1/16 Scale Army Vega Funny Car - Finished 10/14/2018

[Fuel Coupe]

unbelievably sanitary work... top shelf

[Mooneyzs]

Scott.... Thanks Brother!! I appreciate it.

Danno... Thanks bud!! You know I have a deadline for this build ......

Art.... Thanks buddy!!

Shane.... Thanks ma I appreciate kind words.

Update: Well guys I have been priming some parts since I got home and going to be working more on this all night...... Actually the whole weekend is going to be for this build. I am going to be painting some more parts tomorrow as well as repaint a few things. And working on some new stuff. I will hopefully have some pics up a little later. I need to draw up a few items for some template so I can fab up a few items tonight as well. So stay tuned guys.... I am super stoked about getting to work on it this weekend.

[Mooneyzs]

Good Morning Fellas.... well last night I was going to post a teaser pic but couldn't get it to upload on photobucket. I just tried again and it worked. I was working on the brake handle and some more of the break system. It not much at the moment but what you see is a template which I will be making the part out of .016" thick aluminum plate which will be 1/4" thick in real life. Let me show you the couple pics, then its time to go get some Ice coffee from Dunkin Donuts and then start working on this build all day. Also Keep in mind that I will be changing the master cylinder to a single piston unit and I am actually going to make the brake handle a 1/6th of an inch taller. Stay tuned....

Here is the brake handled that I have drawn up on my CAD program and then laid it over plastic and cut away. As you can see I didn't fully cut the handle portion since I was trying to gauge for the height and over all appearance of it. Will change it with the new one.

Another View of the handle where you can see I am using RB Motion Rod ends and tubing for the rod that goes from the handle to the master cylinder:

Edited June 19, 2020 by Mooneyzs

[John Teresi]

Now that`s what I`m talking about Chris.........I love to watch you scratch build.......GREAT! job Buddy.

[Mooneyzs]

More Updates on the brake system..... I have finished the brake lever and happy with it. Took me a little longer than I though but was worth it.

Here is the start of scratch building it. Drew it up on Solidworks, Printed it 1:1, cut it out and glued it to my sheet aluminum and then Scribed and used a razor saw to cut it out:

Here it is after I was done cutting and sanding. Set it next to the plastic template I did first:

Then I had to mock it up to see how it looked with adding an extra 1/16th of an inch to the length. Think its a perfect height now:

Edited June 19, 2020 by Mooneyzs

[gasser59]

Man Chris, this is exquisite work. Put some fluid in that master cylinder and I'm sure it'd work. Phenomenal work my friend.

[stump]

Chris, you have no idea how much I have missed checking this incredible build mate.

But you should know, I'm much better now I've checked it all out....I'm like, OMG this is looking insane! GREAT work mate. Two giant thumbs up from this Aussie.

Thanks for brightening up my morning man.

[Mooneyzs]

Brad... Thanks buddy, I appreciate the kind words. Plus it was great to chat with you for a few today.

Greg... How's my Aussie Mate doing?? I sure miss seeing your work on your builds mate. Thanks for all of the kind words. I am looking forward to having much more done on this build.

Anyways most of my evening was spend out in the garage and side yard painting parts feel great but had a few hiccups. First the one airbrush I was going to use ended up shooting funny like it was sputtering so I had tear it apart and soak it in a bucket of lacquer thinner. Can't figure out why I did what it did unless the last time I used it I didn't get it as clean as I thought. That airbrush has been my old reliable one. I have had that for at least 20 years now. But I pulled out a different on and used it

I am pretty happy with most of what I sprayed but there are a couple items that I will need to go back and respray again. One was thanks to a bug that decided to fly right in front of my gun while spraying and it pushed him right into the part...lol and the other for some reason I decided to use my tack rag in between coats on my oil pan and the alclad did like it and had little bumps in the paint. so not sure what caused it. I will hit it with some 2000 grit paper and respray. I am wondering if I need to shoot it father away than what I am shooting it. the first coat seemed to go on nice. I think maybe I sprayed it a little more than just a mist coat. that may be where I went wrong. Gotta love learning how to shoot new stuff. anyway i won't bore you anymore by talking I will show you pics of all I sprayed today.

