Ace-Garageguy

I've been fascinated by GM's "Bison" concept turbine-powered tractor / container trailer rig since I first saw it in '64. I've been kinda waiting for my skills to catch up with my desires, but I think I'll at least get this one started this coming year. Lotsa scratching.

Thanks again. I really DO appreciate you all's interest. It'll be a while yet. I still have to do the forward under-part of the bellypan, the entire rear bellypan, decide on where and cut the hood/nose into sections, cut holes in the hood sides for the exhausts, and make up a hard tonneau with a base for a curved, Indy-style windshield. Then 2K primer, molds and pull final parts from them. Plus smooth the '28 body shell and fill the rear wheel wells. Whew. Then there are the floors, supports and bulkheads inside the car, more cleanup/filling to do on the frame rails, and a roll bar. And rear wishbones and brakes. Gotta make a bomber seat, steering linkage, instrument panel, etc., plus a water tank to go in the tail, and all of the hoses and wiring details. Kinda like eating an elephant.

If he paid $0 for it, which I believe is the case, then whatever he makes is pure profit.

Individual's problems don't mean diddly in the grand scheme of things anyway, no matter if first or third world...unless the individual happens to be an actual Einstein or Salk or brother Wright. Then everybody loses. But I kinda think the 3rd world just might be having a tiny bit harder time of things if it weren't for the first world, ya know? Maybe too little, too inefficiently delivered, too late, but what medical and monetary aid goes to those 'developing' areas comes from the the developed 'first world'.

You'll have to source wheels for the car too. The photo shows the '37-'39 "wide 5" style wheel, and there were several variations in width, from 3.5" on the V8-60 powered cars to 5" on some trucks. AMT '36 Fords have kinda pretty good stockers, but they lack the scalloped centers your photo shows. The Revell '37 Ford trucks have the scalloped centers, but unfortunately, part of the hubcap assembly is molded on to the wheel, and it completely obscures the signature "wide-5" bolt pattern. I know I've seen the correct wheels somewhere, either in a kit or in resin, but I can't recall where. Bigkenny is right about the chassis. All '35-'40 Fords are on essentially the same chassis, but the street-rod version with independent suspension that's under the kit you have isn't appropriate for a period stock-car racer. The frame and running gear from the Revell '40 coupe (the stock one) comes with the 2-speed Columbia rear end, which is also wrong for a race-car, but otherwise, with a few slight adjustments, should work fine. You'll need a non-overdrive rear end, and any of them from the Revell '48 Fords should be adaptable to the '40 chassis.

In general, yes, stock T springs are on top of the rear axle. However, there are 2 complete chassis in this particular kit, with 2 complete sets of running gear. Neither is particularly correct as to how a 1:1 is set up, but the hot-rod version he's building has the spring ends going into little slots to the rear of the backing plates...a setup that would not work at all on a real car, as there is no provision for shackles (which the free ends of leaf springs HAVE to have, no matter where they're attached).

Here's some info and pix from Model Railroader Mag. http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/190663/2082405.aspx And here are some shots of a beautifully weathered one...http://lsa-space.blogspot.com/2012_09_06_archive.html

From 1935 through 1940, Ford cars were on essentially the same chassis. The body, however, was redesigned in 1937 and had more in common with the '40 than it did with the '36 (the basic 1937 body shell carried through to the end of the 1940 models, though the '39-'40 had different firewalls and 'faces' due to differing front fenders, grilles and hoods). The '37 body shell redesign probably accounts for the width discrepancy between your 1/24 '36 and your 1/24 '37. Both body and chassis were redesigned completely for 1941, and would be essentially the same (again, with minor sheetmetal and trim changes) through 1948.

Great project, and a car you almost never see. Looks really good so far.

It's really a pretty simple kit, with most of the piping details molded on the the boiler, unfortunately. But I have seen some extremely attractive static models built from it, and a couple of running locomotives with Bowser and Rivarossi guts. I have one on the shelf here waiting to become a scrap-line / pre-restoration piece.

Just Google "1969 COPO Camaro" and you will get a lot of hits. I just tried it...everything you might want to know should be there.

Yes. There's actually plenty of clearance between the axle and the frame (especially as it's a straight-line car, intended to accelerate fairly slowly on a smooth surface) and there won't be much paint on the running gear anyway, as it's supposed to be something with minimal show-appeal. The body panels will have to be fitted with paint-thickness in mind, as I'm going for a well-turned-out, shiny look up top.

