Art & Inspiration The Visible V8 Model Kit

One of my childhood friends decided to make his Visible V8 more realistic and put oil in it; that didn't end well.

 

I have an unbuilt one of these just waiting for time. Pretty sure it is complete.

 

Board says one of 5 that exist. Someone found a 6th that was reported to belong to the Pandolfo family in Texas.

 

Built one of those invisible V8s when they came out. Did’t rotate too well with the electric motor. Turns out engine assembly is harder than it looks to a 12 year old.

 

Me too

 

Here’s one of the many 1/8 Big Deuces I’ve built. House of Kolor candy pagan gold.

 

Well, that makes more sense then, doesn't it?

Never mind . . .

 

I received the Visible V8 kit for Christmas when I was 12 or 13. Put it together that winter and it actually worked very well. Had it displayed on my bedroom dresser for a year or so until the mirror above it fell off the wall and turned it into a Visible Slant 4. The pieces never made it to my new home in the NW the next year.

A couple of years ago I finally assembled the Phantom Mustang kit I'd been hoarding... and nothing hangs near it on the wall.

 

There once was a time when $350.00 could purchase a real engine!

 

About 50 years ago in Jr high I had a science class where the teacher allowed us to build the visible V8 in class if we finished our in class assignment early. I don't remember it ever getting completed. Wish I had it now.

 

What great memories building plastic model kits as a kid. And as others have written sadly discovered they were all thrown away when we moved on to other things in life. As an adult I decided to get what I once had and many more I never could get. The Visible V-8 is one kit I now have as an adult or maybe like most of you I'm just a big kid. Also have the Monogram V-8 kit and a store display as well. Here's a couple of videos of a display I put together earlier this year of some great built up models from the good old days in the last century.
Ronnieroadster

 

Fo' shizzle, my nizzle... those first issue Monograms are the best... I have them all from mint, to builders, to box parts builders. I was fortunate enough to get Darrel Starbird to sign my Big Tub instruction sheet, and some of my 1/8 parts packs.

 

Dad helped me build the Wankel visible engine model. I was too young to do that one myself. It turned with a little motor.

 

I always wanted one when I was a kid but never got one So after seeing this thread you guys have reminded me that I still want one but WOW they are pricey to say the least. I’m looking at $800+ for the frame and motor both

 

It’s only money and you only live once.

 

Hello,

Well, this was one eye opening invention. We saw it in a toy store in downtown Long Beach and we could not get over the fact that we could actually have a working V8 motor in our study den. We wanted to buy it on the spot, but cash was the problem. So, we had to wait until Christmas and our parents gave us a new surprise under the tree. The big problem was, who was going to build it?

The cardboard table in the “study den” was splayed out with the box full of parts. Of course, we took out several parts we knew and handled them to see if they fit the other part, like the pistons on the rods. But, my brother said we need to glue the parts together to make the moving motor work. So, we talked about who would be the person who got to glue the parts together. Since I came home later from school, my brother would have the advantage getting home earlier about two hours earlier.

It was a problem that we kept talking about into the late nights. So, he laid out everything and said we should put together each part without glue and see how far we can get, before it starts to fall apart. Once doing that, then if we decide to, we could start gluing it to actually make it move. It had almost everything needed to put together and make the whole thing function correctly.

Jnaki

Here are a couple of stories I wrote 6 years ago… that seemed to satisfy both of us and then life moved ahead…

The question: At what age did you learn and get full grasp of the workings of an engine and then proceed to learn more about automobiles?

By the time the Visible V8 Model Motor came out, we had already taken apart a real 4 cylinder motor, cleaned everything up and had it running in a couple of weeks. Prior to that, my brother and I took apart my mom’s 2 cycle lawnmower engine, after we read that porting and polishing the head and exhaust would give it a lot more horsepower. We even made a cool exhaust by using curved fittings and longer plumbing pipe. What a sound that made. We thought it was faster… But, in our spare time, it was fun putting that visible motor together without any glue as we could take it apart over and over.

But, as far as your actual question, the full grasp never came to us in a specific class or instruction. We read everything that the old hot rod magazines put out. If I did not read the tech article, my brother poured over it and when we did some engine work, he explained it to me. At first, I was the “go-fer” but, as time wore on, I learned by watching and listening. What a concept… listening to an older brother…

Our grasp came as a “to do” thing. The automotive class in high school was trying to tell the new students what the motor does and the lectures were for all of us, despite our background. We just wanted to build stuff for our cars. The teacher knew some of us and decided to do some early “individualized education,” as he kept the “newbies” in their desks going over the “how to stuff.” While he let the guys that knew most of the fine points of engines do projects and work on cars.

