W-409

I don't think that the cost is a problem, either. A regular good kit (Not a Snap Kit) costs about $30 (Here in Finland) and to get started with the hobby you don't need all of the tools that many of us do. I'd say a bunch of paints and brushes, sandpaper, a file, hobby knive, tweezers and a spray paint for the body and that kind of "basic equipment" is all you need for the first builds. Just to get started. Overall, those won't cost that much, at least if compared to what a game console and a game for it would cost. I think those are very expensive. I've never bought a single game console or a game, probably because I play them very, very rarely and that way I think I prefer buying a model kit that I can turn out into something I'd like to see in 1:1 scale. (Anyway I do have a game console and a few games, I've got them as Christmas presents). It's true that some of the kits have lots of flash and other stuff to be cleaned up. That's not a good thing for a first time modeler that might not exactly know how these should be built. Of course if his/her parents have been building models when they were younger, then I see this is not a problem as the parents can tell the kid that he/she should get rid of that junk. But I wouldn't say that Japanese kit manufacturers are better than Americans. It depends on what things people appreciate, personally for me I think it's interesting that the kit has a good body, engine and interior and separate axles etc on the chassis. On Japanese kits, the body is usually really good, but there might be no engine and no chassis detail. Sometimes even the interior is simplified, but most times that is okay. It's true that many people nowadays are interested in those Super Cars. I don't know if there are kits of them, but I think someone should make them to get more people interested in this hobby. I know more folks that are interested in American Cars, though, but luckily there are many kits of them available! The idea of making a model of a car that exists in some video games is a really good idea in my opinion. Probably the video game people would buy them and get interested in this great hobby.

I found a set of valve covers from my parts box. I don't know where they are from, but I had to remove the chrome plating, because I think chrome valve covers won't look realistic in the engine bay. Then I painted them with Chrome Silver and I think they look like aluminum right now. I also scratchbuilt the Fenderwell Headers. Header flanges are scratchbuilt from sheet styrene and the headers are made out of Evergreen's .080" plastic tubing. Those headers were actually quite easy to do and I think building the headers from plastic is a lot of fun. First I did the pipes for cylinders 7 and 8, then 5 and six and so on. It's just important to heat the plastic as little as possible, but yet enough so that it will bend. I used a candle and it worked perfectly. Now I have to do the collectors for them, I'll see when I have time to make them, at least tomorrow looks really busy. Looks like the pics are really bad. I had too little light so I had to use flash and now the parts look a lot worse than they really are. I will take some better shots tomorrow.

I'm now 17 and I've been building since I was six years old. I've been always interested in American Cars and my dad's Monogram '70 Chevelle SS got me inspirated to build my first model. A couple of my friends built models when we were a bit younger, but nowadays they have other interests and they're not building anymore. I've got a couple of friends who are the same age as me or a couple of years younger and they do build models all the time. It is true that young people have other interests than building models nowadays. However, I must be strange somehow. I usually don't watch TV (I watch only the Drag Race program once a week), I don't use any of those Facebook-kind of things, I write only on these forums. I play video games very rarely and so on. Though I spend lots of time in the garage building our Race Car with my dad and of course the race weekends take a lot of time from building, too. Then there is school and friends etc etc, but anyway I have time to build models, probably because I don't spend all of my time in front of the TV or in the internet. The reason I build these is that this is a good way to have replicas of cars I'd like to own in 1:1 scale as I know I can't have them all... Model building also teaches how these machines work and it's all in all a very good past time. But it's true that there are lots of model builders in Europe. Here in northern Europe where American Car Culture is popular, we build lots of model cars, pretty much the same kits than you guys do there in the USA. Of course there are many builders who build European or Japanese cars, too, but I can tell you that model building is more popular in here than some of you might think.

I'm not too crazy about the 1/20 scale, either. It means that none of the aftermarket goodies I have for 1/24 or 1/25 models won't work so I'd have to find a new source for everything, like plug wires, battery cables etc etc. And that's not good. But when looking and the pics that Chris posted, I actually got really interested, the chassis is looking actually pretty good and what I can see of the interior, it's not too bad either. Maybe I might pick one of these when they hit the stores, it looks like it's much more authentic than the Jo-Han 1/25 scale kit.

