Ace-Garageguy

Nascar rear end assy. Reinforced Ford 9", but it just won't work as is. Modded crossmember, shortened arms, tunnel and floor being clearanced for driveshaft and pumpkin. All this is necessary to lower the car to where I want it, and still have pretend functionality. Have to make coil-spring pockets and shock mounts. New front lower control arms tacked in place. Crossmember will have to be modified too. Corresponding new upper control arms tacked, engine fitted to check for clearances. This will put the centers of the stub-axles where they need to be to get the stance of the mockup. Firewall is getting bumped back too, to let me move the engine back a little more. Patch in firewall is where HVAC unit used to live. If I angle the headers in towards the block just a little more, they will just clear the torsion bars when installed. Steering cross-linkage will most likely be replaced by rack and pinion.

Tricky bits....Masked the inside of the shell while spraying poly-vinyl alcohol release agent on the outside, and inside the mold. Jagged broken edges were scarfed ( tapered) back about 1/4" INSIDE. Mold aligned and securely taped in place. Release agent was CAREFULLY removed from extreme edges of break so that resin would adhere all the way to the surface. I coat of MGS 285 epoxy / 285 hardener thickened with Aerosil + 3 layers of fine model airplane cloth and MGS 285 resin / 285 hardener. Covered some stress cracks as well. Should have used the slower 287 hardener, as in the 90deg. heat, the resin was kicking during the third layer, which is why it looks kinda nasty. Popped the mold off after overnight cure. A little cleanup and she'll be good as new. In all honesty, I got the mold mis-aligned a few thousandths of an inch, and the molded surface is just a tad high, but careful bodywork will fix it. The repair is stronger than the original plastic, and the joins at the edges are forever. Forming parts in place like this is the same technique I've used sucessfully on 1:1 composite, 200mph aircraft. Same resin system too.

Yeah, that woodwork is incredible. Inspiring talent and workmanship.

Thanks guys. I'm still not entirely happy with the front end, but I'm getting closer. Surfjunke, what is the car in your photo? It looks kinda Porsche 904, but I've never seen anything quite like it.

Thanks, Bob. It got shelved along with everything else during the thrash to finish the contest car. I'm trying to limit myself to two or three simultaneous builds, 'cause I actualy like having one finished.

Truly inspiring.

Well, I've got some orange paint left over from the Gearz Chevelle project, so I'm thinking to use it up, it's time to bring this one back on-line. There's glass-work curing on the Phoenix, and I can't afford parts for the 1:1s this month, so here we go again.... I scored a cheap, partially-built Orange Hauler a while back, mostly for the tires and the Buick nailhead, but I got to thinking of an up-dated rework of the general concept. The first mockup keeps the general theme of a short wheelbase show-truck, but loses the bubble top in favor of a roadster-pickup vibe, a raked wrap-around windshield, and completely new front and rear end treatments. I want to keep a slight resemblance to the original Darryl Starbird design, but clean it up and smooth it out a little. The distracting hole on the front fender will go away, the rocker moldings will be continued forward, the nose gets extended, etc. To make it at least somewhat practical (in theory), I'm thinking fifth-wheel race-car trailer-hauler. An alternate-reality Viva Las Vegas sort of rig. The hood and surround from another Starbird creation, the Predicta, takes the place of the fussy and dated original upper front surfaces..... For an over-the-top showcar power plant, a twin-blown Viper engine is in the works...... in the chassis.... and as she sits today..... Tonight's project is working out the rest of the design of the front end. I'll be trying variations until something clicks.

I love the originality, design and sheer over-the-top-ness of this thing.

Very purposeful and menacing looking lakes-car. I can almost smell the alky and nitro.

Thanks again for the comments, guys. They mean a lot.

Man, I LOVE this thing. Your alternate-reality is most definitely cooler than most of mine.

Very nice build. I so much prefer the original, clean Gandini design over the tarted up, flared and winged later models. Great looking car, good color for it.

Great idea. I'd like to see the same thing done in scale, as an exhibition fueler.

As a designer myself, I have to agree with Harry that the proportions don't work, at least in the photos. I really like the idea, the concept, and I think the craftsmanship looks absolutely first rate. It's also true that MANY cars look much better in reality than they do in photos, but one would think a photographer of cars would have a feel for this and be able to shoot from an angle that doesn't tend to shorten it so much. The car IS visually stunning, no doubt about that, but until I see it in person, I'll have to stay with my statement that the proportions are awkward.

Thanks for your interest. Yes, it is the Monogram Callaway Corvette Speedster unit, but what you see is all I have of it. I'm wanting to keep the engine Mopar in this one, but it will be supercharged with an unusual rig that will fit under the stock hood. I'm also not wild about turbos on 1:1 cars that have big engines, for whatever reason, and my models reflect what I'd build full-scale if I had the $$. It's hard to beat the brutal, instantaneous throttle response of a mechanically-blown Hemi. And that is why it's getting a reinforced Ford 9" diff on arms and coils, instead of the stock leaf-springs.

Actually, the Indy car is a model of a Kurtis, circa 1955, indeed Monogram. The Watson was similar (the first successful Watson was a modified Kurtis, if I remember correctly) and began a little later than Kurtis in the Indy "roadster" line. Pure trivia....some versions of the AMT Watson also had hard plastic tires.

Harold:" Where did you get that custom grille?" It's from the old Monogram Predicta kit. Thanks again for all the interest. I'm trying a new technique on the repairs....will update if and when it works.

Wow. Beautiful model.

Beautiful build, and as said above, that engine bay shot is absolutely incredible. Man oh man.

She's a beauty, a real stunner.

Great project. Looks just like all my cars, models and 1:1.

Truly interesting concept.

Thanks very much, Bernard. To answer your question, I guess it was the twin challenges to complete something by a deadline and the requirement to work outside of my particular box, which doesn't usually include muscle-cars, that prompted me to go for it. I had been thinking of doing something similar with an AMT '69 Trans Am shell I had, but when the Gearz contest came up, I started wondering how the same treatment would work on the Chevelle. I looked at pix of the car in 1:1 chopped, and thought most of them kinda missed the mark, flow-wise, so it became a challenge all around. Once I got into the kit itself and found it had some issues, primarily mold parting-lines badly messing with the character lines on the front fenders, it was starting to look like I'd never make it. I had originally planned to do Lambo-style doors too, but thankfully a friend talked me out of it. I just barely made the deadline as it was. I made plenty of mistakes during the build I had to correct too. I have a history of not completing my own projects that seem to start well, and I felt if I really held my feet to the fire, so to speak, on this one, maybe I could finally break that bad habit. All of the builds I have going are experimental in one way or another, and I've been polishing old skills and learning new ones for the past 5 years after about 40 away from the hobby. I'd sometimes get to a point where a build would require me to stretch my abilities a little more than I was comfortable with, and I'd shelve it rather than risk screwing something up that already had a lot of time in it. But it just seemed that everything lined up to make it happen now, and I figured if I let myself slide another year or waited for another contest, I'd probably never finish anything. You asked. And thanks again.

That is without a doubt one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Love it, love it, love it.

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. I got the molds pulled off of the repop body and cleaned up. Now for the tricky bit.