Darin Bastedo

Hmmm...That mercedes really has me thinking. Long low fast. Perhaps I should shift my thinking a bit and have a what if;... What if I were design the world's fastest car transporter. Does anybody have any ideas what it would take for a car hauler hit 200 MPH equipment or horsepower wise?

Actually that is partly what inspired me. that hauler is based on fairly light duty mechanicals because the car it hauls was very light wieght.

Ok, I've got it in my mind that I would like to build a custom car hauler to carry around street rod models etc. I want it to be kind of radical, but at the same time believable. now let's say that the car the car carrier is going to carry wieghs around 2500lbs you wouldn't nessesarily need a full on super duty truck frame would you? I'm thinking of doing either; a. A ramp style racers wedge based on a Dodge Deora b. A rollback based on the Dodge Deora, kit bashed with a Dodge L700 c. A Racer's wedge based on the L700 chassis with some custom modifications d. A rollback based on a customized Dodge L700 e. A completely custom designed Roll back of my own design. f. other. I'm really torn as to which direction to go with this. any feed back would help even if it is completely different than the options I've listed here.

Why are you asking us? Do you think we are OMNIpotent?

That is just gorgeous! That's amazing work! Someday I would love to achieve something like that.

My Barely Cuda II Build will be getting Lambo doors in the next couple of weeks. I'll be photographing the build stay tuned.

Barely 'Cuda II is coming along slowly but surely. Choosing to do this a s a full detail build has added to the complexity, and the sheer number of scatch built assemblies. some parts had to be scratch built because they didn't exist anywhere else, where others were scratch built to replace existing parts so they they don't look out of place with the rest of the build. Basicly I'm building an exotic modern sports car in the shape of a 'Cuda, but the basis for it's power plant is a 4O year old 426 Hemi V8. The powerplant is a supercharged 426 Hemi, with a front mounted supercharger. To accomplish this the car had to be completely reconfigured, moving the cockpit back while at the same time moving the front wheels foward. The combination of these two modifications allowed the engine to sit 14 scale inches further back from the front axle than in a stock 'Cuda. ________________________________________________________________________ Starting with the engine from the Revell 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T, I had to scratch build a plenum style intake for the engine that the blower will be plumbed into. None of the stock hemi Valve covers looked right in the engine compartment so in the attemt to get this old Hemi looking more exotic I scratch built some valve covers that will have carbon fiber covers on them covering the saprk plugs that will be fired using seperate coils similar to the set-up on the new 6.1 litre Hemi engines. This is a much more expensive model than Barely 'Cuda I the majority of the strcture of this car incuding the body, chassis, interior and engine compartment will be a combination of Kevlar and carbon fibre, requireing the purchase of 8 sheets of Scale Motorsports decals. here is the progress on building up the monocoque chassis. the opening hood and dooors required the building of door james and engine compartment. This is the the door jam. The hood is an AAR style hood created from the hood from the Revell Ferrari 575 Superamerica, modified in the rear to mimic the 4 slots in the rear of the AAR scoop. More updates to follow soon.

Barely 'Cuda II has gotten a deadline. Now being built as part of the Spotlight Hobbies 'Cuda Build-off I have until March 31 to get it done. Right now progress seems to be circular as I cut it up and glue it back together, and then cut it up again. In order to do the opening panels in such a highly modified body I had to First create the body shape, and then make the new cuts to open the hood and the doors. The doors will be hinged upward in the style made popular by Lamborghini. The hood will tilt foward raising the fenders with it giving access to all parts of the supercharged Hemi engine. Unlike Barely 'Cuda I, this car will have almost no creature comforts. If it doesn't make it faster, it won't be on the car. On the chassis and interior you will see a lot of bare aluminum, carbon fibre, and kevlar. Here it is cut apart. I'm currently in the progress of building up the portions of the body and chassis tha my cuts have exposed;

My system of organization is "none". I pick a piece that looks like the part I want to use and go from there.

