Insane Model Builder

F/C Body...final fit

2010-03-15T05:00:00.007-05:00

I have finally reached a point on the chassis and motor where I have to call it done. During final paint and assembly I'll probably add a few more details, but I have to draw a line somewhere and this is it. All the work I've done in the last year or so has been the toughest part and I feel I need to move on before I go freakin' nuts!!!!

This is the first time that I've gotten a really good look at the entire model in one piece. The body has been stored in the back room for a long time and somehow, in the back of my mind, it had grown to a much larger project than it really is. Now that it's all together and sitting in the middle of the room, it doesn't seem so intimidating.

I'm currently making a lot of minor adjustments to the chassis and body to get the right stance. I'm also taking a lot of reference pics and measurements for the sheetmetal work inside the body and cockpit area. There are also several cardboard mockups that need to be made for the rear spoiler, rocker panel extensions, windshield and side windows.

You gotta love this shot.....................!

As always, comments and suggestions are always welcome....Mike

Plumbing the fuel lines.....

2010-03-02T14:12:00.010-06:00

After finishing some other projects I've been sidetracked with over the winter, I'm back to making F/C parts.

The fuel lines are made from solid copper wire and Brass fittings, then covered with braided tubing. After all the parts are bent, fit in place and covered with braiding, everything is soldered together. All the fittings will be painted Red and Blue and the braiding will get a light coat of paint to keep it from tarnishing.

Although the braiding seems to be little bit out of scale, I'm very satisfied with the overall look........................................

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.........Mike

Loose ends.....

2009-11-12T04:06:00.004-06:00

The last week or so, I've been going back and tying up a lot of loose ends that I have been neglecting. I finished building the front axle bearings which are a simple brass sleeve over the proper size bolt that fits through the spindle. Because of this, the center caps and dust covers were made to attach to the outside of the wheel instead of going through the center. This seemed to be the simplest way short of machining an actual spindle.

The center caps were cut on the lathe from a piece of Oak. After prime and paint, they were temporarily held in place with a few spots of silicone. These will be removable in case I need to pull the wheels back off.....as a side note, I've been building this type of stuff for years and I'm still amazed at how nice these little parts look after paint.....

I'm quite happy with the end result...........

Details on the engine are coming along nicely. I'm in the process of adding lots of functional hardware that holds the engine parts together. Valve cover bolts and things of that nature are drilled, tapped and threaded, and the threads are then hardened with thin C/A, works great!

Random construction pics...no rhyme or reason, just some cool pics..

2009-11-07T05:12:00.013-06:00

As always....comments and suggestions are welcome...Mike

Recent fabrication....

2009-10-30T20:25:00.010-05:00

The throttle linkage has all been soldered up, and it works too!!!...lotsa time in those pieces

All parts are still a little rough at this point and will need some more lovin' before final paint.

Brass throttle pedal

Oil pressure gauge

Gauge temporarily mounted, waiting for wiring.

Brake handle and master cylinder.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome....Mike

"Carving the Chutes"..woodcarving 101

2009-10-24T02:41:00.007-05:00

I'm asked quite often, "how do you make all these parts". The Parachutes are a real good example of how a typical, simple, block style piece is made. The valve covers, bugcatcher scoop, and several similar parts were all made in the same fashion, although a little bit more complicated, the basic principal is the same. This is basic woodcarving, and is probably my favorite type of method.

In the photo below you'll notice that most of these parts break down into very basic shapes. More often than not, the basic shape is formed and pieces are added to the main structure to build it up, which is quite the opposite of carving out the entire shape. The Blower is a good example of this. The smallest inside shape was carved first, and all the other shapes like the ribs, bottom and top decks, front and back plates, and other small details were added to the main part to build it up to the final structure. Every part can be broken down to a very basic shape. The Bugcatcher Scoop was carved from a single piece of Basswood with the only part being added to it was the thin leading edge that makes up the opening on the front.

The Chutes start out as a simple block of Basswood cut to overall size. Using a hand chisel, the basic shape is carved out.

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The next step is to make a couple relief cuts to add some depth and to give it the appearance of the flaps folded together

Next, the random folds are carved and sanded. Anytime that I'll be making more than one part, I work both pieces at the same time to ensure that I end up with somewhat identical pieces.

Here, both parts have been shaped, sanded, and are ready for the first coats of high build Primer. As a side note, I'll sometimes seal the part first with a clear Lacquer or automotive urethane before priming, depends on the piece...

Several coats of Primer have been applied with some minor spot putty to fill in a few imperfections, and they're almost ready for paint.......In the end, I'll add some Brass rings and the ripchords to finish them up.....

