the Leviathan

ok while i get my head back in the game i figured the easiest way to stimulate new growth would be to start a new build


concept phase:

Leviathan:
noun
1.
(often initial capital letter) Bible. a sea monster.
2.
any huge marine animal, as the whale.
3.
anything of immense size and power


i am basing this build on number 3 if you have not guessed

thinking...one big ole nasty monstrous fire breathing pro street beast

now looking over my stash i need something to use as a donor and find just the ticket.

i got this last year in a trade, knowing i would only be needing the exterior shell when it came time to play with it.

i have all the bits i need


out comes the paper to lay out the essentials


i trace the size of the body and mark the wheel openings


then i find my body center line


i grab one of my resin mock up tires and find where i want them centered in the chassis


the basic box i begin with


i grab a mock up block


and lay out my front rails


now the inner brace section is probably going to change before i start cutting any plastic. i will go through it until i am happy with the way it looks.


this is one possibility for the bracing, not sold on it though so i will mess around with it a bit more next time i am at the bench

now before i have to head off to work, i grab my bottle of purple power


i chuck the chrome bits in there, by the time i am out of work they will be bare plastic and ready for the next step.


cya in a bit

Hmmm, everyone is starting to name their builds. I like this trend.

This is going to be pretty cool. I am looking forward to how you build out the chassis and such.

Are you going to be using a lot of aftermarket, molded parts for the drivetrain, or do you actually custom build those?

Why are you using purple power to remove the chrome instead of bleach? Have you found it to work better?

I myself use amonia, bout an hour, chrome gone, and yea for the most part, the clear whatever, peels off like skin, nice start Kitbash

this one will have a fair share of aftermarket bits in it but alot will be one off things i make to tweak it out the way i would want it.

i use the purple power because its easy, and doesnt stink like bleach or ammonia lol
it also strips it down to bare plastic so nothing left to peel off or scrape to get virgin plastic again

ok snuck in a bit of time before work this morning to do a bit more in the design phase

nice thing about the design/concept whase is that you can change things up until you like them.

i scrapped the other floor plan and decided to do it a bit different
started with the basic inside body trace and then boxed it off
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darkened the lines for the main areas
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started laying out my bracing, now before anyone says " thats not the way it is on a real car" this is how it is on MINE

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finished laying out my bracing and i kinda like this layout ( everything is subject to tweaking as the build goes on )
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next i grab some of my .080 styrene rod
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out comes the chopper..sounds a bit menacing ..dont it?


now the chopper has a piece that acts as a stop, so you can make multiple cuts on different pieces and have them turn out the same length

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now i am lazy , and i suck at the measurement thing when dealing with this small scale , so out come the dividers
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i use them to get the length i need
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then transfer them over to the chopper
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in goes the first piece of rod
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and repeat
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couple minutes later and i have enough cut to get started
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i grab some liquid cement ( this is just the current bottle i have open )
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i start piecing and welding the main outer framework
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things are lining up ok so far
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i let it sit for a few minutes and then do a test fit.
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a bit more added to it
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and a quick test fit of the block before i have to head off to work
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next time more framework
cya then

So far, so good.
I always thought that when someone builds a custom hot rod, especially from scratch, creating a custom frame was a part of that. I don't see how anyone can tell you that your frame isn't correct for the custom build you are doing.

yea but some wont see this as a custom hot rod, they would class it a pro mod/ pro street and think i should follow what others do..not my thing lol

ok more tube work in progress...yes i am sneaking in 30 mins here and there as i can lol
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squaring up the front braces
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adding center supports
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footwell support
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rear cross floor support
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and cross supports for the footwells
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and another test fit before i am off to work again
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cya next 30 mins i get lol

I am in awe that you can set up a custom frame. It is taking shape.

hell dennis. that bit anyone with some .080 and a bit of thought can do.
it starts to get fun as i start on the cage portion and tying things into the rear suspension later lol

love the frame Wayne where did you get the chopper I could use one of those.

got mine from hobbytown usa but if i were gonna do it again i would get the chopper II which has a replacable cutting surface for about 10 bucks more

http://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=278&categoryId=-1

http://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=279&categoryId=-1

ok got a bit of bench time in this morning

lookin at the hood

the kit hood is ok


but i am lookin for something a bit more 405 outlaw style
lets map it out


out comes the cutter..


now i cut it out on the inside of the lines, that way i can do the cleanup with a file to straighten things out by hand


after the initial cut


i grab some .040 styrene stock, this is thicker than i normally use but since its for a hood it will be fine


i grab a round pvc union close to the same diameter i would like the curve of the scoop to be


now using my expensive clamps i start the shape of the curve


now while that if taking shape i sketch out the side panels on more .040


i clamp 2 pieces together so they are identical as i sand and file them to shape


the 2 completed sides


testing out the profile


i lay the top of the scoop on, it is a bit oversized so i can file it to shape later


all bonded together


file the sides down


square up the back edge


now i am gonna get a few more pieces glued to the body so it will be more rigid for me to work on and it will also let me know where i have to fill and mold things later


rear bumper glued in




now before i can glue on the front bumper and grill
i have to get rid of that engine compartment as it will never do


out comes the razor saw


5 mins of work and its all gone


on goes the grill


followed by the bumper


hood gets a bit of spot putty to blend the lines


after sanding


now i am adding the hood peak back onto the hood, i just use .010 rod for this


peak glued in place


for the last shot of the day i had to throw some primer on it, the white plastic is very hard to see imperfections on and hard on the eyes. the primer lets me know where i have more work to do later



cya soon

I like the scoop. Looks quite easy to make.

