1969 Dodge Charger General Lee 1/24 Stunt Car (WIP)

[louie]

MOPAR Jim, what a cool subject you and your wife have chosen to build for your son. Looking very good too!  Your son is very lucky to have parents like you. Keep up the good work and I will be following this build. Also your sketch of the general Lee is waaaay awesome . Thank you for sharing this with us.      Jeff 

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Thanks Jeff for the very nice reply, I think all 3 of us chose this for him when I think back on it. But your correct though it is a very cool build that was pick out an chosen for him. He knows about the build an that it's his. But I was told by the mrs & her mom to take my time on it though. I do have more sketches since I drew that one of the General Lee. My son when he comes over to the place, he likes to watch mew work on the projects an at times asks me questions. His grandma an grandpa went out in 2013 an bought him a model car without us knowing.. an his grandpa & I was going to help him build it, let him do it an us be there in case he needed help or info on things an the pros an cons since I knew more about painting an model car building then grandpa did (the mrs parents). But grandpa had health issues in 2013 that came up real fast an took his right side. That only led to his left side working. Well as they tried to build the model over at the grand parents things slowed down. Then this pass April grandpa past away. My whole family an relatives likes the General Lee an a few of the relatives had replicas back in the day. Show when they heard I was a model car builder an had a few General Lee models in the works from series correct to being custom. My son asked me if I could share this build of his with friends an family an I couldn't say no to him. He does when he feels like it want me to help him try an finish the one him an grandpa started. But what got him was when I said this one of his will probably have over 1200 piece count when finish. Not to mention the other General Lee I also have going on that is also his an it's base on a certain General Lee from the series as well but not wreck though.

Some of the plans right now for this build is to have metal rims an not plastic or resin ones. The model to have some weight to it as well, a busted up grill, my own correct small Or wide push bar or of metal maybe. working doors, trunk an hood, looking at a metal hood an trunk. Cracked windshield with a broken back glass or shattered one (not sure yet) . Part brass chassis as well, maybe a stamp floor pan.. that's only some of the stuff I have in mind. To get the model to the way I want it to look, I have to build most of the stuff for this one an the others as well LOL. But I love model car building, an I love my son an I hope when he sees this model when it's finish that it will put a smile on his face. Your also welcome for us sharing this cool project with you all an we hope you all enjoy it an maybe follow along with it.

MOPAR Jim, what a cool subject you and your wife have chosen to build for your son. Looking very good too! Your son is very lucky to have parents like you. Keep up the good work and I will be following this build. Also your sketch of the general Lee is waaaay awesome . Thank you for sharing this with us. Jeff

[ProStreetOnTheStrip]

Wow! I wish I had that much skill!

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Thanks Don for the kind comment, about the skill, the way I look at things.. you also have that skill buried deep inside you that over time you will unlock it as well. Don't ever dealt yourself man.. like they say if you put your mind to it, you can do it.

Now about the project, I have a question for you all. I ask my wife this question an she was puzzled to. I kinda have an idea on how I should go about doing the chassis rails with the material to use.. but I thought I would ask you all as well. Should I go with brass or stamp aluminum (from a cake pan)? I can do both if I wanted..

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Hi you all, with the holidays coming an going by. I been working on a few projects including this one. Well for on this one, as you all may know I had ask a question an no one replied back to so I ask the mrs an also my mother-in-law the same question. Judging the stuff for the frame rails an how we want the stunt damange to look an how to get that after the model is built.. I decided to try an tackle making a alumin frame rail out of pie pan sheet an fill it with crazy glue. That way I can easy bend the rail when finish to make it look as if it got damage during the stunt jump.. I am working on making a few stamp panels as well for on the project.

[markp]

Hi this looks like a really interesting build (and way above anything I could achieve) and good to hear the back story. I too used to love watch the Duke's of hazard as well and in terms of stunt cars I have a photo somwhere of a car transporter full of Knightrider cars taken at Universal Studios in the mid 80's.

I have a question, what did you use to build the roll cage/ I want to add a roll bar to a Tamiya Eunos/Miata/MX-5 kit so it matches my 1:1 model.

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Hi this looks like a really interesting build (and way above anything I could achieve) and good to hear the back story. I too used to love watch the Duke's of hazard as well and in terms of stunt cars I have a photo somwhere of a car transporter full of Knightrider cars taken at Universal Studios in the mid 80's.

I have a question, what did you use to build the roll cage/ I want to add a roll bar to a Tamiya Eunos/Miata/MX-5 kit so it matches my 1:1 model.

