Ramchargers AA/Fuel Front Engine Dragster

[W-409]

The story of this build: I saw this one in google once. I watched pictures from rare model kits... I saw there this one. I thought "Wow, I must get that one some day!" It was so nice, I'm a great fan of Ramchargers- cars and Front Engine Dragsters. Now, about two weeks ago I and my dad made an order to Modelexpress. Dad bought '60 Impala and decals from Decals By Lucas. They are looking very nice both. I thought, I order Revell's Hemi Dart, but it was "Sold out again"... I saw this one, I was suprised, it was like wow. -TO ORDER- Got it today...

It's very good kit from MPC. I like very much that 426 Hemi engine and those tires are looking very nice too. MH Racemaster slicks to back and to front, there are Pirelli tires... Great looking! Is this an older release from AMT's Hemi dragster...?

I painted the engine with spray can, colour is the only right one for Hemi; orange! It's quite good, I must just paint some clear on it. Maybe... I didn't paint the frame by red, because my spray can paint was a littlebit bat...

All pictures are here. There you can see, what's in the box.

Edited April 14, 2011 by W-409

[Mike Kucaba]

It is one of the nicer FE rails.My advice.... glue the body halves together and cut the cowl away as a separate piece.See Pics of other rails of that time period.

[AZ Boy]

Good advice from Mike. Also, the frame of the real dragster was black, or gunmetal in color. If you Google search for Ramchargers, you can find plenty of good reference pics for this car.

Aaron

[Bruno]

It's a re-release they made a few years ago, not that rare, I bought one sealed kit just like yours last year for $5 at a model car show. I opened it to take a look, looks like a nice kit, but haven't started to build it yet. Looking forward to your build

[W-409]

Thank you, guys! I have to look at the reference pictures. There is a part, what is removable for a better display. That's a great thing, because otherwise my details are under that part and no one can't see them. I got very important information too, valve covers are not from 426 Hemi. Must change them... Thank you for comments, I try to continue this build.

[Mike Kucaba]

Thank you, guys! I have to look at the reference pictures. There is a part, what is removable for a better display. That's a great thing, because otherwise my details are under that part and no one can't see them. I got very important information too, valve covers are not from 426 Hemi. Must change them... Thank you for comments, I try to continue this build.

>valve covers are not from 426 Hemi<??? Was this a sealed kit? If it was,those valve covers should be 426 hemi. Maybe you saw a different (aftermarket) set while doing research.

[W-409]

Yes, this kit was sealed, but I got PM, where one guy said that those are not from 426 Hemi. I think, they are looking like a bit weird, but that's one of the same right now, I have changed them. So, valve covers are those, I thought put to Burnout Bird, but then I saw aftermarket resin covers to that Bird. I took those to this one and Burnout Bird has resin covers right now. Blower is also in place...

That frame is painted by brush, oh painting was horrible... But now it looks ok. Those rear tires are very large, that's good. But they are bigger than those, I'm planning to '60 Impala Pro Modified... Of course those Pro Mod tires are wider than these slicks.

Frame picture is taken by lightning of the camera, that's why it looks like white in some places...

Of course all reference shots are very welcome...

[whale392]

Niko,

I can tell you now that painting the frame before you glued it together/test fit was a BAD idea. Every kit I have had of this (and the Hippie Hemi, which shares the chassis) has been severely warped. To cure that, I glued the frame halves together, zip-tied them to a section of 2x4 wood, soaked it in hot water, then quickly dropped it into ice water to shock set the chassis straight. Also, the roll cage bars are cast offset, so they are no wheres near round and their mounting tabs will be a VERY finicky fit to the main chassis.

[Mike Kucaba]

Niko,

Please slow on this build. This is an old tool and wasn't molded very well,especially the frame. Also,looking at the front view of the motor,it appears to my eyes that heads(not the valve covers) are on upside down.

[W-409]

I always paint these tube frames before assembling them together. If I must warp those frame halves, I paint these places, where the paint leaves again. That's my style of building these...

And I don't slow down. Thank you for that tip, I was a little suprised when those heads were a little... I must turn them in better way. I'm not great with Hemi engines, that's the problem, I have made before also... That's not a new thing and from that building speed, that head mistake, it's not because of "too fast building speed." Continues soon!

[baddgass]

Yes, this kit was sealed, but I got PM, where one guy said that those are not from 426 Hemi. I think, they are looking like a bit weird, but that's one of the same right now, I have changed them. So, valve covers are those, I thought put to Burnout Bird, but then I saw aftermarket resin covers to that Bird. I took those to this one and Burnout Bird has resin covers right now. Blower is also in place...

That frame is painted by brush, oh painting was horrible... But now it looks ok. Those rear tires are very large, that's good. But they are bigger than those, I'm planning to '60 Impala Pro Modified... Of course those Pro Mod tires are wider than these slicks.

Frame picture is taken by lightning of the camera, that's why it looks like white in some places...

Of course all reference shots are very welcome...

NICE, but i think u put the heads on up-side-down. Check it out.

[W-409]

Thank you, Derrick! Yes, those heads were put upside down, but now they are correctly, I fixed my fail yesterday...

[W-409]

I need some front tires and wheels for this dragster. Does anyone make them, wheels from the kit are quite bad.

[W-409]

I haven't done anything to this for last couple of months... But now I drilled holes for the spark plug wires to valve covers... I think, I'm going to add spark plug wires pretty soon for this... Here is one picture about it.

[W-409]

Ignition wires are now installed. They are looking pretty good, I think. They are made from Scale Dreams' wire. I must paint spark plug hats from those valve covers, and then these wires are done. I will add more details to this one, this is one of my dream kits, and this must look good when finished...

[W-409]

I meant in that post that these valve covers aren't good looking for this style 426 Hemi... My enghlish isn't just so good so sometimes I write something what no one can understand or understands it wrongly...

[6bblbird]

Good luck with that kit. I fought and fought with a Jaw Breaker (same chassis) and had to rebuild most of the frame. One that I tried to build as a Ramcharger is back in the box. Too much work to make the chassis straight.

WF

[W-409]

Yeah, that's true that Race Hemis are aluminium or black, usually. I just like how the engine looks when it is orange, if it's fully aluminium or black, it looks like one mold piece, sometimes. I painted one Alcohol Funny Car's Hemi silver some time ago, that looks good too...