Kit's Kars.....

[PR19_Kit]

When Sticky Fingers posted his pics of car models recently it jogged me into posting some pics of mine too. These go back to the 70s when I was a regular competitor in the 'Hot Rod and Custom Car' class at the IPMS UK Nats, logically enough it was Class 'K' back then.  

I won the class five years on the trot, but it was getting silly at the end because there were FAR better models than mine there, and the 'halo factor' was only too obvious, to me anyway, so I stopped after the 1976 event and went back to aircraft modelling.

Here's three of them in chronological order, but two have been left out as one was built OOB apart from the paint and the other is in very bad shape and needs repair. (It's a big Chevy van with a Merlin engine in the back......  )





Super Bug (1972) A Tony Nancy 22JR rail chassi with a Ford SOHC engine and a Bond Bug shell. The body is 1/32 scale and the rest 1/24.  








GeeTO Tiger (1974) Scratchbuilt chassis frame with a blown Pontiac GTO engine in the back, body shell is an AMT Barracuda rail front end grafted onto a tapered (in both planes...) GTO rear.






All American Rail (1976) Two Revell rear engined rail chassis joined together with dual Kieth Black engines, body shell vacformed in umpteen parts over a balsa master. Needless to say this was built in the US's Bi-Centennial Year.  

[JayBee]

Sacrilage! doing that to a Bond Bug.

[Sticky Fingers]

Sacrilage! doing that to a Bond Bug.

Yeah, and I love it!

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehe, about 4 years previously I'd test driven a Bug.

It was a total hoot, easily capable of 2 wheeling on corners and you had to lean into the corner sometimes to help it round. You could even do it on right handers as the 'door' would open if you leant on it! We parked the test car by tilting it up vertically so it rested on its back in the car park. 

The real things, and the Airfix kits, both cost a small fortune these days.

[joncarrfarrelly]

Those are



 

[PR19_Kit]

I'm intending to take all three of them to the MK Show the weekend after next, that should shake a few people I hope. 

I've found all the bits for the Merlin engined Chevy van too, and with a bit of luck I'll get it fixed by then too. In the way of many US stock class drag cars it says '1650 cu. ins. (like 4 Hemis!)' on the roof. 

Glad you guys like them, I'm suprised they still 'work' after all this time.

[PR19_Kit]

After chats with Fred Zenrat I looked out the wreckage of my Merlin engined Chevy van, or some of it anyway. Here's the main chassis.



The Merlin's from an Airfix 1/24 Spitfire I and the V-drive's from an ancient AMT drag boat kit. As you can see the front axle is somewhat lacking in integrity and will need to be replaced totally, but the rest of it should re-build OK. The gold thingie right at the front is the massive scoop intake that pokes through a BIG hole in the roof of the van to feed the hungry Merlin.

Sadly I've managed to loose the bodyshell! I saw it only last week, but can I find it now? No. 

When I built it back in the mid-70s it had a stand to hold the body tilted up, and for a laugh I wrote this on the front bulkhead....

[Hobbes]

I hope you find the body again, that looks like a fun build,

[zenrat]

Fantastic builds Kit.
Which Chevy van? LWB AMT or SWB Revell?
I'd guess AMT looking at the chassis.

[PR19_Kit]

Fantastic builds Kit.
Which Chevy van? LWB AMT or SWB Revell?
I'd guess AMT looking at the chassis.

Glad you like them, thanks. 

Yes, the LWB AMT Chevy, I'm not sure that the SWB Revell one would have enough room for the Merlin, it only just fits in the LWB version because of the depth of the engine. That means it has to tilt nose down to clear the propshaft, which determines the length of the primary drive shaft to the V-drive.

[joncarrfarrelly]