Proposed 1968 Eagle Turbo Offy Transkit

[pje]

I talked with Calvin the other day about the need for a good, easily available turbo Offy engine trans kit for modifying the 1968 Gurney Eagle Olsonite Special into the Bobby Unser 1968 Rislone Special Indy winner and whatever other Eagles were equipped with turbo Offys. He is interested in offering a transkit, but has enough other projects going that he’s asked me to develop the parts.
So, I’m asking for help to achieve that goal. I’m looking for a glue bomb of the Rislone Eagle or if someone has a kit that they are willing to sell or loan, please contact me. If you loan me the kit, I could eventually replace the engine parts with Calvin’s transkits.
There was an article doing this conversion in the August, 2018 Scale Auto, where the author was originally going to use an Offy out of one of the McLaren kits, but ran into challenges and eventually ended up with a curbside where he just installed the visible exhaust and turbo parts. I for one, would like more detail than that.
Related to this, I trying to research the Offy engine and turbo system as fitted in the Eagle, but am not having much luck so far. There are plenty of photos online showing the exterior of the car (I’ve even got some detail photos that I took of the car from back in 1996), but nothing with the engine cover removed. If you have anything to share or can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

Paul Erlendson

[tomfaletti]

Norm Veber of Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland does this transkit. The address on the label is;

317 Roosevelt Avenue, S.W.
Glen Burnie, Maryland, 21061

or you can reach him at the following number:[phone],

email:[e-mail]

[Calvin]

Paul is my research and development guy. Lol
I'm starting to leverage my time. Lol
But, I'd love to come out with my own version of the turbo offy conversion for the MPC Olsonite Eagle kit, which their is an abundance of.
And like usual my kit would be readily available, EXTREMELY easy to purchase and fast shipping. No hassle or waiting is my store policy.

[Calvin]

I've been working on a new conversion kit for the 1/25 MPC 1968 Olsonite Eagle kit to be able to turn it into a 1968 Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser Rislone Eagle. I'm very excited about this new kit. It will be an incredible kit with the Offy engine, with all the plumbing, accurate Indycals designed black resin tires, to-scale-Vac-U-Form windscreen, Indycals Decals for the body and tire decals and instructions with free comprehansive step-by-step blog post on everything you need to convert this kit.

[eagle36]

Are you going to do the rear suspension correction while you are at it?

[Calvin]

Oct 25, 2019 21:52:16 GMT -5 eagle36 said:

Are you going to do the rear suspension correction while you are at it?

I'm not going to cast any suspension parts but I'll show how to fix the existing parts. Indycals did a blog on that subject back in the day. Its pretty straightforward.

[tomfaletti]

Calvin, I'm glad you're continuing with this project. I spoke to Norm Veber at last Saturday's MAMA club meeting where he stated that his molds for this conversion are worn out and he isn't planning to offer the Transkit going forward.

I'm looking forward to getting a couple of yours Calvin.

Tom

[hurtubise56]

Glad my parts worked out for you! There are a lot of Olsonite kits out there, you should sell quite a few, I would think.

Brian

[Calvin]

Wow! This is looking good! Everything is coming along. Here is a sneak peek at the parts resin parts and decal sheet.
Also, a sneak peek at some of the instruction pictures of the offy engine. Im currently working on a humongous blog how-to instruction tutorial with every single detailed step.

[hurtubise56]

That looks really nice, Calvin! Demand should be high!

Brian

[billj]

Everything looks great Calvin. Will the conversion include the engine covers and tail area?

[nesmra]

Hi Calvin & a note to BillJ as well

Calvin I will get 1 or 2 of your kits as soon as you release them.

I saw Bills note and I checked my Olsonite kits and partical kits to the remains of a old first issue Rislone kit.

the 3 complete kits and the parts kit I have all have the Offy engine covers. I have misplaced the tail piece at this time but as I remember it is the same as the Olsonite cars. If I discover that my memory is incorrect I will let you know.

Thanks Ralph

Ralph Ellery

NESMRA    ( It's a Super Modified thing )

Brooksville Fl

[hurtubise56]

Tail piece is identical EXCEPT the Rislone has two notches on the leading edge to mount an oil cooler (transmission, I think). The Olsonite kits have the two Offy side covers.