Thanks so much everone ! I appreciate the kind words. Mitch: Thanks for the offer on a Top Fuel Hemi! Unfortunately it would have been a bit too modern for this car, but I have a couple of other builds where I'm installing one of those Top Fuel Hemis. Those engines are true monsters. Some of those aluminum fittings are really pricey. That is the reason why I decided to try creating my own. The end result isn't probably as good as it would be with those metal parts, but it's better than nothing anyway. I've been painting these with the Tamiya clear colors, too, and they work great but on this build those would have been too modern so I decided to paint the fittings with Revell's gold. I remember seeing those on some old pics. The hex tubing is made by Plastruct, but I guess Evergreen has them as well. There are many different sizes and I'm using .060" for the fittings and for the bolts I've used .030" size tubing. Actually those fittings and bolts are really easy to make. For the fittings, I drill a hole for the tubing with 1 millimeter drill bit before cutting the fitting separate from the rest of the tubing. That size hole is perfect for the braided lines I'm using. Thanks for the tip with the roll cages, too. That really helps and I will have to try that in the future as I have many projects that are in need of a proper roll cage, but I haven't figured out yet how can I make one easily. That method sounds good so I'll definitely give it a try. Next time I will try not to red light. Michael: Yep that car launches pretty nicely even if it's really heavy. 5:38 Final gear ratio helped a lot (it had 5:13 before) and the engine is really good. It's built by the fellow who sold us the car and he is a real wizard with these Stock Eliminator engines. I agree, 12.20 is really good ET for that one. We need a new torque converter for the next season with some more stallspeed. That way we can raise the lauch RPM a little and get a better ET. It's true that a 13 second car is a really fast one, especially on the streets. Of course nowadays it's possible to see for example nine second street cars on Cruisings here in Finland too, but in the old days I believe that there weren't many 13 second street cars? Yep, the bolts are worth trying, I think it's a neat little detail. John: These old kits are a lot of fun to build, even if they might need some work (or a lot of work). The styrene tubing is made by Plastruct and it is a great stuff. That is a good idea of combining it with a wire and styrene to make it as a complete bolt & nut. I will have to try that! Clay: I can't wait to see it finished, too. When I get this one done, I'll post a picture of this next to the one I built from this same kit years ago. I hope this one will turn a lot better than my old one did. Again, a Big Thank You for you guys! These comments keep me motivated with this build. I've been building header flanges for the engine and hopefully today I can start scratchbuilding the headers, because I didn't find a set that would fit with the Big Block Chevy. I hope the headers will turn out okay....Stay tuned.

Just a minor update on this project. I scratchbuilt a Holley fuel pump from sheet styrene and styrene tubing. The mount is made of beer can aluminum. The pump is actually very simple, but on a finished model, I guess it is a neat little detail that can't be seen too well. The fuel line is made out of Pro Tech's Braided Line (The best there is!) and my plan was that it goes inside the frame. The connectors are made of hex styrene tubing. Here is a picture of the kit's rear axle. As you can see the driveshaft is molded as one piece with the rear axle. The driveshaft has no couplers (?) and it's a bit thick, too. Well, the only solution was to cut the driveshaft away, I'll use or make another one when I get the rear axle on place and I can mock up the engine.

I must have missed it that you finished the Altered Ego! It's really fantastic work! I will have to dig out the actual build thread to see more.

Good looking Ford! Salt Flat cars are rarely seen as models, which is a shame because they are really nice. I'm glad to see this one. You did a great job with the paint and decals. I don't like the skirts that much, but I must say that they are very nicely done, too!

Thanks for sharing these pictures and a great information! I bet many guys have learned new things from this thread (Me included). Very nice work with the Impala! Only thing I was wondering is that you assembled the engine that far before painting it. When you do like that there is a danger that the paint will fill up the seams between those separate parts and then for example the heads and valve covers might look like they are one piece. Your engine doesn't have that problem, but someone else might have that problem when using that method. The reason I'm saying is that I've done the same thing and then I had to start all over again. Of course the problem was my too thick paint coat, but anyway I like to paint the parts first before gluing them together. But as I said, your engine looks fantastic just like that!

