doomcrew

the paint has now been polished and i have applied baremetal foil on the front screen surround. the interior has been covered in black flock, this includes the roof and upper sides of the body. the engine is mocked up with the air filter. steve

i now have the paint polished with some of the panels in place. i also turned out a fire extinguisher with scratchbuilt pewter mounts. this was to replace the out of shape kit version. i bought a base made from MDF, for the dragster to sit on. i will make a cover for it from sheet perspex. steve

i did think about extending the graphic down the side, but chose not to. here i have clear coated the body, and you can see the difference the light has on the colour. steve

more updates....got the paint scheme sorted with the transfers (decals) in place. the dark pearl blue was enhanced with crystal blue, which is a metalflake flip flop colour that changes to purple. the red is also enhanced with a metalflake red, both of which echo the blue and red scheme. next, clear coat. steve

some updates. i started painting the body panels, although i did have a slight problem with one of them when taking off the masking tape. but while the paint is curing, i got on with making the safety harness from Pro-Tech via Modelexpress along with the photo-etched throttle linkage. the belts are made from zinc oxide tape and painted red, not quite finished yet. as it happens, i modified the Enderle Injector so it could the hat. :-) steve

the blue paint combo will be used on another project as it does work well. but this is the final colour stage with the airbrushed graphics. i used createx wicked detail colours, next after the paint has cured, clear coat then polish. thanks for looking steve

while i'm waiting for some paint and photo etched parts to arrive in the post, i thought i would get on and do some of the other parts for the dragster. steve

well, this is stage four. i was almost tempted to leave it in blue, but i set out to have it in a reddish purple and i can't go back now, LOL. i will put some pics up showing the chassis, dash etc which are in the same colour and i need to work on the graphics, nothing major though. steve

started painting the body panels and worked a scheme for it. the colours will be white, red, dark pearl blue and a colour shifting blue. there will also be red and blue metalflake added, but only a little. the scheme will be reminiscent of a certain Bonneville race car. steve

on to stage two of the paint job. the masking was pretty simple, just along the belt line. i used a pearl blue straight out of the can. this is stage three, the blue metalflake which was also applied to the chassis, dash, airfilter and rocker covers. steve

i now have the headers done. i was going to scratchbuild them but i found that with a bit of cleaning up, and a small bit of scratch and photoetched bolt heads, they came out pretty good. the heat bloom was airbrushed on together with the alclad and exhaust stain. i also drilled out and leveled the tips. i noticed that the real thing (on the box lid) has a line coming from the headers but i havent been able to locate where it goes. thanks for looking. steve

ok, this is the base colour, the same colour i used on the 30 model A and the 1/16 FED chassis. i will again put blue metalflake over the top, but will lay over candy cherry to turn it purple. the belt line will be in a dark pearl blue and may have some airbrushing on. the aircleaner may also have some airbrushing. the chassis will be body colour. also, i know it may odd, but the front will be a beam axle on scratchbuilt leaf springs, you know, just to be different. steve

well its on its wheels, temporarily anyway. i originaly wanted to turn out a pair of hubs with the discs, but i found it alot easier just to do the disc and modify the hub. a threaded rod together with tin plated nuts (1mm) which were cut to size make up the studs and a pair of centre caps were turned. the gas was put inplace and enhanced with a turned cap. the front axle will be stripped of the chrome and redone in alclad. steve

more updates.............drilled out the holes for the wheel nuts and valves, and engine and rear axle in place. steve

:D got the ignition wires in. i did use the kit wires at first, but after looking at the results, i decided to change them for smaller diameter wire. also these sit better as the kit wire, erm... doesn't have any wire in them. steve

some more progress. i turned out a part to add to the belt guard/starter and detailed with etched bolts. i also used threaded bolts in various places which meant using a tap, this saves having to glue the bolts in. scratchbuilt the linkage for the scoop butterflies. steve

it makes a change for me to work in a larger scale, what puts me off is the lack of space, hopefully that will change soon. tried to do some general research on this and other cars, and get some engine pics. although i'm not doing this as the california charger, i do want to keep a sense of realism, hence the weathering on the motor. i relocated the magneto to its proper location and installed the scale repros blower pulleys. i did some lathe work on the driveshaft housing, brake discs/hubs and butterfies for the scale repros bug scoop. i will try and do as much scratchbuilding as i can on this to save cash, although i have seen a set of safty harnesses for this kit. hmmm........... thanks for looking. steve thanks for looking. steve

OUCH!! sorry but i am in pain after my jaw just hit the deck. there is awesome work going on here and it will inspire me to start using brass again. are the wheels micro nitro doing custom? i have used their wheels on my 1/25th scale cars, and in 1/16th they look superb. steve

decided to carry on with the scratchbuilding using chemiwood. have made the dash, valve covers, oil pan and filter to replace the stock version. oh, yeah, its going to be right hand drive. :-) steve

I have been after one of these kits for ages as they are not easily available here in the UK. i will be using Scale Repros Plus wheels and engine parts along with a few turned ally parts. the plate in the pic is from an old RC truck, this is being used as a jig as i put the chassis together. i stripped the chrome off the bell housing and most of the axle, these will be painted in metal colours and weathered. thanks for looking. steve

here are some updates. basically started priming and preparing the body and chassis. also began working on the interior panels and dash. in case you were wondering, i applied scotch tape to a body panel, then put body filler to the interior panel and pressed them together and left to set. the result is that the fit of both panels, are nice and tight.

i have made some more progress after the hot rod shows, gigs and holiday. i have modyfied the chassis/floor so that the ferrari V12 now fits. changed the centre door window and the rear lights as i wasn't happy with the way they looked.

ha ha wrong side, that depends on which side of the pond you're standing on. :lol: here's a couple of pics of my little austin taking the top honours at the NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals here in the UK and one of me. you may notice that i made a couple of changes to the car, well you how it is, you think you've finished it but there is always something.

its been ages since i have done anything on this beast, but with music events, birthdays, and me building a star wars vehicle, namely the Millenium Falcon, i have gotten a bit side tracked. however, while searching for parts to detail Han Solo's hotrod, i came across a Tamiya Ferrari F50. originally i was going to put a Ford V8 coupled with a Viper gearbox. but seeing the V12, well i think you can guess where the V12 is going. ;D ;D steve

ok, its been a bit of a slow start with this as i am also building a sci-fi model at the same time. but as you can see, i have made some more body mods. i have also decided to use a ford motor from one of the 32 fords mated to a heavily modyfied viper trans, this will be the transaxle. steve