Bernard Kron

Hmm, 'plastic pushers', eh? That's a concept in car modeling I'm not familiar with. Sounds like a winner!

Implicit in some of the responses above is an "in-between" position between "preferring on-line" and "preferring my LHS" as outlined in the first two choices above. I happen to have two excellent LHS's, although neither is very near me (the one that was near me. which was very good, too, just closed down ). It took some thought as to which choice I would make. I finally opted for #2 (I do occasionally, but only if I can't find what I want at the LHS, I look there first.), since I would rather support my LHS's if I can, but the fact of the matter is I shop on-line more than occasionally, since I'm into aftermarket stuff and discontinued models, and most LHS's don't carry those sorts of things. I'd say I'm pretty close to 50/50, but I didn't want to have my vote look like I ignore my LHS's, because I absolutely don't.

In the news: A sculpture that features Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP4/6 from his last season as World Champion is to be sold by the International Car auctioneers COYS at their Nurburgring sale in Germany on August 13th. The gigantic Airfix sculpture was unveiled to the public on Saturday July 16th at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire when COYS hosted its annual Concours d’Elegance and auction at the historic venue – and there to see it unveiled was Ayrton Senna's former manager, Dennis Rushen. Dennis, who was team manager in Ayrton’s formative years said: “I was really impressed with the Senna sculpture. Such a clever idea and it really stands out as something really different. Often at race meetings Senna would fly his radio controlled helicopter. He was really into models and he would have appreciated the concept. There has been huge renewed interest in Ayrton Senna since the film “Senna” went on general release at cinemas a few weeks ago and the auction house have received a huge amount of interest in the sculpture since they pictured it in their catalogue. “It will be sold at our auction at the Nurburgring on August 13th,” said Chris Routledge from COYS. “It really is a fantastic sculpture that would not be out of place in a design or motor museum or on the wall of a corporate office. We believe that it will sell for between £30,000 and £50,000." The Formula 1 car was dismantled by McLaren and given to artist Jay Burridge who turned it into the gigantic “Airfix kit” in 1992.

I think Mark Taylor sums up the Collectors Edition side of things very well. Collectors Versions, commercial failures, and outdated (now nostalgic) kits, all share a rarity that broadens the market for them far beyond the world of model builders. The model companies realize this and builders benefit from the availability of these kits on the open market. I'll throw in my two bits from the point of view of a non-collector buyer. I bought the AMT Double Dragster Collectors Edition tin box because it contained quite a few significant extra parts and, very importantly, those extra parts changed the character of the kit enough to justify not waiting for the later release of the cheaper, simplified cardboard box version. Besides the tires, decals and tinted glass already mentioned, this version contains a duplicate dragster chrome tree which I viewed as a great spare parts source for future builds. As it turned out once I got the kit in my hands I was inspired to try and extract as many separate builds out of the Tin Box as I could. I'm out to 4 and I've really enjoyed the stimulation this "extended version" has provided me.

Sooooo glad to see this back! B) The wheels look outstanding. It looks like they're laced with styrene rod. Am I mistaken? BTW, the Cirello mag was based on the Harmon Collins mag, Cirello having bought the tooling from from Scheifer who had bought out H-C. Cirello's still around restoring, modifying and maintaining H-C, Scheifer and Cirello mags but unfortunately sold his tooling a few years back to another company who had neglected to get permission for the H-C and Scheifer copyrights which has left them somewhat in limbo, as far as I can tell.

Thanx again, guys! Thanx iBorg for the scoop on A/FX Resins. I suspect you may be right in that they shipped quite slowly by e-Bay standards! Sure is beautiful stuff, though... The chassis, wheels and tires, and interior are now completed. It’s a roller! A copy of the kit steering gear was made from styrene tubing. I also narrowed the rear track slightly so that the tires now just fit under the bodywork, per the rulebook back in the day (a rule, by the way, that was largely ignored by many runners). Typically, I strip most of the chrome off my builds and use metallizers instead to create a more subdued and perhaps realistic look. In this instance, however, I decided to stick with kit chrome wherever it made sense. This is primarily because of the shiny chrome on the wire wheels which give the whole build a more polished appearance than I usually go for. All that’s left is doing the ignition and fuel system, applying the decals, and doing the window glass. I haven’t decided on whether to install side and rear glass or not. On the originals it varied widely as to whether it was done or not, quite often determined by how much of the roof had been cut away. The more open space above the wheels the better the chances that the tire smoke would be blown away from the driver. Since this body is quite enclosed I may forego side glass. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Very nicely done combo. Great color to go with the whitewalls. I've recently gotten a Revell Mickey Thompson Attempt I kit for the express purpose of using the frame and inner body for a build like this.

Two thumbzup!! I really like the subdued shade of maroon and semigloss texture on the paint.

