ian ashton

That's exactly what I wanted on the shocks, thanks! On the exhaust I left the resonator on because one of the pics I have of the real car appeared to have it, although I'm not 100% sure.

I also got the final coat of red paint on the body today. In the next few days I'm hoping to get the grille area taped off and sprayed silver, then decal, clear, BMF, and assemble!

More progress, wooowooo! I got the rear suspension installed (still have to put the shocks on, no biggie there I have a little more research to do on them before I commit...) I used Bare Metal Foil Matte Al for the gas tank straps, and looking at this picture reminded me that I forgot to put exhaust clamps on, oh well; I couldn't find the what the rear end markings were for the 8 3/4, so I just duplicated what they would be on a Dana, close enough. I bet if I wouldn't have told ya, you wouldn't have known, haha. My Scenes Unlimited drum brake assembly - I just think these parts are so freaking cool! A poor and dusty picture of the final wheel and tire combo. I picked up the Missing Link hub caps from Kevin today, and they are even nicer than I had expected! I'm really glad I decided to go with these instead of nothing, or the Revell '68 Charger caps that are totally goofy.

My vote went to the Nova, that thing looks killer, and a ton of work!

Thanks for all the direction, I'll definitely work on these ideas. First up will be the stock engine, sounds like the air cleaner will be a must, I'll keep you guys posted

Awesome tip! Definitely doing it!

Send me a PM with you email and I can send you some more reference pics of you like. The owner of that car is a good friend.

$8, just finishing the molds and instructions. The closest thing to a 'Hemi TA' Challenger was N94 Hemi RT, currently owned by Charley Lillard. N94 is the option code for the fiberglass hood; Such a cool car:

He is saying that because the TA Challengers all came from the factory as small blocks, while the RT could be had with the Big Block.

I spent a little time last night on this project, working on the wheels a bit. I started with a set of my steelies, painted body color: For tires I am using a set of old AMT Prestige white walls that I stole from a kit I have since traded off, they are perfect for this build. Since I'm going to be using Missing Link Resin's dog dish hub caps (picking 'em up tomorrow!) I didn't bother with lug nuts, just the valve stems. Stems trimmed, ready for the caps! I'm also using a set of my resin Drum Brake wheel backs, to add a bit more detail: I'm so excited about this piece, but unfortunately its nearly impossible to get a decent photograph. I ordered a set of Scenes Unlimited drum brakes, so I think I'm going to do a 'wheel off' type of build, where one of the rear wheels is left off the car, exposing the rear brake detail. These pieces are ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, I highly reccomend 'em!

Nice, can't wait to see it progress!

It is the Lindberg slant 6, lol. I left the ribs on for versatility, as they are easier to sand off than add back. Air cleaner is a possibility, still working on the details.

Here is the first pour of the engine/head/vc/oil pan:

Seems like the only options for the Slant 6 are to buy a Lindberg kit or a Ross Gibson engine. Being that the 440s and Hemis are in just about every kit, I figured this would be a good engine to start with. I've finished most of the molds. Basically will come with: -Engine, head, valve cover, oil pan, and water pump as a single piece -intake manifold -exhaust manifold -belt and fan -starter -carb -oil pump Details I've left out and the reasoning behind it is as follows: -Fuel Pump: It can't really be seen amd is super small, I'll may add it, not sure 100% -Distributor: I figured most people will do a pre-wired, so no sense in casting something that gets tossed anyway. -Alternator: its virtually the same as every other Mopar dizzy, so it can be easily pulled from whatever kit your going to put the engine into. -Valve Cover Breather: Depending on the year and displacement the breather is different, and again super small and easy to pirate from your kit or parts bin. -Motor Mounts: They are going to be different for all of the difference cars, so no real way to make a generic mount. Looking at $7 for the engine, $8 for engine and 727 trans (manual in the works, I have the master and the mold, just not sure about the finished product yet.) Thoughts?

That's how I tore mine, dislocated. My leg came completely out of my knee, and stated that way for about 1.5 hours until I got to the ER. Talk about a long boat and ambulance ride!

He mentioned those wheels are resin from Drag City Castings. ...Shameless Plug... I also sell Mopar Steelies, check out my site: www.ModelCarDesigns.com ...End shameless plug...

Looks great so far! I build one just like it

That's exactly what brought me back to modeling. After about 15 years off, at age 27 I'm back in big time. I tore all 4 ligaments in my left knee water skiing in July, has surgery on September 30, and just finished Physical Therapy last week. Unfortunately my PCL is still a little sloppy, so I'll have to wear a brace for sports for a year or so. What did you do to yours?

Looks awesome fo far, post up more pics and details!

My neighbor owns that exact car. I absolutely love this color! What kind is it again?

I have no experience with them, but I think the standard with most resin casters is around a month.