Once the methodology of engines was absorbed, then the fine tune aspects of the hot rods came into play. It was fun being allowed to do what we wanted to do for a grade. The experiments continued at home with a lot of trial and errors until we got it right. My brother was a stickler for doing the stuff the correct way or at least his way. I eventually found out that he was an avid reader and absorbed almost everything. He was a great student of most everything written in magazines and books, school or otherwise.

part two:

When we put together our Visible V8 motor, we knew there were a lot of parts. We never glued any of the parts together as we wanted to keep building and rebuilding the same motor over and over again. Why? We were interested, read as much as we could on engines/hot rods and wanted to keep the idea of building fresh. Now, jump up several years when my brother bought his first car.

He proceeded to do stuff to the car that was familiar, wash/wax, new hubcaps, dual pipes, then lowering and some speed stuff. That was great as we now had a real live car to work on and enjoy. He drove all over So Cal and if I wanted to go somewhere, I had to clean his car and help with the maintenance. That was my first job working with hot rods and cruisers.

His enjoyment was cruising around, going to work and playing around with his teenage friends. My enjoyment came from keeping his 1951 Oldsmobile 2 door sedan clean and shiny. (if I wanted to go a baseball game, I had to keep the Olds spotless) I am sure that this was the road to the present with the experiences learned from an early age.

When we got involved in drag racing, the tuning, exchanging gears, tires, etc all came into play. But, we still never took apart a real live motor. After several years of racing the 58 Impala at Lions, we saw the writing on the wall with the incoming more powerful cars from the factories. So, my brother and I purchased a long block Chevy 283 for our next project. This was the first time we had a real motor sitting in our backyard garage. It was partially put together, so we had to get the rest of the stuff to make it a running motor.

This first build up of the 283 was amazing. Real live work on a real live motor and getting our hands oily/tired all at the same time. Luckily, we were teenagers with wide open eyes. We had some success with the finished 283 in our 1940 Willys Coupe. My brother decided that we had gone as far as we could with that 283, so more “go faster” speed parts were necessary.

It was amazing at the spread of a complete Chevy small block laying out on a huge workbench/table. My brother learned from a magazine to separate the various parts in groups for faster and more efficient way to put together the huge puzzle. Until then, it was a little overwhelming for us newbies.

So, all of the blower grade pistons and aluminum rods were on one section of the workbench. Nearby was the new crankshaft and flywheel. The discovery and separation of the different parts helped tremendously, as it was fun to get a portion of the whole motor assembled and ready for the final install.
Our own Visible V8 motor...YRMV
Note:

If I ever find that last stack of films on our Willys Coupe, there might be some build shots… But, mysteriously, the film can has been missing for at least 24 years.

CORRECTION OF THE ORIGINAL POST:

 

Hot rod it. Start running it with progressively bigger batteries. Getting more rpm's out of it until it throws a rod through the block. Hamb style.

 

Hope this OT question doesn't send this great topic too far off.
I recently got gifted a beautiful diecast model of Ohio George's last version of his wild '33 Willys coupe. An extremely detailed model with the last engine, the SOHC Ford engine. Friend sent it to me and extremely well packed, but the goons at USPS managed to snap one rear slick off the axle!
I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a tube of Testors cement to fix it, and after gluing it, and clamping overnight I removed the clamp and the wheel fell off! Tried again, and same result. Finally used 2 part clear 5 min epoxy and it held great. So just what is the best polystyrene cement these days? Testors is like sugar water, and not worth the $3 I paid. Tossed it in the trash.

 

I got a Renwal visible V8 for Christmas in 1969. Dad helped with assembly, taught me about fitting parts. Won an award in my 4th grade Science Fair. Lots of fun.
My model didn’t survive my 5 younger brothers. Often thought of finding another and building.
Thanks for the memories guys!
Dan

 

Loctite super glue works good, or a q tip with acetone or MEK solvent. Both are dangerous, so read labels. The later two suggestions are not really a glue, but rather soften the plastic and actually weld themselves together after solvents evaporate.

 

I built one of those close to 30 years ago with my son. He’s 40 today, and he’s still got it, still turns over if you’re careful.

 

Crank handle version?

 

I LOVE THE 1/8 MODELS. A never built, or mint in the box, means nothing to me. I'm just a big kid. So yeah, I'm gonna build it.

 

I always thought the visible V8 was neat, so when I decided to build the 1/3 scale smallblock I went to a Hobby Shop to look it over as a possible model to copy. Since it was just a representation of a V8 engine rather than a scale replica I opted for measuring a four bolt main block I was given and carving my own patterns.

 

I'm going to have to take a pic of my visiable V-8 I made back in the 90s with my dad. I don't remeber where I got the extra parts from but I ended up making an intake for two carbs.

I made a Big Deuce a few years back but I wanted to do something different and ended up putting a Jag engine and suspension in it. It didn't fare to well when we moved and I want to do get wheels and tires like you have and change up the tail lights and a few other things to make it look more custom.

 

This Monogram version is the one I had. It gave you the option of blower on top or blower out front.

 

I built one in the early 70s and who knows what happened to it,would loved to gotten the chassis but most likely out of production at that time.

 

I knew Mark would have at least one of each.