Thanx again, everybody! Here's another brief update. The engine is largely completed, lacking only final wiring and connection to the fuel system. Most of the engine is from the AMT Hemisphere/Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer kit. The engine mounting plate, 8 Stromberg 97's and log manifold are from the Double Dragster kit, with a front accessory drive taken from an AMT '40 Ford Sedan kit. Next up are the interior, steering and front suspension. Thanx for lookin' B.

Thanx again everyone. This old AMT kit has very strong "bones" and really goes a long way to creating that "vintage dragster" vibe. I've got one more build from the old AMT Collector's Edition " tin box" on the bench right now. I'll have to do a wrap-up post where I summarize what exactly are the extra parts that come in it and how they can be used to generate all those traditional builds. The AMT Double T kit is more limited, since it has only one hot rod frame and suspension set (vs. 2 1/2 in the Double Dragster set), only two bodies and only one hot rod engine, so in effect you can only build a stock roadster and a hot rod chopped coupe from the kit. I think ultimately you can get two hot rods out of it by scratching together a second frame and grabbing a different motor from the parts box. I am curious, when exactly was the AMT Double Dragster kit first issued? My recollection is around 1960-1961, a period when things in drag racing world were literally changing by the month. My foggy old brain seems to tell me it was already Old School by the time it came out! Thanx Alyn, the gold stripes are Pactra trim tape.

Thanx everyone Cool! The body I got on E-Bay is of mysterious origins. Definitely not JF. It's not the Bantam that Chuck Meier at Altered States offers, it has different details. Nor is it an exact repop of either the Sizzler or the Jawbreaker. The quality is on a par with (believe it or not) Altered States or even Replicas & Miniatures of Md. Very thin, white resin, flawless outer surface and only a minimum of irregularities on the interior surfaces. Virtually no flash and where there was any it was wafer thin. I think the vendor may be a closet resin caster since, while they don't offer an official line of resin items, shortly affter I received my Bantam (and several other pieces, all equally nice), another one went up for bid. Here's a link to the item I won: http://cgi.ebay.com/...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT Yikes! A very good question., So good I just did a quick test. I hadn't planned on clearcoating so this was directly over the existing surface. With much relief I can report that the decal stock lays down just fine and adheres with no issues as long as you hit it with some setting solution! Phew!!!

Here's a small update. I designed some graphics. Here they are layed into some images via Photoshop. I won't know if they'll stand out as much in the final until I print some up and apply them. Thanx for lookin', B.

Thanx Shane! Tin Box Build No. 4 is now “The Tin Box”. I decided to go with a bare metal look so I painted the body in Testors Metalizer Magnesium finished off with a rubbing of Kosutte Gin San “magic dust” chrome powder to sharpen the metal highlights. I also did some more work on the chassis, replacing the suicide perch I’d made with a taller one to bring the nose down a bit and dial in the stance, and also fabricating a push bar. I’ve decided to go with the 8 97’s in an effort to “empty the box”. Thanx, for lookin’, B.

Thanx everyone! The engines are connected using a chain transfer case. Here's a picture I have of the setup:

Early 60's Side by Side Twin Chevy Dragster (More Pictures Below) When Round2 re-issued the classic AMT Double Dragster kit in an expanded "tin box" Collectors Edition a last year it included an extra chrome tree for the Dragster variations. It occurred to me that, combined with parts from other early 60's AMT Parts Packs, it would be possible to build 3, and perhaps even 4, cars from one "tin box". This is Tin Box Build No. 3 of what will be four cars in all. It's the twin Chevy side-by-side digger and follows a '25 T Altered based on the Competition Parts Pack '25 T transkit on the Fiat Altered frame, and a variation on the kit Fiat Altered using a custom frame and the kit Chrysler Hemi. On my workbench right now is a single engined Competition Coupe based on the kit single-engined dragster chassis and a resin '32 Bantam body (see http://www.modelcars...03 ). This build documents the period of 1959 to 1961 when twin engined dragsters ruled the roost. It's largely out-of-the-box with the exception of the following changes: Top mounted GMC 6-71 blowers and two-port Hilborn injectors from an AMT '53 Studebaker kit with scratch built manifold. Resin "mail box" scoops and detailed Hilborn injector pumps from Altered States. Blower chain drives from Competition Resins. Front wheels: 1976 MPC Early Altered Class front wheels with Modelhaus T-100B tires. Seat from my parts box. Paint: Body - Tamiya TS-19 Mica Blue with Pactra gold accent tape. Chassis - Tamiya TS-12 Bright Orange. The WIP for this project can be found here: http://www.modelcars...10 Thanx for lookin', B.

