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Post by Bernard Kron on Mar 28, 2021 19:29:43 GMT -5
While I build mostly hot rods, customs and straightline racers, I’ve gone since the end of 2019 without build a drag competition subject, instead building a couple of sporty cars, a Ferrari 250 LM and a Lotus Seven, in 2020. So this project is kind of going back to my roots. The inspiration was a chute pack rear body offered on eBay by Joe Curtis at Fremont Racing Specialties. My favorite length chassis front engine digger is on either side of 150 inches for the wheelbase. So, because Joe also offers a variety of different length dragster nose shells I ordered a short length to match. I’ll still need to remove a bit of it for it to fit. My idea is to build a fairly fancy full bodied fuel dragster of the sort seen at the various dragstrips around the L.A. and Orange County area in the mid-sixties – fast, loud with lots of chrome and polish and slick paint and lettering. I started with the late 60’s very long (210 inches) chassis found in the various AMT digger kits such as the Tommy Ivo FED, the Too Much, the Young American and the Garlits Wynnscharger. My usual approach to shortening it is to remove 2 bays just aft of the nose, resulting in about a 150” wheelbase depending on which front axle setup I choose. The Fremont chute pack body, however, is designed to fit the MPC Ramchargers legs-under (driver’s legs pass under the rear axle) chassis instead of the legs-over design of the AMT frame. To get the body to sit right I needed to relocate the rear axle forward of the vertical frame tube instead of behind it (yellow circle vs. red “v” in panel A of the composite photo below). The result is the 145” chassis I’ve got here. The motor is the 392 Hemi from the AMT Bantam Blast kit with an Enderle Injector from the Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit which also offered up its front axle. The injector scoop is from Altered States Models. The whole project will be a sort of “greatest hits” of my favorite dragster parts. The photos below are a mockup held together with white glue. The bodywork is pretty far along although the cowl area stills need some massaging to fit right. The chassis, too, is well along, and the motor half built, so, except for the (I hope) fancy paint job and decals, this project should move pretty quickly. Thanx for lookin’, B.
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Post by Duane on Mar 28, 2021 19:55:53 GMT -5
lookin good B. ! i'll be watchin this build !
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Post by lo51merc on Mar 29, 2021 8:43:05 GMT -5
I'm with Duane. With the skin on it it's so slick. You do have a knack, not to mention a vast lot of parts to choose from.
Waiting for more...... Gary
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Post by Mr. Metallic on Mar 29, 2021 9:25:05 GMT -5
Looking good. Curt Raitz front wheels? They're so nice
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Post by Bernard Kron on Mar 29, 2021 12:50:03 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! It feels good to be doing a drag subject again. ... not to mention a vast lot of parts to choose from. Thanks Gary. By most measures my stash isn't all that huge. But with more than 10 years of modeling under my belt now, I've got a pretty good idea what I like and try to maintain supplies of my "greatest hits" parts when I can find them at a decent price. ...Curt Raitz front wheels? They're so nice Thanks Craig. Yeah those are Tru-Wires. They're from my small stash he gave me when I acted as guinea pig for his prototypes. Ego and pride would indicate I should build my own but I haven't the tools (nor the skills I suspect) to get them as nice as Curt has. I'm down to my last set so from now on I'll be ordering them as I need them. I'd like to use a set on a Fad-T with rims polished out.
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Post by superflekmoonbird on Mar 31, 2021 22:03:45 GMT -5
Very cool.
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Post by Bernard Kron on Apr 11, 2021 19:35:33 GMT -5
Thanks Jim. I got the motor and cockpit area assembled. The cockpit is straight out of the box from the AMT Ivo/Too Much kits with minor adjustments to account for the rear axle having been moved forward. A shortened tie rod will accommodate the radically shortened wheelbase. The motor is the Dodge 392 Hemi from the AMT Bantam Blast kit including the blower and the valve covers. The Enderle barn door injector is from the Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit and the blower pulleys and drive belt are the Ivo/Too Much kit with the idler pulley bracket adapted from the Tony Nancy kit. The short zoomie exhausts are from the AMT Don Garlits Wynn’s Jammer and are temporarily installed for alignment purposes. They will be replaced by a more aggressive set of 3D printed zoomies I have on order from 3D Model Specialties on Shapeways (see inset of an earlier model I did using them). The body work has had the white base coat applied and, after curing, I’ll mask out the scallops and then apply the Testors Purplicious main color coat. This will be the subject of my next update. Thanx for lookin, B.
