JJ King of the Burn Outs

[jwrass]

I have been on the forum for two years and haven't posted a build to this date. Why? because I haven't built anything in almost 25 years.

Been warming the bench too long.......... I started this build about Dec 1 2015. This is a kit I bought in like 1974 and got as far as gluing half the chassis together.

Jungle Jim Liberman was one of the early pioneers of Funny Car Racing. Born Russell James Liberman on 9/12/1945, JJ perished in a head on crash with a bus on 9/9/1977 3 days before his 32nd birthday.

Known for his showmanship Jungle and his side kick Jungle Pam Hardy put on quite a show. JJ often did half track burn outs ( which I had the pleasure to witness at Great Lakes Dragway) Pam in her halter tops and hot pants would guide JJ back into the rubber that he planted on the pavement. Their is plenty of footage of this Duo on youtube check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Be gentle gents, it's been 25 years. Note Date on box.

Mock up of chassis without body and with body, Notice how the stance is too high in the rear! and the injectors are not correct. We will fix that in the next installment.

During my research their are many errors in the kit as it pertains to the 1:1 car, follow along as I correct the obvious

Peace Jimmy "RASS

 

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by jwrass

[Nytrozilla]

Can't wait to see more progress on this Jimmy. Jungle was a hero of mine too.

Wish they'd get off of their duffs and do the movie.

[Dragline]

Love JJ as well. Got to meet Pam a few years ago at Englishtown. She was gracious and took a couple of pics w my dad.

 

I too have a couple of JJ projects in the pipeline and will be watching this come together.

 

 

Bob

[Mooneyzs]

Jimmy.... It is great to see you getting to the bench and working on something. I will be following this one for sure. I am really digging the progress so far. You know I love me some 1/16th scale builds especially funny cars and it looks great. Revell did a horrible job on the stance of all of the funny cars.  The rwar definitely needs to come down. Also I was going to say if you want a better set of injectors you should get ahold of Mark Johnson. He has some really Nice resin engines and parts for the engines. The best resin engines in the business if you ask me.  I will be following for sure and looking forward to your updates.

[AZ Boy]

I think this is in 1/25 scale Chris (at least that's what the box indicates).

[MAGIC MUFFLER]

It's amazing that you kept this kit after 40 plus years!!!  Keep going and will be fun to stay tuned on this one ..

[Mooneyzs]

 

I think this is in 1/25 scale Chris (at least that's what the box indicates).

oops...my bad I didn't pay attention to that....lmao

[jwrass]

Joe: JJ was my hero in drag racing as well! As I mentioned I witnessed JJ and Pam perform their circus act many times. When JJs car was fired and Pam poured her magic brew under the tires. All were on there feet as you knew it was going to be a long and nasty burnout (not like wippy ones of this era) Thanks for the comment

Bob: I found a recent Video of Pam guiding a nostalgia replica back in groove, It is great to see her recent involvement in the sport. She's always been gracious even back in the! IMO she's still got it

Chris: My man! Thanks for stopping by and for the information................. FYI The panel offer has no expiration date. Lets talk!

As Some of you know I have been a part time Custom Painter since 1974 and have my fair share of awards for my paint work. The picture of the panel is a sample of some of the freehand pinstriped panels I give as gifts, Hopefully I won't get thrown in the pokey for posting Artwork on this thread. All work is done freehand with a brush

This will be a bit down the road.......As a twist I will be Micro airbrushing and hand painting the Jungle Caricature and Main Copy Jungle Jim (as depicted on the decal sheet) I will include a tutorial on a process us Airheads call Blow and go. Something different and enjoyable for me.

Peace, Jimmy "RASS"

 

 

 

[Mooneyzs]

Jimmy... you are welcome. I  excited to see you build this bad boy. You know I want to proceed with the panel offer, it will put it over the top for sure. Love the sign you shown there...nice work.

[iBorg]

A few thoughts.....

Slixx has replacement decals. I'd use those. Put them with your hand artwork and it should be killer!

There are several posts on the board that shows how to lower the car, its not hard but well worth the effort. I would also try to find some bigger slicks. That rear wheel well is huge compared to the tires. 

[jwrass]

Chris: In my mind your panel is a done deal. We need to coordinate efforts.

Mike: Do the Slixx decals Show different imagery? The man who painted all of images and lettered all of JJs cars at Circus Paint. Is a fellow pinhead/letterhead and personal friend. MR J

I spoke with him about the build and he gave me the recipes for all the paint as far as he can recollect. He thought the decals were a reasonable representation of what he painted years ago.

Peace, Jimmy "RASS" 

[gasser59]

Dialed in Rass. Glad you've decided to warm up the bench. Looking forward to your next installment on this build.

[iBorg]

Slixx doesn't show them, but they're on the auction site. If you don't get those, the kit has been re-released a number of times. I'd get a newer set. The box is forty years old. If the decals are, they won't work.

[jwrass]

Mike,

Thanks so much! The only decals I will be using is the contingency decals. I will be doing the JJ character and main copy all with a airbrush and brush freehand.

I agree forty year old decals would not be good choice.

I scanned the original decals and converted them into a vector format so I can cut masks on my plotter to assist me in the airbrushing process.

I will check out what's available, however I think have it covered.

Again Thanks Jimmy "RASS"

 

[10thumbs]

Hi JR!

