SPA Modeler

This work is not hard. It's a tad tedious I suppose, but my passion for drag modeling at the time was at an all time high. I wanted accuracy and realism. Exactly like Joe Shaw's Maverick, I wanted it to represent reality. It's what we are all striving for. And, in the grand scheme of things I'd call myself maybe an above average drag racing builder. There are guys out there that make my stuff look like Matchbox cars in comparison.

That.....is DEFINITELY above average there fella. Thank you for your confidence in my work Bob but this right here is definitely a level up!!!

Thanks Joe. This car was an early attempt at hard lined fuel injection. The port injection was the toughest, but once I got a system it went easily enough. Braided line was always an issue since I never felt it looked right. It always seemed collapsed at the curves. That was until I started filling it [it's hollow] with spark plug sized wire. Then it wouldn't collapse and kept it's shape. With Detail Master hex fittings it's tough to beat for scale fidelity. Pro Tech fittings are OK, but they lack the taper of real fittings so I use those as pipe fittings and use the DM tapered for the part that meets the braided line and got the best of both worlds.

I'll post a few pics of those here while I stall for time on the Turbine build.

Great progress on this and that engine looks fantastic.

I love the idea of these turbine cars but they weren't very practical. Rover made one too, here in the England. It was reported to do a mile every six gallons of fuel... It looked good though, I'd love to drive it.

That would he fun...at 5$ us per gallon....what does jet-a cost in the UK?

lol! It actually ran on Paraffin, but that's still mental for a two-seat coupe with no boot. I'd love to drive it though - if you see it up close it's such a great looking car.

Looking forward to more on this one Bob.

Dragline wrote:Thanks Joe. This car was an early attempt at hard lined fuel injection. The port injection was the toughest, but once I got a system it went easily enough. Braided line was always an issue since I never felt it looked right. It always seemed collapsed at the curves. That was until I started filling it [it's hollow] with spark plug sized wire. Then it wouldn't collapse and kept it's shape. With Detail Master hex fittings it's tough to beat for scale fidelity. Pro Tech fittings are OK, but they lack the taper of real fittings so I use those as pipe fittings and use the DM tapered for the part that meets the braided line and got the best of both worlds.

I'll post a few pics of those here while I stall for time on the Turbine build.

Not trying to hijack this thread but that setup is darn impressive. I can empathize with you, Bob. I have the Airfix 24 scale F6F-5 and I bought those spark plugs and braided wire to make that big R-2800 look right. That was until I got a glimpse of the size of those plugs , those things are tiny and I have 36 of them to place. So I can imagine an injector rail and ports. You have my admiration.

My Thanks Paul. At 1/24 scale they are small. But the rush of getting it right and it looking like the real thing seemed more important at the time. Now when I look back I scratch my head a bit though.

Love the contrast of metallics you used especially on the scatter shield