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome....thanks, Mike

F/C: Update..It's not always fun

2009-10-20T02:55:00.011-05:00

The last several months have been a real challenge, and my inspiration has been at an all time low. I've run into a lot of minor, but very time consuming problems that are inherit to scaling up such a large project from such a small reference piece. After a lot time and aggravation,I've managed to work out most of these setbacks and I'm really getting fired up about it again, and making some great progress!!!

Most of the work right now is adding details to the engine and cockpit area. Lots of plumbing, wiring, linkages, handles, gauges and cool hardware!! This is really the fun part of building this type of model. The more detail I add, inspires me to add more detail...(I guess that makes sense!)...

My goal at this point is to get the engine ready for paint. Most of the detail work needs to be completed at this point before final finish. I also keep running into problems with reference material. Although there is a lot of photos of these older cars, the picture quality is lacking to say the least, and minor details are hard to find. But, I keep moving forward knowing that I can always revisit any overlooked details in the future.

When I'm building parts, each one is finished to the point of "almost" ready for paint, which means its basically "one more" coat of primer away from being painted. After all the basic detail is added, the entire engine will be disassembled for final finish, then reassembled literally like a kit!!!

I'll be posting updates more frequently in the coming months. As always...comments and suggestion are welcome, Thanks Mike

Cockpit

2009-03-05T04:28:00.001-06:00

Building the Cockpit was an interesting project. I'll occasionally use polished Aluminum were it seems practical, it really adds a lot to the overall look. On the downside, over time it will need to be cleaned and polished, but I think I can live with that.......

The seat was hand formed out of flat stock. Six individual pieces were cut, formed, drilled, and riveted. It was then hand polished, which nicely compliments the steering column. I will eventually sew up a Leather seat cover, which should be very cool...

The steering wheel was also cut from flat stock, drilled, bent, and polished. The hand grips were carved from hardwood, stained, then attached with Brass rivets which adds a nice little touch. The steering column is made completely from wood and painted.

People often confuse the Fire Extinguisher with a Nitrous bottle, seems back then it pointed directly at the driver.....The bottle was turned on the lathe, the straps were cut from aluminum then bent to shape. The gauge was a simple painted wooden disk.

There are still some parts I need to fabricate...foot pedals, brake handle, and harness.....

......starting to look like a race car.....

"Blower Belt"

2009-03-01T05:32:00.000-06:00

I had been wondering how I was gonna make the Blower Belt since the beginning of this project. If I could've just bought one of these I would've......pretty slim chance of that......

I started by forming a piece of PVC around the pulleys using a heat gun to bend it to shape. This is much easier said than done.....The seam was connected using a piece of scrap PVC, which would later be ground off. With the Belt in place, I started adding the wooden blocks. Because the tolerances of the slots in the pulleys weren't exact, each one was fit individually....(this was a pain in the ass)........Once these were done, I was able to slide it off the pulleys and add the rest of the blocks. It was then sprayed with a few coats of liquid rubber, it turned out great......

Taking the Belt on and off is a challenge....the slots have to be lined up perfectly like a keyway.........it's an exact fit......

F/C "Hemi" random pics

2009-02-21T03:31:00.013-06:00

I dont think I can explain how I built the motor.......it's made completely from wood with a few exceptions.....I'm steady adding details to it, should be ready for paint before too long....

Almost every piece is built to come apart for final finish, then reassembled..............................

Approximate size without the Headers: 14"t x 12"w x 12"l.....overall width is 28"

"Battleship Trailer"

2009-02-20T04:18:00.003-06:00

I started this project with absolutely no plan whatsoever. All I really new was that it had to fit the boat and it had to roll. It turned out to be a beautiful piece of work that is also quite functional.

Using 1 1/4" angled steel I welded up a rectangular shape to fit the length and width of the boat. At this point I was thinking basic boat trailer. I robbed the go cart tires and wheels from another project and welded up an Axle with carrier bearings to make it roll. Plywood formers were cut to fit the contour of the Hull. During a particular evening of Beer drinkin', my buddy Bob and I were kicking around the idea of making some fenders......"Lets build some out of Aluminum"......okay..

Using flat aluminum stock we cut three pieces for each fender. The side pieces were the dia. that we needed, and the width was tack welded to the sides to create the shape of the fender. This was as far as we got. It was now a functioning trailer that I could move around while I continued work on the boat itself. This is how it sat for a couple of years.........When I finally found the inspiration to finish it, there was quite a bit of Aluminum welding still to be done. Although I welded the entire framework for the trailer, I don't have the equipment or the knowledge to do Aluminum. Not too many people are capable of this type of work, even if they say they are....From start to finish, four different people welded on these fenders before they were complete..........

