'70 Dodge Challenger T/A 'detail freak build'

From one "Detail Freak" to another NIICE Work! (I thought & hoped I wasn't alone!) Looking REAL good too! -Love the engine work and that body color is da BOMB!

Thanks Hemi! I (luckily) knew I wasn't alone, but I'm happy to find out we are more than just a few.
BTW dragging a build on for ever and ever has its pros and cons (ups and downs): after I glued in the side/quarter windows, by next morning, the clip that held one in place left a white mark where it slightly kinked the laminate foil I used for window material. I cursed briefly and though a few days later (when I have the time and stamina to stay up late) I'd rip it off and make a new window. About 6 weeks fly by, I take it out: no white mark! It cured! So I just cleaned up the epoxy where it was visible with a toothpick a little. Then... I decided to make some weatherstrip where 'glass' meets 'chrome' from the finest heat shrink tube I have (by heating, longways-stretching, letting it cool - it becomes about the diameter of scale spark plug wire)... and when my sight started blurring from tiredness, so I put it all back in its box again...
Cheers, Csaba

Yeah, I know that one all to well! I set things aside when I find a detail I want and don't have and go on a "hunt" for that part whether in my own stash of parts, OR have to see if someone has something to trade..... Turn around and look its a month or more later....

Thats why I'm back working on my "Doomz Day" monster truck! Its been a long time since I've worked on it!

G'day,
A little update of progress here. After I scratched the windshield while cleaning up the epoxy... (I am NOT replacing that little s. of a b!) I finally gathered myself together to mate what needs to be mated...
Installed the interior in the body, which wasn't easy, due to the engine bay having been cut from the chassis and glued to the body a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Then came the 'chassis meets body' part, especially full of fun because of the dissected shock towers. You may not be aware, the shock towers were cut from the engine bay so that I was able to assemble the functional front suspension without the body. Man... that was like 2 maybe 3 years ago... Anyway, here is how it went.





You can see the edge of the shock towers are nice and crisp, because they are 'framed' with brass wire. This is the moment before the towers got shoehorned into the engine bay.

And this is what it looks like after that deep breath, pull and tuck...





There is quite a lot of stress in the assembly, they want to be about 2 mm apart, but careful gluing should solve that problem (not today, I'm too tired). No real issue up front, a little more out back, due to the fact that the interior is not located exactly where it should be relative to the chassis. I had to pull it forward about 2 mm to have the dash 'aligned' with the windshield. And I should have completely removed the locating pins, which I did not, and now it is not going to happen as these 2 (3) little buddies are staying together forever!

Anyway, this build might just get finished before a manned mission reaches Mars, so expect another update some time before the end of this decade. Cheers, Csaba

they say all good things take time, and mate this is spectacular !! killer attention to detail and your paint finish is something to behold. Cant wait for your next installment .

It's looking beautiful Csaba
It is stressful doing the body to chassis integration I know but it's now at a major turning point and only going forward from now on.
Don't worry about beating NASA to Mars, your boy will probably have his finished before they get there , just build it when you can and as you like, no race here ... and you know what I mean coming from a bloke that takes years to finish his 'big' builds too.
Good to see you're making progress anyway
..... what's my motto? "Slow progress is better than no progress!"

Slow progress is THEE BEST "PROGRESS"!!!!!!!

GREAT work man! NICELY done, Just WOW @ that steering linkage under the car.... I'ma detail freak under the hood, but this......

Ooookaaay,
Happy new year, if such a thing exists.
Progress!

I still had to take body and chassis apart, things were 2mm away (vertically) from happiness. And of course some scratch built component was (is) in the way. Shot myself in the foot, as always. Anyway, I was going to use 5-minute epoxy to glue the body to the chassis, and you may not be aware, I removed about 3 mm each side off the edges of the chassis, to get rid of the die cast shape of the body. (This kit was originally a die cast model and that's the reason why the body lower sides do not curve inwards like they should. See also 'fuselage', a marketing term Chrysler used in these years.)



I thinned and bent the lower body inwards as much as I could, but both sides still hung apart, and being painted they wouldn't bend in now so easily. So some serious clamping had to take place in 2 directions...






