Scale differences in three kits,Slizzer, Slingster, AMT DD

[Greg Myers]

I've given in to the fact that I'm not going to spend $200 + for a Slizzer kit. So I've resigned myself to the fact that the new release Slingster is the only game in town.

However, upon opening the kit I felt like it was a new issue Ala Kart kit all over again, everything being so miniscule.

This being based on the old Sizzler kit, yeah, I know it's pretty close to 1/20th scale, but the AMT Double Dragster kit comes into play here as well.

Has anyone done the measuring / Math ? Just what is the scale of these three kits ?

[Greg Myers]

Edited June 22, 2017 by Greg Myers

[Snake45]

I've never measured the DD but the body of the dragster has always seemed way oversized to me, though the rest of the parts (wheels, tires, engines, axles, etc.) are 1/25. The dragster frames look a bit too large in the driver area, too,

The Fiat is pretty much 1/25 but note that the whole nose is lengthened something like a foot to match one particular famous Fiat racer of the day. That one car is the only one stretched like that I've ever seen. If you want to build any Fiat altered out of that kit, you have to shorten the nose, which isn't as easy as it might sound because of the wedge shape of the hood.

[Draggon]

As for me, I think it's a case of getting used to things being a certain way when I was a youngster. Now that better things are available, they just don't look right. The best example is AMT's "sectioned" 32 Ford. The accurate Revell kit just looks wonky to me. 

The Sizzler vs. Slingster suffers from this. I've read that the frame rails are the right size in 1/25, as is the tiny body, but it just looks wrong. Even accounting for the scale difference, when I opened the box one of the first thoughts that came to mind was maybe if I sprayed about 40 coats of primer on the frame to fatten it up it would ok. 

The Double Dragster did nothing to help that opinion. Being one of the first kits I ever bought, I got used to the thick old frame. So much that the Revell parts pack dragster frames ( along with the Slingster ) look terrible to me. I haven't measured either. I was going to say we should use the Slingster as a reference point until I remembered the slicks and non-dished mags they gave us. Might work on a 60's Jr. Stocker, not on a rail. 

[Greg Myers]

Oh yeah, the slicks and wheels 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Something to remember about the frames in the AMT double-dragster kit is that the real two-engined car that one of the frames in the kit is loosely based on used rather large diameter tubing, and a fair number of rails were built with tubes much larger in diameter than used by the Dragmaster and other frames represented by the Revell parts-pack offerings.

There was a lot more variation in the way things were built in the old days of drag-racing than there is today.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[Greg Myers]

Thanks ACE, something one doesn't realize . After all these years these things fade away

[Snake45]

I've never seen an actual Sizzler kit "in the flesh," only pics on the net. My first exposure to the kit was a 1966 or '67 issue of the ancient Car Model magazine, where someone modified the Sizzler frame to make a tube funny car chassis for a '66 Skylark (which was painted sort of like the USA-1 Chevelle funny car of the day). I thought that was pretty cool.

I recently acquired a modern Slingster kit, which I'm looking forward to doing SOMETHING with someday. Thinking of un-altering the Bantam body and making a '60s-ish street rod out of it. Not sure what I'll do with the rest but the kit looks like a parts mine.

[oldcarfan]

"A fair number of rails were built with tubes much larger in diameter than used by the Dragmaster and other frames represented by the Revell parts-pack offerings.

There was a lot more variation in the way things were built in the old days of drag-racing than there is today.

I can vouch for this. My uncle was a small town race car builder in the 60s and 70s. He would build by eye from pictures and by laying down chalk lines on the concrete carport floor. He used materials he could find at the scrap yard or laying around, so tubing and flat stock tended to be larger than used by the professionals.

[Greg Myers]

We need a "Like" button.

[Eshaver]

We need a "Like" button.

GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

[Snake45]

GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Yeah, 'cause you know, it takes a whole ten seconds to post "Great post!"

[Greg Myers]

Great Post 

[Greg Myers]

GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Great Post