Mooneyzs

Tim... wow... this is so gorgeous. I absolutely love the contrast between the rear end and chassis. This build is flat out gorgeous

Alright Fellas.... I finally got some completed outside pics done that I have posted over in the Under Glass section. You can check them out here if you would like: As I mentioned in the Under Glass Post, I had asked John a while back if he wouldn't mind if it would be ok to take pics of my Funny Car at his famous picture place at a Park By his house and when I was out there a few weeks ago for a show we took some pics. Not only did he say it was ok but he also allowed me to use some of his props that he shows in some of this pics but I think my favorite was being able to have pics of his dragster and my funny car together. Pretty cool. Oh yeah and I loved being able to use his Prudhomme Figure too. All of the Credit for these pictures goes to John Teresi as he was the one taking the pics for me. John Thank you again for taking the pics and allowing me to have pics at your famous spot. Definitely an honor to be able to get pics there. Here are a few teaser pics for ya:

Jimmy.... Thank you so much and for posting the video. It was an honor to talk to Mark Savage at the IPMS Nationals and having them add it to some of their footage online. Lee.. Thank you very much my friend. I really appreciate it. A miniature wally would be pretty sweet huh... LOL Manfred... Thank you so much.

John had built the 1/16th scale Prudhomme Army Dragster a while back and I told him that it would awesome if we could take pics of my Funny Car and his Dragster together. He was nice enough to find his dragster and bring it so we could get pics of the cars together: John had made a Prudhomme figure for his dragster and I asked if it would be ok for use to take a few pics with his figure next to the funny car, He didn't mind and here are a few pics of it:

Hello Fellas.... Well first off I am happy to say that I am finally done with this long term project. While it had its up and downs over the years as well as many set backs along the way, it is nice to finally be able to say that it is completed. When I first started on this project I thought to myself that I want to a extreme detailed build something that I had never done before and I figured that I would take a year or so to build it. For those that followed along on the work in progress know it took me much longer than that. There are many builders out there that I have looked up to over the years and I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could build something as nice as them. My mindset was that I was just going to add more detail than I have ever done on a build before, Needless to say through out this build I continued to push myself to try things I have never done before to just see if I could do it or it was possible. I had redone multiple items because either I wasn't happy with how something turned out, it didn't look right or the fact that things didn't line up or fit correct because I didn't take the time to figure out how I was going to approach something at first. A good example is when I had go back and change the ride height of the car and that the engine sat too far back in the chassis to which I had to move it forward 1/2" to get it to look like the real car. With all that said, I am really happy with the out come and I wouldn't change things because of the many lessons learned that will help me with future builds. I have been waiting to post pics of the completed build until I got some nice outside pics. First I need to take a moment to thank my dear friend John Teresi for allowing me to use the famous photo spot when he has completed his build. If you ever have seen his completed builds you will know what I am talking about. He has a park by his house that is just awesome for a Photo Shoot. I had asked him if he wouldn't mind if I used his photo spot one day to take pics of the funny car there. So a couple weeks ago I went out to Southern California for a Model Show that Mark Jones put on at a Car show at the Orange County fairgrounds call Crusin' for a Cure which is the biggest one day car show in California. Not only was he willing to let me take pics there but I have to give him the credit for the pics because he took them for me. Thank you again John Second.... I need take a moment to say a few special thanks to the following people for their help along the way of this build: -Dave Sherman – Thank you so much for all of the behind the scenes help you gave me when ever I had any drag racing question. Dave was my go to guy for questions I was unsure of. Also Thank you for being willing to machine a few of my parts that I drew up for me...Pulley’s, Fuel Distribution blocks, Distributor base and Cap. -Jim Littikin (Micro Nitro) – For Machining my rims, Hubs -John Teresi – For sharing his weathering techniques with me. -Mark Johnson – For his resin engine and for making valve covers to match the restored Army Vega F/C. -Brad Norgaard – For helping me with Decal work -Chuck Boerner – For helping me with Decal work With that said This build was started way back on 3/9/2011 and Finished on 7/29/2018. A period of over 7 years. I have well over 2300 hours into the build. It is probably more closer to 2500 considering that I didn't log any of my CAD design that I did for all of the parts that were 3D printed for this project. This build started out with Revell's 1/16th Scale Army Double kit (The Army Vega Funny Car and Army Dragster). The paint that was used was House of Kolor BC25 White, House of Kolor Euro Red, PPG Custom mixed blue and PPG Omni Plus Urethane Clear IF you guys would like I can also add a list of aftermarket items I used. Just let me know ant I will be more than happy to add them. I don't want to bore you guys anymore with me rambling on so here are the completed pics but first if you want to see the build in progress you can see it here:

Jay... Amazing work my friend. This is turning out Killer. I love it.

