Psychographic

I haven't found much in my searching on the best way to go about doing the PE spokes. I remember seeing a pic of RMoM's wheel kit and it looked like it came with a jig for bending the spokes. I thought about it for a while and this is what I came up with so far. I cut most of the spokes out of one wheel, leaving just enough to hold the hub. This allowed me to see how the rim will line up to the jig. The first step was to match the inside diameter of the rim onto a piece of .030 sheet. I backed this up with some .060 x .250 rectangle strips. This gave me a depth slightly deeper than half the width of my center hub. The hub is the 1/8" tube centered inside the jig. I took piece of .030 and cemented that to another piece of .060 x .250, then drilled a 1/16" hole for a metal axle through both. The reason for the .030 is to shorten the depth of the bend on the spokes. I ran a metal axle through the stock wheel, centered it, and glued the .060 in place. This is what the jig looks like, top. Bottom. The way I see this working is to load the PE center onto the axle, then cut a hub half the width of the actual one I'll be using, load that onto the axle, followed up by the stock rim. Pushing down on the stock rim will push the center of the PE center bending the spokes up. As the rim reaches the outer circle it will flatten the outside edge of the spokes.

If I don't screw these up, they are going to be a big improvement. I'm waiting to assemble these until I can get some more info on how to bend them into shape.

Things are moving right along. The coolant lines are painted, along with the shifter, and butterflies for the injector hat. The fuel tank is also ready for paint. I made a plate for the the throttle cable and return spring to connect to. The coolant lines. From the braided lines on the engine to the hardline. The hardlines go into the rocker and the rest of the lines run inside the body to the radiator in the back. This saved a lot of work and kept the underside pretty clean.

VDub emblem is still MIA. One of the last things I need to do to finish the plumbing is the coolant lines. That's pretty far to go from front to back, I decided to cheat and have the lines go into the rockers and the rest would be internal and hidden from sight. The two main pipes being shaped. Here's where they meet up with the braided lines off the engine. Here's how they fit in the body. I do believe the steering box and arm will just clear the lines. If not I'll have to make a shim for it.

I'm almost done with my current one, but depending on the timeline I could be in. I have plans for one more kit to be used as a tow vehicle and at least another body to be used as a trailer. My current build.

The Brake lines are done. The fuel lines are almost done, I made the filter out of some scrap rod and tube. I started on the radiator hoses. And made an old style Accel Supercoil. I sanded a piece of scrap rod to have a slight taper to it, ran 4 pieces of .060 half round to square it up some, and made the top from some .030 scrap. I ran a small rod through the center of the tube, drilled the top and used some Styrene Bondo to mold the curve into the top. I need to paint it yellow.

The emblem is still MIA. I made a quick set of disc brakes. I didn't go crazy on them as you have to look pretty hard to even see them in the car. I cut two circles from .030 sheet and cast the calipers from a set of Pegasus disc brakes. Then I started the plumbing. Beading wire for the lines, #1 crimp tubes for the fittings, .060 half round with a slot cut in the back for the clamps, some scrap rod that I drilled for the tee fitting, and some small diameter wire jacket for the flex line.

That's already in the works.

It did the same thing only slower to lock up. When it finishes the scan a window pops up with the things it found, it also opens up a website, it's at the point that the site opens that it locks up. In safe mode it couldn't open the site, but still locked up. It was the delay on opening the site in safe mode that let me realize that is where the problem could be.

This thing is pinning the coolmeter! Great ideas and execution.

Thanks for those measurements Eric. I don't think think the Deeks will work, just a tad to small. I ordered a set of the Tom's 505's.

I decided that I hate the gas tank. I've got a new idea, 1/2" tube, clear ends covered with the VW emblem from the front. I need to strip and fix this one, then I'll cast a pair in resin. In the time it took for me to put the tank and mounting bracket together, I lost the VW emblem. I hope it shows up before I knock it on the floor and the chair rolls over it or I step on it.

Holy Cow! Rogue Killer found 70 some things that Malwarebytes didn't see. Unfortunately for me, RK locks up just seconds after the screen comes up with the files it found. I have run the scan about 5 times and have been able to get a few removed a few times before I get the "Not Responding" message. I'm down to about 36 left, but I'm tired of running scans right now.

Fuel lines are done.What a PITA!

Thanks Casey. Wouldn't it be a good idea to pin it?

The wheels and tires I'm using right now are smaller than most cycle wheels. The inside diameter is 5/8", outside diameter of my rim is 11/16", would you know if Herb's centers would fit?

What file extension do you need it in? I have two versions of PSP and could export it for you.

I can't find it either. I did a search on the site for some PE stuff, most of the relevant answers suggested looking for the list. So where did it go?

Stage three. Stage four. Later today I'll put a coat of clear on the body to seal the fades in case I screw up the graphic. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about putting the black on yet, as I'll be using DuPont,s (I guess it's Axalta now) urethane striping paint. I've had a sample of their black for a couple of years now and don't know if it will flow well enough to brush the entire graphic, I might have to mask and spray the solid portion of the front and then brush the streaks afterword.

I emailed Norm and he replied quickly saying that they are being redesigned and it's taking longer than planned. He's expecting them to be available again in the summer of 2017.

Stage two on the paint is done.

Where can I get a decent set of motorcycle style front wheels and tires? Replicas and Miniatures Co of Maryland doesn't have them, and Micro Nitro's site doesn't work, who else can I go to?.

Almost a rolling chassis. I'm glad I repainted the suspension parts, the rear looks much better as the Alclad crazed the enamel underneath and gave parts of the rear a cast look. Considering how bad it looked, I'm very happy with how it came out. I had to drop the body on to get a look.

I can't believe the body made it to a base color! I'm sure now that it's white, I'll find a few flaws that need addressing. I used the Duplicolor that comes prethinned from Advance Auto. It's not the best lacquer, but with how hard it is to find lacquer anymore, I can live with it.

Cut that thing up and make a cartoon car out of it! It's already got the arched shape that most cartoon cars have.