The next step was to do the finish work.....this is were everything changed.....after a week of grinding, sanding and polishing, these fenders were as slick as a piece of jewelry!!!...Now I'm getting a glimpse of how cool this trailer can be. All the welds on the trailer were ground and finished, then prepped for paint. I chose the bright red to contrast with the dreary grays that the ship is painted. After all the finish work was complete, it was reassembled with stainless hardware, then hand pinstriped and lettered to add some finishing touches to it.

I'm always amazed at how these projects tend to take on a life of their own once they're started. In the beginning, I never imagined this to be anything more than a simple boat trailer.....needless to say I am quite surprised with the end result........

"Structural components"

2009-02-17T05:09:00.014-06:00

As this project progressed I realized there were some areas that were going to carry most of the weight of the car. The bracket that holds the body to the chassis, and the front axle needed to be much stronger than anything I could have built from wood. In this case, I decided to use steel tubing for strength, and to keep a somewhat scale appearance.

I built the front axle from wood as a mockup to give me some kind of idea what it would take to build it with the necessary structural integrity. After some trial and error, I settled on 3/4" steel tubing. Instead of trying to bend the tubing, it was much easier to cut all the pieces and then simply weld them together. All the welding on these parts was done by my buddy Bob, who, when he's not "shuckin' corn" is one of the best fabricators that I know.....

The rear bracket was made from 1/4" brake line and was much more complicated. I built several jigs for theses parts because of the number of pieces that were required. The two side pieces were made first by laying all the parts in a jig and tack welding everything together. The finished pieces were then placed in another jig to add all of the cross bracing. Once I had a good solid structure, all the welds were ground and finished with bondo to achieve a very slick looking bracket with plenty of strength. After a few test fittings everything was primed and painted to match the chassis........

F/C "Building the Body"

2009-02-16T03:48:00.001-06:00

Building the body was quite a project. I've never done anything like this before, and I really had no idea how to go about it. What I did know was that I would be able to build the sides flat and then temporarily connect them together with frame work that would later be removed. If I got that far I figured that I could add everything else to the initial frame work....maybe...

I started with an outline of the side of the body, they were cut from 3/16 birch ply and clamped flat. My biggest obstacle was to create the horizontal body line. I laid a stringer the length of the body were the line should be. I then made another flat outline of the side and cut it down the center where the body line would be. These pieces were then glued over the stringer and to the first outline to form a shallow v shape that would create the body line. Once I had this shape, I was confident I could add the rest of the body.

The two side panels were then held together with some basic framework to keep everything square while I built the rest of the body. Next came the front end and the hood. This was some pretty straight forward wood working. The front end was a lot of simple shapes added to a flat piece that held the front fenders together. The Hood was bent over some more temporary framework that would later be removed. The top of the fenders were boxed in next to tie everything together. These parts were really a lot of fun to make, I had no major problems, and the front end was looking good beyond my expectations.

A lot of cardboard mockups were used to create the roofline. More temporary framework was added to keep the proper height while the plywood was bent to make the roof.

Lots of clamping and gluing here!!!....With all the framework and clamps still in place, the front Pillars were added. These were made out of 1/8" aluminum for strength, screwed to the roof and hood and later covered with wood.

From this point on, everything else is just simple fill work.

I've still got a lot of shaping and body work to do at this point. The roofline is a little flat, but will be filled and shaped to get a nice shallow curve. The frontend is a little blocky yet and will be shaped and streamlined to give it a good smooth look.

I still need to add the lower back quarter panels, spoiler, and some aluminum pieces to extend the lower rocker panels. The windows will be made of plexiglass of course. There will be quite a bit of work on the inside also, lots of tin work and scale tubing from the firewall to the nose. At this point I couldn't be happier with it, there's still a lot of work to be done before final paint, but I feel its all downhill from here................

F/C paint scheme

2009-02-15T08:00:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about the final paint scheme for a long time.....Although I used the Jungle Jim kit as my scale reference, I'm still not sure which way I want to go with it. The Vega body style was quite popular in the early 70's and they are all very cool.

The JJ scheme has some great artwork and gold leaf lettering, and was also a rather famous car that most people recognize. I've already painted the chassis metallic blue so I'm somewhat limited to what I can do, and this would be the logical choice. I have also noticed in my reference photos that there is a lot of subtle changes in the artwork through time. Most photos show the cartoon character with what appears to be a beer mug in his hand, sometimes its mysteriously not there?......

Maybe it was an issue with sponsors.........I dunno?.......

