Codi

Chris, anyone in our hobby should take a moment and look at your thread from the very beginning (as I have of course). I've learned things from your posts along the way & your attention to detail and pure effort on this build is just incredible. Cheers, Tim

Hi, Before I forget to do so, I want to acknowledge MicroNitro for the machined bottle that I used for the CO2 cylinder. I shortened the bottle to the appropriate length. Everything else is scratchbuilt. I don't want to take credit for something I didn't make of course. Lee & Chris, thank you too for your sentiments and I agree Chris, 1/16th scale for drag cars would be fun & challenging since there is so much you can consider in the build itself. You only have to look at Clay's mustang and the beautiful job he's doing on that build....simply amazing. Cheers, Tim

Hi, it's been a fairly good week. Rear shocks, Batteries and boxes and the CO2 bottle and it's bracket. Shocks are modified RB units with threaded collars and purple springs. Batteries are scratch as are the aluminum boxes. CO2 bottle has an all scratch brass regulator unit with fabbed alum. valve knob. The lower threaded line on the bottom of the bottle neck is a threaded bolt drilled out to replicate a proper fitting. The bottle bracket is drilled titanium with alum. hoops. The purple knob (again, scratch) on the back of the bracket is the release knob is the tensioner for the alum. hoops that secure the bottle. One twist, bottle is out. The brass regulator assembly was an interesting part to make. Cheers, Tim

booboo60.....sorry, here's the other answers I think you're seeking; a. the welds are the embossed 3D weld lines the guys have been posting about from Archer Fine Transfers. b. Color...I painted up 100+ spoons this Summer messing wtih Kandy/Pearl/Metallics/PearlX among others and I think this car will look best in Satin/Matt black of all things....keep it nasty looking. Maybe.... c. The "co-ax" cable from the steering wheels is micro wire from my parts supplies that are wrapped around a #75 drill bit. Simple to make actually. Tim

booboo60 (alan) I'll try to explain how I made them....it's not too difficult but it is time consuming. - measure the outer diameter of the can (or whatever you want to "clamp" down) and find appropriate/approximate alum. tubing that will slip over the item. -Slice/cut the width that you desire the "strap" to be. In this case it's about 1/16" - after getting your "ring" then slice it so you can remove a little bit in the middle...in this instance I made about 3/32" gap. I had some PE strip (from either MAS or Model Car Garage...not sure) that had the "necessary gap" in the middle and drilled either end with a #75 or #76 bit...enough to accept the .5mm scalehardware nut and bolt.... Bend back the ends of each PE piece so it will form a semi-circle which the bolt will go through the hold on and the "necessary gap" on the other. Super glue on on each side of your original tubing/clamp that you made in step one. Slide the entire assembly over your desired part and then install the bolt on one end and the nut on the other. And you have a v-clamp. Like I said at the beginning...a bit tedious and time consuming but it gives a very realistic representation of the real thing. Cheers.

To Austin, Bill, Glenn and Darryl a hearty thank you for your comments/posts. For Jeremy, glad you like it and are following the thread. Tell your Father I said "hi' and I'll see you at a club event this fall. I promise to bring something! Rodger, no, not a jeweler etc....just a crazy, retired dad (or so my kids say) that loves scratchbuilding. Ken, glad you like the Henry J and where I've gotten the body. There are countless hours in the bodywork that I didn't even bother to keep track. The cars stance / front clip alone was changed (substantially) or 3 different occassions. Finally got to one I liked. The car was even stuffed in a box out of frustation for 6 months. Got it back out for some odd reason and just started hacking on it for the heck of it. Next thing you know...I liked it again. It's finally ready to play I think. Back to the bench and cheers to all! Tim

Small Labor Day Update - pic's of the finished steering wheel. I'm embarrassed to say how much time I put into it. Cheers, Tim

