|
|
Post by kip on Jul 22, 2014 16:13:31 GMT -5
Frustration has set in on my 1959 Racing Associates build so for a break from that I started Herk's 1964 Tombstone Life Spl. I am using the AMT Watson as the base with Calvin's 1964 tires. I wanted to use the American Racing Miniatures/Etzel Offy but I was afraid it would sit to high and the hood would not clear--so I used the kit's Offy. The chassis was built pretty much stock. Removed some of the suspension mounting points--and will remove some more as I go along.    Other than the suspension mounts the only other modifications I made were to the Offy. According to Pete Hurtubise, the magneto was mounted in the driver's cockpit to reduce vibration. I assume that means the plug wiring must have run from the cockpit so I reversed the direction of the wiring and left the magneto off the engine. Pete Hurtubise described the magneto drive as quite complicated and I have no idea what it looked like--so I left it off for now. If anyone has any knowledge of the magneto drive. it would be appreciated. I also used my own velocity stacks.  According to Pete Hurtubise. the chassis was not all that different from the Watson, but the suspension was. Apparently, they developed some coil overs but didn't have time to develop them so they went with coil springs. I made my own using some Dan Gurney Eagle springs as a base. And yes, those are real springs.  For the body, I am waiting to see what Lance's 64 Foyt tail piece looks like. Otherwise I will putty up the AMT. kip |
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Jul 22, 2014 16:24:20 GMT -5
Awesome stuff! Did you want a resin reject (Its really not much of a reject) 1964 Old Calhoun nose to saw up to turn into a Tombstone nose?
Just PM me with your address and you will have it in 4 days.
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 22, 2014 16:31:49 GMT -5
That would be great. Thank you.
kip
|
|
|
|
Post by mjjracer on Jul 22, 2014 20:23:55 GMT -5
This is so cool. Just a week or so ago I started looking up pics on this car after one was posted on the '60's Indycar Only Facebook page. Should be a great, different looking car with the springs and flo paint.
Thanks for doing this!
MJ
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 23, 2014 15:56:33 GMT -5
Most of the rear suspension is in. I'll do the rods that go in front of the axle after the body is on. I'm pretty happy with how the coil springs worked out.   On to the front axle. kip |
|
|
|
Post by 2lapsdown on Jul 23, 2014 17:30:38 GMT -5
Those springs look soooo sweet
John
|
|
|
|
Post by clm1545 on Jul 23, 2014 19:36:53 GMT -5
Looking good, Kip. What happened to the R A Special?
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 23, 2014 20:47:12 GMT -5
I was getting frustrated with the suspension so I thought I'd take a break on the RA. Doesn't make much sense does it. I was letting the RA suspension drive me crazy so I started something that requires a totally redone and different suspension (although, so far, these coil springs have been great fun.) I have the RA on another workbench, so I thought after a short break on the RA, I'd keep both going.
kip
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 24, 2014 16:26:18 GMT -5
And the front coils.  kip |
|
|
|
Post by sandysixtysfan on Jul 24, 2014 18:37:49 GMT -5
This is going to be an insanely good build, thanks for starting this WIP. It's great to see how much life is still left in this old kit.
Sandy
|
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Jul 25, 2014 1:30:24 GMT -5
This is absolute fantastic stuff! For some reason whenever I think of Tombstone life, I think of Pizza Insurance!
|
|
|
|
Post by indy on Jul 25, 2014 9:21:18 GMT -5
Great looking work so far, really like the coil overs.
Jordan
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 25, 2014 13:04:07 GMT -5
Body needs some work. Going from torsion bars to coil springs requires filling some of the holes in the body. Also, the Tombstone ran without a side engine panel. The open area around the rear axle on the Tombstone was considerably smaller than on the Willard Battery car. The slope of the tail ridge was also different on the Tombstone. It wasn't as round as the Willard and had a little pointy edge toward the bottom. Perhaps a subdued version of the Demler 99 Cadillac fin?  Before:  After:  kip |
|
|
|
Post by Art Laski on Jul 25, 2014 13:15:22 GMT -5
Kip, great work so far. The coils look very nice!
