Ramchargers High 'n Mighty

[GLMFAA1]

This is the part I was thinking of:

geg

[magicmustang]

19 hours ago, GLMFAA1 said:

This is the part I was thinking of:

geg

Yep, that's the part I used on my build.

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by magicmustang

[Steamboat]

The Mighty 354 hemi nearing completion:

The magneto is made from bits of sprue and styrene tubing.  The spark plug wires needed to be run between the intake tubes before the manifold was installed on the engine.  I did not research the firing order for the mag - purists please forgive me!  

The intake was first painted flat black, then silver for the flanges and metal parts.  The hose clamps are Molotow pen.  I could have made the hose clamps  better by wrapping bits of tinsel around the tubes as I would normally do for a radiator clamp, but I decided that 16 of them would just be too much work.

 

The plenum is wrapped with aluminum sheet.  It's not really necessary, but hides some imperfections in the 3d print and gives a nice finish.  The supports for the plenum are Evergreen .060" styrene angle, painted with metallizer.  You can see that they still need to be added on the Captain side and paint touched up. 

I'm still fine tuning the 3d print for the carbuerator scoop.  I'll post a photo of the finished engine when I can.

[David G.]

Killer work on the engine!

David G.

[Steamboat]

I've been off for a while with an injured index finger, but am getting back into it and I'm finally able to get some paint on the pieces and look towards final assembly.  

The pictures indicate that the factory color of the body was dark blue.  I'm going with the assumption that the Ramchargers would not have bothered to primer the underside of the body, so I painted it blue and dulled it down a bit with rust and dust.  I may add a bit more weathering to dull it some more.  It makes a pretty colorful contrast to the freshly painted red frame!

[Bainford]

This is coming along great. You're nailing the look at all turns. Loving it!

[Scott8950]

Wow that engine looks great.

[David G.]

Good call on the floor pan. You're probably correct on that and a lot of people might not have thought of a detail like that.

David G.

[Steamboat]

The Shelf of Doom project is due in 2 weeks at our next club meeting.  I'm rushing to meet the deadline but I'm taking some liberties.

The interior is pretty much done.  It's a very basic, stripped down race car.  The uncomfortable seat is made up of sheet styrene and angle, with 3d printed brackets attaching to the floor.  1959 NHRA rules indicated that shoulder straps were optional, so I just added seat belts.  The shifter boot is from my parts box, shifter knob and shaft are a hat pin.  The roll bar is 3d printed since I already had a file for one, and I just added the diagonal brace with styrene round stock.

The dash will be attached to the body, so it's just supported with tweezers for these photos.  The 1941 Plymouth dash is similar to the '49, but definitely not perfect.  With some brown and silver paint, it can be made into a reasonable representation.  I cut out the instrument cluster and center section according to one of the photos.  The steering wheel is the '41 with the horn ring removed.

Got some paint on the body today.  More to come!

[Steamboat]

Getting close to final assembly..  The body is painted with a gorgeous titillating mix of the 3 craft colors in the background (from my wife's art stock).  It's actually a bit greener than the photo shows.  I then airbrushed one coat of Future just to give it a little bit of luster.  It also seems to have sealed the resin oils that were seeping from the casting, even though I soaked the body and hood in Super Clean for a day before any body work was started..  Hand lettering was done with a quill, although I think a small brush would have worked just as well if not better.  I just need to glue in the windshield and the dash before I begin final assembly.

[David G.]

A nice dash to the finish line. It all works and looks good to boot.

 

David G.

[Tortuga Kustomz]

Awesome work so far

[Steamboat]

99% done!  Just those pesky headers and the rear bumper to go...

Here's a shot of the front suspension.  The upper control arms are not moveable on the AMT '41 Plymouth, so to raise the ride height, I scratch built some spindle / lower ball joint assemblies to lower the spindle (raising the front of the car).  I then hacked off the ends of the lower control arms and made them fit.  Crude, but effective.  The steering box is from my parts box.  I used the '41 Plymouth steering links, although it makes no sense how it would work in real life.  Dual pitman arms with no idlers?  There is a lot of room for improvement in the front suspension for someone who really wants the detail!

 

The rear suspension starts with the axle from the Monogram '57 Corvette, with hardware store coil springs and 4-links that I cloned in resin from an unknown original.  I scratch built the panhard bar and mount.  Shocks and driveshaft are parts box items.  At the bottom of the photo you can see the tail lights.  I 3d printed those.  They are not really correct because they should not have the wedge shape where the mount to the body, but this was necessitated by the curve of the model body in that area which is actually pretty flat on the 1:1 car.

A few more pieces to add and I'm calling it done.  This will finish the WIP thread.  I'll post some photos in the Under Glass section when I get a chance.  Thanks everyone for your photos, knowledge and support!

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looking good. This is absolutely one of my favorite models on the board. The real car is, to me, the epitome of cool, and you've come closer to getting it right than anyone else I've seen so far. Nice work on a challenging subject to model.

[David G.]

Nicely Done!

I'll look for it in the Under Glass section.

David G.

[styromaniac]

On 4/7/2023 at 9:07 AM, GLMFAA1 said:

What an ambitious project, Really a bit of history. I think I found the inspiration for the air induction scoop (would the AMT double dragster kit scoop work?).

How would you work on that engine after a run with those headers.

greg

LOL....I thought of the same thing looking at that high mounted scoop...an image immediately came to mind of those Cold War era Federal Signal Air Raid sirens...with their ghostly nightmarish wails....

[styromaniac]

Trying to remove multiple posts.

Edited June 13, 2023 by styromaniac

[styromaniac]

Trying to remove multiple posts.

Edited June 13, 2023 by styromaniac

[Stanward VonDiederichs]

On 3/21/2023 at 10:36 PM, Straightliner59 said:

Found 'em!

I would love to build one of these I remember reading Hot Rod magazine about the white car. I been a fan since the 50s

[Stanward VonDiederichs]

On 3/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Steamboat said:

First mockup with wheels and tires.  I'm building this for a Shelf of Doom theme build in my club.  It's been on the shelf for at least 10 years, primarily stalled because almost all parts had to be scratch built.  Now with 3d printing, I think I can finish it.

The body is my own resin clone of a diecast.  I'm using a heavily sectioned '41 Plymouth chassis with Monogram wheels.  Don't know where I got the pie crust tire, but I only had one, so I made a resin cast for the other rear tire.  Rear coil springs are actual metal springs I got from the hardware store.

It looks like I will need to lower the engine about 1/4" to get to the scale 36" above the pavement that was used on the 1:1 car, and lower the front about 1/8" as well. 

Time to blow it apart and make some changes!

 

I want one too but not at that price. I didn't know they made one.???