Mooneyzs

Great Thanks bud, I had to change the front end up a little from the reference pics that I have of the car and wanted to make it more realistic. The process seems like I am not getting anywhere fast but with the detail I want for this kit I am definitely taking my time. Worked on the rear disk brakes tonight put about 4 to 4.5 hours in on these guys tonight so far and not finished with them yet. I was able to find some photoetched disk brakes but I ended up adding plastic to them to give a little bit of thickness to the brakes. I ended up using .040" thick Evergreen Styrene and found a little handy compass cuting tool at Michaels. Its made of plastic and did the job but thinking I am going take a look at Micro Marks and see if they have a metal one. I messed up the diameter on the styrene a few times as you will see to get the correct diameter of the photo-etched disk. After cutting the diameter I ended up cutting the center hole out and then proceeded to lay the photo-etch disk over the part I made and used the holes as a guide. There were 75 holes per disk that I had the joy of drilling out with a pin vise not only did I do it once but I went back and opened them up a couple drill sizes. I still have the 2nd one to do then I will paint the center and get them glued together. Hope you enjoy the few pics and thanks for looking Cutting the round disks out of the Styrene and marking center section that needed to be cut out: This is after I had laid the photo-etched disk over the cut center section. I drilled one hole on one side ran 30ga wire thru twisted and then drilled another hole on opposed side and ran more wire and twisted to keep the disk from not moving on me while I drilled the rest out. Still have the 2nd one to do Some what of an up close shot after drilling all the holes: I then put the three pieces together and tied with wire so I could double check the holes and that everything looked ok:

Thank you Jack. I am hoping to have some completed pics of it taken today since its a nice day outside to take some pics of it. Will post when I do.

Very cool build and looks great. I like it.

Thanks Jim for the comments. I have been fortunate enough to learn SolidWorks back when I was aerospace company I worked for, Been thru quite a bit of training for it too. We had Pro-E there and switched to SolidWorks due to seat cost. But yeah Seat Costs are quite a bit. I also use AutoCAD as well. I will definitely draw up a set of blower pulleys. I will shoot you a message on here to find out some details. Thanks I appreciate it. Forgot to say that the wheels I got from you a while back will be going on this build . Hey is it possible to ask what the bolt pattern you used for the stud holes on the rim? I am going to be drawing up some hubs for the photo etch rear disk breaks I have and I wanted to put some threaded studs in there so I can take the rear wheels off but had no idea what diameter of the circle the bolt holes were on. thanks

LOL Jeff.... I will try and draw something up tomorrow so I can show you. Since I have those photo etch disks I need to make a center section to get the disk to be the correct scale width of the disk. Made it tonight but realized I made the OD of it a tad to short, so its back to the drawing board to start all over again.... Brett Thanks bud, I am glad that you guys appreciate the pics and posts. I know I tend to learn alot here on the forum by seeing others posting pics of their builds. I will definitely continue to post pics as I make progress.

Derrick....Thanks Bud, appreciate the kind words. I didn't know about the washable glue sticks. I will have to try that next time. where did you get yours at?? I will have to post some images of the disk brake and hubs I am going to draw up and show the model images. this is going to be a good weekend for building here. gonna work mostly on this build but may try and get the decals done on the 1/16 FED

Derrick, this thing is looking so good. You have made some progress since the last time I saw it. Love all of the drawings that you are doing to get what you want. The scratch building is looking amazing. The chassis is fantastic as well as all of the parts for the rear end. The Jig looks great. I am going to have to do a Jig for my funny car. Looking forward to more updates on this build. Keep up the great work. I also wanted to ask what kit are you using for the rear brake calipers? any way to have you post pic of them? I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do for calipers for my 1/16th Funny Car. Thanks

Hello... I made a little more progress this evening with the front end. I am happy with how things turned out. still have a little sanding to do it. Here are the pics, Thanks for looking. Here is the axle bracket pieces after they had been sanded down, along with cutting the kit pieces off: After gluing the brackets into place with Weld-On #3: Another angle: Front View:

Very Nice Build, That thing looks great.

