jlucky

In the quest to enhance my “History of Dragsters” model collection and build known cars, here comes Tom McEwen’s “Tirend” sponsored AA/Fuel Dragster, one of the first dragsters to promote a non-automotive sponsor. McEwen was a great salesman and his efforts would eventually lead to the Hot Wheels sponsorship coming in to the sport and changing the whole dynamics of drag racing sponsorship. But that’s a story for another time. With the release of MPC’s Tom McEwen dragster (in tandem with the Don Prudhomme dragster of a couple years later) I thought it was perfect timing. Well, what seemed like an easy build turned into something a lot more complicated. You might think it was easy just take the released kit and build it up…but…oh…no. It wasn’t quite that simple. You see there were a number of things not quite historically accurate about the released kit. What I chose to do was take the front nose-piece and front wheel assembly of the Atlantis Don’ Prudhomme Hot Wheels kit and join it to an Altered States (RIP) resin cast short body. I also needed to shorten up the nose-piece to achieve the proper wheelbase of approximately 185 inches. Then I had to replace the reissued kits 426 Hemi with a proper 392 which came from a Wild Willie Borsch Altered sitting in the spare parts box along with resin cast headers. Then it was simply a matter of adding a 3D printed distributor to the kit’s magneto base, adding the appropriate wiring, Pro-Tech fuel lines, Detail Master fittings and 11.75 M&H AMT slicks and voila!

Hey everyone...thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I agree with the post regarding Revell should have updated the Top Fuel and Funny Car kits. That would have been great to see and would have been relatively accurate to this day. Thanks again.

While work continues on Dragster #43 in my Top Fuel History collection, yet to be revealed...I thought I'd share this build of Eddie Hill's fueler from 1993. This is probably my most detailed dragster having won a couple IPMS show ribbons. I built this one BEFORE Revell came out with the kits with air deflectors, so I had to create those from a template. Cheers

Very nice work! Always great to see a fellow dragster builder. Love the dragster comparison.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so I thought I’d share yet another dragster from the collection. This is the front engine dragster that John Wiebe drove in 1970, or at least the one he ran into the guard-rails at the 1970 Winternationals. I had the opportunity to see this car recreated at the 6th annual Nitro Revival at Irwindale Raceway a couple years back. The basic kit comes from the MPC Young American with very little modifications to the car itself other than some cutting/shaving and sanding to get the body panels to all fit nicely together. Decals are from Slixx and I added the usual fuel and ignition lines to give it some sense of scale and detail. This included some Detail Master Aluminum fittings and braided line and a Pro-Tech barrel valve and some other minor details. Point of interest: While talking to one of the crew members at the Nitro Revival he pointed out that when it came to recreating the paint job for the very faint signs of the Zodiac that appear along the top of the car’s nose piece, the painter struggled to duplicate the original. Then he learned that the original paint was a clear gloss mixed with crushed seashells to create a translucent pearl effect. These days most take the easy way out and wrap the car in plastic.

Always love seeing your "cover cars" - brilliant. They really take me back...I had many of those covers. Great to see your dedication to a theme. Love it. By the way which body did you use for the Dyno Don car?

In my ongoing quest to create a dragster collection based on real cars, let me introduce to you my latest effort that in some ways is a “snake shedding its skin.” Checkout the before-and-after photos. My goal was to reuse the existing built dragster kit, which was the first Garlits’ rear-engine car to replicate Don Prudhomme’s first rear engine car when he still had the Hot Wheels sponsorship. I realized I could probably pry the body panels off the old car, soak them in Purple Super Clean to remove the red and gold paint with the end goal being to repaint them yellow. After an overnight soak the paint came off really easily, but I then realized that the styrene was blue and would need some serious primer coats. In the end the primer paint did it’s job and proceeded to apply two coats of Tamiya Camel Yellow and covered that with Tamiya Pearl yellow and viola. I purchased the Atlantis Prudhomme white front engine kit for the decals as many of them made the transition to the yellow car. For the most part they are the decals on the side of the dragster. I then made up the Coke logo and the blue stripe with the stars in my computer and printed it on decal film. I forgot the decal film was clear…so I had to lay white decal film underneath so the white came through the clear areas. Turned out not bad, if I do say so myself. As they say…close enough for rock-n-roll!

Greetings! Here's a good question. I'd like to build a fairly accurate Ed Schartman Mercury Comet 1966/67 funny car...the Yellow RSE car to be exact. I have the Logghe chassis from the Cougar reissues but the body in the AMT Dyno Don Eliminator II has incorrect wheel positions. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me the rear wheel position is moved to far forward to be accurate. So which would be the best kit to provide a more accurate donor body that would fit the wheelbase of the Cougar donor chassis? I await your learned suggestions.

Nice one! I love the subject matter. It's a really unique build of a car that you don't see very often. When Funny Cars looked like real cars. I also love the fact that you plundered so many kits to bring it all together. When do we get to see a group shot of your whole collection?

As always thanks guys...more to come.

This fueler was called one of the “top 10 nicest dragsters ever built” when it hit the scene in 1964. It is commonly referred to as “The Red Stamp Car” because of the painted detail on the cowl. I wasn’t actually planning on completing this build, but one thing led to another, and I found myself working it to completion. This model is my take on that iconic car, and it involved no end of problem solving. I purchased the resin cast body and decals from Fremont Racing Specialties, a fine supplier of unique and obscure drag racing models parts. The body is a close approximation to the original 130” wheelbase original but the cowl needed significant reshaping work. In trying to reshape the cowl, I was never able to get it to fit to my satisfaction, so I reshaped a totally new one out of aluminum sheet. Additionally, the axle mounting points had to be played with to get the car’s look in keeping with the low stance of the original. The 392 Chrysler came from an old Garlits’ Wynns Jammer kit and the Hilborn scoop from Competition Resins. Throw in a few other parts, pieces, wheels and tires from the spare parts box and we’re set. Headers posed a bit of a challenge, so I reworked some older funny car pipes to make a close approximation. I used a combination of paint and the Fremont decals to get the look I wanted. Extra details include fuel lines and ignition wiring along with throttle cable. FYI, this car along with a few others are featured prominently in the ‘60’s era film Bikini Beach. Well worth a watch just to see it in action. This build is dragster #11 of 42 cars in the ever-expanding dragster collection. That top row is getting pretty crowded!

Hey thanks for the great info guys. I guess my first mistake was using hand-soap rather than dish detergent...even though I washed it thoroughly...it still clearly left some contaminant there. Here's the BIG follow-up question...Can I fix this with spot paint...or will I have to strip all the paint off and start again?

Greetings, Looking for any advice or suggestions regarding the paint issues on this build. I've never experienced this before. The body is a resin cast from Competition Resins and I've worked with much of their product in the past with great results. I washed the body with soap, let dry over 48 hours. Then put two coats of Tamiya primer...let sit overnight and then applied 2 coats of Tamiya White...let sit overnight...then today applied 2 coats of Tamiya Mica Blue and it produced this result! In addition in a couple spots when I slowly removed the Tamiya masking tape, some of the white lifted off! Again, that's never happened before. What did I do wrong? The room was cool...was it too cool? Did not do a good job washing? Any help would be appreciated. Jerry

Here is dragster #19 of 41 in my History of Dragsters Collection. Back in 1963 one of the hottest dragster teams running out of California was known as The Frantic Four. The team consisted of Norm Weekly, Jim Fox, Ron Rivero and Dennis Holding. They successfully tore up the drag strip for a lengthy period. In 1966 the team split up with Rivero and Fox continuing to race a dragster with K & G Speed Associates sponsorship. This formation continued until 1970 when they retired from racing. This model represents the AA/FDragster they raced from 1969. The 187” wheelbase chassis and body come from the Tommy Ivo kit, while the M&H Racemaster tires come from the AMT parts pack. The 392 Resin valve covers are from Competition Resins and the blower scoop is home-made along with a few other smaller items like the front wing I scavenged from the parts box. Decals of course are from Slixx and included a set for the similarly coloured funny car they ran at the same time (which I also built for funny car history collection). Wiring and plumbing all from Detail Master parts and pieces. A welcome addition to my dragster history.

As always thanks guys for your kind and generous observations. It's one of the things that inspires me to continue building.