Ohio Challenge 1957 Ford

[Ramcharger]

I've started on my 1957 Ford Custom 300 build for the Ohio Challenge at the Buckeye Classic Model Car Contest. For those who don't know we came up with the idea of having a contest within the contest involving any member of any model car club in Ohio. We (the Buckeye Scale Auto Club) pick a kit and challenge the other clubs to a build off at our show. Last year we did the AMT Gremlin kit and had a really good turn out. Rob Smorey won and he chose the Revell 57 Ford kit. The rules are that you can build it any way you want, use as many or as few of the kit parts as you want, as long as we can tell it's a 57 Ford. We have a really cool, trophy we give you to display for a year, then you have to defend your title to keep it. So I thought I'd share my build this year since I'm starting a little early on it. The plan is to build it like the 1957 Mercury Mermaid or the 1957 Thunderbird "Battlebird". For those who are unfamiliar with these two cars here's a couple of photos of them.

The Mermaid:

The Battlebird:

I'll do a couple of things different, but I'm thinking an injected 312, put the cockpit in the center, and Moon discs on the wheels. Here's the start:

[cobraman]

Cool project. Kind of reminds me of my start on the flat top 57 Ford drag car I built.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Anything even remotely related to the Mermaid just HAS to be good.

[Jantrix]

I tried center drive on an old project. The drive shaft was problematic when it comes to getting the seat low to get the driver low and out of the airstream.

[slusher]

Very cool and unique picture. l want to wach this one awsume project..

[PappyD340]

COOOOL!!

[Ramcharger]

I tried center drive on an old project. The drive shaft was problematic when it comes to getting the seat low to get the driver low and out of the airstream.

That's the cool thing about doing a 50's project, aerodynamics don't really matter. The rest of the car is a brick, I'm sure the driver's head sticking up is not the biggest aero problem this car faces. Now I have to find a good set of wheels and tires. I'm thinking Moon discs unless I could find some 15" skinny Halibrands, those would be cool.

[Ramcharger]

More, more more! I spent yesterday working on this and then went to the weekly Staff Officer's Meeting at the local Hobby Shop and spent some money. I bought the plastic to fill in the roof hole and build the "fin", I also bought an aluminum magneto and found some aluminum "Moon" discs for it. I assembled the motor and got to work on the seat and dash. I also had to fill the ENORMOUS gap between the floor pan and the firewall! I can't believe on a new tool how bad the fit is in this area, but, that's why we're called modelers not putter-togehterers. I filled it with epoxy and then smoothed it with superglue and baking soda. The dash was sectioned so I could use it in front of the single driver area, I want to use as many stock like parts as I can so it will look like a factory built ride. I also want the seat to look stock so I cut an inch out of the middle (so I could have the "hump" cutout for the drive shaft tunnel) and cut 0.10 off each end of the seat and glued it all back together to make a "factory" single seat. I mocked up how the seat will sit in the car. Today I'm going to build the cover for the cockpit and the "fin". Wish me luck! I also plan to build a fuel injection set up for the motor. The cool thing about the old Ford 312 "Y" blocks is that the intake ports are stacked vertically, one on top of the other in sets of twos. This makes for a really cool looking set up. I also have to build some fender well headers, just to be cool! Here's some photos of what I have been rambling about:

The Dash:

The Seat:

In the Car:

Fire Wall Gap:

From the Bottom:

Edited November 23, 2013 by Ramcharger

[Ramcharger]

Cool New Stuff:

Injection Set up:

[oldcarfan]

Love the whole concept!

[Ramcharger]

Ok, more to report on the 57 BattleFord! The bodywork is almost done, the giant gaping hole is filled, the door locks filled and handles shaved, headrest and aero tunnel created, and the chassis is built. I'm working on the wheels and tires for it, I have several choices on hand. I have some Moon discs, some chrome steelies, and some Halibrands. I'll make a final decision later. Here's some photos of the progress, and as always, comments are welcome:

[Ramcharger]

Okey-dokey!! Here we go! The chassis is done, the wheels have been decided upon and mounted with tires and here's the first look with the body on the frame. The stance is close, she'll be a little lower in the final fitting. The wheels are resin that I bought up in Detroit at the NNL up there. I shot them with Alclad Stainless Steel over gloss black. The motor is just sittin' in there til I can get to work on the fuel injection set up. Comments welcome!

[squirrel886]

I can't wait to see this project when its finished!

[retroguy]

very cool, interesting project...

[Ramcharger]

Ok! I've had to chop the radiator and core support to make it fit and I finished up the body work. Then I noticed a few flaws in the headrest deal, so that led to some lookin' at it. I decided it needed taller fins for high speed stability. So I slapped some on, which leads to more bodywork. Which I hate. With a passion. Why do I do these things to myself?

Oh, and I cut some tiny little bolt heads to put on the rear suspension arms on the 'Stang. 'Cause I'm an Idiot.

[slusher]

Very nice progress and work so far. Great project...

[Newbs99]

One word...amazing

-Newbs99

[Ramcharger]

The fuel injection manifold is built, I still have to put the fuel lines and injector stacks on, the interior is painted. I'll probably finish the motor tomorrow. The body work is almost done, I need to build a grille yet. Here's some photos:

[afx]

Ron, Great build. Is the engine from the '57 Ford kit? Did you scratch build the fuel injection?

[OldTimer50707]

That is going to be an awesome build.

[Terminator-Fox]

This is so freaking cool! Keep it up Ron.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

This is way crazy, in a good way!!

Just have some bad news to give you:

The valve covers are upside down. You will have problems when that fuel injected beast starts!! The rockers will hit the inside of the covers, and will make a noise like if the world is ending.

As a suggestion: If you want to build a period car that nobody can contest, a set of bias ply tires would look awesome.

[squirrel886]

So cool!

[Ramcharger]

OK, more work on the BattleFord! Fuel injection is plumbed, what a, well let's just say it was a "challenge". I assembled the motor a little more, but I'm saving the injector stacks until last so I don't have to reglue them 100 times. I also made a grille with an air slot, I have a little finish work to do on that. I was going to use a Detail Master magneto like I have in the past, but it looked ridiculously huge on the motor so I had to scratch build one out of aluminum tube. It was pretty easy, actually. I may do the dash, windshield and seat belt tomorrow. I decided not to build headers, 'cause I just didn't want to, so the exhaust manifolds are just going to have to do. Here's the photos:

[horsepower]

I like your concept, it's coming along well. I don't know what happened on that firewall to floor pan, on both of the Fairlanes I got (the stock kit, & the NASCAR kit) the firewall fit like a glove, I didn't have to do anything but clean a small amount of plastic "weld". I use liquid cement & liberally at that, it softened the two parts to the point that there was a small amount of plastic that oozed out of the joint, after it dried over night a sharp # 11 blade trimmed that away & it looks as though it came fro Revell as a single molded piece.