1/25 Dyno Don Nicholson's Mercury Cyclone Eliminator II Funny Car

[Casey]

Coming in 2019: AMT 1151 -- 1/25 Dyno Don Nicholson's Mercury Cyclone Eliminator II Funny Car

Something old or something new, regarding the box art?

 

The most recent reissue:

 

Here's the instruction sheet for a previous, generic "Mercury Cyclone Funny Car", but same basic kit with a heavily altered wheelbase, Ford 427 SOHC "Cammer" engine, etc: http://modelkitreviews.proboards.com/thread/917/amt-6766-mercury-cyclone-funny

[magicmustang]

Great kit for parts but not real accurate.

[Snake45]

I MUST have one!

Now, to just build it OOB as the inaccurate but nostalgic hot mess that it is? Or move the wheels back, fill the hole in the hood, get some Slixx decals, and put it on an MPC first-gen Logghe chassis and try to do a halfway decent job with it? 

I MUST have TWO! 

[Mark]

37 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I MUST have one!

Now, to just build it OOB as the inaccurate but nostalgic hot mess that it is? Or move the wheels back, fill the hole in the hood, get some Slixx decals, and put it on an MPC first-gen Logghe chassis and try to do a halfway decent job with it? 

I MUST have TWO! 

Maybe three...restore the rear wheel openings to stock, then drop the body onto the new-tool stock kit and get rid of the awful body in that one..

[Snake45]

59 minutes ago, Mark said:

Maybe three...restore the rear wheel openings to stock, then drop the body onto the new-tool stock kit and get rid of the awful body in that one..

Well, last year I scored a restorable glue bomb original for the body, just need to fill the hole in the hood....

[Chris in Berwyn]

I had a lot of fun building up the generic kit.  It doesn't represent a real Dyno Don car, but I've seen them build as the DD car and they look cool!

Edited February 13, 2019 by Chris in Berwyn

[Snake45]

Just today in the mail I got the book on the cars of Dyno Don. Lotsa good pics in there! Getting fired up about this!

Ironically, to build an accurate model of Eliminator II, you wouldn't use ANYTHING from this kit except maybe parts of the engine.  (I suppose you could alter the body, but it would probably be easier to just use one from the "new" '67 Cyclone kit.)

[TooOld]

On 2/12/2019 at 11:17 AM, Casey said:

I've got two of these , one about 75% and the other 100% complete , plus a set of Slixx decals . The plan is to build the complete one OOB with the decals and use the parts kit for a future project .

People have been asking for this kit for years so kudos to Round2 for reissuing it , I'll be getting a couple of'em ! 

[afx]

11 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Just today in the mail I got the book on the cars of Dyno Don. Lotsa good pics in there! Getting fired up about this!

Ironically, to build an accurate model of Eliminator II, you wouldn't use ANYTHING from this kit except maybe parts of the engine.  (I suppose you could alter the body, but it would probably be easier to just use one from the "new" '67 Cyclone kit.)

Is this the book you bought?

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, afx said:

Is this the book you bought?

Yes. It seems to be quite good, and fits right in with their other books on the cars of Jenkins, S&M, and Landy. They're must-haves for anyone interested in the evolution of FX to Super Stock to Pro Stock. Great stuff!

[Mark]

For a "corrected" Eliminator II, I'd use this kit's body (with the rear wheel openings moved back to stock) rather than mess with the new-tool '67 body.  I'm not sure how the stock grille and hood from the newer kit will fit the older body, but they shouldn't be too far off.  The lower body sides on the newer kit are just plain nasty; the styling creases are all over the place.

[magicmustang]

Yep, I used the kit's body (moved the rear wheel wells back to stock) with the kits headlights/grill (added the grill insert from a Fireball 500 Barracuda). The interior tin and floorboard from an old MPC FC, chassis, engine, wheels and tires came from the Polar Lights Mustang FC. Slixx decals.   

Edited February 14, 2019 by magicmustang

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

The lower body sides on the newer kit are just plain nasty; the styling creases are all over the place.

Agree completely. I spent several hours with files, sandpaper and putty trying to get it to look right. And even then there's no way I can think of to get the subtle crease line along the upper body sides. 

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, magicmustang said:

Yep, I used the kit's body (moved the rear wheel wells back to stock) with the kits headlights/grill (added the grill insert from a Fireball 500 Barracuda). The interior tin and floorboard from an old MPC FC, chassis, engine, wheels and tires came from the Polar Lights Mustang FC. Slixx decals.   

Magnificent! 

[gtx6970]

4 hours ago, magicmustang said:

Yep, I used the kit's body (moved the rear wheel wells back to stock) with the kits headlights/grill (added the grill insert from a Fireball 500 Barracuda). The interior tin and floorboard from an old MPC FC, chassis, engine, wheels and tires came from the Polar Lights Mustang FC. Slixx decals.   