This car is baddass, I like it a lot........I've noticed the bubbles on the front fenders of most of these cars, I plan on adding them to mine regardless of the final scheme, I could use the clearance. Since this is not an exact scale project, I'm kind of pickin' an choosin' what I like from a lot of different cars....

I don't know much about this car......but I like it.....in the end I'll probably go with a scheme people will recognize......maybe..... comments are welcome.

F/C...Rearend

2009-02-11T12:48:00.000-06:00

The rear end is one of my favorite pieces on this entire project. It was rather complicated to build, but the end result was more than I had hoped for.

Basic construction started with a piece of 1" dowel rod. The main housing was several pieces of pine cut to a rough diameter and then slid onto the dowel and glued into place. The next step was to turn it on the lathe to get the correct size and taper. The front and rear housing were simple blocks that were added after the lathe work was complete.

Once I was happy with the initial shape, the structural work was added. This is were it got somewhat tricky. Each piece was cut and fit individually, the half rounds on the rear of the housing are dowel rods that were split in half. There was an enormous amount of body work on this part. Epoxy and small amounts of Bondo were used to smooth everything out and create the appearance of machined housing. The bolts were added after all the final sanding was done. I wish I had snapped a few pic's before this piece was painted to show the work that was involved.

The brackets that hold the housing in place are fairly simple parts. The first halve of the bracket slides onto the axle, the outside ring captures both the bracket and the mounting point on the frame. All of the major components are designed to come apart since the entire car is built and assembled first, then disassembled for Body and Paint work.

The final piece is beautiful......................

Battleship...building the hull

2009-02-10T02:07:00.000-06:00

Years of building R/C airplanes has taught me many techniques to build structures light, strong and simple. This hull was built very much like an airplane fuselage, 2 halves that would eventually be fit together to form a single structure. Keep in mind that this is the first boat that I've ever built. I was more concerned with strength than weight through this entire project realizing a lot of ballast would be needed in the end to make it sit right in the water, and I might as well have a good solid hull since I'm gonna fill it full of lead anyway. I also wanted to end up having a big fun boat that anybody could drive without worry of putting a big hole in the bottom of it.

I drew up some simple plans to determine the size and shape that I wanted. 3/16 Birch plywood was used for most of the structure.

First the Keel and the rest of the outline was laidout. I made a pattern for each former to gradually get the shape of the hull that I thought would look right. While all the formers were temporarily in place, I laid marks to notch them for the Stringers that were to follow. After the formers were notched, they were all glued in place.

As a side note, I tend to fabricate anything that I can instead of paying for over priced wood at the hobby store. I always seem to have more time than money, so if I gotta spend a Saturday afternoon cutting my own stock, that's what I do. Besides, that what these projects are all about, building things from scratch. Sometimes it's just not practical, but I'll usually make anything that I can.

I decided to cut all the stringers that I would need. Using 3/4" White Pine, I ripped a large pile of 1/4"x1/4"x4' stringers. This is a little dangerous but if you can have a buddy on the other side of the saw helping with the feed it goes pretty quick. My Table saw is an old Sears and Roebuck that a friend of mine found in an alley years ago, as far as I can tell its from the early 40's, you cant get parts for it anymore, it has none of the modern safety features, its dangerous, but it will cut 1/8" stock all day long.

Laying all the stringers is a little tricky, this is some real wood bendin' here. Clamps and Tie wraps were used to keep things in place while the glue setup.

Once all the stringers were in place, I wanted to do some fill work to the very bottom of the hull in case of some log jumping or driving it up on the bank!!

On the very front and bottom I used Aspen to fill, which is a beautiful wood that is somewhere between a hard and soft wood. It added a lot of strength and is fairly easy to work. On the large open area of the bow I used hard balsa to fill and shape.

The next step was to sheet the entire structure using 1/8" liteply. Wetting the sheeting was needed to get it to bend around all the curves. I want to add here that the entire structure needs to be clamped down flat during sheeting to prevent warping......

Once both halves were completed, they were joined together, shaped, sanded and fiberglassed to form a very strong hull. I cut all my own stock up to this point except for the 1/8" liteply. I believe I dropped about $150. on sheeting at the hobby store.........anybody know where I can get one of them there fancy sheeting cutters?????

Headers...more wood bendin'

2009-02-09T03:58:00.000-06:00

A common misconception is that I spend a lot of my time "bendin' wood"....although it's possible, it's not very practical in most situations. There's usually a simple solution to most problems. All of these projects are in the back of my mind regardless of what I'm working on, and there might be several different way to go about it. My attitude is "I guess I'll figure it out when I get to that point".

