Rat Rod help

hey guys im looking for some ideas on making a rat rod ive got a hotwheels car thats goin to be the base idea and ive got a 1/24 model from my childhood that im goin to use the cab off i need some help with the undercarriage/chassis as im not sure on what would be best to do something simple and easy i dunno ive seen a few models in the workshop that have an undercarriage that looks pretty good but id need one about 4 scale feet longer i think :S ill put the piccie up and see if u guys undterstand where im coming from



ok so the one on the right is what im goin to try and reproduce in the larger scale shown left the undercarriage for the one on the left ill be throwing into the parts box for a later project perhaps but the cab ill be using and ill need to scratchbuild a undercarriage to suit the 2 engines im goin to put on like the smaller scale ive had a look at the underside of both and u cant really get a good idea on how to make a undercarriage as theres not alot to go on not very detailed you see. if anyone has any ideas on making a longer undercarriage/chassis even a rough template would be greatly appreciated as anything can be adapted or retrofitted but yes any light on this will be a godsend.


this is sorta what im after but with an extra engine i know its not practical but it looks kool lol

that's going to be wild.

Your gunna need to stretch an existing frame or make your own out of K&S!! that what I did for my still unfinished Halloween Hauler

OH SWEET!!! thats given me a few ideas looking at that that would be the perfect frame for a twin engine rat rod

Like this?

or like this?


I scratchbuilt both from (mostly) Evergreen 4mm diameter styrene tube.
However, rod might have been better as the tube sagged on the blue one and I had to reinforce it with threaded rod screwed down the middle.
I suggest you go to a hobby shop and browse their selection of styrene stock. You'll propbably find a round, square or rectangular tube or C section that takes your fancy for either scratchbuilding or lengthening.
Take some rough measurements first from the black sedan as it's easy to look at something in the shop and think it's a good size and then get home to find it looks too big when you offer it up to the model.

ive got some .014mm brass tube i was goin to use as a prop shaft for my bismarck i might use that it'd be strong enuff for sure and i do like the frame for that blue one thats given me a good scope on what i want mine to look like and for it to be strong enuff to handle the 2 motors any other ideas are still welcome the more the merrier always have to be open to delegation

would it be pratical to use the sprues to make up a mock frame for the rat rod of would it be to flimsy? i got a heap of that laying around so thought maybe i could utilise some of it instead of me looking at it goin hmmmmmm what am i guna do with all this plastic apart from make fake candles to fool my mates with.

Ya could do that or grab a couple of lengths of evergreen box or sqaure from the shop. much easier to work with and if ya get it right just glue it, tidy up the joins and paint him then all done. then ya really wont need to go back a try to replicate what work you've put into making a mock up outta sprues. Thats what id do but i tend to stuff everything up at least once by jumpin in head first. Spose thats the price i pay for gettin a head of myself! LOL

yer ill have to go into the shop in the next few days well try to dont get into town much now with work and all these models lol but ill have a looksee at some card doova's

Sprue is OK at a pinch but it tends not to be very round and to have lumps on it in just the wrong places.

Look here http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/ and you can see what Evergreen produce.
It's a seppo website and I don't think you can order from it but it lists all their products.
I find it easiest to write down the numbers of what I want before I go to the shop. This is because the numbers are written on the packs in bigger letters than the types and sizes and so are easier to spot.
And don't get tube unless you really need tube. Get rod. It has the advantage of bending easilly without collapsing like tubes do.
On the other hand tube is good if you want to slot one tube inside another. With evergreen stuff each size of tube fits exactly into the one 2 sizes bigger. 224 fits exactly into 226, 223 into 225 & so on.
Rod sizes are not so helpfull unfortunately.
When lookiing at sizes don't forget that the size on the website in mm is equal to the size on the model in inches (assuming 1/24 or 1/25).

HTH