3rd gen Camaro

[MarkJ]

After over a week of letting the chrome parts cure in the clamshell, I put them in a small Tupperware for safe keeping till I need them. Continued with the rear axle. 

[MarkJ]

The quick-change housing has a squarer look to it, so I had to tweak it a little bit. Still will have rounded off corners though and lots of ribs all over the place. I guess they figured it needed a lot of help keeping it cool besides the axle oil cooler the car had as well.

[Funkychiken]

Looking Good Mark! That chome came out lovely, much better than the Alclad that I've been using.

[MarkJ]

2 hours ago, Funkychiken said:

Looking Good Mark! That chome came out lovely, much better than the Alclad that I've been using.

Thanks, Atin. Yes, you are right. Alclad is okay if you can't get the Revell chrome but, for ease of use and final result the Revell is numero uno. Just make sure if you have to shoot outdoors the humidity is low. 

[MarkJ]

Just a few more pieces here and there and the rear axle will be done

[Pierre Rivard]

It really looks the part Mark.

 This is a fabulous journey into the search for realism and scratch building all these components to reflect the car as it was built.

[MarkJ]

5 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

It really looks the part Mark.

 This is a fabulous journey into the search for realism and scratch building all these components to reflect the car as it was built.

Thanks, Pierre. Yes, hopefully built. I have one grainy picture I had to blow up of the 1989 IROC Camaro and it definitely appears to have a Halibrand rear axle. The ref pictures I am using are from the Dodge version that came a while later, but I have heard that all the later  IROC cars were just reskinned Camaros from the eighty's and ninety's. The ref picture below is a 1989 IROC car upside down flying through the air. You can see how grainy it is when you have to blow up a tiny picture.

[MarkJ]

Here is a bigger one I meant to show above.

[MarkJ]

After this the tiny little fins get put on. Really not looking forward to that.

[MarkJ]

Added some cooling fins. Started repainting the body. I think I will try 3 drops of retarder in the paint mix to get the paint to flow out a little better.

 

 

[MarkJ]

Just a little more after this.

[Mattilacken]

Great progress there! Nice work on that rear axle.

[MarkJ]

1 hour ago, Mattilacken said:

Great progress there! Nice work on that rear axle.

Thanks, Anton. It's been interesting and should not take too much longer. This is the last major subassembly I have to do.

[absmiami]

Thats one nice rear axle - 

nice of the driver to flip his car so that future generations of model builders could study the features on the under-carriage - my Maser A6GCS build  benefits  fr a photo of the car lieing wrong side up on an Italian road course seventy yrs ago …

[MarkJ]

Thank you so much Andrew for stopping by to share the kind words and I agree with you that I was lucky to get that small grainy ref picture to confirm that the car really had a Halibrand quick change rear axle.

[MarkJ]

A few more tweaks on the axle and need to add an oil pump and fanbelt.

[MarkJ]

Finally found a ref photo of the rear axle oil pump but it was very small, and I had to blow it up, so the detail is not really good. I was thinking about plumbing it, but I can't because I can't figure it out so I will just leave it unplumbed. I also found out that it's not a Halibrand rear axle. It is made by "Stock Car Products". 

[MarkJ]

Just need to add the fanbelt and the pulley bolt to the pump sprocket and I'm going to call the rear axle finished. I then need to mockup the axle with installed wheels and tires so I can locate it for the truck arms. Then I can install the axle after I paint it. I won't actually install the tire wheel assembly's, just device a way to slide them on to the ends of the axle.

[Pierre Rivard]

The rear axle/diff/oil pump assembly is a model by itself. No 3D printing shortcut. In this shop we fabricate our parts! ?

[Andrew McD]

I have to agree with Pierre, "The rear axle/diff/oil pump assembly is a model by itself." Very cool stuff going on here.

[MarkJ]

Thank you, guys, for stopping by and giving the positive input. Any comments are very much appreciated. 

[MarkJ]

Finally, finished the "Stock Car Products" quick change rear end. I added some ports so I can plumb it if I can come up with some braided hose. I'm hoping to use some bracelet cord and the chrome spray to make some if it doesn't look too hairy and the paint doesn't flake off of it when I bend it to install it. I need to buy some necklace jewelry chain today. This car had chains attached to the truck arms to limit travel. Hopefully I can find the right size, so it looks like 1/25 scale chain.

[Pierre Rivard]

You're definitely giving this one the full treatment. Check out Ted's Marketplace for braided lines, they carry multiple suppliers and sizing options. I like the Pro Tech braided lines.

[MarkJ]

4 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

You're definitely giving this one the full treatment. Check out Ted's Marketplace for braided lines, they carry multiple suppliers and sizing options. I like the Pro Tech braided lines.

Thanks, Pierre. I will do that.

[MarkJ]

I was needing a ref picture for the rear axle, and I found a you tube video with Ray Evernham talking about getting ready for an event at Lime Rock where former drivers were going to drive their IROC cars from the past. Turns out Evernham worked on the 3rd gen IROC Camaro's back in the day as a young mechanic. He went over one of the cars that he helped build and I found the ref picture I needed that also confirmed that those cars had the Stock Car Products quick change rear axle.