Mooneyzs

Hey Brad... Sorry I didn't get work on it as much as I was planning last night. I only tinkered for about an hour and didin't make much progress. I started making my new body mount pivot pieces out of .040" styrene and this time I have bolted my pieces together so when I cut and shape them they will be Identical. Then I am probably going to make another set out of some aluminum sheet that I picked up from K&S Metals. I have some that is .016" thick but gonna search if they have something a tad bigger and maybe pick that up. I will be working on it more tonight when I get home. And my plan is working on it all weekend other than a few house chores I need to do..... Like Mowing the grass, washing the car, rotate tires.... Then its work on this build as much as I can so I can make some more good progress.

Brad... WOW! Looking good. The seat looks great now that it's completed and so does the steering wheel, steering shaft and Tach. Great work on this. This just gets better and better.

I believe he is talking about his Avatar pic. It happened to me when I was trying to switch mine. You will need to resize the pic. I had to do it with one I currently have. I kept resizing til I got it to fit

Rom... Very Nice work on that Distributor. I can't wait to see it finished. I know it will look nice!

No need to be sorry about stealling my post or telling some of the history of the car. I think its awesome you guys are willing to share and its something new I get to learn. I didn't realize that Prudhome sold the car. I knew he only ran it a couple of times and didn't care for it. The history lession is very cool to learn about it. Alright guys.... I am going to be working on it for a while tonight so hopefully I get some good progress to show all of you.

Very Nice start on this one. the chassis is looking good. What CAD program did you use to draw the frame?

Dave.... You do amazing work my friend and was excited to see an article on your altered. I have to ask do you know how many hours you have in this build and over what length of time.

Brad... Wow that look great. Nice work on the seatbelt stuff. The assembly looks great. And so does the riviets on the output shaft. Tjis is very nice. Cant wait to see more pics!!

Shane I hear you about that. It looking.like.i will go woth the. 040" if i stick eith plastic. Bob, it never dawned on me. To make it out of thin aluminum or brass. I may have to see if i have sone laying around. Thanks for that idea.

I happened to see this magazine at the grocery store early this week and picked it up. Pretty sweet magazine.

Greg.... WOW!! I am speechless. This is.looking great in primer. And the detail to the chassis and engine just looks awesome. It sure is coming together and looking nice!

Derrick....this camaro is just bad to the bone. Your door and hinge work look great. I also like the idea of using the magnets. Also the work on the parachute brackets is awesome. This ehole build is coming together.

Hey Brett & Mark.... Thanks, I appreciate your guy's input on this. The only reason I would want to use the .060" is that it is a little beefier (is that a word.... LOL) and the .040" will definitely be more in scale and look more real. Tonight I am planning on getting another set cut out and hopefully I will get them glued or bolted to the chassis.

Rom...That oil pump is very nice and those A/N Fittings look great!! Nice work and look forward to more.

Shane... Looking good man. Your engine is coming along nice and the belt looks great adding the cogged portion to it. As well as the A/N fittings are looking nice. Keep up the great work.

ok So I was able to do a little more on this tonight. Not much but worked on the Body pivot hinge's. I started out drawing them up in my CAD program, printed them 1:1 and cut them out. I then used white glue to and glued them to the plastic. Then proceed to cut them out. I originally started out with some evergreen styrene that was .25" wide by 0.060" thick and also had .25" wide by 0.040" thick. After I had cut the 0.060" out I decided to do a search on these body hinges... and there was limited information that I found. On one site I was able to find some hinges and it gave the thickness of 3/8". well with the two sizes I was using 0.060" in 1/16th scale is equal to 0.96" and 0.040" is equal to 0.64". and to get a the part to be 3/8" in scale, it would need to be a size of 0.0234. I am thinking that .020" may be a tad too small and flimsy. So now my Dilema is which thickness to go with. Scale wise using the 0.060" seems just too big and well the 0.040" is closer to being the correct size and think it will be strong enough. I decided to hold off on gluing them in place because I needed to think what I wanted to do as well as ask all of you which way you would go if it was you. Thanks Here is an image of them glued to the styrene and one of them cut out: Got both of the .060" thickness cut out, and the ones that aren't cut out are glued to the .040" thick material: Here I have set my jig back up and was going to set it up so I could get both parts mounted the same. on the left hand side is the 0.060" thick piece and on the right I am holding a 0.040" thick piece. I keep thinking that the .060" is just a tad to big scale wise:

