´68 Charger 1/4 mile racer

[Andy Oldenburg]

My idea for this build was triggered by a feature on late night TV. Independent auto shops and hot rod builders meeting at secret places to challenge each other and win the prize money. My Charger would be an almost street legal car ready for illegal races on the outskirts at night.

The body is modified as a front tipper. I glued the hood to the fenders and cut them off the body. The fire wall is attached so I could fill the empty spaces left from the doors.

To enable the front to tip correctly without jamming I hat to cut back the sides of the firewall.

In the end the tipped front will look something like this:

The engine will be a beast and needs plenty of air to breathe, so I added the kit scoop.

Bending the hinges was quite easy. After finding the ideal length for the hinges I cut the rod at the middle in two pieces. This way I was able to bend both sides to exactly the same lengths and angles.

Here I got the hinge in the right place to connect the ends to the inside of the fenders. As with the firewall I had to cut of some of the frame so the front would tip without getting hooked up with the undercarriage.

The middle tube will be attached as the very last building step. For now I have it taped to check if everything works how I imagined it.

YO! It works!

I found a messy spot at the rear fender after the first primer coat and filled it with styrene and putty.

The firewall needed some putty also and mow all the cracks are filled and almost smooth.

A look at the front from the inside. I keep the mechanics free form paint with masking tape.

The primer coat feels alright to me and after grit 1000 ready for the color.

This will be a two tone job and it will take a bit of masking to separate the front and the back end.

Next time I will show the progress on the engine. Thanks for watching!

 

[FoMoCo66]

I love flip front drag cars. This will be entertaining. Looks good.

[Scott8950]

Nice job on the front end.

[slusher]

Terrific work right fron the start!

[Moparman18064]

Looking great so far!

[Volzfan59]

Impressive!

[Sledsel]

Looking good. A tilt nose Charger is definitely different.

 

[Andy Oldenburg]

While the glue, putty and the paint coats on the body are drying, I like to work on my favorite part of each build, the engine. This REVELL kit has a very high standard and the details are sharp and all important parts included. But I will of course do a lot of extra work on the details. The block is a classic light blue now, the intake I worked a bit with diamond files to enhance the shape and added a bit of grime for a better 3D effect. The carb is after market (scale production) and has much more detail than the kit part. Before I apply the paint to the block (in this case acrylic AERO Color and a top coat of clear) I try to get all the drilling for plugs and the cooling hoses done.

To beef up the looks and the intake I added a scoop from my parts box. This scoop was quite simple so I drilled holes into the front and worked it with a scalpel and files for a real looking open mouth. Later I will add a 0.5mm rod at the rear bottom to attach it to the carburetor.

Here I have the distributor and the throttle lever attached. I build my distributors from 6mm aluminum tube, 2mm brass rod and push the fine wire ignition cables between the two. Glued with super glue they will never disconnect and can take a hard pull while building. The lever is 0.5mm brass and thin sheet styrene.

The ignition cables are attached and the fuel lines are added to the right engine side. In this case 0.6mm silver plated wire and fine crimp beads. You should be able to get this stuff at a crafts store that sells products for fashion jewelry. The valve covers have an asymmetrical ventilation system.

Next stage I added some wires to the coil and was barely able to push it under the fuel lines. Should have done this earlier... The cooling hoses are in place too. I pull the copper threads out of a 3mm wire and push a soft aluminum wire into vinyl insulation. this way I can bend the hoses into any shape and they stay where I want them. The exhaust manifolds have received only a slight bit of rust.

I confess that I don´t like those one piece pulley/belt parts. After several engines with "real" belts I like taking that extra effort and, if possible, deconstruct that part for further use.

I cut, sand and file the pulley wheels until I have enough surface for the belts. On this build I sanded some wheels as thin as possible and added a short piece of styrene rod for the belts.

The alternator and the power steering unit would not take the pull of the rubber belts if just glued to the block. I connect these parts with brass wire pins and super glue. Same as I happened to do with the oil filter. The kit alternator is chrome plated but that just does not look real, so a shiny silver makes the difference.

Now I can attach the belts. These I cut from a 1mm thin rubber mat. I´m still looking for an even thinner mat but to no success yet.

I far as I can tell, my engine is finished now. Total building time about 18 hours. A bit of a shame that some details get lost in the engine bay...

The body has made the next step. Don´t get fooled by the colors, this is NOT the final color code. Just the base coat for the real layers. But it does give a hint of what direction I am going.

Thanks for watching !

 

[FoMoCo66]

? no words. Your engine detailing skills are top notch. I swear you could put a little fule in it and... ROAR. I also like you didn't stereotypically go with a hemi and went for a single carb setup. Good work.

[Steve H]

Great looking build so far Andy! Engine looks fantastic. You have me very curious as to what the paint process will be… I’m following.

[deuces wild]

Sorta reminds me of the Rod Shop Dodge Charger from way back in the day.....??

