Ace-Garageguy Posted January 2, 2017 Author Posted January 2, 2017 ...any choice on body color yet ? Thanks for your interest and comments. The plan right now is to do it in the big-flake Testors Flaming Orange, which is appropriate for a gaudy old drag-car, as a nod to the box-art. I'm also going to try to use the kit decals for the same reason. We'll see how things work out as we go. I still have some left over from this...
maltsr Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 (edited) This is a wonderful, educational build, the best of what this forum has to offer. Many thanks, Bill. Edited January 2, 2017 by maltsr
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 24, 2017 Author Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) PLEASE REMEMBER TO CONTRIBUTE TO HARRY'S CANCER FUND. THE ADDRESS IS : https://www.gofundme.com/2pndgj5w IT'S EASY AND QUICK, HE STILL REALLY NEEDS OUR HELP, AND EVEN A LITTLE BIT WILL REMIND HIM WE CARE ABOUT HIM AND HELP TO KEEP HIS SPIRITS UP. Years back, I developed a way to make near-scale-thickness fiberglass body panels. Since I want to open the deck on this thing to show the battery and rear frame detail, I elected to make a mold of the rear section of the car, and make a replacement deck from that...while other phases of the build are ongoing. The material I use to give my parts sufficient strength is a specialized aircraft epoxy that has to be mixed on a gram-scale, and some extremely fine glass cloth. Mold in place on the tail... ...and popped off... Edited February 24, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy
Snake45 Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 Cool! If you're going to cut out the kit body deck lid, may I have it? I need it for a trunkless '61 I'm trying to restore.
superbike-shaun Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 Wow,ace,, I love this,,,,,I think you are doing,an awesome job, your ingenuity,is very creative,thanks for sharing,,,,will be following!
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 25, 2017 Author Posted February 25, 2017 Thanks for the interest and comments. Much appreciated. Mr. Snake, one of the reasons I elected to do a 'glass deck on this is so I wouldn't have to be careful about saving the original. I can make you an f'glass replacement however...now that I have the mold. Interesting to note: the shape of this decklid is entirely different from the shape of the Revell '62 Corvette deck, like they're from two completely different cars. Once again, I just didn't realize measuring and dividing by 25 was so very very hard.
Snake45 Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 Mr. Snake, one of the reasons I elected to do a 'glass deck on this is so I wouldn't have to be careful about saving the original. I can make you an f'glass replacement however...now that I have the mold. Fabulous! I could actually work with whatever's left of the original and re-build up the edges (unless you're planning to GRIND the WHOLE thing out), since I'm not interested in retaining the opening feature, I just need the gaping hole filled. Or a fiberglass or resin copy would do me just fine too, of course. Let me know what you want in trade. I think someone else was looking for a '61 trunk lid too not too long ago.
Thom Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 Bill, when you made your mold, what did you use for a release agent?thanks Thom
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 27, 2017 Author Posted February 27, 2017 I could actually work with whatever's left of the original and re-build up the edges (unless you're planning to GRIND the WHOLE thing out), since I'm not interested in retaining the opening feature, I just need the gaping hole filled. Just for you, I took care and removed the deck clean, 100% intact, with no horrible edges. PM me the address of the SnakePit and it will be on its way in a day or 3. Bill, when you made your mold, what did you use for a release agent? Polyvinyl alcohol, airbrushed. 3 coats minimum, shot wet enough to flow out slick. Specifically, the green-tinted PartAll Film #10 from Rexco.
Snake45 Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 Just for you, I took care and removed the deck clean, 100% intact, with no horrible edges. PM me the address of the SnakePit and it will be on its way in a day or 3. It's only Monday morning, and I think you've already won My New Favorite Person of the Week award! PM OTW.
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 28, 2017 Author Posted February 28, 2017 It's only Monday morning, and I think you've already won My New Favorite Person of the Week award! PM OTW. Here's the first new deck out of the mold, which is cleaned up and trimmed on the left. Hole in the car, original deck removed nice and clean for Snake, and the mold and new deck. This is the poor-fit buggery I'd intended to avoid by just hacking out the old deck on the lines, in which case my NEW deck would have fit the opening perfectly...but I'm such a nice guy () I saved the old panel for Mr. Snake by cutting it out with the backside of an X-acto, and enlarging the opening somewhat in the process. No problem though. A strip of .030" styrene applied all around and carefully shaped will fix it, and allow me to correct the slight asymmetry of the kit opening-line in the process.
DumpyDan Posted February 28, 2017 Posted February 28, 2017 This thing is cool,really like that fiberglass lid there is so many ideas running through my head
Snake45 Posted February 28, 2017 Posted February 28, 2017 This is the poor-fit buggery I'd intended to avoid by just hacking out the old deck on the lines, in which case my NEW deck would have fit the opening perfectly...but I'm such a nice guy () I saved the old panel for Mr. Snake by cutting it out with the backside of an X-acto, and enlarging the opening somewhat in the process. No problem though. A strip of .030" styrene applied all around and carefully shaped will fix it, and allow me to correct the slight asymmetry of the kit opening-line in the process. I TOLD you don't worry about that, I can rebuild the edge. Geez, now I feel like a jerk.... (BTW, I'm at work where Photobucket is blocked, so I can't even see these pics yet....)
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 28, 2017 Author Posted February 28, 2017 I TOLD you don't worry about that, I can rebuild the edge. Geez, now I feel like a jerk.... C'mon Snake...that wasn't the intent. I was GLAD to take it out clean for you. Helped to polish up some skills and all that. Frankly, I'd MUCH rather see somebody get some use out of something I would have otherwise trashed. The whole operation didn't take more than 15 minutes, and it was enjoyable semi-mindless work.
