Mooneyzs

John... My big brother this build is off to a great start. That chassis is looking killer. You are always impressing me with your builds. I am proud of you on this one. I can't believe you are almost done with the chassis. Put those Mini-me's to work I m already itching for another update....

Bob... thank you so much. You know I didnt evern think of model train stuff. I will hit up a local train store that has all kinds of goodies. I really appreciate the suggestion because I have been racking my brain on where to get small springs and model train couplers will have the perfect size I am looking for. Brad... thank you sir and you are welcome with the documentation. I really enjoy sharing my work with every one and trying to show my step by step process. I dis notice that the plate and roll cage werw at a different anfle bit really sidnt think about changing the angle. Thianis a fix i will definitely take care of and appreciate you noticing it and keeoing me on my toes. Danno... thank you my friend. Henry... thank you. I am much happier with it now.

Dave... Incredible work on the steering components. Man you are killing every little detail. I am loving it my friend

Mark... I am speechless.... Beautiful work on every little detail on this build.

John... You are welcome Brother!! I am excited to see you building this epic build I am grabbing my seat, some goodies and buckling up to watch this bad boy come to life . Also I am glad I was able to help you out, you know I am here for you Brother!! with anything on this build. And remember I will make room on my shelf for this to sit next to my Army Vega Funny Car... . ... Sad thing is that you will probably finish this before I finish the Funny Car....

Brad... This is some fantastic work my friend. Bummer to hear about the stupid paint can.... time to switch to an airbrush Love the cabinets in there. can't wait to see some more of your coolness you will bring to this trailer...

I love this bus... and I love the details you added to the door and inside. Very Nice work!!

John.... I just love this build. Man did it turn out nice. Both vehicles are beautiful. You are one talented builder Brother. Proud out you. Rest up for the week so you can start on your next Epic build

After completing the fix on the tin work, I jumped over to fix a fitment issue from Revell with the front bumper and body. The part of the bumper needs to be filled in as well adding material to the fender (Right Side): Left Side: The Car (hopefully you can see right behind the bumper on the fender. Don't mind the arrow pointing to the body hold down latch (and yes I will be making this for the car and it will be spring loaded and will work ):

Here is a shot looking into the interior, Now the dash doesn't have such a big angle like it did before on the fire wall portion of it: Here is the space I now have after making the adjustments to the tin work: Previously: Here it is from the other side: Previously:

So tonight I decided to fix the issue with the tin work from yesterday that I ran into. I will explain what I did thru the pics.... thanks for looking... I first started out by taking my Xacto Knife and scribing both side of the tin work. now I didn't go completely thru because i wanted to still be able to make it flex so to speak so I could move it into position to re-glue it: Next I did the same thing on the firewall where I originally scribed and bent the plastic then glued a supporting strip there. So I took the Xacto Knife and scribed away until it became flexible enough that I could straighten it out. when It was put into the position I wanted I re-glued another support strip to it. I was using .025 Evergreen Rod: I did the same thing for the Dash since I needed to change the angle of where it originally was at: Next I placed the tin work back into the body and then I pinned it with some pins where i wanted it so I could add some stops on the underside of the body: I laid some ,040 x .040 Styrene where the tin work would sit up against it: Upclose shot:

Danno... thank you sir. you know I am on a mission to finish it this year...haha Hopefully by the Desert Scale Classic but if it isn't finished by then I will hope to be done with it by early summer. I think both are reasonable goals. I feel I am making some good progress on it now. I just hope I can continue like I am but I am challenging myself to try and work on it a little each day. Some days or weekends I will get a lot of bench time in on it. Dave... Thank you so much. You are right about fixing it now, which is what I worked on tonight. I wanted it done so I can move on to the next part of this build....lol Mike... It was good talking with you tonight. Dave... looking forward to chatting with ya at the Desert Scale Classic. Tim... You wouldn't of taken away from this build at all. I am really glad that you did post pics here and I wouldn't of minded if you wanted to say more about your build. Its all about sharing our builds with one another here.

Tim... Thank you for sharing. That is a beautiful build. Nice work on it. It looks great!!! Mike... My friend this is for you since you mentioned you liked the stance.....

Joe... You need to get new hobby room all set up. I sure miss seeing your talent especially the builds in 1/16th scale

Mike... I appreciate the kind words. I will get a good side view shot for you tonight and show a side shot of the real car just for you Dave... I really want to thank you for the kind words and for saying what you did. It means a lot. I have been having a lot of fun sharing this with everyone and showing you all pretty much step by step how I am building it. I sometimes even think I am crazy and nuts as to how far I have taken some of the detail . Some things I think... hey I wanna try doing this and for example the hatch. I knew i wanted to cut the hatch out and make it work. Then as you said from just cutting the hatch out and making it work I ended up realizing that there is more to it than that since I am trying to make it look like the real thing. I never would have though i would of spend the hours on the hatch when I first stared it. I figured it would just take a few days...boy I was wrong...haha . As you said most of this is pretty much plastic and phot-etch, not to mention there are some machined aluminum parts as well which I have purchased. One day I would love to turn some of my own parts but for now I am having a blast making things the way I have been doing. Tim... Thank you for the kind words. Hey don't feel like you can't post your stuff. I would love to see your Vega/Monza. One thing I can say is that I have learned so much from many of the talented builders on this forum and I love seeing other peoples progress and builds. Its what make this hobby so much fun for me. Also I have gotten to meet a bunch of builders from here at a few different shows and That has to be probably one of the best things. Please post your builds I would love to see them Alan... Thank you, That would be really sweet to take it to some of the different shows around the US like the NNL's.

