Challengum!- Back at it

[trogdor]

looks very nice so far. I'm sure you are inspiring a lot of people with this one.

[84vanagon]

Cool idea and execution.

[Ryan S.]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! There's going to be a lot of work massaging and the seams so once we get to putty stage it will be slow going because I want to do it right.

I think I like the idea of keeping it looking relatively factory accurate, like something Dodge might have built. The nice thing about that is that I don't have to go parts bin diving, I can use that parts that came in both kits, including the rims.

I was thinking of going with a dark paint color. Black base with either red, blue or purple over the top.

[jjsipes]

_{Any chace of of you making resin copies of this when you are done the modifications? Would love to have resin copy of this. I like it alot. Keep it going looking great.}

[Draggon]

Great idea! That sure is something, how much better the challenger front looks on the magnum body.

[Dr. Cranky]

Cool, Ryan, take your vitamins and keep it going!

[Drgon63]

as an owner of one of the magnums, if dodge would have made it with that nose and called it the challenger touring i would have been looking to get one of them....

[Ryan S.]

Thanks for all the comments. Looking forward to getting back to this one, for hopefully a little while today. I'll get pix up when there's a worthy update

_{Any chace of of you making resin copies of this when you are done the modifications? Would love to have resin copy of this. I like it alot. Keep it going looking great.}

I've never done casting before and trying for the first time on a full body might not be a good idea. I'll see how the body turns out after I'm done with all the body work and primer and if one of the casters is seriously interested then we'll go from there. In all honesty though, I'd like to just see this one finished before the year is over.

[Dr. Cranky]

Me too!

[Ryan S.]

No pictures for the update, but I've been doing some block sanding and getting some of the rough areas smoothed out. I've got to add a little plastic back here and there and then I'll be hitting it with a light coat of primer and then getting to work on putty and filling to get the seams cleaned up.

[Dr. Cranky]

Take your time . . . and take your vitamins.

[Guest Sickfish]

Ryan you wouldn't read about it but I had the exact same idea a few months ago! But with plenty of WIPs on the bench as it is I took the easy way out & am just doing a custom Magnum  This is great that someone else had the intestinal fortitude  to plunge in & do it! All the more power to ya mate  Lots of great sectioning & skill here, keep it up mate!

Cheers Cliffo 

[Mazdat]

Alright, now that we've got some of the transplant done and while we're waiting on some glue to dry, I did a quick mock up to see how it all looks:

This is with the Magnum hood on it, just to see what it looks like with a closed hood.

After looking at it, this is a bad angle. The front looks like it comes up because of the Magnum hood. I think I'm going to integrate the Challenger hood into the Magnum hood to get a fairly factory look. We'll see how that goes.

I like these rims best of the ones that came with both the kits, but I'm not sure they will make it until the end. I'm still exploring options and I'm certainly up for suggestions.

Another angle on the front. This one just looks mean!

Here I put the Challenger hood on just for comparison and to show how much different now the front end is when compared to a stock Challenger.

I might almost be able to shave the Challenger hood down to fit. I might try that first. I like the duel vents on this one.

Thanks for all the comments thus far, you can keep them and any criticism and critiques coming. I'm open to suggestions. At this juncture I have no idea on a paint color so if anyone has any thoughts, I'm listening.

I've got a busy weekend celebrating Halloween and all, so I'm going to have to leave this one like this until Monday most likely. Try and get some sleep, Walt .

Thanks for following along.

Love the body mods!!!! Awesome work

[Skydime]

The Challenger hood looks great on this. Looks like it just needs trimmed on the sides for the new width and maybe integrate around the cowl of the magnum hood.

[LAone]

this wagon looks tough. keep up the great work.

if it were to get casted, i might just have to buy one.

[Dr. Cranky]

Looking good, glad to see it cleaned up a bit. Keep it going, Ryan.

[carsntrucks4you]

That's how a Lancia Thema here in Europe should look like.

[Ryan S.]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I've been doing some more sanding and I got the last piece of the front back in place. I made up a batch of sprue-glue by mixing Tenax and some bits of sprue plastic from the kit. I'll use it as filler either tonight or tomorrow and then let that set up so I can sand it down. I'll see if I can get some pix tomorrow to satisfy your craving for eye candy.

I noticed that the Magnum body has a lot of sink marks in it, especially the rear window pillars.

I'm also trying to imagine how this would look if I integrated the Challenger rear bumper and body-width tail light into the rear gate. I would have to fill in the holes for the Magnum tail lights and shape the quarter panels to look right. Not sure if I'll go this route or not.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Ryan S.

[Ryan S.]

Here I'm trying to get an idea of the shape that the hood needs to be trimmed to. I started laying tape along the hood opening. Then I ran an Exacto blade around the edge. I then just transfered the cut out tape onto an index card. I've laid the hood over the shape that it will need to be. I'll have to add on at the cowl for sure to get the length right. I've set this part aside for now though. I figure I should finish the body work as it might have an impact on the final shape the hood will need to be.

More to follow!

[Ryan S.]

So I've been tediously working on smoothing the front out. I decided to start out with some sprue glue for the beginning filling since plastic and plastic work best together. If I need too, once the major stuff has been done and I've primered, I'll fill in any small things with a dab of 2 part Bondo.

In these pictures the front bumper is pretty much finished smooth, aside from maybe a little final sanding. I've still got to figure out how to best integrate that bottom lip. If anyone has a suggestion I'm open ears (or, eyes as it were).

After I took these pix, I had to add a small strip of plastic to the top of the passenger side fender where it was dipping down a little at the joint. Once that gets cured up I'll sand most of it away to restore the curve on the fender top.

Some of the filled spots are still a little soft so I'm going to wait until tonight or tomorrow to continue sanding.

[Ryan S.]

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this one, thus far and thanks for all the replies!

One last eye-candy update for today:

Here's how the back would look stock.

What I'm contemplating is doing something like this and integrating the single piece tail light into the rear and maybe adapting the Challenger rear bumper like I did in the front. It would add a lot of extra work here, but might look cool. I'm afraid though, that if I do go this route and it doesn't look good I'll have messed up the project. Decisions, decisions...feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Here's a shot of the Chally bumper. If anything, maybe I'll integrate the bottom part in, and leave the tail lights stock.

Thanks for looking!

[dougp]

I know it would be a lot more work, but I think intergrating the Challenger taillights/rear bumper would look cool. I don't know how the width's of each compare, but from the photo it looks like the major work would be in filling in the stock taillight buckets with a some trimming on the tailgate.

[LAone]

it would be cool to see those tail lights on there. it looks like a challenge.

take the entire tail light part and put it on the body, then extend the body of the magnum to match the contour of the challenger.

use the challenger bumper as well.

[shucky]

Ryan project is looking good. Not sure about integrating the Challenger rear though? Unsure if it will look right on the wagon body. Front looks great though. Hopes its okay to say ... the build is begging for larger wheels and lower profile tires. Keep up the good work!

[Dr. Cranky]

Oh man, you are making very exciting progress!