RogerDuke

Thanks for the update Garrett.
You're right, I'm happy about Kurt and his Charger.
Jimmie makes me nervous though. He might not be in the top 10 but he's still the one who makes the leaders look over their shoulders in fear.
Don't forget that last year he didn't start off that well.
(Not that a NASCAR expert like Garrett would forget that)

Hey Garrett, I see you quoted from my post before I edited it. Later a light bulb went off over my head and I realized "Hey, I did know that." LOL

Happy 101st Dukes of Hazzard Birthday today to Denver Pyle(Uncle Jesse Duke) in Heaven! 5/11/20.

Congratulations TRPColtrane!!!
Well, Garrett, at least the Chicago Bears have won 5 in the row and the Chicago Blackhawks are in first place so you have something to look forward to even though you don't think they're as exciting as NASCAR.

it's been crazy around here with funeral planning and taking care of my wife who is in a sling and taking care of this new puppy. I gotta get the yard mowed today though.....it looks like we're finally going to have a day where the sun shines all day. 

Thanks for your sympathy. You have mine too. I still have my parents but neither are doing well. My wife's dad is in pretty good shape though. 

When Bo and Luke find out about this, Uncle Jesse is never going to be able to get them off the couch to do chores.....especially if Cale Yarborough is in the lead. 

Sorry about your losses Roger and Hobie.
Friday I felt like Al Bundy , even though there was blue sky above me I got drenched from off and on rain showers in the afternoon while mowing. Thought to myself 'is there a rain cloud just following me around' .

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Roger, and especially considering the day. Mother's Day was in mid-March over here, so I didn't know that yours was today.

LOL nice Hobie! 

A much larger problem arose; actually two related problems.  
     1) The suspension and exhaust system is all molded as one piece, looking toylike
     2) The rear suspension needs to be boosted to accomodate larger rear tires.  This will necessitate the total rebuilding of the aft ends of the leaf springs.
First, separating the exhausts:

 
Then, adding to the chassis frame to accomodate the extended rear suspension....



 
Also found the new engine was too short for the driveshaft; so the driveshaft had to be lengthened by 3mm.  Amazingly, the left exhaust also had to be shortened by the exact same length to fit the new engine.


 

The new engine arrived Friday; smaller-block engine from AMT's 71 Duster, will be heavily detailed and wired.  Still needed modifications to the front area with making an attached alternator and other mounts for the pulleys.  Also drilled out holes for the spark plugs and wires (very time consuming on a tiny distributor).


 
Also modified the engine mounts so it could accomodate the smaller engine block.  Not a perfect fit, but it's better.

For those that want to reminisce Nascar has been uploading some classic races to their YouTube channel 
interesting hearing the v6's in the old Busch series of the 80's.

Martin Truex jr dominated the Goodyear 400 at Darlington winning both Stages and the race and led the most laps. Only Kyle Larson gave him a challenge for the lead late in the race but the #5 wasn't handling like Kyle Larson would have liked. There were a couple of scary crashes into the inside wall but all three drivers walked away, a testament to the safer barrier and crumple zones built into the car chassis. William Byron extends his top 10 finishes to 10 in a row and that consistency put him #3 in points standings, he is also the only driver with that many top tens this season.
Top 10
1 Martin Truex jr
2 Kyle Larson
3 Kyle Busch
4 William Byron
5 Denny Hamlin
6 Kevin Harvick
7 Chase Elliot
8 Ryan Blaney
9 Chris Buescher
10 Ryan Newman

It's a rough Mother's Day around here. My wife's mom died this morning. She was the last survivor of 12 kids so an entire generation is now gone. Most men complain about their mother- in-laws but not me. I loved her and will miss her. RIP Mom. 

Thank goodness Kasey's OK.
Hey Garrett, I imagine you're feeling a lot of pressure to win since JG has been so successful there. I only have one thing to say.
GO DAVID RAGEN!!!

I'm sorry to hear about that! I hope everybody is doing well. I lost my mother in Feb., so I'm kinda with you guys on this! 

The lady in black? I didn't know Abraham Lincoln Hogg was married.
Do you like night races Garrett? How many do they have a year?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARRETT DUKE!!!!!!!!
Go Jeff Gordon!!!!!!!!!!
(I don't really want him to win, I'm just saying that as my way of giving you a birthday present since I'm too cheap to buy you anything)

Which would have been appropriate since Boss is such a Scrooge. 

It's a rough Mother's Day around here. My wife's mom died this morning. She was the last survivor of 12 kids so an entire generation is now gone. Most men complain about their mother- in-laws but not me. I loved her and will miss her. RIP Mom. 

WOW!!  That's a great job! I'm totally impressed! ( come by the car lot and I'll give you a little of my finest and we can look at all the red cars I have on my lot!   ) 

This was the first pic I saw of this and I didn't see the front part.....I was just glancing through it. I thought this was an actual overhead shot  of a REAL one!!  

luxury off roading? What's wrong with this concept? Think about it. Off roading, " Roughing" it, etc.......luxury? " Well, I want to get down and dirty but I don't want  to get TOO dirty........I don't want to get " Too" " Down" either!..........HUH???? You either are or you are NOT!! YOU CAN'T BE BOTH!!

That reminds me of the way that Wheeler Dealers added painted "wood" panels to their Jeep Grand Wagoneer. You don't get to see much of the process in the video below, but the end results are clear to see.
 
 

Well, unfortunately I'm totally ditching the engine....finally the evidence was overwhelming that I needed to go with the smaller-block engine, finished in blue.  So I purchased the engine parts from the AMT Duster.  Starting over. 
In the meantime, here's what happened with the interior.  
Two modifications to be made: the steering wheel and the air vents.  In one episode (Gold Fever S2E2) the instrument panel is visible, showing the dashboard to be the style with two air conditioning vents.  I discovered this after I'd started painting, so, strip the paint, add the parts and start over.


 
Steering wheel should be a more standard type instead of the stock racing item in the kit.  I started with the steering wheel from a Chevy pickup, carved down the central spokes, added a third spoke plus some other detailing.  The wood paneling color is done by painting it Military Brown, then going back over it with Tamiya Smoke.  This is basically a transparent black, and when applied unevenly over brown actually looks like wood paneling.


 
An all-black interior is a problem since if you just paint it black, then almost zero details will show.  Here's how I bring it to life:
     -Flooring/carpet flat black
     -All the rest in semi-flat black
     -With a wide brush, drybrush dark gray all over the semi-gloss black areas to highlight and bring out the details
     -Mask carpet and then spray semi-gloss areas in a satin/flat clear mix
     -Drybrush dirt onto some of the carpet, especially driver's area.
Again, wood paneling done by painting first with Military Brown, then going over that with Tamiya Smoke transparent black.

 
Scratchbuild a CD radio for under the instrument panel, and voila!