Ace-Garageguy

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.

Man Ray. they both look great to me. The '37 is clean, has a fine gloss and fits together well. What's not to love?

Though I'm using a pretty heavily dropped tubular front axle on this build, a very prevalent axle in use at the time on track cars was the lightweight unit from the V8-60 powered '37 Ford. The little "60" flathead was considerably lighter than its big brother, so Ford fitted a lighter front axle too. Many of the track cars of the period also used axles with a similar amount of drop, but tougher, stronger versions on the same theme. This axle is hollow, unlike the common I-beam Ford axles. The reason I'm using a front axle with considerably more drop than what would have been pretty common is because I'm using a junk frame of unknown origin, and to get the ride height I want with minimal frame mods, I'll need a lot of axle drop. Same rationale for using particular parts in a real junkyard build...whatever works to solve the problem. An axle with a lot of drop on the ends is honestly not a great idea for an asphalt-track or street car, as braking puts kinda horrific twisting loads into the axle ends. But it's pretty much a non-issue for a lakes car that goes in a straight line mostly, and like this model, has no front brakes. Bell Auto Parts, in Bell California, began building "tubular" dropped front axles for hot-rods in the late '40s, using a tubular center section and cast or forged ends.(research still incomplete). Something like that, or something that could have been made up from scrap or surplus, is what the heavily dropped front axle in this model represents. To mount the axle to the frame, I'll be using a "suicide" style perch. Here I've started making it up from 2 sections of styrene channel. I left the forward leg long to get a good idea of the alignment of the perch with the frame rails. I like things that are square and symmetrical. In this shot, the perch has been trimmed to its final configuration. The mount pad is 1.7mm higher than the tops of the frame rails, which is what that earlier figuring told me I'd need. Here, the axle has been tacked to the mount, and the 4-link bars set in place to mark their bracket locations on the frame rails. This shot also shows that the last of the horrible gluey mess between the rear rails has been removed cleanly. With the suspension tacked to the frame, the frame is re-installed, the belly-pans re-tacked in place, and the locations of the 4-link brackets are marked on the louvered sections for cutting.

Thanks again for all your interest. I really enjoy building models from junk more than from new kits. Weird. Dave, I've got a late pre-war (circa 1941) Riley 4-port-powered lakes car in the works too. The Riley heads that are available in kits are not the hottest version, and Denis Lacy was kind enough to send me a bunch of photos of the one I want. I'm still working on the engine mods, but this is the overall look. Un-channeled '28 body on '32 rails, '37 Ford V8-60 front axle on quarter-elliptics, and a Miller grille shell, plus a '40 Ford 2-speed Columbia rear end.

The flattened ends of the spring go in the slots formed by the little ears on the hubs. I can't be absolutely certain, but it looks as though your spring isn't all the way in the slot. That will account for most of your alignment problem. There's no fore-aft curvature of the spring, but there IS a slight wedge-shape to the ends of the spring that makes it fit in the ear-slots better one way than the other. The ends of the spring should be all the way forward in the ear slots. I have this kit here and just looked at it carefully. The front axle has to be positioned very accurately as well, to allow the holes in the wishbone brackets to properly align with the pins on the front ends of the rear wishbones.

GREAT concept. Missed it earlier, but I'll be watching from here on out.

Thank you ALL very much for your interest and comments. Looks like I'll be able to get a few hours in on her this PM. I have a pretty clear idea of where I'm headed on this one, most of the research is done, and I'm really going to try to actually finish it before I get spinning off on another project.

Thanks for the shot of the modified stacks, Bernard. That's almost exactly what I'll have to do, and I appreciate the info.

Wow. Just wow. I recall being awestruck by some of the best of the brass HO-scale locomotives, and this rivals anything I've ever seen. Wow.

Looking forward to watching as this one progresses.

Great project, and one that should really showcase your BMF skills.

Looks great, Ray. Looks like a lot of fun too. Very seasonally-appropriate. Glad to know where there's a 1/20 scale quick-change rear end available. The induction setup looks like Weber carbs or injection to me. How's the detail up close? And any indication of what the engine is supposed to be? The intake port spacing, valve covers and the even spacing of the exhaust ports look big-block Chevy. Maybe the engine tooling is from the 1/20 MPC McLaren, perhaps?

Very nice work so far. I first saw the ARM kits up close at this year's NNL South, and they are exquisite. I love historic racing cars, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this progress.

Thanks very much for the infolinks. The very first 3D printer I saw in action was a photolith machine, doing a copy of a newly discovered pre-humam primate skull for study. I assumed the UV-laser curing of the liquid media would make its accessibility to mere mortals way off in the future. Then the filament machines started coming on, and I forgot about the liquid-media alternative, and stupidly assumed it had dead-ended. Wow. This machine you've built just blows many of my wrong-headed assumptions out of the water. You may have changed my life. Thanks again.

No wonder I din't get it. I always thot "irony" was how you got the rinkels out of your shirts.

I think with some experimenting, you'll like the Sharpie. That's the "alcohol smelling" highlighter I referred to...couldn't immediately recall the name (duh). Can't beat the price, either. EDIT: I just found one in a desk drawer and tried it on an old diecast. Perfect.

Gorgeous. The shot with the scale in the background looks every bit as crisp (at least!) as injection-molded styrene. What is the cycle time to print a part this size?