futurattraction

Whoa boy! That's looking great Mike... I want to try my hand at a full-on scratch built chassis someday when I grow up... LOL

Looking forward to see them, Mike...

Thanks for the kind words, Ronnie. FYI, your parts went out yesterday. Thank you, Dave. I don't feel like I do as good a job of documenting as several guys, here. My situation isn't real conducive to doing lots of photography as I go. Hey thanks Henry - I appreciate it. I got some more work done last night. Got both sets of door bars in. As much as possible, I want to create the illusion that all the tubing is tied together. It won't always play out that way, but it's my goal. This shot demonstrates that intent. After getting the remainder of the tubing in, I intend to remove the entire cage so it can be painted a different color from the pan. More to come!

I was able to make a bit of progress on the roll cage, but more so the pan, over the weekend. I’m working on the door cross-bars and really need to get them finalized so the main hoop is totally locked in before I can do much more on the rear half of the car. I was able to add the bulkhead between the tubs and add a section of filler that spans the width of the rear window. This is where I kind of picked up from at the start of the weekend This pic shows a bit farther along in the process. I'm lousy at documenting step-by-step construction like lots of you guys are. Wish I was better, but oh well... It's kind of hard to tell from this angle but there is actually some curvature to the filler strip. It's a pretty tight fit to get the pan in since the package shelf piece stays with the pan and must fit up between the rear window framework and the deck lid flange. This shot is before I added any filler to in the strip. I'm now trying to get an idea how the diagonal tubes will fit into the equation. Closeup of the previous shot. I'm using aluminum tubing so it will be straight and more rigid than styrene rod.

x4

Trying to follow up with a bit more info on some of the products I mentioned earlier. Here's a picture of my revised, one-piece 9-inch rear end housing. I'll be using it on my Fairmont build, so will hopefully have some assembly pics up before too long.

Looks super, Mike!

Scott, the progress on my stock Fairmont is slow. The main "project" that I have to finish on the body is the rear wheel well arches. Getting the bulged part of the "flare" so the line is right (and as close to matching as possible, side-to-side, is what has really slowed down my progress. A few thousandths of an inch here or there makes a difference in appearance and it's been fighting me. Don't give up. It'll get there...

Breathtaking detail, Chris. Keep after it, my friend...

Thanks Tyrone. Eventually I want to scratch build a full tube chassis like you've done in a lot of your most recent builds. It would definitely offer more flexibility in design.

Sorry Joseph. My misunderstanding. Thanks for clarifying.

All's I can say is I love it! Thanks Dave... Excellent photo documentation. Literally, a work of art.

Here are pics of some of the other items. Goodyear Frontrunners. The one on the right has a slightly rounder profile, which is the one I'm going with. Here are the Cragar STs. This picture shows a double-drilled wheel as well as single bolt pattern wheel, both drawn with the rear ring, but they will be identical to the Monogram/Revell pieces and will have a separate rear ring. This is a pic of the N2O bottle. This picture shows the angled knob, but I think it will actually come with a 90* knob, if I understood Joseph correctly. The fitting will be a separate piece from the bottle. I am planning to have these in both 1/25th and 1/16th.

I hope to post some pics of roll cage construction over the next while. I'll start with a pic of the jig I made. I drew up the dimensions and shape in my CAD program, printed it and cut it out and taped the silhouette of it in the pan so I could see how it would fit. After a bit of tweaking, I was happy with where things fit, then laid out the points where the .080 styrene rod would wrap to place the bends. I had to buy a heat gun a couple weeks ago to de-solder an old metal doll body for my wife, so used the heat gun to help set the bends in the main hoop. More to come...

Thanks Joe. I appreciate it! Does anybody make a Mirada in 1/24-1/25th scale? It'd be cool, for sure.

I've got 'em, Joe.

Thanks guys. I'll try to keep it within arm's reach of the bench. LOL

Hey Dave - I haven't made any progress on this in recent months. Been working on a bunch of other things.

OK. I'm gonna pull this one by its bootstraps again and see if I can make some more progress. I'm working on some tinwork for it that I am hoping to do in photo etch when all is said and done. Still not quite finished getting the pieces done to my satisfaction, but I'm getting closer. I can add etch lines to imitate bead rolled work on them and the nose panel. I got a start on some roll cage work but don't have pics for that available to post yet. More later.

New: I've now have one-piece 16x33 slicks available in 1/25th scale. They are an excellent replacement for the 2-piece Monogram/Revell slicks and will work with Monogram/Revell wheels, plus the ones from Pegasus. As with my 14x32s, the tread surface on these is smooth, with no seams to deal with. The only “work” required is to remove the vent material. For the 1/16th crowd, I’m now offering a 4-link bracket set. The axle housing hole diameter is drawn at .188” and the rod end hole diameter is .030”. Both of these may require cleaning up and/or resizing to fit the tube diameter and rod ends the builder may be using. Improved: I have revised my narrowed 9-inch Ford kit to include a 1-piece housing instead of the multi-piece one I’ve sold in the past. In conjunction with my revised 9-inch, I am also introducing a revised PE 4-link kit that matches up to housing. Back brace reliefs and a slightly lowered coil-over shock mount are the only revisions. I have a limited number of these on-hand at this moment but will be getting more. WIPs: I am working on a new, skinny front drag tire that (I believe) more accurately portrays Goodyear’s Frontrunner. It is designed to fit all the popular 1/24th and 1/25th scale drag race front wheels. It comes with unlettered sidewalls so could easily be outfitted with your favorite front tire decals. I have two new Cragar SuperTrick wheels in the works, one spindle mount and one hub-mount, that will work with the new front tires or any of the other skinny, drag kit tires. Dimensionally, they are identical to the front drag wheels in the Monogram kits, such as the Glidden Thunderbirds. They will use the same separate rear ring as the Monogram kits. They will have a 3/32” spindle hole. Other products in the works are both1/25th and 1/16th scale N2O bottles and photo etch brackets. Those will hopefully be coming out in the next few weeks. I'll try to post pics of some of the other items soon.

That turned out super-nice, Darryl! It's got to be a great feeling to have something that is representative of your 1:1 car. Thanks for sharing your build...

Hi Kaleb, I'd appreciate it if you would add me to your list of businesses. Most of my parts are drag oriented in 1/25th scale - resin and photoetch, but I'm also getting into larger scales. Here's my URL: www.futurattraction.com Thanks! Scott

Gotta pick my jaw up off my desk after catching up on updates from the past few days. WOW! That's all I can say right now...

Phenomenal work, my friend! Can't wait to see more updates.

Glad to see you back on this one Rick. You do such meticulous work...!