Bobby Allison’s 71 Dodge Charger

[GMasterG]

Finally I have the engine to a standard I’m happy with and I’ve progressed to doing a little detail on the trunk assembly. I found a picture of a 73 Dodge Charger that showed some very simple technology for the fuel cell: a fuel-in pipe that was ribbed; a breather pipe that wasn’t ribbed; and a much thinner fuel-out line that went through the rear firewall. The engine required so many touch-ups and so many breaks from frustration but it was well worth it. I was just determined that I would not accept anything less than what I know is work to the best of my current ability. Now that I’ve shown myself what that standard is I won’t accept anything less in future builds. 

Edited February 24 by GMasterG

[GMasterG]

Two become one:

[GMasterG]

Anyone with a sharp eye will notice in the pictures above that there is a section of the under-carriage missing:

Whilst test-fitting the chassis to the body I managed to snap one of the arms underscoring the adage that a build ain't over until it's over and it is these last stages of putting everything together that can prove to be the most fraught with peril. I recall something similar happening late last year when I built Allison's Hardee's car and I simply glued the broken piece of plastic back into place. It's a measure of how far my skills and my confidence in them have come that last night, in an attempt to look on the bright side, I saw this as an opportunity to build something better:

Fortunately, the 4 Oldsmobile Cutlasses that I am in the midst of building, despite having a different front-end setup, still include this part (I have no idea what it's called) on the sprue and I only needed one of them. I drilled 0.2mm pilot holes into the cross-member and into the section of the part still attached to the chassis of the Charger. I then drilled 0.8mm holes for the brass members. The brass rod is 0.81mm so I tapered it at the ends to make it fit snugly.

On the bright side, the test-fit seemed to indicate that the car's overall ride height and stance is good, and I think I will even manage to fit all of the engine into the bay including the airfilter (although I've had to grind out all of the profile underneath) with a bee's dick of clearance to the under-side of the hood.

Edited February 26 by GMasterG

[GMasterG]

The progress is slow but it’s steady with a focus on doing whatever it takes to maintain quality control to the best of my current skill level. So far I’m happy with the results. Tonight a little work on the underside with the exhausts fitted and the front section that I broke two days ago successfully rebuilt with brass rod, installed, and paint patched. I used some Alclad hot metal sepia on the exhaust pipes as well as some Tamiya panel-liner and although you can't see it in this picture I drilled out the ends of the pipes and weathered them as well:

I’ve painted, detailed and installed the driveshaft:

as well as the front air intake:

you can also see that I’ve ground down the cross-member onto which the engine mounts to allow myself some comfort that I won’t be stuck with a hood that won’t close. 

Edited February 28 by GMasterG

[GMasterG]

I’ve had a very productive morning fitting the engine into the bay and connecting the wire from the ignition coil to the distributor:

The exhaust headers needed a little manipulating to get them to sit on the pipes and so for neatness and a finished look I added some heat-shrink tube which I think looks smart and I even got a little too willing with the cigarette lighter which has resulted in some nice weathering around the joins:

At first I wasn’t sure what benefit there would be in separating the transmission from the engine save being able to paint the two separate parts easily. In the end it proved a master stroke allowing me to locate the engine correctly and then have the ability to simply drag the transmission into place and set it with a couple of beads of superglue.

I then added the remainder of the cooling and radiator system:

The engine, radiator and air intake all sit very plumb; it's the cross-over breather tube that sits a little crooked that gives the impression of a poor fit.

Then it was time to add the clear windows, join the body to the chassis and add the chrome. I used UV light-activated glue to fix the clear parts and it worked very well:

And it's worth mentioning for anyone wondering about how the Cartograf decals react to clear coats: there is an acrylic lacquer clear sprayed liberally over the top of the Dodge decal in the picture immediately above. I applied all the decals with Markfit and once set I burnished them into the plastic with Markfit Strong. This one had been sitting on the chrome piece for a number of weeks prior to spraying the clear which I did on Thursday morning (I think). The decal was unaffected by it.

Notwithstanding all of the success, the morning’s labours were not without some minor incidents that proved a little frustrating, but which weren’t insurmountable.

I managed to flick the air cleaner onto the windscreen and get a couple of smears of superglue on the clear plastic. Fortunately the larger of the two is obscured by the hood when it’s in place. However, the smaller of the two will be visible and I’m in two minds as to whether I should try polishing it out.

I thought I’d cracked the interior cage trying to fit the body to the chassis but fortunately it was just two parts breaking at the joint which I was able to fix with some CA glue.

 Now it’s time for lunch and an episode of something on Netflix.  

Edited March 1 by GMasterG

[GMasterG]

Done:

[Shark]

The bars you remade are torsion bars, used only on Chrysler products. The first Oldsmobile kits Salvino did were meant to be someone Dodge, but didn't get things worked out. That's why the first ones has leaf springs when they should have been truck arms.

History lesson over. Very nice build of a not so easy kit. The Charger body was always my favorite, and Bobby Allison could drive anything.

[GMasterG]

1 minute ago, Shark said:

The bars you remade are torsion bars, used only on Chrysler products. The first Oldsmobile kits Salvino did were meant to be someone Dodge, but didn't get things worked out. That's why the first ones has leaf springs when they should have been truck arms.

History lesson over. Very nice build of a not so easy kit. The Charger body was always my favorite, and Bobby Allison could drive anything.

Thank you Todd. I consider myself a student of history so I appreciate the context and also the automotive anatomy lesson. I also appreciate your kind words regarding the build. I really like the NASCARS of the 50s through to the mid 70s and especially the Dodges and Plymouths. I have Bobby Isaac's K&K Charger slated as my next build to begin but for the next couple of months I'm going to focus on completing the four Oldsmobiles.