Scale-Master

Today's project was to make and install the rear brake lines. These are brackets for the hard lines out to the soft lines. Fabricated from sheet brass. I made the Tee and the clamp and bent the lines today, but I had machined the fittings when I was making the front brake lines. I had to tear down the right rear suspension and pull the right side header off to install the lines. Sure made installing the lines a lot easier… The soft lines are vinyl tubing.

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the kind words. Time to install the main electrical wiring and a bunch of scratch-built subassemblies. I had already made the wires with ends and the brass guide clips. I installed the fuel pump, regulator & filters and ran the oil lines to the engine. The battery & hold down and the dipstick were installed too. I also added a half dozen more suspension parts/fasteners and the exhaust. This is still dry assembled and not everything is connected, just making sure all the lines are the correct length and that there are no interference issues. It's getting packed pretty tightly…

The door windows are finished and installed. The front sections are fixed so there is a black seal around them. There are no seals for the rear flip out sections. There's also a little handle inside for each of those.

This goes in the "done pile" for now… The plug for the lights that connects to the receptacle on the firewall is hanging down at the rear of the wheel well.

Now that the lower lights and the "grille" are installed, the rest of the underhood wiring could be done.

The cloisonné Lola badge for the hood was made from scratch; a combination of custom decals and a chrome base. Of course it needs mounting posts… The mounting bar, nuts and washers were also fabricated.

Test fitting the modified windshield.

The hood assembly is getting close to being done. The headlights and covers have been installed and wired. The winglets are installed too. A little dust and dirt was added to the underside. The rest of the wiring will be added after the lower light assembly is added.

We will be taking photos, but it would be awesome if others who attend share them too. All too often we get so busy running the show we don't have time to shoot photos.

One week until the 2022 Cruisin' For A Cure Model Car Contest in Costa Mesa at the Fairgrounds! We did not have a show in 2020 or 2021, but we are back! There have been some changes to the categories, but most are still the same. Please see list below. A big thank you to Tamiya and Round2 for again sponsoring us and providing awesome kits that will be awarded along with trophies for the winners.

I went to install the alternator and noticed I needed to put the rear sway bar in first. That meant I had to make it and the stabilizer links. They are made of steel with fabricated resin ends. But to install them I had to set up the rear suspension too. After all that was done and the alternator was installed I made the belt and hooked up the wires. I also added the PCV hoses to the breathers.

1/72 Revell kit. This was an orphan kit; missing and broken parts, no decals. It doesn't fit badly, but the instructions would have you install the wings upside down and on the wrong sides. At least it is not too difficult to figure out how it should go together. I grabbed it to test drive a friend's airbrush to see if I wanted to buy one like it. Unfortunately I followed those instructions when I pre-painted the soft edged camouflage on the "upper" surfaces and it turned out I had painted the bottoms of the wings. Rather than paint the same pattern again, I came up with this splinter style scheme as a hypothetical version. It's done with Tamiya acrylics and lacquers and Testors enamel and lacquer. I sourced the insignias and stripes from a Revell ProModeler FW190 with Scale-Master decals.

Will you be coming over to the GSL Noel?

I should have just machined the velocity stacks as I originally thought I would in the first place years ago when I started this project. I 3D designed and grew different ones thinking I could do better than old fashioned machining, but they just didn't look like what I wanted when I put them on the carbs. I spent well over 50 hours chasing that approach. So I went back to "the old way". I ground two steel tools and turned these stacks on my lathe using a compound slide for the inside to follow the shape of the outside cut. The flanges were made "old school" too as separate parts.

Clutch master installed and plumbed.

Clutch master cylinder. Scratch-built from machined resin, aluminum and Delrin.

I made the insulation for the fiberglass bulkhead panel and installed it.

Considering I made the water pump, head, intake manifold, carburetor and valve cover gaskets, what makes you think I'd forget the oil filter gasket? I made decals for the lettering. And thanks!

Thank you Pete! It will NOT be at the Cruisin' For A Cure show next month on the 25th in Costa Mesa. Why don't you come up and join us? And bring a few models to enter in the contest too.

I'm very pleased that the mass of engine went in and mated up to all the other parts as planned. The transaxle and half shafts went in too once the engine mounts were seated. There are a lot of very tight tolerances and only one order to install the parts/subassemblies in. I was prepared for something to not line up, but it darn near fell together.

I think the engine is as done as possible for now. There's quite a few more parts already made for it, but they will be added later. So the next trick is to install this… Into this…

I finally installed the spark plugs and made & routed the ignition wires. They are the beefy 10.4mm size. I had already made the boots and spark plugs.

Thanks guys! Gear shifter. Aluminum. I was able to machine it in one piece except for the two fasteners. Front: Back:

I figured I'd see what it looks like now that it has color on it so I loosely assembled the panels. Too bad it's a hazy day; the color pops more in direct sunlight. Gonna have to put the wheels on it soon too…

The rear suspension was going in just fine until I realized I needed to install something else first. But before I could do that I had to mount something else, and before that, another item… So I installed the instrument panels. The "A/C" hoses were installed too. The top of the dash and the Wink mirror were mounted to the body.