Mooneyzs

Randy.. Holy Smokes Buddy... and I though I was crazy for trying to do a few things on the funny car and you are doing things way smaller. Yow know besides spots they may have reserved for us on the Projects Table at the DSC they may have some straight jackets waiting for us as well lol . Love your work and I can't wait to see this in person in 3 weeks.

Bob... Thank you very much. I can't wait to get some work done on those parts and show the distributor cap to you guys... there is more that goes to what you see which I need to make. Danno... Thanks for the Reminder. I know all too well about the display table. You should probably put a reserved sign in that spot for me since I have multiple people telling me that I am not going to finish it in time. So looks like you will have some good material to continue to tease me with about when the build will be done. You guys win.... Brad.... No I didn't get to borrow any Minions because John has a whip that he cracks on those guys and keeps them on a tight schedule. The only way I would be able to get a Minion is if I steal one away from him...... Maybe that's what I need to do.... Thank you on the belt. Its not perfect but good enough at this point for me. Mike... It was great to talk with ya as well. I always enjoy our chats. Thank you. I am as happy as I will be with the belt because I can't make a perfect one. Clayton... Thank you. I am hoping that I can overcome those tins this weekend. We shall see Dave... Thanks.... well Dang it... I really need to go buy a #2 pencil and I keep forgetting to. Randy D... Thank you buddy.... I sure hope you don't mind having some company at the Display only table. Although I may have to be creative like you were at GSL on some sort of Display to make my build half presentable...

Holy Schnikes Johnny Boy... I just wet myself. That color looks awesome and it plays off the frame and engine color quite nice. You are a Rock Star Mr Hollywood!! I am totally digging it. This bad boy is about done and will be done for DSC.

Then I just have to share some other good news on some parts..... So I reached out to my Dear friend Dave and asked him if he would be willing to make a few parts for me and he didn't mind one bit. I drew the parts up in my CAD system, created a drawing for him and low and behold I received some killer parts. Dave... I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do these for me and helping me with them. Its appreciated more than you will know. I had asked him if he wouldn't mind machining some Fuel Distribution Blocks, my Fire Bottle valve and my distributor base and distributor cap. These things turned out Amazing and I wish I had my own machine to make parts like these. Dave Thank you again. Here are the parts that Dave made for me. You can see the machined distributor next to the resin one: Here they are next to a Penny so you can get an idea of the size of them:

Alright Fellas... its that time for another update on what I have been working on this past week. I know it may not seem like much but it's progress. I have been getting some great work in on the blower belt. I was able to get it painted.... then got the decals on it then the past few days been getting it weathered up. Now I am at the point where it is the best that I will be able to get it. It's not perfect by any means but I am happy with my first weather job on a belt. But First off I have to Give credit and a Big Shout Out and Thank you to my Dear Friend John Teresi for sharing his technique and walking me thru how he weather's his belts. All of the Weathering was done with Folk Art Acrylic Paints that I picked up from Hobby Lobby for like $1.30 a bottle...lol. You can also get them at Michaels. John Thank you again for being willing to help me out by sharing your secrets or should I say your Minions secrets... ;D and for being a great friend. alright let me get the pics and show the belt to you.... Here is the Belt after I had painted and added the decals: Opposite side: Here is the Belt after weathering, clearing and then dull coating:

Art... Thanks Brother!!

