Autorama Fiat Competition Coupe - Update 01-14 - Done!

[Bernard Kron]

I just got this resin radically chopped Fiat Competition Coupe from Fremont Resins off of eBay. It will be the basis vor my entry in the Competition class of the 1st annual Autorama contest over on the TRaK board ending on December 31st. I've already built one Fiat Competition coupe but the body was more moderate than this one. This body is clearly based on the second, more radically version of Pete Millar's (yes, of DragToon's fame) Chicken Coupe which he built using the body from, and the help of, Eddie Potter and his Sudden Death fuel competition coupe. A first look at the body shows a lot needs to be done to get it to where I'll want it. Here's the resin body as I received it (photos from Fremont's eBay listing):

One of the things besides the body design that appealed to me was the wheel tubs. Unfortunately they are slightly undersized to the body wheel opening. Also I checked the wheel tub assembly with both of my go-to FED chassis, the 147" wheelbase Ramchargers dragster and the Ivo/Too Much 200"+ wheelbase digger. The Ramchargers chassis is my favorite - I prefer the moderately long wheelbase and the radically low legs-under stance. The Ivo chassis is a little long and lacks the near-perfect proportions of a circa 1964 Fuel FED. Unfortunately the space between the wheel tubs is acrtually too narrow for either chassis. So the wheel tubs will have to be cut apart and the tub sections molded to the coupe body. Also, I plan to fill in a portion of the open top and rear window area.
The original Fiat I did, the Terrible Toplino, had many of the features I like in a digger, but, with it's open-chassis front end, it lacks the nose piece that I want to include for a real show car paint job, perhaps in radical boat-flake. Power will be with a blown Hemi with Scott fuel injection like Sudden Death.
Eddie Potter's original Sudden Death:

The evolved version as Pete Millar's Chicken Coupe with full nose piece:

Flamin' Frank Pedregon's (Cruz and Tony's father) coupe was the best looking of them all. If I can achieve these proportions but with a more elaborate paint job, I'll be more than pleased:

The Terrible Topolino was based on a shortened Too Much frame with an open chassis front end:


The front half and stance will be like this digger I did on the Ramchargers chassis:

[jffj]

Sweet!
Love the slicks coming up into the window...... Serious Speed Stylin' 😊👍👍

John

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx John!

Resin bodies come in different flavors. Some are meticulously conceived transkits, designed to provide an alternate body design for an existing model kit. There even complete stand-alone kits, the best of which rival or even exceed the quality of the finest plastic kits. Then there are bodies which are not specifically designed to be adapted to a specific kit, and indeed may be purposely aimed at the scratch builders and kit bashers among us. This Fiat Competition coupe by Fremont Racing is from this last variety. It’s very nicely cast from relatively thin and smooth white resin, but exactly which chassis it’s designed for is not indicated. It doesn’t come with instructions! And to make things more confusing, it can be had with 2 different length noses depending on which chassis you might be using.

Originally I just bought the body, thinking I would adapt a nose piece from my stash. But then I saw the design of the shorter Fremont Resins nose. I liked its shape and got myself one. But before I embarked on any body adaptation work I need to figure out what chassis I would use. I asked Joe Curtis at Fremont and he told me that he had 2 chassis in mind when he did this body, and has built models with both. These are the long wheelbase AMT chassis that can be found in kits like the Tommy Ivo FED, Don Garlits Wynn’s Charger, and Too Much, and the shorter wheelbase MPC chassis found in the Ramchargers FED and the recently re-released Jawbreaker kit.

Checking the body against both chassis I found that the distance between the firewall and the rear axle centerline on the Ramchargers chassis is an exact fit. Since this is just about my favorite kit FED chassis, with its radically low legs-under stance I went with it and ordered that slick looking short nose.

But there are a few of adjustments that needed to be made. First of the one piece wheel well assembly (A in the picture below) is slightly too narrow for the chassis and I had to cut it up. Fitting the wheel well pieces to the cutouts in the body sides revealed that they are slightly undersized and leave gaps o the sides. (See C below). I decided to align them with the tops of the arches on the bottoms of the window openings. I made panels that fit the body sides so that there would be plenty of glue area for a firm fit. (B below). The result is shown in D below. The firewall need a slight arched relief to match the Ramchargers firewall and, as the lower two images show, once the nose is fitted to the chassis and aligned with the front end it’s clear that I’ll have to extend the side panels rearward a bit.



