Karl LaFong

What a great (& fun) kit! I used the kit Chrysler engine, but with the front cover from the Olds engine found in the AMT '40 Ford sedan. The valve covers are from the Chrysler engine found in the AMT '32 Ford Roadster; the manifold & carbs are from the Revell Parts Pack Cadillac engine. The rear wheels are from the AMT Double Dragster kit. They were way too shiny, so they received a coat of Duplicolor Chrome paint. They are mounted on the kit slicks. I sprayed Tamiya white primer through a circle template to produce the white walls. The wheel openings were slightly enlarged. I hope to get some paint on the body by the end of the weekend.

I’ve been anticipating this kit for the past several months; I bought mine last week and am not disappointed. The Chrysler engine doesn’t appear to be undersized – the valve covers from the DeSoto engine (AMT ’53 Ford Truck), Revell’s Miss Deal, AMT Double Dragster, and AMT ’53 Studebaker all fit the engine. If you are looking for an alternative induction system, the 8 carb manifold from the DeSoto and Double Dragster may fit with some filing. However, the 6 carb manifold from the Revell Cadillac engine parts pack drops right in. The slicks are the correct width for a late 50’s/early 60’s dragster; if you want wider ones the wheel/tire combo from the AMT Double Dragster or Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster will work, as all three kit wheels mount on 1/16” wire axles. The frame rails are a scale 1.25”, comparable to the Tony Nancy chassis; in contrast the AMT Double Dragster run around 2.5” and looks WAY oversized. While some aspects of the kit appear to be simplified for nostalgia’s sake, with some parts swapping you can come up with an accurate period dragster.

I’ve wanted to build a replica of the drag version of the box art for some time, but couldn’t find the original issue headers & didn’t want to pay big buck$ for a kit. I managed to find the headers at the Mid-Atlantic NNL and the project was back on track. The rear tires are old AMT pie crust no-name slicks; the fronts are also old AMT no-names. Otherwise, the remaining parts are from the AMT mid-80’s release. Paint is Tamiya Light Green Pearl, the engine is Tamiya Italian Red. So far, it’s been a fun project!

I wish AMT would re-tool the original issue headers for this and the 39/40 Sedan. While they are at it, the original decals, skinny pie crust slicks, and Moon hubcaps would make a sweet kit even sweeter.

The Miss Deal frame is essentially the Parts Pack chrome custome frame, the steering wheel & linkage is from the dragster C1124 dragster parts pack, and the engine is a re-pop of the chrome Chrysler engine pack. What's great about the Miss Deal kit is that you can clone some of the old Parts Pack - derived kits, without shelling out big buck$...

Jaw dropping! Great job!

John, Thanks for uploading this - the smile of the day!

Nice job! Looking forward to the wheels tutorial.

Revell "Miss Deal" is great because it contains pieces from the old Revell parts packs - engine, wheels & tires, & front suspension. AMT Double Dragster - tons o' parts for vintage draggers Pre-1991 Monogram/Revell NASCAR Thunderbird - with some minor tweaks the chassis & running gear can be used to vastly improve 70's AMT & MPC NASCAR kits (e.g. '75 Matador).

I'd like to build the AMT '72 Blazer, but I don't want to pay 50+ bucks for one.

VERY cool!!! Compared to winners from the 60's-90's, this won't look like a period piece. Traditional rules!

Nikola Tesla would be proud! cool concept.

Nice work! Haven't seen that shade of green before.

This is WAY cool!!

Very nice - color looks great!

Sweet!!

The vaccum tubes are HO scale light bulbs - back in the day they were called "grain of wheat bulbs". They were the same kind of bulbs found in the AMT '64 Ford & Chevies.

In-liners rule! Nice job!

All, This was my first photo posting here; thanks for the accolades - much appreciated! More photos are attached. Keith

Our club, the Delaware Valley Scale Modelers, had a contest last night for zombie killer vehicles. My entry, a 1909 Stanley Steamer, won the contest. It’s based on Aurora’s 1/16th scale kit, with many modifications. The paint is American Accents Burnished Copper and was weathered with a grimy black wash. I broke the mounting bracket for the one headlight, so I mounted it on the fender and wrapped it with scale chain to simulate a repair. The gun consists of over 70 parts, ranging from HO scale train parts to a 1/8th scale fire extinguisher trigger. The radiophone is based on a toolkit box from a 1/6thscale Stutz and was modified with jewelry pieces, brass rod, and AMT dragstrip accessories parts. I had a blast building it and specials thanks to DVSM members for voting it best in class!

Yup! The Philadelphia Area Car Modelers meets the first Friday of every month at Artisan's Suite/Professional Building, 8100 Roosevelt Blvd, in NE Philly. See http://www.dvsm.org/ for details. Hope to see you on Dec. 7th!