"Bits 'N' Pieces" Dune Buggy--Finished Pics Added 9/26

[Snake45]

Couple years ago, I found in my stuff a Ziploc bag with most--but not all--of the chassis pieces from an AMT Manx. Looks like I started it back in the '60s but never finished it. (I have a horrendous started-to-finished build ratio, truly shameful). Since it was missing some vital organs from the front suspension (including one shock and the steering column), it went back into the baggie and back on the Shelf of Doom (actually, in a Box of Doom--the stuff in the BOD wishes it can someday make it out onto the Shelf of Doom) until the Manx was reissued, when I realized that I could prolly pirate the front suspension stuff from a new Manx kit and still build the Manx as its lack wouldn't be readily apparent under the body.

I'd been dreading solving the missing shock problem (those DO show, kinda, on a Manx so I need them in that kit), but this week I had a fit of industry and spent a couple mornings making a couple new shocks out of aluminum tubing, and then mounting the steering box and tie rod on the front suspension. What a nasty little bit of bidness that Manx front suspension is! There's no positive location for anything, and the fit and relationship of the various parts is casual to say the least. But I got everything kinda sorta in place and then welded it all good and proper with obscene amounts of superglue. It won't win any contests but it does now look satisfactorily "busy" and works toward the Prime Directive of this particular model, which is: Gitter Done.

Should be all downhill, more or less, from here. I have to scratchbuild the pedals and a handbrake but that shouldn't be too bad. I haven't 100% decided on a color for the thing but I'm leaning toward Olive Drab, the idea being this poor little backbirth was built on a shoestring budget in somebody's back yard or garage and painted with paint from a Surplus Store, possibly even from rattlecans. Come to think of it, that's not too far from the story of this model, too.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Snake45

[frozono]

Nice job on the suspension!

[TFchronos]

Cool project!

[hjracing]

Great start! I'll keep an eye on this one!

[MsDano85gt]

great scratchbuilding! love me some scratch work! coming along nicely

[Jaguar man 21]

Good start

[PatW]

Go for it Snake, you'll be pleased when it's done!

[Snake45]

The mood finally struck me to scratchbuild the missing pedals, using the kit Manx part as a guide. Was so pleased to get the five piece made that I ended up gluing the gas pedal on backwards. Oh well, it actually fits better that way, and I'm not ripping the assembly apart--or doing it all again--to fix it. It'll have to do.

Scratchbuilt a hand brake, too, out of sheet styrene and carved plastic rod.

Pedals and handbrake installed, looking properly "busy."

Those pesky fiddly details out of the way, I cleaned the flash and molding lines off the rear suspension arms and shocks, and reinstalled them and the rear roll bar. And then, for the first time in more than 40 years, the little thing can sit on its own wheels again. I think it's time to squirt some paint, before the front roll bar and steering column are installed, which will almost certainly impede painting. More to come....

[bobthehobbyguy]

Looking good . Nice job on the scratchbuilt pieces.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Firestone Supremes, my favorite tires

[Snake45]

Gave the basic chassis a squirt of paint yesterday—Model Master Olive Drab. While that dried, I tore the engine apart, scraped hideous amounts of ancient tube glue off it, filed away mold marks and more glue, superglued it all back together, and squirted it black. While all that was drying, I went exploring in the Snakepit and managed to discover the original kit's other two Cragar wheels, and its big sand tires. Amazing!

Looks better now in OD than it did in its original black and gold, dontcha think? Those sand tires look almost comically large, like a farm tractor or something. Maybe they'll look better after they're properly painted. We'll see.

[slusher]

Solid start looks good..

[MeatMan]

Nice start. the rear tires look large compared to the front wheels but not for a dune buggy. To me anyway. If you're mudding or running in a desert race I don't think they'd be too large. Have fun!

[Snake45]

Start? START?? All the hard work is done. This thing is at least 80% finished. Maybe 90%. Should be all downhill from here. (Oh, how many times have I said that? Reminds me of a woman I used to work for. Give her any job and she would complete 90-95% of it in 20% of the timeframe allotted. The remaining 5-10% would never be completed at all.)

[Snake45]

I know it doesn't look like it, but this is another four or five hours work.

I can't seem to get the front roll bar struts to line up with anything, especially working around my scratchbuilt and slightly oversized pedals. Oh well, I have some plastic rod of the same diameter so I can made some that will fit somewhere when the glue dries on what I've got nailed in there now.

Much of the new effort went into the engine. One of the original intake manifolds and carbs was missing, no hope of finding such a tiny part. So I swiped the smallish carbs (with air cleaners) from a Revell '29 A truck, and made manifolds for them with some .045” Evergreen rod and a handy .045” drill. Good enough. Cleaned the old glue and flash and ejector pin marks off the original headers, and remounted them. THAT was a nasty little job, and I said a bad word. Several times. Drilled out the exhaust. When the pipes are good and dry, I'll touch up the “welds” with some more superglue and then touch up the welds with flat white paint. Engine finished, and I'd been dreading it.

[Snake45]

Finished! Off to the Under Glass section with it. More photos there soon.