Karl LaFong

Thanks!

The in progress pictures can be found here : http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85320 Since the last update I added a front tube grill and plaque from an old Revell Custom grills parts pack, upper front bumpers from the AMT '63 Ford, spotlights & antenna from an AMT (SMP?) 61 Valiant, and the custom taillight option found in the kit. Thanks for looking!

The interior is finished. The trophy is from the AMT 49 Merc kit, the tools are from the Styline Falcon Ranchero, steering wheel is from the Beatnik Bandit (I think), and the crankshaft is from one of the AMT engine packs. Weathered with washes and Micoromark's Doc O'Brien's weathering powders. I hope to shoehorn this into the body tonight.

Sweet!

Looks good - just the right amount of weathering. Great idea for the headliner! Rust rules!

Looks good!

Got the interior started. Basically kit based, the side panels were painted Tropical Turquoise, topped with Dullcoat. The seat decals are the Leopard Upholstery from Scale Motorsports. I printed out some scale magazines & posters for the interior and some PA license plates.

Did some more work on the Chrysler. The top was painted Testor's Classic White, the body Testor's Tropical Turquoise; both are rattle cans colors. After letting them dry for a few hours, the rubber cement was removed with a combination of a rough sponge, my thumbnail, and various grits of sandpaper (320, 400, 800 2000), exposing the Sophisticated Finishes Metallic Iron and other paints. The body received a coating of Sophisticated Finishes Instant Rust; after 1.5 hours it received another coating. The body was placed in a plastic bag and allowed to dry overnight. This resulted in a nice rusty patina. The front wheels were attached; they are from the AMT 62 Pontiac custom with spinners from the Aurora Wheels Parts Pack. Yeah, the bumpers are way too shiny; they will be toned down.

So far, so good! What color(s) will it be?

While I was rummaging through my kit stash, I came across a pre-painted AMT ’57 Chrysler & odds & ends of a regular issue Chrysler. I’ve wanted to do a non-300 version (e.g. Saratoga), but scratch building the hood always stopped me. But if I used an induction system that didn’t require a hood… So I came up with the idea of a ratty kustom. The engine was built mostly stock, with the addition of a Replicas & Miniatures distributer, Predicta valve covers, Outlaw manifold, and carbs from the new issue Tweedy Pie. It was painted Testor’s metallic silver enamel and given a black wash. The rear tire/wheel is kit tire with an Aurora Parts Pack wheel mounted on an AMT ’57 T-bird hubcap. The Aurora piece was cut down to fit flush with the T-bird wheel. I removed the side trim, removed the 300 grill surround, and modified a Monogram ’59 radiator support to make the new grill support. The horizontal fins are from the AMT 61 T-bird Stylene kit. The body was painted with Plasticote black primer, followed with Tamiya red brown. I’ve wanted to use Sopristicaed Finsishes Rust system for some time, so I decided to try it on this kit. I applied two coats of Iron Metallic Surfacer. After it dried for 24 hours, I found it to be pretty rough – in the future I’ll use a finer brush. In hit it with vaious grits of sandpaper (320, 400, 800, & 1000 grit) to smooth out the finish. After the last series of pictures were taken, I applied rubber cement to the body with a sponge. The plan is to paint over the rubber cement, allow the top coat to dry, then remove the rubber cement, exposing the metallic surface underneath. To be continued…

David, With the parts pack Caddy, you have a choice of a Hydramatic or an in-out box. If you are doing a drag car, the in-out should fit with no or little problems; the Hydramatic may take some finagling to fit underneath the floor board. You'll also need to make a motor mount and check for clearance with the wire axle.

Looks good!

Nice! I like the way you were thinking way out of the box.

Yup - using the belly pans when gluing the frame will result in a squared frame - MUCH easier than the AMT Double Dragster or Revell Tony Nancy double dragsters!

way cool!

Thanks to all for the positive comments! The coupe color is Tamiya Italian Red, the dragster body is Testor's Model Master Metalizer Aluminum.

I finished the Bantam coupe. Details & in-progress photos can be found here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=83989 Revell deserves major kudos for this kit - well engineered and fun to assemble. Would have been nice if they included a fuel pump & non-plated Moon discs, but that's why I have a spare parts box...

Got some more work done on the Bantam. The gas tank is from an AMT funny car, the seat is from the AMT double dragster, and the steering wheel is from the Revell Tony Nancy drag combo. I saw an issue of issue of a late '50's Hot Rod magazine where some teams would run in both coupe and drag classes by removing the coupe body, so I added some dry transfer numbers & letters to the drag body. Still needs some details (like gluing the firewall) & I'll call it done.

Yup, it's a new kit. If you fill in the wheel & roof openings and scribe a new door opening, you could use the body for a street rod.

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!