Favorite gasser kits?

[showrods]

On 11/25/2019 at 10:10 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

The Revell Anglia / Thames, and their Austin and Henry J all rank high on my own list as well...though the Austin's and Henry J's engine is pretty awful, and they all need some fairly intense work to be really good models...but they sure make fine starting points...

       

Is there a consensus as to building difficulty for this group - from most difficult to easiest least difficult?

What are the pitfalls of each kit?

Thanks!

[Mark]

The Revell kits all have opening doors, making them a bit fiddly if you don't have the patience for that stuff.  The Anglia and Thames have a steerable front which connects to the steering wheel, the wheel does move a bit back and forth.  The Henry J's flip front end is made up of five pieces (hood, two two-piece fenders) plus the parts to hang it on the chassis.  The Austin has a one-piece tilt front with no grille opening or detail (some 1:1 cars did run them like that).

There is a steerable front axle in the Henry J/Austin/Willys pickup (same chassis in all) but the assembled axle didn't support the weight of the Willys that I built from the first issue kit back in the day.  The bells on the QC rear end don't look like most 1:1 units you'll see, the traction bars are on the skinny side too.

The chassis in those three have single round tube side rails, seldom (won't say never) seen on 1:1 cars (fabricated chassis were usually, but not always, rectangular tubing).  The Anglia and Thames chassis aren't quite right, the frame rails should be further apart.  On the 1:1 cars, the frame rails formed the lower part of the door sill and were visible when the doors were opened.  But the chassis in those kits do hold the rest of the car up, and look the part when assembled.

[Bainford]

21 minutes ago, Mark said:

The chassis in those three have single round tube side rails, seldom (won't say never) seen on 1:1 cars (fabricated chassis were usually, but not always, rectangular tubing).  The Anglia and Thames chassis aren't quite right, the frame rails should be further apart.  On the 1:1 cars, the frame rails formed the lower part of the door sill and were visible when the doors were opened.  But the chassis in those kits do hold the rest of the car up, and look the part when assembled.

Shouldn't gassers have stock frames? I thought that was a rules requirement (along with the requirement for some other stock features such as upholstery, lights, exhaust, etc). This, therefore, would be a shortcoming in the old Revell gasser kits. Or perhaps that was only for the early years of the class. Anyone got the straight dope on this?

[Casey]

19 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Shouldn't gassers have

Before this goes off the rails, it depends which sanctioning body, and, well, many other factors. Here's a great link to vintage NHRA rulebooks to get you started on what was NHHRA legal for each class in a particular year: 

 

 

Meanwhile, back to the gas class vehicles. ☺️

[Casey]

1 hour ago, showrods said:

What are the pitfalls of each kit?

The bodies are the strong points. Kitbash and scratchbuild the rest for best results.

[Mark]

NHRA allowed completely fabricated chassis for gassers starting with the 1967 season.  Prior to that, guys were cutting off the frame from the firewall forward on some cars, and a lot of reinforcements were needed on more spindly chassis like Willys and Anglia, but there had to be something recognizable from the original one prior to '67.  

[Mark]

And then there were the match-race only cars (the last of the three Stone, Woods, & Cook Willys fell into this category).  A lot of those had fabbed chassis because running at national meets wasn't part of the plan.  Mike Mitchell's '33 Willys had a fabbed frame in 1966, but wasn't allowed to run Gas class.  Photos of that car from the '66 season show an Altered class designation on the windows.  

Those smaller car chassis were definitely on the lightweight side in terms of strength.  The stock Austin frame was made up of what would be considered heavy gauge sheet metal on this side of the pond, though it did have multiple layers in more critical areas.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

55 minutes ago, Mark said:

...Those smaller car chassis were definitely on the lightweight side in terms of strength.  The stock Austin frame was made up of what would be considered heavy gauge sheet metal on this side of the pond, though it did have multiple layers in more critical areas.  

Indeed.

Another interesting point about the Anglias in the earlier days is that, due to the extremely short wheelbases, they weren't allowed anything but "smallblock" engines (and only injected, not blown, at that; my remembry's a little cloudy on this) in some sanctioning bodies...so, depending on the period you want a build to represent, the big-inch Olds engines in the Revell Anglia kits might not be legal.

Of course, later on, you could see just about any engine in them, including blown Chrysler hemis, but not all strictly "gas" class-legal everywhere...and they ran other classes and as exhibition or outlaw cars too.

Bottom line...research on your own if historical accuracy matters to you.

Here's two good starting places for drag racing Anglia info:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a-history-of-the-anglia-gasser.1032250/

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-anglias-drag-racings-little-monsters/

Edited November 30, 2021 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY and ACCURACY

[Mark]

I don't think anyone ran an early Olds engine in an Anglia.  I couldn't find any info about one.  The Shores & Hess "Skipper's Critter" car on the Revell box had a small-block Chevy, with a supercharger added as soon as the rules allowed.  It later had a big-block; Shores is credited by many to have been the first to call it the "rat motor" (it was lettered on the injector scoop).  That car later had its top chopped; it was destroyed in a crash around 1970.

There were a couple of better-known Anglias in the lower Gas classes; one had a Chevy six, another a Hudson.  The latter might make an interesting build, with an engine from one of the Moebius kits...

