eviltwincustoms

If you are looking for a How TO on building customs Chassis Robert (Thumper86) has a great Chassis 101 How to... It will give you the basics and you can continue to expand on what he has provided. And really use any Reference Pics anyone provides to really help you with your builds.

Nice little project you got going... and my favorite color to boot!

Brad those are going to look awesome on your build. Are you going to use the 5 spoke vs the other two that you have posted? Doing an altered, I really like the spokes you have posted.

Jim!!!! That is frikin Awesome!! Can't wait to get them in my grubby little hands and begin working on that rear end housing and getting the hubs and wheels mounted.

There are multiple ways to adjust font size in Word. As Scott stated you can do (Ctrl+shift+p) and a pop up box will come up. Or you can highlight the word(s) and right click and a Font Box will come up above the word you are working with. Something else you can do, and will be much better from like a color and style standpoint is use the "Insert" Tab and Insert Word Art. From here you can add Txt, add shadowing.... run the word diagonally or which ever direction your hear desires. Then to adjust the size, this is like a picture, just click on the image and drag the corner in or out to resize.

Brett that is great that you have been able to find a club that has been able to provide you insight and help with your skill set. I would love to find a club with more involvement in custom work. I am just saying that it isn't necessary to seek out a Club for information, with the new age of Computers and the internet. You have great talent from all over the world at your finger tips, you just can't be bashful. Because if you don't ask you don't get great knowledge from so many people. I like you, find myself to be one of the younger ones when going to Clubs, but at the same time I find myself being the only one that does as much custom fabricating from scratch styrene. So the things that I seek out to learn better ways of doing things, I have better luck on the Net on different forums or site specific websites.

Clubs are good to a point for comroddery (sp) and getting to know others in the Hobby... don't get me wrong. But they don't really help you strengthen your skills. Everything I have learned has been from Forums and asking and others on forums and Thousands and Thousands of Reference Pictures... As the old addage goes, "A Picture is worth a Thousand Words!" The shows are cool to go to, to see other pieces of work and buying kits and parts.. .but don't think you have to be apart of a Club or go to shows to boost your skills. It is really about the desire to want to do better, and the willingness to accept "Feedback" be it Good/Bad/ or Indifferent! Then willing to make those necessary tweaks to improve your building skills. But as the other member stated, you have to start somewhere. Start out small and work your way up to the details, it is great to see your own progression in a Hobby you like. You just need the desire and it looks like you have that! Just know your limits and have fun with the hobby, because these small details can push your limitations pretty quick. Oh and most of all, you need to have the tools and basic knowledge of shapes and how things either function or go together and this will help you achieve your goal... Young Grasshopper!

That is funny to see fellow RCCrawler members on here as well. I use to frequent the site and poured all kinds of money into Bruisers. Restored one back to brand new and built a 1.9 that you see in the pic, and sold it off to another member on the site. I continue to kick myself for selling the restored one. When my son was only 18 months, he would see it and say Guk..... it was his first word... needless to say his mother was really upset!

Best bet for you is to use Google and Youtube. There are plenty of videos on how to use the different programs, if you just do a search you will pull up what you need. That is how I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements and how to make bullet holes and shadows.... very cool.

I would suggest the Badger Anthem, this is what I started learning on and is very easy for beginners and takes a beating. As long as you clean it out after each color change and tear it down and clean it thoroughly, you will have it for a very long time. Now it isn't Gravity Fed, so this can be a Pro or Con, but you can purchase other bottles and connector caps to switch out paints really easy. Just run some Lacquer Thinner though it and switch to the next color (now this would be with enamel and lacquer based paints) I plan on getting an IWATA Micron and and IWATA Eclipse G Series gun for larger area's for my 1/18 and 1/16 scale models. As for your touch up paints, they are way to thick, you would need to buy some reducer and thin that stuff down. Another thing I wouldn't use the touch up that has the clear mixed into the paint. If you use the Lacquer based touch up kits they are much easier because you then have to spray clear over it. For paints, I purchase from "Coast Airbrush.com" they have different paints Lacquer and Acrylic "Auto Air" stuff and anything you would need to tape, sand prep... They are very friendly and great customer service.

man that is just an awesome build! If this is going to another home, the owner is going to be getting an outstanding piece of Auto Art. The pictures do not do this car justice, but I am sure everyone knows that.

I see you are working towards getting the wheelbase down to 118". Is there a reason why you are shooting for this length, is it for a Dragster/Funny Car you are working on, or are you looking to turn it into a Pro Mod?

Joe, are you are sealing this off to hold water or is there something that will be going down inside of this tank?