2 days later it looked like I nailed this part, so I moved on to paint touch ups down under and further assembly. I will also have to add a few items in the engine bay - with the bonnet on.  

Cheers, Csaba

Csaba,
The frame looks good for what I can see of it. the 2 bottom pics aren't showing up!

Thanks. I just can't figure out why they don't show. I've been using google photos for years to share pictures, the album they are in is set public or shared, I myself can see them here while I am not logged in to the 'photo album', and they still don't show? Anyway. The glue let go BTW on either side, so back to gluing, this time with a different method.

Pics should work now...

i can see all the pics now

Yepper I can see the pics now! -Using Lego's for clamping, now theres an idea!!!!! HMMMM

The idea for using lego-aid (I should trademark that) for clamping came as a side effect of my resin casting experiments, originally inspired by TJ. Do you guys know which TJ? ;-) Once I finish this one (or IF I finish it) I should go back to those experiments as well.

felhasznaaloo wrote:The idea for using lego-aid (I should trademark that) for clamping came as a side effect of my resin casting experiments, originally inspired by TJ. Do you guys know which TJ? ;-) Once I finish this one (or IF I finish it) I should go back to those experiments as well.

Just a GOOD reason to go RAID my Daughter Lego "Stash" LOL

FYI I didn't raid any of my kids' stash, I actually bought 700 grams of old used lego blocks and boards online especially for modelling use...

LOL I hear ya! My Daughter will give me a REASON to do a little "raiding" of her Lego Stash! LOL Parent and kid fun! LOL (She'll NEVER miss 'em!)

Looking great Csaba, I like the engineering you put into things and Lego is such a great engineering tool, I use it for my resin casting molds

And the thought you've put into this is nothing short of professional, curling the body sides in at the bottom is something most people don't even think about!
Awesome stuff as usual mate

Thank you Tim... however, stuff doesn't work out this time either, the interior bucket gets pushed up too far. So I'll have to go back, adjust the drive shaft tunnel height and glue again... this time with contacta styrene glue. Cheers, Csaba

G'day,
As before, I had to give up on another part of this build, to get it done. Give up meaning, accept it is not working out right, and carry on anyway. I know, it was a mistake to complicate thing so much in the first place. I know.
Anyway, after the 3rd attempt, body and chassis are now mated. The horrifying clamping action:





The result:





I don't have a picture but the interior is still about 1 mm too high. Maybe 1.5.    
There needs to be some touch-up (scrape, sand and paint) but since I have had to give up on the show quality of this build long ago, I can say it won't stick out when the model sits on any surface.
Next step: gluing the shock towers in place (since they are detached from the engine bay):



And yes, I did forget to dress up the battery last year when I attached the hood to the body (them stupid working hinges, right?)
To be continued some time this year...

NICE man thats REAL NICE! The working hinges, you make those? and I gotta know from what!? I got a good build that could use something like those! -The spring stiff enough to hold the hood up when opened?

Thanks a lot, John!
Hinges: scrap metal from some tin can lid, watch bolts (which I got from a watchmaker), one watch cogwheel cut up into 4 pieces, spring from a 4 colour pen. Believe me, you don't wanna make those... If anything, (and I'll try this in a future build) I'd build a realistic looking but not functional hinge out of metal, one piece each, and let them sink into a slot in the engine bay/body when the hood is shut. Yep, the springs are stiff enough, especially that they got slightly spraypainted ;-) and if you scroll up, you can see in my November 3 post how they hold the hood up.

felhasznaaloo wrote:Thanks a lot, John!
Hinges: scrap metal from some tin can lid, watch bolts (which I got from a watchmaker), one watch cogwheel cut up into 4 pieces, spring from a 4 colour pen. Believe me, you don't wanna make those... If anything, (and I'll try this in a future build) I'd build a realistic looking but not functional hinge out of metal, one piece each, and let them sink into a slot in the engine bay/body when the hood is shut. Yep, the springs are stiff enough, especially that they got slightly spraypainted ;-) and if you scroll up, you can see in my November 3 post how they hold the hood up.

LOL I'd be crazy enough to try it, just that once for being able to say I did it, and have it on a prized model!

OK, I'd be happy to give you tips and then let you curse me while making them...