Mooneyzs

Lee... I think you may be right that maybe its for the best not to see any more pics... i will want to redo more of this build..lol Bob... I know I am in much need of bemch time. I need to finish buttoning up the design for the blower, injector hat and fuel pump so I can get them sent off to shapeways. I apologize I havent gotten any updates up..my parents came into town last week and are visiting for the week. I will have some progress to show soon.

Chuck.. beautiful work on that body. It Looks killer.

Clay... what can I say that hasn't already been said. That engine is gorgeous and a work of art. You are amazing at what you do. That was some well worth bench time for sure. What did you use to paint the pro tech braided line? I also love how you used the dirt modeler tabs for the windows, gives me an idea for one of my next builds. Keep on doing what your doing. It is killer.

Michael.... Those are totally cool kits. Great looking builds. Awesome work.

Dave... I miss seeing progress on this gorgeous build but I know you are playing with your 1:1 model. Miss Ya buddy

Ralph....this is coming along very nice. Those are some sweet parts from TDR. Keep up the great work on this.

Henry.... I sure hope to have some more cool stuff to come up with for this build Joe... Oh man that is awesome. I can't wait for you to start it. I will be following for sure. How are you enjoying your lather and mill?

Nice work on this build. Looks great.

Henry... thank you Joe... I can't wait to see what you have in store for us. Can you give us a hint... scale?? 1/16th by chance?

Darryl... love tbis build and all of your builds you post. Your dioramas are always totally cool. Keep up the great work.

Henry... thank you. You know I will be chipping away at this one. Dave... thank you for checking in. I need to get in touch with you it been too long. I have a fee more questoins for you...lol Dave... thank you. It would be nice to be able to get those pics but I am not gonna hold my breath. I think Inhave been doing pretty good filling in those bkanks where i have needed to. Joe.... its great to see you back here. Sure miss seeing your talent around here and updates to your builds. Thanks on the kinds words about my dedication to this build. its fun ijust want to get past this next hurdle of getting these few parts desiged. Once I finish them i can get the fuel pump, blower, injector hat, K style barrel vavle printed and then I think i could start getting the engine together. I am so ready to do some painting and getting this engine together. Hexk I want to finiah this build so bad...lol

Gabe... I know my list was pretty long but I was going big or going home by asking for all of these things. I figured it wouldnt hurt to ask. The pics I have dobt give me evwrything I need. Henry... thanks. Yeah it would of been nice if they could of helped but its ok that they can't. I knew how long my list was and that most likely they would of said they couldnt do it or the big list scared them away. Anyway I wont let it stop me from buding this car. Bob... that is pretty much what I have been doing. Using evey pic I have of this funny car and filling in the blanks with other cars from this era the best I can.. as well as making the best judgement and assumotions I can by going with things how i think it may have been. It was a john Buttera (spell?) Chassis. Joe... I cant wait to get these parts I have designed printed to see how they turn out. I dont mind at all you sharing this build over at that glory days of drag racing page. I sent a requeat to join the group. I have to say it was so cool back in the day when everything was painted and the lettering was done by hand. I am not a big fan of wrapping the cars. Doesnt look as good.

