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Mr. Eliminator - 1964 Era AA/FD


Bernard Kron

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Mr. Eliminator – 160 In. Wheelbase AA/FD circa 1964

This was a simple project based on the AMT Two Much double engined early 70’s fiel dragster, a kit which shares its nearly 200 in. wheelbase chassis with the Tommy Ivo fuel dragster kit and the Digger ‘Cuda. Last year I used this same chassis to build a fuel injected Junior Fueler. When I was done I came away thinking that these end-of-era fuelers are just a bit too long and have somewhat awkward proportions, especially if you build them with an exposed chassis. So I decided I’d try my hand at shortening the chassis down to a more pleasing (to my eyes) 160 inches and build a classic California weekend warrior from the golden age of drag racing.

The basic running gear, chassis and motor are from the Two Much kit with the following changes:

Chassis: Shortened approximately 1.2” to 160 scale inch wheelbase. Polished aluminum tubing custom roll cage. Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit parachute.

Motor: Kit 426 Hemi with Scott Super Slot fuel injector courtesy of Altered States Models. Exposed metal parts stripped of chrome and refinished with Testors Metalizer paints. M.A.D. pre-wired distributor cap on kit “Frankenstein” magneto.

Bodywork: Altered States Models “Shorty” body with engine side panels removed. Paint: Duplicolor Metalcast Red transparent paint over Duplicolor Platinum Silver with home made “Mr. Eliminator” decal.

Rear wheels: From the MPC Ramchargers FED kit stripped and finished in Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust. Tires: M&H Dragmasters from Early Years Resin.

The W.I.P. for this build can be found here: http://www.modelcars...60

Thanx for lookin’,

B.

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Thanx everyone! B):)

This build isn't without its flaws but it had the desired effect: relatively quick and simple with a few new techniques I was trying for the first time. A nice break from some more ambitious things I have on the bench. For sure the somewhat shorter wheelbase improves the proportions of these cars enormously when you run them without bodywork on the nose. Photographing it was fun, and it looks pretty cool on my shelf...

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Thanks again, guys!

Here are some pics showing where I cut. The first picture is of an earlier build I did based on the same chassis but left full length. I cut two bays out as shown and aligned the remaining pieces along the upper frame rail. Then I bent the lower rail slightly to mate properly. The second picture shows the actual cut. I left the front bay intact and the riser that defines it is also the point that locates the parallel arms of the front suspension. I think this helps mask the cut. Historically many of these ultra long chassis were often done by extending an earlier frame, typically by inserting some extra bays, so this is sort of a reversal of the process. But, in actual fact, the Ivo frame is a very late build in FED history and Don Long built it as an extra long chassis.

I think the next time I use one of these I'll shorten it using Drew Heirwarter's method he outlined in a magazine article, and replace the kit's half-round tubing with proper full round tubing from the firewall forward. With each digger build I get closer to simply scratch building my own which is probably the best way to do a correct replica of this period of dragsters.

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Edited by Bernard Kron
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