1/24 Funny Car kit, recommendation

[fiatboy]

Really all I need is a chassis with nicely detailed front-suspension.  And the longer the wheelbase the better.  The recommendation part: If I have to buy a new kit, what would be a less-expensive kit but with good detail.  I intend to build a salt-flat racer with front suspension and (maybe) a 'solid rear suspension'.  Thanks

[Adhsdad]

Jeff,

Really, the only game in town is Revell's current funny car kit which you can pick up on Ebay for a decent price. Good luck on your project.

Ep

 

[Force]

A modern style 125 inch wheelbase Funny Car as the current Revell kits are doesn't have any suspension at all, the front axle arms are mounted on the frame rigid and does not move and the flex in the chassis is the only "suspension" they have, before the 80's they used coil over or torsion bar front suspensions on Funny Cars.
So if you want a Funny Car front suspension you need to find a 70's Revell or AMT/MPC Funny Car kit.

[Chris in Berwyn]

Plus the Revell chassis is 1/25 scale.  If you want 1/24 the Cop Out or McEwen Chevy may be the only choices.  

[magicmustang]

All the 90's issues of Revell funny cars share the same chassis. They were fairly well detailed and are definitely 1/24 scale. They are easily found on Ebay for sometimes okay pricing.

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by magicmustang

[Force]

As I said, the mid 80's and 90's Funny Car chassis wich we can call current are rigid and has no suspension, both the front and rear axles are solid mounted with no movement in them, if you want a funny car with a front suspension you have to look for an earlier funny car chassis from the 70's, Revell, Monogram, AMT, MPC and Jo-Han did Funny Cars with front suspension, the only ones of them in 1:24 are the Monogram 71 Barracuda, 71 Duster and a 57 Chevy.

When the wheelbase grew longer they did not need any movable suspension, a modern Funny Car has a 125 inch wheelbase (the current Revell kits are of that type) and they are rigid, and as I said in my earlier post the only suspension they have is the flex in the chassis.

[fiatboy]

Thank you so much!

[Chris in Berwyn]

I can't believe I never realized the "recent" Revell FCs are 1/24!  I have one I haven't built.  No wonder the body is so big!!

[Force]

The "recent" Revell Funny Car kits started out as Monogram kits in 1985 with #2711 Don "Snake" Prudhomme's Pepsi/Wendy's Pontiac Trans Am FC, #2712 Dale Pulde's Miller High Life Pontiac Trans Am FC and #2710 Billy Meyer's 7-Eleven Ford Mustang FC, and they are 1:24th scale.
Next in line was #2726 Kenny Bernstein's Budweiser King Ford Tempo in 1986.
After that they moved the Funny Car series over to Revell and the kits evolved and changed to John Force's Castrol GTX Oldsmobile Cutlass in 1989 and they did several more Olds FC's that year...and the Tom "Mongoo$e" McEwen 57 Chevy FC, next evolution was with a Dodge Avenger body in 1995 and finally they did Pontiac Firebird bodys in 1997.
The chassis didn't change much and was pretty much the same the whole time with a few small changes, same with the engine, only small changes through the years.

The recent Pro Stock went the same way, first Monogram in 1984-5-6 with Bob Glidden's Chief Autoparts/7-Eleven Ford Thunderbird and Reher-Morrison Chevy Camaro and a few more, after that the Pro Stock kits went over to Revell and they did Bob Glidden's Motorcraft Thunderbird in 1987 based on the 1984 Thunderbird tool with a new body, 1991 they changed the Chevy Camaro to Pontiac Firebird, the last evolution of this tool was a newer Firebird in 1999, all are 1:24th scale.
Before that in 1997 Revell did Oldsmobile Cutlass Pro Stock kits but it was 1:25th scale and a new tool.

The recent Top Fuel kits wich started with Don Garlits Swamp Rat XXX Dragster 1987, as nobody followed Garlits with that type of streamliners they had to do a new tool in 1991 for Joe Amato's Valvoline Dragster and a few more after that, they have allways been Revell and has been marked as 1:25th scale from the beginning, the final evolution of that tool was Kenny Bernstein's Bud King and Tony Schumacher's Army Dragsters released in 2002.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Force