Tim... That Chassis is flat out gorgeous. Nice work on the paint. It looks killer. It is no fun painting when there is a lot of humidity. I can't wait until your next update.

Thanks Gary... These headers I did are 1/16th Scale. I recently picked up another tube bender from Habor Freight. I will have to take some pics of it for you and get you the part numbers of the Dubro tube bender I showed above plus another Dubro one that is the same but different size tube. I believe one is for 1/8" Dia. tube and the other 5/32" Dia. tube

I primered the joints so I could see how they turned out and to make sure they were ok: Here I have test fitted them to the heads with the bolts to make sure everything lined up ok: Placed them on the Block to make sure everything was good to go:

After I had completed making the header flanges, I used them to transfer drill the holes into the heads: I then made a jig to hold the headers so that I could solder them together: Here I have placed the headers in the jig and they are ready for solder: Here is the Completed 2nd header: Here is one set completed after soldering:

Gary... I made my headers for the Army Vega Funny car out of Brass. I didn't have many issues other than I have about 30 hours into these headers. Here are some pics of how I build them.: Here is the Tube Bender I used its a Dubro Tube Bender for RC Airplanes that I picked up Here are all 8 Tubes That I had fabricated and are ready, I did have a pile of bends that either I didn't get at the correct angles or I went a little too far. I was sort of a trial an error at first since there was no way to mark and measure them the same like a traditional tube bender I have used for flared tube. Once I figured a system out it wasn't bad at all: Next I started making some Templates for the Header Flange out of plastic then used the template to transfer to the brass pieces: Cutting the header flange's with my razor saw a miter box, my headers were made by hand and not machined for this build: Here are the Completed flanges and now I am drilling the mounting holes with my pin vise:

Art... Awesome Work Brother!! This thing is shaping up quite nicely. Glad to see you getting some Bench Time in. I can't wait to see more Updates on this.

John.... This build turned out Awesome!! As always you knock your builds out of the park. This was so fun to watch come together. I am sure you are going to blow our minds with your next Epic Build. Keep them Coming!! Nice Work Brother!!

John... Awesome update my friend. Everything is looking Steller!! You are on the home stretch for sure. Looks like there isn't much left. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us with your next build. I am sure it will be just as epic.

John... wow brother!! Younyave crushed the paint out if the park man. It looks great and only going to look better once you get the final clear on it. Nice job man

John.... that paint is looking great. Love the flake you added to it. Make otnlooknjist like the video. Lookong forward to seeing more of the next color you put on it. Keep up the awesome work Brother!!

Joe... this build is looking great!! Keep up the awesome work, love the color.

Tim... major props and congrats!! I know this is such a huge Milestone on this gorgeous build. You should feel very proud. The primer looks great. I know you have to be feeling great getting some paint on it. I can relate when you been working on things for years to finally see it all coming together. I can not wait to see the paint on it. Keep up the great work my friend, Cheers!!

Killer work John... this is turning out so awesome. That interior is off the charts for sure and the detail with the gas tank area is very nice. I cant wait to see that body in paint as well as see this bad boy in person .

Awesome work John... that dragster is killer and turned out great. I love the Garlits shop you did for this. Sorry I am holding you back from posting finished pics. This past month has been really hard for me to get motivated to work on anything lately.

Tom... thank you very much. Tim... thank you very much. I am trying to plan out the design this way so that I don't run into fitment issues and troubles Like I did with the Army funny car. I know I am spending more time up front on things than I would like but it will only make things go smoother for me during the build process. Seeing your last post with the chassis all ready to go and the exudes view pics really has inspired me. I cant wait to get to work in this build. I am currently stuck in getting the Chrysler 8-3/4" rear end modeled.i have the Housing just about dine hut there us one portion of it that I am just not happy with and I may have to start it again and approach it a little differently...lol Randy... thank you so much for the kind words and taking the time to go thru the funny car thread. Welcome to the forum, you will find many great builders here to learn from. Feel free to ask any questions from.any of us here. From what I have found is that everyone is really helpful here. Dave... thanks, I am really looking forward to getting the chassis going on this one. Wish I could of made it out to Maple Grove. Looks like you had a blast.

Dave... No, I haven't been able to get to the bench the past few weeks, have had some things going on. I need to get my butt back there so I can get this chassis into some paint. I need to fix a few joints and then I should be good to go.