I find that the models are hard to see imperfections when you only use the molded color, I like ti when they are primed, makes it easier.

Great job!

looks good man, keep it going

Massive scoop there Wayne. I like it!!!!

thanks guys

gonna mess a bit with some engine parts today

well atleast the making of some engine parts lol

first i grab 4 dominators out of the parts box


you will see what happens to them in a few minutes. first i will need something to mount them to.
lets make the top plate for a tunnel ram
take some styrene and sand it to the shape of the plenum


the test block i am using for mock ups, will tweak it up and cast it in resin when done tweaking


ok now using scrap styrene i make the upper plenum plate base


damn i hate white styrene but i need to keep this bare plastic so the glue bonds well during the building process

out comes the chopper again, this time to trim some runners for the tunnel ram


i cut 4 pieces of square styrene


i mark out about where i want the runners on the mounting plate, i made 2 plates even though i am only using one, once i get it the way i want i will cast them in resin to get an exact pair


using some liquid cement i bond the runners to the mounting plate


i get the other 3 in place and angle them just a touch


now while that dries for a bit i am gonna make a fuel distribution block for both the fuel and nitrous system


bit of scrap square rod and some crimp beads
and some patience....must be gettin old, eyes are not so fond of the small stuff lol


2 larger feed line fittings on the backside of the block


back to the dominators


yup, chopper time


i know its not technically the same but for this scale it will work for me
upper plenum plate and 2 pair of split carbs, it took 2 carbs to make each pair as i cut just past the center line on each then sanded them to get the final shape.




now that i know they will fit i can detail the upper plate a bit
and get them all into mold rubber so i can play with em again in a day or so ( prolly thurs )


tis all for now, cya when i can

happy turkey day guys

bit more time in the hobby room this morning

looking at the big block i am using i went on a search for an oil pan to fit it


might be a bit of a problem since the biggest one i can find right now is a bit too small....


only one answer for it..gotta make one
out comes the styrene again

i cut a piece as big as the pan gasket lip


then its off to the chopper again


i find some rectangular stock i think i can make work


all i have to do is bond them together to make one larger rectangle
first in pairs


then into a whole


sand the edges flush and grab an extra thinner piece of stock to be the front seal area


now, aside from having to sand the front seal area down a bit, the pan is the size i want it


once sanded it looks decent enough


now i will add bolt detail to it and get that into mold rubber

cya soon with another update

Wow, that is pretty cool. I wouldn't have thought to do that.

nice pan, man

thanks guys, been a minute since i posted, mainly because my laptop was sent back again to texas to have acer do the repair they never did the first or second time, laptops back and boxed up to go back yet again ( problem still not fixed ) so i dug out my old standby lappy so i could atleast get a post up

i left off posting after i made the oil pan, now that is cast in resin
i assembled a prototype for the first few mock ups



looks like it will be a good fit to me


once the carbs are on it is gonna fill out the hood scoop pretty well from this angle


seams between the bumpers and the body are a bit wide for my liking


out comes the 2 part spot putty


gonna take a bit of file work and sanding to get it the way i want but it will be worth it


time to add the beginning of a cage to the framework


start with the basic front roof bends


the test fit


start with the angle back for the a pillars


tweak and test fit, tweak and test fit


to get this mounted on the frame, i need something close to the height of the roofline, one of my paint bottles looks like it will be close enough


touch of liquid cement and set it aside


same drill for the rear hoop


after they set, its time for a test fit


not bad with very little tweaking
i join the 2 hoops together with 2 roof rails and then add 2 of the main side rails to stabilize everything


anyone trying this, remember this is trial and error to get the sizes right, always cut a bit longer than you think you need and sand down the end till it fits the way you want it.

2 more cross braces added


and a rear bar so i will have something to attach the rear sections to later


constant test fitting is the key


i set that aside for a bit and do some prep work on the engine
this will have custom headers on it made from 2mm solder


out comes the 2mm drill bit and we drill some holes


resin engine is heading to the paint booth


engine mount plate is a photo etch unit from dirtmodeler.com, engine is dull aluminum, electric water pump is cardinal red and heads are bright aluminum


valve covers got a coat of gloss black then a shot of alclad


intake runners getting some drill treatment before paint to hold the 2 NOS injectors per runner


found some decals in the parts bin


valve covers on


they needed something on them so they got some comp cams decals lol


building up the block




nos distribution block, painted brass and installed


one bit i forgot, i am gonna add a crossover pipe to the valve covers, forgot to drill the holes..


fixed it


now before i wrap up todays post, i am gonna annodize some fittings for the plumbing later

i grab some tamiya clear blue ( and red also but no pic lol )


and fit some crimp beads on the end of pointed toothpicks


those can dry till i need them


cya in a bit

Wow, frame is coming right along. Nice work.

The engine looks really good, too.

Nice work here.

Awesome engine Wayne!!