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Posted (edited)

This is my entry in a Slingster Challenge over on the Vintage Drag Models board. Some entrants are restricting themselves to the parts in the box. With the range of alternatives included in this kit there is quite a lot to choose from! But I'm taking the opposite tack, using a bunch of alternate parts to give it a more realistic texture than the kit stuff allows. As usual, I'm going with some fantasy logo art as well. Paint is two-tone Duplicolor white and maroon. The front wheels are some custom wire wheels a friend of mine gave me, with Ace Hardware #57 O-rings for tires. Rear wheels are resin Halibrand kidney beans sourced on eBay, finished in a Dow 7-like Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust. The rear tires are AMT pie crusts from the AMT Double Dragster kit. The kit hemi is finished in gloss silver paint to resemble the 392 factory stock color from the 50’s with various shades of Testors Metalizer to detail out the blower, injectors and manifolds. The scoop is from the Revell Parts Pac Pontiac motor. The valve covers are Chrysler FirePower items courtesy of Early Years Resin, which I foiled (yeah, I know, they're upside down... at least for now...). The idler pulley belt drive is from a Two Much kit, including the front adapter plate. I'll be making my own weed-burner style exhausts from 2 mm. aluminum tubing. The rest is from the kit. Here's a "battle zone" picture in full thrash, the completed body with decals and clear coat, and also pictures of the logo art. I'm shooting for a "turn of the decade" vibe, the kind of transitional car seen at the 1960 Nationals before the California look took over.

Thanx for lookin',
B.

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Edited by Bernard Kron
Posted (edited)

Very nice Bernard!!! This is one great kit to have back on shelves in 1/25.

Edited by RatRod
Posted

Thanx everyone!

Very nice Bernard!!! How come you didn't sand the tires? They are to shiny...... :P

Thanx John. The tires are sanded in the detail photo whith the Dow 7 Halibrand wheels and M&H pie crust slicks! The "thrash" pic was taken earlier (hence the paper cutout graphic on the nose piece) using dummy Goodyear slicks for mockup.

Posted

Thanx everyone!

Thanx John. The tires are sanded in the detail photo whith the Dow 7 Halibrand wheels and M&H pie crust slicks! The "thrash" pic was taken earlier (hence the paper cutout graphic on the nose piece) using dummy Goodyear slicks for mockup.

Hence why I changed it as soon as I revisited your pics....lol. Your quick B!!!

  • 1 month later...
Posted (edited)

I’m finally getting back to the Slingster after getting sidetracked by a ’36 Ford Roadster for a while. I’ve completed the motor. The most daunting task was fabricating a set of weedburner headers. IMHO the kit really misses the mark in the exhaust department, especially on the “Hemi”. Those bell-mouthed exhausts just don’t make it for me, and the zoomies are too modern for the rest of the car. I made my exhausts from 3 mm. aluminum tubing. Other changes to the kit motor, as outlined earlier, include a rear blower plate from an AMT ’49 Ford kit, air scoop from a Revell Parts Pac Pontiac, resin Chrysler Firepower valve covers courtesy of Early Years Resin which I BMF’d, 3-pulley blower drive from a Two Much dragster kit, a Hilborn Fuel pump courtesy of Altered Sates Models, and a magneto from Morgan Automotive Detail. Below are a couple of pics.

I’m much farther along on this than I remembered. Most of what’s left involves completing the fuel system and then final assembly. I hope to have it completed in the next 10 days or so.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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Edited by Bernard Kron
Posted (edited)

Thanx guys!! B)

..where did you get the front motorcycle wire wheels? i'd love like 20 sets of them..

Yeah, I'd love like 20 sets of them, too!!! :lol::D Unfortunately, they were made by a friend of mine and given to me at this year's NNL West. I'm pretty sure he's not anxious to get into the aftermarket parts biz. But, IIRC, he has posted a how-to on them here on the board. Here's a hint: he's a very recent poster to this thread and expressed his "admiration" for the (his) wheels. He's a very prolific modeler of great skill and imagination known for the wide variety of his subjects. Ever since he developed his wire wheel technique over a year ago he has completed several cars which feature it.

Edited by Bernard Kron
Posted

Thanx everyone!

All done! Here are two quick body-off workbench shots showing some of the final details.

When I build dragsters I like to do them so that the body panels are removable to show off the mechanicals and chassis details. Unfortunately, quite a few highly detailed kits are actually set up so that, despite all the work you may have put into the driver’s area, the fuel system and the motor, much of it is hidden by a body that must be permanently installed. The Slingster is a bit like that. If you include the nose piece then you can’t install the kit Moon tank, because it’s too tall. So I had to fabricate my own cylindrical tank which is lower and longer. It was built up from .25” quarter-round styrene and a whole lot of filing and filling.

A truly significant flaw is that the mounting pin for the steering idler arm is actually mounted on the upper rear body shell, so if you keep this piece removable you would have to remove the steering with it. So I moved the mounting pin to the frame rail and relieved the bodywork slightly to clear it. Additionally the arm is too short to line up with the steering shaft in the cockpit. I just gave up on correcting that! Next time I do this kit I’ll make my own steering arm and modify the rear body work so that’s in 3 pieces with a top piece that lifts off.

This kit is missing a lot of really basic details too, like no clutch pedal, rear brakes or oil filter. I used pieces from the Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit for these. And lastly I made a parachute pull cord and handle.

Still remaining to do is a more formal photo shoot including full bodywork. Despite its missing parts and oddities, with a little attention to detail and some corrections, most (although not all) of which are minor, this kit can build up to a very convincing representation of a classic rail job from circa 1959-60. I hope to be able to share the results of my efforts with you all in the next day or so.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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Posted (edited)

Thanx guys! Much appreciated..

 

All done! This will be My Slingster No. 1. I'm sure there'll be more! It sure was fun to build.

 

Here all the final pics:

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Edited by Bernard Kron

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