Cyclone build and tune

[slothead]

I've been away for about a week and am just catching up with things. While in NY I visited 4 hobby shops and bought a bunch of stuff - 3 slot cars, a SnapTite Mustang, decals, etc. It was good to have stuff to look at and chat about in person.

Waay (Rob) - take care of yourself. Your builds provide a lot of inspiration and your posts are essential on HRW.

I'm looking at my Cyclone from about 8 feet away and it looks great. I still have to glue in the windshield & rear window, and do something with the interior. Since it's now going to be a realistic replica of a bomber street stock I'm much less concerned with the details and think I'll go with some of the generic decals I got on my trip. Not sure what numbers to use on it yet. I'll probably skip the clear coat too so as not to tempt fate.

Ken - sorry to see the difficulties you had after a great start. If you dip and strip a few bodies and are selling them post something here. I'm still interested in getting another 1 or 2 cars to help with the taxes. I'll even do the dip and strip myself with waay's guidance. My bomber street stocks are racers not shelf queens.

Goose - sorry to see your decal issues. I hope there's a way to get the decals off without affecting the paint too much - you did a great job on that. If I get another Cyclone body I may try a version of the Waltrip car without the mustache on the hood and use stick on decals.

Best to everyone.

[proxieken]

[FC47]

Dang guys, sorry to see that work turn on you, I’ve had super thin stuff wrinkle up scarily, real fine wrinkles that settled out on my resin Fiat. Not sure what Ida done.

-Rob go easy a couple days and mend up bud, hope you’re up to snuff soon!

Edited in: how bout an update Rob, how ya doin?

? Know Westleys’ is a heck of a cleaner, I have always started with Dawn, then a soft brush and a bunch of Comet. Let it lift the release off. Paul Fisher told me about how much paste wax to work into a buck/master...yikes

Doc?? You’re a master as well chum,

Cheers

[slothead]

I didn't test fit the Cyclone windshield before gluing on the hood and painting the car and now am having trouble getting the windshield to seat properly. The hood wasn't slid all the way up to where the windshield would have been and now there's about a 1/16th inch opening between them. When I push the windshield forward to fill the gap one of the sides pops through the opening and goes in front of the pillar on that side. I think I can solve the problem if I cut the front and rear windows from the piece holding them together and glue them in independently, but need to find the right glue to use that will hold tight without frosting the clear plastic.

Did anyone else have issues getting the windows installed? What glue did you use?

I have some superglue gel and also bought some Shoe Goo on my recent trip. I got some clear silicone chalking to try when installing the interior and will consider that too.

Once the windows and interior are in I'll be printing out some stick on decals to complete the bomber street stock livery and wrap up this build. The 2nd Cyclone body and Pioneer chassis are still in the box they came in and will be next in line. The lessons learned from this first build and the experiences shared on this thread will help guide that project. I still hope to make that Cyclone a #48 James Hylton tribute car but will likely take come liberties with the livery.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I had to grind a bit off both lower vertical edges of the windshield to get a fit. That's the sides of the windshield, down low. That solved everything about the fit, except the gap at the top of the windshield. I cut one of the decals to make a visor like so many of the cars have, and that fixed it.

I can only be up and around for an hour at a time, then I have to rest. That has severely slowed me up. I'm working on the driver, now the interior is ready, and that will be it. This has been a fun build, with just enough challenge to keep me going.

[slothead]

Rob - what you can't get done today will be happily waiting for you tomorrow. Your Cyclone is one of the best shown here, no need to rush. Give yourself time to heal and recover.

I think I'll cut the windows off the piece holding them together and file as needed to install them separately. If I have to make and glue small clips inside the body to hold them in place I'll do that and make a shim from sheet styrene to fill the gap between hood and bottom edge of the windshield. When I time trialed the chassis with bare body a few weeks ago it ranked in the middle of the cars it will run against in my Muscle Car Stocks class and I want to see how it does in actual races.

Regarding my 2nd Cyclone, despite issues with the first car I'm imaging doing a version of this tricolor scheme on the next one.


I'll simplify the painting a bit by doing the front half in blue and the rear half in red, then print white ovals with '48' in them for decals on the doors and roof. If the paint seam between front and rear colors isn't crisp it'll be covered by the white decals. Once again, this is going to be a racer not a shelf queen so I'm only concerned about making it a tribute car for James Hylton that will be competitive in the Muscle Car Stocks series.

[proxieken]

[slothead]

Ken - I'm interested in an all black Cyclone to use for a tribute car for Stan Lee, Marvel comic book icon who created Spiderman and Captain America. Stan passed away last year and though I've never been into comic books all that much I've read a lot about him and admire his work.

When striping and repainting cars if you want to sell a black one without any decals on it let me know. I'm working on creating some Captain America decals for the build.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Update-
I have skin on my leg and knees scraped raw, several deep bruises and a very painful coccyx (tailbone). As of today, my shoulder is strained from trying to lift my weight getting up. I'm messing around in my shop doing things standing up to keep off my tailbone, but every now and then I forget and sit down (and stifle a scream). I'll be okay, it just takes time when you're old.

[slothead]

While working on the new cars I got last weekend I looked over the Cyclone and decided I wasn't happy with the Monokote I put over the hood and rear deck, so I peeled it off. The car is now all white again with 2 blotches (roof and rear deck) where I didn't get all the release agent off when I washed the car. I can't strip it because the grille and bumpers are glued on so I guess I'll just paint the roof and rear deck red even with the blotches there. (The blotches are small and not as awful as they seemed at first.)

I'm reluctant to try taping off all of the body except the parts to be painted red and would use a brush if I had a bottle of red paint. But, all I have is red spray paint so I may have to use it. I've still given up on doing a quality replica of the Wood Bros #21 as Waay is doing and Ken has done, but if the red on the roof and rear deck comes out okay it will still be better that it was. Maybe I'll try putting the #21 numbers on it from the decals that came with it, along with the cubic inch markings on the hood and Purolator on the quarter panels. But, I have no intention of putting a clear coat on it and will just be careful when handling the finished car.

It will still be a bomber street stock car but might be worthy of David Pearson's name on it.

[dw5555]

[slothead]

Boss Dave - the best part of the whole car is the front grille and bumper. Spray painted the front bumper silver and did the headlight covers and rear bumper with a grey paint pen. If all that went back to base colors I'm doubtful I could get them to come out as well painting them in place rather than on the side. I joke about a lack of modeling skills but I do know my limitations.

If taping off everything except the roof and rear deck and spray painting those areas red turns out badly I may have no choice but to strip the whole thing. But for now just doing the red is worth a try. I want to get this done so I can get on to my 2nd Cyclone and hope the lessons learned from this build will mean a better outcome.

[slothead]

The red spray paint on the roof and rear deck came out fine so things are well. I rewashed the white car and used an old toothbrush to scrub at the blotches and they are now mostly filled with red paint.

I was test fitting the interior and noticed it won't work as I imagined. I just went back through this entire thread and no one has discussed how the interior tray goes together and fits in the body, and there are no pictures. Where is the dash board attached and does the interior fit correctly if the square opening in the front brace goes over the corresponding bump on the hood brace?

I'm a few steps away from completing this build - windows, interior, and numbers. It looks good as is and since the goal has been a new slot car livery to expand my series the modeling issues aren't a big deal.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Hey Slothead, I'll go take some pictures to help. I tried several fittings for the interior bits, but when I got it, it seemed obvious. I blushed in my shop, all alone. I should have seen it the way, as long as I have been building toy cars. My (ahem) injuries have stopped my progress, but I can take pictures of where I was when I quit.

[waaytoomuchintothis]