This is the fourth and final build extracted from a single AMT Double Dragster Kit "Tin Box" Special Edition. This kit contains an extra dragster chrome tree which gives you much of an additional dragster. The kit also comes with two sets of dragster frame side rails, a twin side-by-side engine set, and a set for a single or in-line twin setup. This got me thinking that it should be possible to build at least three, and perhaps four cars from one tin box if you were willing to raid your parts box and do some scratch building. So far I've completed 2.95 cars: Tin Box Build No. 1 - A '25 T Altered using the Fiat Altered frame from the kit, along with an AMT Competition Parts Pack '25 T Altered kit and a blown Pontiac from the same Competition parts Tin Box Build No. 2 - A Fiat Altered using the Double Dragster Fiat body, the blown Hemi from the Double Dragster kit, and a scratch built frame. Tin Box Build No. 2.95 - A side-by side twin Chevy rail with top mounted blowers. This last is 95% done because I managed to lose one of the rear wheels and I'm waiting to receive a replacement thanks to the generosity of a fellow member on the TRaK board who popped one in the mail to me last week. In the meantime I've started work on "Tin Box Build No. 4". It's a competition coupe based on the two single engine side rails from the Double Dragster kit and a resin '32 Bantam coupe body shell I recently found on e-Bay. Needless to say the old tin box is getting pretty empty at this stage so the hemi comes from an AMT Hemisphere kit. I haven't decided if I'll keep it blown or go real early era and use the eight '97's I still have from the Double Dragster kit. Beside the frame rails (and perhaps the carburetion), the Double Dragster kit will provide the slicks, front suspension and the seat. It could have supplied the quick change rear axle, too, but I decided to save that for a future build and substituted a rear end from a Revell Deuce kit which I had snapped a couple of years ago. I cut it down and added new axle ends. All the chassis cross members and the x-brace for the roll cage are scratch built from styrene rod and tubing, as is the suicide perch at the front. I have removed the body mount stubs from the frame rails and may still remove the mounting stubs for the Moon tank at the front. The front wheels and tires are from a Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit. The rear wheels are dummies for the moment. I'll have to scratch much of the steering gear and raid my parts box for some interior details, but otherwise this build is coming together surprisingly quickly. It's also striking how the "bones" of this old AMT kit shine through all these different cars, all of which are decidedly Old School from the era when the kit was first released, which is to say circa 1960. Thanx for lookin', B.

Thanx for all the kind words. Much appreciated as always! Definitely not a "contest build" but it's actually quite authentic in its funky way. My earliest dragstrip memories are of cars just like this: rough on the outside, with crude interiors but with strong, built motors that kept them running all day long. I just couldn't get myself to polish the paint 'cause it just wouldn't have looked right. One thing, 'though. That JF body really didn't want to go on those fenders. It took some judicious last minute grinding to get 'er done... As it is, the running boards are half hidden under all that thick resin.

This classic always looks so cool. I like the alternate color and the slick execution! Nice one!

Thanx for extra pics. The more the better! I really dig the little trailer, it's just right for the Bad Banana!

Cool!!!

Excellent!!! Really, really nicely done with lots of pleasing detail work. Is there a W.I.P. somewhere where we can enjoy more of this fine model? BTW, the tanker shell looks like it might be from Early Years Resin ( http://earlyyearsresin.webs.com/lsrparts.htm ).

OK, it's done! But not before some heavy duity last minute thrashing including trimming the upper edge of the interior and some detail trimming of the JF nody to make it sit properly on the fenders. This body wasn't designed to be mounted on fenders. Here's why: Not only is the body rough, thick, and assymetric, but its more the .10" wider on the inside than the AMT shell. I'm sure it's meant be be a fenderless jalopy sort of deal. Anyway, the "beauty shots" are over on Under Glass here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46066 Thanx to all for the kind words and interest, B.

Mid 50's Era '36 Ford Sedan Altered More pictures below This is my take on a mid-50's style altered. Cars of this period typically started as street machines and gradually got gutted, eventually to the point where they were pure race cars with set-back engines, no cooling system or lights, stripped down interiors, etc. This build was based on a very rough Jimmy Flinstone resin body, his '36 Ford "Rat Rod" sedan. It really wasn't designed to be mounted on the AMT '36 Ford fenders even though the body was based on the AMT kit. But I did it anyway. The body has a pie-cut section taken out of it so I had to remove material from the grill shell to line up the hood. Thanx for lookin', B. Most of the car is an AMT '36 Ford convertible with the exceptions listed below: Main Body: Jimmy Flinstone Chopped '36 Ford "Rat Rod" Sedan" Engine: Hilborn Injected Oldsmobile from AMT '40 Ford Sedan kit. Interior: Modifed AMT '40 Ford with scratch built dashboard and interior panels. Bucket seat from ThePartsBox.com Tires: Fronts - Modelhaus T-100 B. Rears – Modelhaus T-130 B slicks Paint: Duplicolor Super Red II. Wheels and Interior: Duplicolor Crème.

Just a small update as I finish this one up. This has a been a relaxed, fun project – more about the overall look than about the details. In fact, I had planned on making this a curbside but landed up constructing an interior after all. The interior is now completed. The motor is also done, plumbed and wired with a set of block hugger headers made from solder wire. And lastly, a push-bar has been fabricated from styrene. It will be finished out in chassis color. I hope to post the completed build in the next day or so. Thanx for lookin’, B.