[/quote]

This is a interesting build indeed even for me the parent, and I'm having just as much fun building it to and along the way learning new skills just the same. I love the Dukes of Hazzard as well, and have access to an original TV series General Lee car. I love watching the show and seeing the general doing those cool stunts over things but also understand that at times those cars doesn't live to see another day though due to how big a stunt is. Maybe some day you can personal message me with a photo if you like of the Knight Rider cars as I would love to see the photo.. I love the 1980's personally and the things that went on back then. My son was born in the mid 1990's and wasn't till around 2000 when he got to know what The Dukes was and liked the General Lee, and started asking me questions about the cars and how many was there. Now he knows I'm building him a realistic General Lee model car he doesn't know what to say but watches me at times as he comes into the work room to see the project when he knows I have it out on the work bench. The hard part will be painting on the graphic's including the General Lee text and then weathering it a little.

[markp]

The Knightrider photo was on film and the print could is in a big box of photos somewhere...

You didn't mention the roll cage though

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Yea I did mention the roll bar, but it seems the quoting thing did put it in though. The roll cage in my 1/24 scales are I do belive 3/32 brass round stock an at times I also use elecrial wire as well. For the General Lee models I build I have a roll cage & roll bar jigs for the different types that they used on the series an for also in the stunt cars. When building a roll cage take your time an plan each step plus know how high to go on the roff bars as well. One of these bars to high can really make you miss your point location on the floor point an chassis very fast. I been there done that LOL

[CometMan]

Hey Jim, interesting project you have going there! If you watch the very beginning of each show you see the car making a jump, and if you watch closely you can see the hood start to buckle upwards when the front wheels hit the ground. Then there is a skip in the film where they splice in an intact car driving away, it might be cool to do an interpretation of what the car that actually made the jump looked like! I see something resembling a  giant check-mark! Anyways, keep up the good work.

[markp]

Yea I did mention the roll bar, but it seems the quoting thing did put it in though. The roll cage in my 1/24 scales are I do belive 3/32 brass round stock an at times I also use elecrial wire as well. For the General Lee models I build I have a roll cage & roll bar jigs for the different types that they used on the series an for also in the stunt cars. When building a roll cage take your time an plan each step plus know how high to go on the roff bars as well. One of these bars to high can really make you miss your point location on the floor point an chassis very fast. I been there done that LOL

Thanks, useful information, I should go look for the photo.

Mark

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Hi Craig, Yea this is a very interesting project that I am working on. I'm enjoying setting back here and there an figuring out the detail look for on the build in my mind and trying to figure out the best ways to bring those images of the project to life. But that's the fun part about model car building though being created and trying different stuff along the way and at times over coming those challenges too. For the scene your talking about, are you referring to the very opening of the Dukes theme song intro? or the last scene where Bo and Luke jump over Rosco at the end of the intro? if so that would be the late Lee1. But you know after you mention about what the car would of might have look like.. I at first really didn't have any certain episode in mind or car either. But it got me to thinking about stuff even more. Your right it would be cool to do an interpretation of what a car might have look like OR what a car did look like. I see on these forums all the General Lee models that good builders build, and I have not really seen anyone do a 2nd unit General Lee really as I know of.

Mark, your welcome for the info, any questions just feel free to ask.

Hey Jim, interesting project you have going there! If you watch the very beginning of each show you see the car making a jump, and if you watch closely you can see the hood start to buckle upwards when the front wheels hit the ground. Then there is a skip in the film where they splice in an intact car driving away, it might be cool to do an interpretation of what the car that actually made the jump looked like! I see something resembling a giant check-mark! Anyways, keep up the good work.

[CometMan]

Hey Jim you know way more about the show than I do!! But I was referring to the scene at the very beginning, you can see where the car started to roll to the left as it was coming down and the left wheel hit well before the right wheel. I bet that car was REALLY messed up!

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Okay I been doing some more thinking about the jump damage and all and went to youtube to look some stuff up instead of going through dvds of the seasons. Anyways here is a clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwqXjTaOBAw of the jumps done on the show that I found and there is afew time spots in there I kinda like. But if you all have afew minutes to spare and could watch the clip and please let me know what spots you might find interesting, please let me know. The spot I like is a 2:23 in the clip.

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Well with the very cold weather we had afew weeks back, it slightly slowed me down on this project plus it gave me a chance to think a few small things out as well for on this build. I know how I'm taking the chassis now which I been working on it and will have photos sometime this weekend.

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Here is a rough practice one I did of part of the frame rail last week..

[img[https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/10321564_10208941716244424_829328917254402710_o.jpg




I know I can do a way better one, this one was more kind just for the heck of it to see what I could do really.. Comments towards the project is always welcome.

[72 Charger]

I like what your doing Jim . Will you paint it before you crash it ?

[MoparWoman Jamie]

I like what your doing Jim . Will you paint it before you crash it ?

Thanks, my wife likes the idea as well and I do think it will make everything look alot better on the project. You ask a good question too, I'm going to paint it all the way and detail it to how the real cars looked and then last step is to crash it then.

[72 Charger]

That will be cool make sure you get plenty of pics as you crash it