Art Laski Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 There's a bit of a story behind it, but a couple of years ago, my dad essentially inherited a current midget race car from a friend with whom he built the car. Racing is expensive, so he doesn't run it much, but last year an opportunity presented itself to collaborate with long-time open wheel driver Travis Berryhill to run a couple of races. They started off with an indoor race in Du Quoin, IL last year, coming close to winning until some bad luck struck. Then last January, they went to the Chili Bowl, one of the biggest races of the year anywhere, with over 350 entries vying for about 24 starting positions on A Main Saturday. They race all week long, and each competitor gets one night to attempt to transfer to the big show. If they don't make it, they get to go through what they call the "alphabet soup", where they race up though mains from O through to the A main, with two each or more transferring up from each race. No one has ever gotten from the O to the A main, but sometimes they do make a good climb. Because of that, it's important to do well on your opening night, and the first step is transferring into that night's main event. Last year, Travis transferred into the Wednesday night main, setting himself up for a decent shot at making the main. Unfortunately, a flip in the main, and a flip in the Saturday E main meant they didn't make the big show. But it was a good effort. Not long after the race, Travis contacted me about doing a couple of models- one he wanted to give to his sponsor, Vanilla Cycles, and the other he wanted to give to my dad for letting them run his car. I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it, because I already have a midget WIP in progress going on about 7 years now! I couldn't do that with a project like this one. But I found out that a Kyle Larson die cast midget was issued recently, and it was the same chassis make as my dad's car, which is a Spike chassis. So I thought I would get some decals made up (I was given the original artwork) and paint it up a little and be on my way, right? Yeah, it never works that way for me... The die cast is a good start, but it has a Toyota engine in it, versus the Ford in dad's car, and all the body panels are slightly different, and, actually, way too thick. So I went to work, one thing has led to another, and here we are... While it's still going to have some obvious die cast traits, I have gone about adding a little more accuracy, and I think when it's done, it will be a pretty cool replica. Here are a few shots of the actual car: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 Here's the die cast(s): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Great start, and awesome back story behind it! What scale is the die cast? I’ll be watching! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 I started out stripping down all the paint. The chasses cage tubes are halves, so they needed some smoothing and putty. Same with the tail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 1 hour ago, CabDriver said: Great start, and awesome back story behind it! What scale is the die cast? I’ll be watching! Hey Jim, it's 1/18. Thanks for watching! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Teresi Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 Hey Art….this is going to be Awesome to watch you put your Magic on this ……I’ll be watching 😃👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 22, 2023 Author Share Posted December 22, 2023 7 hours ago, John Teresi said: Hey Art….this is going to be Awesome to watch you put your Magic on this ……I’ll be watching 😃👍 Thanks, Brother! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Smith Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 Great back story Art, should be a awesome adventure. Looking forward to seeing you do some magic on these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 On 12/22/2023 at 6:47 PM, Chris Smith said: Great back story Art, should be a awesome adventure. Looking forward to seeing you do some magic on these! Thanks for looking, Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 I replaced all the original panels with Styrene, Not only were the original panels too thick, but they were different than what's on the car in a lot of ways. I also made new nerf bars and bumpers out of brass. This required that making spuds on the chassis for them to mount to as well, as the Die Cast did not do that. This one has the decal proof on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldr-n-drt Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 art...yall can get a 3-d file of the mini sprint car..any scale yall want.....3dmodelspecialties.com oldr-n-drt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, oldr-n-drt said: art...yall can get a 3-d file of the mini sprint car..any scale yall want.....3dmodelspecialties.com oldr-n-drt Yes, I’ve seen it! It’s really cool. I just might build one someday. Edited December 31, 2023 by Art Laski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 Great project Art. I have always enjoyed building models of peoples' favorite cars to give to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Great backstory, great model emerging. Funny how those "this should be pretty easy, really..." projects seem to expand into more and more and more effort, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanH Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Love the story, and the work so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 On 12/31/2023 at 5:47 PM, Phildaupho said: Great project Art. I have always enjoyed building models of peoples' favorite cars to give to them. Thanks for looking, Phil! I generally don’t like parting with my builds, but sometimes it’s worth it. On 1/1/2024 at 11:22 AM, Ace-Garageguy said: Great backstory, great model emerging. Funny how those "this should be pretty easy, really..." projects seem to expand into more and more and more effort, isn't it? So true, Bill! 22 hours ago, IanH said: Love the story, and the work so far! Thanks, Ian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 (edited) Next step was to turn the Toyota engine into something that resembles the Ford engine this car had. I had my good friend Dutch @dog3models draw up and print a new valve cover for me. He also drew up a front cover gear drive and water pump, that I printed myself. I decided to go old school on the injectors, and scratch built them. I made one intake tube from styrene, then molded four good ones. Then I finished making the whole injector body, then cast a few of those. I also made some mods to the block mand cast a few of those instead of modifying both blocks. Edited January 3 by Art Laski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 I started my own 3D design journey by designing the air cleaner myself. I made copies of each to use for mock up so I could finish the hood before painting. I’ll need to print a new filter later that’s just a little shorter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 This is coming along nicely - and you did a GREAT job designing that air filter! Looks awesome! What did you use to design it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanH Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 I don't know how you are going to part with these when done, they're going to look amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy D Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 This is a great project Art!!!! Cool to see you getting into printing your own parts. Randy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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