GTMust

Finally got a nice day for some paint, so sprayed Dave's '79 a shineeee coat of black using Krylon Short Cuts. Now to let it cure for a few days to see if it will need any sanding before clearing it. Actually, it's pretty glossy straight out of the can so I may leave it and just give it a polish in a couple of weeks once it gasses out. Now back to Billy's "85" clone....... and shoot some more red on it........

Sorry about that! I guess my enthusiasm to see a large dio the way I thought you meant got me a little carried away! I should improve my reading skills!!! What you've done in the last photo really looks good. Tony

Great ideas Brad; let's see what I might be able to do..... Lowering the engine and setting it back is out of the question due to the confines of the engine bay and suspension. New style tubular K member doesn't really fit with the build period, which is set in the early eighties and basically a "backyard" build. (Does that sound familiar - maybe Billy has another buddy?) But maybe I can triangulate the rear frame for a little more rigidity, and also attach/weld the cab section to the box for the same reason. Neither kit includes any steering assembly at all but I may be able to cobble something up from my parts box to get a more detailed engine bay. From all your good ideas, I think I will be limited to some heavy duty springs and shocks, maybe a rear sway bar and of course some wide (for the early '80's - Polyglass G70's?) tires, and front rotors. This is going to be strictly a street cruiser and weekend drag strip contender! I'm not in a club and don't enter competitions with my builds; so I usually keep them pretty simple as long as they look good to me on my shelves and in photos and make a certain amount of sense! (Side note: Now I'm looking a little differently at the '86 GT Fox in my garage.......!) Tony

Thanks Stewart. Appreciate you staying with me on this build. Feel free to input both positive and negative if you see something wrong. Thanks Brad. Boy, you're a mine of information and it's always there when I need it! Somehow, I'm not sure this will be the best handling truck in the world! All that front end weight would probably send it into the ditch at the first bend in the road! However, I'm sure we can figure out a way to modify the suspension a little, but that will come later. Any ideas? Tony

Hmmmmm??!! OK, so you got my attention....... Tony

This is my kind of build! Model T's, Model A's, etc, etc. Stock or modified, bring 'em on! One small suggestion though, if I may....... loose the front metal axle. Take a close look at early Model A suspension and you'll see it's very "spindly" even on the race cars. And you might try to change those front "hubs" from the kit to some kind of backing plate from your parts box and set them into the wheel center. Or even a simple plastic circle. (A lot of early racers didn't even have front brakes, just rear ones and sometimes even operated by a lever beside the cockpit area.) And Jantrix is right... the frame rail extensions should be the same size as the main frame rails. Check the Internet (like "Conceptcarz.com") for some really detailed pictures of these types of early race cars. By the way, on larger tracks, many of these cars had two seats, the second for the "riding mechanic". Keep this one coming the way you're going for a circle track car.. it's going to be a cool build. Love what I see so far. Tony

Are you related to Darryl Starbird or Ed Roth? Tony

WOW! That's an ambitious project for your first dio. I love the concept and hope you'll keep us posted as you progress. The models you've already completed look well done! I hope you have lots of space available. As far as ideas are concerned, there are many books out there, as well as internet web sites that feature diarama building. A great source of reference and techniques are these forum threads (and other forums as well). Model railway builders frequently feature carnivals and State Fairs in their layouts and you can get many ideas from them. If you run into specific questions as you progress, I'm certain there are many people on the forum who will be happy to give you advice, but be specific...... general questions about "how to build diaramas" are not possible to answer in this format. First thing is to decide how much space this dio will need, whether to build it as one big dio or by smaller sections that can be attached together. Your available space will decide that. If you mean that the "background" will be a painting or photo of the grandstand or State Fair, obviously that's whole lot simpler and then you can find suitable photos from books or the Internet and have them blown up to a suitable size by a photo/copier store. Hope this helps to get you started. Tony

Oh! That dio's so real, I thought it was real mud! Seriously, I think it really looks great! Tony

Uploaded a few more pics from my camera. Trying to keep this build all Mopar (was the D50 a Mitsubishi?), I checked my stash of unbuilt models and came up with this '68 Roadrunner kit from my pile of started but never finished collection. This kit surrendered its 440 (I think it's a 440 but could be a 383?) but I'm no Mopar expert. Checking the Roadrunner front subframe it appeared that it would be able to replace the D50 front rails completely and solve my engine mounting problem. It also had inner fenders, a firewall and rad cradle that looked like they could be transplanted into the D50 front end with some fairly minor modifications. I had to remove the D50 inner fenders, rad cradle and firewall and cut down the size of the Roadrunner ones, but it seems work out pretty well. I'm hoping the body, chassis, wheels and wheelwell openings will all line up after surgery, but although I measured and checked twenty or so times before I started.... you never know! Out came the trusty razor saw and, with trembling hands, I started to butcher the roadrunner chassis and floor assembly. Once started... no turning back! (By the way, for you Mopar guys, dry those tears... I have two more of these Roadrunner kits to build as well as at least three 1/24 diecasts.) Gluing the frame back together was done with superglue (probably should have used epoxy but I'd run out and it was late at night) and a couple of reinforcing brackets but I'm not sure it will hold up to the amount of checking and double checking I usually do during a build. Here's how it's coming together: Front rails removed and replaced with Roadrunner subframe: D50 engine compartment gutted for Roadrunner assembly: How the new arrangement looks with the engine in place: And finally, an exploded view of how (I hope) the whole thing will come together: Keeping my fingers... and other parts of my body...... crossed!

