Sterling Pike's Peak Race Truck

So many of you have seen the progress of The Sterling race truck on Zbuckster's. I am not going to bring all of that over, but start here on recent progress.

As many of you will recall, I am in the painting process for many of the resin, brass, plastic and aluminum parts. This is proceeding nicely. My issue was making the hood. I have a four piece mold, but I gave up trying to make the hood out of one piece. So I made four pieces; the hood front, center and the two fenders. Here is a photo of the individual pieces:



I reassembled the hood mold, and used it for an assembly fixture. The four pieces were bonded together using 5 minute epoxy. Here is the hood after it is assembled (also with it's first coat of filler), with a photo of the real truck in the background:



Note that the grille openings have been opened up. I am going to make the grille bars out of quarter round styrene that is shaped in a curve to match the front of the hood. Here is a photo of the side grilles. I carved these by hand out of a thick piece of styrene:



Here is a photo of the hood in a mockup with the cab and chassis. With some slight cab modifications at the interface, the fit is pretty good.



I am using some hood hinges I found on a diecast model. Here is how they look:



So that is where I am right now. The hood has it's first coat of filler, so now it will be the fill/sand, fill/sand routine. :shock:

Looks awesome Pete. If you get time I wish you would put up more photos of the chassis and some of the other things you have done. It would be nice to have it archived here.

It's lloking great Pete. Well done.

I agree with Buck on the photos. It would be good if you would transfer them here. No need for text. Just the photos would be good.

I'm very impressed with the scratch building you are doing. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Very interesting project and good work on the mods.

I saw Pete at Model Fest we talked about this build. I am going to add the photos I have of this truck.

These pictures were taken in 2012 at Model Fest.







I thought I had more pictures but can't find them.

This truck is jus' simply amazing! The detail that has been put into it. I truly can't wait to see more progress on this stunning beauty!

Man that's real nice work Pete. May I ask, is it mid engined?

FANTASTIC! So much scratchbuilding and need for fotos of actual racers make this one unique model. Do good work!

Yes Skid, it is mid-engine. Essentially it is under the driver/rider's rears :cheers: .

In order to get the most weight closer to the drive axle for traction, we moved the engine as close as we could get to the drive axle. I believe we ended up with only a 14 inch driveline (centerline to centerline on the u-joints). We also lowered the engine as far as it would go for a low center of gravity. There was only 4 inches of ground clearance between the skid plate (pardon the pun), and the ground. We also used an oil pan from a marine engine application which was low profile.

I got to drive the real one a couple of times, and it was a gas, with somewhere around 1000HP and 2500 ft-lbs of torque :shock: . It handled like a sports car, all 10,500 pounds of it.

OK, here is an update on the race truck.

I have found big fit issues between the back of the hood and the cab. I have been adding sheets of plastic and filler to the cab, as the hood is wider. I thought I had the cab done and ready for paint, but not anymore :( . Here are two shots of the extra material.





Besides this, I still needed to add the internal hood details, such as the rear reinforcement and the inner panels for air ducting.



So this model was supposed to be done in time for the GSL model contest on the second of May. It just isn't going to make it in the next three weeks, with everything else going on. I would have to just rush it too much, and I don't want to do this with all of the work I have put into it. But it is still progressing :cheers: .

That's a shame it won't be done for this one. Next show is 2 years, I think it's every two years. Having seen it in person I can say don't rush it now.

Great stuff Pete.
The next show may be two years away but don't rush it. You have too much in it to spoil it now.

Incredible detail work!!

Great work !!!

WOW...