[Muncie]

41 minutes ago, Mark said:

There were a couple of better-known Anglias in the lower Gas classes; one had a Chevy six, another a Hudson.  The latter might make an interesting build, with an engine from one of the Moebius kits...

Yep, here's Mr. Crude, the Hope Lang and Rydell Anglia, Chevy 6 with cylinder head made from two Chevy V-8 small block heads

Ran out of Grand Forks North Dakota and London, Ontario Canada 

These gasser kits deserve the reputation for fiddly builds common to Revell kts from this time period - one opinion is the Anglia is the most likely to be completed. 

[Reegs]

Up through 1966 the NHRA only allowed non-supercharged SBC (or equivalent) engines in short wheelbase cars like Anglias. 1967 and 1968 it was any size engine but non-supercharged. By 1969 blown engines were okay. The AHRA always allowed blown engines of any size (iirc). 

In the NHRA, frames were "stock automobile-type". I guess that could be open to interpretation. In 1968, since more and more teams were using modern bodies (too compete for eyeballs with funny cars), purpose-built frames were okay. Don't know about the AHRA - probably the same.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Reegs

[showrods]

16 hours ago, Muncie said:

Yep, here's Mr. Crude, the Hope Lang and Rydell Anglia, Chevy 6 with cylinder head made from two Chevy V-8 small block heads

Ran out of Grand Forks North Dakota and London, Ontario Canada 

These gasser kits deserve the reputation for fiddly builds common to Revell kts from this time period - one opinion is the Anglia is the most likely to be completed. 

I had and "built" the original Henry J back when it first came out.  It was the only one of those four that I had.  I remember it being fussy and I attributed all of the problems that I was having to my lack of modelling skills which to some degree was correct...but not totally correct apparently LOL

I noticed that Revell had the courtesy of labelling the current re-issue as a Skill Level 5.  This might have changed my mind about buying the kit back in 1969.

Anyone know when can we expect the Henry J on shelves in North America?

Edited December 1, 2021 by showrods

[Mark]

If you lurk on the HAMB, look up "1948 Anglia Southeast Gassers Build".  It's a modern build with a few details that were seldom/never done back in the day: radiator relocated to the rear, modern roll cage.  But the fabricated chassis is made of rectangular tubing, the suspension setup is buildable in scale, and the body he's starting with has a nice looking chop.  There are a few good chassis shots in there too.  He's going with a big-block Chevy and four-speed, looks like it will be one wild ride...

[CabDriver]

On 12/1/2021 at 3:47 PM, Mark said:

If you lurk on the HAMB, look up "1948 Anglia Southeast Gassers Build".  It's a modern build with a few details that were seldom/never done back in the day: radiator relocated to the rear, modern roll cage.  But the fabricated chassis is made of rectangular tubing, the suspension setup is buildable in scale, and the body he's starting with has a nice looking chop.  There are a few good chassis shots in there too.  He's going with a big-block Chevy and four-speed, looks like it will be one wild ride...

That's a great build - thanks for the heads up on it!

Link to save anyone else having to search: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1948-anglia-southeast-gassers-build.1247758/

 

[TarheelRick]

On 12/1/2021 at 4:47 PM, Mark said:

four-speed, 

Four speeds are required in all the Southeast Gasser cars.  Got to see them run this past summer at the local 1/8 mile dragstrip.  Really awesome to see a '66 Plymouth wagon with a 426 max wedge four speed pulling the front tires off the line.  Of course he was running Super Stock and not gasser, but still required a four speed.

Edited December 20, 2021 by TarheelRick

[Raoul Ross]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:41 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Indeed.

Another interesting point about the Anglias in the earlier days is that, due to the extremely short wheelbases, they weren't allowed anything but "smallblock" engines (and only injected, not blown, at that; my remembry's a little cloudy on this) in some sanctioning bodies...so, depending on the period you want a build to represent, the big-inch Olds engines in the Revell Anglia kits might not be legal.

Of course, later on, you could see just about any engine in them, including blown Chrysler hemis, but not all strictly "gas" class-legal everywhere...and they ran other classes and as exhibition or outlaw cars too.

Bottom line...research on your own if historical accuracy matters to you.

Here's two good starting places for drag racing Anglia info:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a-history-of-the-anglia-gasser.1032250/

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-anglias-drag-racings-little-monsters/

To follow up on gasser classes, I looked far and wide to find original NHRA Rule books. I found a set on HAMB but either the links are broken or the files were created incorrectly (PDF). I did however find this (down a bit on the page) https://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/224328/

For instance, my introduction (Hello from the Badger State) shows my 41 Willys gasser with AA/G class designator, meaning it's from 1966.

 

Hope that helps!

 

EDIT: Oh, and to stay on topic, I always thought a 69 AMX would be a great Gasser!

Edited February 1, 2022 by Raoul Ross

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 minutes ago, Raoul Ross said:

To follow up on gasser classes, I looked far and wide to find original NHRA Rule books.

As Casey posted above, lotsa the rulebooks are right here on this very site. Scroll halfway down the page below for PDF downloads:

 

[Raoul Ross]

2 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

As Casey posted above, lotsa the rulebooks are right here on this very site. Scroll halfway down the page below for PDF downloads:

 

Those were ones I found that I couldn't open, guess I downloaded them wrong... Thanx!