Norman.. I don't get it either but maybe you are right that it is in his personal collection and I am not sure. I appreciate you checking it out. Here is the email that I had sent to them: To Whom it May Concern, Hello, I am writing in regards to the 1974 Army Vega Funny Car that Mr. Hendrick Purchased from Don Prudhomme a while back. It is my understanding that is displayed in the Hendrick Performance Museum. I know this may sound like an odd question or request But I was wondering if there was any possible way to have you guys take some pictures of the car for me. I am building a 1/16th Scale Replica of Don Prudhommes 1974 Army Vega Funny Car. This build was started out from a Revell 1974 Army Vega Funny Car plastic model kit. I started this build back in March of 2011 and still currently working on it. I am looking for some specific details and when I have tried to search for pictures on the web there are limited pics of this car as Don Prudhomme only ran it for 2 races back in the day. The only pictures I have been able to really find was of the restored car on the snake racing website under his collection. I have heavily modified and scratch build many components on this build. I currently have 1200 hours into this build and I am trying to build this as accurate to the restored car as I can. Here is a link to a model car forum that I have been posting the progress of this build so you can see the work I am doing on it: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42096&page=1 This build will be entered in competition in many major model car shows. I would appreciate and be so thankful if there was anyway you guys could help with some pictures. I know that my list may be a little long but it is all of the little details I want to have perfect on this build. Here is what I am hoping you guys can take for me: -Under body structure support -Body latch Mechanism -Body Tin work (both sides, section that straddles the motor mount plate, the rear how it goes around roll cage from under the car) -pics body tin work through the side windows -Escape Hatch hinge (is it underneath or on top) -Rear Body structure support -Parachute line mount (does the line get hooked to a bracket off the rear end or chassis?) -Parachute release lever location -Fuel Shut off Lever -Brake handle -Pic of fire bottle ( from both sides as well as the release pin and pull handle) -Pic of the 5 point restraint and locations where the restraints mount to the chassis and how the restraint is attached -Pic of the gas and clutch pedals -Pic of the transmission and reverse lever on how its mounted to transmission -Pic of the rear end -Pics of the engine (both side views, front rear to be able to capture all of the lines where they are hooked up) -Picture of the oil pressure gauge and if possible the location on the block where its tied into. -close up pic of the "K" Style Barrel Valve and the linkages connected from the barrel valve to the injector hat -Pic of the throttle cable with the spring connected to the injector and to the blower -Pic of the injector lines into the manifold (so I can see the color of the B Nuts) -Pic of the injector lines into the injector (so I can see the color of the B nuts) -Pic of the fuel distribution blocks the injector lines come from -close up pic of the distributor -close up pic of the Mallory ignition box -pic of the fuel pump and the fuel shut off valve -Pic of the oil filters -Pic of the line connected to the headers and the water fill port attached to the heads (not exactly sure what its called) -Pic of the seat area from both sides -pic of the parachute and parachute lines -Pic of the overflow tank -Pic of the body from the front, rear and sides -Pic of the rocker panel that is black on the side of the body and can you let me know if the body is just painted black there or is the black piece a separate thin metal panel I was wondering if you could also take pics of the fire suit that is in the display case next to the car from all angles as well as the helmet. I was thinking of painting up a driver figure to look just like the the fire suit in that display case which will be displayed along with this replica. You don't know how grateful and appreciative I would be if there was any way that you guys could help out on this information for me. Also if there is any way that you could pass the message along to Mr. Hendrick so he could take a look at the Replica of this funny car that I am building. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this message and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again and have a wonderful day. Sincere Regards, Chris Sobak again here was their response Chris: Thank you for your interest in our Snake Vega Funny Car and it sounds like you have a tremendous project going. I will admit your request was unusual but I understand your need of detail. Unfortunately we don't have the personnel or time to do this for you. Photography is normally prohibited and access to the car is restricted in its current Hendrick Heritage Center location. Sorry I wasn't more help but best of luck to you in finding the information you need as well as the completion of your project. Infrastructure Manager Hendrick Motorsports 4400 Papa Joe Hendrick Blvd Charlotte, NC 28262 704.453.2161 work

Hakan... Thank you. I sure hope the printed part turns out as good as seen here. Norman.... Thank you for the kind words on this build. I can't tell you how excited I will be to finally finish this build. That is so cool you only live 40 miles from Hendricks motorsports yes this Army Vega Funny Car is displayed there now. Mr Hendricks bought it from Prudhomme over a year or more I believe. You don't know how much that would mean to me if you could get pics of it for me. I would be more than happy to pay you for your time if you ever de died to take a trip there. No need to make a special trip just for me. I was told by the staff at Hendricks motorsports in the email when they replied that no pictures are allowed and visitors aren't even allowed back where the funny car is displayed. Made me think why even have it on display if you won't let people look at it...lol I can copy and paste the email that I sent to them. I did have a list of 30 items I was hoping to get pics of. This past year mr Hendricks bought two more of Mr. prudhommes funny cars.....Two of the hot wheels funny cars. Let me know if you would like me to post the email. Brad.... You are right... That would be the ticket. I can only hope that they would allow people to see the car and take pics of it.

