futurattraction

Thanks Chuck. I really love my Fairmonts too! Hey, Dave. All it takes is a good pair of bifocals and a bit of squinting... Maybe hold my breath to keep from shaking. lol

It's 1/25th, Tom. I am planning to introduce some more 1/16th drag stuff, hopefully within the next few weeks, or so.

That looks great so far, Tom. As Joe said, that stance will be perfect!

You're doing a great job, Roger. I really like what you're doing...!

The central frame rail section turned out pretty well and mimics much of the Revell structure. I've added some structural tubing and seat mount tabs under the driver's seat area. Here’s a pic of what it looks like fitted to the bottom of the pan. I made a bit of progress in getting some of the structural components prepped. I did successfully mold and cast both upper strut tube/tin work pieces and have drilled out the strut mount collar and have done some general cleanup on the tubing. Flash was pretty minimal, which is nice. I added some small alignment nubs to the outboard side of the lower rail so there is something to use as a guide when attaching the main lower control arm PE brackets. The nubs do have to be trimmed to allow for a tighter fit to the rail. This pic shows the passenger side lower bracket attached. The driver side panel with the strut piston rod and sample upper mount inserted in the collar. I have PE upper strut mount gussets that will be added, both for strength and aesthetic detail. Pics of those will hopefully come soon, as will some lower PE control arm wishbones. They will tie both lower angles of control arm tubing together as well as offer a fool-proof connection to the bottom strut mount. If nothing else, you'll come to realize that I value solid mounting points when connecting fragile pieces together. LOL One of the trickiest parts of assembling the lower mounts was having them as close to perpendicular to the rail as possible, while also being on the same plane as the rail. I think I pulled that off reasonably well… One of the many challenges in building and designing as I go, which is basically what's going on at this point, is that portions of the lower tin work will have to be removed for header clearance. I could probably remove some of it now, but I don't want to take out too much. Until I have more of the engine and motor plate assembled, I'm going to have to play it close to the vest. I'm actually toying with the idea of making some true tin work, i.e., PE panels that can be laid in over the top of these panels. IF that is the case, I may be able to remove the central portion of the resin "tin", leaving a perimeter flange, or maybe Dzus plate sized resin tabs. What is anybody's opinion of how that could be done? More to come...

Your chassis is out-of-this-world, Steve - and I love your wheels... Super job, bud!

I can't get over the job your doing on this build, Joe. Your body mockup is very impressive and the injector/wiring job you're doing is remarkable!

This is looking great, Leonard! Looking forward to more updates...

That's a really nice job you've done of converting the new sedan to your Ranchero. I'll keep an eye on your progress. Keep up the great work!

That's beautiful, Jeff...

Great job, Sam... I love those '57s!

John - I was holding Emilee when I saw your reply, so I smooched her right there on the spot and told her it was from you. She was impressed! LOL Here is a silhouette of her: I'll post something that actually shows her markings and such later. Thank you, very much, Ron. I appreciate both your kind words about my website and condolences regarding Izzy. She was a lovely kitty and was very mild mannered, except for the occasional "big-eye" as Donilee and I called it. Then you wanted to keep her at arm's reach... She was very much a lap cat and my wife and I loved her dearly. We actually had to "water" Izzy, just as you are with Fluffy. We did it for over two year's I'm guessing. Also, as you say, she never held it against us. She didn't like it, and she always knew when it was time, but she never fought us or anything, for which we were both thankful. It probably gave her an extra year and a half to two years' worth of a contented life. Thanks Chris!

Meticulous and time consuming work, Chris, but the quality of everything you're doing is out-of-this-world...

I really like what you're doing with your 5-5 Tyrone. Looks super so far...

Never thought about that. Hmmm...

That's the current plan, Joe. Thanks to both of you Bills... Hey, thanks for the pick-me-up, Tyrone!

Okay. I fell off the horse but I'm gonna try to jump back on. LOL I may be short of pictures for a day or two, but I'll describe where things kind of derailed. My original plan had been to fabricate forward frame rails and A-arm assemblies that would form the foundation for the front of my Fairmont. As seen in earlier pictures, I got the master made and molded it, but I did a screwy job on the mold. I didn't think it through as well as I should have. In the process of removing the master, it basically came apart in my hands. I thought to myself: If I can't get the master how, how in Heaven's name am I going to get a resin piece out without messing it up. Everything surrounding that particular endeavor stunk. I then went back and rebuilt the master and made a much simpler mold. I did succeed in at least removing the master without destroying it this time! Here's a casting that came out of the second mold - proof that I didn't mess it up, too! LOL The good news is that while messing around with all the forward frame stuff, I was at least able to finish putting together the central frame rail system under the driver's compartment. I will readily confess that to be truly in scale, I should be using .063" material to match with 1-5/8" but one of the compromises I've chosen to make on this project is to use .080" because the extra diameter adds additional strength and cross-section to make it (somewhat) easier to mold and cast. This is especially important to me since I'm hoping/expecting to sell many of these pieces eventually and integrity, both mine personally and my parts' is important. The problem I encountered was, when casting the "bare" forward frame rail, the fragile A-arm attachment points were proving to be a real challenge, plus .080" rail material is better than .063" but it still really doesn't offer much support for the weight of any model, let alone a resin-bodied car. After talking to Ed Fluck and another builder, I decided I really needed to go in a different direction altogether to incorporate more strength into the forward assembly, plus accommodate a stronger suspension mounting system. What I came up with consists of .080" rod formed around some .032" 3003 H-14 aluminum. I was able to draw it out on my CAD program and come up with some working templates. I think - I hope that everything will fit the way it looks to when mocked up by hand. This is a pic of the masters, which incorporate collars made out of 3/32" (.094) tubing, which will provide the mounting point for the upper strut mounts. Probably better quit for tonight. I'll try to better stay on top of this in the future.