Well looky here,  man I'm glad to see you here with a project.   Great stuff,  and as rowdy as you are on the drag strip what could be better than doing some big nasty burnouts!

This is coming along nicely, and the paint teasers you show kick butt.  Now I have another reason to visit the Drag Forum.

Greetings, Michael

[bobthehobbyguy]

Definitely  cool. Looking forward to seeing the chassis mods. Will be following.. Interest is seeing the air brushed art work.

[louie]

Absolutely love everything about anything Jungle Jim and Pam. Jimmy it looks like you are off to a great start and I appreciate you sharing with us. Thank you.          Jeff 

[dragcarz]

Hi James, thought I might show you what I did on two of my Vega Funny Cars. Maybe this will help with your ride height correction. I think the Revell Funny Cars are 1/24th scale, not 1/25th as advertised. I don't care for the two piece silks that come with the original kit, so   on the Barry Setzer Vega, I shortened the rear wheel openings about a quarter of an inch, and used slicks from an MPC funny car. On the Pisano& Matsubara Vega I left the wheel openings as Revell had them but raised the rear axle mount points by removing the mounts from the frame rails and reattaching them as high as they would go without having to modify the frame rails, and then I used tires and slicks from current Monogram style funny car kits. These slicks are much bigger than Revells, and to me, look much more realistic. Hope this helps!

[jwrass]

JJ update #1

Sorry for the delay gents I was having some problems posting........ I think we pretty much have it figured out now!

Id like to give a BIG shout out to Joe Goss, AKA Nytrozilla. Thanks Joe for all your help

As I stated in my original post the stance of the car in the rear sits way to high as it pertains to the 1:1

With the help of a article of a 1/16 build of the Hawaiian by Clay Kemp (S.A. April 2015) I performed the relocation of the Rear End Mounting points on the down bar of the chassis to lower the stance. However in doing so

I opened up a can of worms which is a test for me and my styrene skills which I welcome.

With the relocation of the mounting points the seat now sat on the torque tube and the body sat on top of the injector hat....Not what I had planed on!

 

These are the original mounting points on the down bar.

Relocation of the mounts on the down bar.....these were glued as a unit with the upper most rear end bracket attached just below the

porch of the chassis that the body mounts to. Buy gluing it as a assembly I was able to keep it square without any hassle.

Stance before modification...... pretty lame! 

Stance after modification............. Much better!

To confirm accuracy I took a side view photo I had in my research folder and scanned the image into my sign making software. I vectorized the image and made a silhouette to scale. I projected the image on the wall with a overhead projector

and tweaked the image on the wall to scale. I then placed the model within that image (like a piece of a puzzle) and it was spot on. I did it more out of curiosity to see if it would work other than to have a spot on stance.

This will definitely be a slow ride for me mates as I approach one of the busiest times of the year for me, I will be working on JJ as time permits as I find this whole process relaxing and fun after a very long hiatus.

Thanks for looking mates

Jimmy "RASS"

 

[Davewilly]

looks much better!  off to a great start!

[Nytrozilla]

Happy to help Jimmy.

Glad to see you're getting the results you wanted.

[10thumbs]

Looking very good.

[jwrass]

JJ Update #2)

I was able to get some bench time in last night. I'm putting the worms back in the can!

As stated in last post, when I lower the rear end mounting points the seat no longer fit down in the chassis, it was resting on top

of the torque tube. I had to take a section out the seat to get it to fit back on the chassis. while I was at it I removed the molded in

seat belts as am going add after market belts.

The sectioned seat stitched back together. I didn't like the fitment of how the seat sat on the rails so I add 020 to the back and sides.

The kits lower seat was incorrect as it didn't mate to the lower sheet metal pan. I extended what would be the lower sheet metal with

020 to mate with the lower pan. The kits inaccuracy would have left the driver exposed to fire and a weenie roast.........

I also re-scribed the tucks in the seat, and gave them more texture the kits were to linear. 

Modified seat back between the rails.

If I get some bench time today I'm going to correct the bulge in the upper tin as it now sits on top of the injector hat.

I want to thank all who have looked and given me help!

I want to give Randy AKA dragcars a special thanks!!! Your information was most useful!

I know for many of you what I'm doing is no big deal (modifications) not having built a kit in 25 years and they were all pretty much box stock

I'm having a blast!!!! Much of it has to do with the talent on this forum. I'm taking baby steps! however at least I'm not warming the bench any longer!

Thank you!

Jimmy "RASS" 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2016 by jwrass

[Mooneyzs]

Jimmy.... Nice work so far on this funny car. I admire your willingness to jump in and start hacking items up to correct issues. Nice Mod on the seat. and I love how you have lowered the rear of the funny car. the stance Is so much better now. This is looking good.

[jwrass]

JJ Update #3

Got some bench time in today while watching the play-offs

Buy lowering the body the upper tin work now sat on the injector hat. This needs to be fixed

Cut upper tin work to raise opening for injector hat clearance.

 

 Modification to tin work complete (to scale) Injector hat in kit is incorrect. JJ ran a four port Hilbourn injector hat not a eight

Kit supplied injector hat incorrect. Eight port

Aftermarket four port Hilbourn correct

Thank You for looking

Jimmy "RASS"

 

 

Edited January 25, 2016 by jwrass