Tubing or PVC is the most logical solution, and that's what I ended up using on the dragster. In the end it was the best way to go, however, bending plastic presents it own set of problems.

With the F/C I really wanted to use as much wood as possible, within reason. It's just a personal preference, but on the other hand I'll use whatever it takes to get the job done in the end.

After some trial and error, I settled on dowelrod. Each tube consisted of two separate pieces of wood. After both lengths were cut, a 45 degree angle was made on each end. A quick jig was built to ensure that all the tubes were exactly the same when glued up. After all 8 pieces were done, another vertical jig was built to drill the short end of the tube. This was quite tricky!

In hindsight, I should've drilled the ends before the two pieces were joined. After several test pieces, I was fairly confident I could drill them without screwing up the entire tube. Using a large Paddle Bit, each piece was drilled as deep as possible without breaking the thin tubing that remained. I decided that 1" was deep enough. A good jig was really important here as a little bit of slop would've been disastrous. After the drilling was complete, a layer of 5 min. epoxy was applied to strengthen the thin wall of the tube.

The next step was to create the curve in the bends. At this point the tube looks like a letter L. The outside corner was ground down to the determined radius, then the inside corner was filled with scrap wood and Bondo to complete the bend.....pretty simple huh?

Another jig was built to hold all the tubes in place to the shape of the final header. The short ends were glued together, and the long ends were marked to cut at the correct angle. The mounting plate was added last to make it a strong structure.

Bending PVC creates another set of problems, the worst being that the bend wants to collapse in on itself. After quite a bit of trial and error, I ended up putting a piece of large electrical wire inside the tube, heating it to the point of failure, then putting it in a jig while it was still hot. This works only if you can get the wire back out after its cooled down. Liquid dish soap turned out to be the best solution. Later on I read a technique were the tube is filled with sand, capped on both ends and then bent. Seems like it should work, but I haven't tried it yet. The rest of it was built basically like the F/C headers.

My next try will probably be a crazy set of collectors for the 34' coupe. The sand filled tube idea might work well in this situation.

Funny Car...building the chassis

2009-02-08T02:50:00.000-06:00

The chassis was scaled up from a 1/16 scale kit and was built very much like a real one. The front bottom frame rails were my starting point, and everything else was built using this as my reference. The bottom rails were laid first using shims to get the correct angle on the back half. The top rails were built next using jigs and shims to keep everything square, straight and true. Once these were built, all the vertical and angled braces were added. The jigs were kept in place until the entire chassis was completed, this is important to keep from ending up with a twisted or warped structure.

My technique for joining all the pieces is very simple but quite effective. Each piece is cut to length, then a small radius is sanded on the ends to make for a tight fitting joint, just as if they were going to be welded. Satisfied with the fit, each piece is glued in place using 5 min. epoxy. This type of glue is very strong but has minimal penetration especially with hardwood. After all the bracing is added, each joint is drilled and pegged with 1/8" dowel rod. This makes for a very strong joint. It's very important to keep the chassis in the jig until this final step is completed.

The cage and rear hoop were added last. I'm asked quite often how do I bend dowel rod?.......my usual response is "with a wood bender"!!!........If you were to think about it for a few minutes, you would realize it's quite simple really. Each piece is cut out of flat stock of the appropriate thickness and then shaped to match the dowel rod. I might also add that grain direction is important here to keep structural integrity. On the larger radius's, three pieces were butt glued running the grain lengthwise to avoid a tight curve that is cross grain with not much strength.

After the frame was completed, it was removed from the jig and all joints were reinforced with epoxy. Final finishing is quite time consuming. Every joint was ground, and then minor fill work with automotive bondo to smooth all the seams together. After all the fill work is done, prime and paint is done just like metal would be finished. Final paint was done using automotive basecoat/clearcoat. The finished frame was well beyond my expectations, and it looks just like a miniature steel chassis..........

now........where's my wood bender at??..........

1/4 scale Dragster

2009-02-07T03:16:00.000-06:00

Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's my interest in drag racing and race cars was fueled by magazines, model kits, and car shows. The front engine dragster was still very popular, although the early 70's would eventually bring about some big changes, the FED was always my favorite. A lot of these old cars are being restored these days for nostalgia drags, Cacklefest, and similar events.

This car was my first attempt at a large scale static model. Although It's not my best effort, this seems to be the one that people like the most.

I've never been happy with it. I never completely finished it actually. At the time it seemed like an overwhelming project, an I was just happy to get it to the point where it looked liked a dragster. Detail is lacking even by my standards, the paint job has some issues that were never resolved, and there are a few parts that I never even bothered to fabricate. In the back of my mind I always thought I would go back to it, maybe redo the whole project. I also considered

using the major components to build a completely different car. In the end I'll probably just leave it be. I really would like to build another one but I think it would be best to start from scratch.

