Fat Brian

I was never really happy with my engine, it just wasn't working out right. So, I spent last night looking for pics and measurements and spent today scratchbuilding a correct engine. Here is the bare block: Here is what I've got so far, I need to do some more sanding on the water passages at the top corners of the block but so far it's much better: It's really tall, the head and valve cover aren't even on it yet, but it measures to the correct specs. It will sit lower in the frame when the wheels are on but I'm probably going to channel the cab some so the improvement might be minimal. The fuel tank is from the Mad Mudder kit.

I found something to suit my needs. I have a couple of those old AMT/MPC minibikes and one was missing one of the front fork parts but it has decent chain detail so it's gonna get cut up into a drive motor for a hydraulic pump.

Being born in 81 there wasn't a great deal to be nostalgic about for a long time but I still loved cars and mechanical things.

Those are nice, I'm trading for some Pegasus wheels that may be suitable but if they don'y feel right when they get here those are a definite option.

You are probably doing it the best way, it will just take some fiddling to get right.

Depending on how thick the body is aroung the wheel openings your best bet is probably to very carefully sand the lip of the opening at a 45 degree angle to recreate the stock bevel. If it's too thin to get the width you need you could add some sheet styrene around the opening on the inside of the body.

Yeah, the guy who did those quarter windows was either on his first or last day.

I have an LP500s and the Anniversary Enthusiast kits, they are amazing to say the least. Good luck on this one, I've not seen many of these kits finished. I'm building my LP500s as the Albrex twin turbo car, I've got the engine cover scoop almost done but the rest of it scares me. http://autotraderuae.com/?go=read_car_news_reviews&carnews=1104#

The one and only thing I bought of his I was very disappointed in. The body was under scale and when I contacted them about it I pretty much got the brush off, I will think long and hard before I buy anything from them again.

It doesn't have to work, and Jacen, I have one of those Riviera kits and thought the same thing.

Awesome, looks really good.

Thats is awesome, I love the Raiders of the Lost Ark homage.

One other thing you will notice when you put the glass in is that the drivers side quarter window frame is the wrong shape. It trails down toward the rear when it should be flat on the bottom. I didn't notcie it until after mine was painted and I couldn't fix it.

They must have really helped him when he rolled it over. http://t1.gstatic.co...ET3LDkx1KR0qRYl

You can make it out of styrene stock, use flat stock for all the parts by cutting the piece for the main rail and then add the top and bottom. Or you can try to find some C channel that matches the size of the kit frame, or you can try I beam and cut one side of it flat. Stretch the frame in the middle where you won't mess up the mounting points for the front or rear suspension. Use really good glue like tenax or pro weld to bond the plastic together and be SURE to keep it straight.

I need to make a chain drive for a winch and I want to use something like bicycle chain. Its alright if it looks a tad big, it can be industrial or motorcycle chain.

Your truck is really cool, I think I'm going for something rattyer though. http://www.killbille...43&d=1241337150

Thank you for the heads up on Dakotah toys, I've been wanting to build a replica of the Krimson Krusher monster truck for ever but couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars on tractor models just to rob the rear tires.

I did some more work to the engine, tomorrow I will work on the front and rear gear sets. I made a quick and rough mock up of the bed out some balsa wood to kind of get a feel for what it would look like. I still don't know what wheels to use, I want some thing sort of industrial but classic. I'm thinking of finding some 1/32 dayton semi style wheels or maybe some military-esque duece and a half wheels.

I've always liked BBS LM style wheels, I would have bought a set for my Lexus if I could have made the offset work. I know the blue wouldn't work, maybe something like a polished aluminium.

Yikes, that's not good. I've noticed your hand meat is no where near as tough as styrene when it comes to pointy objects.

The split window started in 37, I'd say the whole car is a 37 or 38.

I did some testing today and decided to try to pump up the size of and existing engine to see what I would get. I took a Chevy stovebolt six and widened it about three scale inches and raised the head by the same amount. I think with some more work I can make this into a respectable, if not 100% down to the nuts and bolts correct, Detroit 4 53.

I'm just getting started on this, still kind of feeling it out and getting parts together. So far I have chopped the top about six inches and sectioned the cab about 3 inches. I will probably channel it some but I'm running out of room in the cab to do much more. I'm going to use the wrecker parts from the kit but I want to build a wooden bed and some other stuff for it. I'm having the most difficulty finding the engine I want. I want to use a Detroit 3 53 or 4 53 inline engine but I don't thing one has been done yet, Sourkraut did a 4 71 but they''re gone now. Anyone know where I can find a reasonable facsimile of a Detroit 53 series?