Jeff this thing is looking great. I am loving all of the body mods and you sure have a lot of time and hard work that is going to pay off. Those Rims are sick and love the design. I vote for the Black ones. I can't wait to see what you have instore next.

Thanks Jeff, I am really happy that I decided to try it this way and it worked great. I will have some pics up shortly of the front end after getting those parts finished tonight. Thats awesome that you use SolidWorks as well. I have never heard of Alibre before. You hit the nail on the head about the most important thing of building models is having fun. I have to say I have been having a blast with my builds lately and look forward to getting more done and out there.

Those are some great looking cars. Very Nice builds. Keep up the great work.

Jeff... I was trying figure a way that would be easiest to duplicate parts like that and for some reason it didn't click with me when I was making the tabs for the radius rods on the chassis when I did those. I use SolidWorks and AutoCAD but mostly SolidWorks since I draw it up as a 3D model. I have had a few ideas on drawing some stuff up. I am going to do that for my rear hubs for the wheels and have them machined out of aluminum. I was able to find some photo-etched disk brakes in 1/16th scale so I am pretty stoked but gotta scratch build some brake calipers now. Thanks Dan, I am excited about getting more progress done on this one. I am still wanting to finish that 1/16 FED I have going as well so I will probably bounce back and forth on these two builds... I am planning on doing alot of building this weekend

Gorgeous build. Love the color and the detail. Looks great.

Thanks Mike, I will try shooting him another email then.

Hey Mike.... do you know if Mark Johnson has changed his email address?? I have tried sending two emails to him and they keep getting bounced back. Is he on the Message board here, if so what is his screen name and I will contact him here. Thanks

I had to say Model

Hello, Did a little work tonight on the front end. Things have been a little crazy with work the past few weeks and haven't had much time to work on any builds. Felt good to put a few hours in tonight on this project. Here are some pics of what I accomplished tonight. Thanks for looking.... I drew some designs on my CAD program, printed out on paper, cut and glued part of the drawing to the styrene using white glue. Then I cut and sanded to the shape I drew and when done took the template off that I made: All the parts once I had them cut out: Gluing plastic inbetween the parts that I made: As far as I got tonight with them, Tomorrow I will go back and sand the middle portion of these brackets down. Once I am done with that I will remove the existing mounting points for the radius rod and then will glue the new ones I made to the front axle:

John, This build is looking nice. The detail is looking fantastic. She is sure coming along. Love all of the pics that you are sharing with us on this build. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us with color and all.

Very Nice Build! She sure is a beauty!

Thanks Guys, Yeah my thought was that the decal would show the scratches. The clear laid down very smooth and beautiful other than the couple spots that had the dust. I have always laid decals over the clear with out sanding or polishing then I a clear it one last time to seal the decals in. What I will do is double check the placement of the decals and if there isn't dust in those locations, I will put my decals down and color sand just the spots that have the dust, so the dust is out before clearing. I was really skeptical about laying the decals over a finely smooth sanded surface. Thanks again everyone, helped me with what the better decision is to do.

Tim, That is one beautiful Dragster. I loved that I got to see it in person at the show last weekend and got some great pics of it too. It was a pleasure meeting you and talking to you at the show. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me and to tell me some of your tricks on how you did some of the work. I am always looking to better improve my building skills. Thanks again. You definitly deserved Best of show with this dragster.

Hello Guys, I have had a question that has been on my mind regarding decaling. I wanted to find out if any of you have ever color sanded your bodies with 2000 grit paper before laying your decals down? if so did you see the sand scratches in the decals. I have been debating about color sanding my clear before laying down some decals. Never have done it this way before, I have always laid decals over the clear after its been sprayed then lay more clear over the decals once I am done to seal them in. the reason I have been thinking of color sanding is becasue I have had a few pieces of dust in the clear that I would like to get out before I lay the decals down, just concerned that maybe I would see the sand scratches in the clear if I did so but since its 2000 grit paper I am thinking I should be ok with it. What are your guys's thought?? Thanks in advance.

Derrick.... this off to a good start and its looking good. I can see the hours you have in this already. Going to be following for sure!

Every time I look at this it just keeps getting better and better!!! Nice change to the hood. Looking great!