Codi

Cato, it's been a while since I posted here, but without a dout, that is just simply STUNNING! My hat's off to you sir and can't wait to see your future posts as you progress on this build. A fan. Cheers, Tim

Has anybody seen or heard from Randy D. lately? Hopefully he's doing okay and we'll see more from him soon. Cheers, Tim

Yes Joe, it IS alive. And you WILL bend to its wishes. Can't wait to see your next update!! Cheers, Tim

John, John, John......how do you do it? The combination of paints on your chassis in the latest pics, along with the alum. flooring looks so cool. I would never have put those together and you pulled it off so well. And no one can touch you for your Alclad skills. Alclad should pay YOU to use your models as examples on their website. It just looks so real. Suitably impressed dude. Cheers, Tim

Aaron, thank you, again nice to see comments from so far away. The forum is well represented globally. Art - appreciated...."home stretch" is a year from now as best as I can guesstimate. I'm going to wrap this one up by fall 2016 one way or another which means I'm now about 60% of the way through it. No way around that fact as I'm such a slow builder. oh well. again, many thanks. Michael - me first. Sorry Scott, i just don't have that kind of ability to do the body out of aluminum. I'd like to learn how to pound brass someday............. DaveWilly - thanks! Dave my friend (comp1839) - THANK YOU for all of your insights and assistance on a build that I thought I knew something about but came to realize how little I truly did know. Your mentoring has been invaluable and has helped me become a budding amateur machinist and better modeler. For that I will always be grateful. Ray - Wonderful to see your new 32' build and the rapid progress on it. I can see the juices are flowing again.....YEAH!! Chris - Sincerely hope you'll be back at your bench soon and finishing the Vega. Hope all else is well with you and your family. Disabled Modeler - thanks for checking it out and hope you follow along as I move on with the car. Lastly, here's a pic I wanted to share of the chassis / engine in the same shot. Didn't have the ability to post it earlier.........Cheers to all, Tim

Really like the way the front end body mods worked out Ray. You've picked two great intakes to choose from but my preference was for your 1st one with the single carb BUT your sheet metal will no doubt be sweet as well. I like the way you've fabbed that so far too. Great progress and looking forward to more soon!!! cheers, Tim

I truly like your idea for the build Brian. Always liked the Chapparals since I had an HO race car as a kid. Can't wait to see the body mods once you have them completed. Good luck on the rest of the build. Cheers, Tim

Thanks Clayton, no Ray, haven't weighed it yet. BUT, I did get on a roll this morning and completed the mock-up. Satisfied with the results so I can tear it down and move on. Enjoy and comments welcome as always. btw, no glue was used over the past 20+ hours of assembly, all bolted together. Cheers, Tim Besides these pics, there are more on my Fotki page for those that are interested.

Run Ray, run as fast as you can on this car. I love everything you're showing here and your grill is beautiful. If it were mine/me, I'd set the other one aside and continue on this one. The real car pics you've shared and the chassis design are so cool and would make for a superb model. Looking forward towards your next post already. Cheers, Tim

Cool mock-up but Brads comment on the headers gives me pause too. I thought Henry was tight, but man o' man that is silly tight at the rear tire and frame. Would up-swept through the roof be an option? Maybe a "sun" roof right? And that way you could see the engines too. Just thinking out loud, sorry. I'm sure you already have a basket of options so..............never mind. Cheers Joe.

Your car has really come together Bill. I like seeing the differences in the body lines / details just by painting it with white primer. Fantastic execution on all of the body mods and how it just "flows". If you haven't mentioned it yet, what color are you considering? Cheers, Tim

Thank you Joe, quite the accolade. Once you see these pics, I think we're going to have to re-think the whole cappuccino maker thing. (I'm more of a Dunkin' Donuts kind of guy btw) I've still got the puke tank, brakes, shocks and sensors and the wing to put on. This morning was still a productive one and I'm really learning what to do and NOT to do on the assembly process. It's lining up well so far. Cheers, Tim

Art, my ol' eyes are giving out on me. I was not being sarcastic or being a knucklehead. I swear when I looked at your pics I "saw" the ducts in the spill pates. If they weren't there, I apologize for any misinterpretation of my post. I've got too much respect for you skills to do something like that. Cheers, Tim

Joe, like the way you splayed the stacks. I can see em' with aluminum tubes over them. Are you going to make them equal length or stagger the height ala the cam-am guys? Cheers, Tim

