Study in Double Dragster - 23 T Altered - Blue
May 29, 2022 18:01:19 GMT -5
sharp and 41chevy like this
Post by Dave from Pleasanton on May 29, 2022 18:01:19 GMT -5
I've been commenting for a while and thought I should post something of mine. I packed up my shop back in the fall of 2021 as part of our move. Once we moved the plan was to remodel our new house and create a hobby space for me. The remodel is not going as well as planned and so I won't have a space until late fall or early winter of 2022. I can fiddle a bit as long as it only involves a sprue cutter, Xacto knife, glue and sanding sticks.
I have trouble completing my builds, but have found if I build around a theme I get more kits finished. This is the my only AMT Double Dragster - 23 T Altered posts. I loved the kit as a kid and have enjoyed it just as much now. There are some issues with it. The Vertex magneto has the wires out of the side instead of the front (or back as the case may be) and the tires in some of the variants aren't really correct for the period, but all in all it captures that late 50s, early 60s period really well. Here's Double Dragster - 23 T Altered - Blue.
The body is an AMT Parts Pack and I figured that it would just drop into place over the Fiat Altered chassis. I was both wrong and right. Front to back it fit just fine, but the cut outs in the body for the slicks weren't even close to deep enough. I molded in the tonneau cover and in general cleaned up the body to give me a sleeker look. The paint is Rustoleum Metallic Blue. The tires and wheels have been swapped out from my parts box. The fronts are from the Mickey Thompson Attempt II kit. The plug wires and fuel lines are wire wrap wire. The injector tubes are uninsulated ferrules.
I wanted to put the fuel tank in long ways but it wouldn't fit inside the grille shell.
The kit doesn't have a Pitman arm so I scratched one up. With the grille shell the fuel tank didn't fit on the platform so I crafted a larger one. If you compare the radius rods on this build and the red Fiat Altered with the yellow Fiat Altered, you will see the gussets on the yellow version. Those are the kit radius rods. On this one and the red Fiat Altered I carefully cut away all of the gussets to give a lighter look.
If you look at the turtle deck from the side you can see right through. The body indents had to be redone to get those slicks in. I should have added some filler to the turtle deck but I was afraid I would stall out if I went down that path.
Like the red and yellow Fiats, I replaced the steering column with some Evergreen to get a better proportion.
I loved these kits back in the 60s when they came out and I still think they're great. Thanks for looking.
I have trouble completing my builds, but have found if I build around a theme I get more kits finished. This is the my only AMT Double Dragster - 23 T Altered posts. I loved the kit as a kid and have enjoyed it just as much now. There are some issues with it. The Vertex magneto has the wires out of the side instead of the front (or back as the case may be) and the tires in some of the variants aren't really correct for the period, but all in all it captures that late 50s, early 60s period really well. Here's Double Dragster - 23 T Altered - Blue.
The body is an AMT Parts Pack and I figured that it would just drop into place over the Fiat Altered chassis. I was both wrong and right. Front to back it fit just fine, but the cut outs in the body for the slicks weren't even close to deep enough. I molded in the tonneau cover and in general cleaned up the body to give me a sleeker look. The paint is Rustoleum Metallic Blue. The tires and wheels have been swapped out from my parts box. The fronts are from the Mickey Thompson Attempt II kit. The plug wires and fuel lines are wire wrap wire. The injector tubes are uninsulated ferrules.
I wanted to put the fuel tank in long ways but it wouldn't fit inside the grille shell.
The kit doesn't have a Pitman arm so I scratched one up. With the grille shell the fuel tank didn't fit on the platform so I crafted a larger one. If you compare the radius rods on this build and the red Fiat Altered with the yellow Fiat Altered, you will see the gussets on the yellow version. Those are the kit radius rods. On this one and the red Fiat Altered I carefully cut away all of the gussets to give a lighter look.
If you look at the turtle deck from the side you can see right through. The body indents had to be redone to get those slicks in. I should have added some filler to the turtle deck but I was afraid I would stall out if I went down that path.
Like the red and yellow Fiats, I replaced the steering column with some Evergreen to get a better proportion.
I loved these kits back in the 60s when they came out and I still think they're great. Thanks for looking.