Codi

You NAILED em' Eric. When considering an FED v. Altered for my build I did a bunch of research on "how to" etc. on wire wheels. Your results are super. I'll be sure to bookmark this as future reference. Nicely done again! cheers, tim

Nothing to add to what's been said. With the recent closure of Scalehardware and another favorite, T2M last year, the pickings on the supplier side are thin. Last year when T2M closed up I bought from the UK, Germany, Australia and China to get whatever I could of their parts I've been using. I think I cornered the market. Then I thought, hmmm, you never know and so I bought a fairly decent quantity of the .5mm nuts and bolts from ScaleHard. as I use them quite frequently. But they too will run out at some point. RB Motion (Rob) has some really good product and reasonable assortment AND he runs a good business with excellent service. Like everyone else, I've searched fairly diligently for replacement suppliers but I've not found any that have threaded nuts and bolts in particular. There was a recent post of a supplier in Germany that has some .6mm & .9mm stuff that would be helpful. Now when I drop one of those tiny nuts or bolts on the floor I look REALLY hard to find it. REALLY hard.

Oh where to being: how did you manage to solder the albion nickel silver so sweetly? how did you form the fenders....wood bucks??? wingrove insights? what about the GT40 & Ferrari (not that I'm one to question why?) aw shucks, never mind, when can we speak as I have too many other questions and things I want to learn. A simple fuel tank is one thing but just what you were able to achieve on those "practice" fenders impresses the you know what out of me. Panel beating is one of the things I've always admired in addition to machinists and their skills and I can't wait to work on mine. This will be truly inspiring sir. Cheers, Tim, Honorary President of the Randy D. Fan Club (self-imposed)

Bob, look at line 3. What I'm saying is I took a strip of copper and wrapped it around the aluminum pyramid shaped piece and rolled it on a steel plate to get it to conform to that shape. A few soft taps with a plastic headed mallet to get the edges of the seam down tight and that was pretty much how the body was formed. Hope that helps. Brad, No Go on the Go Pro. I'd have to mute it because the language can get a little blue when I drop and lose a part on the floor. Thanks too Dave. Pete, like what you're doing on your 53' btw. Those body mods turned out sweet. Glad you like where it's going so far. Next step is finalizing chassis renderings and getting started on it. Since most of the important "big" pieces (engine block etc. and rear end) are made I can trust the numbers to make the chassis properly. Cheers

A hearty thanks gentlemen for the comments. I wanted to answer Brad and Bob's questions as I have the stuff still on my desk so I took a pic and can provide a quick how-to. In this pic you'll see what's known as a dapping block and a couple of the "punches" that fit the corresponding holes. Also, the copper I used was .015" which was annealed before shaping. The pyramid shaped piece on the end of the tweezers was the piece I made on the lathe to be able to bend the body of the tank around. Detailed explanation follows the picture. Steps: 1. Annealed the copper and cut small strips which I placed over the properly sized hole on the block. Placed the "punch" over it and hammered it lightly into shape creating the twin domed portions. The block and punches range in size from 3.0mm up to 25.0mm as an fyi. The small copper dome was 8mm and the larger was 12mm btw. 2. Made a dimensional drawing of the body to understand the proper angle to cut it on the lathe and machined it a bit under-sized to compensate for the thickness of the copper so that the domes were a reasonably close fitment. The dome was done in aluminum so that when I soldered everything up, it would NOT become part of it and would separate easily. 3. After drilling a hole in the body for the gas cap, I shaped the copper strip around the aluminum pyramid. This step was a little bit tedious as it took time to ensure a proper fitment. Then I placed the domes back in their respective holes, placed the body of the tank over that and used a torch to solder the ends to the body. Clean up and that was it, all in about 6 hours to do all the steps described including the lathe work. I DO want to acknowledge and recommend a fantastic book, "Model Building with Brass" by Kenneth Foran. The idea to do the tank came from his book even though he was making a part for an aircraft engine I think. It's a fantastic book and I suggest anyone that is interested in working with brass or copper and wants to learn about the possibilities when scratch building, well, it's just a great read and informative in so many ways. Cheers

Thank you Scott AND Ray. I'm not sure what I'm able to teach you Ray per se. But I'm glad you are enjoying the thread all the same. Today I got the fuel tank done. 3 parts all fabbed in copper so I can chrome them. I'm trying to improve my metal forming and fabricating skills. None of the 3 were machined although the shape to form the body of the tank around was done on the lathe in aluminum. Cheers, tim

If someones not already mentioned it, I believe this is the worlds first mobile phone. Couldn't help myself John but I thought I should say it before Joe. Your talent for making anything look cool is beyond compare. Cheers

That's an ambitious project that you've gotten off to a great start Bill. I have no doubt that it will be quite exceptional and look forward to your future posts. cheers, tim

Yeah Joe, what Chris, Randy and the others have said......been awhile and we're ready for an update. Cheers

Just stumbled across this Kevin. Fantastic subject. I was completely unaware that such a plane even existed. It certainly has great "lines" and you're doing it justice. Count me too as a follower of your thread. Cheers, tim

Phenomenal John. The car is so well done but that paint just jumps off the page. That's some talent. Cheers and congrats! Tim

I was hoping you guys would like it. Every piece of the puzzle just makes it more exciting for me. I'm going to clean up and primer the 3D printed manifold from Shapeways that Chris Sobak made up the files and sent to me. It's a cool piece as mentioned before and will likely be the only piece on the engine that I won't machine or fabricate personally. Chris did send some stellar blower pieces too but I want to machine those if possible out of aluminum. I can't thank Chris enough for his willingness to do that for me & the build. Thanks again sir. My closing comment is one of sincere THANKS to Dave (comp1839) and Chris (mooneyz) for the information and knowledge they're imparted. I couldn't attempt to make these pieces without it. To each and everyone out there, have a GREAT LABOR DAY with your friends and family. Cheers, Tim

Thank you guys......Dave, no I don't use Fitz, I'm now using Mothers mag and alum. polish even though I've yet to use it on this engine. This week finally got back to the mill and did the gear cover in 2 pieces. It was time consuming and took some new steps to make the top portion. The scalloped base took the same amount of effort even though it looks more detailed / complicated. Between drawing it up, figuring out HOW I was going to machine it and then completing them, about 20 hours all in. It is not bolted yet to the engine as an fyi. Cheers, Tim Here is the base plate on the mill. It's about 13mm tall and 10mm wide as an fyi.

