Ace-Garageguy Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 (edited) I first mocked up this little rail job back in 2010, and that's about as far as she went. I've dragged her back out in an attempt to actually finish something, by trying a relatively straightforward project that won't take a whole hell of a lot of scale-engineering, fabrication and bodywork, has a small area to paint, and only needs the most basic engine plumbing and wiring to look right. I'm stretching the wheelbase a little from this shot, and going with a chain-driven (not the chain-drive shown) 4-71 blown Pontiac with Scintilla Vertex magneto ignition, two-throat Hilborn injection, an in-out box, quick-change rear end and narrower whitewall piecrust slicks. Steel wheels in front on a model-A Ford front axle will be paired with early Palamides (later known as American Racing) alloy wheels in back, and finned Buick rear brakes (Ford backing plates). The frame is a slightly modified vintage Revell parts-pack unit and the body shell is a from a vintage Monogram kit. Engine / gearbox is AMT parts-pack based, with some Revell bits. Quick-change is a Cyclone unit, from the old Micky Thompson Challenger I, with Revell '31 Ford axle tubes. Rear brakes will be from the current Revell '29 Ford kit. PS. The '57 gasser is patiently waiting for me to learn to do BMF. Edited February 28, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy 1
Davewilly Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 All sounds pretty cool...The Ford looks pretty nice as well.
cobraman Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Bill, I would love to see that Ford finished.
JTalmage Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 BMF on that Ford wouldn't be too bad. Jump right in. You won't regret it. Love the digger too btw.
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 15, 2016 Author Posted February 15, 2016 Thanks for the interest and the encouragement on getting into BMF particularly. Everything I do seems to get more complicated than I initially imagine it will be, but I eventually work through it. I want to shoot the '57 gasser in various colors and some primer panels to represent a car that's been built from junkyard bits. So I bought an airbrush to be able to lay the primer out nicer than I can do consistently with rattlecans...because I want nice smooth primer to BMF over. So, soon as I'm up to speed on the airbrush, decanting primer, etc... The little dragster was supposed to be a quick build, but I started researching period engine mounts, firewall regs, period Pontiac heads (the AMT heads have some wrong-looking things about them that were really jumping out at me), the way the QC interferes with the seat (which it does in many of the real old slingshot cars too), steering linkage, and on and on and on. Just about got it figured, so I'm back to building. Pix soon.
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 29, 2016 Author Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) Did some additional mockup work with the Pontiac engine, all the actual parts that will be used for the model. Lengthened the wheelbase slightly too. First thing was to make a 2-part firewall that would slide over the frame rails. It's not yet quite perfect, but it will be. Then I built a setup that allows the upper and lower sections of the body to snap together, with a nice tight line between the parts. I replaced the existing rear axle mounting plates with new ones fabbed from .020" stock, made front engine mounts that would pick up the block mounts close to the pan rails rather than using a front engine plate, and added a few necessary crossmembers. With the rear axle in place, I was able to mock up the engine, with a dummy centerline glued to the block and running through the trans. The pinion angle is now right, so I could build a rear engine-plate. No universal joints on this setup, everything solidly mounted...so getting the angles right here matters. Also visible is the new push-bar structure. Edited February 29, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy 1
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 3, 2016 Author Posted March 3, 2016 Thanks for the interest and comments. With the rear end in the final position, I was able to modify a seat to clear the rear of the QC. My research confirmed more than a few front-engined slingshot dragsters were set up exactly like this. Kinda thrilling if the rear end blows up, and scatter-shields were common. Having the seat in position also let me mock up the steering linkage in the right place, and make up a steering shaft support / instrument panel. Put a couple light coats of SEM self-etching primer on everything. The old Revell and Monogram plastics in the vintage kits I'm using here are more solvent-resistant than a lot of newer styrene formulations, and the self-etch works well, slicks out nice, and bites without having to scuff a somewhat fragile frame like this. Just as an FYI, I reinforce all the 'welds' on the chassis with fillets made of the toughened Loctite brand gel superglue. Works very well, makes realistic looking tube joints, and makes the entire structure a lot stronger than simple liquid-glue joints. Put everything together in the tail, just to get an idea of the thing in all one color. The slicks are '60s vintage AMT no-name narrow piectusts. 1
bobthehobbyguy Posted March 3, 2016 Posted March 3, 2016 Looking good. Love the old style dragsters. As a driver you better hope that rear end stays together. Otherwise could be painful.
wayne swayze Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 Hey Bill. Not knowing too much about dragsters, what class would this run in ? BTW, it's looking pretty cool!
JTalmage Posted March 4, 2016 Posted March 4, 2016 Every time I see one of those double dragster kits or tony nancy kits at the hobby shop I almost grab one for this very reason... but then I realize it will take me forever to get to it and leave it on the shelf. Looking good!
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 5, 2016 Author Posted March 5, 2016 (edited) Thanks again for the interest. The frame for this thing is one of these old Revell parts-pack kits from the 1960s. I bought several a few years back, before the prices started getting stupid, and I figure I bought 'em to build, so it's time to start building 'em. There were two parts-pack dragster frames. The other one is based on a popular Dragmaster design, similar to what forms the basis for the famous Mooneyes car. I'm not using the kit-supplied body panels, 'cause I wanted a different look...something a little more kustom. The body is from this old monogram 49 cent kit. I got several as gluebombs. The old Monogram kit is pretty crude, but I like the lines overall, and the more elaborately styled body shell has the look i want. The body shell is the only part from the kit that will be used. Edited March 5, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy
1930fordpickup Posted March 5, 2016 Posted March 5, 2016 Nice way to use the full resources of plastic world to make a great looking model.
Ace-Garageguy Posted April 9, 2016 Author Posted April 9, 2016 Made up some spindles from channel and drilled the axle ends to accept .015 kingpins. Then made a Q&D jig to mount the stub-axles and get the camber equal... Cut down a pair of radius rods from the Revell '29 kit to give me the caster I wanted and fit the pins on the chassis, and modified some parts-box wheels to get 'em narrow, plus some blank backing plates. Steering. I like the look of the old cars with their very noticeable caster, and I think it's important to get the feel of the real ones. Also modified the chosen rear wheels and backs to get them to fit the kinda narrow slicks. 1
Crazy Ed Posted April 9, 2016 Posted April 9, 2016 Comin' along nicely there Bill. I'm guessing it'll get done this time around!
afx Posted April 9, 2016 Posted April 9, 2016 Your are really capturing the feel of these early rails - great work.
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