Ace-Garageguy

I did this tutorial a couple years back. The same basic techniques will work on anything. Just think it through.

I just broke open a Tamiya kit to look at the front spindles. It's a simple matter to get 2-3 scale inches of lowering at the spindle by simply shaving off the tubular section that spigots into the brake hub, and replacing it with a piece of styrene tube of the same length, ID and OD, but raised on the remaining spindle material. This would allow the stock poly caps to be used as designed too. NOTE: This is exactly the same geometry change as you get with a "dropped spindle" for a real car. There is possible interference of the inner wheel rim with the "balljoint" on the lower control arm. That would be the limiting factor for lowering without relocating the arms...which really isn't that hard. Still needing to see pix of the Aoshima setup though... The Tamiya gen-3 RX-7 front spindles are in drawing 4 below, parts A13 and A14.

This is the Tamiya version http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/97063-back-with-an-rx-7/?page=1 (I have 2 here that I checked to be sure). The front suspension setup appears to be very similar to the Aoshima kit, with upper and lower front control arms that have holes in the ends. This is it with the spindles / brakes assembled, and the spindle / brake units are fair approximations of the real thing... I can't be sure from this shot, but it APPEARS that the front brake rotor and hub may be cast as a unit with the spindle. If that's the case with the Aoshima kit, simply sawing the rotor / hub off of the spindle and moving it UP relative to the spindle will lower the car...until, as you say, other interference makes problems.

So...what snaps into the ends of the control arms on the OP's chassis, and allows the front wheels to steer like Ray's black & silver chassis above? What does it look like?

Yup. Found a shot of the underside of an Aoshima RX-7 that matches the model photos above here... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/104869-aoshima-rx7-veilside-fd3s/ and it's definitely a gen-3 car, which would make it at least an S5, I believe. Now we're getting somewhere. All we need is pix of the spindles. EDIT: It appears Aoshima used the same chassis for the S4 car (below) with a different exhaust system. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/89977-aoshima-rx-7-fc3s/ I don't know if this is correct or not in 1:1, but I DO know the front suspension is not the same in reality. Still need pix of the OP's spindles.

I love it. The whole "automatic headlight" thing was supposed to help idiots too stupid to turn their lights on be safer...so now they've become tech-dependent, assume the car will just pay attention and think for them, and we're right back where we started with morons driving around in the dark with no lights. Ain't technology wonderful.

I have to agree wholeheartedly. The '53 Fords are real sweethearts and build up beautifully...as do the Mopars. I haven't built the Chevelle, but it's on my list to get fairly soon. The GeeBee airplane kit (ex-Pyro, like the Cord, '48 Lincoln and Auburn) is about the only large-scale game in town for that (it's about 1/26 even though it's marked 1/32), and though it has some inaccuracies (like visible wing ribs on what were actually smooth plywood-skinned wings) it's pretty well scaled...except for the little pilot figure. I can see this kinda-'34 RPU being the basis fir something custom and cool...and I already have a home picked out for that PE grille.

It's just that younger kids are more apt to accept poorly-scaled, oddly-proportioned and toy-like garbage...'course, then again... EDIT: But the more I look at the green one above, the more tempted I am to buy one just to see what CAN be done with it. I do enjoy a challenge...

Depends on which part you measure...

Mommy mommy...buy me a wat-wod !!! I wanna wat wod !!!

Chrysler gave 90-odd Vipers to schools for "educational purposes" (read "tax-write-off"). Seems two mouth-breathing, irresponsible "students" got a couple of them in wrecks. Chrysler's pants-wetting attorneys demanded that the remainder of the "educational" Vipers be destroyed, apparently fearing liability litigation issues somewhere down the line. Gutless little ...

I guess it's easier to just quit making them than to give 'em away and then have them destroyed...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-8sdaG3Dk

1) The kit you just got is 1/24, whereas the new Revell kit is 1/25... 2) Tim Boyd built a nice bash using the R&M chopped shell (which is derived from the Monogram 1/24 shell you have) and the new Revell '29 guts, plus a Revell Caddy engine ... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/106297-my-second-completed-revell-29a-kitbash-a-30a-five-window-coupe-traditional-hot-rod/ 3) I've got one in progress using the actual Monogram shell you have, but chopped. It's on a 1/25 '32 frame, and you see the scale difference is quite acceptable. 4) Here's an un-chopped build going using the Monogram 1/24 shell... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/107048-low-rat-rod/ CONCLUSION: What you want to do will work fine.

Yes, like the tank especially. Kinda got a steampunk vibe going on there.

Looks good, especially for a first scratchbuilt frame project.

A nice thing about that look too...you can actually drive one reasonably comfortably. A channeled AND chopped '30 doesn't have much interior room, and it's a pretty good trick to build one you can bear to go very far in.

Nice. Watercolor is a very unforgiving medium to work in. Looks like you had a good handle on it.

^ Dave Van...love your Elliot NASCAR version, hunkered down and aggressive. You've sold me on this kit. Nice job.

So why not help the guy out? Maybe he DID a search and came up empty on the info he needed to order. And maybe he's not in the know about having to order from R&M the old-fashioned way, like all the old-timers already found out. Pretty much EVERYTHING anyone asks on the MCM forum could be answered by doing a diligent web search...but if we tell everybody to "just go find it yourself", then what's the point of even HAVING a forum Q&A? Answering a simple question like this really doesn't take any more time than telling somebody to go look it up, and as good as R&M's products are, it doesn't hurt to have their addresses and email listed again.

Does look like fun.

Replicas and Miniatures has no web presence or online catalog. The snail-mail physical address is printed on the item package shown in your photo above. The direct email address is replmincomd@aol.com The direct phone # is 410-768-3648 More info about R&M on the MCM site here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/26709-replicas-miniatures-company-of-maryland/

The spindles don't show in any of your pictures. They would be part of the parts that attach to the little holes in the ends of the front control arms, but I honestly don't know what those parts look like in this kit. If you can put up a picture of them snapped in place, we'll go from there. QUESTION: The research I've done on this looks like the S4 cars had a lower control arm and a strut in front, not an upper control arm like your model pictures show. The later 3rd generation cars ('92 and up) DID have two front control arms. S4 This is what the real suspension looks like...a lower arm and a strut (the stock strut has been replaced with an upgraded adjustable coil-over type, but the basic design and function is the same) .

My old X-acto double-ended pin vise has been doing the job perfectly for about 20 years. It's out of stock in a lot of places, but I found one recently for about $12. Sometimes it takes a light tightening with a wrench to keep the smaller bits held firmly. Down to #84 (about .011") is no problem. I have an old swivel-top Zona that works fine too. Just FYI...vise is a thing that holds other things. Vice is something bad for you like drugs or alcohol, also sometimes used to mean criminal activity trading in pleasure..."the vice squad".

Very nice work and photography. Most of those shots look very much like a real car.

Great minds and all that...