[GRAH1]

The only Hilman Imps I have seen in 1/32 scale are the rather nice but quite expensive resin from I think Steve De Haviland and the much cheaper but hideously proportioned Betta vac form from Charlie Fitzpatrick As I had one of the latter in styrene I thought maybe it would cut down a bit to give a more reasonable representation as the side veiw is quite good .
I marked a line down the centre of the shell and another 1/8" either side this would once removed give me a shell 2 1/4" wide instead of the 2 1/2" of the original ,still too wide to be acurate but more usable than the monsterous proportions it started with .After I cut it I then taped the two halfs together with gaffer tape and glued styrene strip to reinforce the joint , When dry the joint was sanded and filled with Humbroll body putty and sanded off again after .

Heres a pic of the job so far .

Many of the Betta range have a good shilouette but are far too wide .Styrene is easily re worked with a minimum amount of fuss.
Howmet its time to get the saw out again

 

[GRAH1]

Windows and wheel arches cut out

Time to start thinking of a chassis

 

[JohnP]

Looking nice Grah - very neat. As you point out, the imp actually scales out even less than your 2 1/4" wide - more like 1 7/8" I think. So, having done that much chopping work, I'm just curious why you chose a bacon sandwich rather than going the whole hog? If you get my meaning

 

[GRAH1]

Taking the full 1/2" out of the centre would loose all of the rear grills and spoil the bonnet shape, to get a good scale width and shape I would need to take another 2 1/8" slices out just near the head lights so I decided to compomise and also john Im a racer first and foremost so I can live with a slightly stretched body maybe Ill do a scale one from scratch my self later .
Charlies bodies are cheap enough to experiment with if it goes wrong all youve lost is a couple of quid

 

[Eno Dog]

Just as an aside as a kid I used to go see the local short dirt track racing in SE Queensland. Someone had build one of these with a mid mounted 202 (3 litre odd) six cylinder in a spaceframe chassis. It would drive around most everything - one very scary unit!

 

[David Lawson]

I'm inspired by your reworking of the Imp shell Graham and will have to add it to my list of projects. The Imp was always a great racer and I remember Bill McGovern's domination of the saloon car world in the George Bevan car during the early 70s.

Eno Dog - saloon car racers always do daft things to their cars don't they. Here's a picture I took at Brands Hatch of a very rapid cut down Imp, I can't remember the details of the modifications as it was about 1978.

Here's a more standard Imp I snapped racing in Group 1 racing in 1974

David

 

[GRAH1]

Thanks David I will probably go for the rally version as WrexhamsRally day is aproaching fast,
If I can find it I have a pic of an even more ridiculous one , In about 1978/79 some looney even put a Rover (thats a buick to our american cousins) 3.5 ltre v8 in one and ran it on the Tour Of Mull Rally in Scotland.

 

[GRAH1]

Ive found a suitable chassis ,The Carrera Go 1/43 Aston Martin
has the right wheel base

The axles need widening a bit or do I atempt to narow the body a bit more ,Any one remember which issue of model cars the Fraser Imp plan was in ?before I decide to start chopping some more.

 

[JohnP]

January 1968

 

[JohnP]

...and terrific pictures David - great to see cornering like that

 

[GRAH1]

Cheers John I,ll go and have a look

 

[GRAH1]

Just for John P , its now down to 2" and thats as narrow as it gets ,
2 more cuts along the wing tops roof and boot a further 1/8" removed at each side Its getting more like a jig saw than a slot car

at least the chassis fits a bit better now

 

[JohnP]

Thanks Grah - just about scrapes through ECRA scrutineering now

 

[GRAH1]

heres a pic of a vanguard die cast

http://www.imps4ever.info/racing/races/fraser.html

imp reference site

and a link to a good reference site

 

[Sidewinder]

I did mention in another post the availabuility of a resin Imp

http://www.traffic-modelcars.com/h32-h1600.htm

They have a lot of obscure saloon cars from the sixties A35,s and a Riley 1.5
Does anybody have a picture of the V8 engined Mk 1 Cortina driven by Terry Sanger and I believe Terry Drury , this car must qualify as the first supersaloon ?

Richard

 

[GRAH1]

Its a very nice kit Richard but at £49 plus postage a little too expensive to have on the shelf . There are a lot of nice but expensive resin kits about which if cheaper say round the £15 -25 mark would be better recieved by the scratchbuilders out there.

 

[Eno Dog]

I like the idea of whomping a V8 in one of these David. Don't know if I'd be so keen on putting myself in the same shell though!

 

[GRAH1]

Track test,
with the body mounted and the wider axles in place it was time to do a track test before the paint goes on

Result ,
Crap!

Why?
front axle too wide causing wheels to catch on arches slightly , small motor not having enough power to overcome friction.A point worth watching for any one planning to use the beardog or carrera go motor in any other application .
The carrera go chassis runs wth all 4 wheels in contact with the track and as I normaly run tripods I neglected this factor, so once the front axle was cut down the performance returned
The imp corners as if on rails the carrera chassis is absolutly stuck to the track I will probably have to reduce the magnetraction quite considerably as its far too easy to drive in its present form.

Result s now,
Great .Now to start painting.

 

[GRAH1]

Imp with joints filled and primer ,interior is vac form cut and shut

under view of carrera chassis ,body pegs are simply glued in place from old shell and spaced to give correct ride height

 

[JohnP]

Strange that lack of Go in the Go motor! Sounds good if you use it carefully though.

Coming along nicely Grah - look forward to seeing the imp all painted up. Are you planning to fit windows eventually too?

P.S. Loved those imp links