gasser59

Only twelve and a half?? That's all? Jack, welcome to the Vega FC (funny car) FC (fan club). Guess we could call this FC2. This is such an outstanding build and I for one have totally enjoyed looking over Chris' shoulder as he works. He has such an eye for detail and how all of the components work that this whole thread, all 44 pages of it, is one large tutorial. Glad I'm sitting in the front row and have even had the opportunity to see it in person many pages ago.

Unless you told us, one would never know this was your first. It came out great and I hope its no too long before another graces your workbench.

Chris C. ~ I'm really liking that '66 Nova. That looks slick and even though it was trying to get you down, it looks like you prevailed. Any more pics of this ride?

Hey Ty ~ I can do the artwork for your General logo but need to see a better redition of it. I looked on the web but came up empty. Might you have a better copy somewhere? You'll need to source someone to print it though. BTW - your build is truly inspiring and your ability to cleanly detail everything is amazing. Keep at it and I've seen your paint jobs, you can certainly do this one.

Oh Yeah!! This is going to be a killer build if this is how each progress report is going to look. I've got my popcorn and am in the front row.

Those tins look great Chris. Better than the first ones you made for the earlier frame. I'm likin' these.

This is such a great thread, I just had to go through it all again. Tons of superb builds and I think this is my all-time favorite thread. Just had to bump it again. Any new builds that can be added to this thread?

Looking good Chris. Are you about ready for some paint on this bad boy? I know I am.

Thanks Robert. I was really striving for this particular stance with the straight axle. The kit came with an I beam dropped axle and sat too low for me.

Go ahead Glu. Nothing is proprietary on my builds. I'm glad to share and help others as I have learned so much here as well.

Ain't that the truth. Doesn't help either that I haver several builds going on right now. Something I try to avoid.

Welcome Manley. Try subscribing to PhotoBucket and then copy and paste the link here. Its free and so easy to navigate.

For a quickie, this is coming out great Brett. I've never built a CopOut as it seemed to me to be a poor representation of a quality kit but I see there is some hope for a good looking build. Love the blue, what paint did you use? I'll be watchiing this one before it hits your completed kits shelf.

Ooooh, this looks like its going to be good. Great work so far. What kit(s) will you be using to be supply the engine and drivetrain components as well as wheels and tires? I'm all eyes for this one!!

OK, Cap'n Obvious. I already had the tubing and ran out of rod ends. They're on my to-do list.

A bit more progress over the last couple of days. Front axle is done, the chassis is painted and the Cragars and some of the engine components have gotten a shot of Alclad. I changed all of the tires and am happy with these. The pie crusts were too short for the ride height. Still deciding on an injection system. May go with the Enderle as shown here but it seems a bit out of scale. Its sitting upside down for the picture. As always, comments welcome and thanks for following along.

X 3 & 4 Lovin' it Charlie.

Man, is that stuff nice looking. Looks even better assembled. Impressive stuff indeed.

After work, I was able to fabricate the tie rod from stainless stell tubing from RB Motion and another piece of 0.015 diameter piano wire that's bent at the ends to go into the steering arms. The hole in the steering arms were filled with another piece of wire insulation but much thinner. This should allow the wire ends to pivot without coming out.

Not a problem Chris. We'll get hooked up one of these days. Glad you found the stencil. I think I'll just put in some bench time on Sunday.

Thank Brett. I'm really happy with how they came out. Thank you for the tip Charlie. I've heard of guys using Future, just never tried it myself. What I DID use worked out quite well and I'm happy with the results. We'll see if they stay put.

Thanks for the comments fellas. I use green label Zap-a-Gap exclusively on my metal to metal and metal to plastic parts.

Been continuing working on the straight axle and its mostly done. Thought I would share with you how I do this with photos and a brief description. Below is the rough cut of the steering knuckle cut from 3/16" square aluminum tubing as well as the axle cut from 3/32" OD round tubing with the T in place. The T has had a piece of wire insulation inserted to take up some of the slack once the metal pin is installed at the end. This next pic shows the knuckle cleaned up, rounded off and the holes drilled out for the spindle and the pin. at this point, I've glued in the pin for the spindle tubing. I use X-Acto handles with the two cross slots in the head to hold my drill bits and drill these holes by hand. Up next is the 1/16" aluminum tubing has been added over the metal pin for the spindle. Next, I need to add the steering arm to the knuckle. Again, I use piano wire that has been shaved on the edge of my cut-off wheel on my Dremel Stylus. It also has a slight bend in it that faces away from the knuckle. Here's the steering arm glued in place with the rod end in place. In this case, I used plastic ends from the parts box, I think they're from a sprint car kit. This plastic piece was drilled out for the steering arm to fit into. Finally, here's the knuckle in place with a temporary pin holding it in place. Before attaching the knuckles, I used a polishing cloth to shine up the aluminum to resemble chrome. Final piece to make is to make the tie rod that connects the two knuckles together. Stay tuned and thanks for following along.

I would personally love to see a re-pop of a 1/16 scale FC or FED. Like you, body is not that important to me. I have a 1/16 Fiat body collecting dust on the shelf just waiting for a kit for the chassis and engine. I just can't bring myself to EvilBay one though. It appears to me there is a sort of resurrgence in 1/16" scale just from the newer threads here on the forum. Seems that if enough builders contact the right manufacturers we might make the difference.

Thanks for the info and the kind offer. Too bad we live so far away from each other. How's your Sunday shaping up? Were you able to find your tire lettering stencil?