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

Woah! That looks like a car!

Shit mike it's really looking outstanding, Awsome work! :smokin:

looks sweet so far mike cant wait to see this thing finished

Nice legs

Sweet

Looks promessing Mike! keep it up!

omg thats rad what do you make the form of?

goood damnnnn!! didn't feel like scrolling ALL 73 pages, but saw the important ones...that looks like a mighty fine damn good build. Can't wait to see the finished progress.

mike, this is still awesome. if you don't have an engine, i know a place where you can buy 1/6 engines(although they are very expensive, 200, 286 and 350 Euros per engine, but they also have an 1/4 engine on batteries, with working cilinders:P)

what i last saw on tv surprised me more than this project:

a guy, which loved ferrari's, didn't had the money to buy one. so he decided, to make a exact replica, on 1/2 scale(!). he had 20.000(yes twenty-thousand) hours of work on it. he also wanted it to drive, so he made the engine from it, yes, also the engine should be exact, but smaller. that guy, wanted the ferrari sound vrom it, so a 1celinder kart engine, was no go. he made the full engine in 1/2 scale!!and it worked"!!

now some or the most may not interesed on what i told ya, but i was so amazed i just ahd to tell.

woah mike this looks amazing!!!!!! i love this and i know it will look good! :thumbsup:

a guy, which loved ferrari's, didn't had the money to buy one. so he decided, to make a exact replica, on 1/2 scale(!). he had 20.000(yes twenty-thousand) hours of work on it. he also wanted it to drive, so he made the engine from it, yes, also the engine should be exact, but smaller. that guy, wanted the ferrari sound vrom it, so a 1celinder kart engine, was no go. he made the full engine in 1/2 scale!!and it worked"!!

now some or the most may not interesed on what i told ya, but i was so amazed i just ahd to tell.
I think this is the model you speak of..... :eek7:
http://www.fineartmodels.com/e/gallery.htm

I think this is the model you speak of..... :eek7:
http://www.fineartmodels.com/e/gallery.htm


WHAAAAAATT!!??? I just watched the realvideo from that site.. holy crap.. that's just insane..

How ironic to find this posted when I got home from vacation. The irony inlies in the my thoughts about this project on my way home today, and then seeing a new post in this thread.

Anyway, the project has been on a down hill slope since the turn of the year. As of May I had unofficially ended the project due to funding and tools. That time was a great disappointment to me. I didnt post here because my thoughts were still on the fence.

During the vacation I had started planning a 1/64 Hot Wheels hauler built from scratch out of styrene. I then started thinking about adapting those techniques to a 1/24 hauler, and then thought about the idea of my 1/6 being entirely out of styrene.

This is not the way I dreamed of it being built, nor is it the way I really wanted it to be built. I wanted it to be entirely steel, however that dream was shot down when college planning started to come up and the thought of getting a new TIG welder was blown away. However, I think that more importantly is that the project should be completed. I dont think the medium in which it is built matters as much to the audience as it did to me, but I think that its better to have a finished product than no product as there is always more than one solution.

Right now I am looking into the costs in starting completely over. Though it may not seem the most logical way, a clean slate would be better than trying to work off a screwed up one. Over the time that I have not been making progress I have been studying what has progressed and saw how many mistakes were there. After realizing that, it would be best to start over from nothing.

I know this has been quite the roller coaster, and seems like this is the most mislead project ever, but I appreciate your support. Projects have their ups and downs. You can completely design something, and have the product take a different course as it is built do to unforseen problems, just as this project has. Starting over is not what I wished, but I believe it would be the most efficient.

If I do decide to start over the entire thing will be remade from reinforced styrene, including the frame. Most of the structural parts will be reinforced with brass and aluminum.

All thoughts are appreciated and welcomed! Once again, thanks for bearing with me through this roller coaster of a model.

That sucks Mike. Just keep at it, since you have so much of this one done or already planned out it should fall together pretty well. Good luck!

in what ways is the current design messed up? is it repairable? i think that eveyone here will support what ever you chose to do, simply becuase this is one of the most awesome builds any of us have ever been able to "sit in on". i would say hang on to what you have...to only finish it at a later date in time when funds will allow.

I don't know Mike, If you start over then it could be a faster progression because of all the things you learned from this one, But if you don't start over then you might not be happy with the end result.

