Art Laski Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Thanks to my friend, Jimmy “RASS”, I have been able to obtain one of Lance Seller’s Lloyd Ruby 1970 Mongoose kits. I’ve wanted to build one of Lance’s kits for a while now, but my budget just hasn’t synced up well with his releases. But this is one that I really like, so I am really happy to get my hands on one and am looking forward to diving in. Thanks again to my buddy “RASS”! The quality of this kit is first rate, which I can’t say I’m surprised, since all of Lance’s cars always come out nice. As nice as it is, I’m glad that I see some areas where one can add some additional detail and really make this model stand out. Here’s the actual car: Here are the kit pieces and the decal sheet: All of the color can be done with the decals. I’m contemplating painting the red, though. We’ll see… So far I’ve mostly just done parts cleanup, but I did open up the naca ducts. I decided to lower the seat back a little to match the reference photos. Edited February 10, 2017 by Art Laski
Phildaupho Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 This is a very interesting project. I cannot say I remember the real car but was always a fan of Lloyd Ruby Who I had the pleasure of meeting
mod3l Lover Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 Art, This is going to be a very fun to watch build!Was that car a turbo 4 popper for a engine? Nice job of opening the vents, looks great!! David S.
Mooneyzs Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 Art... This is going to be a Super build, it's right up your Alley and I know you will knock it out of the park. I am looking forward to you putting your touch and magic to it. Its a killer looking car.
John Teresi Posted February 10, 2017 Posted February 10, 2017 Art......this has your name all over it.......you are going to kick some tail and take names with this build......hope you can get it done before GSL.....it will turn some heads
Randy D Posted February 11, 2017 Posted February 11, 2017 I'm on board and eagerly awaiting more progress my friend!!! Randy
bbowser Posted February 11, 2017 Posted February 11, 2017 Also watching with interest. I really like seeing more vintage racers on here.
T-bone Posted February 12, 2017 Posted February 12, 2017 Art, thanks for your kind words at NNL West. I'm sure this build will be spectacular!
Art Laski Posted February 12, 2017 Author Posted February 12, 2017 Thanks for the the nice comments, guys! I hope to move fairly fast on this one. Art, This is going to be a very fun to watch build!Was that car a turbo 4 popper for a engine? Nice job of opening the vents, looks great!! David S.David, it is a turbocharged Offenhauser, a popular engine choice at the time. Most of it won't be visible on this model, but what's there will detailed a bit.
Art Laski Posted February 12, 2017 Author Posted February 12, 2017 Art, thanks for your kind words at NNL West. I'm sure this build will be spectacular!Hey John, you're welcome! You had some nice stuff there. See you at DSC!
Art Laski Posted March 10, 2017 Author Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) I've been making a little progress on this, but it’s been mostly cleanup. Looking at the reference pictures, it looks like the car (or at least the restored car) had a different looking transmission rear cover. The closest thing I found was the piece out of the AMT Lotus kit. Since I didn’t want to ruin the whole kit over one piece, I cast a copy of it in resin. I also polished up most of the white metal. This shot shows the polished part next to the unpolished parts. Added ribs to the vents, per the reference shots. They might be a little oversized, but it’ll work. Edited March 10, 2017 by Art Laski
Art Laski Posted March 10, 2017 Author Posted March 10, 2017 Starting to close up the bottom of the nose, so I had to paint the radiator, then mask it off before I glued it in. I added some pull tabs to the masking tape so I can get it off later.
Art Laski Posted March 10, 2017 Author Posted March 10, 2017 (edited) I found this picture of the interior on Facebook, which has a lot of detail, some which differs slightly from the kit. I think adding it will definitely add some interest to the model. From another pic, I could see that the upholstery had horizontal stitches as well as vertical, so I added some. This was hard to do because it looked pretty cool, but I removed the side upholstery to go with a more accurate modification. More to come. Thanks for looking! Edited March 10, 2017 by Art Laski
John Teresi Posted March 10, 2017 Posted March 10, 2017 Art.......Wow man,you have been busy......great modifications and scratch work.......hope you can get this done for GSL ......it will ROCK!!!!!!
Art Laski Posted March 13, 2017 Author Posted March 13, 2017 Thanks, John! Got a little done on the interior. I made a new dash that will allow it to come back a little in the cockpit and meet up with the frame. I added some frame tubes as per the references. Some aluminum panels were made that will later be “anodized” blue. I tried to make some side upholstery panels, but they were an abomination, so I gave up on that. I have an idea that I think will work better. I did make a seat roll at the bottom, though, and that worked well. I also realized that, although it was accurate to the reference photo, the inside vertical tubes in the cockpit had to go. It created an impractically small opening.
Randy D Posted March 13, 2017 Posted March 13, 2017 Greta progress Art !!!! Love all the modifications you are doing.Randy
curt raitz Posted March 14, 2017 Posted March 14, 2017 Nice Subject, Nice work... I've been wanting to build a Lance Sellers kit for awhile now. watching ya do this one right...might we see it at the Desert Scale Classic coming up? c'ya
Art Laski Posted March 15, 2017 Author Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) Thanks for looking, guys! Curt, I am trying to make it for DSC. It's been slow up to this point, but it should start to gain momentum soon. We'll see! Edited March 15, 2017 by Art Laski
Art Laski Posted March 15, 2017 Author Posted March 15, 2017 I drilled the hole for the intake tube. I accidentally drilled it out too large (had too big a drill), so I filled it back in with styrene tube, then drilled that out to the correct size. It actually turned out nice that way. It’s hard to see on the reference shots of the car at Indy in ’70, but reference shots on the restored car show a fuel filler cap very similar to a sprint car tail tank. I think adding them will add some interest. I had previously made some castings of the filler cap from the Monogram sprint cars and they look to be a perfect match.
Art Laski Posted April 2, 2017 Author Posted April 2, 2017 (edited) I finally got some paint on this beauty. I elected to forgo the red stripe decals and paint it instead. After some talks with Jimmy "RASS", I picked up some One-Shot sign painters enamel. I used the Donn Yost method I usually use with my Testors enamels and mixed it 2:1 with lacquer thinner. I have to say, the stuff worked great. I laid it in real thin so as to not bleed under the tape, but I'm real interested to see how it would do on a full body. It seems like it would really produce a nice finish without a clear coat. My base coat is a little grainy, so that's how it looks in the pictures, but once I get clear on it, it's going to really pop. Here's a shot of the blue anodized parts for the car. Thanks for looking! Edited April 2, 2017 by Art Laski
droogie Posted April 2, 2017 Posted April 2, 2017 Yes, the paint looks great. I'm curious to see how the sign painters paint works out.
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