Shade Tree Hot Rod

[Don Garrett]

Now I have to deal with the cowl.....I could do a plank on bulkhead with wood strips or form it out of thin aluminum for that back yard pop riveted look, Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
decisions, decisions.

[Don Garrett]

Couple more pics.........sure is a lot going with this "fun" build. So far the car is plugging along....it'll be a dio by the time I'm done .
So far it's got a tag along BBQ smoker, surf board & mini bike in the works. You may have spotted that big ol' hawg in the back ground of the pics. Problem is, now I have to build a cooler and some 1/8th scale ice cubes!

[Don Garrett]

As I mentioned before, the Hack body isn't going to add a lot of structural stability to this model.
That combined with the inherent flexibility of the ladder style T frame leaves me with a painted "egg shell" fragile model. NOT COOL!
I'm comfortable with the mock-ups......... so where's the beef?
I'll start with the floor boards, I drilled some locating holes in the frame rails and glued in some scrap tubing to use for pins.



I'd like to take a moment here to say that this is all pin vise & eyeball stuff, the point I'm trying to make is simply, you don't have to have all the mega buck equipment and tons of experience to build a model that is cool and will stand up to a bit of handling.





The plastic floor board is .060 thick, I'll cover the road side with thin aluminum and the top will be covered with wood planks, add to that the locating pins and I'll have a stable platform to mount the body to. None of it will show, but the model won't twist or break joints over time even if the adhesives get a bit tired.
Besides, it helps keep everything square and I can remove the floor boards from the rails and mount them permanently to the body.

Why...you may ask? Down the road aways I may want to put a different body on this chassis without having to build another one.

[Don Garrett]

Rear coil spring buckets, this should give me the measurements I need to be able to fab up the pan-hard bar, shock mounts and all those other little bits that I know need to be there. They may not show on the finished model but I want the suspension to be functional.

[EstebanLoco]

nice work grandpa. I can tell you're having fun.

[Old Busted Hotness]

Problem is, now I have to build a cooler and some 1/8th scale ice cubes!

Coolers are easy:



If you can make a box, you can make a cooler. For ice cubes, cut up some clear sprue , add dollhouse beer cans and pour some acrylic clearcoat in there to hold it together.

[hot ford coupe]

Way neat cooler frame, OBH. Hey, can we call this one a McGurkmobile?

[Don Garrett]

McGurkmobile...I like that . Think I'll send ya some love bugs.

Floor & foot board.

[hot ford coupe]

Oh no! Not the love bugs! I used to hate those things. I forgot what season it is. I'm here in San Antonio this week and here, the problem is crickets. They're all over the place. Hey Don, you need some crickets ? BTW, I like what you've done. It's great to see you back at the bench again.