This car is the least documented of everything I've built. Mostly because I was building it just for the hell of it and I really had doubts about even finishing it.

It's an old friend that's been with me through a few moves, and some ups and downs. I almost sold it once, but couldn't bring myself to do it. So I guess I'll just leave it alone..... let it be what it is.........a cool old dragster.......

34 coupe

2009-02-05T13:55:00.000-06:00

This project has been in limbo for quite a while. It's 1/3 scale, but it's not an enormous model. Actually it's just about the right size, approx. 42" long. This is the only car that i considered using real go-cart tires on (happen to have them laying around). My original intent was to build a retro type prostreet, tubbed, blown, vintage 5 spoke wheels, 4 link suspension, bitchin' long tube headers and a bad attitude!!........

This car got pushed aside for some other projects, not for a lack of enthusiasm, but sometimes I get a little ahead of myself. When it came time to build the Battleship trailer, I needed real tires and wheels for the trailer since it actually gets put in the water. Needless to say, I snatched them badboys right off the coupe without a second thought!!! They were perfect for the trailer, and I don't regret it at all.......now, what to do with the coupe?.....it's been collecting dust for quite some time......... Then it came to me in a single flash of genius!!!!...........This will go a different direction than most of the cars I've built so far. The tires and wheels will be a set that I made for the F/C that were too small. They are much bigger than scale, but will definitely be way over the top!!! I'm gonna rebuild the motor, make it about 1/3 bigger than scale, give everything almost a cartoonish look, change the proportions of everything but the frame and body, finish it with old hotrod type primer, maybe even lean a little towards the ratrod look.....some bolts, rivets, maybe some bailing wire.....flying eyeballs, fuzzy dice.....straight pipes......and a big ol' bucket full of Bad Attitude!!!!!!

R/C Battleship twin trolling motors

2009-02-05T13:42:00.001-06:00

Although I have built and flown R/C airplanes for more than 20 years, I've never really been into R/C boats. In fact, this is the only boat that I've ever owned!! Our flying field is situated on a beautiful 20 acre lake, and occasionally a big group of the boat guys show up and its usually quite a party. The speed boats are a blast to watch, but I've always chose to be a spectator.

Somehow how or other the idea came up of a boat powered by a trolling motor. I ran across something similar on ebay, although rather crude, I was fascinated by the concept. Being an avid fisherman, I had access to several trolling motors to experiment with. After kicking it around for a while I settled on a older Shakespeare 606 wondertroll. Its a smaller motor, but has plenty of power. This was a motor that we used to fish with! It would easily move a small jonboat with two guys and all our necessary gear. Seemed like plenty of power. This was my starting point.

My original idea was to build a really big freakin' boat that was near indestructible, low on maintenance, and fun!!....something to throw in the water that just about anybody could drive.

After a couple quick sketches, I had my plan......a quick and easy project, not scale by any means, but a neat project nonetheless........of course it didn't go like that at all.......

The whole boat was designed around the motor. A simple vertical firewall on the bottom half of the hull. After I had the basic framework roughed out, it seemed there was room for a second motor!!!...I was against the idea at first, I was really trying to keep it simple. But after some thought I decided what the hell....I new where an identical motor was at, might as well go for it!

This is where it went from being simple to being a long term project. As it began to take shape, I just finally gave in and decided to let it be whatever it turns out to be. Its not a scale effort by any means, and that was never my intention. After doing lots of research on battleships in general, I came to the conclusion that none of the damn things are the same anyway, maybe the same class, but everyone of them are fitted different. So in the end I just decided to pick and choose whatever I liked from any type of ship. I'm quite happy with the end result, its different for sure. Only recently did I come across the original sketch that I made, and I was suprised how close they were.

So as construction progressed, I came to realize that its probably going to need its own trailer. Just moving it around my house became an ordeal. The final weight of the boat ready to float is going to be an easy 200 lbs. and probably more, so its going to have to load itself on and off the trailer in the water. Overall dimensions of the boat and trailer are approx. 7' long by 40" tall.

The trailer itself was almost as much of a project as the boat!!...I'll eventually post construction notes on both, the boat and trailer. I'm hoping for a maiden voyage this summer...bonvoyageee...or Bonjourno....or whatever they say??

Twice is one too many....

2009-02-05T04:15:00.000-06:00

I'm big on "mockups".....Whether its a simple cardboard cutout, or a complex design. A pattern is a little more work up front, but saves a lot time and work in the long run........

