'68 HEMI Dart super Stock car

[MR. Macabre]

I'm in the beginning stages of my 4th build since I started building model cars again a few months ago, after a 45 year absence from the hobby. I've been a fan of drag racing since I went to my first race in 1973, the NHRA Winter Nationals in Pomona, CA. My dreams as a kid of becoming a professional racer never happened, so I'm building the race cars I'd love to own in 1/25th scale. I'm a major MOPAR fan, so most of my builds were or will be Chrysler products. 

My first 3 builds since I've begun building model cars again have been a '71 Dodge Demon 340 street car, a '71 Plymouth Duster 340 Super Stock car, and a '69 HEMI GTX Super Stock car. My next project is a '68 BO23 HEMI powered Dodge Dart Super Stock car. I'm using the Revell '68 Dart kit, along with the AMT '67 Chevelle pro street kit. I'm going to use the back half of the Chevelle's chassis on the Dart to make room for bigger tires, along with it's seats, rear suspension, wheelie bars, and it's roll cage. This is what I did on the '71 Duster, and it came out pretty good for a 66 year old geezer with shaky hands. 

I'm going to be using quite a few aftermarket parts to complete this build, they're a great source to get the parts and pieces you need to really add some detail to your builds. Where were these guys in the late 70's? Anyway, I'm using parts from Ted's, ICEMAN, VCG, MCV, and ETSY. The costs to build one of these kits is a hell of a lot more expensive than they used to be, so my builds can take several weeks based on my hobby budget. I'm retired on permanent disability, so my income is fixed month to month, but my wife of 43 years is still working her job of almost 30 years to support us, so we get by. 

Tomorrow I'm going to cut both car's chassis' in half so I can splice them together and make it fit the Dart's body. I'm going to have to remove some material from the Chevelle's wheel tubs because they're too wide for the Dart's body, but other than that it shouldn't be too hard to make everything else work. 

 

 

This kit was gifted to me from a friend and fellow die cast car collector on the east coast. Thank you James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 kits to build one cool race car. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:26 PM by MR. Macabre

[IceMan Collections]

Can't wait to see what you do.
We appreciate the support. 🧊

[MR. Macabre]

2 hours ago, IceMan Collections said:

Can't wait to see what you do.
We appreciate the support. 🧊

Sure, you guys have some awesome stuff available, I'm going to be ordering one of your 3d printed HEMI engines for this build. You have the correct one with the cross ram intake on it, and I don't think I'll have any problems making it fit the Dart. As soon as I get my SSDI deposit next week, I'll order it. 

[gtx6970]

Following along here  , as this is One of my favorite kits to build

 

You gonna try to replicate any particular car ?

[MR. Macabre]

6 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

Following along here  , as this is One of my favorite kits to build

 

You gonna try to replicate any particular car ?

If my hands weren't so shaky I'd consider it, but it's going to be my own version of a modern SS/AH car since anything other than a solid paint job is out of the question. Doing something as basic as putting on decals is almost impossible for me now, when I tried to apply a few on my first build, a Vitamin C Orange '71 Demon, my hands tore them all apart before I could get more than one on. It's going to be Testors' Purple-isish Purple with gloss black bumpers and a black hood. The hood scoop will be body colored, along with the valve covers. 

[MR. Macabre]

I went ahead and made the first cut on the Chevelle's chassis last night, this will make the final cut easier to do with the front area  out of the way. Then I used some masking tape to mark out how much material I needed to remove from the rear wheel tubs, they were way too wide to fit the Dart. It ended up being more than I thought, so instead of sanding it I used my little rotary tool and trimmed them down. Now the Chevelle's chassis fits under the Dart's body, so my next job will be to mask out and cut both Chassis' to their final size. Once I know that I got it right, I'll splice them together and reinforce everything.

Then I can start working on the parts I'm using from the '67 Chevelle, and test fitting everything before I start painting them. I'm going to use the seats and roll cage in the interior, and the entire rear clip with some aftermarket wheels and slicks out back. The front suspension will be from the Dart's kit with some front runners and Weld wheels to match the rear. 

 

It's not perfect, but no one will see any of this any way. 

 

 

[MR. Macabre]

Okay, so I went ahead and cut the chassis' apart on both cars yesterday and spliced them together. At first I just used some glue to put them together and let it sit overnight. Today I test fit the chassis under the Dart's body before going ahead and reinforcing the joint where the 2 pieces meet. Some strategically placed spots of glue on the bottom side, and then I used some styrene rod material along the joint line to strengthen everything. 

It's not necessarily pretty, but the 2 chassis pieces from 2 different kits will result in 1  very cool '68 HEMI Dart. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dragcarz]

Cool project, you have my attention.