John... thanks brother. Feels good to pretty much be done with the fabrication on the hatch and moving on to other parts of this build. I cant wait to get the body in primer. Bob... thank you so much for the kind words. I appreciate you chiming in on the dash. I couldn't agree with you more that it's best to fix it now than have problems later. If you ever have questions feel free ask. Wr have a bunch of great guys on this forum and i will do my best at answering questions. Niko... thanks so much my friend. I appreciate it. After i getthenlittle fiz with the dash i am planning on stsring to fabricate the dog house in the dash that will wrap around the blower cut out and butt up against the front windshield. Cant wait to have the tin work in primer. Although it gonna suck having to cut, trim and glue all of the rivets in place....lol Al... thank you for the kind words. I will make sure to bring the model and not the real thing to one of your shows...lol Mike... yoy know me too well....lol i am planning starting to cut it apart and fix it tonight. I think it should be a quick and easy fix the angle of the dash which will allow the extra space needed.

Joe... thank you my friend. So I started back on the tin work tonight and made a little progress. here are some pics... Here is the tin work: I started out by working on how i was going to pin the front of the tin work to the car but prior to that I had scribbed basically the fire wall port of it off or should say made it so it was a little loos so I could fix the alignment on it and the mid plate in the chassis first, then I used the pins already in the kit for the guides and had to adapt them to my tin work. I will still have to trim them down: Then I cut the area around the blower out so it would clear the blower and I could put the body on: Put the body on to check the fit: Full shot of the car thought it was cool to finally have the tin work in the body as well as the blower sitting out if as well: I then decided to take the tin work out and put it on the chassis to see the clearance I had for the engine. Now I am debating if I need to change the angle on the dash just a tad to give me more room for the fuel distribution block and fuel lines for the manifold. Something that wasn't taken into consideration when I was first doing the tin work. It should be a pretty easy fix at this point just debating if I should just go ahead and do it that way I know I will have the room and not screw myself later on...lol:

Brett... Spectacular work my friend. That chassis looks awesome. So cool you were able to do it in front of a crowd. I am looking forward to seeing more of this build.

Steve... Thanks... I sometimes wonder if I am nuts trying to do some of these things on this build...lol Jim... Thank you for the kind words. I see you are from Az too, not sure if you ever attend the Desert Scale Classic or not but its coming up in April. If you can make it I think you would enjoy it. I will have this build there hopefully finished but if not it will be still bringing it show the progress of it. Bill... Thank you so much. I guess I am trying to out do myself lol

Mike... Those bodies are looking great. Loving the Omni body. Very nice work my friend.

I usually have a few builds going at all times so when I get burnt on one I can work on something else when I feel I need a break for a build.

Art... Fantastic update. Those decals look great. Love your work. I am already itching for another update. I can't wait to see it with clear on it.

Brad... Thank you sir. You know I had originally though of putting a spring in it so it would be spring loaded but the size I was trying to make it I wasn't sure if i could l find a spring that small. I could always see if I could fit one in there. I am glad you brought up the point of shorting the length of the bolt I didn't really think about it. I think I will cut one of the brass ones down because i have to be honest I didn't like how it stuck so far down...lol. I had thoughts of sanding the head down so it was some what smooth but if I leave it with the hex I will be able to use my wrench to put it on and off during installation of it. Larry... Thank you. I appreciate all of the kind words. I am enjoying sharing this with everyone and hoping to have more updates soon. I appreciate the kind comments on my dog, He is recovering well. John... Thanks Brother. I took a look at my time on the hatch and I have a total of 49 hours into the hatch where it is right now. For the total build I am currently at 990 hours for the whole build. Dave... Thank you. I am planning once I get this build done I will be building a Power point together with the pictures and will print out a build book of this build. I think I will try and turn it into a PDF and will be able to email it to who ever would like it. Dave... Thank you so much for the kind words. I can't thank you enough the help behind the scenes on the multiple questions I have messaged you about. Danno... Thank you sir. I am really trying to have this done by Desert Scale Mike... thank you my friend... Coop is doing great. Joe... Thank you so much for the kind words. It really means a lot with the nice things you have said about this. I have Challenged myself with this build to see if I could do some thing i have never done before, so far I am happy with the outcome, I know its not perfect by any means and I have made a lot of assumptions since I had a limited amount of reference pics for this car.

Well I was able to do a little more tonight. I got the glass installed and holes drilled for it in the Acetate that I am using. Actually not final mounted but more so mocked up, fabricated with the mounting holes. I have to give a big Thanks again to my good friend John Teresi for hooking me with the couple of Acetate pieces he sent me. That stuff is crystal clear and works great. I ended up using the .010 thick material and here are a few pics of it installed. I am thinking also about shooting some primer on the hatch tomorrow, I know I will have some minor body work to do but at least if I get a quick light coat or two It will give me an idea where I need add a little bondo to the hatch. I was also trying to think if I could shoot a little video with my phone to show how the hatch works to everyone. I will try an mess with that tomorrow. Here is the hatch installed again with the Acetate in place: Underside with all of the bolts and nuts to make sure everything works good and lines up: Here the hatch is in the open position. I will need to take the rivets and cut them down to length: For Comparison:

Ron... Thank you sir. I appreciate the kind words. My advice about adding more detail is to not be afraid and go for it, and do it little steps at a time. I can't tell you how many things on this build that I redid 2 or 3 times. Brad... Thank you. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. just wished the latch moved a tad bit smoother. But it works and does what I want it to...lol Brett... Thank you my friend. You know maybe I am trying to make it look too nice. I am sure the real car some of it was beat up a little bit...lol I really appreciate your kind words. I am really proud of this model so far and let along its the one that I have the most detail work to ever. I have been proving to myself that I can do some of the things I have always wanted to. Joe... Thank you. I guess I have gone a little over the top with some of the little details I wanted to see if I could do...lol