Excellent project! I've been thinking of dropping a Ford SHO motor ('89 Taurus kit) into the rear of a Ford Probe, driving the rear wheels. When I find a Probe kit, I may try it. In the meantime this one has really got my attention. Looking forward to progress. Tony

I'm blown away by the creativity. Sure beats my simple engine swaps!! Tony

Thanks Stewart. Not sure how well I will be able to finish the paint on this build as the body is pretty badly damaged from excess glue, rough assembly and handling, but I'm not looking for a show truck with fancy rims and such. Probably try to finish it as a late '70/early 80's backyard custom driver built by someone with a bunch of ideas but not a lot of money, mechanical and bodywork skills to get it really looking smooooth....... wait a minute, that sounds a lot like me! The theme will be a transplanted Hemi from a "period used car lot" find. Back then, Hemi's were not worth what they are today, and usually a complete car in running condition could be found for a couple of hundred bucks. Oh, for the good old days! Pretty much a "parts box" build, using whatever parts I can find in my stash. Tony

Hey Nick. Just found the truck section.... I know I should have scrolled down further before, but there's so much to look at in this forum! By the way, this is a sweet truck and I especially like the tow hitch arrangement. Great stuff! Tony

I while back this glue bomb came to me and I put it aside with no real interest in restoring it. But recently I got interested in Mini trucks after I bought myself a real 2000 Chevy S10, extended cab, shortbed stepside with a 4.3 V6 and most of the required "toys". It needs some work to put on the road, but that's another story....... While waiting for some warm weather to paint a bunch of half finished models, I dug the D50 out of the cupboard with an idea to experiment and turn it into a......... what? The previous owner/builder had securely glued on the optional fender flares so that kinda left me without a whole bunch of choices. Circle track race truck wasn't in the cards, perhaps a dragster... naw! The logical option was some kind of custom street truck but I wanted someting different from so many of those other mini trucks. How about a Muscle mini truck! Stock body and chassis for street use but with a Hemi! But would a full blown hemi fit in that small engine compartment? Only one way to find out....! My first attempt failed miserably. Using the stock chassis and front suspension... there was no way! But meanwhile I had cleaned and stripped the body of paint and added a quick change rear end into the truck. At this point I should tell you that I'm no mechanic in real life so I'm sure there will be flaws in my build in the real world. If you see any as I proceed, please let me know and I will try to correct them along the way (if I can). First pic is the glue bomb disassembled: Next pic is after stripping the body of paint and cleaning up the chassis a little: After the lowering, reassembling and repairing of the front suspension, adding a roll cage (don't ask me why!) and adding the quick change rear end. At this point I tried a mocked up Hemi between the rails and realized that some major changes needed to be made.... more of that in the next post. Stay tuned.... I've actually dome more work after this but the pics are still in my camera's memory...... By the way, if anyone has a spare left (driver) side taillight lens (mine's missing), please let me know.

One of my favourite cars (and models)! I notice that someone cleaned the mud off the wheels before parking it on the great dio. (Just kiddin'!) Tony

One neat wrecker and I love it. A small question for my own edification..... did the '53 Ford truck cab ever come with chrome window trim, or was it just held in place with a rubber seal? Not a criticism....... just curious if anyone knows. Tony

It's not fair!!! Why don't I have the skill and patience to do amazing work like this? GRRRRRRR!! Tony

Great inspiration for a "parts box" build. I also just found out that Aurora made a 'T' kit.... never knew that! Tony

It's starting to look like some of the restoration projects my architectural/construction company took on back in the eighties. If we could do it, I know you can..... and we weren't half as talented! Keep up the great work! Tony

I take back my suggestion to try to be helpfull. Obviously, you have an attitude problem that doesn't react positively to anyone trying to help. However old you may be, try to grow up and get over it.

While I agree with Terry's original comments, I can't help but feel that exposing them to the whole forum, may be a little embarrassing and discouraging for the builder. Certainly the comments expressed will(?) help for future builds, so from that standpoint they should be taken as Constructive. But perhaps a better way may be to send a PM? We all need constructive criticism and ideas to improve our builds. But perhaps in a kinder and less public way? I have mixed feelings, though. Just a thought.

I knew this one was going to be something special! Great work.... look forward to every update.....

If you got second place, I can't imagine what the winner's dio looked like! Congrats on the first place with the '57 Chevy....... Tony

That's ingenious! Thanks for showing this smart idea. Now I'll see if I can adapt it to my dio. Tony