Wild Child

One of my 'Custom' builds (and part of my 1969 Winter Nationals Funny Car display) is this 1969 Charlie Allen '69 Dart Funny Car. It uses a shortened and modified Polar Lights chassis along with a slightly modified standard kit body. The hood was molded in, spoiler made, wheelwells modified, blinker lights cut out, etc. The big Hemi is well detailed with lines, linkage, wires, fittings, and dual fuel tanks. The silver metallic paint has been finished to a high gloss. For those interested in attempting a Dart like this, understand that the decals for this kit are a nightmare. First, the side ones need to be slightly shortened as they are for a longer body. Then there is the cracking issue. I used three sets to get one car. These constantly crack and break not only around every curve, but even sliding them off the decal sheet. Plus, getting them over the hood bulges will drive you to drinkin. Perhaps these are older printed decals, because old decals I have found do dry out. Becky at Slixx sent me 2 sets after the first one fell apart....she works with customers very well. Warm water, lots of decal sol, and a lot of patience will prevail (maybe). Then is the job of clearing and rubbing the body,...always hard with heavy flake paint combined with large panel decals. I think I got-er though.

DOG-ON NICE... love the old vintage customs!

Hey Mike, No, some of the decals are an old partial sheet of his '68 kit. The Rattler I used and paint enhanced. The Fast Eddie, Cougar front spoiler logo and Paint by decals I had made. Small sponsor ones I had. I originally got the ones off E-Bay printed on yellow paper, but I did not like these and the yellow is tuff to exactly match.

Neat car, really love the old kit.

Recently I saw Mike's "Building the Covers" post on his neat Eddie Schartman '68 Cougar. Very cool car, and I love the neat original box. This post was my first post on these forums, and it just happened to be Eddie's '69 Cougar, which I actually made off the '68 car. It is neat to see both cars, and the subtle body differences.

No. Just a standard Chromebook laptop. This issue appears to be cleverly attached to the top ads that run, which sometimes direct you to click on them. Sneaky. Difference is the bad ones are free standing (are by themselves, not with a picture advertisement). Very sparatic, then do not re-appear. I knew of a guy who saw this on another site where people had real problems, and the source was hard to detect. Curious if anyone else has seen these. Often people do not pay attention. Solution may be to tell everyone to just never click on these.

One followup to the above post. When I signed out, I decided to go on the DRAG RACE cars area to see something (not signed in), and the box was at the top again. After I signed in to post this, it was gone. Hmmm.

Right off the bat, if you notice a blue box at the top of any page you are viewing where the ads run (and there are no ads) that says 'TO CONTINUE- CLICK HERE', DO NOT CLICK ON IT!! It may be a VIRUS, or at the least it will lock your computer. Last Fall I was researching certain car builds. When I signed in, I noticed this blue box where the ads usually are. I did notice it, but I ignored it and I went to scroll down to what I was looking at. I must have hit the cursor as I was going down. BOOM, instantly a large red screen came up. Siren noises, verbal warnings to NOT turn computer off or try to get out of page or your computer could be locked immediately. The message stated to call the number on the screen. My computer was not responding to anything , even the cursor would not move. So I shut it off. When I restarted it, it was still on the post and the screen was still flashing red, but I was able to move the cursor so I went to the top of the page and X-ed out of the forums. The screen vanished and everything has been working fine since. I thought all was good. Earlier today I went to the DRAG RACE car section, and lo and behold, there was that same blue box at the top where the ads run. I scrolled around to 3 or 4 places to see if I saw it anywhere else, but I did not. I refreshed twice, but it did not go away. A couple hours later I went back on and looked again, and it was gone. I have never had a problem or any virus with my chrome book, and running a check produced nothing, so it is my belief somehow something is randomly getting through this sites protections and into the top advertising area. I can not say I have seen this box often. I do not know, but hopefully someone can run a check and see if they can find something. All I can suggest is to not click on anything you are unsure of, especially if it instructs you to do so.

Very nice Bird. I like the color.

