tapahtumat+2014/Cruisings/Stadi/Stadin+Cruising+4.4.2014/ Pictures from May coming soon...

Thanks so much, Stan for the kind words, and especially thanks for pointing out my mistake! I completely forgot about that, after working with a GM 10 Bolt rear end from a '74 Chevelle. I should have remembered that, as we have a '60 Impala in the garage, too, and it has a rear end like this... Thanks! So I fixed that problem by painting the rear axle completely black and after that I glued the rear wheels and tires on. I decided to do a little mock up to see if the tires fit nicely in the fender openings, and they did. However, I found another problem... The firewall in this kit consists of two pieces. There is an upper part molded in the body, and lower part is in the interior. As you might guess, the fitment is not so great. So I had to scratchbuild a new firewall. I took some styrene and made a new firewall from two pieces and glued them together. When making the firewall from two separate pieces, I could add the little bend in the middle. I haven't mocked it up yet, as I left it drying yesterday, but I will test fit everything today and see if the firewall fits. It should fit nicely, as I took lots of measurements and used them as a quide, but anyway I can't be completely sure about that. If it fits nicely, then I need to smooth out the seam in the middle and then I can spray final Primer coat and move on to the paint... Here is the original firewall from the kit... And here's my version. As you probably can see, the firewall is still in rough stages and it will need work before it's smooth and ready for paint.

Thanks Chris! Usually carburetors are really unrealistic straight from the box, so I thought I should try to make them a bit realistic by adding a couple of details and painting them. The carbs on that Impala are detailed without any Photo Etch parts and on the Hemi I used PE parts... It sure makes a difference. Those fuel line fittings are scratchbuilt and they are far from perfect, though.

Yep that's a really nice Funny Car. You did a great job with the paint and decals. I think it always look the best when there is a clear coat over the decals, just like here. Incredible engine detailing too, it looks like you could fire it up any moment.

This is easy! '74 Chevy Chevelle / Malibu STW.

Yep I'm going to start it immediately when I get my Frontrunners ready and my friend casts them in resin. It shouldn't take too long time before the tires are done and I can start building the Stock Eliminator Chevelle... The paint and decals look fantastic! I like the color a lot and those black stripes fit perfectly with silver. Nice and smooth looking paint job, too. I can't wait to see more.

My dad said that it's a great show, too. He visited SEMA Show in 1990. Please post pics after the Show. I'd like to see them and probably everyone else, too. Here are my dad's pics of SEMA Show. http://public.fotki.com/NostalgicDrag/vanhoja-valokuvia/sema-show-1990/

Wow! I must have missed this one, but I'm glad I saw it now! Fantastic looking Impala. I really like these cars and you did very good work creating something really rarely seen. Excellent paint job and nice detailing all over. Opening doors are a nice touch.

That's really nice and looks period correct to me. Great work with it overall, very nice and clean job. That color fits perfectly to the look of that era and I like the stance as well. Great job.

Thanks Peter! It means a lot, you're a very talented builder. Thank You, Glenn! It was a bit colder yesterday after it started thundering and raining, so it was a good time to sit on a bench. So here's a little update. Carl... Thanks! This kit needed lots of more work than I originally thought, but I like how it's turning out too. At least it should be better than the one I built from this same kit years ago. Thomas: Actually I was thinking the same when I sprayed that spray filler on. Well, that's a good reason to buy another '55 Chevy kit and this time it would be the Revell version. It should be fun to build that replica. Well fellas here's another update for this one. I was working yesterday with the rear end and I made a good progress. Earlier I added a brake line on the rear axle. It was made out of copper wire. Now I built a brake hose (?) that connects to the brake line in the rear axle and to the floor. It is made out of Scale Dreams' spark plug wire and painted with silver. The rear axle is glued on and I installed the Ladder Bars, too. They needed a little modifications, though. From one side the edges were round and good looking, but from another side they were sharp edged. I had to file them a lot to make them round from both sides. Then I removed the chrome plating (Or what was left of it) and painted them silver. I also added a little black wash to the rear wheel centers. They turned out okay. I also had to add valves on them, so I took some wire from MIG welding machine and painted it silver. I drilled holes to the wheels and glued little pieces of that wire on place. Really simple, but good looking detail.

