Keeling and Clayton Mustang Funny Car by jct - FINISHED - 1/24 - used to be Lew Arrington's Brutus Funny car

[jct]

After following Popeye;s Funny car build for a bit I decided to drag out something that has been on the back burner for many years...Lew Arrington's Brutus Mustang...this is converted from the old MPC Blue Max kit, which was based on the old Revell funny car molds, a lot of work was done to reconfigure the hood ...removing the hood scoops and filling and smoothing the hood, all the chrome plating has been stripped, and the blower hat hole was also reshaped for the next step...

 

...as most folks who've built the old Revell Funny cars kits know, they sit way too high, both body on the chassis and ground clearance wise, pics of the lowering process to correct the stance follow
the rear end mounts were relocated to lower the rear end

Then the tins were filed to allow the body to sit lower


And lastly the hinge point at the back was cut away, 1/16 inch of material removed, and then glued back together and reinforced

 

With the stance change the stock seat will not fit into the roll cage as the rear end sits higher...I sectioned the seat at the top just below the tin section, about 1/8 inch removed, the tins were then glued back on

started populating the chassis

 

Did a little plumbing, added the fuel tank and main and return lines, not sure how correct it is., but it fills the space.  The engine has been detailed with scratch built fuel lines, butterfly control valve and injector hat lines, along with plug wires, not gonna do much more in the way of detail here as I plan to display this with the body down...no sense correcting the stance if she's gonna be flopped

 

Then did some work on the rolling stock, I had ordered Bear claw rear wheels as that is what Lew ran in 73, but one got misplaced so it's kit wheels in the back

[popeye the sailor]

glad to see you're posting the revival    you raised a very interesting point.........I never really thought about the height of the body off the ground.  

   I've just built them.........but the thoughts of aerodynamics didn't come into play until later in the sport.  before the flip body cars,  gassers ruled the strip......but in looking at them,  the rear of the car was never higher than the front..........they were always level to the ground.  the idea of the 'straight shot frame led to the rail dragster........they thought that length would better get a handle on stability  .......wrong!  {whole 'nother soapbox}   

  this is probably why they got away from the street version body styles and started using the bodies you see today,  although you can still see the resemblance in pro stock and pro modified cars.   they corrected the angle in which the frame relates to the ground,  but the bodies are made to decrease the amount of air that can get under the car.  still love what you did for the hoses......making me want to rethink what is supplied in this kit.  

[jct]

THX...the new funny's are a lot more areo, but I lean towards the old stuff, glad to see the nostalgia division catching on like it has, I like the look of the original car...well almost anyway   the "hoses" were fairly easy to make, I've a spool of the stretchy decorative cord in silver, just hit it with dullcote  and add clear blue and red to simulate the fittings, pretty convincing is smaller scales...don't know how well it would work on big stuff

[jct]

Thanks to all for the likes and comments

With the body lower the injector hat needs a little room in the interior shroud...Just cut the old one away and added about 1/8 inch to the it's height 



clipped the final roll cage loop down as well


and focused on finishing the chassis


it still needs a little touch-up work

 

When I went to decal the body I discovered that the decals were very brittle. you can see what happened, So I've ordered Micro Scale Liquid decal solution to prevent the others from breaking up, I'll airbrush the strips on the body, they are a two tone blue...French and Ford engine, both of which are in my enamel stock

Edited January 23, 2019 by jct

[mtaylor]

IF I recall correctly... big IF here, the first "funnies" had to have the stock ground clearance.  There were limitations on body style, what had to be on the body and what didn't.  At some point (good for them) the safety aspect took over and allowed dropping the body down to the ground practically.   I do vaguely recall a car in drag racing but it have been NASCAR that put a hard rubber apron (for lack of a better word) between the body shell and the ground for aerodynamics.   

 

The rails had been around since the beginning.   What the innovation occurred was with Garlits who had a bad crash/fire and figured out that putting the engine in the rear was the way to go for safety.   

 

Speaking of history..... anyone remember the 4-engine beast by Tommy Ivo?   There were more than a few two engine ones, but Ivo's the first 4 engine.   Not very successful in competition but as an exhibition car, with the twice the tire smoke (4 wheel drive) and 4 times the engine noise it was a crowd pleaser.

 

I gotta's stop walking down memory lane......  

[jct]

"I gotta's stop walking down memory lane....." 

 

 Na...tis fun down there, this thing must be an engineering wonder...or a nightmare...one of the two  

The exhibition cars were super cool, remember the Hemi under glass and the Lil red wagon wheel standers?

 

[lmagna]

30 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

I gotta's stop walking down memory lane...... 

Or at least stay in the cross walk so that the rest of us don't run you over!

[mtaylor]

The four engine was a nightmare from what I understood.  Getting all four engines synced was a big problem.   I know he went through a bunch of changed including going from each engine driving one wheel to setups where the front engines drove the front wheels and rear drove the back.  I think he ended up with the pair on the left driving the front and the pair on the right driving the rear... again the mists of time.  Edit:  the photo shows what I thought he ended up with.  It would have been a handful to drive any way it was configured.

