Mickey Thompson funny car ... a bit of a start

[gwangiboy]

These Revell 1/16th funny car kits were my fave as a kid, and as much as I enjoyed building the California Charger dragster earlier this year, this funny car is even better.

This is the Red Grand Am M/T funny car Revell released in 2000. I had the yellow-bodied Grand Am back in the 70s (Revell released a third M/T funny car which I never got).

I've used Alclad more on this build than any other so far, now that I've got a much better airbrush setup than I had before. I used Alclad Copper on the frame, Alclad Pale Burnt Metal on the panels to go inside the body, and the panels that will go on the frame will be done in Alclad Pale Gold.



Engine so far is combo Tamiya paints (satin black for block, gun metal for blower) and Alclad, Polished Aluminum for manifold, pulleys & front cover, and Stainless Steel for the blower hood. And some Testors silver and gold for little pieces here and there.

Wheels are getting the Polished Aluminum paint.

The body work with putty and getting rid of mold seams is done, with some of the aluminum painting done as well.

Man, I love working on these funny cars!! I wish Revell would reissue all of their 1/16th drag stuff ... it'd be too expensive to get them all off eBay!

And speaking of that, here's what waited for me at the doorstep today ... got this off eBay for only $24.99 too! I've also read that Jo-Han based this on the M/T Mustang funny car:



I've found a few pictures of the M/T Mustang f/c ... don't know if anyone made decals to build the kit like it, tho. But then I haven't looked yet either!

[stevielewis]

That Mickey Thompson funny is lookin' great! I had the blue colored 'U.S. Marines' version of this same kit when I was in my teens. I also had "The Snake" U.S. Army Vega, "The Mongoose" Navy Duster and "Jungle Jim's" Vega, all in 1/16th. The prices on eBay are gettin' to be too much for these old kits. They need to be re-issued again.

[Paul B. Canney]

Slixx decals



reality check:



and remember that braided fuel lines weren't around during this period. (late 80's) Nor was the tactic of painting the the big white shoe polish stripe on the slicks. That came in the 90's with video analysis I believe.

[gwangiboy]

Great! Thanks! Those Slixx decals are exactly what I was looking for! (besides, the original Jo-Han decals look slightly water-stained, so I really doubt they'd even work now)

The Mustang body for the Jo-Han kit is incredibly thick ... if I had this as a kid, I could have used it as a weapon on my little brothers! Also has a little flash on it on the mold seams towards the back, but not near as much as a few parts on the trees (especially the front axle, which looks like its sitting in a pool of chrome).

At one of the last model club meetings I was at, someone mentioned they heard a rumor that Revell might be reissuing these again, but I haven't been able to find any mention of that anywhere. The very first one I had was the Gene Snow f/c, which usually goes for a lot of $$$ on eBay, and one of these days I'd like to get the chance to redo that one.

[crazylegs]

well l would'nt say they they did'nt have them in the seventies like l have been told so many times when l built my gas ronda but here is the proof this is were l got my reference

[stevehammann]

Braided lines were in use in the early 70's but as a general practice, they were only installed from the tank to the pump to the barrel valve and the return line from the pump to the tank. To save money (cuz nobody really made money racing back then) regular high pressure rubber fuel lines were used from the barrel valve to the injectors. NHRA also mandated that any line passing by the blower belt be made of steel.

Paula Murphy's '73 Duster


Gene Snow's '73 Charger


As for the white stripes on the slicks, that practice dates back to the late 60's but it usually was a thin stripe one shoe polish bottle wide and it had a corresponding mark on the rim to see if there was rim slippage. The reason for the big wedge stripe now is more for the crew videotaping the run to watch the wheel speed as compared to ground speed. Kinda like the cross hairs painted on crash test dummies.