The Wicked Baron

[Rider]

Kool build. Will look great. 

[afx]

Custom builds always take some  trial and error -  you'll get there.

[Psychographic]

I'm trying to decide on what I'm doing for suspension on this. The rear is setup as an independent suspension, I just need to decide on the arms. I have an idea of using the wings from the small plane as either the lower or upper arms. On the front I'm not sure if I want the solid axle or go independent. If I decide to use the wings, I'll either use them as the arms to match the rear. If I go solid axle, I could use it as a front wing.  I like the idea of carrying a theme of using plane style parts, I'm just worried that using the plane wings for the suspension is a bit too cartoony.

While I figure that out, I did a little work on the body. I cut the nose cone off,  filled the exhaust openings from the stock location, and cut out a hood. Now I can see where the new openings for the intake and exhaust will need to go.

 

My next problem is getting air to the engine. I could just leave the cone off and have the fuselage look like an older plane. It wasn't bad looking ,but I wanted the pointed look of the nose cone. My next idea was to trim down the cone and have a gap between it and the opening. It looked much better, but now it looked like a jet engine.

My final solution was to sand 4 arches into the cone. This keeps the basic point I wanted and if you use your imagination, it creates another cross design that will stand out even more when painted.

 

 

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Like the idea for the wings. Hoping you can get the right look that you want.

[geemoney]

I have always love TD's flat-oval tube front axles, he used them more than once.

I want to build a 1:1 show rod with one!!

[OldNYJim]

This is a real "urgh, I wish I'd thought of that!" kinda build...I've been thinking for a few weeks about how I could build one of these in a way that noone's done before, and this is the BEST idea that I never came up with.  Outstanding work!

[Oldmopars]

1 hour ago, Psychographic said:

I'm trying to decide on what I'm doing for suspension on this. The rear is setup as an independent suspension, I just need to decide on the arms. I have an idea of using the wings from the small plane as either the lower or upper arms. On the front I'm not sure if I want the solid axle or go independent. If I decide to use the wings, I'll either use them as the arms to match the rear. If I go solid axle, I could use it as a front wing.  I like the idea of carrying a theme of using plane style parts, I'm just worried that using the plane wings for the suspension is a bit too cartoony.

While I figure that out, I did a little work on the body. I cut the nose cone off,  filled the exhaust openings from the stock location, and cut out a hood. Now I can see where the new openings for the intake and exhaust will need to go.

 

My next problem is getting air to the engine. I could just leave the cone off and have the fuselage look like an older plane. It wasn't bad looking ,but I wanted the pointed look of the nose cone. My next idea was to trim down the cone and have a gap between it and the opening. It looked much better, but now it looked like a jet engine.

My final solution was to sand 4 arches into the cone. This keeps the basic point I wanted and if you use your imagination, it creates another cross design that will stand out even more when painted.

 

 

 

I like the idea of using the solid axle up front, but then using the wing like an Indy car front wing, just like it is in the picture.

[bobthehobbyguy]

I lik3 the idea of using the solid axle with the wing as a spoiler.

[Psychographic]

I made the lower arms first, using the bottom wing of the plane. I didn't like nor dislike it, so I figured it was not such a dumb idea but it didn't have any significance. . Then I held the center wing in place to see if it would be a good idea to use it. I immediately saw a bi-plane in the suspension and loved it. I just have to make one more, then make the rear hubs.

 

 

Next it was time to address the whimpy stock intake. The intake manifolds are about the size of a fuel line, so out they went in favor of something a little more aggressive looking.

I used 3/32" tubing for the start of the intake and exhaust. I plan to mirror them using aluminum flared crimps.

 

 

 

I thought the engine sat higher, so I filled the old exhaust slots. Of course once I had the new setup in place, it fit the stock opening, only a bit larger, so out came the filler pieces. I lucked out having cut the hood at the top of the stock openings for easy opening..

 

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by Psychographic

[GerN]

I really like the wings for the rear suspension arms.  Also glad you have a better tire for the fronts.  Its all coming together!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Love that rear suspension. Adds to the theme without seeming forced. Really kicks this up to the next level.

[Spex84]

The rear wing-arms are brilliant. Love this thing so far!

What kind of pins are you using for the suspension? They have a very flat head...I need to buy a whole whack of 'em.

[Psychographic]

28 minutes ago, Spex84 said:

 

What kind of pins are you using for the suspension? They have a very flat head...I need to buy a whole whack of 'em.

The pins are from the jewelry making section of Michaels or Hobby Lobby

[Pat Minarick]

Looking good!

[Psychographic]

I thought my crimp tubes had a wider I.D., so instead of just sliding them over the tubes, I had to do a bit more work.

I carefully cut the tubes down, then drilled them out in 2 steps to 1/16" I.D. and cemented 1/16" rod stubs into the ends. On the exhaust side I made a flange. The tubes fit very loosely over the 1/16 rod, so there will be plenty of room for adjustment. I'm not really looking forward to keeping 12 tubes lined up.  In the end the extra work should look much better, so I hope it was worth the effort.

 

[Psychographic]

Next up on detailing the engines was removing the area between the cylinders.

 

Then it was time to break out some Evergreen. There are 3 oil fillers/breathers and what I think is the water inlets for the cylinders. I need to sand down the caps of the breathers a bit along with giving them some shape.

 

 

I made a plate for the back of the frame, this gives me a mounting point for the transaxle and cleans up the back a bit.

 

 

You can see the start of the upper tranaxle mount. I think with a little more sanding it will have a shape to compliment the winged suspension arms.

 

 

A couple of pics of the almost rolling chassis. Right now, I think I'm going to convert the solid front axle to an independent suspension, but keeping most of the look of the solid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Verkerk]

Excellent work in keeping with the theme ,would have never thought to use the wings as part of the suspension , looks like it's all coming together!!

[Slotto]

Nice!

[Psychographic]

I had to extend the frame to get the wheelbase I wanted. I  have an idea I hope will work, it will tie the wings of the rear suspension arms to the front suspension. I only have the top wing left and will use that as the upper arm. I cut the solid axle and that will be the lower arm. Hanging from the upper wing arm will be a small bomb that will be the bucket for the headlight. I cut down the P-40 fuel tank, but it's still too big. I think once it's shrunk down a bit it will look good.

 

 

[Mr. Metallic]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 9:52 PM, Psychographic said:

The pins are from the jewelry making section of Michaels or Hobby Lobby

This build is shaping up pretty cool. I'm following along

Thanks for the heads up on those pins. I use tons of straight pins on my builds, but these to have a slightly larger and flat head on them. I'm going to have to seek them out.

[Psychographic]

The wings really look better than I imagined. I think it fits the theme without going overboard.

 

 

[alan barton]

I could imagine Tom Daniel looking at that suspension and thinking "Why didn't I think of that?"

Your work is certainly psycho, and I say that in the nicest possible way.  It is always refreshing to see someone step so far out of the box they can't even see it from here.

Cheers

Alan

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nice work on the front. You really have come up with a great concept. You have done a great job integrating all the elements for the theme without it looking goofy. Looking forward to more.

[cobraman]

I like the front end but I also think it looks good without the pointed piece. Reminded me of a F86 fighter jet.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Such a cool project.