 

I had the pleasure of working with Bill Maverick back around mid-seventies...  he was doing clocks for souvenirs,  and I did some photography and dark room work for him.  Was track photographer for a few years and had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people.   Something about standing on the edge of the asphalt with all the smells and noise about 20 feet away from the starting line.  Then there was diving over the guard rail if someone got out of wack during launch.  Sometimes had to change underwear afterwards.  Wish I had the photos from back then... rolls and rolls of 35mm negatives...  lost during various moves.

[CDW]

Another memory...

It was 1975, the Gator Nationals. Kris Karamesines (The Golden Greek) campaigned a AA Fuel Dragster that was painted in a beautiful black finish and all the parts were typically chromed or polished aluminum were gold plated. The rail got out of sorts from the start and he lost control of the car rolling over several times and parts/pieces flying everywhere. While most of the fans were concerned about Karamesines' well being, he jumped out of the wreckage and ran all over the track picking up gold plated pieces. It was pretty hilarious (and sad at the same time), and he was obviously worried about fans picking up gold plated souvenirs before he could collect them. Probably some fans did pick up gold plated souvenirs. 

[jct]

Nice memories guys...the track photo gig sounds like a dream gig Mark...I remember being a English town and watching JJ do fire burn outs...that s--- was CRAZY!!

 

Here's another link to some old school stuff from George Klass http://georgeklass.net/index.html

Edited January 24, 2019 by jct

[mtaylor]

Thanks for that link... I've bookmarked it for later as there is sooooo much there.   What a trip down memory lane.   

[CDW]

Indeed, a great link. Thanks!

[CDW]

3 hours ago, mtaylor said:

The four engine was a nightmare from what I understood.  Getting all four engines synced was a big problem.   I know he went through a bunch of changed including going from each engine driving one wheel to setups where the front engines drove the front wheels and rear drove the back.  I think he ended up with the pair on the left driving the front and the pair on the right driving the rear... again the mists of time.  Edit:  the photo shows what I thought he ended up with.  It would have been a handful to drive any way it was configured.

The Revell kit of the Challenger was a nightmare for me to build back then as well. I want to try it again one day to see if it got any easier.

[jct]

Those old Revell kits are getting rare...and costly!

[jct]

Thanks much for the likes and the great participation on this log...

 

After masking I airbrushed the French Blue...my place is over 100 yrs old and we still have the hot water rads, they are great for cooking a paint job...this will bake out for a few days then the strips masked off and the dark blue shot

Darker blue on a stick

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

on the site that I frequent,  some of them even require insurance,  if you buy them......collector's items.  I forget what the Revell kit I'm working on went for.......but it was produced in 1988.......really not that old.   there are some that are a lot older.   I really like what you've done with the chassis......you did a super job on it!  your mod work looks good too.......so sorry to see what happened to the decals.    yep.......that's what I call micro cracking....thousands of tiny shards.  can't wait to see what you do  

 

pro stock and pro modified divisions have aero-ed the bodies too

[jct]

THX Denis...shoot I remember when the AMT 3in1 kits cost a buck...probably dating myself there  

 

the chassis mod is one of those deals where a single change leads to multiple down the road...a lot of trial fitting and cutting to get it all right, it makes a real difference in the look though, you'll really notice it in the finish pics.

 

   I should have known the decals were gonna be brittle they've been stored to over 15 yrs, from everything I've read about the decal solution I ordered it should do the trick, but at least the paint job is simple enough to duplicate...got lucky having the right colors in stock too

[popeye the sailor]

consider that site book marked.........I was in there looking at some of the gassers........WOW!    awww.......cool paint jobs are always a crowd pleaser   

     is that their version of decal bonder.........that's what I use.   I use their decal maker.   luckily,  you found out with decals you can imitate with paint.

 

I love the 3 in 1 kits.........used to have boxes of spare parts under my bed as a lad.   guess I dated myself too    

[jct]

Ya it is...never tried it on kit decals but it did work on ones I made from ink jet printer, got a laser now and haven't tried it for decals...may invest in some paper and give it a shot before the next resurrection project...JJ's 73 Vega Funny, that wont be for a while yet though

[popeye the sailor]

never tried it on laser either.   went look'in for an image to put in the rear window.......saw Calvin tinkling on a ford emblem  🏁

[jct]

Always loved that strip...especially the snowman series

 

[jct]

The paint baked out sooner then anticipated, got the darker blue shot...

[popeye the sailor]

too big for the back window        great paint work!   no doubt you could do it.........right down to the lighter blue borders   

[jct]

Thanks much and thanks to all for the likes

[jct]

22 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

too big for the back window       

K try this one

[popeye the sailor]

that's the Calvin I was referring to.......I never knew what they called it either     I have one image for Ford,  one for Chevy,  and one that has them both.   I also got a couple of others.........the Duster emblem with the mini tornado,  and the Plymouth logo.   I may go with one of the latter two....the image is rather small........is it Calvin tinkling on a Plymouth emblem?   🏁 

[jct]

Nope Ford...as you requested😀 here's a larger version

[popeye the sailor]

not a staunch sponsor?.........glad that I wouldn't feel like I was taunting you   

[jct]

Na never...

[jct]

Not much to add at this point...still waiting for the decal stuff, seems they sent me the wrong item so they had to reship...may be here tomorrow.   In the interim I just been doing some touch-up work on the window frames and parachute pack, sorry no pics, maybe later today...show to shovel first, man I hate winter