As I said, I’m using the Ramchargers chassis. It’s largely stock except that I’ve never been fond of the somewhat narrow front axle so I adapted the pretty the pretty little tubular piece from the dragster half of the Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit. I’m also using the slick looking American Racing 5 spokes mags from the Tony Nancy kit, mated to the wheel backs from the Ramchargers kit. I left the wheels plated for a polished mag look since this will be a show car, and I “chromed” the back halves with my trusty Molotow pen. The tires are from a recent AMT parts pack.

The mockup below uses the Ramchargers kit front wheels and tires but I hope to be able to use true wires on the completed build. Next up is building a blown 392 Chrysler Hemi and starting on the bodywork and paint.



Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[fordrodnkustom]

Very cool build idea B. I always liked the Competition Coupes from those days and I agree that Pedregon's was about the best looking of the breed but that chicken Coupe ain't no slouch either! I know you'll nail the vibe of these awesome fuel coupes in your build. Looking forward to it.

[TooOld]

I've always liked the look of the Fiat Comp Coupes , very radical for their day .
Making the necessary modifications can sometimes be a pain but the results are well worth the effort !

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks guys!

Summer is here at last in the Pacific Northwest and my work rate at the bench is suffering, I’m afraid. Still, progress is being made on all fronts.

The motor is largely done. It’s a 392 Chrysler Hemi from an AMT Piranha kit with various detail parts such as the fuel pump and Cirello “Frankenstein “ magneto from an AMT Too Much kit. The headers are from the Ramchargers kit. The drive pulleys are courtesy of Speed City Resin. They make a Funny Car Parts Pack that’s full of highly detailed engine goodies including these pulleys. They also make a toothed rubber Gilmer belt that will go on the motor. I was going to use their Scott Super Slot Injector as well. It’s very finely made and, like all their parts, absolutely top shelf. But I preferred the slightly different shape of a Super Slot from Altered States Models which I had used on an earlier digger build so I stole it off that motor and will use the Speed City injector as its replacement. Finish on all the parts are the usual assortment of Testors Metalizers with the ribs of the blower casing picked out in Molotow Chrome to simulate polished aluminum.

I’ve started on the body work which is turning out to be quite extensive. First off I had to extend the side panels of the nose piece to meet up with the firewall. I’ll probably land up filling the seam where the additional styrene piece meets up with the resin. But the real work comes as a result of the decision to make a flip-top roof panel and fill the rear of the cab with a window panel. The whole thing is done so the back of the roll cage will just barely pop out through the window opening when the body is properly located. I made styrene panels which had to be built up to match the thickness of the resin. It’s based on the restored Cacklefest version of the Flamin’ Frank Pedregon Fiat which, unlike most of the original versions, has a fully covered cab. It’s very smooth and sinister looking so I took the bait and went for it.

Below is a (very) rough set of workbench photos. There’s a great deal of sanding and shaping and filling to do to get the body ready for paint. Then there’s the question of a show-worthy paint and decal scheme. So this project will extend into the cooler weather of fall.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.



The modern version of the Flamin’ Frank Pedregon Fiat:

[TooOld]

Lots of body work but the result will be well worth the effort !
If your aiming for a model of that last pic it will be worth waiting for !

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Bob.

The basic bodywork and base coats for the paint are completed now. The nose piece has mounting tabs which are just visible in the pictures below. They align the rear section with the frame. The paint job consists of grey primer followed by Duplicolor MS200 Metal Specks Silver which is a coarse metalflake-like silver lacquer paint. It leaves a slightly rough texture but I didn’t want to sand out the flake so I followed up with four coats of Duplicolor Clear lacquer to smooth things out. Then I shot 2 coats of Tamiya TS-73 Clear Orange which creates a deep gold undercoat. This will be followed by a masking job to create gold scallops and stripes, although at this point the final design is still up in the air. Then a final color layer of two coats of Tamiya TS-74 Clear Red to make a candy red metalflake will be applied. I’ll have some gold decals printed once I come up with a final graphics design and car name. These will go on along with various trade decals and then the whole thing will be sealed under multiple coats of clear and rubbed out.

Below is a composite showing the Metal Specks Silver and gold metalflake base coats along with an inset showing what the final body color will be.

The motor is completed and the chassis is waiting for the bodywork to be done before I can work on mounting brackets, the front wing, etc. I still need to do something about getting a set of true wire wheels, too.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[jbwelda]

That's nice looking paint there Bernard, can't wait to see it with the real color on and the gold as scallops, if I got your scheme correct. Should be a beautiful finish when done

jb

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Bill!

