Bernard Kron Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) In the spring of 2009 I started a belly tank project. At that time I had only resumed modeling for about a year. To say I was in over my head would have been an understatement. Modeling belly tank lakester is not for the faint of heart. The only kit available at the time was $100.00, all resin, and rather fragile and fiddly. Otherwise, Early Years Resin had just announced their first vacuum formed body shell and the rest was up to you. Well, I ordered the Early Years tanker. A nice clean piece but with zero experience with vacuum formed bodies the whole thing seemed a bit daunting. The fact that it was somewhat oversized provided my with the perfect excuse to keep looking. Next up was a 1/24th scale P-47 tank in styrene I scored from an airplane modeler at my LHS. Now, most lakes belly tankers used P-38 tanks which are larger than P-47 tanks. When confronted with the styrene piece I realized I had gone from a little larger to too small! At this point I set the project aside… Now, 3 years on, I’ve picked it up again. In the meantime Early Years has released an accurately scaled P-38 tank, complete with an array of headrests, Steve Kohler at Star Models released a full kit based on his own version of a vacuum formed P-38, and I have quite a few scratch built chassis under my belt. I’ve decided to eventually build 3 tankers based on the 3 different bodies: the larger Early Years body, the scale-accurate P-38 tank from Early Years (a copy of which I have obtained), and the little styrene P-47 tank I’ve got. The plan is to do the larger body with an Ardun headed Ford V8, the to-scale tank with a full-house flathead, and the little guy with a V8-60 from the recent Revell Edelbrock midget. First up is the larger body from Early Years. About a year ago I had marked out the lower body half into sections for the front suspension, cockpit, engine compartment, and rear end. So yesterday in a frenzy of styrene madness I put together a tubular space frame inspired by the remarkable Tom Beatty belly tank. Here’s the result: Here it is laid into the lower half of the Early Years vacuum formed body: Here's hoping I don't put this one aside for another 3 years!!! Thanks for lookin', B. Edited August 20, 2012 by Bernard Kron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBorg Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I acquired a box of Lakester parts and like you have never gotten to the point of thinking I was up to the challenge. I look forward to your efforts. Maybe it will inspire me to look into that box and see the possibilities and not the challenges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 GREAT FRAME BEARNARD!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 This sure is not going to throw our interest belly up! That's a nice frame there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 That frame looks like it fits like a glove. Nice work. Would be nice if some company would do a full kit in plastic at a reasonable cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwrabbit Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Very nice work! That frame looks perfect! TIm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronr Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Good start ....BK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Teresi Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Very nice Bernard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan_m Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 that frame looks great! bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2002p51 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Great effort so far. What did you use for the frame? Evergreen rod? What sizes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueoval92 Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 nice man, i love the old belly tank rods. way cool rides. cant wait to see more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 (edited) Thanx everyone. This should be fun! The only part that really scares me at this point is cutting up the body shell. I keep repeating to myself: "measure twice and cut once, measure twice and cut once, measure twice and cut once, measure twice and cut once..." I think I'll tackle the motor and suspension next, since that's pretty familiar territory. I acquired a box of Lakester parts and like you have never gotten to the point of thinking I was up to the challenge. Thanx! I look forward to your efforts. Maybe it will inspire me to look into that box and see the possibilities and not the challenges. I think getting to the point where it actually looks like a lakester has got to be quite a buzz. Imagining it is what's got me back on this - that and the experience I've gained in the ensuing years building increasingly scratch built models. Great effort so far. What did you use for the frame? Evergreen rod? What sizes? Thanx Drew! Yeah, Evergreen rod and tubing: 9/32" tubing for the main rails and braces and .060 rod for the diagonals. The 9/32 tubing was used because it was what I had around in quantity. The frame was largely built by trial and error so I knew I would go through quite a bit of it. If I had to do it over I would use .080 rod for the main tubes because I think it would scale a little better and the solid rod holds up to the MEK I used a little better than the tubing. On the other hand tubing is easier to fish mouth. BTW, I'm also going to be starting a front engined dragster project based on your terrific article on modifying the Ivo/TooMuch/Digger 'Cuda chassis. Thanks for that! Edited August 13, 2012 by Bernard Kron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Cut a little, test fit. Cut a little more, test. Rinse and repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Don't know if this will help you or pertain to a car type of body but I built a vac u form airplane once and instead of cutting I was told to just cut close to the body and then sand on a flat surface with a good piece of sandpaper right to the edge. it worked good but as I said I am not sure it would work in this case. Good luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brizio Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbwelda Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 we call that "scope creep" where i work. not really conducive to getting something actually finished! that frame looks great and one of these is an excellent place to use some of that midget racer components that are so nice and that small flattie will look great there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Looking good so far ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I'm glad to see that you've gotten back into this one!! Later, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southpier Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) we call that "scope creep" ... also known as "shipfitter's disease". saturday morning you start off to varnish a rail, and by sunday night you're replacing the garboard plank! Edited August 11, 2012 by southpier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Always enjoy your builds, and this will be a good to watch one also! The chassis is looking nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cranky Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 You got my attention. This this is going to look fantastic over that great frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Minarick Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Can't wait to see more!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Beautiful frame Bernard. Perfect representation of the real deal, no-two-alike, built-to-fit approach. I've been wanting to do a tanker for a long time.....you beat me to it, and how. Really nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curt raitz Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Oh-Oh...you caught the "belly tank lakester" disease! isn't it fun? lookin' good as we go, buddie c'ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Thanx everyone. I just started on the suspension and motor and I can tell you that this promises to be a real challenge, of that I have no doubt. Curt's SoCal replica only impresses me all the more as I slug my way through imagineering this one. Despite the fact that this is the slightly overscale version of the Early Years bodies it's still pretty cramped, and, of course, absolutely nothing was ever designed specifcally for these things, in either world, 1:1 or scale... Beautiful frame Bernard. Perfect representation of the real deal, no-two-alike, built-to-fit approach. I've been wanting to do a tanker for a long time.....you beat me to it, and how. Really nice work. Thanks so much, Bill. You nailed the spirit of these things, pure race machines, one off engineering improvisations. Incredible! I found this great web page which reproduces a terrific article about the Beatty belly tank from the 1952 edition of Fawcett Publications "How To Build Hot Rods". ( http://www.bellytanks.com/?p=283 ) . Notice the byline is Tom Beatty himself! The thing I found interesting was the impression I had that I had patterned my space frame after the Beatty ,tanker. But nothing could be further from the truth. If you look at the Beatty car you'll see that he built a space frame that extends above the lower half of the tank body and that all the front-to-rear structural members are straight: My "design" owes as much to Bill Burke, the "father of the belly tank lakester", who's cars used a simple perimeter frame that conformed to the upper edge of the lower half of the belly tank shell, and no small dose of inspiration from the great British space frame designers like Colin Chapman (more than a little Lotus 18 in my frame, I'd say...), Frank Nichols (Elva) and Eric Broadley (Lola). But when one appreciates the fact that the Tom Beatty tanker dates from 1950-51, his design is especially extraordinary. The other thing to notice is that Beatty's car has rear suspension, whereas the Burke cars all had the rear axle welded solid to the frame members (BTW, prior to the recent revival of interest in belly tank lakesters and the advent of modern reproduction bodies, it was estimated that no more than about 50 of these cars were ever built and that the majority of them were either built or designed by Bill Burke.) Anyway, this build may not be exactly a walk in the park, but it sure will be fun! Thanx for following along, B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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