[Calvin]

I know forsure I won't be making any resin tail as the kit tail just needs a little part notched out and I will supply a template in the kit. As for the engine cover I want to wait and see how it looks before I say if I will make replacement, but highly doubt it, I'm sure the kit engine cover will be just fine.
I'm going through this kit with the most thought I've ever done on a conversion kit.

[Calvin]

Here is another update. These are all pictures I'll be using on my blog with a more comprehensive explanation of each one. LOL I laugh because I've already put so much detail and information into the blog I've been writing that the builder will have it so easy that you won't have to really think too much. LOL I'm actually worried I might take the challenge and the fun of problem-solving out of the equation of model building.

The next step will be the good part as I will finally put all my resin parts to the fit test and see how the tail and engine cover fits



I got the body painted in my traditional manner and I also go over in my blog why I did this step before anything else.
I also use Indycals rivet decals as I sanded off the kit rivets because they are not to scale and hard to polish you body with actually bumps on your surface and in 1/25th scale the size of a rivet would be almost nothing and using the visual "trick" of a decal is just way better IMO.


I'm also getting into the details of the engine too, on my blog. I will explain the importance of using a black wash on your bare aluminium parts as it will add depth and take your model from looking like a cheap toy, to looking like an actually car. Model building is mostly about tricking the eye.


I will also go over how to make your black resin tires look real and how Black resin tires are the way to go in many ways.

[billj]

I had no idea that the Offy engine covers were in the Gurney/Hulme Eagle kit. I went and looked and sure enough the covers are there. Learn something new every day:)

Calvin, the conversion is looking excellent. Decals look great, tires are perfect and who can resist an Offenhauser. Looking forward to another car from my favorite era from 60-70. I sure appreciate all your efforts young man

[nesmra]

Hi Calvin
I'm glad that some of the others want this conversion as much as I do.
The new engine will save me a lot of time that I would have spent trying to repair a lot of old parts. Painted it's beautiful. Those tires look good enough to be real.
The only part from the old kit that I am sure I will use is the chassis itself and may be a new set of wheels.
The engine covers should fit as they are identical to the ones in the Rislone kit.
It's funny most of the Olsonite kits I have were sold as parts and the seller said there was not a complete kit in the group. Well there were all the parts for two complete kits and all the parts I needed to replace missing or damaged parts on the Rislone car. your new parts will make it a lot better.
Thanks Ralph


Ralph Ellery
NESMRA ( It's a Super Modified thing )
Brooksville Fl

[Calvin]

One of my goals was to make this kit with a removable engine cover. Well, it's possible to put on and remove it, but it is VERY tricky. There needs to be some grinding to thin out some areas of the engine cover. The problem is on the real car it was a split engine cover that had a lip and dzus fasteners to hold it together. But with a 1/25th scale model, it's just not humanly possible to have that type of setup and thinness of an actual scaled engine cover. That's the problem with scale models is the thickness of the bodywork required to be strong enough for humans to handle and we know that the real car's bodywork is thin and tightly placed around the all the working parts.

If a person wanted to try to figure out how to hold the engine cover in place and together as a split cover I guess they can but as a seller and teacher of this kit it would be very difficult to figure out how to explain how to do such a thing. There is so many factors involved, so Im just picking the most realistic way for myself and for others to do, is to glue the two halves of the engine cover together and carefully squeeze it on and off. I need to try to take it on and off with the roll bar on as I just realized that might screw everything up. LOL

[racermagic]

Looking really good Calvin. Michaels fasteners really set it off. The tires are also looking good.
Maybe Stu will come along and give it a " sweeeeet".
Engine looks good. Looking forward to seeing this car done.
Keep up the good work!

[Chris]

Calvin, It is really starting to come together and looks good, in my Lotus 56 Offy build I covered Hi-detailing the Offy engine, with the exception of the use of a distributor the Eagle would use a standard Magneto. link mb2501.proboards.com/thread/2024/1969-lotus-56b-offy should someone want to really detail your Offy engine up the detail work starts on page 1 and shows bolt placement, turbo plumbing, cooling lines and wiring. Cant wait to get one of your engines too....Chris

[Calvin]

I'm taking all the guesswork, confusion, and unknowns out of building this MPC Eagle kit.
I just got don't typing out a very detail breakdown of how to fix the rear suspension problem on this kit, using the Indycals modification method. Indycals had a blog post on this very subject back in the day. I used that method and put my own touch on it in my future blog post that I will be releasing the same time I release this conversion kit.

