’72 Dodge Demon Drag Racer 1/25 scale

[BK9300]

The close ups of your machining bits remind me of pics of robotic, micro surgery set ups - and you’re just as precise.  Always interesting updates!

[Nazz]

 Stellar work as usual Francis. Great to see you back! Question, what are you using for the carriage bolts?

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Jerry

[AmericanMuscleFan]

On 11/27/2024 at 11:41 AM, BK9300 said:

The close ups of your machining bits remind me of pics of robotic, micro surgery set ups - and you’re just as precise.  Always interesting updates!

Thanks Brian, you would prefer to have an operation by a real surgeon, that seems precise but there is always room for better and I am working on it!

At the moment, I still feel a little rusty! 😔

Francis

[AmericanMuscleFan]

22 hours ago, Nazz said:

 Stellar work as usual Francis. Great to see you back! Question, what are you using for the carriage bolts?

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Jerry

Thanks for your comments Jerry!

If you are asking about the carriage bolts I mentioned in the rear bumper post, they are to simulate those used on real cars, these bolts have a square shape behind the rounded head so they don't turn on the bumper when you tighten the nuts on the bumper supports.

Francis

[Bainford]

Good to see you back at the bench, Francis.  Those wheelie bars are looking the biz.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Welcome back Francis! Absolutely fantastic work! Can't wait to see more!

[Nazz]

  Sorry, I was not clear, I want to know if you made them yourself and if so, from what?  I have used straight pins but yours look better. Did you machine them?

 

Jerry

[AmericanMuscleFan]

13 hours ago, Bainford said:

Good to see you back at the bench, Francis.  Those wheelie bars are looking the biz.

Thanks Trevor, the machine is slowly coming back into action, I hope to have a productive late fall and winter, this thing is going to take forever to finish at this rate! 😔

Francis

12 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Welcome back Francis! Absolutely fantastic work! Can't wait to see more!

Thanks Will, I'm going to move on to build the parts for front suspension components and the steering which are what I consider the most difficult, I hope everything goes well.  I can't wait to move on to building the engine and its components.  Besides the body modifications, this is my favorite part. 😊

Francis

[AmericanMuscleFan]

3 hours ago, Nazz said:

  Sorry, I was not clear, I want to know if you made them yourself and if so, from what?  I have used straight pins but yours look better. Did you machine them?

 

Jerry

Thanks Jerry!

Sorry my friend, it's probably more my lack of English vocabulary than the meaning of your question!

The pins are brass (nickel plated) rivets from Scalehardware.  The quality of their products is exceptional and I hope they will be in business for many more years, we must support them.  I have all the tools necessary to make them myself but I prefer to use the limited free hours at my disposal to make all the parts of the project.  It takes a long time to make all the parts and it would add dozens of hours (which I don't have) to the project if I started making my own bolts and nuts.

Francis

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Hello guys,

This isn't really an update but I thought it was worth showing you a very small part I made yesterday.  By gathering the pieces scattered across my workspace I realize that I haven't made the brake line splitter (T-Junction).  I made it to attach to the differential cover, but I'm thinking instead of mounting it somewhere on the frame rail or floor pan and using flexible lines to connect it to the rear brake calipers.  There will be a lot of parts fitted to the differential and I don't want it to be too cluttered.

I can now move on the front suspension elements.

Francis

[Ian McLaren]

Francis every time I see one of your updates you manage to take the mundane and elevate it to a higher level, making each piece a model in itself.  It truly is like watching a real car come to life piece by piece, simply amazing!

[Straightliner59]

I agree with Ian. I aspire to such a level of work. It's beautiful in its simplicity. On a real car, that piece is nothing--on a model, it's art. Well done, my friend!

[AmericanMuscleFan]

22 hours ago, Ian McLaren said:

Francis every time I see one of your updates you manage to take the mundane and elevate it to a higher level, making each piece a model in itself.  It truly is like watching a real car come to life piece by piece, simply amazing!

Thanks you very much for your kind comments Ian!

I have to say I'm a little ashamed to be so late in this build, you all managed to make complete models or make a lot of progress during my summer break.

I'm going to try to speed up and do more substantial things over the next few months, I have so much to do! 

Francis

21 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

I agree with Ian. I aspire to such a level of work. It's beautiful in its simplicity. On a real car, that piece is nothing--on a model, it's art. Well done, my friend!

Thank you Daniel, you are always there with me and I really appreciate all your interventions, it is always constructive and useful. 😊

When it comes to making parts, I think we are just limited by our imagination and tooling is only part of the success.

The human brain can do very beautiful things when we put it into action for what it should serve, create and not destroy! 😉

Francis

[Pierre Rivard]

Bonjour Francis,

   Andrew's advertisement of your work has earned you another fan. I rarely check out the drag racing posts but I just finished reading the whole 30 pages of your's. You do amazing fabrication and the pursuit of accuracy even into hard to see components is remarkable. This is next, next level scale modeling and truly sensational. I just work on a small table with my styrene and paint brushes, never will I ever be able to do 10% of what you do but still, this is so inspirational.

Pierre (Montreal)

[Musclecarbuilder]

Wow absolutely amazing work Francis! 

