Daytona Transport

[Mysterion]

I bought this kit knowing I had to put my spin on it, but what to do with it?

First to go is the grille, it does nothing for me. I found an old Super Bee grille from an ebay junkyard auction. I had to split it and add to the center to fit the transport.



Next up, rework the plain looking bed area. I bulged the sides which gave it some shape and allows me to tuck the rear wheels.

First i cut the side off, cut 2 notches at the corners of the rear wheel flares to keep flare from distorting and added the first spacer it the wheelwell. Once it dried enough the front edge was reattached.



Added a filler to the front top.



The rear was a bit tougher, it needed a relief cut to allow the back to bend upward to meet the body.



The relief cut filled with scrap sheet and reattched to the body.



A comparison shot from above.



A mock up with the glass rear enclosure.

[Starry Eyes]

Folks this is a master mind at work I'm tellin ya ....

[mykturk]

Looks better already!

[TooOld]

Dec 19, 2012 12:57:03 GMT -6 Starry Eyes said:

Folks this is a master mind at work I'm tellin ya ....

I'm a believer !

[Dennis M]

Great start' I love it already.

[Dennis M]

Great start' I love it already.

[darquewanderer]

Love the new grille. I'll be watching this one.

[Mysterion]

With the curve of the body, the front tires were too far inboard for my liking. I cut the outer edge of the flare with a hot knife, pulled the top out slightly and cemented a strip of .010 to fill the gap.



After a little sanding.



I ground out the grilles and headlights, just leaving the shape of the opening. Then I finished off the underside.





There is a filler piece that goes on the back of the cab. I decided to make it part of the body, rather than an attached piece. I started by sanding the inside edges and pie cutting the corners, then cemented it in place.

[badroadahead]

He's at it again!

Great improvements you're doing.

Keep it going.

Dave

[Mysterion]

After I molded in the roof piece I decided to open the doors too.



Next up was to redo the interior. I removed the seats and widened the doghouse to fit a bigger engine. I'm gonna save the six cylinder Pontiac for something else. I tried to fit a Revell Parts Pack 421 Pontiac in it, but it just wont fit. Looks like a SBC is going in instead.

[Dennis M]

Alls I can say is WOW. What a beauty.

[Mysterion]

This was supposed to be a simple quick build with a little detailing.

Opening these doors was a big mistake. I've got almost 2 hours trying to make the doorjambs and sills and it should only be two curved pieces and two straight. The aggravation factor went through the roof, it's a miracle I didn't smash this cab to bits. There is just no way to hold the parts in place to measure, fit or glue, my fingers just won't fit or bend in the right direction to hold the pieces.

Finally I have something I can start working with.





Now to figure out how to fill these holes and I'm done fabricating the tub part of the interior.



After an hour and 3 tries, I'm still striking out. Maybe I should move on to the engine or rear suspension.

[TheMadModeler]

Hey that is lookin' Kick a$$.. Love the body and interior mod's..
BiLL,...

[Mysterion]

I took my advice and moved on to the rear suspension which will be a simple trailing arm with airbags.

Here is the start.

[Mysterion]

The trailing arms are done.



Fitting them into the bed for the first time, some minor adjustment is needed, but it looks like they will work.

[barten]

NOW this is building! ! ! KILLER. . and makes everyone want to cut up something! THIS IS GOING TO BE SOOOOO COOL when done! Like all your other's

It has the "look"

GB
barten

[koffinbuilder64]

DITTO!! Lookin' killer Dave! love all the mods. I have an original issue of this truck, someday might get around to doin' something with it! Keep up the killer work!

[Mysterion]

Thanks guys, I'm kind off getting my groove back lately.



The arms are spaced too far from the mounting location on the bed. I figured out a remedy and an easy mounting method at the same time.

First I drilled through the front pivot bushing and mounting plate.



Then cut of the front mounting plate and trim the pivot bushing on the front of the arm.


Next a rod is cut and a small length of 1/8" tube is glued to the mounting plate. Once the cement dried, the tube is sanded down to a thin spacer.



