looking for advice

[wgflatliner]

hey guys,

i just started working a bandit resins 66 nova pro mod in 25th scale

i got the body work mostly worked out, and i decided on a ross gibson sonny's supermax motor. the front and back bumper areas are in need of some serious clean-up to make look right.

this will be my first resin build, and so far it's pretty fun. Engine needs a LOT of work to make fit right, but i'm sure i'll manage.

I am looking for advice on a couple things.

1. door panels on the inside (i want to display it with the doors off) and how they attach/detach from the car, plus door jambs, etc

2. product used to fabricate the drag racing style windows/windshield/rear window

3. cannot decide if i want to remove the resin front bumper/grille and use a 66 nova's kit bumper and a PE grille. it'd look better than the resin but is it realistic? or would you just fix up the resin and paint it? would the bumpers be more of a gloss gray as opposed to chrome? would you make it where you can see through the grille or just do a wash?

4. any good resources for photos?

5. is there any website or resource that can show me where fuel lines, brake lines, and all the other goodies would route (wiring, etc)?

6. any other tips or tricks from you guys that might help me make a good model a better model?

i do have the yost dvd set, which is helpful, but i'm wanting to go all out on this as it will be my long term project.

i do have a decent paint scheme thought up, but will have to see how it pans out. i will have to get the motor and frame mocked up and modify the hood to fit. once that's done then it'll be time for paint.

thanks guys.

[John Pol]

Hi Mark the best person would be to ask would be Tyrone on here. He is one of the best when it comes to pro mods or the outlaws. Someone else you can ask would be Wayne or mistertwister.

John Pol

[Mooneyzs]

Hey Mark...

1. There are some great bulds to check out for how the doors mount to some of the tube chassis cars out there. the first few people that come to mind are Eviltwincustoms 1/16th scale camaro http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47419&st=20 , Baddgas's 1/16th scale camaro http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43293&st=120 , Any of Tyrone's builds http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48698&st=40 , Any of 1320Wayne's builds and Romell's Daytona Pro Mod build over in "On the workbench" area

2. I would say clear evergreen styrene but I also believe there is another product which is clear acetate? someone correct me if I am wrong as I have never used it before

3. As far as removing the bumper thats molded in versus using a 66 Novas kit bumer and PE grill, it really depends on the type of car you are trying to build. if you are wanting to go with something that has a fiberglass front end then I would mold your bumper in or if you were wanting more of a bracket racer you could go the bumper and PE grill. with paint if you go molded in/fiberglass style you could go with painting the bumper an aluminum color, paint it body color, paint it black. depending on the colors you are gonna paint the body I may go with something that would blend in and fit the build. Ok so I went back and read what you wrote again, I missed it that it was a pro mod that you were doing. I would personally go the route of leaving the bumer molded in and some how

4. there are many good resources for pictures out there. just type in different types of drag racing race cars on google images and you will find a bunch.

5. same thing I would say search google. I have something I drew up years ago on some plumbing for some pro mods, will see if I can find and post.

6. My biggest piece of advice is to just take your time and not rush things. Have plenty of patience too. I don't really know where you are at with your building skills but try not to let yourself get too far over your head at once. It took me years to get to where I am now. some of it comes with practice and not being afraid to try something new.

7. I am gonna add another to your list as far as some great aftermarket companies out there. Charlie at Pro Tech has a bunch off cool aftermarket items ( photo etch, resin) and he is a great guy to do business with as well as the best braided line in the business. RB Motion is my choice when it comes to A/N Fittings. Scale hardware for small nuts and bolts. Jim at Micro Nitro when it comes to turned aluminum rims. I know i am leaving off other great vendors

And don't be afraid to ask questions. there are so many talented builders on this site and great to talk with. I am blown away by many of the peoples builds here.

[1320wayne]

Mark, it's cool that you want to tackle one of these builds and go all out with the detail. First thing to remember is slow and steady. Don't rush the process, especially if you've never ventured down that path before. I've been doing these for a while now and still mess things up when I get in a hurry.

As has already been stated above, anything pro mod related and details for such builds, you can't go wrong picking Tyrones mind and following a lot of his techniques. Especially when it comes to engineering the opening doors. I've created some myself but his seem to be effortless.

In regards to changing out the resin bumper/grill area for the project you have in front of you. In most cases actual pro mods don't incorporate many grills or body trim/molding of any sort. Most of those details are merely wrapped/painted on any more. But still it's your decision as to how you want to go with that. If you choose to go with a kit based grill/bumper setup I'm pretty sure you would find minimal people that would take issue with that.