Next up I needed to decide how to remove the recessed sides - I decided to build up the sides and sand them flat. If this works out I'll likely start casting this hood and use a resin piece on my final product. The tape is to preserve the hood vents, as a Cuda has 2 separate banks, where the Challenger has them all the way across: Sand sand sand: A very rough estimate of what it will look like. Its sitting kind of high because of the inner fenders not being properly aligned, the hood actually fits much better than I expected: This is where things get a little scary. I'm nearly 100% certain that I'll end up using the Reliable Resin grill when it arrives, I just wanted to see how close I could get to making my own '70 Cuda grille out of the kits '71 grille. Its shaping up sorta well, but I'm still skeptical. The start: My plan is to remove the side vertical posts, then shave down the center post and build it up into the "V" shape of the '70: All puttied up (to be honest I was hoping the Reliable Resin pieces would show up early so I could cut this out and just use theirs, haha!) And that brings us up to date. I've got a lot of sanding to do on the hood and grill, but really those are just kinda tinkering things. I'll probably focus on other aspects of the build, or work on finishing the Challenger.

The actual car does not have a center console, so I have removed it from my kit. Still in the process of building the floor back up; As you can see, the chassis is too long (makes sense, the 1:1 Challenger has a longer wheelbase than the Cuda.) To remedy this I've cut a few scale inches out of the Challenger chassis. This is mostly based on artistic license, as I have no idea what the actual Cuda chassis looks like, or where the material is different from the Challenger. I just picked the easiest spot and went for it. And the shortened chassis. There is some definite work needed between the chassis and bottom of the firewall, not quite sure what's going on there in this picture: I've ordered a 71 to 70 conversion kit from Reliable Resin, but it hasn't arrived yet (still a few weeks out), so I figured I'd play around with the conversion myself. If it doesn't work out I can always use their pieces, when they arrive. So to start I've hacked up the Challenger hood to be more Cuda-esque. The Cuda hood on the left, Challenger on the right (the blue line denotes where I will remove material to make the Challenger hood fit the Cuda): First rough cut made, ready for some sanding to get it into place: Challenger hood lined up nicely:

Some of you have probably guessed, I'm a bit of a Mopar nut, and it certainly runs in the family. My dad happens to be the Managing Partner of the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, so I have a lot of exposure to cool stuff, especially Mopars. So, I knew this car was coming to our show, but being that it was only a 440 car, I didn't pay it much attention in the pre-show picture previews my dad sent me. Fast forward to the Wednesday before the show when the owner of this car (who also owns a documented real '70 Hemi Cuda convertible, white with red interior (and possible my next build)) rolled a few of his toys into the building, including this car. Obviously the Hemi car (known to have sold at Barrett a few years ago for an excess of $4,000,000) draws a crowd, but this Black on Blue beauty is just too freaking cool. Unfortunately there was an issue with the shift linkage, so Tom (the owner) and his crew had to flatbed this car in, but believe me they DROVE the white Hemi Convert, a Triple Black '70 Challenger Convert, and a W30 Olds 442 convert in (I have video to prove it!) Even more amazing was when Tom flipped me the keys to the white Hemi car to get rid of some gas - the building only allows 1/4 tank, the Cuda had 1/2. Talk about tempting as I pulled out of the building with nothing by my morals stopping me! Anyway, back to the model car build... This is what I want to duplicate: Starting with a Johan 1971 Cuda body, I will use the AMT 1970 Challenger as a donor for the interior and chassis. Body: Johan 1971 Pro Street Cuda Chassis / Interior: AMT 1970 Challenger Convertible Miscellaneous Details: ● Keith Marks 'Hockey Stick" decals ● ModelCarDesigns.com steel wheels, with Missing Link dog dish hub caps Still looking for a nice set of raised white letter Small Letter Polyglass tires - I've played with painting them, and I just can't make them look good enough. Suggestions welcome! Chopping the top off of the Johan Cuda: I also wanted to use the Challenger's engine compartment, since its much nicer than the Johan parts. I cut the whole thing out as a one piece, and fit it into the Cuda body, after I removed the cowl. The windshield frame is still very rough in this picture - lots of sanding to go; And test fitting with the AMT Challenger's interior and convertible boot - a near perfect fit! While I realize that a Challenger does not have the same interior as a Cuda, I'm going to call this good enough. The Johan interior tub is way too basic to use. I considered modifying the Challenger door panels to be more correct for a Cuda, but I decided it would take too much time (and skill) than I want to invest. I might modify the seats though, and I'll also be using the Johan Cuda dash, as it is definitely workable.

I'm so happy we are back online! Unfortunately I haven't made a ton of progress since the last update, lol. I did get the first and second coats of paint sprayed, although I'm not super happy with how its laying down. Oh well, life goes on This is after the first colorsand: And the second coat applied: I've got some sanding to do, and possibly a little more red to spray, then its decal and clear time!