Clayton... Thank you. I think you are right that It just wasn't meant to be to get done in time for the show. Although I am still pushing as hard as I can to get it done. I will keep continuing they way I have been and stay on the course. Bob... Thank you. I will blame it on the Minons ... lol Scott... Thanks Brother! I have to be honest that the though did cross my mind to send it flying....well actually box it up and shelve it but I know how bad I want to finish this build. The fix won't be all that hard on the tin work and a few of the parts will just need to be sanded and repainted. It just seems that anything I touch lately... I keep having to redo it a time or two. But that Light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Dave... Thanks... You are right that it could of been way worse. I truly believe that if I didn't catch it the rocks on the ground would of done more damage than what happened. Bob... I am really hoping to have a small update later tonight. I have been working on an item that has been taking me a little longer than expected but will be worth the time once its done and posted. Tim... Thank you very much. It means a lot. I have been trying to keep a positive attitude although I have had my moments where I have been bummed out but I know that pushing thru it will all be ok. I am excited to have the tins back in color and hopefully I can get all the rivets installed although I need to order a Buttload of small nuts from either scale hardware or RB Motion to put on the back side of the rivets because most likely on the real car they were actually pan head screws. But I can get the rivets installed and add the nuts later as well. Bill... Thank you. I did want to make it go sailing but I realized how much time I had in the body to get it where it was and I didn't want to redo all that work...LOL. when it comes down to it all of the set backs and heartaches will be worth the time spend redoing things when it is done because at that time I know that Have done and tried my best on the build. It's no where near perfect but will be good enough for me.

Tim... Holy Smoke that is some impressive work right there. You are like Superman. That strap turned out great and getting those nuts soldered to the chassis is ever so impressive. This build continues to get better with every post and is an inspiration and motivates me to get more done on the funny car. Thank you for sharing this beautiful build with us.

I recently made a Trade with eastown, Thank you Bob again. Great guy to Trade with and would trade with him again. It was a pleasure trading with ya. Thank you.

Wow Brother!!! That thing is looking Awesome!!! ?? I sure can't wait to see it in color. You are doing one heck of a job in this build. Nice work man!!

Danno... Thank you my friend. We shall see what this week brings. I have a few thinks I would like to get done this week for sure. Hoping to have an update later it may not be a very big update but it will be some progress. So stay tuned ?

Well with all of the good news here is where there is Bad News... LOL This seems to be the Theme of my post lately and I don't know why but it is. I was so happy to be able to get the Body tins repainted so that I could start installing all of the rivets into it. SO I decided to super glue a piece of plastic to the side that I could use as a handle to paint it. Well it seemed like a good idea but in reality ended up not being. You will see a few pics down. The top seemed to turn out ok: Here is the bottom and where it goes down hill from here. So in the middle of spraying my first coat on to the Body Tins. I started out by spraying the bottom side and then was going to move to the top side. All was going well until when I started to spray the top side and literally the handle broke and it was like slow motion that the tin started to fall. Now keep in mind that the super glue held perfectly but the plastic that I had super glued to broke in mid spray. I will say this I was lucky enough to have caught the tins from hitting the rocks on the ground in my back yard. Some how I was able to save it from hitting the ground. you can see in this pic where some of the paint had smeared from my fingers hitting those spots and I caught the tin in the rear of the hoop area on the right: I will be honest.... this is where you may not want to look... LOL. The pic turned out blurry but you can see the area where the plastic broke. It just dawned on me right now where I should of glued the handle now. Too Late now...haha.... SO this is the 3 or 4 steps backwards spot and sucks that I have to fix the tins yet once again: Here is a side view of the piece that broke off. You can see that I super glued a piece of plastic tube to the tins and then I place a piece of brass tube around the plastic tube to make the handle stronger because the tube seemed pretty flimsy: Here is a somewhat straight on shot of the piece. The only good news is that I believe that it should be pretty easy to put that piece back in place and Super Glue it in. SO hopefully the fix won't be that bad: Needless to say I have had a few more set backs with this but I am going to the bench now and I am going to be working on stuff on the engine and parts to take a break from all of this body stuff. Hope to show some progress later today.

