Codi

Hey Paul, nice to see this one back on your bench. That last pic you showed with her all mocked up before you paused the build looks so fantastic. Great stance and profile. Can't wait to see how you progress with her now. cheers, tim

I always enjoy your builds Niko. Your builds are always "just right"......great details AND that paint is fantastic too. Just a great job! cheers, tim

The 908 is one of my all time favorite race cars Mark. Just looks just right and so purposeful. Well done, cheers, tim

She presents very well Urs. Cheers to you for a great looking car. tim

Francois, the ingenuity, creativeness and outright speed that you're bringing this to life is beyond compare. A unique build AND builder for sure. Cheers, Tim

That turned out fantastic Mark. Very crisp & clean looking. cheers, tim

Today was a day to smile. First, my bicep IS torn but is still attached........upper part of muscle is suspected torn as well. Surgeon will discuss next Thursday my options. If a muscle like this is torn completely they strongly recommend getting it re-attached asap. Makes sense....but even partial tears can heal themselves. They suspect this all occurred by possibly tearing my rotator cuff again. Enough of that......so today my daughter & I drove 90 minutes to 3 DOG Garage in Boyertown Pa. Chris the manager was the nice man I met weeks ago that said he'd invite me down so he could put the Dyno Don Mustang 2 on the lift for proper pics and measurements to help me with my chassis. The shop was closed but the car was up and it was just the 3 of us. Seems they open their museum, which is stunning with regards to their collections only on certain dates. The next open museum date is 4-26 and I'm planning on visiting to see it all. Two buildings I was told full of very well known cars and all in spectacular condition. I owe him big time. An hour later and 90 pics taken and lots of key measurements and I'm all set to do a proper blueprint to do mine. I'm posting 3 pics I took today that will make many of you smile. Cheers, tim The Old Master Mickey's Monocoque Mustang And a pic of the Mustang II that I went down to take pics of.....many many more yet to go thru.......the Hardy chassis is all original from the front clip back..........WOW is all I could say. Cheers ALL!!!!

Thank you Francis & John, other than the bruising spreading and getting uglier since my last post nothing else has changed. I WAS able to finish the 2nd bracket today which put a smile back on my face. I'm going to get a stand made for the trans next and then do the shift bracket / levers to finish it. Cheers and thanks again to all, tim

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. The MRI was yesterday and I'm still waiting on the next step and scheduling of the surgery. If I keep my arm close to my body and don't elevate it too far, I can function. Not lift mind you.......so I'm going to try to use the mill to finish the other bracket I shared as it's the X axis wheel and I'm only turning it. The surgery is they drill the bone in the forearm and re-attach the muscle to it. Simple enough right? A pic....nothing gross I assure you. Cheers to everyone and if I'm fortunate to get the part done I'll share it for sure. Cheers, tim

Gentlemen, THANKS for those comments and of course your on-going interest. Today I've got good news and some bad. The good......I machined 1 of the 2 Lenco brackets yesterday, took me longer than I'll admit. The real one that I shared in a pic earlier was in aluminum.......so I made mine out of titanium (just for the color contrast) The GREAT news is I'm to call the shop that has offered to put the Dyno Don car up on the lift for me to get proper measurements for the chassis. This is a BIG deal (well, for me most certainly) which I'll keep as an appointment.........The BAD news, after machining this bracket was made, I was cleaning up and suddenly my right bicep just "exploded" in pain and swelled up in seconds to twice it's size and began to spasm up and down the muscle. MRI is tomorrow and the initial diagnosis is I tore my bicep. So, I'll pause to learn more before I continue and to take it easy so as to not make the situation worse. Please be patient and check back as I promise to be back on the car as soon as I know (and CAN) do more. CHEERS ? tim

Hi Francis, nice progress. I want to say thanks again for the way you document and share via pics your processes and of course the results. Inspirational and educational for scratch-builders of any level of experience. Cheers, tim

Thanks Brian.....have a couple pics today.....she's detailing up nicely I believe. Can't wait to get her done. Francis, you'll get a lot of use from the media air brush. Just another tool for us and it's relatively cheap in price too. I own the Paasche model btw...... Pics of how it looks now that some details are finally being added. I'm beyond pleased with it so far if I might say......Cheers ALL!

Hi fellas, just some quick pics of a mock-up.....nothing glued yet but for the ribs and "feet"......I smiled when I media blasted the pieces so far and it met my expectations. I have the assembly with the nuts/bolts etc. and the shifter assembly (bracket to be made yet) and also 2 side brackets (a pic included of the real thing I want to replicate) to secure the trans to the chassis. Not sure yet if I'll keep the yoke you see or do a duplicate spline shaft like the front of it. 1 pic is with a halogen light on it while the others show what it looks like it in it's "natural" state. I'm glad I spent the time to make it out of steel to be honest. Each case rib was milled of .6 steel place and inserted into their respective slots.....for those wondering..I've got 40+ hours into this so far not counting research and drawings I had to do.......probably another 10 to go........Cheers, tim What I might use instead of the yoke you see......... This pic is of the brackets I want to replicate...

