ULTIMATE SCRATCHBUILD: 1:12 Hot Rod-Updated 03/12/06

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by chrismcgee

how do you go about basing your designs? a little indepth tutorial may inspire more to build the way you do, and that would be great as you are very very skilled

Wow, thanks for such a complement. That means a lot coming from you.

Designs, I go about designs in different ways, it depends on what I am designing. If its a normal car, like an import or truck I try to think of the coolest, never thought of, weird ideas. Sketch stuff on paper as soon as I think of it usually. Sometimes I make templates of a car and make copies of them.

If its a Hot Rod to be designed, I take a look at some hot rods (stock or slightly modified) and either modify, or get ideas from it. For instance, my new plans are somewhat of a cross between a '34 ford and Boydster. I'll post pictures of that stuff tonight.

I might do a tutorial on designing. However not all of it can be covered in a Tutorial because a lot of design is creativity.

Once, again, thanks for the comment Chris.

[mike@af]

UPDATES:

You wanted pictures of the drawing, I give you pictures of the drawings.

This is the earliest design of whats going to be built now. The final version is being drafted at full 1/8 scale right now. The only modification to this version is the length of the hood, the final version has the hood longer.

Comments are required!

[customminatures]

looks sweet! smae way i go about it!! lol i guess if you are into designing stuff like i have since i was young it comes naturaly, some people cant even dream of doing things i do. i just thank the man upstairs for giving me the creative mind to build whatever comes in my head! all i can say to CHRISMCGEE is practice, practice, practice.....draw alot and just try your best to make whatevr you have in that brain in real life. take your time and trial and error is the best way to learn everything!

[GvEman]

Nice! i know a cheep way to get rims:P buy rims for RC-cars in 1/8 ther is alot of nice rims for RCcars...=) i like the new disign=)

[OzZySi]

Nice mike, nice. Why aren't you ever on aim? I'm getting pictures soon.

[Macdaddy4738]

dude...if you have any drawings with exact measurements i could Draft them for you on AutoCAD. I could mail you the plots if you want. All i need is a drawing with the measurements.

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by GvEman

Nice! i know a cheep way to get rims:P buy rims for RC-cars in 1/8 ther is alot of nice rims for RCcars...=) i like the new disign=)

How? I need some 5 spoke rims, can you help me. PM me on the details. Thanks for the comments.

Originally Posted by OzZySi

Nice mike, nice. Why aren't you ever on aim? I'm getting pictures soon.

Thanks Colin. Why arent I ever on AIM? A better question would be why arent you ever on AIM? I was on vacation for 2 weeks, so Im online now. Joeham was telling me about your models, I cant wait to see!

Originally Posted by Macdaddy4738

dude...if you have any drawings with exact measurements i could Draft them for you on AutoCAD. I could mail you the plots if you want. All i need is a drawing with the measurements.

I appreciate the offer but I have a drafting class at school that I have already completed my assignments in so I can draft it in there. It would probably be easiest for me that way since I will prolly change stuff around as I go. Thanks though!

[supermod04]

sounds nice mike cant wait to see more. at my school well not at the school it is a place called new market they have classes you can take. this summer i am doing auto body and auto cadd crap

[Macdaddy4738]

lol thats the reason i asked...i have a drafting class to!

good luck on the new one. Its gonna look awsome

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by Macdaddy4738

lol thats the reason i asked...i have a drafting class to!

good luck on the new one. Its gonna look awsome

Heres an example of why it would be easiest for me to do them following the measurement problem.

Last night I found tires, 4 inches in Diameter, and wheels 2 3/4" in diameter. I go back today to find the width and now the tires are 4 1/2" in diameter and the tires are 3 1/2" in diameter. These are 1/8 scale Dune Buggy wheels.

To count for the large wheels and tires since they are for a dune buggy I am changine the scale to 1/6, so it looks proportional (also to account for the tires being 1/2" bigger than expected). Now I have to redraw all my plans.

The new 1/6 scale Hot Rod should be roughly 32"...big enough?

[GvEman]

Here you have a link to a RC-cars company... it is one of the best companys. and there under wheels you can look if you find some thing that fits=)
http://www.hpi-europe.com/
I hope that somtink might be usefull....
I hope that this project will go beter tan the last one=P
Cheers

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by GvEman

Here you have a link to a RC-cars company... it is one of the best companys. and there under wheels you can look if you find some thing that fits=)
http://www.hpi-europe.com/
I hope that somtink might be usefull....
I hope that this project will go beter tan the last one=P
Cheers

Thanks for the link.

I hope this project goes better than the last also. But right now its being a bitch. Rectangular tubing is hard to find in large sizes. I need some by Saturday too.

I need to find 1/2" x 1/4" Rectangular metal tubing. I have found one online place that has it, but I want to go out tommorrow and buy it.

[mike@af]

You guys have no idea how frustrating this is. My God. I have been punching around with numbers, and scales etc. Such a pain in the ass. Rims sizes are off, or doesnt look right. The doors are 4 feet tall, something keeps screwing this stuff up.

Very frustrating...tommorrow night will be a late night.
x10^999,999,999,999,999

[Mustangman25]

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/, click on "Tools n Tips" and they have a great scale converter.

[willimo]

Hey, I just read through the entire thread. I let it get long while on my own spring break and finally had a chance to read it.

First, this project is GREAT. I love the ambition, scope, and all the design, construction, and technical aspects it encompases. Your metal work skill is great.

A couple things though... I would go back to 1:8 scale. Why? Because of this.. You could totally lift the engine and wheels from it if you were so inclined. The engine especially. Also, before you start up on this next one, really sit down and try to make a list of every construction challenge you will meet along the way. Now, I know this is impossible, but try. Think about the doors, the hinges, how you are going to transfer drawing to metal, etc. Go sit in a car, look at every aspect of it and make notes. Inspect things like hinges... is there any hardware you can use in its place, something you could find at Home Depot or somewhere? Are the doors going to latch, how? Oh! Look at a real car door, how the skin sticks out about 1/2 beyond the door itself so the shut lines can line up and the door can open smoothly (I was wondering about that earlier in construction, before your post about the minor setbacks). If you need, take pictures of everything you can. Nothing sucks worse than wondering about something and not being able to find out about it 'till later. A project like this takes an enormous amount of research and planning. Any sort of scratchbuilding or fabricating does. I'd venture to say research time = planning time = construction time on a project like this.

This post isn't to harass you, just some things I noticed and wondered about throughout the thread. The door sill/jamb bit did end up biting you in the ass, and I hate to say it but it was almost expected. I really think you have plenty of skill, talent, and drive to do this model. I think if you plan it, extensively, before hand you'll come out with a winner that just falls together. Almost. But you get what I mean.

Plan plan plan, is all I can say. I spend many a class hour planing my models instead of paying the prof attention. It's actually my favorite part, building is just execution of the plan, the plan is the opus.

Good luck, I can't wait to see you start it up again. Your skills are incredible and your subject choice impeccable. Just fantasmagorique.