I can really say too much I think you should go both ways on this one :banghead: :confused:

Like Jesse and Injecting said, I have learned a ton from this project. I think with that knowledge a new one would come together easier. This has also been a test of determination, will, and triumph. I believe starting completely over with the knowledge I have today will make for a better result than I could hope for with the other one.

white97ex-Forgot your name again. The frame is repairable, but it would take roughly 30 hours of straight work. But I dont have the tools to do that, so right now its not really much of an option. It would just be easier to rebuild out of brass and styrene.

Mike, just becaue you may not finish this project in it's original vision, don't think for a minute that we haven't all learned some amazing things from your progress pics and info. It takes a lot of time to write these threads up, take the pics, etc,etc, and I for one appreciate what you have shown us.

We could never be as 'disappointed' as you, since you clearly have the blood, sweat and tears invested in this project. We're just the lucky chaps that got to come along for a free ride (while it lasted).

I too have a project that is currently 'on-hold'. Haven't given up yet, but I need to re-build my motivation on some other projects (currently working on an airplane, thus not a whole lot of posting on AF).

Best of luck on the next project (whatever it is), and thanks for the lessons and entertainment you've given with this thread.

Murray

Thanks for all the inspiration guys. Murray thats very generous of you to make those comments. Im not that good. Thanks though.

Well heres a verbal update. I've just been number crunchin forever planning feasibility, dimensioning, how much styrene, what size styrene, how to transport and everything the past couple days. Today I have reached the conclusion to downsize the scale.

Upon looking for storage bins I realized that it was to large to transport. The guy I carpool with to the model meetings drives a 350Z. There is no way a 36"x18"x18" (90cm x 55cm x55cm) will fit in the back of that. Plus it would cost me a lot less to build it smaller.

The new scale will be 1:12. I am hoping this scale will still be as impressive as 1:6 though.

Thanks to all that view and contribute this thread, I couldn't have done it without you.

thats to bad would be radical to se it finished but i realized that 1:8 was to big i just got the revell 1:8 65 vette but i sold i not to long ago and i hope to fing a 1:12 instead, well looking forward to that project start`s`up to

what are you going to do with the old one mike

All day yesterday we had a Modelpalooza at a friends house. I worked twelve hours there, and four hours on the night prior. We all had a great time...(more to come if you read further).

I laminated the corners of .030 plain styrene together. Eight pieces total. I put very tiny drops of CA where the pieces to be cut out would be. Then I traced the template for the side frame rail box pieces on to it. Then cut it out and drilled holes.

After that I made a jig on .100 Plain styrene sheet. I first traced the top view template on to the thick card. Then I lined the outer part of the top view curve with some .060"x.040" strip styrene. After that I took some 1/8"x1/8" strip styrene and glue it to the card and styrene outline.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0005.JPG

After that I took the side pieces that I cut out to the night prior and glued them to the styrene strips sticking up. This would give the rails the proper curvature.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0006.JPG

After doing that I doubled up each side. This way the total thickness of the styrene side sheets would be .060". With the 1/8" strip styrene the total thickness comes to 1/4" (or a scale 3").

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0008.JPG

After completing the jig I cut off the tops of the strips that were to high as well as inserted 3/16" tubing into the holes. The tubing has an inner diameter of 1/8" and will give the cross members (which are 1/8" in outer diameter) something to hold on to. It also increases the strength of the frame rails greatly.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0012.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0013.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0015.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/I/DSCF0016.JPG

If you havent noticed by now, I had too good of a time at the party. I wasnt paying attention to what the hell I was doing (and talking to Bob instead). I wanted both rails identical, but they are too identical. They are supposed to be mirror images. I had forgotten to flip the template. I wouldnt say its a loss of 16 hours because I've learned a lot, and I can have some extra's if I need.

I will rebuild the frame rails entirely from square one. Trying to alter what I have now will result in a lesser quality model because they wont be as identical or square. I made a few mistakes that I've realized and when I rebuild them it should go faster. So this week I will tackle the engine. I've already started on the scale sheet's for it.

