Vintage Nitro Front-Engined Dragster

[OldNYJim]

I never built a rail before, but I REALLY like a late-era front engined car.  Hemi, cycle wheels out front, driver hanging his legs overtop the rear axle and wearing one of those terrifying goggle helmets…awesome!

So, here goes…I’ve got the old MPC Young American kit here, but I’m building something I’ve had in my head a while - not a replica of anything in particular.  First challenge was to see if I could print up a set of feasible looking wire wheels.  I’ve done all-metal ones before with photoetch spokes, but I wanted to see if I could actually print a set, repeatably.  

Took a week (the spokes are 0.4mm thick so they’re REALLY tricky to print) but I got an acceptable set eventually:

To put it into context - of this batch here, I only got a couple of good sets (and this was the SUCCESSFUL batch):

High rate of attrition…

Now that I’ve figured that out, and I wasn’t going to build one of these with those chunky styrene kit wire wheels, I can start at the front and work back.  The front axle will be the other challenge on this one - the axle isn’t too bad, but the front suspension is pretty blobular. 

Designed and printed some replacement pieces that will sleeve onto the kit frame…

Chopped the existing horns off, cleaned it all up and they install like this:

Next up, printed added some steering arms:

The balance here is making everything in-scale, but not SO in-scale everything breaks as soon as you touch it.  Of course, brass is probably the answer to that problem, but not on my first attempt at one of these…

Whilst the printer was running, I also tackled the engine - I’m not ready for that yet, but this Matty’s 3D printed piece is WAY better than what the kit gives you:

I’m actually planning to use the kit induction setup if I can…a hybrid of the printed block and some of the kit parts, but we’ll see how that works out once I’ve got the stubborn-to-remove chrome off those bits so I can start playing with them…

And…that’s all folks!  More soon, soon as I’ve done more!  Thanks for looking!

[Straightliner59]

This is cool! Those wheels look much better! Nice work on the torsion shocks/arms, too. That engine looks kind of like a Donovan, given the early hemi heads. The block doesn't look quite right for an early Donovan, though. "Kansas" John Wiebe ran a beautiful, Donovan-powered long-wheelbased FE top fueler you might get some ideas and inspiration from: 

https://www.mlibhart.com/p660554854/h22F3465F#h22f3465f

[OldNYJim]

On 10/29/2024 at 12:24 AM, Straightliner59 said:

This is cool! Those wheels look much better! Nice work on the torsion shocks/arms, too. That engine looks kind of like a Donovan, given the early hemi heads. The block doesn't look quite right for an early Donovan, though. "Kansas" John Wiebe ran a beautiful, Donovan-powered long-wheelbased FE top fueler you might get some ideas and inspiration from: 

https://www.mlibhart.com/p660554854/h22F3465F#h22f3465f

Great link - there’s a bunch of cool stuff on that site!  Thank you!

This is a render of that block - I’m no Hemi expert and I THINK it maybe be a few years too modern for this era of build…but it’s better than what came in the box at least.  I’m sure it would be ok for a Cacklefest car at least:
 

A little more progress - I really wanted to get this thing roughly mocked up before starting to add layers and layers of detail, so I had to figure out the exact wheel and tire situation…

Fronts were easy…printed some cycle tires to fit my wire wheels:

The kit rear tires are okkkkkk-ish, but the sidewall is way to square, and they have different manufacturer logos depending on which side you look at…

These still need some post-processing, but I think they’re a bunch better:

Quick mockup with my new tires…looks like a dragster to me!

I needed to finish off the front suspension linkages - the kit ones are a little rough so I printed some rod ends and just made my own:

WAY crisper!

Note: excuse those jacked-up tires and wheels - I’m using the failed prints for all of this mockup work so I don’t ruin the good prints…

As you can see, I’ve started messing with the body a little also…this kit isn’t really designed with having the body panels be removable in mind - so I started the cutting and shutting today so that with the frame completely assembled I can (hopefully) add and remove the body panels as I see fit.  I did toy with running the bare minimum of a body - but I want some surface area for a nice paintjob too…

Still have to finish locking in the exact mounting position for the motor, figuring out the steering and a couple of little projects and then I can start really going back through this thing and doing some fun detailing…thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[MeatMan]

Nice printed upgrades! I'm definitely taking notes.

[Mattilacken]

Nice build! Never been much for dragsters but this type is so hardcore so you got to love it! Parts looks great!

[OldNYJim]

On 11/4/2024 at 6:28 AM, MeatMan said:

Nice printed upgrades! I'm definitely taking notes.

Thank you!

On 11/5/2024 at 3:31 AM, Mattilacken said:

Nice build! Never been much for dragsters but this type is so hardcore so you got to love it! Parts looks great!

I like the old (dangerous) kind a lot more than the rear engined stuff…but they’re all cool to me!  I’d love a shot at driving one of these!

I’ve been prepping parts and getting stuff into primer all week long…this yellow plastic is pretty soft, which means it sands easily but it’s easily scratched, and then the scratches come back soon as some solvent hits them - took some more effort than usual to get some of these bits perfect.  And, of course, the printed stuff has its own issues to deal with, but I’m getting to where I can start painting some bits finally.  

I DID get the frame shot in some Createx black, followed by their high-gloss clear…this frame has so many fiddly little bars and braces that I didn’t really want to have to try polishing it to make it look decent, and a few good wet coats seemed to work ok:

I’ve got a really colorful paint scheme in mind for this one, and I want there to be a bunch of chrome so I opted for a simple black frame and engine block to really help the more interesting stuff pop.

Speaking of color-scheme, here’s the palette I’ll be using on this one:

Definitely going for a traditional INSPIRED look, but as though it’s a modern paintjob - really excited to get to work on this.  It won’t be a perfect reproduction of a period correct car, but I’m hoping it WOULD be welcomed with open arms to any vintage drag or cacklefest type event…

Oh, and the kit headers didn’t look like they’d be fun to try and open up OR clean-up, so I printed some better ones.

They’re actually hollow all the way down, which means they should look super realistic on the car…but they’re REALLY fragile.  We’ll see how many of these I ruin before we’re done ?

Just a small update - but I got a big pile of parts here ready for paint!  Can’t wait to get to it!!

[Straightliner59]

2 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Oh, and the kit headers didn’t look like they’d be fun to try and open up OR clean-up, so I printed some better ones.

It's looking great, Jim! Looking forward to the paint! That, right there is what caused me to start scratchbuilding so much stuff--I figured that, even if it wasn't always easier, or faster, it was always a lot more interesting!?

[tim boyd]

On 11/16/2024 at 11:35 PM, CabDriver said:

Thank you!

I like the old (dangerous) kind a lot more than the rear engined stuff…but they’re all cool to me!  I’d love a shot at driving one of these!

I’ve been prepping parts and getting stuff into primer all week long…this yellow plastic is pretty soft, which means it sands easily but it’s easily scratched, and then the scratches come back soon as some solvent hits them - took some more effort than usual to get some of these bits perfect.  And, of course, the printed stuff has its own issues to deal with, but I’m getting to where I can start painting some bits finally.  

I DID get the frame shot in some Createx black, followed by their high-gloss clear…this frame has so many fiddly little bars and braces that I didn’t really want to have to try polishing it to make it look decent, and a few good wet coats seemed to work ok:

I’ve got a really colorful paint scheme in mind for this one, and I want there to be a bunch of chrome so I opted for a simple black frame and engine block to really help the more interesting stuff pop.

Speaking of color-scheme, here’s the palette I’ll be using on this one:

Definitely going for a traditional INSPIRED look, but as though it’s a modern paintjob - really excited to get to work on this.  It won’t be a perfect reproduction of a period correct car, but I’m hoping it WOULD be welcomed with open arms to any vintage drag or cacklefest type event…

Oh, and the kit headers didn’t look like they’d be fun to try and open up OR clean-up, so I printed some better ones.

They’re actually hollow all the way down, which means they should look super realistic on the car…but they’re REALLY fragile.  We’ll see how many of these I ruin before we’re done ?

Just a small update - but I got a big pile of parts here ready for paint!  Can’t wait to get to it!!

Jim...lookin' really, really good!   Cheers////TB 

 

[OldNYJim]

Thanks fellas!  A little more progress this week…most of it fairly disjointed and all over the place - but it makes sense to me…

Got the body in paint!  Spent forever trying to find the color I had in my head and then found it in Wicked Color’s paint line…I use their paint a lot so I should’ve looked there first, duh;

More to come on the paint later, I’ve got some ideas…

Printed and painted a bunch of A/N fittings:

Did chrome first, then that blue candy over top to give the anodized look.

The kit’s parachute pack is fairly uninspiring and looks more like a tin lunchbox, so I made one out of Tamiya epoxy…just made a cube and looked at pictures of real ones and kinda gave it wrinkles and folds and whatnot until it looked about right:

There’s some detailing to do on this one after it’s painted, but it’s a little more interesting at least…

The kit seat is made of rubber (or vinyl, probably) same as the kit tires, and it’s not the best…sliced and diced a parts-box part to fit the frame and then played with that putty some more to add the same wrinkly kinda fabric texture as the parachute pack:

I went a bit overboard with the creases and wrinkles on this one - I figure the seatbelts will hide a LOT of this but I still want the interesting texture to show, so I just kept going…

Painted the tires - Createx black to start, then Vallejo tire black and then cut some masks for some lettering…I need to seal these in some dullcoat and then do the next steps:

And, finally, did some work on the rear axle - designed and printed some Airheart brake disks and replaced the super-thick kit steering  support with something more to-scale:

Still a BUNCH to do, but I’m trying to work through the bulk of the painting so that I can have some parts dry and ready for assembly over Thanksgiving…but I'm starting to get a little pile of bits that are almost done now:

Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Edited November 24, 2024 by CabDriver

[BK9300]

Tremendous amount of extra work being done here - really pays off.  Great colour choice!

[OldNYJim]

On 11/23/2024 at 9:54 PM, BK9300 said:

Tremendous amount of extra work being done here - really pays off.  Great colour choice!

Thank you!!

 

Working on the paintjob this week - not done yet, but about halfway thru anyway…

Designed and cut some masks so I can lay down some panels that compliment the shape of the body:

Shot those with some fades between a pearl purple, and fluorescent pink:

Next up, designed and cut some more masks:

And then shot some more pink (this time a strawberry-milkshake color that I mixed) and some Ammo chrome baby blue:

Remove those masks and we have this:

Next up, after letting this dry overnight I cut some more masks (stars and sparkles this time) and airbrushed a black fade on the very front of the nose, and the very back of the rear ‘tins’:

Then, laid down the masks and shot some Vallejo opaque white:

Let it tack up, removed the masks and had this:

That’s most of the graphic-y stuff done on the body before I start adding some signwriting, but before I pulled the masks I added some yellow striping to the edges to stop it looking unfinished, with some extra little dots to add to the kinda sparkly glittery theme I’m going with on this body…then pulled the masks and here’s where we’re at:

I’ve got some cleanup to do, and I want to let this yellow gel ink set-up overnight before shooting some intercoat to protect my work so far - but I’m having fun with this paintjob!

Oh, and I remade the pedal assembly out of brass, but that’s neither finished or as interesting as custom paint 🤪

And found a really nice crisp blower to replace the kit piece…

Plenty more to come - thanks for looking!

[TarheelRick]

Some very interesting work on this rail. Really like the paint work, shows some creativity and imagination. I know it is a bit late now but did you by chance consider O-rings for front tires. They come in all sizes and they are rubber. Just a thought. Anyway, really like where this build is going.

[Tony Coomer]

Nice build so far. 

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Great job Jim!

When stopping by to visit your projects we know we will get a lot for our money, your paint job always impresses and this one is no exception!  Your improvements on the kit parts are of high quality like everything you do.  It's been a while since I visited your projects and it's very inspiring! 👍

[Bainford]

Wow, Jim, lots of good stuff happening in this thread. Good looking dragster, and that paint work pops. I'm really impressed with your printed parts. They make a huge improvement.

[Codi]

I've always been fascinated by those that can paint such as you.......John Teresi always comes to mind as one such person.  Thanks for sharing  your process and like others have stated, the colors are just fantastic along with the scheme you've chosen.  The mix of construction methods, brass, 3D and others make it a truly interesting build.   Good luck with her Jim!   cheers, tim