That's not a bad idea. I started out prcticing on bodies from kits I took other parts out of. When practicing it really doesn't matter what body you start with just pick a modification you want to perform. Try swapping hood scoops, chopping tops, Sectioning, pie cuts, roof swaps etc. A good place to pick up cheap practice bodies are the parts boxes at just about any swap meet. At one recent show there was a vendor with several boxes of parts, that included bodies marked "free". Many people comment that they wish they possesed my skills. But it isn't skill so much as it is confidence. I've ruined just as many bodies as I have customised. Even on this build I practiced on some leftover bodies before I commited two new kits to the build. It's odd, that most of us will agree we have the skill to cut a piece of plastic. we also have the skill to glue two pieces of plastic back together, yet we get nervous when it comes to doing both actions. The last tip I have for would be customizers is; Never throw anything away. the hood scoop and side vents in this build come from the scrap bucket I keep next to my bench. When you cut up a body yo never know when the leftovers would come in handy.

Probably not. I like my graphics a little bolder than that.

Thanks Chris. A lot of what I do Has to do with visualizing the build before I do it. Imagine if you will, creating an instruction sheet in your head, and the parts from other kits are the parts your writing the instructions for. I see a car body as a box. if you look past all the intricate shapes that make up that box you will see it as having five sides the bottom being open. Now imaging you need to cut that box so you can put something inside of it. you would simply take out material until it is the right shape. In this case I decided what I wanted to use for a chassis based on the engine driveline and interior requirements. with this build I wanted a rear transaxle, and a speedster style cockpit. The Revell Stingray III fit the bill for what I wanted, plus it is very easy to adjust the wheelbase on it. With Barely 'Cuda III being a full detail build I had to make sure the hard points lined up. (for those not familiar with the Auto Design terms hard point are parts of the car that are unchangable because of engineering nessesity. Frame width, Cowl hieght, Track width etc.) Lucky for me all mesurements lined up exept cowl hieght. The 'Cuda being a taller car than the Stingray III. I measured the difference in hieght between the two, and did a pie-cut section to bring it down. Hey Chris, do you recognize the side vents? They're from the Ferrari you sold to me on Ebay. (don't worry I used the rest of it on something else I didn't kill a fujimi ferrari just for the side vents. Thanks for the engine offer but I'm going with a Fuel Injected hemi with a front mounted 6-71 Blower mounted to the front of the engine similar to what the Mooneyes dragster has. The stretched wheel base and the severe engine setback in the Stingray chassis allow such a radical powertrain to fit. the color I haven't decided on yet, but I have it narrowed down to one of three colors. The Finished model will look very similar to the illustration I did at the bottom of my posts. It will even include the scissors style doors. For rolling stock, I will definately be using the tires from the Revell Dodge Sidewinder because I like the cool Flamed tread. For wheels I might use the sidewinder wheels or I may design a set of wheels just for this build. One other reason it appears that I was able to just throw together these parts is this design has been in the development stages for over a year. It started with the drawing, progressed to a mock-up body (pictured below) and several scale drawings of the major componants to ensure they will all fit. Here is my test body, to make sure it will look right. as you can see this project actually started during the building of Barely 'Cuda I When I was almost done with Barely Cuda I Johnson's Rod Shop built this, greatly influencing Barely 'Cuda II

Just like it's older brother Barely 'Cuda II is a parts box special. The fact that this is a full detail build instead of curbside makes it even more so. Because the body dimensions are so radically different it is impossible to use the 'Cuda chassis. For this build I'm lengthening the Chassis from the Revell Stingray III and I'm using the interior and some body parts from it too. as far as the body goes, it is a combination of Monogram '71 'Cuda, Revell new tool '70 'Cuda, Revell Stingray III, Fujimi Ferrari 550 Coupe, and Revell 575 Superamerica, along with some various scratch built sections. Here are the pics of the roughed in bodywork. these should give you an idea of the look I'm going for. My goal is to make a more modern looking, lower, leaner, car that looks like it is going 300mph standing still. The Hood scoop from the Ferrari Superamerica is being used in a modified form to look the part of the AAR Hood scoop in a sleeker form. The side vents of the Ferrari help break up the slab sides of the "cuda body and also serve to give it some surface exitement. As soon as I can I'll post more progress pics.

Barely 'Cuda II is officially in progress, I have yet to decide on the paint scheme but I have started on the bodywork. Shortly after finishing up Barely 'Cuda I was completed and I had thought I had created the coolest 'Cuda ever, the guys at Johnsons Rod Shop Built their "G-Force 'Cuda" This car with the front fenders moved foward and a pie cut section job, this 'Cuda caught my imagination; While this is the inspiration for the Barely 'Cuda II build, it won't be a copy of it. Besides not having a roof my version will only share it's basic profile, Hemi engine, and rear transaxle. nearly every detail will be different. these pictures though will give you an idea of the "attitude" I'm shooting for. In a few days when I've got the details roughed in I'll post pictures of the actual build in the "On the bench" section of the board.