Sorry to dissapoint in my stupid mistake. :(

Even with the mistake, they look awesome; can't wait to see the "good" ones :)

i could be lost but they look identical. i've been painting for 3 days straight. i must be missing something.

this is insane i wish i was as good at modeling then my revell 57 chevy 1:12 would have a nice tubed rear frame and other thing that i have made for it guess that why im on the hunt for a new kit or parts kit to remake some parts to a better finish and cast it

well good look on this project to man looking forward to more pics of this to

well if nothing else comes of this thread, we are all learning new tricks!!

sorry to see the other versions scrapped. I hope you don't just decide to drop it all together, and just do a coupster or something (although it would be beautiful, I'm sure)

good luck, keep us posted

i could be lost but they look identical. i've been painting for 3 days straight. i must be missing something.

They are identical, and thats the problem. They bend at the front goes in the same direction on both. They need to be identical mirror images of each other. So the front inward bends are different. Hope that helps.

This afternoon I hope to start building the engine.

ok. i gotcha. didn't notice that in the pic. lol

Just finished the engine block dimensions; or so I think for now.
Heres a screenshot of the engine block dimensions in my spread sheet, if anyone cares.

http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/86/blockdims3mx.jpg

Wow that's crazy Mike, Keep it comin'

So is that a 24" or 21" widescreen monitor? Must be nice to have one of those. Oh well, I guess I can be happy with my 17" FP. :-)

So is that a 24" or 21" widescreen monitor? Must be nice to have one of those. Oh well, I guess I can be happy with my 17" FP. :-)

Mines a 17" LCD that was just set vertically. Then I have another 17" monitor with 1280x960 res. But the real way I did it was layer the print screens in the correct order in photoshop to show all the dimensions.

Last night started drawing out the templates. I'll have pics later tonight.

Aaah.

Noice though. There's NO way I could ever do something that good. That's crazy with all the work that you've done on that.

mike i've got to commend you on keeping with this thing.

Started on the engine block today. I've taken all those dimensions from the spread sheet and started making templates and building the block. By the way, the engine will be a modified Ford 427 SOHC with a custom gilmer belt drive. I will be leaving off some details because if this were real I would remove them on it.
The first thing I did was draw out the front view carefully. I also placed in the chambers to get sizing clearence. This template was cut out after checking, double checking, and triple checking the measurements. Measure three times, cut once.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0002.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0004.JPG

The next process was to take the template and trace it onto .030" sheet styrene. The very first step to that process was to draw four rectangles. These rectangles were 1/8" taller and gave 1/8" clearence on both sides of the template. The reason I allowed clearence is because I will cement the edges to the other rectangles. I did trace the template onto the styrene roughly to make sure no cement got onto the areas that I need to use to build. Extremely tiny drops of CA (superglue) were put on a few spots inside of the template. This would allow the pieces to stay together while they were was being cut out, yet easily be pryed apart when complete.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0007.JPG

This is the stack of four being cut. Since they are all being cut at once they will all be identical. The cuts were made with a fine tooth razor saw.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0009.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0012.JPG

Now the pieces were pryed apart once again. This did not take much effort since the pieces were lightly tacked with CA.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0014.JPG

After cutting out the most important pieces, the faces, I began assembling the block. Each piece was carefully measured and cut. After being cut, 1/16" was chopped on the ends. Since the sheet is .030" the faces have .030" thickness. Both sides together equal .060 (1/16") and that was removed so the engine would be the correct length. The cement joints were reinforced with more strip styrene.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0015.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0016.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0017.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0018.JPG

Clearence was taken into account for the front notch in the front of the block. Instead of taking away material it was easier to make it short and build it up. This is why four faces were needed.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0022.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0023.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/II/DSCF0024.JPG

Thats where it stands now. It is very crucial that the correct pieces are fabricated in the correct order. If they are not then the engine will not be to scale and may look odd. Always quadruple check your measurements. If you arent thinking ten steps ahead of the game you will end up in quite a tough spot.

Sorry for the bad pictures, lighting was crappy.

looks great, you're really gettin moving on progress now.

That's some real clean building there Mike. Can't wait to see more.

Wow, thats amazing. Great work!

this just keeps getting more and more insane your most likely win shows with that for the next ten years. makeing his onw engine in stumped now thats wat i call building/making a model would love to try tat some time but i just have the brain power so ill stick to modifying kits

but anyway keep it coming mike looks great

and to think. all of this coming from a man who once hated styrene. lol. looing awesome mike.

Just got back from Hobby Town. Needed more styrene. In the last week I have spent $70USD on styrene.