I hate doing things TWICE!!!

I had several scale related issues using the Revell kit as a reference. The most obvious being the tires and wheels. While some of it was certainly my own calculations, I'll lay most of the blame on the source.

I was never completely happy with the size of the tires on the dragster, but I could live with it, and never gave it much more thought after it was done. When I started on the wheels for the F/C, I built some mockups to eyeball the overall look and size, and this also allowed me to join all the major components together for the first time. Everything looked fine........kinda...

I had actually made the mockups slightly larger than the finished size. When I laidout the size for the final cut, I was using the tires from the kit for the overall dimensions.

Fast forward.....cut, turn, sand...............these are looking good!!!!!

The first time I put it all together I new something wasn't right. After some pretty simple calculations, I realized they were just too small, and there wasn't much I could do about it other than make another set.....damn...

I also started doing some more research on this era F/C, and found out they were still a year or so away from running a much larger tire. Seems that it was a major modification to the frame and cage to get a bigger tire in there. That didn't make me feel any better about it though.

As a side note....A good friend and fellow model builder talked me into using a different substrate called HDU. High Density Urethane Foam. I was against the idea from the very beginning.........

"I'm a woodworker for Christ sakes"

just think of the time you will save.......

" I don't care about time"

just think how light they will be......

"I don't care about weight, it don't have to fly!!"

here's a bunch of free stock, in case you change your mind......

"Hmmmm....okay, I'll try it"

Never again.....My shop looked like Daytona Beach by the time I was done turning them. When HDU is cut or sanded it's not sawdust its sand, and sand has a way of getting into everything! It also had some kind of weird reaction to the automotive primer that i used on them. It wasn't a chemical reaction, but the foam soaked in the solvents and bubbled up and did some weird stuff for quite a while.
It's not a complete loss though. I've got another project that just waiting for some oversized tires and wheels......I guess in the end I did save some time, and just think how light they'll be!!!!

"Tires and Wheels"

2009-02-04T03:51:00.000-06:00

Probably the most common asked question is...."where did you get those tires and wheels"!!!

well...I had to make em'.....

The back tires are 12"x6" and are made in one piece. I started by edge gluing 3/4 stock to form a 14"x14" blank. Each blank was rough cut to a slightly larger diameter than the finished size. A small center hole was drilled to fit the jig during lamination. A simple jig was built using a flat piece of stock with a dowel rod glued vertically to align each blank. All the blanks were stacked up, glued, and clamped with the dowel rod running through the center to keep them all aligned. Turned sideways, it looked like a big birthday cake!! After the glue cured, I cut the dowel rod flush with the stock, this will be my center point for the lathe.

This is where the fun starts!....This is a Huge piece to turn on the lathe. The blank was an inch or so bigger than my lathe bed, so I had to build some shims under it to get the clearance I needed. I probably oughta add here that my lathe is an old jalopy that doesn't have very good tolerances but somehow I manage to make it work....

WARNING!!!!......It takes some BIG KAHUNAS to turn something this big on a piece of crap lathe!!! Turning the outside dia. is not such a big deal.....gouging out the depth of the rim is very dangerous!! Because I had to shape both sides of the wheel and rim, the deepest part of the rim was done last so that I could keep both center points until I had the proper depth, and then the center was simply knocked out with a chisel. In all, I think I broke 3 different tools turning the back tires!!!!!

The front wheels were built basically the same way, but were much less dangerous. The treads were cut with a Dremel tool, the rivets and lug nuts were added after all the final sanding had been done.
The finishing is one of my coolest tricks......The black is real rubber!..Plast-i-dip makes a spray bomb that is spray on rubber, its a little hard to find, but the results are amazing. The lettering is hand cut and sprayed, the rims are painted with automotive 2 stage. I've got a lot to say about paints and finishes, but I'll save it for a future post

The front wheels for the dragster were a real pain in the ass!!! The wheels were cut from a solid piece of Maple, then shaped on the lathe. After turning the inital shape, the center portion of the wheel was cutout to allow for the center hub and spokes. A jig was built to keep the wheel and hub in position while the spokes were built. These were really a lot of work, but I was quite happy with the end result.

A few thoughts on scale models....or, "Why do i build em' so damn big"

2009-02-03T12:03:00.000-06:00

I"ll be the first to admit.. I'm NOT a SCALE model kinda guy!!!

There are some builders out there doing some incredible scale work. If you've never heard of Roger "Riceman" Lee, do a search and check out this guys work, its unbelievable!!!! As far as I'm concerned he sets the bar for small scale models. His reference and documentation are as good as it gets, and his craftsmanship is second to none.

