Back to the 50's Blvd.

Secrets, tips, tools, design considerations, materials, the "science" behind it all, and other topics related to building the cars and semi-trucks.
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whodathunkit
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Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Thought I'd title this topic back to the 50's blvd..
Because I'll be using a vintage 1956 pinewood derby kit to build a car with ( but with a twist.)
Image :scratching: no 1950's car patterns in today's books!


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If we could go back to the 50's using the 1955 Cub Scout Quarterly Programs guide .. titled Wheels Wings & Things.
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To build a car based off of that title .. What car would you build in today's world of 2018 ?

Well I don't know about the rest of you ..
But Stroker Mc Gurk's Peppery salt flats flyer.. The Ghost of America Car comes to my mind!

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To build the car the back axle location has to move forward one inch .. to make room for fitting the rear wing and rear wheels!
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Time to cut it all out!
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And now the wings.. Starting with the rear then the top.
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For the routeing out of the cockpit and motor area .
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Wing details:
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Where I'm at with the build so far.. Keep watching as the car build progresses.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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gpraceman
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by gpraceman »

Very cool!
Randy Lisano
Romans 5:8

Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Thank's Randy!

Well work on the car build go's on .. starting with the wooden axle supports!
Sometimes there just not square so sanding is needed to square the ends.
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From there i like to find the center of the car and axle supports and mark them out before I glue them in place.
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And then a quick check with a square to make sure there square with one another.
Checking both sides of the axle supports:
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While the wood glue is setting up I'll move on to building that big Allison motor :
For this I'll use scrap wood pieces .. like square stock, dowel rods, and so on to make it.
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I don't know if you can see the dowel rod on the motor in the back ground but I'm working on making the twin turbos.
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For this i'll be cutting out a thin piece out of some thicker stock.. that way i'll have a thicker one to use if this one brakes on me.
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Well here's how it turned out:
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Kids here's a little some I'd like to share about Dremel Tools:
You know they make different types and models of them for detail work.. but how cumbersome some can be in small hands as well.
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Even for us adults they can be cumbersome to hold on to while doing detail work as you can see in the photos above.
Well check out this new Dremel tool the Stylo +
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It's much smaller in size and some what easier to use .. then even using one with a flex shaft attachment.
Though it's not as powerful it's grate for the smaller detail work as it works like using a pencil.
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shown in photo above on bottom:
I don't know if you can see the detail work iv'e done on the valve covers or not in this pic.. but there small and very hard to hold on to.
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Last photo I'm fitting a wooden donor model a radiator that was laying around in the shop.
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Keep watching.. and yes i'm even going to carve out the driver kids.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

More work Building the exhaust pipes for the Allison Motor!
For this I chose to use dowel rods in 5/16 ,13/64, & 5/64 sizes.
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Using the motor i'll then mark out the drill locations and use a V block to drill the exhaust manifolds in the pipes.
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And then use the drilled pipe as a guide for drilling the exhaust manifolds in the motor block.
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To make quick work of cutting all the little 5/64 dowel rods at once I'll bundle the dowels keeping them flush on the ends.. and cut!
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Here's how the exhaust pipes turned out!
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Well more work to go that's all for tonight!
Last edited by whodathunkit on Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Tonight I'm going to jump ahead and skip sharing how to mount the top wing as it's nothing more then using dowel rods and drilling holes.
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Tonight I'd like to share how i'm going to whittle out the driver by starting with a scrap piece of square stock:
But first i'll need to put notches in it so it will set down in the cockpit!
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As you'll see in the photo iv'e sketched out the driver to fit the look I'm going for .
From there i'll use the scroll saw to cut it out and then also use it to cut out the basic shape of the drivers head.
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Sharing how I carve will be hard for my self to take photos of.. so iv'e asked a friend to take them for me.
So before i start here's one that i'v carved out for a blast car.. and its some what I will be doing tonight.
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The arms will be separate and glued to the drivers body later.. tonight i'll just be doing the body and head.

