Building the AMT Double Dragster Streamliner (again…)

[OldNYJim]

So, I built one of these last year, slightly modified, but my intention has been for a while to build a basically box-stock version of the gold car on the original box art:

So…here goes!

Started the Labor Day weekend with the morning sun streaming through the blinds and some newly cleaned-up frame-halves ready for assembly:

If anyone’s building one of these, it’s WAY easier to clean up the ejector pin marks on the inside of the frame before assembling it…and the front crossmember has indexed pins on the front, so don’t open up those holes with a drill-bit before you install it or you’ll have to figure out the angle of the suicide mount yourself…

The body of this kit is two pieces, and designed to be installed around the frame after painting, and it’d be a trick to get the big seam hidden along the roof, so I’m tweaking mine…

I did consider cutting out the floor so the body can drop over the frame, but much easier is removing that little cowl piece and making it removable:

If this were a real car (and as best I can tell it’s not a replica of ANY actual 1:1, just in-the-style-of some dragsters in this era…) you’d probably need to actually assemble and disassemble the thing, so this seemded a feasible solution (although it would still suck if you were the crew working on it…)

Got the axles in the frame and the engine mocked up with white glue…the front axle is molded ‘open’ to allow for the standard AMT metal axle, so I made it whole with some half-round styrene:

The kit’s seat is the first part I really needed to put any major effort into - I wanted to remove the molded-in belts but it was pretty tough to do that without ruining the tuck ‘n’ roll pattern.  Cleaned up the back the best I could, and replaced the lower cushion with some styrene sheet with scribed grooves…and then, because I don’t want to have to do that again on the Fiat kit when I build it (same design seat) I made a quick mold so I can cast them.  Original on left, modified in center and molded copy on right:

And a quick mock-up to round out the long weekend…plenty more to come on this one (but I love how fast it is to get almost ANY AMT project on it’s wheels for a sneak peek):

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

[Dennis Lacy]

I think this is the best approach I’ve seen to the streamliner body. Good thinking!

Ya know, as an original Trophy Series kit, this definitely qualifies for the KISS group build and nobody has entered a Double Dragster yet…

[stavanzer]

Wonderful Start.

I'll try to keep that tip about the body, when I build mine.

Thank You!

[TECHMAN]

Probably the "most built kit" for me over the lifetime.....  Have built a basket-load of the different variations since the early 60's, but honestly, don't remember ever doing the "box-art" version that you are.... hummmm......  Got two more of those kits on the shelf, guess one will have to go the direction you are.

Like your idea on the body mods, may have to copy your idea (GREAT idea at that!!!!).  Look forward to your updates.

DJ

[OldNYJim]

On 9/2/2025 at 12:13 AM, Dennis Lacy said:

Ya know, as an original Trophy Series kit, this definitely qualifies for the KISS group build and nobody has entered a Double Dragster yet…

I did consider that - but I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to keep it simple, ha!  I have two builds sitting here waiting for that group build though…

@stavanzer, @TECHMAN - thank you!!!  

A little progress this week so far…

Handling some boring-but-necessary tasks first.  Cleaned up the tires, and tried a new (to me) technique of scrubbing them with a paste made of water and some Comet cleaning powder.  It was actually surprisingly effective…

The Comet left a little white residue, but this dollar-store goopy cleaning putty does a nice job of removing that (and dried polish from door gaps in bodies also):

Painted the seat in an artist’s acrylic that matched the seat on the box art:

Then added some washes and brush-painted highlights and lowlights to give it some life…I’m still REALLY green at this technique, which is something figure painters do on leather stuff a lot, but it’s more interesting than not doing it at all, at least:

Painted the frame and motor - again, matched the color close as I could to the box art:

And while all that was going on, I was prepping the bodywork for paint.  Found a couple of colors that, again, match the illustration on the box in Createx’s range (which is good, because I love their paint):

As I normally do, I’m going to massively over-complicate the process to hit the look I want…and the primer was no exception…everything shot gray besides the top surfaces which got some white to add a little extra depth:

Paint process, step two is the main color:

Now, I could probably just call that good and clearcoat it, but if you look back to my first post up above you’ll see the art shows a bunch of tone changes and color shifts - particularly on the lower rear portion of the body, and the lower edges.  Obviously, that’s meant to just represent depth and shadow and light changes in the limitations of a 2D illustration, but those color fades are too tempting not to try and match, so next step this evening was fading on some copper tones to the undersides to try and mimic that:

Shot the whole body with some intercoat at this stage and tomorrow it’ll be time to flip it over and add some extra shading to the top side also…

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

Edited 21 hours ago by OldNYJim

[stavanzer]

Wow!

That paint is great!