Post by kabdriver on Oct 25, 2019 14:19:53 GMT -6
I’ve been wanting to do a nice high detail build of SOMETHING to take to NNL East next year; my first time visiting the show. I’ve been trying to think of a good showrod kit to really dig into and do something cool with, and I saw this sad looking thing on eBay a couple of months back. I think I’m going to take a shot at making something show-worthy out of this old original issue kit:
Now, I might not be THAT smart but I’m smart enough to know it’ll be tough to start with something as low-parts-count as an old 60s Tom Daniel kit and make something incredible out of it...but I really want to try and build something killer to push my skills and see what I can make of it. I’m thinking a scratchbuilt tube frame, some machined aluminum wheels, all the bells and whistles you’d normally see in a real 1:1 drag car - but packed inside this crazy old showrod body. Something where, if you glanced at it on the table you’d think “that’s just a T’rantula, pffttt” but then when you look there some cool stuff to spot. First, after a trip to the freezer, got it broken down far enough to start playing with it:
First job, if I’m going to make a tube frame for it is to do some strategic cuts to the body (which hides almost anywhere that there WOULD be a frame pretty successfully) is to slice the body up enough where I’d be able to assemble it around a scratchbuilt frame at all without building it ship-in-a-bottle style. First up, I removed a chunk of floor from the ‘cab’ - the kit doesn’t even attempt to show a rear axle and I’d like to show some of that even if just from the underside...
And, whilst I’d like to keep that ‘under tray’ that forms the bottom of the body, I started making some slices to that too to allow it to mount to a frame somehow:
The real trick here is going to be to keep the kit recognisably a T’rantula (easy - it’s already shaped like one 🤪) but allow enough visibility of the cool mechanical stuff to make it actually interesting if you look closer.
More soon - I’ve been moving mentally between a load of different build ideas for my first NNL for probably 6 months now, so I figure that if I start a thread on it it becomes real and I’ll HAVE to do it! 😂🤷♂️
Now, I might not be THAT smart but I’m smart enough to know it’ll be tough to start with something as low-parts-count as an old 60s Tom Daniel kit and make something incredible out of it...but I really want to try and build something killer to push my skills and see what I can make of it. I’m thinking a scratchbuilt tube frame, some machined aluminum wheels, all the bells and whistles you’d normally see in a real 1:1 drag car - but packed inside this crazy old showrod body. Something where, if you glanced at it on the table you’d think “that’s just a T’rantula, pffttt” but then when you look there some cool stuff to spot. First, after a trip to the freezer, got it broken down far enough to start playing with it:
First job, if I’m going to make a tube frame for it is to do some strategic cuts to the body (which hides almost anywhere that there WOULD be a frame pretty successfully) is to slice the body up enough where I’d be able to assemble it around a scratchbuilt frame at all without building it ship-in-a-bottle style. First up, I removed a chunk of floor from the ‘cab’ - the kit doesn’t even attempt to show a rear axle and I’d like to show some of that even if just from the underside...
And, whilst I’d like to keep that ‘under tray’ that forms the bottom of the body, I started making some slices to that too to allow it to mount to a frame somehow:
The real trick here is going to be to keep the kit recognisably a T’rantula (easy - it’s already shaped like one 🤪) but allow enough visibility of the cool mechanical stuff to make it actually interesting if you look closer.
More soon - I’ve been moving mentally between a load of different build ideas for my first NNL for probably 6 months now, so I figure that if I start a thread on it it becomes real and I’ll HAVE to do it! 😂🤷♂️