I dipped the end of the rod into some Weld-On 16 to glue it in place (I use the Weld-On as a gap filling glue) and quickly cleaned up any excess and set aside to dry.


Now the front mounts can be cemented to the bed, allowed to dry, and then mount the arms to the mounts. This will be SO much easier as there is no a lot of room to work with.

The finished product with the collapsed bags and upper bag mounts. The bags are just slices of 3/16" tubing with the edges rounded, the mounts are made from .030 sheet. The pins sticking out behind the bags are shock mounts.

[Mysterion]

I've got the trailing arm mounts in and the shocks are just about done. I've also started filling in the frame where it was trimmed for the stock suspension and added supports for the sides behind the wheelwells.

Now the last modification to the bed, new hydraulic rams. The ones from the kit are too big and hang to low for my liking. Smaller ones might not be realistic, but it's a needed sacrifice for ground clearance.

The stock ram hanging below the body.



My new high tech-more power/less size ram next to the stock one.





The new rams.

[Mysterion]

How about a peak at what she looks like?

[darquewanderer]

Looking good so far. And the Deora too.

[sakke]

Man: you have a grat tune going on.. Keep building!!

[Dennis M]

Great job Dave. A master at work.

[Mysterion]

Back to the interior.

As this has fly by wire steering, I can be creative with the design of the dash/steering wheel and I plan to! I'm guessing the original idea for the kit dash was to have it lift out of the way when entering/exiting the truck. I plan to follow that idea.


I used the back of a Corvette seat to make a dash pod. After sanding the seat to shape, I added a strip of .010 to make the face, a piece of 3/16" tube and 1/8" tube for the steering column. I then bent two pieces of 3/64" rod to make the support arms that join with a bushing on the end.



I then drilled a small piece of rectangle stock for a pin, then notched out the center for the support arm bushing.



In the driving position.





Swung up and out of the way.

[koffinbuilder64]

Killer work Dave!!! Keep at it .

[barten]

YEa in the grove is an understatement. . . man you are forging new roads! I love this. . . very inspirational! The creativity is far out there. and the technique. . . wow I need alot of practice to come close to this!
Great stuff . . . my friend!

GB
barten

[Mysterion]

I used 1/4" tube to make the tunnel that hides the hinge, a notch was cut for the dash pod to fit into. A pin for the dash pod slides in from the back and is hidden by the engine cover.



Down for driving.



Up for entrance/exit.



I hope the interior tub is one round of filler and prime away from paint. I've also come up with what I hope is a simple fix for the holes where the hinges go.


While I'm in high gear on this build, lets get that front suspension out of the way. This time a trailing arm and a locating arm. Not very realistic, but it looks cool.


First extensions from the frame for the front of the arms to mount to were made, following with the arms. The arms are .100 rod, some scrap .040 and a couples of slices if 1/4" tube.



Checking the fit with the transaxle, it's close enough for me.



The additional bars are to act like a triangulated 4 link, but in reality would not work, but thanks to the gaps of 1/25 scale, it has movement and I'm claiming artistic license on this one.



Now to find a matching set of driveshafts to make the axles from.

One more quick mod, I filled the mack panel and then trimmed it to fit the transaxle.

[Mysterion]

You can see I've extended the main trailing arm and added an airbag mount to it, along with upper bag mounts on the frame. Time to start figuring out the drivetrain,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, please let it fit!!!!

Lining up the transaxle.



With the block in place and some rod to represent axle, it's time to see if there's clearance for the axles.





So far it looks like it will work. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Vintagercr]

Man that is going to be wicked looking!

[Mysterion]

One step backward one step forward. I jinxed myself on clearance and had to rework the frame a bit I've got a more interesting looking frame now.

First I needed some motor mounts to have a stable engine/trans.

It starts with some simple 1/16" rod through the frame.



With a mounting point on the trans for the axles, it was soon apparent I was going to lose too much of the frame rail to even remotely look possible in real life. After a little thought I came up with this box idea.

First step, make a box.



Then it was time to locate and sand out the notches for clearance and cement in some .010 sheet filler.





The engine looks right at home in here.