I have to apologize for the pics. I was taking them with my cell phone and they didn't turn out so great I got the fuel tank resprayed but there ended up being a few pieces of dust that got into it and on the very top of the tank it seemed the paint pulled to the edges. sorta hard to see here since the pic wasn't in focus: Side shot of the tank. There ended up being a few spots that the airbrush splattered some paint, like it spit: Got the heat shields painted but I was not at all happy with them since it had a blemish in the paint that was noticeable to me and the fact that the paint pulled to the edge. Needless to say I will be redoing these: Got the wing sprayed. And if you can't notice there are a few blemishes that look horrible to me. This piece will get re painted as well: I was so stoked to get the back window painted and now if you look closely you can see on the outside edge and the edge of every louver that the paint looks different and that it pulled to the edges. I am wondering if it was because I thinned the paint a little more so that it would lay down a little smoother. This piece is on the Re-Paint list as well...lol:

Hello all... well it that time again for another quick update for you I made some more progress yesterday but just as this Journey has gone with with this build, every time I feel I am making good progress and make a couple of steps forward. I always ended up taking 3 to 4 backwards. I did get some time in with the Airbrush yesterday. I got a bunch of parts prepped and ready to paint a semi gloss mixture of the Hot Rod Flatz paint. I took their Hot Rod Black and Chassis black to create a sheen I was hoping to achieve and got a bunch of parts sprayed... Here is the progress....I started by getting some under seat panels painted:Then I got the Mid-Plate resprayed I may try to weather ever so slightly:Got the Headers repainted and I think I am going to weather these just a little as well:Backside of the Headers:

Brent... Thank you... I really hope that this is the home stretch Tim... Thank you. Seems like I keep Hitting speed bumps one after another lately. But I have to say that it feels good to have the underside repainted and done...lol Dave... Thanks. That is so true isn't it. I would love to have a nice little booth to spray in considering my booth is me opening the side door of my garage and spraying in the back yard... Bill... Only time will tell on the color... lol Hopefully sooner than later but the way things are going may be later...lol Joe... Thank you my Friend. Umm I will blame it on the minions... lol I won't let the little hurdles stop me.... Brad... Thank you. I am wondering how many rabbits are in the hat because I feel I am going to need a few more of them. Danno... its coming along Jim... Thanks... I was so ready to throw it and it almost got a dip in the purple pond but I would of had to of redone all of the primer as well. Ben... Thank you. Now wouldn't that be cool if it could fire up and run... lol Dave... Thank you my friend. I am trying to do the best I can with all of the hurdles and mistakes thrown my way. I have come to realize that it will never be perfect in my eyes. Clayton... Thank you. I was glad to be able to fix it. I am ready to put it behind and continue with other parts of the build. Bruce... Thank you. Yep its been 5 Long years that I have been on this. I have learned quite a bit during this build which will help me in future builds and I won't take this long again... lol I can make the Promise that it will get done this year... LOL

So After removing all of the black with the reducer. I had to sand some areas of the underside of the body. I used some fine scotch brite and some 400 grit sand paper since a few of the areas the reducer too it back down to the plastic. which had to be careful with it on the bare plastic it looked like when you use weld on #3, Pro amproid...etc glues like that. After sanding it got a bath in some luke warm water with some dawn and then I let it air dry. Tonight I got it all taped up again to repaint: Then I used some glad press and seal material so I did not have to tape the whole body up: Here is all of my materials ready to spray again. And if you can see I wrote on the top of the can a reminder to myself not to forget the Hardener ever again ;D Here was after the first coat: This was immediately after the second coat. They recommend spraying wet coats: And here it is after maybe 15 mins of flash time: I have to tell you guys that I am so happy to be over this hurdle. Now I can get back the nexts I was originally going to start working on before I made my little boo boo. So Stay tuned and I will hopefully have another update tomorrow and some over the weekend.