First Up is the side Tins of the chassis. They are spayed with House of Kolor black base and then shot with HOK inner coat clear with some flattening agent in it. I had to play around with how much flattening agent I used to get the look i was going for. There is a couple pieces of dust that I am thinking of hitting with some fine paper and reshooting the inner coat clear:

Next is the Fuel tank. I had shot this previously and for some reason I had some fish eyes that popped up in the paint which i think was caused from wiping it down with was and grease remover and I may of not waited long enough before I shot the paint or shot it on a little to heavy the first time. But now I am pretty happy there were a couple pieces of dust in it so i am debating on hitting it with some fine paper and misting a little more HOK black base with inner coat clear over it:

Here is the Midplate which I sprayed again and the reason it got repainted was I had to trim some of it off the bottom because it was a little long and hanging below the chassis. Some how I missed the boat on that one:

I repainted the black on the rear end and then shot inner coat clear with less flattening agent this time from the first go around with it:

Here is the rear view:

Here is the headers. this is one of the guys that the bug decided to fly in the way of. so they will get sanded lightly and mist a little black base back on it. Then I will be adding more flattening agent than what the rest of the parts have on it because I want these to be a flat black:

Here is the oil pain for the 2nd time, if you look closely you can see little bumps on it. So I am hoping the 3rd time is the charm on it. I am gonna try shooting it a lower pressure and make sure I mist every coat:

Edited June 19, 2020 by Mooneyzs

[W-409]

Wow Chris, it looks great! This build is piece of art, especially now when you have painted some parts. Those look awesome, keep it up.

[vintagedragfan]

saweet Chris! I'm excited for you, keep painting parts, and this thing will be going together soon!! I think I can speak for everyone when I say I'm looking forward to seeing it one piece!! way to go brother!

[Magic Photos]

Looks great Chris. Glad to see some color going this great build.

[Mister Twister]

Looking good!

[Dyno Davo]

Chris, the painted parts are really showing off your patience and precise workmanship, it's progressing nicely.

[Mooneyzs]

Hey Guys.... thanks for all of the kind comments. I know I haven't posted much lately but I have been getting some parts repainted this past week and well I need your help at the moment. I have stuck two different bolts in on the rear end and trying to figure out which looks best.... the Nickle plated bolt or the brass bolts on the 3rd member of the rear end. Let me know which you think is best. Also note that this is the last time you will see the rear end before the rear end assembly is completed. I will be gluing the disk brake and hubs to the rear end as well as installing the brake line, calipers and the few other details this weekend. So stay tuned but here is a pic of the bolts. Let me know which you think looks best.... Thanks!

Edited June 19, 2020 by Mooneyzs

[vintagedragfan]

NICKLE hands down Chris! generally you don't see many brass bolts in 1:1 automotive applications except for fittings and such, they are used in marine applications occasionally for corrosion resistance , I think the nickle looks more like it would have been on the real deal, brass bolts generally aren't as strong as a steel bolt that has been hardened, keep up the fabulous detailing my man!

[Mooneyzs]

Bill thanks man.... I was thinking the same thing. but the brass could kind of be like grade 8 bolts how they have the yellow zinc plating .

[Alyn]

Bill thanks man.... I was thinking the same thing. but the brass could kind of be like grade 8 bolts how they have the yellow zinc plating .

I was going to mention that too, Chris. The yellow zinc plated grade-8 bolts are as common as mud. I'd be more concerned about the style rather than the color. These drop-in center sections usually slide over threaded studs and then secured by nuts. The bolts just don't look right.

Awesome work by the way. This is going to be a great resource and reference thread for years to come.

[MoparWoman Jamie]

Nickle.. looks more like what you would see on the real deal.

[Mooneyzs]

Alyn... You are right. I had over looked the detail of the studs in the rear end. So I pulled out some of my Simulated Hex nuts from Scale Hardware and swapped them out. But I am thinking of going with the threaded stud and nuts, shown just below the rear end. I just don't have enough of them to do the whole rear end at the moment. Looks like I may have to place another order to Bob at Scale hardware. Thanks for the compliments about this build. It means a lot.

Jim... Thanks man. I have to agree with you.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Mooneyzs

[jasoncamaro]

Chris looks awesone i think you should just run with the simulated nuts and tread usually there is bugger all thread on a stud when the nut is on and the ones you are using look perfect

[vintagedragfan]

there you go Chris, thats perfect, Alyn is right, That is the correct way it should be, worked out great that you had just enough layin around to get it done! very nice!

[gasser59]

Those look perfect Chris. I like them much better with the studs showing.

[John Teresi]

Those look perfect Chris. I like them much better with the studs showing.

x2.....yep,looks like the real deal.....AWESOME work Chris.

[Prostreet]

Definatily the studs, what size are the studs and nut Chris?

[GoatGuy]

That looks great Chris. Can't wait to see the whole rear assembled. Looks really good.