[QUOTE=GTmike400]
If you arent thinking ten steps ahead of the game you will end up in quite a tough spot.
QUOTE]

Sounds a lot like a game of chess :icon16: Anyway, i think your a guy with a lot of mental stamina. Starting another mega-project when the rest of us moan over that our paintjob have a dustspeck in it.. Amazing!

I didnt take a ton of pictures this time. Partially because my camera died after the first picture. I've started some of the medium detail right now. Just roughing out some shapes. I also built the transmission "bracket" if you will, for the trans to bolt on to the engine.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0025.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0029.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0030.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0031.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0036.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/III/DSCF0038.JPG

Today I will build the cylinders, and intake plenum. Then I will putty it smooth, and start doing the heavier detailing.

Good work Mike! This engine is a model within itself. :smokin:

Been working on the forsaken cylinders today (took five hours). Those thinks were the biggest nightmare, all to be covered up. I still like how it looks. I just wont do a whole lot of finish work on the cylinders. Tomorrow I have to do some putty, and then detail the block. Im still trying to decide if I should make the plenum all fancy even though it will be covered.

So I started out with two pieces of .100 styrene. I doubled them up, carefully marked out the cylinders and drilled them out. I had to drill them out by hand using ever 1/32" drill bit to prevent ripping, or moving off center. Then I graphed out the bolt plans and drilled them. I made a stupid mistake. I accidently switched up my #50 and #52 drill bits. I drilled a #52 hole where I needed #50 holes to be able to thread them for the bolts. So I'll have to make a remedy.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0001.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0005.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0009.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0010.JPG

After cutting them out I made 3/8" OD 5/16"ID tubing. I forgot to pic some up at the hobby shop so I just modified some 7/16". Then I glued it to the backs of the cylinder mounts.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0012.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0013.JPG

Then glued them in, and started the base for the intake plenum.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0015.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0016.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0017.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0019.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/IV/DSCF0022.JPG

I forgot to take a shot with a ruler, but each orange square equals 1".
Enjoy, and please leave your feedback and suggestions.

Damn dude... You are a true modeller.

Very impressive! Do you plan on making one bank of pistons, con-rods, valvetrain, etc.?

Your fit/tolerances look super tight!
Keep at it!

looks realy nice if i could aford it i would ask if could make me one
becoulse that looks extremly good

mike, simply amazing....bolts? nice touch, i am assuming it will all bolt together?

Very impressing with all this attention to details, especially since you will cover i all up ! Are you aiming for a "smooth" block ,or will you try to replicate the castingfinish on the outside of the block?

Very impressing with all this attention to details, especially since you will cover i all up ! Are you aiming for a "smooth" block ,or will you try to replicate the castingfinish on the outside of the block?

Smooth block.

I am thinking about selling these in resin 1:12 and 1:16.

It will all bolt together. I will be building the bolts later on this build, some are brass and some are styrene studs since they are really small.

If anybody is at the IPMS show here in Atlanta, I've got this on display at the ACME booth in the vendor hall.

Good Sweet God!!!! Looking good...

man! you are nuts! this is a great project!

Just finished the engine block dimensions; or so I think for now.
Heres a screenshot of the engine block dimensions in my spread sheet, if anyone cares.

http://img323.imageshack.us/img323/86/blockdims3mx.jpg

WOW :smokin: ...WOW :smokin: what an awesome build. Hey, where did you get the dimensions for the block? I am trying to scratchbuild an aluminum intake and am having to guess on the dims. Not working :banghead:

^Been wondering that too^

I got the block dim's from a 1/6 Ford 427 Cammer and just scaled down the dimensions. Try www.alltheweb.com (http://www.alltheweb.com) it just takes a lot of searching. If you have the stuff in 1/24 then scale those dimensions.

so mike what are you going to do with the 1/6

YAY for you moving to plastic.

Been working on the engine, and the frame rails. Finally finished the new set. Also built the new frame table. The frame table is built at driving ride height. Later I will add pieces to the bottom to lower it. It may sound confusing but once its seen it will be understood. This jig is perfectly square and The rails are centered correctly and square. So now all thats left is to start building cross members, and a rough tranny to figure out tranny mounts.

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/V/DSCF0047.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/V/DSCF0048.JPG

http://mike.nwwo.com/ACEIII/V/DSCF0049.JPG

I meant to take pictures of the engine, but I forgot. I'll have some tomorrow.

this just gets better and better looking forward to see the engine the frame rails are artwork