Bobby Unser's 1974 Olsonite Eagle

[Deleted]

Hi guys my name is Chuck and I'm a newbie to the indy car scene . I usually build drag cars and do decals for them , but I have gotten bored with the hobby and I hasn't been much fun as of lately . So I was able to acquire about 30 of the old indy car kits and the one that drew me in was the Unser Olsonite Eagle . I had and built this car about 40 years ago when I was 10 and I can remember coming home from the 5 & 10 store with it and my bottle of paints and tube of glue and did I make a mess of that kit , so I'll try again. To be up front I know nothing about Indy cars so I will make so mistakes along the way but just bear with me as I learn.

I looked around on the site and seen some awesome builds so I'll try to take my notes from them . I read that the AMT Indy car kits very not very good or accurate so I have looked and some pics of the cars and making some changes to the kit. The first thing I noticed was builders said the car was to tall in the belly area so I cut the interior bulk head away from the side panels to make the car shorter by 3mm.

I glued them directly to the upper body panel . Then I noticed that the front nose had to much of a rake on it , so I cut the front panel and flat it out a bit . Here are some pics

I then glued the bottom onto the car so I could eliminate some seams and get the body panels and cut the bottom out so I could assemble the cockpit

by flatting out the nose and getting the body thinner I was able to eliminate 3mm from under the front nose . Here is how it sits now , just got get out the bondo and primer and start smoothing things out

I hope it looks better and I'm doing things right , any help suggestions or comments are welcome . Like I said this is my first rodeo at this




thanks Chuck

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Hello guys while primering and sanding the body I started on the motor , here are some pics of it. Now before someone says something some of the lines may not be routed correctly , but this is all I could see through pics and I like I said I'm not an Indy guy nor have I ever seen one in person. I tried to make it so it looked like it could function this way and I'm have fun with the project which is the most important thing.




thanks Chuck

next I have to start working on the rear suspension and all the struts for it and the motor with aluminum tubing and RB Motion heim joints




thanks Chuck

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OK guys after getting the motor caught up , my decals came in from Indycal and I must say as being an Alps decal printer also I was very impressed with the quality of decals they make on their Alps . I got the body painted and decaled and added a few dress up parts such as photo etched dzus fasteners and fuel rings from our drag racing fuel cells . Here are some pics and it only has 1 light coat of clear on it right now to seal the decals , after that dries good I'll come back and hit it some more then color sand it and apply the last coat of clear

thanks Chuck

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well guys I got the 2 engine struts completed out of aluminum tubing and RB Motion nuts and bolts with heim joints, here a couple of pics . I have to wait until there are completely cured so I can do so polishing on the joints

thanks Chuck

next I'll start on the rear suspension with heim joints and aluminum tubing for the cv axles and set of RB Motion rear coil over shocks




thanks Chuck

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Hi guys I got around to the rear suspension and shock and brake set up this afternoon and here are some pics of the progress. I got 1 side done will try to get the other side in a day or so

thanks Chuck

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its been a quick learning curve , sometimes having to make multiable pieces till I get it right. I couldn't help myself I had to mock it up to see where I was and make sure it kind a looked right. I just have to out what the rear wing spill plates look like , because I don't know if the kit are right . I seen one with aluminum unpainted wing plates on it and I may go that way . But here are the mock up pics

thanks again Chuck

[Art Laski]

It's looking great! What did you use for the rear brake rotors?

-Art

[Deleted]

Beautiful, beautiful build. Outstanding attention to details. I'm pretty much a front engine guy but after seeing your WIP photos I'm going to give this one a try. I hope we'll see more of your work in the future.

Jerry Sudduth
Frankfort, KY

[MikeB]

Amazing work Chuck

I wish I had your talent

Awesome build

Sent from my C6730 using proboards

[Deleted]

here are some pics with the back joined to the tub , now I just have to work on the front suspension

Chuck