XE Falcon S-Pack ** so anyway 8 years later- **

Sorry I'm speechless mate.

Well needless to say that looks a thousand times better than the kit part
Learning something useful each update.

Awesome design and scratch building WOW

WOW!!! This is nothing short of amazing!!! Can't wait to see it with paint on it, sure it will look even better then.

[quote="ShawnS]...Correct style tyres for 1:24 1980's Aussie passenger cars are hard to find for some reason...[/quote]

Have you looked at tyres from Jap kits like the Tamiya early Skyline?

Thanks guys, she sure has turned into a bit of a time sucking detail monster (not bad for something that WAS going to be curbside) but what keeps me going is that my scratchbuilding and problem solving skills are improving with each new part that I make. It's been a hell of a journey so far, I'm still enjoying it and I'm glad you are too.

zenrat wrote:Have you looked at tyres from Jap kits like the Tamiya early Skyline?

Yep. I'm always Google searching for various parts from assorted models and I've had a good look at most Tamiya tyres. I'm not too unhappy with the tyres I have now and since I have finalised the wheel size, they will be the ones that I'll be using.

CheersSS

Once again Shaun, the detail is nothing short of AMAZING!! I have shown a fella at work this build, he is also gob-smacked, had no idea modeling could be so detailed( or a modeler so talented).
Keep it up mate,

Hi guys. I just realised it's been a month since my last update so I better show you something. The last few weeks were spent working on the steering arms and rods. To get steering parts right I had to make sure that all of the parts that I had made previously were spot on, and guess what? they weren't. A few parts were not sitting square enough. I had to make new radius rods because the others were 1mm too short and I also slightly relocated the upper A arms to suit. I guess I was a bit sloppy with my work before. I also pondered the thickness of the swaybar. The part that I originally made looked too thin so I made a new (thicker) one of those too. It's three pieces for easy fitment later on.

Next I made the steering box. I started with some rod, glued it into a bigger bit of rod then cut out a notch and glued another bit of rod into the notch. The other parts slipped over the horizontal rod and are glued onto the main vertical rod.

I cut out a top cap from scrap styrene.

Made a mounting bracket and added some bolt heads.

Here it is. You cant quite see it in this pic but I added some small bolt heads to the top cap.

I made the steering rods from various thickness of evergreen rod. It was the hardest part to make and took me two and a half weeks and about a kilometre of evergreen rod to get it right. I lost count of how many times I had to make it over and over. You know the story, cut something too short, something breaks or glues itself in to the wrong position etc.. etc.. Anyhoo, here it sits with the box and pitman and idler arms.

All glued up and detailed with bolt heads.





I finally got around to making a new driveshaft from aluminium tube and joints from a Camaro driveshaft. To reduce the hassle of gluing plastic to alum, I have run an evergreen rod from one joint to the other. Plastic will glue to plastic and the alum rod will sit nicely without any glue.




I had hoped to finish the brakes for this update but they aren't quite there yet, They will be in the next update soon.

CheersSS

I should have commented on this work before now, but I have just been totally blown away by your amazing work on this . Your level of skill is so great - I struggle to assemble a kit from the box and you are doing work like this. We all look at work from the U.S.A. , and this is up there with the best of them.

more jaw dropping work from you.

MATE! Absolutely incredible! Your scratch work astounds me every time!

Thank you for sharing this scratchbuilding masterpiece with us. I've watched the progress from the begining, and it serves as an inspiration to me, to improve my scratch-building efforts. keep up the great work.

wow this is amazing
You have amazing scratch building skill
I wish i could do this sort of thing as i would love to build a VK calais

Jaws on the ground yet again Shaun, i can't believe you got something wrong by a whole mm though , what were you doing mate!
keep it up man, sheer brilliancy !!

I am speechless. Totally overcome by your workmanship.