Thanks for your compliments and family Fairmont history, Dan G. I'm going to post a couple updated pics of the stock body on my website in the next day or two. It's significant, though not huge progress... I'm afraid not, Dan J. The only thing I've ever had was a Pro Stick, though they are virtually identical - even the consoles look almost alike. Link to pic of Hurst: http://www.streetperformance.com/part/hurst-shifters/shifter/581515-3160020.html Link to pic of B&M: https://deezperformance.com/shifters-shift-knobs-accessories/b-m-pro-stick-shifter.html

Thanks Scott. Although most of my parts, at least at this point, are aimed toward drag/pro stock type builds, there are some universal application parts, such as the Dzus and brackets sets that might come in handy. Hi Steve - I've always loved Fairmonts, especially the sport coupes. When Ford came out with new body releases back in the day, it almost always took me a while to warm up to them, but the sport coupes I fell in love with the first time I saw one on the showroom floor. Lots of people don't like their boxiness, but I think that's what really gets to me, along with the wide B-pillar and opera window - plus Glidden was so successful with them. A 2-door sedan may be in the future, and I suppose a wagon could follow that. We'll see... Charlie - Your suggestion to enlist Ford's help makes tons of sense. And as you, I believe all the Zephyr variants had quad headlights. Speaking of which, I still have to get Z-7 taillights made!

I'm loving it Chris. Your new go-pedal looks great. It is a far cry (improvement) over your styrene pedal, even though that was a great effort too. Looking forward to more updates/pics.

I haven't stopped in in a while, Joe. Sorry. You've absolutely outdone yourself on this build. Put some appropriate backdrop up behind it and I'd be hardpressed to not think it was a 1:1. The weld decals are very impressive, but your fab work is even more so... Keep up the fantabulous work!

Thank you, John. I appreciate your encouraging words. Spent a lot of itme on it. Still trying to figure my way along with it in some regards. Thanks, too, for your condolences regarding Izzy. As already said, she was very special to us. She'd meet us at the door when we'd get home from work and seemed to greatly miss us if we were gone for an extended length of time. She could be feisty, but was for the most part was a very sweet kitty. If she got "the look" you knew you needed to keep her at arm's length, but that rarely happened. It was tough watching her decline the last few months of her life, and my wife still feels guity for us putting her to sleep, even though we both know it was the best (and only) choice we had remaining.

Catching up on comments… Ben - This whole modeling thing has morphed from the early stages. Originally I just planned to do a Fairmont stock-style, then decided a pro stocker would be cooler yet. Twenty years ago I’d tried to make some Lenco levers that never quite made the grade. When I got introduced to PE a few years ago, I said to myself, “I really want to make some PE Lenco levers for realism”, then the chassis came along and things have sort of “blown up” since then. Yes – my goal for some time was to eventually create all the major subassemblies to build a pro stock Fairmont and the builder/buyer can choose as much or as little as s/he wants. Thanks for your kind words! Thanks Charlie. Izzy was a wonderful kitty. Yes, she was spoiled but she deserved it. Since we don’t have any “bald kids” she, as our furry kid, was very, very special to us. She’ll always be in our hearts. Thank you for the kind words, Dan. I have the chassis pan developed and have cast a few of them. The next “phase” is fabbing the forward frame rails and tin work, which I’ve done. For the most part I’m happy with it, but not 100%. A relieved dash (for roll cage clearance) is done, but may need some rework now that I've developed a new pan. I’m planning to add new photos and such in my Fairmont thread I started last summer and got off-track on in the fall. You can watch there…. Hi Charlie L. I’m getting pretty close to having the stock body and pieces ready to cast. I’ll look forward to hearing from you after I have them available. My original plan was to have the AMT/Ertl Fox chassis as the donor, but as stated earlier in the thread the new Revell Mustang coupe that’s coming out makes me wonder whether I’m farther ahead utilizing that as a platform for a lengthened chassis, which would then be the foundation for an interior side panel set. I’ve started pieces, based on the AMT/Ertl kit, but I’ve improved considerably in my skills and confidence in fab work since then, plus I’ve raised the bar on what I expect my quality to be, so I’m sort of in in no-man’s-land at the moment with the interior. I’d never thought about driveline pieces for the stock build; just always figured guys would drop in an EFI motor or something, I guess. Your suggestion on the VV carb and related is an interesting suggestion… Guess I’ll have to think about that one. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a sedan body, but hadn’t given too much thought to a wagon. Guess that’s more food for thought. Of course the sedan body would be a logical step in the development of the wagon because I believe the wagon has the same windshield configuration as the sedan, if I’m not mistaken. Did any wagons ever come with the quad headlights or were they all dual headlight? As you said, communication is a key in keeping people happy. I’ve tried to stay on top of that, but I know it’s an easy area in which to slip-up. Thanks for all your wishes and kind words. Bob – Thanks for your comments. I’ll be waiting… Thanks for your wishes, Al!

Very, very nice!!

Thanks for your kind words, Gabriel. I don't have a timeline on the Centerlines at this moment. There are several more pressing projects I'm working on that require more fab work, i.e., stock Fairmont body and the 15" SuperTrick wheels, plus trying to finish up about three orders' worth of PE drawings. I'll try to post updates on the products page as parts come on-line or if I've got a significant announcement about something new and different. Thanks for your interest!