Mooneyzs

Brad.... I love your skills Brother. Its a pleasure to watch a talented builder like yourself and see your builds come together.

John... 2 words.... Bad A$$!! I can't wait to see paint on this bad boy. Nice work Brother!

Mike I have a 2 for one voucher from Cox Communications for Sunday. I wish I could use it on Saturday....lol I was thinking of going since Don Prudhomme was going to have 2 of his funny cars that have been restored going up on the block. Was hoping to be able to get some good reference pics If I make it...lol

I may try to make it up there on Saturday myself.

Ray... Thank you so much. I guess I have set the bar pretty high for myself huh... although not very build won't be to this caliber I am shooting for on this one but there will still be detail...lol Andre... Tank you very much. Michael... Thank you. You know I have thought about my next build. Actually I have a list of a dozen or more builds I would like to do. With 10 of them being 1/16th scale. You can me nuts but I have been bitten by the 1/16th scale bug...lol my next builds I may work on a couple at a time so I don't burn myself out...lol I also have an idea for a 1/8th scale build too :B Dave... Thank you very much. I think you are right that the size came out just right. I think I just got lucky with it...lol

Dave... Thank You. I will take it as a compliment that peiple would want this on their shelf. Joe... Thank you. This is one of those small details that I knew I had to do that woulds add a lot to complete the look. Henry... Thank you. John... Thanks my Brother. The hatch is getting there and I am enjoying sharing thia build with everyone. Mike... thank you. The hatch is turning out better than excpected so far but I still have some work to go on it. Well my goal for tonight is to finishup the window area. I need to sant the inside a little flatter to get the flas to sit flush to the inside as well as add the rivet holes and detail for the rivets. Then I will work on the lip in the underside of the hatch as well as the locking/latching mechanism.

Dave... thank you very much. So I got about an hour at the bench tonight and I was able to get the window peep hole cut out of the hatch. here is what was accomplished.... I started out with drilling holes in the corners with a .070" dia drill bit or it may of been .0625" but I am thinking I maybe should of gone a little bit bigger but I looks ok. So the holes were drilled first and then I scribed from hole to hole to cut it out: Here is what it looked like after It was cut out and a little sanding was done to it: I then cut a piece of some clear plastic and laid it in place with a pece of tape holding it in to see what it would look like: Another View:

Johnny boy... looking good brother.it is some very nice work. That engine sure is Purty. At this rate you should have this done what wednestday I think you are a little slow on this one.....hahaha Just teasing lol

Pat... This is going to be a great build! Looking forward to more.

This is one totally cool build. It looking great so far.

Brad... that exhaust and chassis is awesome. You have tallent buddy. LOve your scratch building skills. Looking forward to your next update.

Alan... Thank you. Yep i was talking about the hatch sitting up just a tad. I almost feel that the hatch had a flange that is a little wider which sits in top of the body rather than recess into the body. Maybe i need not to be so concerned about this little detail. You are right I can tend to be my own worst critic and I will second guess myself on some details. Guess I need to be a little easier on myself. I have been pushing myself with trying to capture every detail I can. Larry... Thank you. I appreciate the kind words. I guess in my own eyes i dont see myself as a master modeler. I think I still have alot to learn. I enjoy building and being creative. I have an idea in my mind how I want it to turn out and I think I am getting there little by little.

Gabriel... It's great to see you on this build. You are off to a great start. Looking forward to seeing more.

Henry... Thank you. I thought it looked ok too. Brad ... Thank you. I thought it looked good but questioned myself with it. Oh I wasn't gonna miss those details. My plan is to start out by drilling holes for the corner and then cutting the are a out in between. hopefully I will have another update in a bit. I need to clean my kitchen up first from dinner lol Scott... Thank you for the kind words. I agree with you I had thought about making the hole bigger but it's only one hole that seems to really look off to me and knowing what all I have done so far on this build I will probably fill that hole and re drill it again. But this time I will drill the hole in the hatch where I want it and transfer it to the hinge lol

I done a little more work today. But I feel I haven't made much progress and was hard to get really motivate on the build today. Not sure why but just one of those days. Well i was also watching football at the same time... Here is the start at my poor mans lathe to round the bolt heads off. I first started with really small pin vise that I purchased from Micro Marks. Chucked the bolt up into it and then inserted it into the drill as seen here: I then started with a file to turn the head down: Next I used a sanding file to complete the transformation: I started adding some filler pieces to the hatch to clean things up: I even added a small piece to the front of one side of the hatch to close the gap up: I started to mark out the peep hole in the hatch. What you see here is 1/4" wide which would make it only a 4" window and I was debating if I should open it up to 5 "or 6" in scale. Let me know your thoughts if you think it needs to be bigger. I was thinking 4" would of been a small window to see the Christmas Tree...lol:

John... Thanks my Big Brother but I don't know if I deserve the "Master" Modeler title because there many more that are way more talented than me. Mike... Thanks Brother!! I appreciate the kind words. I keep trying to push myself further... not sure if that'ss good or bad.... Jim... Thank you. I was trying to figure out of it did that or not myself. one of the angle it almost looks like that black piece you mention falls in the inside of the hatch. I will have to see if I can find another shot in the video if i shows from the inside with the hatch closed.