Myself, I have always been more interested in the overall look and feel of a model, as opposed to the super scale finishing techniques. I've always approached it as more of an art project than a scale replica. Maybe I'm just lazy.....but from my point of view, these projects are overwhelming from the start, and I'm really not interested in spending the rest of my life on the same model (I'd rather have a couple cold beers)...... I guess I just like em big, seems to be a throwback to my R/C airplane days when Bigger was Better!!!!

So, my hat's off to all you super scale builders, keep up the good work.....

The Funny Car...a quick overview

2009-02-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

This is one of my current projects.....when I say current, what I really mean is......"I been working on this for 5 or 6 years and I hope to finish it before I freakin die!!!!!...In all honesty though, it hasn't taken 6 years to build it, because I tend to work on many different projects at the same time, one of them is usually on the workbench, so they all tend come along, although a little slow sometimes.

This model was scaled up from the 1/16 scale Revell kit "Jungle Jim". This was one of my favorite kits as a kid. There was a couple of reasons I picked this particular model to build. First off, I had a couple of kits already laying around, second, I honestly believe had I attempted something along the lines of say.. a 69' Camaro...I believe I would have failed!!! The Vega body is not as "swoopy" as a Camaro, and I was able to build the sides of the body flat, and then connect everything else from there. I also had a theory that if I built the chassis first, and I wasn't able to build the body, I would at the very least end up with a very cool Altered.

This thing is big man......1/3 scale, 6' long, 2 1/2' tall when its altogether. It lives in my living room and is constantly wanting some bench time! Most of the big, fun stuff is already done. There is a lot of minor problems to deal with at this point, so I can literally spend a week working on small problem areas with not much to show for it, but slowly and surely, it's coming along. I also should add that I had some problems with scale related issues with the Revell kit, but I'll leave that till I get into some of the construction aspects of this car....

"How it all began"

2009-02-03T04:05:00.000-06:00

I've always built models of some kind or other, since I was a young fella. As a kid, model car kits were fascinating, and really sparked my interest in race cars and hotrods. The box art probably had the biggest influence on me, which would later in life, help lead to my career as an automotive artist.

As a young man, I also developed a love for wood working. I had an uncle that was quite a handyman and tinkerer, kind of a jack of all trades. He exposed me to a lot of different tools and basic carpentry skills, but he also had a knack for wooden type crafts, fun stuff for his kids, or things to sell at craft shows. Eventually he gave me my first Bandsaw (which I still have today) and that saw opened up a whole new world. I still have vivid memories of Saturday afternoons in his garage, cutting, sanding, painting, learning new things. To this day, I can get lost in a project, a whole weekend will fly by, and nothing else seems to matter except the project I'm working on.

As my skills progressed, I also began dabbling in wood carving. I had the opportunity to work with a company that mainly did work for some of the larger amusement parks. This was my first exposure to professional wood working, carving, and paint work. These guys were were real craftsmen, their standards were exceptionally high, and this envirorment raised the bar for me to a much higher level.

As a creative person, I seem to always be looking for a new challenge. Slowly, All these different skills began to merge.....enter the R/C Airplane!!!!...... This hobby combines every possible skill that a craftsman could possess, wood working, finishing techniques, mechanical skills, engineering, and a strong understanding of basic aviation. For almost 10 years I was consumed with this hobby. Eventually though, the kit building got old, the creativity was lacking. With model airplanes, your just at a different level than the next guy, not to mention crashing a very large expensive aircraft that you spent hundreds of hours working on. I'm not going to get too deep into the R/C aspect, because that's not the point of this Blog, but It was very important schooling to all my projects that are to follow. I still build aircraft occasionally, and still love to fly, but my creative drive keeps me constantly looking for a new challenge.

During the height of my R/C days, An older gentleman walked into my shop to inquire about some paint work. He had a 1/4 scale sprint car built completely from wood, and needed some minor lettering done on different areas. Although it was rather crude, I really liked the idea of a very large wooden car model. Through the years I had seen a lot of wooden toy type vehicles, but most were built with kids in mind, and the finish work was usually clear polys or stains to show off the beauty of the wood working. I'm a painter by trade, so it doesn't bother me in the least to prime and paint a beautiful piece of wood.

This idea stayed in the back of my mind for several years until I finally decided to try and build a static 1/4 scale dragster. My first effort wasn't my best, but I learned a lot, which set in motion several other large models which I'm still working on today.

Through the years, I came to realize that these models are rather special, and somewhere, years from now, hopefully someone else will end up with these in there collection. The main purpose of this blog is to somewhat chronicle these projects, so that in the future there will be some kind of record of how and why these models were built.