Sting Rod - Update 9/26/13

[TooOld]

The other night I was looking at this artwork by Gary Campesi and thinking how cool it would be to build one . Before I knew it I had dug a body and chassis out of my stash and was cutting and gluing stuff together . The chassis is from an AMT Indy Car and the body is an AMT '63 Vette . I'm going to find different wheels and tires but these will do for a mock up !

It looks like the StingRod was designed as a narrowed single seat hot rod but I think I'll leave it a two seater . Besides the obvious changes , I also chopped the top , sectioned the body , and bobbed the tail . The chassis has been lengthened about 1/2 inch .

My next project was supposed to be my Uncertain T kit but I guess I got sidetracked again !
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome !

[RatRod]

A very cool, and ambitious project Bob. Looks like a winner for sure!!!

[Dennis M]

Great start Bob.

[nighthawk]

Great project, and you're off to a good start.
I also think that the wheels in your mock-up do fit the artwork rather nicely.
Persoanlly I wouldn't care much if it's five or six spokes. But that's just me.

[TooOld]

Thanks for the encouragement guys . It's pretty rough right now , I did all of the work in the middle of the night without much planning ! Now I'm piecing together a proper engine for it and thinking about mounts and a custom radiator shell .

nighthawk - I don't have a problem with the 5 spoke wheels , I'm just not a big fan of those tires . A taller profile with whitewalls would be perfect !

[nighthawk]

Whitewalls.

There should be a rule about these.
Something like: "Always go for the whitewalls. ALWAYS!"

Yep, they'd look terrific on this model.

[SgtDRecon]

Looks like a winner! Keep it going.

[gluhead]

Did you pie-shape it across the width of the body as well as vertically? Looks like it but I can't tell for sure from these angles. Looks great already. I think the 'Vette lends itself really well to this kind of restyle.

I think the problem with the tires is that it needs bias plys! It's not just the profile...something about that hard bias ply rubber sheen that just screams "rad".

[mind9]

Looks great this one ,it sure is a rare rod/car.

I Always like kit bashing and scratch building.

Love to see it finished, and about the tires well i would choose whitewalls (i don't like those low profile's to) but to keep it the same as the artwork you have to place them, but then again this is modeling you can do what ever you want

Good luck

Gr
Dirk

["ScratchFever"]

Fantastic start Tools..sweet

[ira]

GREAT START!

[Paul B. Canney]

6 spokes make sense no but for 4x4.

go five !

[showrodjohn]

Looks great so far.

[Bert]

Pretty Cool Project. Nice start up, can't wait to see it on the other side.

[TooOld]

Thanks for the comments guys . . . I'm going to use the 5-spoke wheels but the tires are history ! I'm going to try something I've always wanted to do . . . make my own ! ! I should have something to show you in a couple of days , wish me luck !

[TooOld]

Okay , I switched to smaller wheels and made some tires out of PVC tubing . Not bad for my first try but I think they need to be a little taller profile , especially the fronts . Maybe a little black paint will help to see them better .
I'm also struggling with the front half of the car , I just can't come up with a shape that I like . I'm thinking that it needs some headers to fill up those wide open spaces so they're next !

[AL]

WOW! ..... That is REALLY KOOL Bob !!! --what a neat project! ... I think you are nailing it. You've got my attention.

-AL

[Mysterion]

If you look at Campesi's drawing, the body extends quite a bit forward of what you have. Look at where your body starts compared to the "A" pillar, then look at the pic. If you extend your body, you won't have to worry about filling in the empty space.

I love what your doing here, it's going to look great when you're done.

[RatRod]

Man, those tires are perfect Bob!!! It's getting better all the time.

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 13:25:14 GMT -6 Mysterion said:

If you look at Campesi's drawing, the body extends quite a bit forward of what you have. Look at where your body starts compared to the "A" pillar, then look at the pic. If you extend your body, you won't have to worry about filling in the empty space.

I love what your doing here, it's going to look great when you're done.

I was just thinking the same thing about extending the body forward , thanks for the suggestion !

[DVS]

I'm liking where this is going....

[DVS]

Here's another pic of the Sting Rod.

[Steve-o]

Cool nice concept !!!!

[ira]

FANTASTIC TIRES BOB!

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 16:54:23 GMT -6 DVS said:

Here's another pic of the Sting Rod.

Thanks DVS for posting the front view of the StingRod . I looked at that when I was thinking about doing this build and decided not to use the traditional Hot Rod suspension . The only problem is I can't get the nose like that with the suspension I'm using so it's going to look a lot different !

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 17:45:38 GMT -6 ira said:

FANTASTIC TIRES BOB!

Thanks Ira !
They were fun to make too !

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 13:21:01 GMT -6 AL said:

WOW! ..... That is REALLY KOOL Bob !!! --what a neat project! ... I think you are nailing it. You've got my attention.

-AL

Thanks Al !

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 13:26:16 GMT -6 RatRod said:

Man, those tires are perfect Bob!!! It's getting better all the time.

Thanks John !
They're not perfect but for my first try I'm pretty happy with them , I think they could be a little taller .

[TooOld]

Aug 24, 2013 17:23:54 GMT -6 Steve-o said:

Cool nice concept !!!!

Thank you Steve !

[TooOld]

Here's an angle showing that I've extended the front of the body , and also a good look at the front suspension .