Thanks so much for the kind words and interest ! Stan: It's nice to have people who like to follow my projects! Big thanks for that. I've been following your builds really actively, too and they are fantastic. I like seeing something different, and your Capri and Corolla definitely fit into that category. Carl: Thanks! We'll see how this turns out... Ron & Jason: Yep, I guess I will use the engine that I have. I will need some aftermarket parts for it, but looks like Ted has pretty much everything I need. I must make an order really soon to get a couple of parts, for my other builds too. Thank You both! Glenn: That's an excellent picture ! Really, I'm not sure if Hemi fits in a Chevy (Yep, I'm a Chevy guy myself) but I guess it's a must... Thanks! Wayne: It's true that these are quite complicated, there's so much stuff to be scratchbuilt and / or kitbashed. Even nowadays those Stock Eliminator cars are way more complicated than many people think, but of course a Pro Mod car is a lot more complicated than a Stocker... Thanks for the interest! Alan: Heh, I actually have a Dremel . But with that razor saw the cuts are much more straight and I don't lose so much material. Then it's easier to glue those parts back together. Thanx! Thanks Ray! I'm glad you found it interesting. Aaron: Thanks, I definitely hope it'll turn out okay. But there's really lots of things to scratchbuild. Hopefully I can turn it out good. Well here's a little update. After cutting the front end in two pieces, I glued small bits of styrene inside the body and I put 0.20 inch marks on them. Now I could glue the front end back on, and the wheelbase should be correct now. I'm not sure if this description makes completely sense, but I'm pretty sure that the pictures will be worth thousand words on this one. Next step will be filling the gap with styrene.

I think I posted a picture of this engine when it was in progress, but here's a couple of finished shots. '62 Impala Super Stock's 409. And this is the Hemi of a '71 Barracuda Pro Stock.

I use solid rod, too. It's made by Evergreen and it can be bent really easily with a candle. I think it's important to heat up the rod as little as possible so that it won't melt. If you heat too little and it doesn't bend, you can always heat it up a bit more and try again. But if it melts, of course you need a new piece of styrene rod...

Heh, the bumpers sure are huge! The guy who sold us the Stock Eliminator '74 Chevelle told me that when they painted the car, they needed three persons to lift up the front bumper. Fantastic work, Bob! This is one of my favorite builds on this forum. The subject is very interesting and you're doing an excellent conversion with this. Truly amazing work, the bumpers look very realistic too. I can't wait to see this one finished, and this makes me inspired on starting my '73 Chevelle immediately when I get my Frontrunners ready...

I think it's ridicullous to leave that Rebel Flag away. I must admit that I was a bit interested in this kit, but without the flag I'm sure I won't be buying it. I would have liked to build a Dukes Of Hazzard Charger, but I'm not so interested in it that I'd buy the kit and aftermarket decals... I think this is a big minus point to Round 2.

A while ago I posted a topic where I was asking how should I build a Pro Mod car body, as they are far from original bodies. I got excellent responses, and here I am starting my first true Pro Modified build. My plan is to build a car that could actually race and that would be NHRA Legal. This is actually practising for my next Pro Modified Drag Car that will be a '60 Impala. I haven't done much progress yet, but I wanted to post this thread here already and do this as a Step By Step build simply because then the Pro Mod guys on this forum can point out if I make mistakes easily before it's too late to fix them. And when this build is completed some day (It will take a lot of time), hopefully this thread can help other people building their Pro Mods, too. If not, then this thread can be named "How Not To Build A Pro Mod" . So I hope that everyone will point out my mistakes and give advice when I'm in trouble... Constructive criticism is highly appreciated here! Anyway the car I'm building will be '82 Chevy Corvette that I got in a trade a few years ago. It was mainly unstarted, but the previous owner had made some room for wider Drag Slicks by cutting the chassis. At first this was going to be an Outlaw Street car, but because of the poor quality of this kit I decided to make a Pro Mod of it. So this is the kit: As an inspiration I will be using a Corvette Pro Mod from Finland, driven by Marko Lantto. I don't have any measurements or anything like that from his car, but luckily there are pictures in the internet that I can use, and they will sure be helpful in this project. I started by taking a couple of measurements. In Pro Modified, the car's wheelbase must be between 104 and 115 inches. The original wheelbase on '82 Corvette is 98 inches, so it needs to be stretched a little. I will be using Good Year Frontrunner tires on this one, and with them I can make the wheel openings a bit smaller in the front. By moving the front wheels a bit further away, I measured that my model had 100,8 inch wheelbase. When the front tire was in its' regular place, the wheelbase was exactly 98 inches. I'm going to stretch my wheelbase with 5 inches, which means that in scale I will stretch the body 0.20 inches. Here are a couple of pics of the original body. The firewall was molded to the body as one piece, so it had to go first. With my razor saw, I cut it away and then I glued the hood shut, as Pro Mods have one piece nose. Today I decided to cut the front end off to wait for stretching. I used Dymo-tape as a quide and used my razor saw again. This picture shows how much the wheelbase must be stretched. I will use a Supercharged Hemi on my build. And I have a question regarding that... What engine you suggest? I have a Top Fuel Hemi that could be modified into Pro Mod Hemi with a little work. I have a Blower and the injector hat already. Another choice would be Ross Gibson engine, but I've seen many opinions on their quality. Are they worth their price, as to me they seem a bit expensive even though I've never built one? I want to thank everyone who has posted their Pro Modified builds in here... I've been reading those threads really actively.