Henry.... Thank you for the kind words. Scott.... I sure hope once it's printed it is just as impressive. Keeping my fingers crossed it turns out like I hope.

Here are some more shots of the blower and Injector Hat assembled. Ok Fellas... time for me to go do a little work on the build and take a break from the 3d Modeling. I need a change of pace at the moment...lol Hope to have some progress pics later for you.

Ok Fellas... wanted to show you more work I have done today on the Blower and Injector Hat design. I think I pretty much have it completed other than I need to add the Injector ports on the injector hat and a couple of clearance holes to the blower housing. Pretty happy with it so far. I put lettering on the front panel of the blower but not sure how it is going to prints so I will probably print one with lettering and one with out. the one with out I was considering doing some thing with a decal. Any way here are a few pics and I will show you a few shots of the real deal to go along with the 3D models... Here is the Back plate of the real car: Here is the back plate of the 3D model. Now you will see that I have two different bolt styles as to figure out which will look the best. Most likely I will be going with the Socket Head Cap Screws as that is what is on the real blower: Here is a side view of the real thing: Here is the 3D model and I decided to add the boss and "Mooneyham" on the side like the real thing: Here is a straight on view of the front plate:

Joe... You are doing a great job on this. It's looking good. And sure coming along. Keep up the great work.

Derrick....great build. Love how clean it looks. Nice job.

Chris.... thank you for the kind words and for taking the time to go thru all of the pages here. I know there is alot to go thru. When I first stsrted this build I was challenging myself to do an all out detailed build and to take this build to a level i have never built at before just to see if I could. I wanted to go farther than I ever have before on a build and I have to be honest I didn't know if I could do it at first bit glad I challenged myself to go all out on a build. I currently have a lite over 1200 hours into this build so far and would really like to finish this on so I can move onto my next build. I have had struggles and moments where I feel burnt out but i winlt let it keep me down. Henry... thank you Brad... thank you. I think you are right that the emblema really set it off. I still need to make a pocket on the front panel for the mooneyham and I may have to see if you can do the "Mooneyham" "Blowers" to fit that area. I just need to get it added and then I can give you dimensions. I think doing a decal for that will be much easier than trying to have it printed into the part. We will see what happens when i tey to get ahold of Skip. I will keep fingers crossed....lol Hakan.... thank you. I cant wait to get this sent off to shapeways to print. I want to see in my hand and in primer...lol Although I would like to draw up the K style barrel valve before I do so I can have all the parts printed at the same time.... fuel pump, Injector Hat, blower and barrel valve. I havent forgotten. Your PM just been busy Mike.... thank you. I know i need to get bench time in. This weekend is going to be all aboit building other than some hoise chores I need to do around the house... lol

Ok Fellas.... So I sat in front of the computer some more doing more work to the blower. I will tell you this much, I am about ready to be done designing this blower...lol I still have a couple more things but she is almost there. I am planning on drawing up the mounting bolts to make sure my mounting holes have enough clearance for the bolts not to hit the side of the blower. I was trying a few different ways of saving the picture out a jpegs some with edges some with out them shown. I need to mess around with rendering a pic if I can in the programs. anyway just a few pics to show more of the blower design.... I should post pics of the real deal with it too.

Henry... you need to have credentials to get to the area that he usually is in. Steve... Thank you for the info I really appreciate it. I think I remember seeing Skips name on the snake racing facebook page, actually someone saying the name Skip but I couldn't remember it for the life of me. I will try an get in touch with him to see if they can get any of the info I was hoping to get from the Hendricks organization. I will keep everyone posted. IT is definitely worth a shot at trying to get a hold of him.

Hmm 1975 would have some sweet Front and rear engine dragsters as well as some funny cars... lol

Brett.... there was nothing better than funny cars and dragsters from the 70's and 80's. I loved how they had their own name (which gave personality to the car) paint jobs were actually painted and they were wild to watch. Just wait til you see what one of my next builds will be. I will say this it is something from the mid 70's to mid 80's

Dale ..... you are right about him sitting in a restricted area.maybe I could get lucky and run into him somewhere there. Henry.... We shall see when I get the parts....lol