Had to hold this build back for obvious reasons. One of our members abuse of the g-plus Tyrrel is legendary and only exceeded by his undying love for this particular car.

For all that ya do Coach this ones for you!

The concept was born in Weds Chat after some guffaws at Coaches propensity for shattering the Elves, as he currently holds the Guinness World record for collections of blue shrapnel.

Unbeknown-st to Coach Joez approached me with as to how one could install a Coach proof "force field" on the exploding Elf. Of course this force field had to be invisible.

Joe secured a nice unmolested specimen complete with chassis which I proceeded to eye with distrust for about a week er so... and rightfully so...The entire passenger side pod broke off when I gently tried to remove the chassis from the body. This was only the half of it as the right rear front axle hanger snapped off too. As I invented some new curse words I went straight to the top of Santa's naughty list.

So after fixing this car so I could fix it we began at square one. I got lucky and none of the breaks involved any artwork. The chunks were rebonded and glazed. At this time the body was masked topside and the entire underneath was airbrushed with straight Testor's cement and set aside to wick.

Three days later the body was rejuvenated and pliable enough to touch without breaking! First order of business was the removal of a coupla thousandths from the body hanger blocks. They are WAY to snug on the chassis. Even if ya take to much off you can always add material or just use a screw in the post...after all...it does have a post.

In PIC 1, You can see how the front spoiler, axle boxes and front cockpit cowling were all tied together. The total graft comprises six pieces and is virtually undetectable from the outside. So in essence it's fully skirted. The weird little divot on either inside is a marker for pick up travel. Note: a slight front axle hanger mod was required both in width and height. Although unused in the Elf, the chassis can be used in standard configurations with the use of simple spacers. As you can see the clip was left in at this point to help support the side pods as I was still fairly distrustful based on preceding incidents.

PIC-2, Here you can see where I was a little tight on the chassis and had to do some gouging with the file to re-establish my fit line. Note worthy but not obvious is the effect of the testors over spray on the under side. See the extra glossy shine. Not only does this re-juvenate pliability it also provides a "ready" surface for bonds and grafts.

PIC-3, Now rough filed and glazed the chassis fit is checked for the umpteenth time. The hard part is pretty well over at this point and I can concentrate on some added twists.

PIC-4, That humongous "hammerhead snozz-ola" looked like an explosion waiting to happen. A one piece gusset was tailored to fit snugly behind the spoiler. It was fabbed from the right side cockpit deck of a Shadow. Black was chosen so the frontal spoiler vent detail would be highlighted rather than occluded by using blue. This also involved some profiling on the spoiler backside as the factory finish is less than optimum for inlays.

PIC-5, All snug from "slot to snot". Again floated and glazed, as yet unblocked, you can get an idea how much more rigid the Elf nose now is. I was fairly happy with this inspite of the lumpiness. Nuthin' a little wet sanding wont fix!

Please stay tuned! ;)

Moving right along now.

PIC-6, The longitudinal rear deck gussets were kinda wimpy so they were tripled in width. If you look closely you can just see two more chunks of over glazed black shadow lurking in the bottom side of the rear cowling scoops. This was done to allow the added gusset strip be fully supported and lay flat. ..and of course to provide crisp scoop detail when viewed topside. You can also just see the tip of a rear wing stanchion gusset peeking through what was once a factory slot.

PIC-7, Here's the topside view of the stanchion gusset. I vacillated on whether to front or rear with this piece. I chose rear for three reasons. Aesthetic, because when viewed from the front it spoiled the aerodynamic look of the stanchion's leading edge. However the primary reason was that due to the stanchions greater total length on the backside vertical angle, blunt force trauma would exert more leverage on the wing during rearward crashes. The third reason was the nifty little factory slot above the gearbox that allowed a clean solid bond. That ties the whole enchilada together. The wobbly little upper aleron insert on the wing was also secured at this time. Testing showed it to be flexible enough to tie both ends down with no fear of tearing out upon impact.

