futurattraction

Thanks Dale. Will do (re the fabbed housing). I totally understand the dilemma of putting a modified OEM housing under a P/M car... lol I'm also toying with the idea of developing a basic late-model 'slammer pan that could be used for builds such as this. Yeah - you're right, there's not much left of the stock body appearance at this point.

That is a one super build, William. Great detail and flawless execution.

Thanks Darryl. I'm excited to see you getting back to your build... I got the little filler pieces plugged into the rear of the hood extension. I don't have pics yet, but I did get the rear of the hood trimmed to where its very close to its final configuration. I'll post a pic of that, probably next time I get pics taken. In the meantime, I started another project I've had in the works for awhile. I have been intending to offer a fabricated 9-inch rear. I had one 3D printed quite some time back and finally got around to molding and casting it late last week. I devised my own poor-man's mill by using a Dremel .125" cutter in my drill press. I have a small X-Y machining table I can clamp to the drill press and pretty accurately run stuff underneath the cutter, progressively moving the cutter down into the work, effectively machining a slot in the work. This is the machined resin housing: Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of the brace insert before I actually glued it into the housing. Anyway, here is what it looks like mocked up under the car, from a couple different angles. ...and a general view with both rear tires mocked up. I got the spot glazing putty put on last night and will hopefully be able to start working that into shape tonight.

I'll look forward to your updates Darryl. Should be a really cool build. I've thought about building a replica of a car I used to own...

Been there, done that... lol Both sides have got to match! You're making nice progress, Ray.

Oops. Missed that didn't I, Ray? It is Bondo brand. Thanks for checking in!

Dale - I'm gonna have to trust the others to figure out who Morgan is racing... Thanks Larry. I got the gap filler pieces in last night after I got home from barbershop chorus. Lord willing, more updates will be coming. Hey Al. Nice hearing from you. I've been all over the board with filler. When I started this project over a year ago I had some Evercoat (green) that I was using, then the tube the activator was in developed a crack in it and the tub the filler was in was always a pain to use, so I ended up getting some 2-part Bondo filler (pink), which is what I've been using more recently. I have used a bit of Milliput on the inside of the body to strengthen a couple joints, but all the exterior filler has been the first two mentioned. I will go to using some glazing compound for doing fine work because it shapes easily and doesn't require a lot of pressure to remove material, which lessens the likelihood of messing up adjacent areas of the body. A prime location I know I'll use it is back where the C-pillars transition into the top of the quarters. There needs to be a more gradual radius. It will help to soften the body lines and add a bit more "roundness" to the shape. The material I've used to extend the hood was .040" sheet. I'm 99% sure that is the thickness I used to make the flat body sides and rear, lower quarter panel extensions behind the wheel well openings. The rear wheel well lips were two, layered .020x.125 strips fitted against the edge of the opening because I want to create a band over the top of the opening. The front lips were a single piece of .040x.100 strip. I should have probably done those as two layered strips, too, but didn't. The thicker material fought me the whole way. It is attached to the inside of the opening, not against the edge (like the rears were done). The valence panel is a hodgepodge of stuff I don't even recall now... lol Probably lots more info than you really wanted or needed to know...

Thanks for sharing pics, Steve. That didn't take you long to put them to use...! lol May I have your permission to put a couple of your pics up in the gallery page on my website? Thanks again...

Thanks so much Dave for your words of encouragement! Mike - I really appreciate the photos. I have searched high and low to find as close to a perfectly perpendicular shot at ground level to show the profile of one of these cars. Yours is the best one I've seen, so thanks a ton... Joe, I appreciate your compliment. The thing is, you do have the skill and patience. You've already demonstrated that on other projects I've seen you share... Hey, thanks Leonard. I'm gonna keep working at it. Progress...a little at a time! lol

After the last update and pics I realized I needed to extend the rear of the hood quite a bit more than I'd originally indicated, particularly after looking at pics of 1:1s. The base of the windshield runs much more parallel to the upper curvature than I'd realized, so I drew up a windshield template in CAD so I could make one that was mirrored, side to side. After a few trial fits I came up with something that is at least real close. This also allowed me to cut and fit a piece of .040" sheet in after fitting it to the fenders and hump in the hood. I also need to extend the inset and raised sections at the rear of the hood. After getting the outer 1/2" of each side of the extension glued in, I cut out the middle of the extension and fitted a new "raised" section . Small gap fillers will then be attached and tie the whole shebang together. After the extension has all been roughed into shape, I can then cut the excess off and reshape it to match the final windshield shape. Lastly, I got the grille blank glued in permanently and shot a bit of primer on the leading edges of the front fenders to check how much body work/blending I still have to do to smooth everything out as it transitions into the nose. I had some help from Emilee while I was taking pics... lol Comments welcome!