Edited March 20, 2024 by deuces wild

[ksnow]

That engine build is fantastic. Amazing detail.

Looing forward to the paint progress.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Because some of you were curious to see how the paint job would turn out, I will start now with those images. The red and blue base coat did give a rough impression, but of course the final color would be something more classy. I had a deep metallic blue and a intense metallic red on the shelf, but both cans had only about 30% content left. You know how they start sputtering once they get low or if you tip the can too much while spraying. So I only had one shot to make it right! A bit of a sweat, but it went fine?. After wet sanding the body with grit 1000 I started with the red.

I didn´t want to just let the red hit the blue, so I fine masked a thin line (1mm Tamiya) and spared another thin line on the red surface.

During a first mock up I realized that the wheel opening was too tight for the big slicks. So I had to grind, file and sand them to make it fit and look fine. When finished, the open white styrene surface was then painted with a fine hair brush.

Next the body got a grit 6000 wet sanding to level out the masking bumps and remove the last tiny bumps. Bare metal is applied only to the window frames. No unnecessary trim on this racer. Those few decals are put in place and left to dry. Earlier today I sprayed the body parts with a crystal clear coat and really love the look, but this image is still without the clear finish.

The undercarriage is also finished in the meantime. Since this is not a show car, I gave the bottom a mild weathering to show some street dirt and wear. The gray received 2 different browns with my airbrush and a light dipping with a sponge. First I attached the brake and fuel lines. These are connected to the undercarriage with very thin floral wire (0.25mm) through small holes. The parking brake is very close to the original, but ended up a bit too big. Might get that smaller on a future build. Here tiny crimp beads and micro cables from a craft store come very handy.

Adding the rear axle with the suspension.

It may sound foolish, but I like to add the exhaust system last. Even though that means having to cut the pipes to make it fit. But since the cut is under the axle it does not show afterwards. Just some highlights and the undercarriage is now finished. Exhaust pipes and the axle got some weathering too.

I modified the interior to create a racing feeling. The kit seats were discarded and replaced by racing buckets I had in my parts box. The back bench is out and made way for a a reinforcement wall and a roll bar. The seat belts were nerve wrecking but finally ended up in the right places. No flock on the floor. The color mix is an aggressive anthracite with some red details. The dash is enhanced with wire rings around the gauges. Chrome work is BMF and Molotow chrome pen.

At this stage it feels like being "almost" finished. But I know there are still some hours to go. I might make the finish line on the coming Easter weekend. Come to think of it:

Happy Easter to all of you!

And thanks for watching.

 

 

 

[cifenet]

Great work adding those details!

[Andy Oldenburg]

So I did just about get finished over Easter with this build. It was a kind of pinch getting the major parts together, although this kit has a high molding quality. Usually it gets tight getting the body, tub and undercarriage together without having to remove some plastic. But in the end it did work out.

Preparing the engine bay I had an idea getting more detail to the water cooler. I added a fine metal mesh to both sides and didn´t need any wash for that 3D look. The molded on cap was hardly visible, so I manufactured a new one from styrene.

Making this build a front tipper I had to rethink the building process way before hand. The engine bay parts were disconnected from the body and received a different treatment and paint job. I connected the engine to the undercarriage first and then went to work around the engine with the bay walls.

After this fit successfully, I was finally able to connect the body to the carriage. The battery, brake booster and all the wires and lines are now in their correct places.

After attaching the front wheels, it is starting to look like a driveable car. The rims are not from the kit, but out of my parts box. Same with the tires, because I really wanted to build a racer with fat slicks in the back again.

Getting tired of losing door handles and mirrors I have made it a habit to pin these delicate parts to the body. It is some effort drilling tiny holes (0.4mm) and connecting the wires. But attaching them to the body is so easy now. They don´t slip while the glue is drying and I can even use white glue to avoid messing the paint with aggressive glues.

The final attachment was the tipping hood. I was really nervous if the assembly would work out like in my first mock up. I didn´t want to risk that the hood might disconnect later by a clumsy handling, so I added a reinforcement by wrapping thin wires around the hinge tube and the tip of the frame. Secured it with super glue. After taking this pic I covered the hinge parts with anthracite paint.

After removing the masking tape that kept the hood in place I was finally able to tip the hood and see if does open correctly.....

I owe myself a drink for this. Engineering works out fine, much better than my last front tipper 2 years back. Now I only have to attach the front spoiler.

I will take some higher quality images soon and show the finished build on the "Under Glass" forum. Thanks to those watching my WIP!

 

 

[FoMoCo66]

2 minutes ago, Andy Oldenburg said:

I owe myself a drink for this

Yeah you do! This thing looks awesome! You totally captured the street racing look.

[espo]

Amazing attention to detail. 

[Andy Oldenburg]

Thanks everyone for your response! I will submit my thread with the final pics on "Under Glass" today.