1/18 DW12 Conversion (now: 2014 Power Milwaukee Winner)

[GrandPrecision]

Sorry I cant give a better description, but the reality is... I don't know what this is going to be yet!

Have a couple "standard" builds on the way, but wanted to document this one since its a little out of the box. Updates will probably not be swift, but hopefully cover multiple modifications each time.

First off, since I want to have a seamless front nose, I needed to find a way to separate the front suspension. The center part of the bottom will be installed, giving something to glue the lower A-arms to, while the top will be mostly the same.



Next, I drilled out the fuel filler as the body of it will be modified. Obviously, the rough edges from the original plastic will be smoothed out.



The seat was widened while the front of it was cut off to allow a figure to fit (more on this eventually), while the footwell of the cockpit was drilled out.



Onto the sidepods... the cockpit sides from the undertray were glued to the sidepod. The black lines was some analysis of how "off" the Greenlight castings are, and whether it was worth modifying. I may end up puttying the original panel lines and cheating with decal at the proper location.

Originally, I was debating on drilling the rear exhausts to fit the single exhaust pipes ran by the Chevys last year, but this year, it appears the Chevy's are running the same dual exhaust pipes on each side like the Hondas.



Eventually, the front nose of the undertray will be mounted to the diecast nose.... also some notes on the rear, in case I go the Speedway route and need to add diffuser fins to the rear.



Couple modifications to the cockpit part:

A) Casting lines were filed/puttied smooth

B) Holes for the stock antenna and "fins" were puttied

C) Parts from the suspension were glued to cockpit area

D) Small part of the black suspension was cut out, and styrene was added to the body near the front cowl

E) Metal base for headrest was drilled out to fit figure.







C&C welcome, goal is to offer the most accurate/detailed conversion of the Greenlight DW12.

-Chris

[chromehorn08]

This is cool! Lots of interesting stuff and only the first post! Can't wait to see how this turns out!

[indy]

Awesome attention to detail Nice job with the modifications and capturing them well to share. Going to love watching this one being built!

Jordan

[Art Laski]

Chris,

I really like what you're doing here by improving the base model and adding detail like that. I'll be watching for more.

Nice pictures too...

-Art

[senn65]

Can't wait to see it Chris, but to much freaken work for me.

[GrandPrecision]

Update #2

Cut the undertray, separating the nose part from the rest of the undertray.



Nose was screwed into the cockpit area






Ideally, now the entire nose can be painted while hiding the seams of the diecast, while maintaining the black/carbon area on the bottom of the car.



Next stop was adding some 1/8" dia. aluminum tubing for the drive shafts. Cut to fit between the 2 brake mounts, with the original rod for the wheels sliding thru the tubing. Obviously, this will be painted later on.



Up next was cutting the headrest section off of the diecast air-intake/camera pod piece, eventually the headrest will be corrected to the right shape.



Headrest gap visible here:



Up next should be finishing up the headrest, then hopefully some goodies will arrive by then.

-C

edit: Almost forgot my new paint stands for the DW12 parts. Couple extra hockey pucks laying around, added a nail that was the diameter of the screw hole, and wrapped the excess in masking tape to hold it at the tip of the screw.

[chromehorn08]

Any updates on this???

[GrandPrecision]

Not really, the more correcting there is done, the more one realizes there's other things that are pretty much uncorrectable. As with every Greenlight, its beauty from afar, but far from beatiful... just replace the word with beautiful with "accurate".

I've moved onto BIGGER and better things, but if it gets done, it will be Will Power's Fontana winner.

[chromehorn08]

Well that's too bad. But I look forward to your BIGGER project and that Will Power car whenever you get to it!

[indy]

Jan 8, 2014 8:28:36 GMT -5 chromehorn08 said:

But I look forward to your BIGGER project and that Will Power car whenever you get to it!

x2

[GrandPrecision]

So reviving this from the dead, as I finally have an update. Plans were to be a 2013 Power Fontana winner, but as Will wanted one with road-course wings, decided on this one.

Here's some pics of whats gone on since 2 years ago (wow, that long, huh?)

Tub has been revised, with headrest, front cowl and airbox all assembled before painting. This was done as the front suspension/cowl alignment on the GL is rather inaccurate compared to the actual car. Plan is to use decal to "fix" the front cowl. As I type, I realize I should have puttied the entire front seam and reshaped it with decal... that will happen in the next update.




Many thanks to Calvin for helping make these mirrors possible, was able to use the 3D printed mirror and a GL mirror mount to make a single resin piece. Added benefit is that they're much lighter than the original piece and more resilient from getting knocked around.



Trying this out, but I think the buttons needed to extend further out of the base. Steering wheel designed off photos of the actual Penske wheel.


Plan is to use this antenna rather than the stock one.


Need to make the rear wing flap, but mainplane and RWEPs were painted


Front Wing parts are primed and pinholes were puttied.


Undertray has been painted, needs to Carbon Fiber decals on most parts still. Undertray fins were added when it was planned to be a Fontana car, and I'm not sure if its still entirely accurate.




Rear cowl & sidepod castings were modified for increased accuracy in the rear section. End of the sidepods & cowl should be parallel with the rear suspension arms, however, the GL car does not do that.

[chromehorn08]

Nice! Can't wait to see how this turns out. Your attention to detail is awesome.

[harveythedog2]

Some slick ideas here Chris! Loving it!

[Deleted]

Hello,

I would like to know where the Antennas will go on the car ? Behind the Roll-bar ? One on the sidepod and one behind the Roll-bar ? Any on the Nose ?

I'm doing a 1996 Emmo All-Red #9 M@r1b0r0/Mobil-1 Penske PC-25 replica out of a PC-23 and would like to know where the Antennas go.

Anyone is Welcome to Answer !

Thank you,
Robby

[GrandPrecision]

Robby, sorry, can't help you on the 1996 Emmo, but the DW12 has a large antenna next to the airbox.

Latest update, completed a handful of 3D printed parts for this project. Unfotunately, the photos magnify "flaws/details" that otherwise aren't remotely noticeable on the actual items.

a) Painted & weathered the wheelnuts:



b) Painted the brake rotors & calipers. Printed them as separate pieces to make for easier painting. Brembo text was decal, although in hindsight I wonder if I should have cut the text into the pieces.



c) Finished the corrected dashboard & steering wheel.

[harveythedog2]

Holy crap Chris! Loving it!!! Great stuff, Super Sweet is all I can think of!