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Post by spex84 on Apr 12, 2021 21:20:23 GMT -5
That's a businesslike pile of (simulated) metal right there, Bernard! Looks tough as heck without any bodywork on it.
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Post by skip on Apr 14, 2021 8:40:17 GMT -5
As always, every compliment given is well earned! This one is so right at every angle you look at it! What's not to like, takes a ton of work to make any dragster look believable, this one looks the part! Once again, you hit it outta the park with this one!
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Post by Bernard Kron on Apr 15, 2021 9:55:32 GMT -5
Thanks to you both! I got the basic paint scheme laid down. The base color is white done by applying three coats of Duplicolor Clear over Duplicolor white primer. Then the panel edge stripes were created by masking the white areas I wanted to show. Finally Testors Purple-Licious metallic purple was applied. The other item completed was the roll over hoop and brace which were made by bending some aluminum tubing to shape. The tubes will be polished with Simichrome. Right now there’s a fair amount of cleanup to be done on the paint scheme to straighten up the edges and deal with any minor paint overspray. Next up will be designing a the graphic text for the team/entrant and car names and having them printed. They will be white. I also apply various trade decals as appropriate. Then the whole thing will be clear coated and then it’ll be time for final assembly, adding the suspension and steering details, windscreen, front wing, proper zoomies, etc. Thanx for lookin’. B.
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Post by Dave from Pleasanton on Apr 15, 2021 10:20:37 GMT -5
Wow. I couldn't see it with the front body portion during your mockup. It just didn't look right, but with the paint and finished placement of the body it really works.
How did you join the two pieces of aluminum tubing for the roll cage? They fit so well and look welded.
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Post by Bernard Kron on Apr 15, 2021 10:50:35 GMT -5
Wow. I couldn't see it with the front body portion during your mockup. It just didn't look right, but with the paint and finished placement of the body it really works. How did you join the two pieces of aluminum tubing for the roll cage? They fit so well and look welded. Thanks Dave. The original mockup was very, very rough with nose piece, designed for a logger wheelbase, overlapping the tail piece. Now they're cut to fit and line up.
All the main parts so far are tacked together using white glue. Final assembly will done using 5 minute epoxy (I'm highly allergic to super glue). This includes the roll hoop and brace which are fastened with white glue for now. The white glue dries clear, as does the epoxy, so it looks like it will in final version. The fit is pretty straightforward involving fish mouthing the joint between the brace and the center of the hoop, and filing the bottoms of the hoop at the to the proper angle. If you do it right the whole thing will rest in place without even gluing it. The inset of the rear half of the digger with the red stripe paint job to show the 3-D printed zoomies I'll be using also has the polished aluminum roll hoop treatment like this one. I like the realistic .metallic effect and the contrast with the bodywork.
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Post by Bernard Kron on Apr 18, 2021 20:00:34 GMT -5
I’ve been working on the decal, which, as was usually the case on this era of diggers, is very simple. Basically the name of the car. There will be trade decals, as well, but I’ll probably use stock decals from kit sheets unless I have some serious fit problems. My challenge right now is to find a service that will print decals for me from my art since I’ll need to do white and gold.. I recently taught myself the rudiments of vector graphics software and I can supply master art in any of the commonly used formats ( i.e Adobe Illustrator .ai file, Corel Draw .cdr files, or generic vector formats like .svg). In the meantime I’ve decided to change the cowl panel to a slightly wider and longer one. It won’t change the appearance of the car but the fit will be much better. This work should coincide with the arrival of 3D printed zoomies and, hopefully, a decal printing service. Below is a Photoshop mockup of the basic decal scheme laid into the earlier photos I posted. The yellow edges in the mockups will be gold. Once I get over the decal supplier hurdle there will be little to do except for final assembly. Thanx for lookin’, B.
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