Thanks guys. Sean, I enjoy doing standard kit bodies. While a resin funny car body is slightly longer, I really like doing the body mods myself. Plus, resin bodies are costly and you still need a kit to get the glass and trim. It takes a bit of work, but the overall results make it ok for me. I have 2 other Birds I hope to get to this year, including Jess Tyree's cool '69. Making the Firebird hoods are tuff since no one makes standard flat hoods, and typically you need to have decals made, which can get a bit pricey sometimes. This pic is of the future Tyree bird, and loosely resembles what the 2 Firebird's above looked like early on. . It was a previously built kit I came across , and am now converting it to a funny car. The hood was made from an open street machine hood with a center section molded in from a 400 hood. Once a body is done, all the inside tin work has to be modified to fit, and the chassis has to be carefully measured and shortened to fit the kit body. Lots of fun, but lots of work. Thanks again.

I recently came across a couple pics I thought I would share of the LA Hooker and Nelson Carters Super Chief. Carter sold the Super Chief to the Beaver brothers, who turned it into the Hooker.

Thanks guys. Mike, while I have scratch built some pumps, this pump is the pump in the Polar Lights kit. Some need 3 lines, some 2 depending on the car and tanks. Also, different injection setups use different lines....some basic like these, some multiple. What I usually do is cut the tips off the pump, drill a tiny hole, insert .015 or .018 piano wire in, then slide braided line over followed by the fitting (which presses on), both with a dab of super glue gel. Works great, though a little time consuming sometimes.

Thanks Scott. I appreciate you taking the time to say that. Some of these custom builds are a bit tuff, so it is especially gratifying to know people like the finished results.

Two of my favorite 1969 era Pontiac Funny Cars in my collection include these two custom builds, Lew Arington's Brutus '69 Firebird and KS Pittman's '68 Firebird (Pittman's car was actually raced as a '69 but really had a '68 body). Both cars feature modified standard kit bodies including modified hoods (which use the street machine open center hood with a section of the 400 hood molded in), modified spoilers, modified wheelwells, cut windshield, filled grille areas and more. Paint finishes were very similar in color, with the Pittman car being slightly more orange, and both have hand rubbed finishes. Extensive modifications to the interior panels was also required. The chassis are both Polar Lights units which have been shortened to fit the bodies. Correct wheels with valve stems and accurate graphics were used. The motors are fully wired, plumbed, and have linkage. While most Firebird's ran Canadian Pontiac motors (aka big block Chevy) in 1969, these two used Chrysler Hemi's. Pittman used one of their modified gasser 392 Hemi's while Arington used a 426 Hemi. Side Note - In the early '60's, Mickey Thompson made Pontiac aluminum Hemi heads for the 421 Super Duty engines. Around 1964, Lew Arington purchased the leftover heads from Mickey, and ran Hemi headed Pontiac motors for a few years very competitively. When these were finally used up, and no replacements available due to GM's anti racing ban, Lew switched to Chrysler Hemi's.

One more pic of the '69, showing a bit more of the upper paint accent and the hood pinstriping. As mentioned earlier, these Slixx decal sets are made for the Comp Resins longer bodies, so once you have your standard kit body modified, the Slixx decals have to be carefully cut and aligned so all the patterns and dimensions match.

Thanks guys. If you get a chance to check out the Tommy Ivo dragster that "Magic Mustang" (Gerald ) recently saved, it looks pretty cool too. Always cool to save these old cars when you can, especially Funny Cars and Dragsters.

Very nice. I am a big fan of re-doing or saving old kits. This Ivo car looks cool.

Thanks Evan, I will check it out regularly.

Evan, Thanks for the input and info. I have seen a lot on this truck thru the years on the net both before and after the restoration. When I built my '56, I used a few good pics I had seen over the years, though I did take a couple liberties on my build. Here is some useful info. 1-The hubcaps in the kit are indeed correct spinner caps looking at my original pics. They are a little small as they should cover the entire wheel though. 2-I used the rear bumper for visual purposes, but Ed did not have the bumper on in any of the pics I have seen. Looks naked without it though. 3-The truck came with a single exhaust, but sources I know who knew Ed claim he had duals on at one point. However, none of the rear photos I have ever seen have ANY exhaust pipe outlets showing, so I do not know what you would personally deem correct. 4-The dash top and front face had custom paint applied. 5-My motor compartment does have the correct hoses, line, linkage, oil tube and chrome air cleaner. Motor color I chose. 6-I did trim the mirror down a little, just looked hideous as tall as the kit mirror was. Also, there is a Work in Progress (WIP) section here that you can post your project and show everyone what you do throughout the build. Hope this all helps a little, and good luck on your build

