The Surfers AA/FD: the frame

[Don Garrett]

Sweet, great project.
GMP has a nice 392 in 1/6th but it's not cheap....I think Jeff has one, if he does he might be willing to post some pics for you.

[hot ford coupe]

No problem. It's a fantastic engine. Let me know what you want me to shoot and I'll get the shots for you. If you want, I can also provide you with some basic measurements so you can do the conversion. I can do this right on the site so everyone can get the info.

[Don Garrett]

Jeff, just in case you don't already have enough to do....
A comparing set of photos (front, back, sides, top, bottom....etc, between the 1/6th 426 and 392 would go right into the favorites section, I'm sure it would help slingshot out as well.

[hot ford coupe]

Great idea. I've got one of the 426 kits in my stash. I'll dig it out, set it up and do some measurements. . It doesn't have to be superdetailed. If you can wait for me to do that, it'll be worth the wait.

[slingshot]

That sounds great if you could do that and it would help answer some questions. I’m not in any big rush is it will take me a while to get the drawings that far and just get the basic frame built. Anything like the photos are measurements would be a huge help and would definitely go into my favorites folder, I’m getting quite a collection of drag racing photos now.

I hadn’t heard of that GMP engine, I will have to look into it. If it’s not too expensive or too heavy, it might be worth it just to save scratchbuilding time. Seems like it’s hard enough to find modeling time to start with!

[Deuces-wild]

The GMP 392 is a heavy monster!! shipping weight was 12.2 pounds. The motor without the stand might weigh about somewhere around???....4-6 pounds. Hope your frame can handle it. This motor is the same one like the Surfers dragster eccept for the injector scoop.

[hot ford coupe]

I would make a styrene version rather than use the 392 GMP model. Guido is right. That thing is really heavy unless you're going to use a well soldered brass rail frame. It's also $200 clams without the shipping from GMP. They do sell direct so yhou don't have to worry about the middle man. It also does not come with a tranny. You'll see when I get done with the pics, how cool an engine it really is.

[slingshot]

Yikes, that’s one heavy engine! Not to mention expensive. I have seen a buy it now price on ebay for the Keith Black engine of $90.00, but even that’s out of my price range. I will either make it out of plastic or probably a lot of the major parts out of insulation, I’m just finishing up on my test pieces on covering the insulation to give it a hard, smooth shell, also finishing up testing on ways to layer it when the insulation needs to be removed, working better than I thought so far. That will probably just before the basic shapes and then I will build up all of the detail with a variety of materials. Sigh, nothing is ever easy these really large scale models!

[Old Busted Hotness]

If it were easy, anyone could do it.

I've just discovered the fun of brazing brake line with MAPP gas. Sounds like a perfect way to build that frame.

[Don Garrett]

Working in 1/6th puts you in a situation where you have to draw on your own personal resourses......it's really not that it's so much more difficult, just a bit more challenging. It doesn't have to take deeper pockets you just have to be a little more creative and put in the time.
At times (my opinion) I am more comfortable working with 1/6th than 1/8th.
Most of us had to make quite an adjustment going from small scale to 1/8th.

[slingshot]

If it were easy, anyone could do it.

I've just discovered the fun of brazing brake line with MAPP gas. Sounds like a perfect way to build that frame.

Plastic is pretty much my medium of choice, it’s what I’m the most comfortable with and the few tools I have are best for plastic. I have played around with aluminum from pop/beer cans and it does have good potential for some areas and if the parts aren’t structural, can even be glued with Future.

One new medium I have been practicing with for the last couple months is insulation which is inexpensive and very easy to work with. I was looking at different ways for the simplest ways to cover it, I toyed with fiberglass, but since Minnesota winters are way too cold to be out in the garage, I didn’t want to work on it in the house getting the little glass fibers everywhere since my cat is usually on the table supervising and I preferred not to have the epoxy fumes in the house either, that, and my ongoing health issues seem to be causing reactions/allergies to a lot of things. I remembered one technique I read about in the mid 80’s from my radio control days where pantyhose was used instead of fiberglass cloth, it wasn’t as strong but was strong and lighter. I was talking to a friend who besides building plastic models also does some radio control and he uses that technique but uses yellow glue instead of resin . I tried that on some plugs and it works great leaving a hard shell (with the insulation still inside) and with another coat of glue is very smooth. I then tried building it up in layers and then removing the insulation like if I was going to build a car body and that also worked very good. the yellow glue is very inexpensive, no odor, isn’t messy and cleans up with water.

Right now I am carving a Romulan Bird of Prey out of insulation to be covered that way for some more practice. I will build a lot of parts for the dragster that way which will weigh almost nothing so the plastic frame will be just fine.

[slingshot]

Working in 1/6th puts you in a situation where you have to draw on your own personal resourses......it's really not that it's so much more difficult, just a bit more challenging. It doesn't have to take deeper pockets you just have to be a little more creative and put in the time.
At times (my opinion) I am more comfortable working with 1/6th than 1/8th.
Most of us had to make quite an adjustment going from small scale to 1/8th.

It sure is a paradigm shift going from the smaller scales to 1/8, I was surprised at the difference after initially thinking it would just be a bigger model. It’s just so hard to build out of the box as they just scream for added detail. In some ways, it seems cheaper to add a lot more detail to the larger scales, I guess because the smaller scales there is so much aftermarket items that it’s easier to buy them than to try and scratchbuild those tiny items, much less see them when you try and work on them!

While 1/6 may not seem to be that much larger than 1/8, it’s surprisingly is and I find it even easier to scratchbuild in 1/6. Being significantly larger, it’s screams even more for added detail as it’s just way to bare otherwise, at least to me.

[Rick]

OBH......I picked up a MAPP gas torch and some brake line the other day but haven't lit the torch yet. Anything I need to know before I get started? How about doing a tutorial for us.

I'm thinking about doing a chassis for a track T and a Willys.

[Don Garrett]

Point the torch away from yourself when you light it.