You're doing a bang-up job on your build Andy.

Great news Terry! I hope your first day back at work was a good one.

I've run out of adjectives, Dave... lol Keep up the super-fantabulous work!

Amazing work, Ray. Did you have your jeweler's saw from guitar building or was/is it a modeling-inspired acquisition?

Excellent idea! Thanks for sharing...

That's great, Len! Thanks for letting me know... Are your turned Cragars from MicroNitro?

LOL! Might as well be you...

Steve - Thank you for letting me know that your order arrived safely and that you're happy with what I sent you. It's my pleasure to offer some different items from the norm for modelers. Mitch - Chief Joseph suggested that I do some wrinkle wall style slicks. I've never done anything like that, so will have to ponder it further. I do have every intention of offering a 16" rim slick that will be very close in scale to what are run on current pro stockers, which are 17x33.5-16. It's the slick I've got mocked up in my Pro Stock Mustang thread. Those, I can confirm will work with the Weld Racing wheels.

Very, very nice Ray! Each piece receives your undivided attention.

They will work with Moroso or Goodyear Front Runner tires. They are a tight fit. I need to look at this at home and remind myself - you may have to remove the thin ring of vinyl that runs down the middle of the tire interior for them fit slide in as far as they should go.

Thanks Chuck! I appreciate your kind words, bud...

Thanks guys. I've got a couple of "in progress" updates. Got the hood seam filled and sanded. As I've been poring over pics of the 1:1s, I realized that another mod I need to do is extend the trailing edge of the hood back into the base of the windshield. Before I can arrive at how much, I needed to establish a reasonably close idea of where the windshield needs to be, so I mocked up a cardboard rough template to get a decent idea. You can see in this overhead shot how the rear of the hood is going to need to be reshaped. This is a rough profile of what it will look like. When all is said and done, I'll draw the shape up in my CAD program so I can have a piece that is identical from side to side, but this will get me in the ballpark. Comments welcome...

Dale - I've certainly not taken anything you've said as trying to stir things up. Unfortunately for me, I still have a 40-hour a week job, so my available time is limited to invest in something like a modern chassis, plus I don't feel like I'm as much up on that side of things anyway. I totally agree it would be great if the kit industry would step up and produce a modern door car kit, especially since so many of the dimensions are spelled out in sanctioning body rule books. It could be a cookie-cutter chassis, almost literally, for a variety of door cars. I love fab work - it's my favorite part of modeling, but I've got my finger in enough pies as it stands right now without getting into more projects...

Thanks for your input, Wayne. It is much appreciated. Dale, thanks for your compliment about the styling. As Brett said in his post, I think doing this as a one-piece mold is the way to go. The characteristics of resin are as he said and there will be more material and labor cost if making two molds plus some of the structural integrity/alignment of components would potentially be compromised (in my view) by doing them as two separate pieces. As far as scoops are concerned, I’m not sure if I’ll even go there. I’ve already had this discussion in my Fairmont thread about my trying to plan for too many builders' options. There are scoop choices out there that a buyer could integrate into this body. I sort of feel like I’d be reinventing the wheel if I do my own – the only benefit being that if I prefer the shape/scale/design of mine better. That - I may think about. Jeff - thanks buddy! Coming from one of the body "masters", I truly appreciate it. I appreciate your kind words, Bill. I plan to keep moving forward! Dave - thanks for reinforcing my perception that the pic wasn’t of a pro stocker. I was going by the fact there was that strip of body work in front of the windshield - there are probably more clues, but that was mine... I suspect the pic was simply for illustration purposes of the stand-alone scoop. Brett, I appreciate your input. Everything you said is true, from my experience. It’s too bad there aren’t any kits out there that reflect current chassis technology. My toes are still intact, so you needn’t worry about me… J

Super job, Mark. Sorry I missed this one 'til just now. I, too, am curious about how you did your blower belt....