Then on Sunday I got the body all taped up and ready to spray the inside of the body as I mentioned with the Hot Rod Flats Hot Rod Black Urethane. Was so happy to get to this point to be making progress on the body: Well this is the part of the story where I take what felt like 5 steps back. After I was done spraying the 2nd coat of black. I was looking at their tech sheet to see the drying times and on the tech sheet it was talking about using a certain part number hardener so I though to myself that can didn't look like what I used. Well right then and there it dawned on me that I totally forgot to pull the Hardener out of the refrigerator. It was that moment that my stomach just dropped and I though to myself that I messed up big time. The paint had seemed to be dry to the touch and well I decided to call a dear friend of the family who got me into painting with automotive paints since he is car painter and been doing it for a long time. So I told him my big screw up and he told me that he has heard of people doing worse...lol and told me to contact the manufacture to see what they say. SO on Monday I call TCP Global who is the owners of The Custom Shop which is the Hot Rod Flats and after talking to the Customer Service guy. He basically told me that the paint will dry but will never actually cure But he did say that I could use the reducer and it will wipe off with the reducer. He also said I could leave it but as he mentioned it would never cure and I was afraid that when I got to back tape it when I do the color could the tape pull the paint from any where. Needless to say after I got off the phone I was Totally bummed and wanted to put the car back on the shelf. I have been pushing and rushing myself to get things done trying to make the show next month. So Since Tuesday night I have been taking a few days to remove all of the black that I painted with the reducer as the customer service told me to. It was a paint in the A$$ because I had to be really careful not to break any of the tabs. Anyway the moral of this story is that if you are ever shooting Automotive paints don't forget your Hardener...lol. I don't want any of you to have to go thru what I did. Now most base coat/ clear coat paints you only use hardener in the clear and you only reduce the base coat. The base coats are reduced typically 1:1 or 2:1 depending on the brand and clears are typically 4:1:1. If you want it a little thinner to spray from an air brush you can safely add another 10% of the reducer which actually helps it flow out and lay down better from my experience. Anyway here is a pic after I started removing the black paint. I actually took some with my cell phone in the first few stages of removing the paint but unfortunately this morning my cell phone decided to take a BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and break on me. the stupid on off button broke and I am waiting for Verizon to send me a new one...lol so this pic was when I had most of the paint removed: Now here is the body after I have removed all of the paint off:

Well it's that time for another update. Made some more progress but with the progress I made some steps backwards. Seems like lately when I make 2 steps forward I end up taking 5 steps backwards. Anyway last weekend I got the body all sanded down and ready for primer and was able to primer it Saturday night. Then the plan on Sunday was to get the underside of the body painted with the Hot Rod Flats Urethane Hot Rod Black. I will let the Pics tell the story from here.... Here is The Body, The Air Damns and Snorkel all ready for some primer: Here is the Body and parts after they had a few coats of primer sprayed on them: After the Primer was dry it got a coat of guide coat for when I block the body out:

Paul... I can't wait to see what you do with this one. So glad you have pulled it out and knocked the dust off it. I know you will knock it out of the park.

Dave...yoi are welcome. I forgot that i also have a quart of Acetone. If you want me to take pick of the can for you just let me know. I gotta tell yoin that you would enjoy tje DSC. Ita a great show andd a bunch og great guys and bot to mention all the wonderful fuys from the host club that puts it on

David.... Here is the Lacquer thinner I got at Lowes....

David... I can take a pic of my most recent gallon of Lacquer I purchased at lowes just this past weekend and will post for you.

Aaron... this car is beautiful!!! I love it. Please tell me you are going to be bringing this to the DSC next month . Would love to see it in person among your other builds too. Nice Job on this one

Paul... Thanks Buddy... I sure miss building models with you and your Dad. This build has been a long one that's for sure and I can't wait to get it done.... Soon hopefully Soon Charlie... Thank you Very much my friend. I am going to be putting your awesome braided line to use here hopefully in the next week or so... Very close to getting that detail added to the engine . The Light is definitely getting brighter but it has gone out with a few set backs....

Wow John... I Must if been posting at the same time as you did.bevause I didnt see your engine.. Dang thatnengine is Hot! . Freaking Killer work Brother. You are sure moving forward and making progress on this build as I am going Backwards on mine... . Love your work!!