Winged Express

[RancheroSteve]

Starting up a new one - MPC's iconic Winged Express altered.

Here's a mock-up of the basics as provided by the kit:

Which - after reading up a little on the history of the car - I came to realize represents the second chassis, built after the first one was crashed and wrecked. I decided the first one is the one I want to build, but without going completely overboard (I want to  finish it this decade) and scratchbuilding the entire chassis. So after some modifications, I'm at this stage:

Not necessarily a 100% accurate early Winged Express - the chassis is probably closer to the later recreation - but something that I hope will capture the look of the car.  Front section of the frame is from the Attempt 1 kit, front leaf spring, steering arm, and rear end are from the Miss Deal kit, spring perch is scratchbuilt; aluminum tubing used for the new roll bar and braces. I'll be raiding some parts kits and using some aftermarket items as I go along. Thanks for looking.

 

[kylexgore]

Looks good so far Steve.

[RancheroSteve]

A little more progress. Shortened the chassis another 4mm, replaced the rear frame bars behind the driver, added side panels, wing mounts, engine mounts, and a fuel tank mount:

With the engine block and grille shell in place:

Grille shell is from the Revell Tweedy Pie 2 kit. Almost time to get some primer on this and see what it looks like.

 

[afx]

Good looking project Steve, I'll be following. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Promising start. AA/FA is one of my fav classes.... -RRR

[RancheroSteve]

A quick spritz of primer to get a better idea of where things are at:

[CabDriver]

That’s a great start - one of my favorite altereds!  I’ll be following along!

[ybsluos]

Very nice Steve!

[dragcarz]

I’m loving what your doing here! Most of my favorite things, Kit bashing, scratch building , and Fuel Altered’s.

[Vettegasser]

Looking good 

[RancheroSteve]

Roughing in some smaller details:

1. Push bar mount. It gets a vertical roller later.

2. Steering box - modified from the kit piece - and the distinctive cut-away steering wheel. I used the wheel from the AMT '57 Ford, which was the closest thing I could find on the shelf here.

[Straightliner59]

You have some really nice work, going on, here! 

[Tortuga Kustomz]

very cool 

[RancheroSteve]

Painted the chassis:

I modified the kit wing, making it thicker and added mounts and new end plates (shown upside down) and modified the kit oil pan:

 

 

[RancheroSteve]

Gettin' some red on:

Next, I'll try to tackle all that pinstriping, because I think the car won't look right without it. Wish me luck!

[afx]

Paint looks good Steve.  I hope the pinstriping is successful for you - not something I would attempt.

[RancheroSteve]

Setting to work on the pinstriping. I'll be using 1/32" Chartpak tape cut in half, which is probably not quite to scale, but about the thinnest I think I can feasibly work with. First, made a chart of the striping with approximate lengths:

I did the striping on top of the cowl first:

I think I can pull this off! After I get the striping done I'll lay a good coat of clear on it to stick it all down and even it out a little. Inside of the body will get painted semi-gloss black later.

[RancheroSteve]

Applied the pinstriping, some decals (from Slixx) and a few coats of clear. It'll get a few contingency decals later. Brush painted the inside of the body and the rear fender wells semi-gloss black to represent raw fiberglas.

Onward!

[Straightliner59]

Looks great! Good job, putting on the contingency decals after the clear coat!

[afx]

Coming along nicely Steve.

[Snake45]

Hi Steve, 

This is AMAZING work! 

I built a model of this car back around 1970. I had to draw my own chassis plans, and scratchbuild or modify everything on it, including the wing. One thing I discovered in doing the research at the time was that the car changed in appearance constantly, so I had to pick a couple of photos to stay with. I also had to hand-paint most of the decals--IIRC, there are only 4 "real" decals on each side. 

It's pretty crude by today's standards, but I'm still proud of the thing. It was one of the last model cars I built before I went back to model airplanes. I'm sure yours will turn out much better. Model on! 

 

 

[RancheroSteve]

Thanks, Snake!

That's a pretty nice replica, especially for one built that far back. At least I have the advantage of being able to start with the MPC kit and the Slixx decals. Like you say, the car changed from race to race - it's a little different in every photo I've found, but at least it's well documented. I'm aiming for kind of an "amalgamation version".

I'm getting a bunch of smaller engine and chassis parts ready for painting and then things should start going together.

[Snake45]

Thanks Steve! 

The MPC kit is definitely the second car, and I've never seen a pic of the real one where it had a wing like the kit. I've bought a couple copies of the kit over the years, and hope to eventually build one. But I'll have to scratch up a more accurate wing. 

Actually, couple years ago, I got the idea of building a simpler, early version of the #1 car, when it was the Harrell-Borsch-Muse car, pre-wing and pre-lettering. I THINK I can do it using an AMT Double Dragster frame and other commonly available (nowadays) parts. I realize it won't be an exact replica, more of a "tribute" kind of thing. 

[RancheroSteve]

Here's shot of the second car that pretty much resembles what the kit gives you:

It would be fun to build a really early pre-wing version of the car. It's all fairly simple and out there to see, plus there's a good amount of reference available, especially for a car that doesn't exist any more. And who's gonna say you got it wrong?

[RancheroSteve]

Getting paint on a batch of parts: