Apparently I've been out of the email notification loop for a while. Nice work fellers! I had a couple spare hours this morning, so I made a build board for project "Big Tuna". The bottom body shell half is on wood blocks that represent about 3 scale inches of ground clearance. Now that I see the relation of body shell to the tires I think the tires need to be taller and thinner at the tread. This inspiration photo seems to bear that out. As they are now, they scale out to about 28" tall x 4.5" wide, at the tread. By adding 1/4" black foam around the perimeter, I'd end up with scale dimensions of about 30 -1/2" tall x 4" wide at the tread. I'm leaning in that direction... Cheers! PS: The flange around the drop tank's perimeter will eventually be trimmed back quite a bit.
@Lucius Molchany , I have no idea what those wheels are on this belly tank. It's just visual guesswork on my part as to what looks right.
Hey @Lucius Molchany , I'm definitely leaning towards red scallops, but weathered and beat up a bit. Not likely over white, but instead over what I hope appears to be oxidized and banged up raw aluminum, kinda like this... The idea is that it's to be a low budget garage build from the late 50's. No sponsor, little money, just good-ole post war American know-how. I'm not going for a pretty So-Cal Speed Shop look, but instead, a one-off down & dirty (and pretty greasy) drop tank salt flat racer with an early Hemi (and a quick change rear-end) instead of the more conventional Ford flathead V8 (and Model A banjo rear-end). Talk about being a rebel without a cause... Ha!
Apparently there weren't many belly tanks with Hemi engines, but one was summarized as follows: "The tank, nicknamed "Salty Shaker," held many SCTA speed records over the years. Frye drove his way into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club in 1957 with a speed of 216.750, which was updated to 240.650 by the time he stopped racing it in 1963." Here's a link to the full story: http://www.thehemi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5735 Accordingly a stock Hemi had some disadvantages over the ole reliable Ford V8 flatheads of the day perhaps because the advantage of wide range of speed equipment readily available for it. Much less so for an early Hemi. Still, it's hard to deny the cool factor of a Hemi in a P-38 Belly Tank. I can't afford the real deal, but I can build a 1/5 scale one.
The Jalopy Journal