Ok who's ready to start whittling ?
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I don't know if you can see the little black handle knife but that's my go to for tonight.. longer handles just get in my way some time’s!

Okay here's the basic shape after cutting on the scroll saw:
I'll be starting on the neck area .. then the coat collar.. and then move into shaping the face and helmet.
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Here's what it looks like so far.. I also like to sketch out the detail areas I'll be carving out :
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Here 's the drivers body:
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And what it looks like in the car:
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Okay your probably asking what's up the orange back ground ?
Well its my new creation station .. that was a freebie for helping remove the counter top and cabinets that were just going to be tossed out!
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Keep watching as i'm getting closer to getting this car built!
Last edited by whodathunkit on Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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gpraceman
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by gpraceman »

Snoopy is not the pilot? lol
Randy Lisano
Romans 5:8

Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Randy your on to something...
Interchangeable drivers would be cool for this car.
And that thought has crossed my mind as well.

Guess I’ll be carving out Snoopy next!


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What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Okay Randy brought up a good point here by asking if the pilot could be Snoopy!
Been's how i'm not finished with the car or have it painted.. so here's that (TWIST!) if you change your mind at this point in your build process.
You could do Snoopy as the pilot and change up the paint scheme on the car as well. maybe painted yellow with a blue circle target.

So here's Snoopy as the Pilot!
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And how I do the arms and glue them on later:
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With a little bit of yellow cloth his scarf:
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And what Snoopy would like as the pilot:
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;) Thank's Randy
Looks like Snoopy is going to get his plane/ car after all!

Next up his machine gun .
Last edited by whodathunkit on Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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gpraceman
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by gpraceman »

Awesome!
Randy Lisano
Romans 5:8

Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Snoopy and his machine gun:
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What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Vitamin K
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by Vitamin K »

So cool, Whoda!
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Thank's Vitamin K !

Okay here's all the parts ready for painting .
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However I still have a few details Id'e like to make.. the axle braces like those that are seen on the ghost car. And what paint scheme to paint on the car/plane.
And the arms for the first pilot.

After doing a goggle search on Snoopy & the Red Baron I was able to come up with this Sopwith camel paint scheme for the paint job.
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However his cap is brown and scarf is red in this photo it's no big dill.. but iv'e also seen his cap in green as well.
But been's how the book photo shows it in blue and his scarf in yellow my thought's are to stick with it for the paint scheme for Snoopy.
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Or at this point in the build I could really do Snoopy VS the Red Baron by painting one side as Snoopy's Sopwith camel .. and the other side as the Red Baron
now that i have two pilots i could interchange.
:doh: the Twist to this.. any how having never seen Snoopy in a Sopwith Camel air plane/ car.. as a pinewood derby car.
The Idea of it sounds cool to me so I'm going to stick with it!

Now if i could only make up my mind on what wheels to use or to do to them so they look hot rod ish like the ones seen on the model box photo.

Keep watching to find out how this car with a twist turns out!
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Tonight's session.. Painting of the pilots!
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Snoopy:
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The Baron:
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The Two Pilots:
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A pipe cleaner was used to make the white streamer on the Barons helment.
And the 5/64 dowel rods were used at the base of the pilots to keep them in the plane/car.
Last edited by whodathunkit on Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Tonight painting of the car/plane ... However no photos in tell the reveal !
In the meantime enjoy this short 1966 video clip by the Royal Gardsman


https://youtu.be/8vMomifl-EY

And keep watching!
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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whodathunkit
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Re: Back to the 50's Blvd.

Post by whodathunkit »

Good Morning!
While the pilots are taking flight..
The day of the reveal is here!
What pilot and plane / car will you cheer for ?

Snoopy & his Sopwith Camel.
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The Red Baron & his Fokker Dr.1 .
Or.. Stroker Mc Girk and his salt flat flyer.
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Various photos of the Dogfight:
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Well there you have it kids.. A plane / car with a Twist!
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Last edited by whodathunkit on Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:14 pm, edited 5 times in total.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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