I've never done this kind of thing. If I buy a model, I will build it, I see no reason to buy something so rare that I couldn't build it. Models are meant to be built.

Ouch. Red lighting by -.001 really sucks, but of course these things happen when we are trying to get a good light. Nice job with the perfect light, it must feel good to see that on your time slip! I guess my best RT so far is something like .020, but of course I've driven only a little compared to you. I didn't even know that Junior Dragsters have Chromoly frames... But now when you said it, I believe it's quite common that these Jr. Dragsters have Chromoly frames? Those engines sure are a pieces of art. A friend just bought a Methanol burning Junior Dragster for his daughter from the USA and by watching the things he does at the pits, I've seen that the engines are nice pieces of machinery. I think dialing the car that way is a good idea, I've used it too. Much better than if your dial in is a bit too tight (For example 8.25 and you run 8.35). On my run I had 12.37 and I knew the car would go a bit faster. It went 12.330 so with a little braking I guess I would have been quite close. I believe the reason why the car creeped forward was that I pushed the Two Step switch instead of the brake pedal. The switch is on the top of the brake pedal so I guess that might be the reason. When I concentrated on pushing the pedal more, I had no problems so I guess that was the reason. Now I just have to remember that in the next race. New tires are now ordered, now let's see how Mickey Thompsons work for me. Oh, and thanks for subscribing!

Thanks Guys! I appreciate the kind words! Jason: Yep it doesn't feel good to take a red light and I would have liked to have a tight race so that the winner would be found on the finishing line. I bet that kind of a very little red light feels even worse, as it was really close to perfect light. I knew I had to take a good light or I would lose. Anyway I'm really happy I saw my red light immediately when the car launched, so I could run full throttle to the finishing line. I ran 12.330 on 12.37 dial in and as my plan was to hit the brakes before the finishing line, I guess my dial in was pretty much correct. And that's what I'm really happy about. Here are my runs from the Nitro Nationals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3hmiPJynqs And here is the Stock & Super Stock Final Round. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOLwgKWg8wE

It has been a loooong time since I've made any progress with my Dodge Charger Daytona. Anyway to keep up with you guys who make real nice progress I got back building the engine. And because I don't want to be the last guy crossing the finishing line, I thought that the Hemi will need a Power Adder. Luckily AMT included a Blower in the kit. I just removed the chrome plating and painted it to give it a more realistic look. This is where I am at with the engine right now. I should have the body in Primer really soon, too...

This time I'll post a legendary Show Car, a '32 Plymouth Roadster that has won the Grand National Roadster Show in 1965/1966. It is built by Art Russell and it's painted by George Barris. The car has 324 Cid Oldsmobile engine with six carburetors and LaSalle 3 Speed transmission. The car visited in American Car Show 2012 here in Finland. It was a guy from the Netherlands who owned the car and I can't remember if it was for sale, but anyway on that trip it was bought to Finland. Nowadays it's owned by a former Finnish Pro Stock racer who has won at least one Finnish Championship title in Pro Stock and maybe a Nordic Championship title as well (I can't remember for sure). The car can be seem sometimes at local Cruising Nights and it is very cool! First here is an old picture of it. And a couple of newer ones.

Thanks Guys! Yep I'm pretty sure that Testors has something that is pretty close than the one I had. Testors has lots of paints and they are great quality. The racing went well. I did a new 60FT record again and I ran a 12.2 ET which is a good number for that car. It wasn't a new record, but it was really close. On the first Elimination Round I red lighted by .052 so I lost to Arto Sulopuisto in his B/S Pontiac Firebird, but overall the weekend went so well that it didn't matter too much. Anyway just a little progress on the '55 as well. I did some sanding and smoothing to the transmission crossmember that I scratchbuilt earlier and it looked like no putty was really needed, so I painted it with Revell Gloss Black. When the paint was dry, I glued the crossmember on its place and added bolts on it. They were made from hex styrene tubing.

This is an interesting project for sure! You do great work and you build models of unique cars, which is always a good thing. This looks very promising already, I like the Cowl Induction hood a lot, it fits nicely on Malibu's body shapes. You said the body is thick... How is it otherwise? I mean are there air bubbles or other problems that need to be fixed? I'd like to buy one and build it as a Stock Eliminator Drag Car...

