LR3

I received an email asking where one can find the rod ends. They can be found on the new combined TDR website: https://sites.google.com/site/tdrinn...op/1-8-rodends They really work well. I used 5/8" scale for the radius rods and 3/8" scale for the Jacobs Ladder.

Attached the Jacobs Ladder to the rear shock mount on the axle. Probably puts too much strain on one component in real life but there wasn't much room here for tabs.

Never heard of a Jacob's Ladder until Ken Meaders sent me the 4 Bar drawings. Now I have one and as soon as the chassis tabs glue dries I will mount it.

Rod ends worked great. Made all the difference for attaching radius rods. AND I found a use for the 3/8th ones I bought by mistake. They will be used in the Jacobs Ladder I need for the rear axle - But I would much rather be working on a kit project. May have to buy your 6.1 Liter Hemi. Do you plan to offer the detail parts like the alternator in the latest fine grain material?

This scratch building requires too much planning and experimenting for an old guy. I am looking forward to digging up a nice kit for my next project. Anyway test fitting goes on with the radius rods, torsion bars, etc. Glad this is all bolted together because it has had to come apart time and again.

The back axle had the radius rod and shock mounts knocked off as it bounced around during handling of the frame the past few weeks. Just another reason to use TDR 's quick change instead of the old Deuce kit assembly. The good part is bolting the radius rods to the brackets allowed me to angle the brackets properly to reduce strain. I put everything in place before final gluing in of the rod ends. Fortunately no one will see the rear axle once the body is in place as I have hand painted it more than once while it rattled around back here and it needs one more coat. Notice the finely tuned and machined holding fixtures in place as the glue drys.

5/8th rod ends from TDR are on hand so I can size the radius rods and add installation tabs. Learned I should have had a plan. Should not have mounted front hubs yet. No room to get a wrench into place for the lower front rod bracket. Might have to just glue that bolt in place (maybe all bolts? doubt there is much spring in this chassis anyway) Nothing is locked up yet - just laying in place. Still some painting required.

Slathered on some putty. Looks like I painted myself into the proverbial corner. Now I know for sure I wont be able to have a chrome grill. Guess the entire nose cone of the Vintage version will be one color. Maybe I can figure something else out for the 4bar version.

No plan, just forging ahead with a grill. There must be better ways of doing this. Anyway made a loop from 10 gage copper wire. It looked like it stood out too much for the scale so tried some putty to act as a ledge inside the nose and also to maybe reduce the visual effect of the wire size. Don't know how to make a curved grill so laid some small wire on top and held it in place with masking tape. Soldered the wires. (ugly solder job) But files took care of the mess.

Put off opening the grill area as long as I could. First attempt will be on the original vintage part. Drew a rough outline, drilled a starting hole and inserted a jeweler saw. Tricky to hold part by hand while sawing. Broke blade on the first attempt but after a while you get the hang of it. Any better ideas would be appreciated before I cut up the 4 Bar body. The cut was not true to the drawing. But some repairs could be made by trying different rasps and files.

Just some wire I had laying around. This is a mix of parts and scratch built items to fit inside a Vintage Body from the Madd Fabricator. No action plan - just add a little here and there while waiting for the final body. I am getting ahead of myself because the more I add the more I am afraid will interfere with fitting everything inside the body.

Seeing as this will be open wheel with disk brakes I guess brake lines are in order. Kludged together a brake system. The master cylinder will probably be hidden by the seat module and I doubt the coupling to the front/back brake lines will be in view so I didn't spend time detailing them. The only thing that will be seen is the brake handle. Not really sure why I went to the effort.

Just to show the detail of the new material, here is a scale 1/4" bolt (cap/washer end and nut/washer end). It has a smooth finish and is smaller than the 9 on the dime.

I agree - there has to be more going on!

Used the Vintage version of the dash to test how instruments, ignition and fuel shut offs might look. Pretty simple dash requirement.

Temporary installation of the steering box and firewall. Looks like there are good clearances. I hope I can extract the steering for chassis painting later (Easier to jam things in than extract.) I will need to make a final fitted dashboard for the new body. Someone had asked what material I plan to use for the seat. I obtained some carving foam from Amazon. It had been suggested earlier as Poly something, anyway it turns out to be a denser version of the foam florist use. I only saw the 5 Lb. density, which is what I ordered. They make a 10 Lb. density that would be better I think. Anyway, this will be much easier to cut to shape than pine. I will cut it in at the bottom so that a shoulder holds the seat on the upper frame rail. I am not much of a carver so I will still form the seat curve by filling in with a Spackle like substance called "Fixall" like I did for the first Sprint car.