Yeah Dave, doors are a pain. Fit them first. I cut off the inner door pins on the backside of the door the hinge goes to so I could line door up, then glue hinge to wherever the best location inside the door was. I used Amazing Goop because it sets fast, and I can pull it apart if I need to. When I put the truck together, the inner motor compartment side inner fender rears go over hinge to hold it in place. After a couple trial runs, I determined that the front edge of the door was not ever going to fit right that way, so I left the rear part that covers the hinge a little loose, or not tight to the hinge. The hinge moves around like this but seemed to fit more flush to the truck. So I wedge glued a small bit of leftover plastic in the top area of the hinge (on the door side) which pushed the door inward and made it fit fairly well. Trial and error, and a bit of patience, will eventually pay off. Once you get into it, you may even come up with your own way, or yours may even fit better. And we have not even got to the flame decals yet!!!

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the cool comments. And Ken, I also like the old Ed Roth stuff and often attend car events sporting a vintage looking Rat Fink shirt. Sometimes takes a little explaining to younger folks, but that's alright. ALSO, I finally got around to posting the '56 Ford shop truck separately (in the pickup truck section), and mentioned the pitfalls of doing this kit.

Nice cars, always liked the Dyno Don cars. I like the theme you use. Several of my Funny Cars I posted in pairs too, just looks cool.

As a fan of all the cool 1960's custom cars, one of my favorite builders was Big Daddy Ed Roth. In the Model Cars section I recently posted my Ed Roth cars with Shop front display, and I mentioned I would do an additional post on the '56 Ford shop truck build. This truck came out pretty cool overall and features a highly detailed engine, hand painted woodgrain bed, custom painted and pinstripped dash top and face (as original), and a nice, glossy, pearl white paint finish. But the main points I wanted to touch on is the difficulty in doing some things related to this build. First you will notice this truck has opening doors, which is cool but also poses its own problems. The doors, once put in position with hinges in place, fit terrible. There are long hinges that glue to the door, then are held in place by a section of the inner fender. Problem is, if put together correctly, the front of the door pops out too far and looks bad. Leave the back fender well a bit loose, and the door flops around all over and fits terrible. The solution was to leave the back fender well a little loose, or not fitting tight, and then glue a wedge in the top area of the hinge prying it back a bit. This moves the door inward at the front, then keeps it at least reasonably snug. Overall not perfect, but pretty nice. Second is the wild flame graphics. If you are not a drinkin man, you might be after doing these! There are over 20 different sections which must all be aligned perfectly to each other over multiple separate body panels. It will take nearly 1/4 bottle of Decal Sol and a lot of patience, and probably a couple afternoons. Because of all the various body contours, and the fact that many of these flame decals roll around the edges of the wheel wells and hood, I found there were just too many variables to get these things to lay down nice. My solution was to trim the decal a little around the rolled edges, then just brush paint around the edges of the wheel wells and hood lip. Another note is that from the pics I have seen, the hood emblem was either not on the truck, or painted over. My suggestion after doing this truck is to just sand it off first so the hood flames will lay down nicer. Hope this info helps for anyone doing one of these kits. You can modify my ideas to come up with your own solutions to some of the difficulties in doing this kit. But it really is a cool kit.

The Fokker DV single wing fighters and these D VII planes came from the factory with this style camo referred to as a 'Lozenge' pattern. Some pilots overpainted this with various personal markings, as well as various unit markings. The white tail, nose and wheels identifies the unit while the white stripe with spade is a personal marking of the pilot. All the planes in this unit would have usually had this same white tail, nose and wheels. While some planes could have been overpainted darker for night operations, all the planes should have come from the factory with this Lozenge pattern. The Fokker Dr1 Triplane used a different pattern alltogether which was just a basic brush wash over the fabric. To see several different versions of markings on the same plane, look up my 1/28 Fokker Triplane post. You can see what several units and personal markings look like on the same camo. Cool stuff.

Thanks guys. Bruce, there were camo pattern waterslide decals made for these large 1/28 Fokkers years ago, but were discontinued as this plane has not been reissued for decades and the old kits are hard to find. I had an old set, hoping to do a plane one day. It takes a lot of decal sol to soften these to make them lay down nice. They are brittle and crack easy. You must also come up with paint to match all the colors, often hand mixed, to take care of misc spots where decals are spliced, or on wing edges. Plus, bottom colors are different too. Tuff to do, but I love the results vs the box art version which was a solid red and white plane with no camo. This version, which was more commonly used in real life, is much cooler.