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

[Mooneyzs]

Hans... Thank you for your opinion on the filter. I just google Moroso filters and it looks like that's what is on the funny car. Looks like I need to redo the filters and see if someone can draw the decal up for me.

[Danno]

Continuing 'Wow!'

[hansb57]

Hans... Thank you for your opinion on the filter. I just google Moroso filters and it looks like that's what is on the funny car. Looks like I need to redo the filters and see if someone can draw the decal up for me.

Are you replicating the restored car or the original?? Id would not amaze me if the Moroso ones were not on the original (but i'm not sure)

[Davewilly]

Chris...Looking great! cant really think out much else to say about it....just cant wait to see more is all.

[Mooneyzs]

Danno... got you speachless??

Hans... I am replicating the restored car since those were the only reference pics I was able to find. I was at a loss of what brand of filters were on the restored car otjer than they were white lol.

Dave... thanks buddy. I am currently painting the couplings for the resr end and transmission so i can mount the rearend for goot and hook up the brake line and fittings

[futurattraction]

Chris,

What are the two decals on the restored car that are located between the Cragar and RAC decals? They sort of look like Lee, but I can't confirm that. I trust you've got the decals from the kit so you should be able read them much more easily. I googled Lee oil filters and the company colors appear to be red and white. Are your filters supposed to be Lee units???

[tyrone]

this is come clean, neat detailing you got going bro.... keep it coming...

[Mooneyzs]

Scott... Those sticker between Crager and RAC do say Lee on both. I had googled lee filters too and they were not the colors in the one reference pic I showed. the reference pics show black and white and just as you said lee filters are red and white. I would assume from the sponsor decals that they should be lee oil filters. Maybe they put on what they had when restoring the car

Tyrone... Thanks man. I am trying to do it to the best I can.

[Mooneyzs]

Ok so I pulled the airbrush out for a few earlier to paint a couple of parts so I could get the rear end mounted for the last time and can hook up the brake line from the master cylinder to the "T" fitting. also got the oil filter housing painted Alclad chrome as well as I did another spoon test with the chrome and got a better result this time.

Here is the drive shaft Couplings painted Alclad Magnesium:

Here is the oil filter housing painted Alclad Chrome:

Alclad Chrome with Aqua gloss Clear on top:

Alclad Chrome with no clear, I still think it looks better with no clear at all:

Here is the difference between my original spoon test (the two spoons on top) compared to todays test by spraying it a different way (the 3 spoons on bottom):

[John Teresi]

Chris.......looks sooooooo good man..........really does

[Mooneyzs]

John.... Thanks my Big Brother. I am really happy with how the Alclad turned out this time. I do have to say that it does look better left with no clear on it. The aqua gloss clear even tones it down just a tad but will seal the chrome.

[Davewilly]

Looks pretty good....little hard to tell from the the pictures but I am sure in person and side by side its more obvious.

I have some of the Alclad chorme I need to use it on some of my stuff. I have a set of wheels that need to be Re Chromed so to speak on a Monza that on the bench....So I will have to give it a try on them.

[Nitrozilla]

Chris, I admire the lengths you will go to for accuracy. Frame looks great and I'm sure all of the accessories, including the oil filters, will be right on the money.

[Chi-Town Hustler]

Regarding the oil filters, I found this on the Internet;

"Lee Eliminators was an advertising promotion for Filter Dynamics Corp. / brand name Lee Oil Filters....Many of the top drag teams in the early 70's had an associate product/cash sponsorship with them for many years....They may have merged or been bought out by another company....Lee Oil Filters eventually disapeared in the mid to late 80's and are no longer produced"....

In all probability, Prudhomme likely ran Lee Filters on the original car but by the time the car was restored, Lee was long gone....So it's anybody's guess what was used on the restoration....I'd bet Prudhomme's right hand crew man, Willie Wolter would know....He still works with Prudhomme at the shop restoring cars I believe.

[Hotrod28]

Mate all I can say is incredible .

[Interceptor]

Incredible work and craftmanship Chris.

Speechless and for the rest I'm drooling all over my keyboard which ....................

Keep them updates coming man.

Mark

[Mooneyzs]

Dave... Thanks bud. you are right that in the picture its a little hard to tell the difference between the Alcad that is cleared and the one that isn't. but in person you can tell.

Joe... Thanks man. I am trying to make this as accurate as I can but I know it won't be 100% and that is ok with me.