-Art
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 25, 2014 13:55:57 GMT -5
Received the nose today, Calvin (and once again, it was freaky fast shipping). Thank you very much. Already cut down and reshaped the air intake. It will work nicely. The major work will be removing the side pods and filling the holes. I'm pretty sure its a winner.
kip
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 30, 2014 9:51:42 GMT -5
Working on the body now. Here is what I am trying for:   Body is in primer. I cut panel lines--the AMT body didn't have any. I added two air scoops in front of the cockpit, one to the lower side panel. I put a little bump on the hood and added large air scoops to the nose and hood. The nose and nose scoop are thanks to Calvin. He sent me a prototype of his 1964 Willard Battery nose. I cut back the scoop on that nose and with a fair amount of drilling, filing, sanding, and vacuum forming arrived with what you see. Many thanks also to Bob Clidinst for his wonderful drawing of this car. Showed where all the scoops and bumps needed to go and the shape of the tail and nose. (Gotta love the zebra striped duct tape holding this together.)     Next to the fluorescent red. kip |
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Jul 30, 2014 10:40:03 GMT -5
Please test out your Flo red first if you are using Tamiya! I sure hope you read this before doing that!
Becuase Tamiya flo red can and will go dull. If you have good can it will be the proper glowing red and will stay that way on your car.
BTW everything loos fantastic!
|
|
|
|
Post by indy on Jul 30, 2014 10:59:13 GMT -5
BTW everything looks fantastic! +1 |
|
|
|
Post by kip on Jul 30, 2014 13:04:07 GMT -5
Thanks. Have not painted red yet. I will check the paint before painting. I had some trouble with the red on the 63 Novi.
kip
|
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Jul 30, 2014 13:22:12 GMT -5
Thanks. Have not painted red yet. I will check the paint before painting. I had some trouble with the red on the 63 Novi. kip I give it two light coats and wait a good hour and it should tell you if its dull or not......it should stay glowing..... if its not glowing after an hour then its bad. When I mean glowing, I mean it will look like its glowing in the dark. The reason why I emphasise the glowing so much is some people don't really know how bright this paint really should be when its good. |
|
|
|
Post by sandysixtysfan on Jul 30, 2014 15:19:16 GMT -5
Looking real good and a great choice for a subject. You need sunglasses to look at it!
Sandy
|
|
|
|
Post by racerbrown on Jul 31, 2014 5:53:17 GMT -5
impressive!
you can't help but love one of his cars.
he was mr. excitement at indy.
duane
|
|
|
|
Post by billj on Jul 31, 2014 15:38:27 GMT -5
Looking really good! I Can't wait to see it finished up, should be a winner  |
|
|
|
Post by kip on Aug 13, 2014 17:18:58 GMT -5
Going to be a little while before my next update. I didn't realize that the drag link is not on the outside of the car. As a result, I have a hole in the body that has to be filled and I already painted the body. (I was really happy with the paint job too.) I know from past experience that touching up the fluorescent red is probably going to be obvious. That color is so touchy. So, the options are to fill and touch up (not something I want to do particularly--I wanted this one to be really nice.) or strip the paint, fill the hole, reprime and repaint. I'm leaning toward the latter.
kip
P.S. Got my fingers crossed. CT scan on Monday. If it goes well I will be cancer free for 3 years. |
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Aug 13, 2014 17:25:06 GMT -5
I would suggest trying touching it up first just to see if it does work before completely redoing everything.
I hope the CT scan goes good as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by sandysixtysfan on Aug 13, 2014 18:08:50 GMT -5
Kip, first of all and most importantly I hope your CT scan goes well! As for filling the hole we've all had things like this happen. If it was mine, rather than try to fill in and paint over, risking the whole paint job, I'd use a small punch and punch out a small thin piece of circular plastic. Paint it the body color or a natural metal, glue it on the hole and credit it to way race cars change or or modified on a daily basis. Outside of us how many would know  . Sandy |
|
|
|
Post by clm1545 on Aug 13, 2014 19:03:45 GMT -5
Good luck Monday, Kip. Lots of guys will be thinking of you.
Craig
|
|
|
|
Post by kip on Aug 28, 2014 16:59:39 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Calvin on Aug 28, 2014 17:56:28 GMT -5
Looks like you got the right can of Tamiay flo!
Yeah the fit of the AMT is not always the best....a person pretty much had to fill everything in and re-scribe them.
But I think what you have done looks very cool!
|
|
|
|
Post by billj on Aug 28, 2014 19:24:58 GMT -5
Sure looks great to me! Can't wait to see the finished model. Good old Herk!
|
|
Pro Tech | MAD | Scale Motorsport
.