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 3, 2017 Author Posted March 3, 2017 As always, I sincerely appreciate everyone's interest and comments. A while back somebody challenged the accuracy of this thing actually following the class rules for what it's supposed to represent, specifically the engine setback. Well folks, here it is. Though the stock wheelbase is 102", I've lengthened it on the model to about 106. To the best of my knowledge, as these things were heavily modified and closer to altereds than anything else, this would have been perfectly legal. Engine setback is defined as the measurement between the front axle centerline and the middle of the front spark-plug hole. We're certainly in the class-legal ballpark for a 1/25 scale model. A tubular upper structure / cage is coming together too. This thing is actually sortof a pre-funny-car, with, supposedly, a very lightweight (and floppy) fiberglass clone body. To support it, and to give the chassis additional rigidity (you can't chassis-tune a car with a wildly flexible chassis) as well as providing somewhere to mount the roll bar, I decided to do a partial tube frame. The upper portion of the roll bar needs to be removable (kinda like what's on Cobras) so I can remove the body to display all the guts. The solution was to pin the ends of the rollover hoop, like zo. Where we are today.
afx Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 I like it. I might add a bar in front of the rear axle with a bump up over the drive shaft.
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 3, 2017 Author Posted March 3, 2017 (edited) I like it. I might add a bar in front of the rear axle with a bump up over the drive shaft.Something there is coming, but I build one tube at a time, just like real. There will be a diagonal tube in the cockpit from the rt. front lower main hoop to just under the rt. rollover hoop end as well (that huge open cockpit bay needs to be triangulated at least somewhat) and a diagonal rear brace on the hoop itself. Still have to design a rear gearbox mount, and frame ears for the front spring shackles. The existing crossmember at the front axle centerline will go away too, to be replaced with one between the rear mounts for the front parallel semi-elliptics. Edited March 3, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy
afx Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 It's coming. One tube at a time, just like real. There will be a diagonal tube in the cockpit from the rt. front lower main hoop to just under the rt. rollover hoop end as well, and a diagonal rear brace on the hoop itself. Still have to design a rear gearbox mount, and frame ears for the front spring shackles. The existing crossmember at the front axle centerline will go away too, to be replaced with one between the rear mounts for the front parallel semi-elliptics. I was pretty sure your weren't finished. I'll follow along quietly.
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 3, 2017 Author Posted March 3, 2017 I was pretty sure your weren't finished. I'll follow along quietly. Hey...I appreciate your input. She definitely needs something exactly where you suggested, but the location of the rear trans mount AND someplace to be able to mount the ends of the lift-bars, while still allowing them to clear the floor and final crossmember during launch, all conspire to complicate the design. Funny...this is another one that started out to be a "quickie" build, and has evolved into a full-blown engineering treatise. It's sometimes a curse to think of these things in the same terms as real ones.
Spex84 Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 Enjoying this project so far I recently started building a junkyard 427 chevy, and it needed a home, so it's going into a '57 vette made of salvaged parts. After checking the various classes I decided MSP would be about right...and have been reading the rules for '64 and '67 to try and get a hang of the direction it needs to take. Have also been keeping an eye on this thread... Just checked the rules and for '67 it says "Wheelbase: Modified Sports: All cars must have the stock wheelbase and tread width for the car body used". But looking at your build, the wheels look centered in the wheel arches, so I guess it gets a pass, haha.
JTalmage Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 Again, your approach to everything you touch amazes me. I do not have that kind of dedication even though I want to lol
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 3, 2017 Author Posted March 3, 2017 (edited) Enjoying this project so far I recently started building a junkyard 427 chevy, and it needed a home, so it's going into a '57 vette made of salvaged parts. After checking the various classes I decided MSP would be about right...and have been reading the rules for '64 and '67 to try and get a hang of the direction it needs to take. Have also been keeping an eye on this thread... Just checked the rules and for '67 it says "Wheelbase: Modified Sports: All cars must have the stock wheelbase and tread width for the car body used". But looking at your build, the wheels look centered in the wheel arches, so I guess it gets a pass, haha. Yeah, I went for MSP with this particularly because the rules were loosish for the '63-'64 time frame, and could reasonably be interpreted to allow a repro body that didn't look quite right. Many of the cars that ran this class used aftermarket bodies like Devin and Kellison that could fit a variety of chassis that had slightly different nominal wheelbases. This little Corvette has a quite obviously lengthened wheelbase, too. The wheelbase stretch on my model crept in as a result of the nose swap. I didn't measure the wheelbase as I was doing it, just put the nose on where it looked best to my eye, and determined what the wheelbase would be to center the wheels in the openings, as you mentioned. If the wheelbase was limited to the 102" of the original Corvette, the 25% engine setback would amount to 25.5". In 1/25 scale, that would put the engine approximately .76mm forward from where it is now. The appearance would be almost exactly the same, and using an engine that had the spark plug holes arranged differently than the 409 could quite conceivably put it in exactly the same place, visually, relative to the firewall and cowl top. Though I'm a millimeter or 4 out here and there, the model under construction is generally a correct interpretation of something that would have been competing in the time frame it represents, and I decided early on I probably wouldn't try to comply exactly with the relevant class rules, as it's unlikely it will ever have to pass a tech inspection to race. Suffice it to say that it's a lot closer to representing reality as it was than the myriad static-nose-high "gassers" that get built with no regard whatsoever for the way things actually were. Here's a great reference site for anyone interested in this (to me) absolutely fascinating class. http://www.georgeklass.net/mod-sports.html Edited March 3, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy
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