406.60mph WIP

[quadzero]

On September 9, 1960 Mickey Thompson took the "Challenger I" to a one way speed of 406.60 MPH to become the fastest person in the world and the first american to break the 400mph barrier. He did not set a two way average because a drive shaft let go and there was not enough time to fix it and make a second run, thus denying him a place in the record books.

i have always been fascinated with this car and have held off making this kit until i trusted my skills more. the model is quite impressive and would make a great representation of the car straight from the box, althou some parts need attention with sink holes and flash. with all the engine in there i felt i just had to jazz it up a bit. i will depict the car as it appears today.


basic layout with the 4 Pontiac engines. i will leave the body till last to work on and just concentrate on the mills for now.


i figured it would too hard to fill the sink mark here so i made a new cover to represent the thin blower cover plate on the real car. since i had to do this i made it the correct 10 bolts instead of the kit's 13. i have PE parts on order but i hope to finish this before they get here. to me the bolts appear to be allen bolts so i used sprue to replicate them.


here i added the blower bolts but until i put some grey on them i'm not sure i will keep them, to me they look too sloppy up close. why i did this on a model with 4 blowers, i'll never know. well at least the blowers are chain driven so i dont have to deal with the belts and pulleys.
progress will be slow so please bear with me,
cheers all.
Les

[D_LaMz]

This is looking great! I will be watching this!

[SchuberT]

Awesome subject! I'll be watching this one, too. Keep up the good work.

[sportracer02]

Hi,

nice model, good start.

I also have the Challenger I somewhere on my pile of unbuilt kits. So I will follow this one very close .

[klutz_100]

Now I get the "doesn't corner too well" comment

Great subject Les! You are already off to a great start and you've barely unpacked the kit

This looks like something I'd love to do myself - can you tell us more about the kit? Who makes it? Where can it be bought?

Originally Posted by quadzero

. to me the bolts appear to be allen bolts so i used sprue to replicate them.

The Sprue Master strikes again!!!

[quadzero]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Now I get the "doesn't corner too well" comment.
The Sprue Master strikes again!!!

LOL, thanks Klutz. made me laugh here at 5 am.
this kit is by Revell and cost me about 10 dollars. i have an issue of Rod & Custom dated nov '62 and there is a review of this kit in it. it was a kit that Revell was about to release. it was $1.98 then. im sure mine is a re-issue althou my box top is almost exactly the same as that original release and my instructions are dated '62 but im pretty sure i dont have a 43 year old model. the original kit had chrome but this one doesnt. i have seen quite a few of these on e-bay and i bought mine in a hobbyshop about 10 years ago. maybe Sportracer could add to this?

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by quadzero

LOL, thanks Klutz. made me laugh here at 5 am.
this kit is by Revell and cost me about 10 dollars. i have an issue of Rod & Custom dated nov '62 and there is a review of this kit in it. it was a kit that Revell was about to release. it was $1.98 then. im sure mine is a re-issue althou my box top is almost exactly the same as that original release and my instructions are dated '62 but im pretty sure i dont have a 43 year old model. the original kit had chrome but this one doesnt. i have seen quite a few of these on e-bay and i bought mine in a hobbyshop about 10 years ago. maybe Sportracer could add to this?

Hi,

I got the kit about 10 years ago from an American living in Germany. It was an reissue in those days with the original box art. Concerning chrome parts I cannot write something, the kit sits in the cellar in my parents house ;-))

[white97ex]

GREAT subject, with a great start!

[JTRACING]

cool!!

[Technoman]

What a great subject. Looks like you are going to do Mickey proud...

[klutz_100]

Thanks Les, Micha

There's one on ebay - I'll probably try for it once I know what the p&p will be from the USA

I need to get myself a PO box over there so I can bulk my orders

EDIT: Ouch! just got reply to my question - $17 for postage (+9.99 for kit which is partly assembled and no guarantee that all parts are present). Oh well, next time

[blubaja]

Thank you very much for this thread!!! I have this kit and have never seen the build process. Seen one at the NNL. Didn't get the chance to talk to the builder tho. Keep up the great work!

[WasteGas]

Now that's a cool project!

[Marcelo Teles]

Great project Quadzero.
A different subject and a great start. I'll follow your posts.
Regards,
Marcelo.

[quadzero]

thanks everyone for the kind words. well, progress has been really slow. the parts really need a lot of TLC. maybe the molds were pitted and beat up somewhat and were used for cracking walnuts but each part has a lot of defects that have to be sanded and smoothed over.


put a light coat of grey on the blowers to see if i missed any flaws and a lot of little problems showed up but i will paint them aluminium tomorrow.


im not sure what this piece is but it looks like some kind of breather tube(?) it was easy to make but a bear to make 4 that looked the same. i included it as its quite noticable in my pictures.


here is the chain cover for the blowers. i wasnt happy with the molded on piece so i carefully shaved it off with a new blade and built it up with a little bracket and some sprue bolts and a new cap. i also replaced the bolt heads i sanded off.
i wish i had more but this project is really taking a lot of time out of my day but soon the engines will painted and i will move on to the frame.
cheers,
Les