I have all the detailed pictures of the step-by-step process on my future blog post, but until then, here is the current view of the build.

[Calvin]

Nov 12, 2019 9:35:06 GMT -5 Chris said:

Calvin, It is really starting to come together and looks good, in my Lotus 56 Offy build I covered Hi-detailing the Offy engine, with the exception of the use of a distributor the Eagle would use a standard Magneto. link mb2501.proboards.com/thread/2024/1969-lotus-56b-offy should someone want to really detail your Offy engine up the detail work starts on page 1 and shows bolt placement, turbo plumbing, cooling lines and wiring. Cant wait to get one of your engines too....Chris

Very useful information you gave on that build.

And I do plan to offer this Offy engine with engine parts, separately.

[Calvin]

The 1968 winner is almost to the finish line!
I'll be making an official kit release announcement very soon.

After doing the suspension modifications its mostly just following the kit instructions.

[ohnothimagen]

Calvin, this is simply stunning! Although I have never been a BU fan, this is an incredible tribute to him and the '68 winning Eagle. And it's great you are doing the detailed instructions to make the kit more accurate.

If I may be so bold to point out one additional observation related to the MPC kit instructions: the correct placement of the instrument panel shown in the kit instructions is upside down. The steering column on the real car didn't come through the top of the dash but through the lower edge of the panel.
Rex

[Calvin]

Nov 29, 2019 12:15:00 GMT -5 ohnothimagen said:

Calvin, this is simply stunning! Although I have never been a BU fan, this is an incredible tribute to him and the '68 winning Eagle. And it's great you are doing the detailed instructions to make the kit more accurate.

If I may be so bold to point out one additional observation related to the MPC kit instructions: the correct placement of the instrument panel shown in the kit instructions is upside down. The steering column on the real car didn't come through the top of the dash but through the lower edge of the panel.
Rex

Thank you. Yes, I point out in the instructions to flip the dash over.

[Calvin]

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new conversion kit for the MPC Olsonite Eagle!
This is the most detail I've ever put into a conversion kit project!

themodelcarchannel.store/collections/1-24-1-25-indycars/products/1-25-rislone-eagle-resin-conversion-kit-for-mpc-dan-gurney-olsonite-eagle-kit

[flashman]

Absolutely magnificent, and very much appreciated! Yet another one added to my "I have GOT to order one of those" list. Fortunately I have some money coming this month so that I can start those orders going!

My friend, you (and Michael Portaro/Indycals) have become the best friends of Indycar model fans.

Thanks so much!

Cameron

[Calvin]

Dec 3, 2019 10:20:54 GMT -5 flashman said:

Absolutely magnificent, and very much appreciated! Yet another one added to my "I have GOT to order one of those" list. Fortunately I have some money coming this month so that I can start those orders going!

My friend, you (and Michael Portaro/Indycals) have become the best friends of Indycar model fans.

Thanks so much!

Cameron

Thank you! You are a good friend too! We really appreciate all your support.

[Calvin]

Check out my blog post on the 1968 Winner conversion. LOL All I can say is its HUGE! I tried to cover every little detail! I spent hours on this tutorial. When you build your own 68 Winner you won't even have to think on how to build it. LOL

hobbitime74404545.wordpress.com/2019/12/03/building-a-1968-rislone-eagle-with-1-25-mpc-olsonite-eagle-kit/

[nesmra]

Hi Calvin and to the rest of you

I received the first item that Calvin released for this project or the first part I saw, the Offy engine. It's beautiful.

I'll order the complete update kit as soon as I have the cash.

As I said the engine is beautiful and this one is going into one of Calvins Wild Cats.

In the next few days the Eagle kit.

By all means get one.

Thanks Calvin

Ralph Ellery

NESMRA    ( It's a Super Modified thing )