The basic paint is done. Tamaya Clear Red over gold flake as explained in the last post, with the stripes, spare tire area and nose scallop picked out with masking tape. Next up, and critical to the whole effect is the graphics design which will require, among other things, naming the darn thing. But the basic paint went down with surprisingly little drama. The usual summary picture is below.

Thanx for lookin',
B.

[Bernard Kron]

Life and other modeling projects have conspired to pull me away from this project for quite some time. But the few weeks of good weather we are afforded each summer here in the Pacific Northwest have finally abated and the modeling bench beckons. This project is relatively straightforward with the notable exceptions of adding the roof and rear cab structure to the aftermarket body and developing and printing the graphics. The bodywork and paint were covered in the last update and I finally was able to get together a set of graphics for the beast.

I wanted a name that would be refer somewhat to the inspiration cars, at least in spirit. These Fiat competition coupes are exaggerated, dramatic looking cars, and notorious for their dragstrip antics. Whether it’s Flamin’ Frank, Sudden Death, of the Chicken Coupe, it’s rarely business as usual for these cars. So the entrants for my version are Krazy Eights Racing and the car is the Krazy 8 Koop. The graphic is built around (behind?) the 8-Ball symbol and exaggerated 60’s style cartoon lettering (panel A below). I created a faded paint transition effect from red to gold on the rear deck “tire” area using a red to clear decal. The 8-Ball for the rear deck, body sides and the nose piece are all the same size and created by laying down a white underlayment and a black and clear 8-Ball figure (panel B). The actual lettering will be gold and I will need to have it printed by a friend who has an ALPS printer that can print metallic ink to clear decal stock (panel C). Once the gold lettering is applied I’ll add additional trade decals and then clear coat the whole thing. The only other thing I’ll have to wait on before final assembly will be a set of true-wire front wheels that a friend of mine has in development.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[TooOld]

It looks mighty good Bernard ! Glad you got the decal issues worked out , that's a big hurdle !
Forgot to mention before about the Speed City resin parts , they are excellent ! I've used some before and they really make a big improvement on your engine !

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Bob!

This is a project I haven’t touched for nearly 3 months, which for me is very unusual since I’m pretty much a one-project-at-a-time kind of guy and rarely jump between multiple builds. But with the TRaK 2018 Autorama contest deadline looming less than 10 days away and 3 projects penciled in for completion by then I’ve been jumping between builds like crazy. The Fiat went on hold while I had custom decals printed for it, and by the time they landed on my bench I was juggling 4 other projects and it had to wait in line. The good news is that with the decals finally applied most of what’s left is simple final assembly work and I’ve got a chance at finishing it in time. Below are pictures of the gold decals I had made as they appear on the car at last. Now they’ll get cleared and it will be time to assemble the completed car.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[jbwelda]

Bernard, I read elsewhere about the tragedy that befell this body, total shame considering all the time and effort you put into the body, paint and graphics. Can't really suggest much of a cure (that bit about make it look like it was on purpose...just aint gonna cut it my friend) except to strip it and start all over, but I did want to suggest something for the future.

You didn't mention what kind of clear you were using to coat the thing when all the fracturing happened, but I bet it was some cheap hardware store stuff. That crap is murder, man, and you see why many think that. I think if you used Tamiya clear you would not have had the problem. Maybe I am wrong, maybe you did use Tamiya clear, but the results just scream "ruined by cheap crappy paint applied too thick too quick".

Personally I look at every coat of paint with a very jaundiced eye, as my friend's sign over his paint booth entry way said: "More On???". Every time you put more on, you risk this sort of result, in my eye anyway. That's why I think long and hard about whether another coat is really necessary.

I realize you were trying to bury the decals so they blended in more with the paint, but its obvious you went too far, too fast. I believe your problems were caused by both the clear attacking the color layers and your not allowing the lower coats to dry completely before loading on more.

Anyway sorry to see this happen, but if you persevere (you might not be in the mood to consider it at this point) I think you will get it back to its former glory, just go easier on the paint next time and don't be in a rush. That contest really matters nothing in the grand scheme of things; getting a good model together is more important (to me anyway) than any rush rush contest thing.

jb

[fordrodnkustom]

I saw the tragedy as well. I would build a new body for it and then build a truck of some kind with the "cracked" body in the bed as a prize vintage dragster "barn find". Perhaps a bit of weathering would be required.