The 2013 Automotive Group Build

Wow Dre thats intense!

So..   I spent a good part of Easter Sunday making the 8 wheels for my monster.

First, I traced the outer diameter and the inner hub diameter onto thick stock for cutting purposes, 2 pieces per tire.   Because of the sandwich-type construction of these tires, I had to remove the center of each slab for hub clearance, otherwise I'd have done it much more simply.

then I tediously drilled out the center sections so they could be removed- I wish there was an easier method than this!   After I got all that sorted, I just glued the slabs to the tire halves and began work on the hubs themselves.   (I did keep all the little starburst shapes from the centers- those will become sunflowers at a later date!!)

Since widening the tires affects the location of the mounting hubs and tire offset, I had to make some corrections to the hubs.   A small length of flexible rod glued into place is the fix here... these are hidden inside so there's no worries on the sloppy appearance.

After everything had some time to cure, I went back with a Dremel power tool and used a coarse grit sanding drum to grind off all the excess white plastic, flatten the tire's profile and generally rough them up.   A follow-on sanding with a finer grit sandpaper and then a wash with MEK to soften and blend grind/cut marks was all thook to finish that part off.   At some point in here I cut grooves into the tires- that was boring.

I went on to add a 1/16" strip of thin plastic stock to the rim to act as a protective measure and that's that for the wheels (and a Sunday afternoon).   I need to biuld 2 more to hang as spares.

Stay tuned for the next unscheduled installment.

It does look interesting, doesn't it. Good work too on the trailer Greentracker. That does look like a big job.

I've got the clear coats on my Ferrari F186, and I'm happy with them for once. It should polish up quite nice I think. It looks just the same as the last photos though, so I haven't bothered to take more.

I've also continued tidying up the white metal and resin parts of the the rear wing, engine and rear suspension.

I'll be offline until mid April now, hopefully we'll see lots of progress in the next couple of weeks with your projects.

Cheers

Tony

There you go! This should be interesting!

Okay I think I have the trailer ready to be assembled. I used sheet styrene and it had to put on in 3 different pieces. That was a lot of sanding. the piece in the forground is the floor/bottom of the trailer. It's 25 1/2 inches long which converts to 53' in 1/25 scale.

I've got to do some shopping for more tube stock and other styrene this weekend before I can start cutting sprues and making a mess.

This is the kit that is getting the 'treatment'.....

I have some leftover ideas from another conversion that I'm going to use on this build- I'll either rebuild the kit wheels into wider offroad tires, or I'll source some AM tires to use.   I'll also beef up the suspension components for a more rugged look.

this is the heart of the project.. (parts from another 234 build)

Shimmed kit tires from another build, but I can do the same thing here but to a more aggressive degree

I'll also use this method to beef up the leaf springs if I decide to use them instead of another idea..

although I think I may go with a coil-over shock tower at each wheel...   time for scratchbuilding fun!

Again, these photos are of parts for something else, but used to illustrate some of the ideas and directions I'll be going off in.

Hi Dre,

There are no such things as late joiners in this GB. Welcome to the show and I've updated the build roster. It sounds like this might be entertaining.

EWheeler  -  i like your bug. There is some chance you might  encourage me to do one later on.

No progress on the Ferrari F186, been a bit slack these last few days :(

Cheers

Tony

I took a break from the Nova to start on the VW. Here it is in primer. I have a few areas to smooth out that showed up after the primer went on.

I'm a late joiner to this GB, and I have a monster in mind for my entry: a heavily modified civilian 8-wheeled rock crawler/mud buggy based on the old German WWII Sd.Kfz 234 series of AFV's.

I'll be using a Dragon 1/35 kit for the lower hull and some parts, but I'll have to mod the suspension, create a scratched interior and a ton of roll bars and nerf bars.

Also, and here's the most important part---  I have no idea what I'm doing!  Stay tuned....

Thanks Trey.

Formula car is lookin' mighty sharp Tony. :)

Looks like we have almost every genera of cars out there. Awesome builds going on!

Tony: Ahhhh....that explains a lot!   Looks good so far.

Ferrari actually changed the red they used on their F1 cars in 1996, to a fluoro pink that is quite similar to the colour seen in my photos. I can remember being quite stunned by it when seeing it for the first time at practice for the Australian Grand Prix in 1996, the first race of the season and the first race in Melbourne. They retained this colour through 11 years to the end of the 2006 season. They weren't that fast until Michael Schumacher started his run of five world championships in a row, in 2000. THen they changed it to a darker metallic red for a couple of years before returning it to something similar to the original colour, which is my preference. I made a note of it for this year when I attended practice for this year's race a few days ago.

