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Post by roadhawg on May 27, 2010 9:47:33 GMT -5
I finally decided to get started on this....been wanting to build it for quite some time now. This will be a 70's era dirt late model of friend and local track champion Ray Brooks. Back in the mid 70s, Ray was almost unbeatable at the Athens GA Speedway in this car.  I'll be using two kits....the Nova Rat Packer for the body, and a Revell '56 Chevy for the chassis.....that's the way the real one was built.  I've already got several projects going on, so this will be a long-term project.....don't expect to see a lot soon! Lol! |
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Post by roadhawg on May 27, 2010 9:51:47 GMT -5
The Nova body has the altered wheelbase, so the first step is to move the rear wheelwells back to the stock location....  A few cuts, and some superglue and scap plastic..........  And after some primer, it appears stock again........  Now I have the body at a starting point, and will begin on the chassis next. Again....it might be awhile! |
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Post by fireguy14 on Jun 7, 2010 9:07:12 GMT -5
Great job Tommy!
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 10, 2010 21:35:17 GMT -5
Thanks, David! Well, I actually made a little progress on this. The real car was built on a tri-five Chevy chassis, as were almost ALL dirt cars in this era. I used the Revell 56 kit because I had a couple on hand.....but I probably should have used an older kit that didn't have a separate floor. Cutting up that separate floor made this more difficult. I cut away the truck area from the chassis, leaving the rear frame rails, then cut the floorboard to fit.....  All the gaps were filled with Milliput putty, and then finished up with glazing putty.....  A 56 Chevy has a 115" Wheelbase, a 64 Nova has a 110" wheelbase, so, just like the real ones, I took 5 scale inches out of the rear frame rails......  And this is where I stand at this point..........corrected wheelwells on the body, and a shortened 56 Chevy frame.......  Hopefully, I can get the chassis on its wheels next time, and start constructing the roll cage and interior "sheet metal". |
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Post by Nacho Z on Jun 12, 2010 8:45:53 GMT -5
You have done a lot of great work Tommy. It is really looking nice.
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Post by The Mad Modeller on Jun 12, 2010 17:24:01 GMT -5
Awesome work Tommy. I think that Nove kit looks familiar.
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 12, 2010 20:31:58 GMT -5
Lol...yep, thats it! This is what I wanted it for! I hope I haven't gotten in over my head.
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 20, 2011 8:43:27 GMT -5
Wow. Its hard to believe its been over a year since I started this. To be quite honest, I got frustrated with trying to get the chassis/floor pan right, lost interest in it, and put it away. Thats where it has sat for a year now. Recently, I saw some very well done racing models online that were built curbside....the builder said he didn't really care about showing the engines and such, since they were all pretty much the same anyway. He just wanted them to look good in the display case. Thats when the light bulb came on.....why don't I do that? There's a bunch of older race cars I want to build, and I could start with this one! YES!!! So...I dug it back out and got started again, this time with determination to get it done! I started by modifying the Rat Packer interior to resemble a dirt tracker, using styrene for "sheet metal", and then started fabbing up a roll cage....   After fiddling with it for awhile, I finally got it to fit.......  |
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 20, 2011 8:48:49 GMT -5
Next up was a chassis. The beauty of building a curbside is you don't need to worry if the chassis is right or not, as long as the model "looks" right. I used the front and rear clips from the '56 Chevy chassis and attached them to a simple floor pan...  And it seems to fit just right. As long as the whellbase is right, thats all that matters......  The first mock-up seems to look pretty close....  |
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 20, 2011 8:57:24 GMT -5
Next up I started on some of the body details. Linder Smith, or "Smitty" as everybody called him, was Ray's half-brother and the car builder. He had excellent attention to detail, which is one reason they were so successful, and one of the many details were the lips around the fender openings. I figured the best way to do this was make the openings slightly oversize and glue in thin styrene strips......   After they were dry, I started filing and sanding to get them to the proper shape. I also filled the scoop hole in the Rat Packer hood.....  |
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 20, 2011 9:02:11 GMT -5
Ok, I got the fenders just right, got the hole made in the hood for the air cleaner, and scratch build the rear spoiler from thin sheet styrene. At this point, it was time for some primer....  The wheels/tires came from Fred's Resin Workshop........  And at this point, I'm VERY pleased with the mock up. It actually seems to resemble the real car....  I'm hoping today I can get some paint on it!! |
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Post by 68chevy on Jun 20, 2011 9:41:34 GMT -5
Excellent work Tommy Love Dirt Track Racing I go to the local track her ever Saturday night I have been going to build me a Dirt track car for a long time but gust keep put it off. Cannot wait to see this one finish.
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Post by roadhawg on Jun 20, 2011 16:15:52 GMT -5
Plain ol' Testors Gold and Black............    Well, thats it for a couple of weeks. Next time, we'll polish it out, clearcoat it, and tackle the decals...... |
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Post by zbuckster on Jun 21, 2011 18:34:50 GMT -5
I just saw this one and read the whole thing. Nice work on the car and the writing of the WIP also.
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Post by The Mad Modeller on Jun 21, 2011 20:12:09 GMT -5
Looking good Tommy. Hope to see this in Cookeville next year
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Post by Nacho Z on Jun 22, 2011 21:45:18 GMT -5
You do some nice work Tommy. I've enjoyed watching this one come along.
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