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What's your opinion ? The Revell / Monogram Slingster VS The AMT Double Dragster ?


  

53 members have voted

  1. 1. Your choice ?

    • AMT Double Dragster
      31
    • Revell / Monogram Slingster ?
      9
    • Revell Tony Nancy double dragster kit ?
      13


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Greg, back in 1962 , I barely scraped the 2.00 to buy the A M T Double dragster . Word in my neighborhood concerning the revel offering was that parts didn't fit and it was really a hard kit to build . The hobby store that was within my ability to get to got I think two Monogram dragsters and they were spoken for . Now , move to 2014 , I have gotten a re -issue A M T Double dragster kit only cause I got through a discount vendor at a show . The Re issued Revell offerings never were released in my city when they supposedly were re released back in the early 90's . As for the Monogram, now Revellogram, I still haven't seen one and I'm leery of doing on line sales . So , voting is a moot point .

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Quoting from a review of the Slingster I did for another forum:

"The [slingster] kit is a bit schizophrenic. On the one hand there are quite a few parts that are finely detailed and very much to scale. This includes an excellent frame set with appropriately thin tubing, a pretty nice front axle with finely cast hairpins and a set of nicely done spoked front wheels. On the other hand, Revell tried to capture some of the early-60's funk of the original kit and appears to have purposely neglected accuracy and/or detail in some other parts. For example the quick change rear end is pretty pathetic and will be on nobody’s list of spare parts for future builds. The steering parts, too, are pretty vague and cursory. The same can be said for the valve covers on the Hemi and smaller details like the “moon” style gas pedal which is only very faintly scored on one side and is otherwise devoid of detail. ... The Hilborn 2-port injectors are molded into the blower. ... The kit lacks a fuel pump, has a totally blank, smooth blower rear end plate ...and has no tension pulley on the blower belts for either motor. You could argue that that's period correct for very early 60's but even then most runners were using tensioners. The engine blocks come with molded in oil pans and the SBC has a molded in oil filter. [The Hemi has no oil filter at all] This is a kit that’s asking for some serious upgrading if you want to build it to more modern standards of detail

...[Despite all this] for someone like me who really likes to build late 50’s-early 60’s drag cars [the Slingster is] an important kit, if for no other reason than the excellent chassis and bodywork. But this is not going to be a major parts kit; it’s no Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster, MPC Ramchargers, AMT Ivo kit or even AMT Double Dragster, all of which run very deep in the parts department. But virtually everyone who has completed one so far reports it’s a total gas to build and, as I said, it seems to yield extremely acceptable results. So far it also seems to be responding extremely well to some judicious upgrading and detailing. So I would say that my verdict is Highly Recommended as an underlying kit on which to base a project. But it won’t figure heavily in my stash for its parts…"

Of the kits I mentioned the Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit remains the most useful for me, despite it's idiosyncratic rather specialized motors. The frames can be readily adapted to represent many classic mid-60's styles, the front suspension is second to none and much of the rest of the kit can be used in any number of drag builds since most all the parts are accurately and finely rendered. It even comes with two entirely different Halibtrand rear ends, a classic quickchange and the less well known closed type. So that's what I voted for. But the AMT kit, until the Slingster came along, was the hands-down best pre-Kent Fuller era kit around, and it probably still is. We now have several excellent kits on which to base dragster builds, not only the 3 being surveyed, but the MPC Young American and Tom Ivo re-issues from Round 2 as well. Even the old Garlits FED/HemiSphere. minus body, can be had via the Hippie Hemi re-issue.

So, if kit bashing rails is your cup of tea then it's Fat City these days IMHO.

Edited by Bernard Kron
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I voted for the AMT Double Dragster. It is not overly detailed but good enough that it allows you to build a couple of period correct drag cars in multiple configurations that look great on the shelf. Add a few basic details like ignition wires and fuel system plumbing and both vehicles really come to life. The construction of either vehicle isn't complicated so it makes for more fun and less frustration. The only gripe I have with the current re-issue is the front tires, I think the size is a total fail. Replacing them with smaller diameter and slightly narrower versions make a dramatic difference in the look of both the Rail and the Fiat, for the better. Now, should a guy buy a DD kit strictly to harvest parts from, there are TONS of parts there, especially from the Tin Box version.