Taped everything in place to be sure they fit. Much easier to handle the motor with the upper frame member staying below the carburetors. This will make it easy to drop the seat in as a prefabricated module also. Based on the heft of this model I believe I should make the torsion bars and arms out of copper and solder them in place. Not sure the styrene ones will hold up to handling etc. although adding the shocks will help strengthen the running gear.

Ah shucks - at my age I can't remember anything. Forgot the extended length of the quick change rear end. I can still jam it in but it is tight and shortens the wheel base another 2". Now I see why Ken drew the torsion bars low and extended. I Have rebilt this chassis too many times to do it again. Forgot that I had to build it around the kit rear end (really would be smart to get the TDR quick change for ease of assembly) and didn't like the first try. Then it takes a few re-solders as the frame is tweaked into position. It is a little fiddly to position the hoops inside the body also. Position, check, nip ends, position, check, etc. then hope soldering doesn't change things. Wish TDR would get moving on their open wheel racer plan. I am not a scratch builder.

I am following Meaders drawings for the most part but felt the chassis ends were too contemporary for the vintage body so I bobbed them. This will allow the body cut outs around the suspension to hide behind the wheels and the end result, I hope, will be more like the red car posted earlier. I have laid the pair of frame sides on an earlier picture to get an idea of where to go.

Finished the rear axle shock and radius rod mounts. Inside mount pieces are loose until I get the radius rod ends on order from TDR. Not sure of their dimensions. I can’t visualize what something will look like so I have to keep laying things out to see what will fit where and what clearances will be required. There will be some deviations from Kens plan as the physical parts are laid out and I can see the clearances for real. The new Vintage Sprint bodies do not have molded in panel lines so we can make our panel cuts fit any particular frame layout. Based on how this frame will be set up I plan to cut panels as shown when the new body is available. Be interesting to see how this turns out with a full body pan except for the possibly required quick change rear end clearances.

And the plan views.

I made up the parts for the 4 torsion bars but can not assemble them until I have a frame to solder the casings to. In case anyone else wants to build the Vintage Sprint Car as a "4 Bar" these full scale copies of Ken's plan will print out on letter size paper. Just paste them together.

Testing the rear axle assembly. This is where the TDR Quick Change rear end would work the best because you slide a tube through it for an assembly. Salvaging an old kit part, the axle tube is locked in place and the complete rear end can not be added to a completed chassis. The "4 bar" chassis will have to be assembled around the rear end. The earlier vintage chassis dropped over the rear end with no problems. As I am not sure I can align all the pieces during assembly I glued the axle/wheel back plate to the brake caliper mount plate. I have TDR bolts on order as most bolt applications wind up in blind holes and these will be much cheaper in the long run than metal bolts.

Rambling on (not a planner) looks like this version should just be called "4 bar" instead of by a date. It will basically follow the plans Ken Meaders sent; I will post sections that can be printed on letter size paper as I go along. There will be modifications. Front axle seems like a place to start so I can see how it will fit to the frame. Can only build out to the spindles as the brakes will not fit through the frame. I am hooked on TDR's disk brakes but darn it, MF's Halibrand wheels will not fit over them. Wish I had discovered that before finishing up the brakes. One could probably sand the calipers down enough to slip in but mine are finished. Even then they barely fit inside my old Deuce wheels. Anyway - back to the front axle - made up spindles. And began work on the rear axle. The brake mounting plate is scratch built as it was not available with the donated brake parts. Old wheel/tire is just for reference (from a prior model). All this scratch building helps the budget and at my age I have more time than money. I can drag this pair of builds out all winter.

What I don’t know fills volumes. Kurtis was using torsions bars on his midget race cars in the late 40s and his larger KK2000 cars from around 1950 had a look similar to MF’s Vintage Sprint car. So actually I stumbled into a plausible 1950 design with a torsion bar car. For those wishing to build the earlier version type sprint car with a Deuce kit frame, here are some plans of a Kuns sprint car. Google Hillegass Sprint Car for a detailed set of pictures showing a complete restoration of this era sprint car.