Hi, Kingstrider - Conservatively it's over 1000 hours. This build took about 2 years of on-off building on this particular car. I average 18 to 25 hours a week of actual building. For each build I'm learning and trying new things (like soldering for the Willy's) and I end up re-doing parts along the way. I'm getting faster as I'm not having to re-learn certain things. MicroNitro (JIM) - Glad you like it. Your wheels look sharp on it for sure. I posted in "WIP" my Henry J Twin Turbo wherein I used the valve covers I commissioned from you. And the bellhousing...remember THAT one...or should I say three? Your wheels look good in the mock-up too.... Anyways, I'll be in touch as I'm going to need some of your beautiful hubs for that particular build. I just installed the 10k.pulley set on my Sherline and waiting on the DRO kit to arrive so I can install and start ruining some endmills. You can see more at my FOTKI link. Happy Labor Day to EVERYONE! Tim

NICE Scrappy. Everything you're doing is just fantastic. Your brakes are very slick. Cheers, Tim

Thank you fellas. SixtiesSam, thanks for the note on the frame. Even though it was my first one in brass, I encourage you to try it yourself. Soldering is not as hard as you might think but the final result can make it all worthwhile. misterNNL (Tom) I'm 58 and realize at somepoint the type of detail I can do today won't be possible, but there are so many other things I can't wait to attempt / explore in build techniques that I believe I'll be building for many years to come. Panel beating is high on the list. I'll look forward to seeing YOUR builds in the near future. Cheers

Thanks Carl & Andy.. I was ready to get into the build again with both feet, but I messed up a paint job on another project yesterday. So, sanding and re-paint are tops on the agenda now. I hurried at the end and you just can't do that when spraying Kandy. Anyways, my mill is almost set up and sometime soon I hope to have some new things to share on this build. Don't worry, this thread won't go "dead". I'm thinking that I can driop the rear of the cars stance another 2mm. That'll put it truly into the weeds. But I do have to keep in mind the height of my motor. Cheers, Tim

To geetee66, thanks for following my builds and if I have been an inspiration for your own builds, I'm very flattered. We can all learn from others that visit from this forum and if I can assist others I'm always happy to help. keep building and stretching your imagation. Cheers, Tim

Thanks fellas for your comments. I'm back to the bench now and I'll have something to share again in the near future. Cheers, Tim

Hi Harry, your point is correct and I agree with it. When I did the stance on this car it had a 2 to 3" scale gap between the top of the tire and it was maintained throughout the build. During final mock-up & assembly, that gap shrank to 1" (trust me,there is a gap all the round on both sides but I acknowledge it is snug). After a bunch of fiddlin' with it, I accepted that it was going to be as you see it and finished the build. I didn't want to bother with adjusting the fenders or swapping out wheels/tires either. I DO however remember as a kid riding in hot-rodded muscle cars that my friends somehow had the pleasure to "own" (drive to and from school) and half the guys stuffed big tires in to the point that they rubbed every time you even hit a hump in the road or small pothole. But it didn't matter because we were "cool". Cheers to all, Tim

Rrrrrrumps, good questions. Got out of high school and went straight to work. (construction) in 74'. Next 35 years pretty crazy. Started 2 businesses from scratch (no pun intended) sold the 2nd business and retired. Now life is "backwards" as my wife and I adopted two little girls from China (presently 5 and 12 years old) and I spend a great deal of my time raising them...and of course building. I smiled when you mentioned thread for plug wires etc. It sure is different today, you can really use your imagination to get closer to your vision of what a car can/might be than when we were kids. It's a great hobby and I'm glad I came back to it. Eyes are good and even though I've had 8 trigger-finger surgeries (more of a nuisance than anything) the hands are good as well. Good luck with your builds and I'll look for your posts in the future. Tim

Oops, sorry Mike. All of my spindles are made scratch by hand (again, I've not learned yet how to use a mill or lathe...but soon) and the a-arms on my builds to date were made from annealed brass tubing. I then locate the spindles and drill em' out accordingly. The hardware I use is from R.B. Motion. The a-arms are cut dependent upon my layout (plastic "jig") and the wheelbase I want to attain. Tim