And, in regards to detail reference for these builds. There's no better reference than the real thing. I have spent quite a bit of time putting together albums for just that purpose. The links are below. Look to your hearts content and I'm sure you will find any ref. that you need. Any other questions please feel free to ask. I'm sure that there will be plenty of folks here ready and willing to respond.

http://public.fotki.com/1320wayne/model_research-1/pro-mod-research/

http://public.fotki.com/1320wayne/model_research-1/pro-mods/

[eviltwincustoms]

I think Chris and Wayne has pretty much covered everything on your list, and I would have to agree... Slow and Steady wins the race. With the ol' addage, "Measure twice and cut once!" when you start getting into the details especially if you tackle a full blown custom chassis. If something is off and not caught in the beginning it will throw off everything and you can get to the point where if not noticed you may almost complete your chassis without getting it fixed.

It sounds like you want to tackle going all out and doing a lot of detail. Your best friend is going to be Wayne's Fotki albums and "Google". There are many sites where they are building Pro Mods from teh ground up. This will give you your Door Hinges motor mounts and any other mount you need.

Your last resource would be anyone on here, there are a lot of detail hounds and pretty much anyone on the Racing Forum I am sure has some sort of Picture that would be of benefit! This site has a great bunch of builders and will help out any way we can.

Oh, since you are building the 66 Pro Mod Nova, something you may want to take a look at is Rickards 66 Pro Mod Nova build up! This is also a great build with plenty of reference pics directly from the Model itself. Not sure if he has it posted on this forum, but it can be found on another site. Hit me up on PM and I can give you more details!

[W-409]

I have pictures of Pro Mod engines, if you need them, I can post here... Project sounds very interesting, but I can't help you, everything I had in mind, is told already. But if you want some pics, that's not an problem.

[tyrone]

I totally agree with what everyone has said, I personally think that if your building a promod, then dont use the pe grille. I like the ideas you have going on for your build, I have built a quite a few of these type builds, and have also used the Ross Gibson engines and I love them, they look real nice when detailed up. As far as sanding them down I take a coarse sheet of sand paper and tack it to a flat board and then sand each piece that needs it across the sandpaper on the areas where it will be glued to another part and they usually are fine after that.. When I started opening doors on my builds I always wanted them to be functional and removable, my method is simple, may not be the prettiest but it works. I use plain old staples for my hinge/arm,, they are mounted by either drilling a small hole through the bar on the cage, or if that does'nt work with the build I am doing then I'll add a slightly thicker piece of styrene to my area that I want to mount the door, drill 2 holes for my staples and mount them there, here are examples of both.

drilled through the bar.

and on my latest build I added styrene to give me a place for hinges to mount.

Once this is done I take a piece of my styrene rod #221 and drill a whole in the center of it and make sure that the staple fits nicely and turns, too big a whole and there will be to much movement uo and down with the door when opening, test fitments alwaysd are good, once I cut them down to size I cut them down to size and the place them on the staples first then I apply some glue to the area on the rod the will make contact to the inner part of the door, and the tape them shut the body, after the glue is dry they usually work fine with only adjustments needed as far as either pulling out or in the staples to make sure the door is flush with the body...here's a few more pics.

Once this is done the will open and then you can also remve the doors when they open by simply pull up on the door when its open, If you have any questions dont hessitate to ask..

Edited October 22, 2011 by tyrone

[wgflatliner]

i really love the staple ideas!

thanks everybody for the input on this. i suppose i could make this my project build thread. I can say that i've been dabbling in models for a while now and feel that my skill set is above average, but not perfect because i usually have a deadline.

well, the deadline for this build is august of 2013, so that gives me time to take my time!

question on the door panels: are the door panels flat like that with no detail?

if anybody has any photos that'll help, by all means PLEASE post them!!

edit: chris and wayne, thank you SO much for posting the links, that'll help me tremendously.

Edited October 22, 2011 by wgflatliner

[eviltwincustoms]

Mark, it really depends on the driver and how he wants his car... And for the builder just how much detail do you want to put into a Door Panel when it isn't seen but only when the door is open. Here are some reference pics that I used when building up my door and a pic of my actual door I built for my Pro Mod.

And this last one was the Reference pic that I used for my build.

here is my door on my 70.5 Pro Mod Camaro

I hope this gives you some ideas to play with.

[W-409]

Ok, here comes some pics of Pro Mods, which might help you.

[W-409]

More... This is 899 CID PM engine with NOS.

[W-409]

Here we go again.

Hope these help. I have some more, but I have to upload them first, so there are coming more, from interiors and more engine pics, which might help you.