I'm not a huge fan of the Viper enging in hot rods. It simply doesn't have the same sound as a Big ole' Hemi. But rest assured the hemi will be plenty hi-tech.

Well Guys, Barely 'Cuda II is officially in progress. I still haven't decided on the color but it is a Full detail build, and syling wise will look completely different from Barely 'Cuda I. I've decided to go with a Fuel injected Hemi for power, but want the best looking Hemi with the most detail. When the front end is tilted up you will be able to see the whole engine so it needs to be right. I will be posting pictures soon but the basic look of the car is similar to the drawing below my posts.

I agree with you whole heartedly Harry. My rant on "eyeball engineering" was partly (mostly?) aimed at the model manufacturers and the resin aftermarket. The only choice Revell had for making an accurate 1970 'Cuda was to do an all new tool. The fact that they didn't resulted in problems that given the limitations of the tool, were impossible to avoid. I'm hoping they treat this as a learning experience, and the next time they are faced with this decision they remember this one. That said the odds of us getting a better 'Cuda from anyone anytime soon it looks as though we are stuck with what we have here. The good news though is aside from the obvious body issues, the engine, exhaust and interior look really good. Now the typical weekend modeler may not want to go through all this cutting and swapping, but if you have been desperate to build an AAR 'Cuda, this is a way to do it, and all the stuff you need are currently available. More good news is you can use the same kitbash meathod to build a more accurate Monogram '71 'Cuda, and get rid of the ugly roof on that kit. Sometimes the manufacturers drop the ball. It's up to us to pick it up and get it back into play. By the way what I've shown here doesn't take talent. if you follow the instructions you can do this. The only special talent I think I've displayed is being able to figure out the best places to cut to get everything to line up. This would be a good project to try to lean some of the skills involved.

Now you know the hell I live. To many Ideas floating in my head to pick just one.

To Fix this you will need a Monogram '71 'Cuda, A razor saw and an accurate measuring device. In the first step you must carefully measure. For those of you who prefer eyeball engineering, try to remember that it was eyeball engineering that got us in this situation. 1. Take the Revell '70 Body and at the front measure and mark exactly 30mm from the center line of the car on eash side of the hood. 2. at the fire wall measure 32mm from the center line and mark it. 3. Draw a line from the front marks to the rear marks. 4. Along the outside top edge of the fender. measure foward from the door line exactly 5mm and mark it. 5. From the rear door line measure rearward up the fender edge exactly 40mm and mark it. 6. Draw a line across the tulip panel to connect the two rear marks So far it should look like this; 7. Now take the Monogram '71 body and repeat steps 1 through 6 except that in step 4 the measure should be 7mm on the Monogram body. When you are done you should the body should look like this; Now it's time to do some heavy carnage on the bodies with a razor saw. On the Revell '70 Body cut away the fenders sides of the body, leaving the inside edge of the fenders the roof , the top edge of the doors and the tulip panel. Next do just the opposite to the Monogram '71 body. You should end up with a huge hole in the body the same shape as the piece you have left over from the Revell '70 Body. You will have to carefully trim and shape the Revell piece some to fit back into the Monogram body. when you test fit the leading edge of front of the Revell piece will stick out some from the Monogram body that is ok as you can just trim that off after you assemble the pieces. Using your favorite glue, put it all back together. It should look like this; Here is some real 'cudas for to compare our work to; Is it perfect? nope not by a long shot, but it did fix the most noticable flaws in both kits. the mods you see in the above post took less than 1.5 hours while watching the movie "Hitch" tonight. That includes taking photos for the post. Most of you should be able to do this in an evening. Still to be done is fitting the front and rear panels and filling the fender vents modifying the chassis. I'll show you these in parts 4 & 5. I hope this helps. Darin Bastedo

