"Unsafe @ Any Speed"

[wisdonm]

This is a Corvair matchracer from the late '60s. Basically, too much is not enough. So I'm going to combine a Corvair and the Hurst Hairy Olds. I call this build Unsafe @ Any Speed.





The first thing that I did was narrow the track 12 scale inches, by removing two six inch wide strips from the Olds' chassis. The Hairy Olds used Olds Toronado power-trains. In the 442 body they were a foot too wide for the Corvair. I had to narrow it in two 6 inch strips, because the engine and trans mounts are in the center of several of the eight cross-members.

Next, I shortened the wheelbase 15 inches. And finally shortened the rear floor pan another 11 inches. A tweak here and there and it fits.





Later I had to remove another 4mm from the rear, to center the wheels in the wheel wells.

[mercman]

This will be an interesting build to say the least.

[The Mad Modeller]

Very cool

[cruzcontrol]

Too Much & Too Cool!

Gary.

[wisdonm]

I'm glad some of you like it.

Finished the wheels and tires. The tires are a strange two-piece affair. They consist of a hard vinyl tire and a styrene wheel back insert that has part of the sidewall molded to it.

The tires had to be buffed in order to square them up. I then added some ancient Shabo dry rub M/H markings. Those are not hub caps, but custom front wheel drive wheels.



The suspension needs to be narrowed, a lot. I started by cutting the spindles back 2" on one cradle. If I go
much further, it wouldn't have enough clearance to steer the front wheels.



The front cradle was narrowed 3/16". The rear cradle was narrowed 1/4" and the rear torsion bars were shortened 10mm. I think the rear frame rails were shortened another 4mm so that they would tuck inside the reattached rear grill.



No. You're not seeing double. That's double trouble in the form of two blown, alcohol burning, 500 cu in Cadillac Eldorado engines and trans-axles.



The Hairy Hurst had two small fuel tanks and the frame rails held 33 quarts of water. There is no radiator. My car has an empty original engine compartment and back seat area to hold these things.

Got the chassis, suspension, and engines worked out. The ends of the zjavascript:add("")oomies are not installed yet.

[Nacho Z]

There is a lot of nice work going on here. I admire you guys who can fabricate things and make it look like it was designed that way. The engines look good too. Can't wait to see what is next!

[wisdonm]

Pretty much have the chassis and body mods worked out. Here is the latest mockup.



Got some paint on the body. This was a long process, since it was done with rattle cans.



I used Silver Flash Krylon Glitter Blast. Then I smothered those huge flakes with seven coats of Folkart clearcoat. Both of these were bought at Michaels with 40% & 50% off coupons.



I also needed some drag chutes, so as long as I had one , I made a couple of copies. I used a simple open faced mold made by pressing the original chute into some silly putty that I got at a $ store.




This time I used some resin for the parts. Worked a lot better than the super glue that I used the last time, since it dried in an hour and was easier to clean up.

[wisdonm]

This was an exercise in learning new paint techniques. So I got stupid today and hauled out my $5 HF airbrush. I have owned it for at least 6 years. Until today, I only used it once, 4 years ago, because I hate cleaning it. The taping was an unexpected success. My skill with the air brush wasn't even close. That's Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow and black. Tried doing a fade. Had no control (skill) and mucked it up pretty good.

This is the taping for the silver areas. Anything covered in blue tape will remain silver.



All the silver areas, were painted with clear yellow, because I didn't have any kandy yellow.



Then I had to tape out the yellow and silver, so that I could spray the black.



I was in a poorly lit and cramped space with no experience, so the fade is rather poor. Removed all the tape and rattled canned four more coats of clear and it looked like this.

[wisdonm]

I have finished the interior. Scratch built things like 2 Sun tachs, console, fire extinguisher, parachute release lever, if you look real close, you can see the return spring beneath the blue cable, trans and throttle cables for rear engine, Moon Big Foot pedals for both gas and brakes, and a Plastic Jesus and Madonna. After all, it is unsafe at any speed.









Sadly, the Plastic Jesus hit the windshield and had to be re-located to the console.

[halfpint33]

You have done an outstanding job on this build so far.I will admit I didn't like the silver paint at first but with the stripes it looks really good.Keep up the good work.

[Nacho Z]

This is such a cool project! Keep on showing us the progress pics.

[wisdonm]

Thanks for the comments guys. Didn't think anyone was looking.

[prumus99]

Your paint job looks really great! If I can ask how did you keep the resin from getting air bubbles when you were casting the chutes?

[wisdonm]

These are very simple castings and I doubt that there would be finish surface bubbles with most casting materials. I use Model-Pro Slow for most castings. It has a viscosity of 250 cps and a working time of 4-5 minutes. This means it is very thin and flows into details. Because it is slow curing the air bubbles have time to move air bubbles away from the surface. It also allows me to slush it onto all surfaces and even use micro brushes to make sure things like headlight rims have no trapped air bubbles. Following these procedures, I never have surface bubbles. Because this resin is translucent, I can see bubbles in the casting, but never on a finished surface.

[prumus99]

Thanks for sharing how you do your smaller parts I'm gonna have to try it out. 😄

[robert1]

This build is awesome!!! I would have never thought to use a Corvair body, but it just looks right. The paint job really looks good.

[wisdonm]

Detailed the drag chutes and made 16 zoomies.



Installed the homemade decals and I think she's done.

[prumus99]

I really like the paint job! A great looking build.

[tool]

way cool !!

[Eddie]

Wow!! Amazing!! Very cool.

[harron68]

I am happy this build was seen again and we can all learn how major mods are done. Maybe it will give builders inspiration and confidence to try new things in the new year!

[fireguy14]

That is way too cool!

[hemi]

Don Im really liking this one.

[slidewayz]

Awesome stuff!!!!! I love it when "what-ifs" look like "couldve been". Ya nailed the look with the paint and the proportions are perfect.