Hi, Bill D. I've followed your work as well. I appreciate your comment as you're an excellent scratchbuilder in your own right. Can't wait to see you tackle that Hemi Cuda again. Mike S. - thank you Mike for following along on my recent threads. Your latest post here made me literally laugh out loud. That's a very high compliment indeed. I want to tackle someday a 1/16th scale car as I've seen some of the other bulders work and it seems you can really go crazy. Granted, my wife thinks I'm crazy already. Cheers to all of you, Tim

A sincere thank you to each of you following the thread and I welcome the opportunity to answer your questions. For Michael, When doing a given suspension I fab and or gather those major pieces that I want to do include on the build. Especially the engine, rearend and wheels and tires. Then depending on what "flavor" of suspension I want to build I start laying it out very simply on a piece of plastic. You can see from my 33' Willys post on FOTKI that they're is a lot of notes written in detail on the plastic itself (look closely and you'll see a lot of those notes scribbled or crossed out too) Based upon those major components going in....I then lay out wheelbase and most importantly the stance I want to achieve. Everything is then derived from those simple dimensions layed out on the plastic base. You'll see on the site how I do simple front and rear axle posts/supports to keep the ride height locked in. Dave (COMP1839) does it to perfection with his angled milling plates but I'm not at his level. Check out his photobucket site for his method too. Mine is very basic but it works for me so far. Wheelbase is established left to right and length obviously on a car. Each car I build is different. But don't get hung up on a jig etc. It's not as daunting as it would appear. I DO however keep my tolerances as tight as possible and check them constantly throughout the build. 1/64" is what I strive for. Granted, when it comes to final assembly, it will can be challenging cause things simply "move around" during the building process itself. Did I answer your question(s)? If not, I'll be happy to try to clarify. My biggest advice is just delve in and enjoy the process. After you get 1 or 2 under your belt, it's actually easy & FUN! Tim

5 days...amazing. I would still be thinking about the color I'd paint it.............. Good one Ira. Cheers,Tim

Thanks Stan I'm glad you like it. Here are some pics of the inlet pop-off valve (each vane was punched out, drilled and glued onto a stainless steel tube...the hex looking base is an RB motion Hex fitting that I was able to craft into the base) The twin dry ice intercoolers are made from solid alum. stock with various PE fittings, alum. tube, RB A/N fittings and the scratchbuilt clamps again. The clamps are secured using the .5mm nuts/bolts. I had to slice the tubing that slips over the inlet pipes ever so slightly to be able to slip them on. The bottom tube of each inter takes the air from the turbo and the top pipe goes to the top of the intake plenum.

Hi, I posted a new pic of the stance I'm going for. A lot of time just to see what a 2mm drop in the backend does. But I think it's better and I'll work to setup the rest of the chassis etc. from here. Let me know what you think. And a typo was in my earlier post. The wing strut was a Peugeot 905 WEC racer, not a 305.

Dirk, Glad to see you back on this one. I really like this build on many levels. The bodywork mods you've made so far are just perfect. Love the stance and the car just "looks right" from all angles. Nice machining as well. Cheers, Tim

Clay, now you're just showing off. I'm so impressed. This will be one of your best ever and I can't imagine what comes next to top this build. Cheers, Tim

Hi guys, Took some shots today of what the stance is going to approximate. The wing will have 2 identical struts. The one you see is a modified Peugeot 305 Racecar strut that I want to replicate in aluminum. The wing has a top element that unfortunately you can't see in the pics. The wheels are from MicroNitro and will be the ones in the build. The front tires are Goodyear Frontrunners and the slicks are from CompResins. I stated that I would start adding more as I delve into the chassis / body and interior and this is an important first step. I have to fab the rear and a few other elements before I begin the chassis fab. And a thank you for your comments. To Mooneyzs, I'm going to use my Sherline Mill on this build. I just got and will let you know how it goes. Let me know what you think and THANK you for your compliments. Cheers, Tim

Seth, what headers/exhaust are you going with on this build? That motor will be killer for this car. Cheers, Tim