Everything is dead on, so I cut the crossmember out of the A chassis and "welded" it in place on the new chassis. Everything went in right, and the frame sits level at the right height (measured at the mockup stage) to maintain the exact stance I'm after, while maintaining the wheelbase too. While the suspension parts were setting up between stages, I went ahead and started the bodywork. I don't see how anyone could do this work with one-part putty...at least not this fast, with thick, sculptural fills.

Yes sir. Hacking and whacking junk together, measure several times, try to cut only once. I'm using a Halibrand quick-change rear end salvaged from another gluebomb. Ted Halibrand introduced his QC in 1948, so this would be pretty much state-of-the-art in '49 or so. The Halibrand QC came in 2 flavors..."Model A" and "V8". The V8 unit used '32 and later steel Ford axle bells bolted to the alloy center section. The V8 axle bells I have here had much too thick flanges to look like anything other than klugey toys, so I put a little effort into thinning them. The one attached to the center section is about right, while the loose one is still to be corrected. It's pretty much standard practice to use a model A or T rear spring to clear a QC, so you have to use a crossmember that will work with those springs as well. Here's another gluebomb AMT '28 chassis with the right crossmember, and I was able to get the spring loose from it without breaking. I'm going to position the spring behind the axle. so I've made up 1/16" spacer blocks to stand in as mockups for new spring hangers. The assembled QC gets installed in the A chassis to check the clearance between the axle ends and the crossmember. Before I commit to the next step, I need to double check the ride height, and make sure the body will go back on the chassis in exactly the same place every time. I had Lefty sit in the car with the engine installed so I could see where his feet go. I'll be making a light weight tubular structure to hold up the body (and locate it positively, relative to to frame), so I need to see how much room I have to work with. Just exactly like building a real car.

Found out that my current version of Win7 apparently doesn't have native text-to-speech (TTS) capability other than a seemingly useless utility called "Narrator" (I suppose it's for sight-challenged users, under the aegis of "ease of access" ) that refuses to recognize my Word documents. XP had a lovely and simple to use TTS engine that was an integral part of Office / Word. Looks like Win8 has the older functionality restored, but not all versions of 7 do. Win7 DOES include speech recognition, but if you've ever used TinyLimp's version, you may know it's not terribly good. WHY 7 had speech recognition but not native TTS is completely beyond my powers of understanding. There appear to be some odd workarounds and "hidden" commands to get TTS to function in 7, but it's just stupid compared to the easy and efficient functionality of the XP version. I write a lot, and it's helpful to be able to have text read back to me, to get a better feel of how something will scan when read by someone else. Currently looking at outside software, as I used to run an additional TTS package when I was fiddling with an early AI simulator.

Looks very good, and your work is very clean. You also have a lot of little touches on yours that make it stand out from the herd, like drilling the ends of the exhaust stacks. One tiny suggestion...a little black or brown sharpie inside the stack ends for simulated exhaust residue.

I have an original issue that's complete, but most of the parts are off the trees. I did a mockup assembly of it last night and it went together perfectly. I also have several later issues. I'll compare the parts in those to the originals and see if I can determine if there have been any register shifts between the tool elements. The only readily apparent difference in the chrome trees (where the suspension parts are found) between the original issue and the later ones (that I've identified so far) is that the original has "moon" caps, while later issues have mag wheels, I've already compared the 2001 Racing Champion / Ertl T-bucket version, which includes the same chrome tree as the chopped and "tall" coupes, and the parts in question are absolutely identical.

I know this is an old thread, but every time I see this car, and other work done by Steve, I'm simply blown away. Custom model cars just don't get any better than this, and if there IS such a thing as perfection in model-building, this is it. Absolutely beautiful and always inspiring.

Perfect stance and proportions, perfect color for it, all the right parts. Very nice.

Thanks again for all the interest and kind comments. Today's project is getting the rear suspension under it.

Great job on a very unusual model. I love that you recycled an old kit, too. Fine work. I understand the Framo Stromer of '33 was front wheel drive. Did you build a drivetrain for this model too?

Whoa. Glad I ran across this one. I've been looking to cut down some of those big ol' Monogram midgets I picked up cheap. Great info here.

http://www.pdra660.com/competition/

Great concept, good looking project. If I recall correctly, the old Aurora kit has some proportion and detail deficiencies that make building an accurate stock version a little frustrating, but it looks perfect as a custom. Enough Aston-Martin to be instantly recognizable. Very nice.

Always both highly entertaining and inspiring to watch your work. Great stuff going on here.