Anyway, the decals are on the body, now I'll let them dry thoroughly before some clear coats and polishing. In the meantime, I've been working on the radiators and the remainder pieces of the front suspension. I'll keep going with the rear wing, which is an ugly, lumpy piece of white metal at the moment, and rear suspension with engine after that. The annoying pink colour is still present in the photos, I might take the next set outdoors and see if I can improve the lighting.
The decals had some fibrous material stuck to them from the (wax?) paper protecting sheet that was originally over them. In my experience, this has always come of easily as soon as they are wetted, but in this case it was difficult to remove and required some determined rubbing. Where I could, I used alternative decals from the spares box. There are still a couple of patches of it that I will need to have another go at.


Cheers
Tony

Ewheeler Nova is looking sharp!

Tony I first saw the color before I read that the camera was making it look pink and thought wow if you're racing a pink car you better be fast! Looking good!

Thanks for the info Randy, you learn something new on these forums every day.  I thought it looked Monogramish, but had never heard of it.

Here is the latest on the Ferrari F186. The colour is Tamiya TS Italian Red. It looks nothing like the pink hue that my digital camera has come up with. It's a classic Ferrari red, which is correct for this car.

Cheers

Tony

Tony this kit is made by DTR in Iowa they make repops of old dirt car kits. This kit is a Monogram copy righted 1967. They are worth checking out if you like the vintage dirt cars and they do have good prices and a great selection of cars too. Their site is www.dirtracecars.com

As for the chassis in the back ground its a late 70s Maxwell sprint car chassis in 1/24 scale. I have been drawing the older ones because I dont like just building gamblers all the time and to build an older car they just dont look right soooo. I drew this one a while back and a friend had it 3D printed.

Hi Randy

That's an interesting model you've got there, please feel welcome to join.

I'll update the build roster now..

Who makes the kit, I've never seen one of these before.

Last question - what's the red roll cage in the background of the last photo ?

Cheers

Tony

Taxtp might I join in with an Edmunds Super Modified ?? I started it a month or so ago but still have a ways to go. Here is the box art.

To the engine I added volocity stacks, plug wires, in the correct firing order LOL, fuel and water lines.

And here is the body with the base color on.

Dogfish: Thanks.

pyrman: The color is Model Master Dark Red Metallic Flake. And the dash and bed are looking good.

Tony: Thanks also. The Ferrari looks almost like a jet hehehehe.

EWheeler, that Nova is looking really nice. I like your work on the engine.

Greg, your GMC is coming along too. The dash and interior look great.

Are a LOT of work, I've finally primed the body of the Ferrari F186. I've been working diligently on it every night, I guess there is just a lot of work marrying the white metal front wing and front suspension to the resin body. It's pretty as a picture now.

I might give it one more go before a light sand and some Ferrari red, then I hope it'll come to life.

Cheers

Tony

Well, I made a lil progress on the `77 GMC overnight......

The seat, I thought I'd add a bit of color on the 4WD shifter

The cab interior, still need to add the radio, siren and plow controls

Here's the partially completed cargo bed  

As always, comments encouraged.

EW: love the body color....nice work on the engine.

Very nice work on your Nova!

Hey all,

I did make some progress with the Nova.

Also, is there a way to delete a NEW POST?? I accidentally hit that and it made another thread outside of this that I didn't want to do.

Interior is done. This kit didn't have a lot of detail in the interior so I didn't spend much time on it.

I still have some body work to do which I'm hoping knock a dent in this weekend. I am visiting my mother tomorrow and my older brother has a 69 Chevelle kit he s going to give hehehehe.

Welding the custom exhaust. Why they stick them under the doors is beyond me hehehehe.

Ken - I won't go looking for your Lightning. It's a bummer when it doesn't quite work out. Anyway, welcome back.

I've been busy mounting the front suspension to the body of my Ferrari F186. White metal to resin, poor fit, very hard to clean up and make a nice smooth job. I think I'm getting close now and have also attached the front wing. I'll post some photos later.

Cheers

Tony

Hey Everyone,

I just finished up a P 38 for a couple of other builds. Please don't look at it. I'm not happy with how it turned out.There were jsut too many problems with it. Some my fault and others beyond my control. I will be doing it over. I'm thinking of an Academy kit for it.

Anywho, I am now able to spend more time on the Camaro and the semi trailer for this build, as well as a P 47 for the other builds.

The Camaro and the trailer still look the same as I've been working on a high gloss finish for the Camaro and getting the Trailer sides finished so I can start putting it together.

Building a 1/32(?) scale Lamborghini Countach with my 8 year old son. It is a long out of production, snap together model kit molded in a neon clear orange color. He wanted to paint it and chose gold from my paint collection. I had to convince him to leave the tires black or else they would be gold too.

The undercarriage is still in the original color. We'll hit it with some spray later.

That resin is looking tasty !!!

S27 Ferrari F186 update
I fitted the louvered vent cover last night. Lots of CA around it to fair it in as the gaps were significant within the recess for it.
Cheers
Tony

Yes. Thanks Greg. It is so very nice to see the diversity of builders here! Great bunch of builds going on!