That was a great idea to put the 3 cars together in one shot. That'll make ya' smile on a bad day. Cheers, tim

Ian I can only imagine the stories and fun you had wrenching on the real thing back in the day........great memory you've made come to life.........fantastic build. cheers, tim

It IS amazing what you've been able to do with the car Charlie after the accident you experienced. The black fender that you polished out looks fantastic......we all know what a bear black paint is to make it look perfect. You're a braver man than me. Cheers, tim

So Chris........when the paint lays down that beautifully, describe for me the size of the smile on your face and how long it lasts. That's gorgeous. cheers, tim

Always fun to get caught up with your progress Francis. Saw some neat little tricks you fabricated on the body work and have certainly made note to explore them as well. Nice to see your progress too.....hopefully winter will be long this year so you'll have more bench time (hint-hint) .........cheers, tim

Dennis, I admit today was the first day I checked out this thread and I'm glad I did. Fantastic scratch-building and thinking outside the box on this build. Will be sure to follow your future posts too. Cheers, tim

To Chris, Bruce & Robert......no pics just yet BUT it looks good what I got done this week....just the case ribs and then I'll take a pic or 2 of what all of the parts look like to date before media blasting and assembly. A month on this one piece....yikes! cheers, tim Andrew, I buy from Rio Grande a Jewelry Industry supplier.....here's the link of the cutting wheel used. Hope it helps. cheers, tim https://www.riogrande.com/product/sintered-diamond-cut-off-wheel4/346085GP/?code=346085

Brian - Thank you sir......I've not noticed the weight of it yet but once it's completely done, it should be noticeable. cheers Randy - okay......I'll keep going IF you post an update on the Maserati soon..deal? cheers, tim Art & Francis - Thank you gentlemen....I always look forward to your replies and continued interest. It's been a long slog but I'm getting there. cheers, tim John B. - Appreciate your compliment. I'm getting so close now to finishing this piece...guessing about 60% of the way done. Still have the ribs to cut and the "feet" to the bottom of the cases along with the shifter & it's bracket. I'm thinking I'll put it on it's own stand at this point and display it next to the engine.......even with the doors and front clip off the car I don't think you'll be able to see the lenco in great detail & I do think it'll be worth all of the effort when it's done......I sure hope so at this point. Pics today- tedious stuff mostly done now.....the flanges & rings are now drilled and completed. Next will be the fabrication of the "feet" for each case..you'll see the last 2 pics that I experimented with in Renshape to proof out my idea. I was convinced enough to go this direction. I'll use a corner rounder to shape the edges of the "foot" and then they'll slot into the notches cut into the bottom of each case. The somewhat blurry pics show the various flanges and all of the drilled holes....I can imagine it all now with ribs and bolts installed & I'm getting excited by what I see. Cheers to all, tim As an aside, the entire unit including the spline shaft is right around 40.0 mm in length....."about".......I'll put the penny next to the final pics for scale purposes.

Thank you Bruce......it's always good to hear from you. This week was productive. Where I have left for the Lenco is to mill the ribs for install and to drill the 3 different flanges for the reverse case yet. The small nuts that will be the base of the lenco shift towers will be drilled out and shaved down to be more realistic. Then everything can be media blasted and assembled. There are many bolts to install & I've no doubt they'll add greatly to the overall look. At that point I'll install the shift levers & bracket to finalize it. The first pics show the spline shaft on the mill. Used a .17mm diamond cutting wheel to slice in 14 ribs.......the shaft is 1/16" steel piano wire. I was going to use a .27mm wheel but I didn't like it and the number of splines were too few......didn't look right. The 2nd group of pics is a very crude mock-up with nothing glued / assembled yet so please be kind. I'm hoping to wrap this up by next week & to post some pics then. Cheers, Tim

Chris, I have to agree (mostly) with Noel in that this was a truly handsome car. I didn't know much about it until I did a quick search on-line. You should post a pic or 2 of the real thing so everyone can appreciate what you're building here. It's a stunner. Cheers, tim

Good morning Nico, I've always loved the salt cars of all era's and this one really catches the imagination. With your abilities, I can't wait to see where you take it. No doubt it will be well worth the effort. Good luck. cheers, tim

Nailed it Francis. VERY nice sir. cheers, tim