PIC-8, All gusseting completed I turned my attention to the pick up fit. The marker notches inside the front skirt were coved to allow clearance. Still a bit snug with occasional shoe snagging the pick ups required some outer edge hand filing on the hanger window. Track testing proved out good. However those four plastic journaled front wheels unleashed a racket. Several attempts were made to shut them up. The final solution was a light cam lube...ahhhhh!...silence.

PIC-9, Micro screen was added to the main intake vents. A black shadow block off was considered and cast asunder to retain motor cooling. They also stiffen the thin forward edge of front cowling. The whole shebang was then backfilled bottomside from stem to stern with two thin floats of colormatched blue goop. Although the "Elf Tank's" overall weight has been increased by a quarter of the original total stock weight she sill has pretty good giddi-yup!

Careful as I was, by this time those cheese ball factory paper transfers were wearing thin. The jig was up and they floated away during wet sanding....snicker...I did see that one coming... but had no recourse except damning the torpedoes and proceeding full speed ahead.

I choose some even cheesier stick ons as replacements. By searching all my transfer sheets I was able to re-sponsor the Elf in Coach's image. She's now the "#4, Miller (beer) - Badcock (recreational vehicles) - Taurus (cuz that's what he drives) Special". The beer goggles were added to the driver as it is a Miller car. The "Pilot" transfer was added behind the seat so he'd know where to sit after a few cold ones! The #4's were white and yellow so by this point they were close enough for horse shoes and hand grenades. All the NASCAR transfers were provided by Win 43, about a year ago in a care package, and sat 'til this project required breaking them out! Bailed my butt out again Jerry. I chose the transfers as they turned out to be fairly humorous and easily removed; should Coach choose to return to the factory sponsorship.

PIC-10, Here's a frontal shot of the lobotomized Elf. Looks like Coach is goggled up and ready to race!

This build was hugely fun!...and I like to thank all the players involved...especially Joe who coughed up the mint original that I killed with my first touch...and of course the Chat gang for providing positive support as always.

Thanx for looking and playin' along! :wave:

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Never realized those bods were so brittle -- guess now I know! Excellent work!

"Hey Bill, I want Coach to have a 6 wheeler for Christmas that he can't explode by setting it on his track. Can we just spray some goop inside to toughen it up a bit? Make it 'Coach proof'?"

:D yeah...right...as simple as that... :roll:

Had I known what such a task would actually involve, Bill, I would have found something else to send him for Christmas!
YOU are the real elf here, my friend......a JEN-YOU-WINE toy making Excellent, Lighthearted Friend!

Though this 6 wheeler is headed for Coach, your beautiful work is as much a gift to me ! This piece has by far, outstriped my expectations! :thumbsup:

Merry Christmas, Bill!...and thank you so much!

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Never realized those bods were so brittle -- guess now I know! Excellent work!


I've broken a couple myself. Beyond repair in both cases. The blue plastic is just too brittle.

Nice work on those, Bill. I'm given to wonder why AFX didn't do that to begin with. I'm also thinking maybe Helen sould be casting this body. And with your mods it would be even better.

Bill, Joe.... Awesome..the car is very very cool.. and I laughed like a mad man when i opened it this morning...It is very much appraciated and I will campaign this car in th enext 24 hour race I see.. lol.. you guys are the tops.. And Nuther even sent me a long a very cool Pup to haul the pieces back if any should find themselfs astray on a retaining wall.. but it looks very much like this Elf will be a Elf for many Christmas's to come.. Thanks Guys I truly appreciate the car and all the work and sneakiyness you put into it.. I loved the driver looks like me coming home from work at 4am lol...


Coach!

P.S. I am gathering all my blue shards to send to Bill for reconditioning..lol

I always wondered why I had so many Elf cars in so many pieces.

