111 replies to this topic

[Martin]

Jeff, you were correct, it is not the rare left foot driver but a modification. I exposed the connection, there is a tell-tail bit of green putty. mystery solved.

Thanks, I looked all over to find a Cox car that this would have been made for. The simple answer is usually correct

 

All my drivers of this design have a right foot or no feet at all. Left footer never was made.

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[Martin]

Arms have been shortened about 1/8" so now the hands are clear of the window frame. There was never a lot of room with the stock set up.

 

So now with the interior slide back 1/16" and the arms shortened we should have clearance for a steering wheel and dash, dash is

next.

 

Notice the notch behind the spare tire to move the interior back, which can be done as the dash and interior are separate from each other.

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[Martin]

The thought had crossed my mind to add a copilot. I would hide the motor box better.

What would he do? read a map, hang on for his life, or ????

 

As chance would have it, a friend sent me this pic of Jim and friend. I also saved the Cheetah pic as a place holder.

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[old & gray]

You need a head set and mic for the driver and co driver. If the wires break its yelling and hand gestures (don't ask).

[Dave Crevie]

A second occupant wouldn't be in the car unless it was in a road rally. Or, going back far enough in time, a riding mechanic. You could say he was a ride-along for hot laps at a marque track day.

[Phil Smith]

The thought had grossed my mind to add a copilot. I would hide the motor box better.

What would he do? read a map, hang on for his life, or ????

 

As chance would have it, a friend sent me this pic of Jim and friend. I also saved the Cheetah pic as a place holder.

 

Haha! I've had a few of those thoughts myself. That's a hilarious typo/auto spell check correction.

[Phil Smith]

Martin, when are you going to get to the good stuff and paint the body? I think it's going to look way better than a stock
Cheetah.

[Martin]

Phil, thanks for the correction ( I fixed it)

Painting the body means I have to pick a color   and I am still using the body to fit the dash etc, so a lots of in and out kind of stuff.

Open to suggestions. I have a range of blues, yellow, and reds metallic or not.

 

Dave, Its all fantasy so hot laps, rally, its all good.

Cox actually modeled the street version if we are to by the fact that it has 4 tail lights. The race car had 2 , I read in my research.

 

Bob, just for fun I may have to give the passenger a hand gesture of some sort.

[Martin]

Specking of the dash, Cox really missed on the one. So I am fabing a knew one that is closer to the real thing.

Notice the tack placed at an angle and set into a dash round hump on the passenger side.

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[dc-65x]

Painting the body means I have to pick a color  ...........

 

Hi Martin,

 

I love the Cheetah. Yours is super cool and you need to paint it. You need to finish it. If you can't choose between colors just fall back on a bright red like the first car. Any color you paint it will look bitch'n.  

[Dave Crevie]

The tachometer mounted on an angle is typical racer practice. Guages are set so that when everything is normal, all the needles point straight up. Same with the tach. It is set so that the needle is vertical at the shift points. This way, you don't have to try and read numbers in a car that is bouncing around, and takes less time to read them. A quick glance will confirm everything is good.

[Martin]

It was in the 70s today and warm enough to paint. But super windy, and I paint outside.

But I did make a correct shape dash and started to put the gauges in place.

I love this UV setting epoxy. Add and file. add and file. Great tool to make custom shapes.  Its hard to see this shape as it is translucent.

Thanks Dave, I will make sure I put the red (safe) lines at 12 o'clock. Nice little detail.

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[Martin]

Gauge holes are in the dash. I had to get it, the driver and interior in primer so I can see and fix the imperfections.

The epoxy is great but really hard to see what you are doing.

I ordered a 3D printed steering wheel, that should be here soon.

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[Riccardo]

Here my Alan Green Cheetahracha

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[Martin]

Beautiful car Riccardo, nicely done. I am putting together a  black Cheetahracha also. I noticed how clean your body mounting is.

Can you share how you did that. Its not just the big self tapping screws is it?

 

While researching I saved a few pics the that your model represents .I even have a pic of this car crashed.

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[Martin]

Did some spray-outs to see the colors for real. These are all metallic, and the surprise is I like the pale green.

As you see there is a case for this color?

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[Isaac S.]

The purple would be a cool fantasy color. 

[Martin]

I actually like the purple too, but I think it fits best on a drag car. I do plan on doing a drag version for sure. So I will save that for that car.

 

But I felt  a color that Bill Thomas chose himself would be fitting. When I saw a pic of him and wife standing next the car that was it.

 

So the deed is done. The perfect day. 70+ no wind. just gotta watch out for these little flying bugs.

I took into consideration, contrasting black panel lines and the chrome do dads, and I think those details will work well with this color.

 

I love red but felt it a bit common, I had your dark blue suggestion there in the line up Isaac. But it did not speak to me when I sprayed it out.

 

Anyway I feel great about the choice.  Its in the box drying

 

Look how happy these guys look    

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[Martin]

Productive day.

I was able to sand down the parts I had primed yesterday,  cut down the stock Cheetah gauges and get them test fit into the dash.

A bit fiddly  I have to say.

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[dc-65x]

The body looks absolutely beautiful Martin. I apologize if you've already covered this but what did you paint the body with?

[Phil Smith]

The body looks awesome, Martin! As does the dash. Great fabrication work.

[Martin]

Thanks Guys,

Rick, I have switched to all Tamiya products, putty and paint that is. I figured stay with one brand and you should not have issues. 

I love the fine surface primer, sands great, dries fast a dose not fill in details. It is a lacquer and I have not tried it on PETG bodies,yet.

 

Phil, I will pull a one sided mold so I can use this dash again in future Cheetahs. I know its a small detail but Cox missed the mark on this part IMO.

[dc-65x]

Thanks Martin. I'm using all Tamiya for hardbodies too. Hopefully will I learn to get results like yours!  

 

I'll be trying their paint for Lexan on my PvA build soon.

[Martin]

Its the little things. I am trying to carve a gear shift for the little guy.

 

There is a hump in the transmission tunnel then the rubber booty with the the flat-ish gear lever sticks through and a round ball on top.

 

I am using the UV epoxy to fabricate this, and again untill it is primed and I look at the pics its hard to tell where the flaws are. But now I see.

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[Martin]

A little update.

Set most interior parts in place to check for fitment. Waiting for steering wheel, any day now. Still have to paint the seats black. Driver needs some detailing too.

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