I would rate the Slingster second. I'm very impressed with it because like the AMT DD it's got killer vintage vibe, just enough detail to look good on the shelf, offers a variety of configurations, isn't complicated to assemble and also like the AMT DD, a few extra ignition and fuel details really make it POP! While some of the parts are simplified like the rear axle and basic engine assemblies, it also has some shining examples like one of the nicest early Ford dropped I-beam axles ever rendered, beautiful hairpin radius rods, wheels & tires, and the Hilborn mechanical fuel injection for the Chevy engine which actually has "Hilborn" scripts on it and separate chrome short venturi tubes. The bodywork and frame are also quite nice. I haven't completed one yet but have started on the basic sub-assemblies and so far, so good!

Last, I have but have never worked with the Tony Nancy double kit. Hands down, the more detailed and intricate of the three. Definitaly a GREAT source kit to swipe parts from. I have heard from those who have built it that assembly takes some patience, typical of Revell kits from back in the day.

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I HAVE worked with the Nancy dragster kits, and as others have already said, these 3 kits are so different that comparing them is like comparing pears and meat and chocolate. The Nancy kit has a blown Buick nailhead, and a blown Plymouth, neither of which are available anywhere else.

it's great to have all these old digger parts sources out there, and I'm really stoked about getting something built using the Bantam shell. The Slingster Hemi looks pretty blobular to me, but there are plenty of good ones.

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One thing I would warn everyone about is the Slingster Bantam body shell. It is extremely small and won't fit the AMT Double Dragster chassis. I've tried it on other somewhat more modern three-point style FED chassis. It looks like it will fit on the AMT Tommy Ivo sourced Dong Long chassis (Two Much, Digger Cuda, Young American, etc.), the Tony Nancy kit chassis, at least on the roadster, and even on the Revell Dragmaster style chassis (Parts Pack, Mickey Thompson Attempt One, Parts Pack Mooneyes) and the MPC Ramchargers digger (Am,erican Graffiti, Jaw Breaker). It won't fit on the Don Garlits Swamp Rat VI chassis (Wynn's Jammer, HemiSphere, Hippie Hemi).But it's very short and looks a bit odd on some of them. I think the best approach is either to use the 4-point cage from the Slingster or use the best looking 3-point cage that fits and build up the front end of the chassis to the wheelbase and configuration that suits your project. The extra-long wheelbase chassis on the Ivo FED, for example, has a nice close-coupled and somewhat upright roll cage, but the 200+ inch wheelbase looks pretty goofy in front of that little body.

For those unfamiliar with the roll cage style terminology here are two of Chris “The Greek” Karamesines’s Chizler cars, an earlier 4-point machine and a later 3-point one.

2-Greek16opt.jpggstuckey6.jpg

Edited by Bernard Kron
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MICKEY+THOMPSON+DRAGMASTER+copy.jpgPictures make the difference on these discussions. Thanks Bernard. :) Lotsa weird combos back in the day,dragster_01_700.jpg not to get confused with the double loop nostalga used today. 7a90d27697d024e10653463270fd5608.jpg Not to be confused with early attempts at safety.Dsc05374-vi.jpg

Edited by Greg Myers
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Had to go with the AMT Double Dragster kit. As a kid I built several, but never touched the Monogram kit. The problem was then I was too forceful with fitting Monogram and Revell kits then. Broke too many.

Have both the Double Dragster and Slingster reissues. Should be interesting, when I finally get around to building them, to see how they compare.

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I don't even get this poll: there are two choices except there are three choices and the third choice is the runaway winner pretty much however you look at it.

you should work for USA Today!

:D

jb

Are you implying that out of the three model kits listed that it is not possible for someone, for whatever reason, to form an opinion of which one is their favorite? Is the Tony Nancy kit much better detailed than the other two? Absolutely, but that may not be the reason it's someones favorite of the three. I don't see where the poll asked for a specific set of criteria...

B)

Edited by Dennis Lacy
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  • 1 year later...

I wasn't around for the original releases of any of these kits so I never had them as a kid.  When the rereleases came out in was it the 1990s(?)  I wound up getting both the Blueprinter Double Dragster and the Tony Nancy pair at my model club meeting one Friday night.  I got home and opened them up and man oh man!  Suddenly I realized where all the parts I owned stuck to old kits had come from!  The possibilities abound between those two boxes.  I couldn't get to sleep at all that night!  

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The Nancy kits for me! The Double Dragster a close second, the deal breaker being that the Revell kit is VERY accurate on parts! The DD is as well, just very simplified. Sorry, the new Slingster is just too simplified for me. Most of the new Revells are. The engine in the 50 Olds was a huge throwback to early AMT!

I have a dozen Nancy kits, six DD's, zero Slingsters.

Edited by GaryR
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