I wish I could remember some more of the details, I started this project before my Guild S-300! I had to cut a chassis down to the bare minimum; as a matter of fact I had to glue some of the pieces because the supports were gone. The side "downforce" magnets were cut off, the rear axle assembly was carved down and the whole front axle assembly was removed - for a special reason! I remember seeing an article in a magazine when I was a teenager, yeah - over a quarter century ago! It showed how to modify a chassis so your dragster could pop a wheelie and still keep contact and go down the track. From what I remember, the front of the pickup shoes were modified so they were no longer attached to the chassis. A plastic piece was attached between the pickup shoes and the guide pin was attached to that. Finally, the springs were glued or soldered to the pickup shoes. The guide pin/pickup shoe assembly is going to be radically different on my car since it's not an old Thunderjet; I haven't started on that yet.

I used several Hot Wheels Parts and the frame from a Racing Champions Funny Car. I had hoped to use the engine from the Funny Car too, but it is way too small. I can't remember the exact cars I got these parts from, but there are lots to choose from. I just got another driver for my Late Model Modified Oval Track car from a Hot Wheels 500 (#26020). The headers came from something else, I detail painted the driver and the engine block. The engine came from a goulish car, but I've seen a twin engined car with the same engine type (Way 2 Fast - #27082). Another car with a very nice old classic dragster type engine is the Hooligan (#6/36 2001 - #28740). One thing I must say, if you plan on doing something like this and you see a Hot Wheels car you might want to use, BUY IT! It seems like when you need that car, you can't find it and it's been replaced by a blimp or ridiculous futuristic car. I had to cut some other things off the frame, it's not a true Rail frame, but once the Engine and gas tank are mounted it should look pretty good. The front axle is an old slot car axle that I bent to resemble the drop down rail axle, and I used the funny car front wheels and tires.

The body is made from 6 separate pieces of Balsa wood. I tried to make one from a single piece, but I gave up before going too far, this one is very satisfactorily strong. After carving each piece, I glued them together, and then started adding filler and sanding down the joints. Once I was happy with the shape and fit over the chassis, I painted the wood with several coats of sealer with some sanding between coats. I had to add a small hole to the "firewall" for the armature, and carve out some more inside the body so the driver wouldn't rub on the motor. Right now the driver is just press-fit into place, I need to add a roll bar and wheelie bar yet. I might add a small windscreen for the driver; I've made some pretty good ones for other cars from "transparency" sheets. I haven't decided if I'm going to add pieces to the body around the axle, I may paint it black, and it will never be noticed. I already cut pieces of sheet styrene, but I would have to epoxy them, fill them in and cut slots in just the right place for the axle to slip in and out if I want to take the body off. I used wood epoxy to attach the frame, it's holding real good so far too.

The car is a little different looking; I was limited to making the chassis fit, so the tub is pretty wide. The wheelbase came out perfect for a 1:64th scale, 2 15/16" calculates to 188", and some quick research on the web shows a chassis builder that builds slingshots from 175" to 225" and another page of an actual dragster at 185". HO scale would have put it over the top at 255", but then the slicks pictured would be 24 1/2" instead of 18" (still a bit wide!). There are other tires I have that are narrower (16" S scale); I need to find some that are taller too.

Well, next is the pickup shoe assembly, and then we'll see if it will "Pop a Wheelie"! Maybe I'll have some "action shots" of my slingshot wheelie-ing down the track, racing against the A/FX Dyno-Mite Wedge Rail.