The Little Drag

[Mr. Metallic]

I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the Big Drag, a tooling variation of the 1/8 scale Big T kit. It has never been reissued, and is quite prized.  Last year 3D Scale Parts introduced a parts set that would allow builders to convert the more readily available Big T into a Big Drag. When they made the introduction I immediately messaged the owner and mentioned they should offer the parts set in 1/24 as well, to use on the Little T (and the modified reissues offered over the last 60 years) He quickly brought out the 1/24 version and I immediately ordered it. Just over 4 weeks later I got the parts in my hand, and they were his usual incredible quality. It's not a complete set because you still have to source a blower, seat, scoop and wheels/tires. But it takes care of the parts that are tricky to fab or source.

-note- due to issues with the board software or something I'm going to have to start this thread with multiple posts. maybe a mod can combine them later?

 

 

Edited February 3 by Mr. Metallic
posting issues

[Mr. Metallic]

My friend Chuck Darnell is a fellow Monogram fan so when i told him about the conversion set he ordered one as well. So, we decided to build ours in tandem. That was June of 2024. Fast forward to January 2025 and we have both finally started working on them.

To start off, the primary item that needed to get done was scratchbuilding the floorpan since so many other aspects of this conversion are tied to that.

It took 4 paper templates to dial in the size and shape of the floor before I committed it to .040 Evergreen sheet. Then I was able to pin the roll cage into position and cut the hole for the shifter access to the trans.

[Mr. Metallic]

I spent the bulk of the rest of my time fabricating the exhaust. As you can see here the headers provided by 3D Scale parts were too wide and the spacing was wrong. I thought about cutting it apart and making a new flange, but printed parts are not the most forgiving with being cut apart.

[Mr. Metallic]

Fortunately I found a better starting point in a kit I have several copies of, the old Revell model A kits. I robbed sets of headers from 2 kits (because they are meant for a 4 banger) and set about modifying them to fit the SBC. Before cutting them apart I drilled a hole through the flange into each pipe so I could pin each pipe to the new flange made from .020 Evergreen strip. I cut the flange, transferred the location of the exhaust ports to the flange and then drilled the holes for the pins. I then carefully glued each pipe into its new home, making sure each one ended up parallel and flat with the last. Very happy with how they came out(bottom)

[Mr. Metallic]

Then needed a seat for the driver. Luckily I had a Little T seat from one of my gluebombs that I was able to salvage. This required rebuilding the mounting boss on the underside and installing a pin on the floor for it to mount to.

[Mr. Metallic]

Got the parts box blower mocked up and the belt drive pinned to it, made provisions to run the drag link through the firewall and mounting the push bar to the rear end. Here is the second to last mockup, before I modified the rear wheels to fit the slicks better and finalized the front suspension/wheel mods. I think I am done with fabrication now, so it's on to paint/chrome prep.

[lordairgtar]

Nice way to overcome the problems to make this car.

[Bullybeef]

Nice to see you back building again Craig! Looks like this will be a fun build