At the IPMS Regional Convention in Roanoke VA this weekend I took the opportunity to purchase two Revell AAR 'Cuda kits. As one who likes to "cut through the bull" when it comes to the discussion of inaccuracies in new kits I've taken it upon myself check the dimensions of the body myself. In previous posts many modeler including myself have postulated that the roof was once again wrong, and that the rear fenders were grossly inaccurate. We all were only half right. I spent nearly an hour at a local car show measuring a real 1970 'Cuda with the help of a very patient car owner. My conclusions are as follows; Overall: Many asked why the test shot wasn't redone when the rear fender issue was pointed out. I believe the reason is simple. It couldn't be fixed in such a way that the car would have looked better. The rear fender line is way too high, but I believe this was done on purpose to hide another flaw that it was also too late to fix. The whole car is too long by approximately one scale foot. That is the reason the roof seems too short, when in actuality the roof is not only the most accurate part of this kit, but is close to perfect dimensionally. No measurement is more than 1mm off and in most cases dead on or less than 1/2mm off. The roof is setback 3 scale inches too far back on the body, and the door is 4 scale inches too long and the distance from the front edge of the rear fender to the back edge of the front fender is 2 scale inches too long. Based on these measurements I've concluded that because the most maligned part of their first attempt was the roof they spent the majority of their design work on the roof, but the fundamental problem was that it was still based off of the challenger chassis which remains in this kit, and wheelbase is still the same as the Challenger's. The 1:1 Challenger's wheelbase is 2" longer than the 'Cuda's. At 115 scale inches the wheelbase of the kit is not only 7 Scale inches too long for the 'Cuda, but also 5 scale inches too long for even the Challengers 110 inch wheelbase. The platform they based this kit on is just way too big. Just like they say in building a house, the foundation has to be sound for everything else to stand. Every dimensional issue with this kit stems from its 115 scale inch wheelbase chassis. The fact that they got the roof right made the rest of the car look appear out of scale (which it is). Ok so that's the bad news, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Proportions of the lower body of the Revell (aka Monogram) 1971 Hemi 'Cuda's lower body & wheelbase is better. It's still not to scale but at least is consistently inaccurate (meaning that all measurements are with in a point or two of being off by the same percentage). This changes making a passable AAR Cuda model more of a kit bash, and less of a "Major Surgery" situation, putting the conversion closer to the skill level of the average modeler. Anyone who can splice in a roof or engine compartment can do all that is needed to fix this car. In part two I will show you how, with pictures and measurements. Yes in a perfect world Revell would have realized the limitations of the platform they started with and would have done a whole new tool. But it is my theory that the project had gone too far to turn back by the time they realized it. Now is the time that we the modelers step up to the plate and build on. To be continued...

You trust my judgement? You are a brave man... seriously I have the design part done, as far as the bodywork and lhe enginering behind ir, but simply have no Idea what color I wnt it to be. So I figured I'd throw a few Ideas out there and see what resonates with my fellow modelers...sort of a focus group. I know I want it to be a Muscle car color, I'm just at a loss to which one.

Since Revell gave us a mis-shapen 'Cuda kit, and I appear to have a fetish for really messing up the lines of a 'Cuda, it seems like a fine time to start a new "Barely 'Cuda". I have a general plan for the car, but am looking for suggestions for the Paint Scheme and whether I should do it as a full detail model or another curbside. While completeing the restoration of the first "Barely 'Cuda" (which is almost done) I saw alot of things I wanted to do different, here is my chance. I'm providing a printable line drawing in case you wish to show your artistic side. The drawing only represents a very rough outline of the design. the actual car will be substancially different. but the proportions will be similar. Thanks in advance for the help.

Hey Marc, Here is a link to Frank Kokosza's Fotki album. he did a simoliar build using the AMT 71 Charger Chassis under his 'Cuda kit. Frank Kokosza's Fotki

Right now all the Ferrari models I have are in progress; I mastered this Ferrari 575 Coupe to fit the Revell Ferrari 575 Superamerica, for Reliable Resin. It's getting released this week. Project "Brute Forza" an Enzo Powered Roadster Ferrari F189 1/24 Hasegawa Formula one car with scratchbuilt engine, tranny and 100 other details...

The reason it looks smooth in the pictures is that is the re-spray. It will be panther pink again, with flat black trim. the reason I'll be able to do such a quick turn around is; I did every part of it originally in easy to assemble sub-assemblies.once the paint work is done it's a simple mater of reassembling the car and it's done. Here is the original build;