[charlie libby]

Francis glad your back.happy to hear from you.happy to see your work again.must be getting cold up there.i know how you feel,i think i will never finish car.i finaly feel like i might get it done. As always i learn from your pictures. Awesome little parts.i am going to 1/16 on my next car.i dont know if i can do it but we will all find out together.glad to see your back making great parts for insperation for all .thanks

[AmericanMuscleFan]

On 12/4/2024 at 8:41 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Bonjour Francis,

   Andrew's advertisement of your work has earned you another fan. I rarely check out the drag racing posts but I just finished reading the whole 30 pages of your's. You do amazing fabrication and the pursuit of accuracy even into hard to see components is remarkable. This is next, next level scale modeling and truly sensational. I just work on a small table with my styrene and paint brushes, never will I ever be able to do 10% of what you do but still, this is so inspirational.

Pierre (Montreal)

Hello Pierre,

Welcome to my WIP thread, I am happy to meet another guy from the Province of Quebec on the forum!   I really think that the beauty of this hobby is to build as you want and without putting pressure on yourself, it's a hobby that has evolved over the years but which has retained its childhood magic in some ways.  I love details and try to create or reproduce intricate and often imperceptible details just to satisfy or challenge myself to find a way to recreate those particular details.  My projects take a long time to complete because I don't have a lot of free time, I try to do as much as possible when the opportunity presents itself.

Winter is my most productive season so I hope to make the most of it and progress this thing as much as possible, check back from time to time if you like to see my next updates.

Francis

On 12/4/2024 at 9:57 AM, Musclecarbuilder said:

Wow absolutely amazing work Francis! 

Thanks Will, I hope to show you something more substantial in the coming weeks, I'm going to move to the front to make the suspension parts, it promises to be a good challenge.

Francis

On 12/4/2024 at 7:08 PM, charlie libby said:

Francis glad your back.happy to hear from you.happy to see your work again.must be getting cold up there.i know how you feel,i think i will never finish car.i finaly feel like i might get it done. As always i learn from your pictures. Awesome little parts.i am going to 1/16 on my next car.i dont know if i can do it but we will all find out together.glad to see your back making great parts for insperation for all .thanks

Hi Charlie, I'm a little ashamed when I compare what I did to your incredible build, you truly are a source of motivation and endless wonder.  Whatever the scale of your projects, it will always arouse great interest and you can count on me to be among your loyal followers!  Yes, the cold has set in here and that's a good reason to go down to the basement to work on my project.

Francis

[Keef]

Francis, Francis, Francis, this is absolutely AMAZING work!!! Your pure attention to the smallest of details is truly inspiring to me as well as others. I cannot imagine how the finished product is going to turn out but, I know that it will surpass anything that I could possibly imagine. love Love LOVE where this build is going!!!

[absmiami]

Francis !

Pierre !

Canadians are so polite !

what’s wrong with you guys???

…

[AmericanMuscleFan]

21 hours ago, Keef said:

Francis, Francis, Francis, this is absolutely AMAZING work!!! Your pure attention to the smallest of details is truly inspiring to me as well as others. I cannot imagine how the finished product is going to turn out but, I know that it will surpass anything that I could possibly imagine. love Love LOVE where this build is going!!!

Thanks Keith, I accept your compliments with great humility.  As I said before, I'm a little ashamed not to show you more substantial parts but I hope (and can't wait) to work on the engine and everything that ends up in the engine compartment (my favorite part of the build 😊).  However, the front elements of the suspension and steering should provide a good challenge, the margin for error is very small to create the desired result.  I'm starting to tackle it in the next few days, stay tuned!

Francis

[AmericanMuscleFan]

8 hours ago, absmiami said:

Francis !

Pierre !

Canadians are so polite !

what’s wrong with you guys???

…

We are numbed by the cold, we don't have enough energy left to argue! 🥶

[Tony Coomer]

Great fab work…

[AmericanMuscleFan]

20 hours ago, Tony Coomer said:

Great fab work…

Thanks, lots more to come! 😊

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Hello everyone,

Now that I have returned to building for the peak season, I have moved on to making the front suspension components as I mentioned in my last update.  My goal is to fabricate something that look like the Chris Alston's Chassisworks 3 X 2 Front Clips.  I found a good article on the internet where they do the installation and I will refer to the photos to make my parts.  As I mentioned before, this is not an exact replica but just something that looks believable and will provide a nice challenge, a step closer to perhaps one day making the whole frame out of brass.  There will be a lot of parts to make and I already realize that some of the work done on the frame might need to be modified, that's what happens when you work from photos without technical dimensions.  No problem, it's just a hobby and we all learn from our mistakes, when you get into scratchbuilding you need to be open-minded and imaginative.

As a first element, I tried a simple technique to make functional ball joints, it's not exactly what I had imagined at first but I had this idea along the way and it should work.  Next I made the upper control arms, I uploaded the reference picture of what I tried to replicate, I used brass for its quality to be welded.  Comments are welcome!

Francis

The Target.

Ball joint at the start of machining.

Hole drilled to insert the small threaded bolt.

Now onto the lathe to separate the ball joint from the rod.

Different point of view.

Almost final pieces, I still have to make the caps for the top.

Machining of the rings where the arms will be welded and the ball joints inserted, this one will be for the lower control arm.

The one for the upper control arm.

This is what it will look like, I used RB Motion rod ends to mount them in the intended location on the frame.

[BK9300]

Very, very, cool, Francis.  Seeing how small the caps are, one can appreciate how small the chuck on your lathe is as well!