Thank You, Stan! I really appreciate your kind words, as it means a lot when a very talented builder says I did a good work. It keeps me motivated on continuing the build and posting pics here... Thanks! Well I wasn't able to make any progress today. It was so freaking hot that I didn't feel like sitting on my bench (It was about 100 Fahrenheits inside) even with the windows open. Now the weather got a bit colder and I made a bit progress with my other build - that I will post now here in Drag Racing Models. Hopefully tomorrow I can sand the body and see if I can already shoot a coat of Primer on it and maybe I could do some chassis work, too.

Looking really good and I agree with Glenn. That kind of wing would fit in the back, and it could be even a bit smaller than the one in the picture? I really like the spoiler on front, too, painting it black is a good idea. Green and black combination works every time.

Nice work with the '55! The weathering looks very realistic to me, and I think this could be pulled out from a barn any moment. Really nice work creating an old and forgotten Drag Car. Only little complaint is that if you want this to be a Gasser, you should add a push bar to the rear end. If I remember correctly, either a rear bumber or a push bar was required. But otherwise really nice looking Chevy!

Looks like I was posting an update at the same time and didn't notice this one. Anyway, thanks for the information! Yep, I didn't exist way back then, not in even decades after that actually. But I remember reading it somewhere, just couldn't remember the year. Thanx!

Thanks Stan, Ron and Jason! I really appreciate the kind words and I agree that the front end is turning out pretty good. I still need to add a couple of parts to the steering and then it needs shocks, too. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's done. Today I was able to work with the brake lines in front. I used Scale Dreams' Spark Plug Wire and then somekind of Copper wire I found from my tool box. The fittings are scratchbuilt from hex styrene rod. I still need to add one copper wire to the brake master cylinder, but I can't do that until the brake master cylinder is on place. Another thing I have been doing for a while now is the body work. After some putty and sanding I got it pretty smooth so today I sprayed on some spray filler. It looks pretty good, but it still needs minor sanding. Hopefully it doesn't need more putty, though, because I want to see this one painted...

This is absolutely a Must Have kit for me! I think it's much more interesting than the new '70 Barracuda or Starsky & Hutch Torino from Revell. I can't wait to build this one.

John keep amazing me every time he posts a new model in here. This one is not an exception, fantastic work overall. I think it's just better to say that this is very close to the perfect model... I could swear it's a real thing!

Good looking Ford Hot Rod! I think you nailed the wheel and tire choice. Stance is also perfect. Nice work with the engine as well, overall a very clean build of a nice car. Only thing is that the pictures are a bit blurry. I think this good model deserves better pics.

I would! I think it looks a lot better with Steel wheels and Dog Dishes. Mopar Rallye Wheels and Magnums were really nice, too, but I know I'm a steel wheel guy. They're just so good looking wheels and Dog Dishes just belong together with those wheels. Just watch the Cannonball Run thread in the Community Builds section... There I'm building a Charger Daytona, too, and it will have Steelies when completed.