Longnose Merc

[Farmboy]

I've been thinking of 4-wheel front steering since I first saw Lady Penelope's car in Thunderbirds, and again in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. AMT's '49 Mercury seemed massive enough to handle it. Very rough at this point, lots of sanding/filling/priming and a top chop to go.

I'll be merging the front frame/suspension for a dual set of wishbones. After some minor fenderwell modding, I'm planning to include two in-line v-8 flatheads each with tri carb setups.

Comments welcome

 

[spud]

wow thats a big front end, sound like its going tobe interesting

 

[NecronautDrummer]

A very impressive start! Keep us updated on your progress! Pics too! ;D

 

[Chris S]

Very cool ;D great work on the front so far . I'll have to watch this one ;D

Chris.

 

[The Nylon Gag]

This is going to be one to watch.

Excellent start.

Gag

 

[noname]

I'm not sure where you are going with this but I dig it. That is I'm not familiar with the movie you mentioned. Got a pic.?

 

[Ziz]

http://cdn2.worldcarfans.co/2004/9/medium/2040921.022.1M.jpg

http://www.phantomarts.ee/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/936full-the-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-screenshot.jpg

That's the basic concept he's going for.

 

[noname]

Okay, thanks. Looks fun.

 

[Farmboy]

This is Fab 1 -- Lady Penelope's car from Thunderbirds.

I'm not decided on what finish to do, a two tone up scale job? Flames? "Rent Me?".
comments/suggestions welcome

 

[Leighbo]

Cool project, very unusual, I can just see Parker behind the wheel!

 

[Farmboy]

A bit of fine tuning to the hood. I eliminated a small bow on the side edge caused when the two hoods were joined. The angle is slightly different when joining the two so it was unavoidable. Some filing and putty cured it. I also decided a center raised strip would be a nice detail to break up the wide aircraft carrier expanse. I used .025 styrene rod. It will be faired in and be a part of the skin, not a separate chrome strip.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

[Farmboy]

This is the hood with the center strip after the first sand/prime. A bit more work to fully smooth it in and also a bit of tweaking near the hood edges to go yet. I'm thinking of using the chrome hood ornament too.

While there's a buttload of bodywork to go yet including a chop, I wanted to see how the frame and fenderwell opening was going to work out. The mockup has the chrome wishbone and upper arms in place so the wheels will mount to the spindles for final frame cutting and positioning. The basic law of Thou Shalt Not Attached Plated Parts With Glue will allow things to easily separate for the framework stage.

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

[The Nylon Gag]

That Bonnet (hood) looks fantastic, hard to believe it was two pieces.
Very nice so far buddy, keep up the good work.

As for colour, What about a nice matt black with lowered suspension, a la 'Jesse James rat rod style'

TNG

 

[Farmboy]

While the hood is going thru endless sanding etc, I've gone ahead and got a good start on the frame. It was measured by placing the tires in the wheelwell and putting the spindles in the a-arms. When the front spindles centered in the front tires, I marked both sections of the frames and cut them. Eyeball engineering fer sure! The caliper verified both sections are the same length square to each other

Both of the chrome parts are left on their respective frames while I do the glue up. This will ensure that both pieces are at the same height and angle.

The frame sections are now joined. After things dry up I'll smooth the frame joint so the transition looks natural with no seam. Good building practice would require a length of wire/plastic in the joint. I may notch part of it out and insert a piece of plastic in there to bridge the joint. Besides, the frame is well supported by the body floor and fenderwells. We'll see what happens.

Comments or suggestions welcome.

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely an interesting setup

 

[Farmboy]

....and voila. Here's the frame in the car. I've added structural blocks (not visible here) to the frame structure. They'll be trimmed to shape so that when painted, the seam will look like a natural part of the unit.

and the mockup....the hood is being refined hence the poor fit in this photo. The tires aren't exactly in line with the suspension but take my word for it, they fit. Once I'm pleased with the hood/frame assembly, it's on to the chop.

Comments and observations welcome.

 

[Chris S]

I think its looking real good !! needs a little work around the corner of the hood / bottom of the 'A' pillar ,but thats no biggy ....She'll be sweet ;D

Chris.

 

[Quaralane]

--shakes head--
Nice work on this one so far

 

[Farmboy]

Gentlemen....start your engines. A quick mockup of how they will sit -- and fit -- under the hood. I'll be doing a bit of work to the transmission cover on the front engine for pulley space for the #2. Rear engine will connect from the crankshaft to the rear cover of #1. The kit comes with dual carbs. I just happened to have a spare set of these same ones from another merc kit I built a couple of years ago, this will make up the dual triple setup. Note also I"m beginning the tedious process of covering and converting the joint in the engine bay. Crude right now but it'll work out.

Comments and observations welcome.

 

[Farmboy]

The chop. For this particular build I didn't want to narrow the rear window, so this means the window needs to be removed. The top and end cuts were done with a razor saw. The side cuts were done with the time honored method of dragging the rear of the knife blade following the contour of the drip rail til it went thru..

The side cut was continued to just a bit forward of the B pillar. The tape is going to be the amount of chop:

another view showing the length of the side cut. The slip of sandpaper is just to make it more visible.

more to come.
Comments and suggestions welcome