Brad... Thanks for the link. I have checked it out before and there is some cool stuff on there. Mark... the only pictures that I was able to find online was some of the Restored Version and thats what I have been using as reference and building it like. and guess since i started on that path I should stay on that one. I really liked the pics you added here the Vega that Prudhomme drove, the decals are also different from what I have. I had no idea that it was restored different from how it was ran. You learn something new everyday. I really appreciate all of the help with this. really wish I was able to find more pictures than what I have but I am making them work for me and having to make some assumptions on a fw things. And no worries on the valve covers I was beginning to think that I was going to have to scratch build them or start out with some and just modify them since I haven't had any luck finding ones that match.

Awesome Chuck.... I am jealous of all of the aurora kits you have .... Nice collection btw.

I have to agree that revell should have made a better attempt at making the tires the right size. I am thankful that we have the aftermarket companies that we do to get parts from.

Thanks Rom... I was thinking about that as well since I have already have the engine started. I think one of the biggest things to make this look correct is the valve covers. I think that its one of the first things that would be noticed. All of the resin valve covers that I have bought which is about 4 or 5 different styles don't fit the kits heads that well but nothing says I can't modifiy them a little bit... Then my next choice is to modify a set of valve covers. Even if I was to go with the Elephant 426 Hemi. I would have a use for this block I have started in a Fiat Build I am planning on doing.

Rom... That engine is sure coming along and looking great. Nice work!! Aslo can't wait for the paiint ont he body. Your idea sounds like it is going to be sweet.

Chuck.... This is looking great!! Glad to see you back on this. That modified chassis looks great. What rear end is it that you are using? Also the Front End looks sweet. Keep up the great work.

A Bunch more Great looking rails Guys!!! Nice work Everyone!!

I have to agree with Brad on this. It just keeps getting better and better. that is one killer body. Ever think of casting any of your bodies?? This thing is looking great Jeff!!

Hello All... I know I haven't done much on this since last week and over the weekend I had family in town. so today was the first night I have touched this build since last week. I Have a little update but its not too much of an update. I did receive a Competition Resins Donovan 417 Engine in the mail today. so of course I had to break it open and check it out. Very nice kit and looks great. Now here is were I want to hear all of your opinions on what I should do. I am going to show you pics of both engines as well as a couple of pics of the engine in Prudhommes Army Vega Funny Car. I have also started on what I am calling the body piviot bracket don't have pics of it tonight but will have some of them tomorrow to show you guys. After receiving my Donovan Engine today, For some reason I wasn't aware of the location of the Distributor. So now I have a little dilema with which engine to go with. As well as with Mark Johnson posting pics of his Elephant 426 Hemi to show me. I am planning on ordering one of these 426 Elephant Hemi's as well. I will show you the pics of the engines and would like your guys' opinion on what you would go with. Here is the Competiton Resins Donovan 417 Engine: Here I set both the kit engine block up next to the Donovan Block: Here are a few shots of the Engine that is in the Army Funny Car: So after I was looking thru some of my reference pics I was noticing that the distributor on the Kits Hemi was located in the front like the pics. Well when I was ordering the Donovan engine I was unaware that the distributor was located on the back of the engine. And its ok if I don't use the Donovan in this build because I have another project that it will go in to...lol So now with that said. The one thing with the Donovan Engine is that it has valve covers that look almost identical to the valve covers that are on the Army Funny Car which I like better. After all of this looking at the reference pics and now seeing the Resin 426 Hemi from Mark Johnson I am thinking that maybe going the route of using the Elephant 426 Engine on this build. I was never able to find much reference material other than the pics I found off of Prudhomme's website which had some pics of this car but since he didn't run it but a very short while I was never able to run across more information on this car. I appreciate your guys opinions and help with this. Thanks