Schnappy Hemi

[The Creative Explorer]

At the moment, I am finishing a lot of older projects, cleaning out my closet so to speak. Even though I am finishing those, I did wanted to start a new build too. A somewhat simple build, good for practising my airbrush skills.

When I held the two body parts together, it dawned on me; it's not a hippe, it looks like a gator! So this is going to be a first for me. Where I am ok with abstract and materialistic airbrushing, I am horrible with living things. I just can not get that done properly.
But, if one doesn't practise, it will not succeed. The plans are made and the goal is set: Create a gator paintjob on the rail-dragster and make it look ok.

 

The alignment of the two halves is off and some carefull sanding is necessary. Because the two body halves can not be cemented together before paint, it is key to get it as straight and fitting as possible, before painting and assembly later.

 

 

 

 

 

When sanding on a part, leave all the tapes in place, except for the part you're working on. It makes the body halves shift as little as possible.

 

And finally some putty on the rear quarter panels

[Davewilly]

This will be neat to watch...

[The Creative Explorer]

I hope so, my experience to dragsters is, apart from some cars with slicks, none. Therefore I need to learn a lot. And since it will have an exposed engine, I will try to detail it somewhat extra.

First, we have to do the paintjob and I found it difficult, not completely happy with it, but when I asked my boys of 2 and 5, indepently they said it was a croccodile, so I did something right haha.

 

 

 

 

[Dragline]

Very clever and executed particularly well. I'm digging this a LOT.

[The Creative Explorer]

Thank you Bob! @Dragline

 

Well, Today I worked some more on the Schnappy, the body was clearcoated and looked ok. I painted the inside of the tubs red, almost starts to look like a watermelon instead of croc, and painted the inside of the wheels red.

 

 

After painting the parts, I started assembling the (poorly molded and executed) engine, ofcourse it was hemi orange with black valvecovers, just looks so much better than those chrome covers.

 

The kit had a clear oil-pan and I thought that gimmick was cute, so I left it. The crankshaft is somewhat funny, looking closely, it looks like a crankshaft for a 4-banger, not a V8. But nobody will ever notice.

 

The blower was added

 

And I did a dry-fit to see how things will go.

 

It is time for detailing, first I made small pieces out of insulation wiring,

 

Put small wire through them

 

And we have ignition cables. I thought of a new way to make consistent small pieces and it shows, all the black little pieces look similar and gives a more even look

 

Hooked it up to the distributor and presto: an wired engine, but that's only the beginning.

[Davewilly]

Looks pretty good...and the paint job is looking really fine!  Some nice work there!

[426-Hemi]

NICE work! The 392 Hemi looks good too! Those valve covers however are a bit different but thats not a bad thing! 

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks guys! Appreciated!

@426-Hemi; how are they different? I am familiar with the 426 and 392, but not with dragster engines, I noticed the covers were different than the 426 ones, but thought they were what came in the kit and I haven't thought about it being either wrong or misplaced. Maybe you can shed some light on the subject? I am genuinly interested.

[James2]

Interesting 

[cobraman]

Wild project ! i really like it.

[Truck parts]

Cool looking build love the paint job

[Chuck Most]

It does kind of have a "gator face" look to it... pretty obvious once someone points it out.  

[MeatMan]

Interesting kit! Great engine detailing.

May I ask Erik where you got the bulk wire (hopefully not locally I hope, my plane is grounded :-), and what size it is? I've seen a lot of wire used that is too fat for me. That looks just right.

[6bblbird]

Thanks guys! Appreciated!

@426-Hemi; how are they different? I am familiar with the 426 and 392, but not with dragster engines, I noticed the covers were different than the 426 ones, but thought they were what came in the kit and I haven't thought about it being either wrong or misplaced. Maybe you can shed some light on the subject? I am genuinly interested.

I think that he meant the color being "different" as most builders tend to leave them chromed. You have the correct valve covers for the early Hemi that you are building. I have seen these valve covers painted every color of the rainbow. Yours look real good.

One tip. If you look at photos of hemi engines, you will notice that the spark plug boots almost never extend very much above the top of the spark plug tube.

If you trim your boots even with the top of the cover, they would look more realistic, although with the black covers they might not be noticed.

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks guys!

@MeatMan; very simple; I got it at Radioshack. For you it's local and for me it isn't quite that local. But that wire has the perfect diameter for ignitionwiring. it is 30-gauge or 0,5mm. It comes in red, white and blue.

@6bblbird; ok, that would make more sense. Maybe I am weird, but I love the look of Hemi's with a satin-black cover a lot better than chrome.
And you're totally right with the boots, I kinda knew, but I decided to do it anyway. <--- why? I am not sure. I shouldn't have.

This is a modelkit with low partscount, just slapping the thing together would be too easy and too quick, so I decided to give it more detail.
I added the throttlelinkage to the blower and added the fuellines to the fueltank.

 

 

Because a single fuelline would be unlogical for a dragster, I added 4 more fuellines to the collector and hooked it up to the fuelpump in the front.

 

 

 

 

 

Added some seatbelts

 

And started assembling the askewed frontend. Which is horrbile.

 

I drilled a few holes in the body and used some wire to hold the frame in the right position and cut the steering linkage in halve, making it possible to get the wheels straight.

[MeatMan]

Nice plumbing work Erik..and thanks for the lead on the wire! No pun intended.

[The Creative Explorer]

Haha, you're welcome. I'll see if I can find the article numbers for you.

[6bblbird]

Really looks like a fun project! Love the use of color, strange color combos but it somehow works on this car.

P.S. Regarding the shoulder belts. Think of what would happen if the car flipped on to it's cage! 

[The Creative Explorer]

You don't want to. Normally, these kind of dragsters have some sort of overhead protection, this one too. But they are omitted for the bodypanels. There was also a pushbar that went up, but had to be trimmed. Makes it a dragster you don't want to crash.

[6bblbird]

Isn't there another hoop that is still to be installed? That would offer protection to the belts. Being an NHRA tech inspector, I get anal about safety equipment, even in scale!

WF

[The Creative Explorer]

There is a hoop and a higher up pushbar in the kit, but they are not used, due to the bodywork and the canopy. I'll make a picture of the instructions.

But don't worry about those seatbelts; they are well protected in case of a roll-over by the helmet and head of the driver..... ;-)

 

[Belugawrx]

Great paint Erik! 

Where did you find the blower belt material ?

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks Bruce,

The belt came with the kit actually, i think it is just a tad too thick, but other than that; it does look better than a molded-in one.

Great paint Erik! 

Where did you find the blower belt material ?