Coach: We've been snickerin' behind the scenes for a coupla weeks now. On the night that I personalized your Elf, I was howling with laughter each time I found another sticker that suited the build; further convincing Robin that I had tipped over the edge into slot madness. Still giggling even today! The build pics have been floating around the backchannels and were temporarily in the photo album after you bugged early from last weeks chat.

You do so much for others my friend that it wasnt hard to kick something back to you for a change. Once a plan of attack was fingered out, this build just took on a life of it's own...I could hardly put it down long enough to let things cure. Bar none my funnest build to date.

Glad to hear your gonna campaign the "Tank". Ya might experiment with some proper lo-pro rear tires and close up the air-gap. Those PVT gumbos were all I had at the time. Maybe if you weedle Chris a little, perhaps he could could cook ya up a set of his awesome "Dragtrac" silifoams on the g-plus rims.

You might not win a sprint considering her gross weight, but she'll stay in the slot, take a hit, and deliver a whack to anyone unfortunate enough to try and tangle with you. Like most of my stuff, the #4
Miller/Badcock/Taurus/special has been cartwheeled, tumbled, and barrel-rolled repeatedly. Every contingency short of a direct floor drop and the "Free Bird" warp 10 wall shot was tested. This car is no virgin. What's the point if she cant take a lickin'?

As Joe pointed out, for me it's always about keeping it light hearted and the joy of the build. Putting a smile on your face was the cherry on the Sundae. Yer a good sport Coach...enjoy! :wave:


Doba: Thanx for the props! Just imagine the look on my face when the side pod broke off in my hands. Kinda like this> :freak:

Joe: I must have been a disgruntled Elf in a past life. Undoubtedly kicked off Santa's assembly line for questioning stupid toy designs and the quota system. Your concept was sound, and truthfully just cut and paste to execute. Everything was straight cuts except the two curved rear apron chunks just behind the spoiler, even they were straight cuts...then warped with my lighter. Take a bow yerself just dont pop my eye out with that mullet. :p

Leonard: High praise indeed. Thanx. No doubt the original engineers were trying to keep the weight down. All those gussets added a few grams, not to mention compromising the pickup hanger profile to pull it off. Retrospectively they couldnt have known about the aging/brittleness that we are faced with today, I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Dunno about the practicallity of producing this model as it does require a minor chassis mod and a shave of the pick up shoe hanger. Not exactly box stock chassis wise. Typically my builds are one off. Where the original engineers couldnt diverge from the mass production path, I am allowed to cheat with a nip or a tuck when it suits me. Therefore I fear not appealing to the masses. However I imagine that it might be possible to thin the skirt enough at the pick up rub point, as resin is stronger than the plastic explosive they were originally made from.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah the Hobby Talk joy of driving a car made for you by another member. Makes me want to cry. :cry:

Seriously my favorite cars are the ones I have received from all you guys. Thanks and Yes I do drive them! Got the ND Willy's out this weekend along with the Tour Bus, Super Semi and a sweet looking Green Deora along with some others. These pure gifts of unselfishness hold a special place in my heart.

Well I am looking forwards to donating some cars for Coaches next Auction and also getting some. Ooooooooooooooh boy! How do we all sleep at night? :woohoo:

Bob...zilla

Bill,

In the spirt of Christmas you should have put a green over coat with red details :)

Roger Corrie

Top Shelf Bill... full on, first class, unmistakeable Top Shelf. :thumbsup:

Merry Christmas to all ! !

nuther

Bill,

In the spirt of Christmas you should have put a green over coat with red details :)

Roger Corrie

Roger, HOHOHO! So funny that you thought that. Like minds and all such.
I also had one of those tiny resin Santa decorations prepped for decapitation and install.

In the end I chose to stay with the reasonably stock appearance as I had already busted, butchered, and in general already taken more liberties than I was authorized. ;)


Nuther: Top shelf? Just like it's new owner! Crotchety old fart deserved it! Too bad I didnt think to install a set of tattered HO boxer shorts on the driver's head. :p