1/16th Vega Funnycar With a difference

[Ian McLaren]

Sometimes you just wander off into the wilderness with a project concept, this is going to be one of those times.  I have normally built representative models of real cars over the part few years. This one most certainly is not one of those. To paraphrase Straightliner59's tag line  This is a replica of an imaginary car.  Sorry Daniel, I just couldn't resist.  LOL

[Codi]

I'm a fan of "what if's" Ian and this one you're tackling has me quite interested.  Can't wait to see how wild you go with it.  cheers, tim

[John B.]

I can see by your choice of engine that this will be one for the ages!

[Straightliner59]

On 4/24/2025 at 2:25 PM, Ian McLaren said:

This is a replica of an imaginary car.  Sorry Daniel, I just couldn't resist.  LOL

No apology necessary, my friend! I am looking forward to this! A Cosworth on nitro. Sounds tasty!

Edited April 29 by Straightliner59

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Cool project Ian, is this 1/16 scale like most of your other projects?  Is that engine 3D printed? it looks well detailed by the way.

[Ian McLaren]

10 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Cool project Ian, is this 1/16 scale like most of your other projects?  Is that engine 3D printed? it looks well detailed by the way.

Yes Francis, the body is one of my extra Green Elephants with the Comp Resins slant nose conversion,   The 1/16th Cosworth DFV is from a STL file from Ron Olsen, It rivals the detail in the Tamiya 1/20 and 1/12 versions.  I have built both of those and this actually has more oprions  as per the various series this engine competed in back in the day.  This is in essence a V8 Cosworth Vega.

 

[Ian McLaren]

On 4/26/2025 at 2:31 PM, Codi said:

I'm a fan of "what if's" Ian and this one you're tackling has me quite interested.  Can't wait to see how wild you go with it.  cheers, tim

I think a blown, injected, nitro Cosworth V8 Vega  is moving well out of the box.

[Ian McLaren]

Here is a look at the Hadman chassis I'm using for both cars. The basic chassis will be the same except for the motor placement. The Cosworth will be around 55" out where as the KB was  66" out from the rear axle centerline, if was running on Nitro it would have been 68" out with a second set of mounts as per how the original Girl Trouble Car was set up.

Edited May 2 by Ian McLaren

[Ian McLaren]

My rendition of the Hadman chassis in the Vega and Thunderbird, the only difference will be the rear section of the upper main rail to accomodated the difference in how far out the engines are from the rear axle centerline. Generally the more power the further out it is.

 

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Nothing is left to chance, everything is always so well organized and prepared, an example to follow my friend! 👍

[Ian McLaren]

Right side of the Hadman chassis  has all of the major tubes in place, and the left side is in the jig now. Once it is done I'll make the minor changes required to the jig and build the sides for the Thunderbird, as they are basically the same except for engine placement

[Ian McLaren]

Progress continues

[Codi]

Hey Ian, I like the legos btw......seriously though, here's a question for you, what is the jig that you're using that you referenced above?  I'm always curious to see what others are doing.  The frame looks great too!   cheers, tim

[Ian McLaren]

8 hours ago, Codi said:

seriously though, here's a question for you, what is the jig that you're using that you referenced above?  I'm always curious to see what others are doing.  The frame looks great too!   cheers, tim

Thank you Tim   I was actually putting a tutorial together on how I do a chassis (brass or Plastic), it is certainly not the definative method but it's quick, easy and simple.  Here are some photos of the beginning of the process. I use simple white shelving material as a base and draw the chassis side view on it to scale, I use 1/8th hard balsa to build the guides for the main rails and superglue them to the shelf the photos will expand on the process including the sleves for joining the tubes. once the main rails are completed I simply cut and fit the vertical bars to press the main rails to the sides of the jig and then solder them in place

 

 

Edited May 14 by Ian McLaren

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Great simple and effective idea for making the frame with precision Ian!

I'm keeping this in the bank in case one day I decide to make this kind of frame, however the technique can be applied to any brass element that requires welding, it's simple and clever. 👍

[Codi]

Thanks Ian for the pics and explanation.  I never would have figured that one out on my own but you've got this method down pat.  well done!  cheers, tim

[Ian McLaren]

On 5/15/2025 at 1:37 PM, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Great simple and effective idea for making the frame with precision Ian!

I'm keeping this in the bank in case one day I decide to make this kind of frame, however the technique can be applied to any brass element that requires welding, it's simple and clever. 👍

And did I mention cheap, it also works well if you are building mutiple structures that have to match regardless of the material.  I have used it for one off structures but usually just use the magnetic assemble set as repeatability is not as much of a factor.