Looks like a great job so far, kinda hard to see your paint job. If you can get some daylight pics, please post them up! I have been thinking about getting that kit and changing it into a pro mod mustang!

Yep, I prefer the quart and hardner... I like HOK Kosmic Clear and Dupont Chroma Clear, never ever had any issues with clogging my Badger airbrush. But you can't neglect tearing it all the way down and doing a good clean job. That is all I use is Auto Paint and Clear from HOK to HOT HUES... it gets expensive but it lays down exceptionally well with no issues of having to test if something will cause a reaction.

Chris I am not sure how the Motor Plate is mocked up on the Original Army Vega, but on a real car based on my knowledge they are not behind the Timing Cover. The plate actually is cut out around the timing cover/water pump and such. Here is a Link that I use for mocking up my Motor Mount. http://www.rjracecars.com/Motorplates-Prodlist.html To address the torque, I would assume that due to the multiple bolt mounts around the timing cover section addressed any torque twisting concerns. But then again, I am not someone that has first hand knowledge.

You can also go to some Auto Paint shops and they will mix 1:1 paint and put it in an Aerosol can. This way you can have them thin it a little more and get custom colors as well. I myself don't trust bomb paints for the fact that they are much thicker and being in a can, much more prone to inconsistent air pressure. Like someone posted, you need to put the can in a pot of warm water to boil to raise the temp/air pressure in the spray can. This helps with two things better pressure and warm paint lays much nicer. Even on 1:1's if you warm the paint right before you go into the booth with it, it will lay down really easy. I know you say you are intimidated with Airbrushes, but they will give you a much better end result and you have a much broader range in paints you can use. In addition to the fact that the airbrush will lay a much thinner base coat then from an spray bomb.

Thanks Matthew for the pics... and I deserved that one... Ok so the Monogram model is way out of scale then when that use that crappy ring that connects from the front to the rear 1/2 section of the wheel. I figured they lug bolts held them together, but wondered how that ring played any part is any at all on the 1:1. Sorry for the confusion, never been around 1:1 Rigs and full size trucks with Dually's so forgive me ignorance. So specifically the back wheels is what I am referring to. In the model kits at least on the 1/16 Pete and Ken trucks the Chrome Outer rim and black inner rim are then held together with a black like spacer ring. I expect this is just to make it easier for the tires to stay on and due to how the model is made since it doesn't run actual Hubs. I appreciate you helping out a novice in this area... I can tell I have a lot of research ahead of me in this up and coming build.

That's a Pretty cool looking Tri5 you have there in that Funny Car. It looks like this one is heading to the staging lanes since it doesn't have deployed chutes!

Brad very nice job, outstanding work... i love all the little details... as a Plus I am very fond of the HOK Tangelo and I call it a HOK Milkshake.... I take HOK base white and HOK cinnimon pearl and make a really nice cream color! My other favorite colors in HOK are Sunrise and Sunset... You will definitely have a winner in that Combo you are planning out... can't wait to see it finished. Is there someone on this form that does Custom Decal work? I would love to find someone that can print white decals on Clear Paper.. Can't find the money to cough up the cash for an Alps Printer.

I am looking for a reference pic of how the rear dual wheels are mounted on a Rig.. I don't drive or have never broke down a real wheel so I am oblivious to how they are mounted. With the 1/16th I would like to know do they really have a ring that mounts to the front and back wheels? And I would assume that the Fronts are the mirror image of the rears or are they actually different? Thanks for any reference pics you can provide. I appreciate it!

Chris that looks pretty darn slick..... they look like they belong on a real Drag Car! So I have to ask, when you cut your bolts down, did you just use the Nut trick as your guide to cut and keep the threads from getting messed up? I sure wish you would hurry up and get your hours in at work! Is it possible you could just not sleep and work around the clock? This way you can get back to building this awesome build! LOL.... I know Selfish Me!

Yep.... With Tower Hobbies owning Monogram, when they get it everyone else will have it available. I went to my local Hobby Store and told them how much Tower had it for, so to keep me as a returning customer they beat the Online Price. So I have at least one on hold whenever it comes out.

They are from Terry at Flashpoint Motorsports.

My personal preference would be Gold, for a couple reasons. Like Joe said using a Black beadlock will visually make your wheel/tire blend together and look smaller. The other being, I like black and all... but to much black and you completely go the other direction and lose the effect. I guess it really matters what you are wanting to accomplish. Are you after understated? Then I would say even use a Dull Coat for the body and go with flat black beadlocks. But if you want the Gloss Black to stand out, hit it with Gold beadlocks as an accent. Otherwise, you totally pulled this one off and it looks amazing! Can't wait to see if wrapped up with all the factory sponsor decals and such. Sweet job!