John Wiebe 1970 Front-Engine Dragster

[jlucky]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything so I thought I’d share yet another dragster from the collection. This is the front engine dragster that John Wiebe drove in 1970, or at least the one he ran into the guard-rails at the 1970 Winternationals. I had the opportunity to see this car recreated at the 6^th annual Nitro Revival at Irwindale Raceway a couple years back.

The basic kit comes from the MPC Young American with very little modifications to the car itself other than some cutting/shaving and sanding to get the body panels to all fit nicely together. Decals are from Slixx and I added the usual fuel and ignition lines to give it some sense of scale and detail. This included some Detail Master Aluminum fittings and braided line and a Pro-Tech barrel valve and some other minor details. Point of interest: While talking to one of the crew members at the Nitro Revival he pointed out that when it came to recreating the paint job for the very faint signs of the Zodiac that appear along the top of the car’s nose piece, the painter struggled to duplicate the original. Then he learned that the original paint was a clear gloss mixed with crushed seashells to create a translucent pearl effect. These days most take the easy way out and wrap the car in plastic.

[TarheelRick]

Beautiful FED, nice smooth looking paint work.

[Model Guy]

Super cool!

[bondo bill]

sweet build

[TonyK]

Very nice, clean, sharp build!

[Mike 1017]

Great build of a Historic NHRA Top Fuel FED

[Charger Funny Car]

Excellent job on that digger!! Kansas John would be proud.

[Hemifever]

 That's one beautiful build. Very well done.

[M W Elky]

That’s a fine looking slingshot you have a great collection 

[slusher]

Great build!