Thanks to each and everyone of you for your comments once again. They're very encouraging as I'm, going through this step. I'll need it. The 2 pics you see this morning are the result of getting the anti-roll bar ONLY in place. I was planning on have the locating bars and x-brace on as well, but it just didn't happen. I figure another couple hours to get that done and then move on to the shocks/sensors and wheelie bars. Then puke tank, wing and anything else I've forgotten. Anyways, I'm learning and taking notes as I go so the next time it will move along in a more timely fashion. Again, big thanks for your very positive feedback. Cheers, Tim Oh, and Joe, the only plastic is the wing and it's spill plates, steering wheel rim and the seat so far. Hadn't thought about that till you mentioned it. hmmmmm

Hey Art, like the subject build you picked here as you know. Looks good and I've got to try the putty painting trick sometime as your results were spectacular. And I DID notice the little NACA ducts you put into your wing spill plates. Nice touch! Cheers, Tim

Gotta like a scratch builder that is willing AND able to execute it as need be. Injected will look flat out awesome & the tandem solution should be more "realistic" when all is said and done. For what it's worth, what you've accomplished so far looks pretty sweet and the wheels you've picked will be perfect. Keep her going Joe. Cheers, Tim

Really like your build on this car. Nicely executed. Cheers, Tim

Sorry i didn't respond earlier guys. Chris, Art, Dave, Dave Willy and Dr. Kerry, thank you gentlemen for the positive feedback and comments. Yesterday I began the process (and it's a process I assure you, I've got almost 8 hours into what you see in today's pics I'm posting) of doing a mock-up of the car to date. I decided to put everything fabricated to date on the car. I'm estimating that I'm 1/3rd of the way there. I'm excited about the car so far after looking at all of the parts yet to go on. We'll see as I'm sure I'll have to tweek some things along the way as keeping putting it together. Cheers, Tim I'm hoping to have it all together and posted sometime over the Labor Day weekend.

Randy, if you're still out there.......and hopefully all is well, any update to this phenomenal build in the near term? It's the craziest build I've seen on the forum yet and can't wait to see what you do next. Cheers, Tim

Those are some fantastic 1:1 pics you posted Joe. I like them ALL. Cheers, Tim

Joe - If you look closely, you'll see a cord hanging off a stand on the left side.....yup, dremel number 4, just out of sight though. A man can never have enough dremels right? Took me almost 40 minutes to clean my mess....what you can't see were two other work benches (arranged in a triangle shape) where I drill and solder on one and assemble on the 3rd. They weren't quite as bad though. btw, nice progress on your wheel stander. its fun watching this friendly "competition". Chris, really hope to see you back at it soon. I miss Art Laski, Ray & Randy D's efforts among others as well. I know it's summer and all but still........throw us a bone. Cheers everyone

Hi Brad, inside their pamphlet they state that the surface of the material to be plated should be warmed up for better results. And they mention the plating solution will perform better in a "warmer" state. So through experimentation and a bit of web search, I came across the method of using clean boiling water that I dip the part into to warm the surface while I hook up the electrodes to the container of plating solution.. By the time I heat this stuff in my microwave (don't tell my wife) and run to the hobby room, it cools off a bit so it's just very warm to the touch at that point. The water doesn't effect the process at all. I do NOT boil the plating solution however as I have no idea if it might cause bad things to happen...I only heat it up till I see the 1st bubble or so form and then take it out. Hook up the electrodes and begin immediately the process. Last suggestion, use just enough plating solution to cover the part in while you dip. My parts are so small that I use what could be described as the diameter of a small paper cup and fill it up as far as necessary to cover the piece during the process. You'll get soot if you're too close to the electrode or use too much solution. A little more practice & experimenting and I know you'll get it. Cheers

Wonderful update John. Wouldn't be surprised if you finished this in 3 or 4 weeks at the rate you build. Just incomprehensible how you do that. Cheers, Tim

Brad, check out my earlier "reports" on how I used the kit and my experiences. I think it will help. I only use tix SILVER solder so I can't speak to the "soot" experience on the solder itself other than it's happened to me too but I've been getting better at it with practice and get fewer "soot" moments. Keys I've found are to move the piece in the solution rapidly back and forth and don't get it too close to the electrode or use too much solution. It only takes a minute or less to start getting the process working on very small parts. The other thing I did that they recommend is to heat up a cup of hot water and then to heat the solution as well to almost boiling. Dip the piece you want plated in the hot water first and let it warm up for a few moments then put it in the hot plating solution while moving it around rapidly. Makes a big difference I've discovered. A little bit of experimentation and I'm sure you'll get the hang of it and good results. But you might want to change to silver solder like I use as the joints as you've seen in the pics I've posted come across as one and the same. If I can be of any other guidance/assistance, please don't hesitate to ask. I just did my brass battery tray and it turned out pretty sharp. Hope this helps. Cheers, Tim