Very cool, I like that one a lot.

I started to build one of these ( I have a decent original issue) I had a screw up with the decals and put it away.

If they do it in the original box art, I'll buy one simply for that. Then use the body to build this exact car like shown.

[dodgefever]

5 hours ago, magicmustang said:

Yep, I used the kit's body (moved the rear wheel wells back to stock) with the kits headlights/grill (added the grill insert from a Fireball 500 Barracuda). The interior tin and floorboard from an old MPC FC, chassis, engine, wheels and tires came from the Polar Lights Mustang FC. Slixx decals.   

 

That looks great.  I agree about modfiying the AWB body; the '90s Comet and Fairlane bodies aren't much cop.

[Bucket T]

I'll add one or two to the pile.  I like the reissues as well.

[Snake45]

It only hit me in the last couple days, but I have a very vague recollection of building this kit back in the day. I was a HUGE Dyno Don fan at the time; I don't know why I wouldn't have. Nothing of it survives, so it must have been lost in the 1968 fire. I think I might have painted it Pactra Red and tried to hand-brush the white stripe, unless that was a decal. So I'll probably be building another in simple, retro style, though I might alter the rear wheel openings to a more stock shape (instead of radiused); I think that would look better, even if they're still too far forward. 

I notice that the chassis in this kit has the less common dual leaf spring front end, which was also in the Nova and Tempest kits. The Mustang and Falcon (and Chevelle) have the single transverse spring "suicide" front end , which was seen much less often on real funnies of the day than the dual spring setup. I might swap this chassis out with one from a Mustang or Falcon since it isn't remotely accurate anyway. Another plan might be to make that swap, and then see if I can substitute the coilover front axle from the MPC '72 GTO or similar for the suicide front end. Could be interesting. 

And I think I'll try to get together a "nice" Eliminator II too, along the lines of Magicmustang's above. 

[Don Sikora II]

On 2/14/2019 at 8:39 AM, magicmustang said:

Yep, I used the kit's body (moved the rear wheel wells back to stock) with the kits headlights/grill (added the grill insert from a Fireball 500 Barracuda). The interior tin and floorboard from an old MPC FC, chassis, engine, wheels and tires came from the Polar Lights Mustang FC. Slixx decals.   

That's a very nice build! Did the stock grille insert from the '67 Cyclone annual end up in the Fireball 500 Barracuda? If so, that's a great bit of trivia! 

[Mark]

Not the same piece, they just happen to have the same general shape. 

[magicmustang]

10 minutes ago, Don Sikora II said:

That's a very nice build! Did the stock grille insert from the '67 Cyclone annual end up in the Fireball 500 Barracuda? If so, that's a great bit of trivia! 

I don't know. But I'm sure someone on this Forum could answer that. I do know it was a close match for the one they left out of the AWB Cyclone FC kit. 

[unclescott58]

Accurate or not, being that my folks bought a '67 Comet (Sad to say, not a Cyclone. But, a lowly 202.) brand new in 1967, I have a very soft spot for these cars. I'll be buying one, and building as it comes in the box. 

[mk11]

On ‎2019‎-‎02‎-‎12 at 11:53 AM, Snake45 said:

Well, last year I scored a restorable glue bomb original for the body....

I scored one last summer too, at a garage sale... dang pirate soaked me a whole dollar for it       Can you imagine?                                                                         

 

Here's the box art I remember seeing on the shelves...

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by mk11

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, mk11 said:

I scored one last summer too, at a garage sale... dang pirate soaked me a whole dollar for it       Can you imagine?                                                                         

 

Fabulous score! I think I paid $15 for mine, hoping the whole time the guy didn't realize it was an original annual (easily worth twice that) and not a "new" one.  And you got both seats and the grille insert with yours!

Oh well, I got (most of) a hood, and I was able to score a repro grille with the insert on Modelhaus's FINAL SALE day, and KHills sent me seats from a "new" one, so I should be good to go. 

[tim boyd]

On 2/15/2019 at 5:16 PM, unclescott58 said:

Accurate or not, being that my folks bought a '67 Comet (Sad to say, not a Cyclone. But, a lowly 202.) brand new in 1967, I have a very soft spot for these cars. I'll be buying one, and building as it comes in the box. 

Scott....just in case you didn't know.....check this '67 Comet 202 from Motor City Resin....I still plan to build this one with the 427 Wedge from the AMT-Ertl 1966 Fairlane 427 kit, which supposedly was factory ordered in 1967 by a few very savvy 1/1 scale racers.....TIM