Paul... Thanks, This build is a replica of the restored car. There were only a few pics of the original car out there that I could find and I found more of the restored one. pretty much my build is based off the pics that are up on the snake racing website under his collection as well as the you tube video that snake describes this car. Any of the details that I couldn't find from this are base off of other cars I found in this era.

Clint... Thank you for chiming in. I have to agree with you that I think that hatch is actually sitting on top of the roof as to why I want to add that ever so small lip around it. You are right about the dirt/grime around the hatch opening.

Danno... I way always planning on doing the Peep hole sun roof . Brad... I really think it had the lip on top from the way it sits. Ok I will carry on with the Peep hole... Michael... Thank you very much for the kind words. I actually have been tracking my hours on this build and I currently have 970.5 hours into this build so far Here is a couple more pics showing the hatch and lip....

Ok so take a look at the two bolts in the center of the hatch. I took the .5mm scale hardware threaded hex bolt and sanded and filed the head down to make it look more like a machined bold or rivet head. I will take pics of the res of the pieces so you can see exactly how I did this. I think you all will get a kick out of my poor mans lathe so to speak for this job....haha Here is the reference pic of the real car: So here is another idea that I have been toying with for a while for the hatch. From the reference pics there seems to be a lip on the outer of the hatch and I was thinking of adding a .010" or .005" thick piece to add this to the hatch. What all do you think. I will show the ref. pics as well: Reference Pics:

Greg... Thanks Mate!! I have to agree it does look better the 2nd time around David... Thank you. I guess I am taking the hatch detail a little more overboard than I should.... Brad... Thanks Buddy. You are correct that I am planning on taking the bolts and sanding the hex down to make it look more like a rivet or machine screw. Take a look at the pic below for the samples I already did. I will also post a reference pic of the car and the bolts look like they are black Danno... Thank man. You really helped me put it into perspective. You are right that sometimes on the real ones they may not of had it perfect. I guess I have been really trying to knock every little detail out of the park on this build and trying to push my limits. Your advice means alot. Dave... Thank you Sir. I may leave it but I have also thought about fixing just the one bolt on the end....

I then took the hatch and got it in place with my spacers and laid tape to hold it in place for when I transfer drilled the holes: Here are the results of redrilling the holes.... I am going to show you the before and afters of each side and I want to hear what you have to say because I am debating on redrilling them again because i am not sure I am 100% happy because one or two are a little off. Let me know your thoughts, Thanks: Left Side Before: Left Side After: Right Side Before: Right Side After:

Well Fellas... got some bench time in today, not as much as planned but I did get to make my fix on the hatch but i am still debating if I I am liking it 100% and want your honest opinions on it. I will let the pictures do the talking.... I first started out by drilling the existing holes out and then glued in .025" dia Evergreen rod in place: Next I made a make shift jig to hold the hinge for soldering: I then added extra support because the hinge seemed to move when soldering and then got the parts holes soldered up: Here is the hinge after I filed and sanded down the solder joint: Now here is the hinge with the holes drilled in it:

Danno.... Hahaha, now that's funny. I know what you mean about having midnight oil at times. Dave.... I think it looks freaking awesome and I couldn't be happier with the results. Thank you again! Brad... You are right about that. John... Thanks Brother.... I always appreciate the kind words and encouragement. Jason... Thank you sir.

Danno.... Thanks buddy... little bit of a nigh owl last night? or early riser Gregg... how's my Aussie Mate doing?? It's great to see you back here. I am hoping you have been getting to get some time in on your builds. I have been itching for some updates on your projects... You know the Hinge assembly I am very happy with. It functions beautiful. The only part that I wasn't happy with is those bolts weren't in a straight line and was just mad at myself . I should of paid more attention when I was setting my template up to drill. It will be an easy fix... glue some rod into the hatch panel holes, Solder up the holes on the hinge and then start back from the beginning... and then it will be fixed Gonna work on it today. Henry.... Thanks. Dave... Thank you. The Template with the holes is a marking ruler that I got from Micro Marks. This one is a 6" long and runs about $15 bucks, but they also have a 12" one too. Here is the link for it: http://www.micromark.com/marking-rule-6-inch,7784.html. Brad... Thank you. I knew you would like seeing me back on the engine . Dave hit a Grandslam with the pulleys and this was the first time I got to really see all of them on the engine and it looks perfect. I can't wait for you to see it in person.