Brent

I love doing these cars inbetween scratch build projects. Gives a guy a litle break and they just look so cool.

Some history....
Art Arfons pioneered the use of World War II aircraft powerplants in race cars, boats and tractor pullers. In 1953, Art stunned the visiting Californians with a world-record speed of 144 mph from his 6-wheeled, 12-cylinder, rearengined Allison dragster. Arfons built a dozen Monsters in the 50's, all powered by Allison, Ranger or Roll-Royce piston engines including drag racing's first "sidewinder" (1955). It was during this innovative era that Art contributed two important safety devices since made mandatory for drag cars: the overhead roll cage (1954) and the parachute (early 1959). He also set Top Speed at the National Championships three years in a row, climaxed by blazing runs of 172 and 170 mph at the '59 event after which NHRA permanently banned aircraft powerplants. Art is was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Now this dragster is not one of Arts creations. It's a "What If" type build that model building is so great for (let your imagination run wild). It started off with Tony Nancy's Revell Double Dragster set. I used the 22JR Roadster kit and lengthened it 1.75 inches to accept the V12. The V12 came from an AMT Parts Pack kit.
Other modifications include..................
Exhaust. I was tempted to just go with straight pipes (All 24 of them, 2 per cylinder) but decided to get a little freaky. I flipped the exhaust around (pointing them forward), filled in the holes in the bottom of them and bent a "U" shape with styrene. I then cut up and old set of side pipes from the Rat Packer Chevy II kit that I didn't use. LOTS of smoothing and shaping later I came up with a very dramatic set of pipes.
I added an over flow can on the right side of the frame to catch any water when expanding.
Ran fuel line to the fuel pump,Throttle cable and linkage,Parachute straps,Release cable and handle. Hooked up the clutch linkage to the bell housing and made a drive shaft. I had bigger tires on the front but the spokes (Even though might not be strong enough) had to stay. I also added bigger back tires from my parts bin to hold the Horse Power. I did a bit of research on these engines and there are a few different types. They range from 750HP to 1000HP from what I found. I wonder if Art "Tweaked" them as well?

As a kid I use to build a lot of trucks. Then maybe because of the price now a days haven't done to much with them. This build all started with a set of rear tires. Couldn't think what to use them for. Then I found a monster truck toy and bought it for the front wheels. The rest as they say is history LOL. I shortened the frame and used an old transformer that you get with the AMT I believe it was low boy trailer kits and made a tank out of it. The rest was scratch built using styrene. I wired and plumbed the air lines , hydraulic lines and sprayer lines. This is also the first time I have tried weathering, gave it a dusty look.
I was fortunate enough to win best truck over all in the Western Canada Regionals this year and also got it published in Great Scale Modeling magazine. A high lite of my building carer for sure.

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This will be my first OTW here so be gentle   . It is a project I started about two years ago but, well didn't really loose interest just had scratch builders block so I set it aside LOL.
Please excuse the first pictures quality as that was an old camera.
It might not be 100% accurate, but who cares. I love the freedom model building gives us. I started using the frame from the 1984 GMC kit but later decided to get rid of it , things just weren't going the way I wanted it to. The major reason for scraping the original frame was ground clearance. I had WAY to much. These trucks seem to squat quite low and the axle needed to pass the frame.
I'm still using the interior but wish I would not have now. Too late, to many things are designed around it.
The truck will be using a fair amount of parts from Nascar kits. Seats, engine , fuel cell so far. Shocks were made with various tubes of aluminum and brass....
Some pictures of the rear suspension in the up and down position. Everything is just pinned together for now. The challenge with this build is I want to make things permanent but can't as it will all need to be disassembled and painted first. Sooner or later I'm going to have to give in and get the airbrush out.