Wow. Just wow. Seriously Shawn, you blow my mind with every update. Just when you think it can't get any better, any more detailed, and wham! Hit with another sad realisation of how elementary my skills are.
Top notch work mate, loving every bit of this thread

FFS!! Just when ya think "man, how much more detail can be packed into this model?" you come back with a whole stack more!!! Absolutely incredible, as usual Shawn!! Well done.

Here I am thinking perfection is unobtainable and then you photograph it and post it on the net!!! Top job ShawnS,still watching this one!!!

Awww fellas, thanks for the enthusiastic responses. I didn't figure that such a simple update would raise much interest. Work on the brakes is coming along nicely, I just need to make 1 more caliper so expect another update soon. Thanks again.

CheersSS

Dont know about anyone else but one of the first things I check for each day is any updates on this. Its brilliant and I cant wait for each tantalizing update.

Hi guys. As I stated previously, I have been working on the brakes. Due to the fact that I couldn't find clear reference pics for everything I had to use a bit of artistic license in some areas.

I started with the front discs. Using a circle cutter, I cut four discs out of evergreen sheet and added strips around the inside of two of those discs. After I cut out the discs I drilled a hole in the centre to help locate the two halves when I glue them together.



I used the drill bit to help centre the two halves.

After some careful cleaning up they come up alright. I also made some centres.

TaaDaa.. two ventilated brake discs.

For the calipers I used sections of the outer ring of an aircleaner and glued them onto a bit of scrap styrene.



I then cut and trimmed the styrene around the curved section and added a bit of scrap to the front too.



Although the front of the caliper will not be seen after it's all together, I could never forgive myself if I left it blank so I made a basic shape to add to the front.

For the rear of the caliper I started with a disc for where the piston is located then I added some strips.


I trimmed the strips and put some rods on the side for extra detail.

I put on some boltheads too.

The front discs on the Falcon had dust covers on the rears so the replicate those I started with a part from the spares box that I sanded flat and cut a wedge out of it.

It didn't look right as a flat part so I cut out some shapes to glue onto the dust covers.

I glued the covers onto the calipers and flooded a couple of coats of Tamiya liquid primer onto the low areas of the cover. This helps to soften the step effect that you get when you glue a flat piece onto another flat surface and brings it closer to the pressed steel look.

When I was test fitting everything I had a failure of one of the stub axles so I replaced them with items from my spares box. The replacement items didn't have a steering arm on them so I cut out the one from the previous parts and stuck them onto the new parts and detailed them with boltheads.


Sorted. Ride height and track width are spot on.



The rear brakes are drums from a Mustang kit with rear covers from another kit.




I am fine tuning the wheels at the moment and I'm changing them from basic wheel back style to pin style so when I'm done with them I'll tell you all about it.

Thanks again for looking and for your comments and support.

CheersSS

This has to be one of Australia's best builds ever, it's just so freakin awesome!
So glad you decided to put extra detail into the brakes even though they'll be hard to see in the end, you have no idea how much I'm enjoying this. Are you going to make the wheels removable so you can show off the brakes at shows?

mopar68 wrote:This has to be one of Australia's best builds ever, it's just so freakin awesome!
So glad you decided to put extra detail into the brakes even though they'll be hard to see in the end, you have no idea how much I'm enjoying this. Are you going to make the wheels removable so you can show off the brakes at shows?

Thanks Zac. Nah the wheels will be glued on. If I was going to go all the way with details like opening doors and boot then I would have made them to be displayed too. There are a few more details that I would have to add as well. (can't have that now can we )
CheersSS

You really need a cape and some undies on the outside mate for you are a true superman of model builders. Pure skill and an eye for detail like none other. Thanks for taking the time to share this epic build with us.

As always I am in awe (and so freekin jealous) of your skill.

Ya now what realy sucks is when you making a model or converting a model and you think you have it just right then comes a long a builder who can take a beer can and build a rolls royce geeeeeeez mate you should do a book on the build the vast world of the internet has template books you add you bits i recon just about every moddeler would buy it i know i would
great stuff