Paul... Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. I checked my paint stash and I found that I did not have any of the TS30 Silver leaf from Tamiya. So I looked at Tamiyas website to see if they carried it in bottles so I could spray it out of my airbrush and they didn't. So I had Tamiyas Titanium Silver x-32 in a bottle. I just got done repainting the couplers and I will post a pic of the before and after to see what you think. I was thinking about doing the clamps and as for the drive shaft stars are you talking about the Gear splines on the end of the drive shaft??

Lee... thank you for the information and link on the Lee Filters. I bet you are right that he ran them back then and its anybodies guess what they put on the restored car.

Darryl... Thanks Mate!

Mark... Thank you for the kind words. I am hoping to get more progress done on this today. I need the couplings to dry so I can get the rear end installed with the brake line to the master cylinder and call it good and move on to the next part of this build.

[Mooneyzs]

Hello Fellas.... Little update for you. its not a very big one this morning. I took Paul's advice and repainted the couplers for the rear end and transmission. Here is a comparison between the before and after:

Before, painted Alclad magnesium:

After, painted Tamiya Silver titaninum:

More updates to come later

Edited June 13, 2013 by Mooneyzs

[Mooneyzs]

Paul... thanks man. I gotcha on the star portion of the coupler system. I had got measurements on the couplers I made from the chassis shop website and i remember seeing the the star coupling. Now I am questioning myself and how I had designed the drive shaft system. Let me post a pic and see what you think.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Mooneyzs

[Mooneyzs]

Paul... Thanks man. I will check out lenco's site. I was using .125" diameter brass rod which is equivalent to 2". So i need to go with a smaller diameter tube. Yeah the alignment has been off since I had raised the mounting locations of the rear end to get it to the correct stance and I am not sure if I have a fix for it since it has a slight angle. I know that it wont be correct and may have to live with it that way. I feel like I am in a rock and hard spot on what to do now with it since I am trying to make things as accurate as I can.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Mooneyzs

[comp1839]

chris, wonderful work! a simple solution to this may be to just add a driveshaft cover of some sorts. they are mandatory today, don't know about back then. although, i would find it hard to believe the nhra would allow an exposed driveshaft running between a drivers legs. where anything could wrap around it as it rotated.

edit:

so, got off my lazy butt and looked up the rule in the 1974 rulebook.

"a full 360 degree 1/8 steel driveline cover extending the full length of the driveshaft from the rear of the transmission case or tramsmission adapter shield to the rear end center section is acceptable and highly recommended. all funny cars using couplers must have a loop as described above - 360 degree- in the area of the drivers seat."

maybe this will give you something to work with. hope it helps.

Edited June 15, 2013 by comp1839

[hansb57]

You probably got them all but some pics of the Vega showed some nice details (although not the drive shaft)

http://www.speedhunters.com/2010/10/car_builder_don_prudhommes_snakes_nest_pt1/

[heatride]

Chris as I look at this thread its just amazing the talent . Thanks for taking the time to post all of this and explain things .

[Mooneyzs]

Paul... Thank you for all of your help with this drive shaft and coupling. I am going to add the star and clamps like you suggested. I got onto the lenco website to take a look at the parts. My one question I have is I believe that the way I originally set up the drive shaft and couplings, it looks like I put the couplings on backwards. Do you know if there were any configurations where the couplings were arranged the direction I put them by chance.

One thing I have been thinking about is flipping my couplings around and adapt the star portion as well as changing the diameter of the drive shaft. I have been trying to figure out how I could use my existing parts with out having to redo everything because I want to make things right. I also understand that there is only so much we can do as modelers to make it as accurate as possible and only a few of us would really know that it's not "correct". I really wish I had pics of the drive shaft and couplings to see how it was set up on this restored car since I have been basing the build on those pics from the snake racing website.

Dave,,,, thank you my friend for all of your help as well. You know I never though about adding a driveshaft cover. I have to agree that I don't think the NHRA would allow the exposed driveshaft being so close to the drivers legs and the chance for anything to get caught by the spinning driveshaft. Thank you for taking the time to look this up in the 1974 rule book. Do you happen to have any pics showing something like Paul has mentioned with v-band clamps. I am now trying to think how to create the mating parts that would go on the rear end and transmission to add this cover and clamp. Or should I make this cover just over the are exposed in the driver seat area and then open under the seat. Not sure if this makes sense how I am describing it.

Hans..... Thank for the link. I had found some of those pics before when I was searching when I started this project. I just wish there were more pics of the chassis and these little details that can't be seen.

Paul and Dave..... I want you both to know how much I appreciate you guys helping me with this. It means a lot to me that you are trying to help me make this as accurate as possible.

[Mooneyzs]

Hey Glen... Thank you for the kind words and for following along with this build. Feel free to save any of the pics or if you have any questions on how I did things feel free to ask and I will be more than happy to help out.