Interesting! I wish there would be more model kits of '30-'31 Fords, I think these are a lot nicer than '32 Fords. That resin body sounds interesting, I might have to buy one at some point. I just read the article about this car again. It's built completely in Finland, when it arrived from California the body and frame were in original shape so all of the modifications are done in Finland. It sure is a nice car.

Wow! While I spent time at Alastaro Raceway Drag Racing with the '74 Chevelle you have made lots of progress! The body looks fantastic. The paint job and color are sweet, but those windows made my jaw to hit on the floor. Nice job painting the window surrounds black, a thing I've never succeeded in. I also like the chute and the mount on it, it looks just like 1:1 scale part. That On/Off Switch is a very nice touch, too. That has never came to my mind while building a model. Now I need to make one for my Stock Eliminator Torino.

Here are a couple of my more recent builds: '71 Plymouth Barracuda Pro Stock. Built from Jo-Han Gluebomb with some extra detailing and with some scratchbuilt parts. '62 Impala S/S. Built from Revell kit with some detailing and scratchbuilt parts. This was finished earlier this year, the Barracuda was built last year...

That turned out great! I think this is one of your best builds, the paint job and decals look excellent and your detailing looks good, too. This Jo-Han kit is a lot of fun to build.

That's incredible! Fantastic work with this Edsel, paint job looks smooth and shiny and the BMF is perfect! Thanks for the tip on those little chrome textes or scripts, I'll definitely try that in the future. Oh yes and I like the colors, too. It's nice to see something else than red cars as well and I've always liked Edsels too. Congrats on a very nice build.

Ouch, it never feels good to see a Drag Car crash. Especially when the car gets a lot of damage, or even worse, the driver hurts. I've seen a couple of crashes, too and many "close calls" and it's a shame to see a nice car crashing. Here are a couple: Super Pro Street '56 Chevy crashes to the wall. On the first gear the car didn't work, then the driver changed to the 2nd gear, he lost the traction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YChAs2GHJhc Super Pro Street Chevy Cobalt crashes to the wall and rolls over. The car ran its' first six second pass earlier that weekend, and this crash happened at the final round. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB8NUQEqRnQ This is the worst one, Super Pro ET Madza Marella crashes very hard on the wall. The driver was taken to hospital, but if I remember correctly the injuries were not as bad as we thought at first. But the car destroyed completely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ70T0BMCrE All these examples (Jason's and mine) show that even if there might happen some crashes, it is rare that the driver gets injured. Keep your seat belts tight, or at least I do that every time I go on the track!

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the comments! It was a nice Qualifying day on Saturday. We were able to run five rounds, which is pretty good as there were lots of racers. My runs were very consistent and I did a new 60 FT record, too. A complete Race Report can be found Here. Anyway I haven't had time to work on this after the race. Only thing I did was painting the engine. It's painted with old Revell's #31 red, but it's a lot darker than the new bottles of the same red. I believe this is a Custom Mix by my dad when he was building in his childhood before getting back into modeling a few years ago. Someone might wonder the cylinder heads. Yep, they are a bit rough, but it will be all covered so that roughness won't matter on finished engine. The reason I'm updating now is that tomorrow I'm going again full throttle at Alastaro Raceway. It's time for the Nitro Nationals: European Championship Drag Race Event and there should be a good number of Stockers & Super Stockers too! I can't wait! Of course it's The Go Getters playing in the background. I'm living at my relatives' on these days between the races... My "Bench" here is not a Hi Tech model. Once this red is dry, I'll paint the transmission, starter, water pump etc and start assembling the powerplant together. But now I'll concentrate on hammering the throttle on 1/4 Mile... Loud Pipes & Lead Feet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYH1G0rBQI

Here is a 1970 NHRA Rulebook from Terry Sumner's Fotki album. It should give answers to your questions regarding the rules. Super Stock rules are starting on page 42-43. http://public.fotki.com/tsumner/nhra-rulebooks/1970/ Please post pictures of your project... Stockers and Super Stockers are my favorites!

Are you sure? I don't have the magazine on hand where was an article of this car, but if I remember correctly this is built in Finland. When I get back home I'll take the magazine and give it another look. Another Finnish car coming soon... First I need to decide which one!