Scale-Master

The heads were cleaned up, trued up and resized. Holes were drilled for the exhaust mounting pins (to be addressed when the headers are made). You can see the beginning of the intake manifold in this picture too.

First I'd make/use smaller seats. That could allow the use of the kit's factory correct part. Otherwise I would scratchbuild what fits from sheet styrene or brass tubing depending on the shape.

The rear axle was beefed up with a truss. The drive shaft was removed from the front of the differential.

The transmission also had to be lowered so I cut a section of the chassis out and made a new cross member. A driveshaft safety loop was needed since the tunnel was removed...

The seats take up more space than the stock drive shaft tunnel allows. I cut off part of it to make room for the seats. First I drew the cut line. And then used a PE saw to make the cuts.

The passenger side foot well bulk head has been re-installed on the right side and the motor mount receivers have been lowered to allow the larger engine to fit under the hood. Bosses were added on the bottom to provide depth to lower the motor mounts. They will be thinned out once the location is finalized.

That is slick! Very cool, and well done!

The basic drive train is mocked up here. I am replacing the 1300cc four-banger with a Buick V6. The donor is a very bland AMT unit from the Opel GT. The block has been modified to accept the Lotus engine mounts and transmission, and the oil pan from the four cylinder engine was modified to fit the V6 and make it sit lower in the car. The transmissions were cut off both engines and I am using the Seven’s trans.

I already have a plan for that, widening would not fit the theme of this one. But a driveshaft loop/cage like we discussed will work.

A seat from the parts box (don’t know what it came from, but I think it was a Tamiya kit) was modified for the driver’s seat…

The cowl needs considerable modifications to be converted to left hand drive. This is the stock part: Here is the converted cowl/firewall and the modified for LHD pedal mount assembly. The battery and support will likely be replaced with scratch-built items.

Thanks, yes, it is an old Starter 1/43rd. Age is probably the cause of the decals cracking.

It’s time for another Super 7... This time in 1/24th using the perennial Tamiya Lotus kit. The first task is to convert it from right hand drive to left hand drive. Here are pictures of the stock kit body: The foot well was excised from the right side and the side wall of it was removed using a PE saw. A wedge was cut from the new body side part of the foot well and cemented to the inboard compensate for the angle from when it was on the right side. The side was cemented back on and the foot well was filed true and is ready for installation…

The orange decals cracked as they were being applied, and continued to crack as they dried. Fortunately, it was an easy color to match...

Looks like you are off to a great start.

Thanks guys, I've always thought it was boringly ugly. I understand and appreciate the cars' acheivement, but the scheme does not do it for me, maybe a Gulf scheme...?

Decals were a real bear on this one. Cracked like dry desert river bed. Found a good match for the fluorescent red/orange, but I had to mix the the blues to touch it all up.

Got some clear on it over the weekend... Once it is cured it is on to final assembly...

Looking really cool Scott!

No, sorry, they are already applied to the model: I used Tamiya TS-36 Fluorescent Red. Several coats built up lightly over about a week. The last coat was allowed to dry overnight and I applied my decals.

No worries Len, it's not like the Scale-Master logo is on every sheet I draw... Now, back to the building! The basic suspension was assembled and aligned to the body and chassis, this is very important to do prior to applying the color coats to the body. Quite a bit of adjusting and massaging required on mine, especially for the front suspension. (Often par for the course on these older white metal kits.) No tire decals were provided in the kit so I made a set. Here they are applied to the tires and finished wheels before getting a shot of Dullcote.

Thanks guys. I saw and read plenty about Jairus's slot car while I was researching the real car. Making it 4WD was pretty cool Jairus. I guess a lot of people don't realize my screen name of Scale-Master is from my trademarked decal company name...? IndyCals decals do look nice, and the prices are very reasonable, but The lettering for "Oil Treatment Special" does not match the real car...

This has always been a favorite car of mine. This is the 1/43rd scale SMTS white metal kit. Here is the body after a mild clean up (nice casting overall) and some scribing of the (already somewhat heavy) panel lines disturbed by that clean up. Also the rivet dimples were drilled to a uniform depth. Tamiya Fine White Primer for the undercoat of the Day-Glo Red. All the little body parts have been cleaned up and dry fitted before the final application of the primer. The decals were very yellowed and I thought I should replace the main white elements (like the numbers) with new decals. Upon further inspection I noticed how crude the artwork was. It may be an older kit, but I expected better. So I set about drawing new art and printing a set of replacement decals. Research showed a few missing sponsor decals too, so I added what I could determine was needed…

I concur 100%.

Thanks. $1.00 closeout Wal-Mart toy. 1/87th scale.