Man that looks fantastic Chris......I might have to bug you for some "numbers". Your renderings are something to behold....and yes, your cars too. Cheers, Tim

Cool build Steve.

That's truly not cool Bill but the car is simply such an interesting build that I hope you see it through. For anyone that hasn't learned the valuable lesson you've shared, they should consider it before dunkin' a body into the "purple pond". That lesson being that the only way to go to SAVE all your hard earned body mods is to sand it off. I dunked my first car after a botched paint job when I returned to the hobby. Had lots of filler and changes to all 4 fenders. Ate all the bondo etc. away and had to do it all over again. Never did that again. Thanks for sharing your experiences and if even one builder avoids that mistake, you performed a valuable service. Look forward to your next post. Cheers, Tim

Great looking design Chris. You've got to start an all new thread for that one. cheers sir.

Great meeting with Dave today and the path I chose for the car should make it a really fun build. Dave's input and suggestions were most helpful as well. The car will be an early 70's altered. There were a lot of changes taking place at that time in the sport and most of the teams and drivers were moving rapidly to the funny car ranks altogether. The differences in the cars from the mid/late 60's to the early 70's was fairly significant. Chassis design was truly evolving. The influences of funny car chassis was starting to show itself in the class during the 70's. At least that's what my research has indicated. The car pic I'm posting today is of a modern altered, "The Tramp" but it runs a Donovan, has a great stance, bantam body and many other cues taken from the earlier era of cars. My chassis will NOT be as long as this as the cars of the period weren't so I'll stay truer to the era. Imagine it about 10" or so inches shorter than this. It will have the canard wings ahead of the slicks down low. I'll do the bullet tank from the Pure Hell 1 car. The radiator shell I'll fab of brass along with the entire chassis and suspension. It will have a dropped front axle with twin shocks but they'll be positioned in what I think is a pretty cool setup I stumbled upon during my research. Dave has offered up the use of shop & knowledge to teach me how to make wheels for this car. So even though I've pictured micro nitro wheels earlier for this build, I'll probably offer them up for sale at some point in the future. The fronts will be 12 spoke and the rears will be a cool design from that era that Dave shared from his extensive "library" of drag cars. I won't be putting the Cosmic Charger covers on as I won't want to cover up the custom 12 spokes, sorry Joe........Thanks everyone for following along and hopefully this change of horses mid-stream won't diminish your interest in the build. Lastly, I want to thank Dave for his confidence in me regarding my acquired skills and the encouragement he's given to tackle new pieces and techniques. Cheers, Tim

Mark, I sincerely appreciate your honesty and closing post. I'm sure you'll be happier with the direction you've outlined. I would never disparage the quality of what you can make or do. I'll shut up now and wish you the best in whatever you decide to do, for yourself OR others. tim

Wow to everyone that posted a car on this thread. I don't like picking favorites but among my top 5, the 2 builds cars that "Cruz" posted are amazing. Wish I could paint like that. cheers, tim

John, of all the fantastic skills you exhibit in your builds, I must admit my bias towards your painting skills. I always look forward to the end of your builds when you get to the paint. This one is no different. Love it man. cheers, tim

Way too cool what you're doing here Richard. The car is fantastic but to do the diorama is..............well, I have no more superlatives to add. cheers, tim

Didn't I just see this car on the Mecum auction on t.v.? Kidding of course, but I must say it's nicely done. Will be sure to follow along as well. cheers,tim

I like the fact you posted a pic of your inspiration next to the build Tyrone. Nice. cheers, tim

Brad, you're going to smile. Many thanks to you Art for the compliment. I'm trying. This one will be even better and FASTER in it's completion. Bob, you're going to frown. Clay, wow, nice to see one of my all time favorite builders visit the thread and post. Greatly appreciated sir. Hope you continue to follow along while I move forward. So, my friend and mentor, Dave and I have been talking about the build. A mentor is someone that suggests a course of action based upon their experience and observations. Dave correctly pointed out that an important part of the engine would be hidden in the chassis. He lobbied for the FED direction but I've decided to make this build a FUEL ALTERED once and for all. Fortunately there are things I'm not sure how to make and get to visit with Dave to discuss and learn more this Friday. Additionally (I'll post pics next week) Chris Sobak has provided me with samples of a manifold and blower that he drew up (with Dave's assistance) that were made by TDR. These parts are stunning. More on this later, but I wanted to mention the contribution by Chris (I never asked, the dude offered, what more can I say) Even if I decide to machine the manifold out of aluminum, I want to stress that it wouldn't be even possible without Dave and Chris' contribution. Many thanks. So, I posted a few pics of a modified Bantam Blast body. After more research, I purchased ANOTHER kit and chopped up that bottom. The changes to this one include a narrowing of the front of the body by 1/8". I added a 1/8" lip to the cowl and re-configured the rear fenders that just "flow" compared to my 1st attempt. Lastly, I glassed the inside of the cowl and front of the car for strength. There is a wee bit more body work that needs to be done to get it to the standard I have for this car but you'll get the idea I think. Cheers everyone and thanks for you patience while I go back and forth.