"Big Daddy's" Swamp Rat XXX

[SkylineFan]

I live about 55 miles from Garlits Museum in Ocala FL. One of my managers at work has arranged for us to visit the museum first week of April to get a tour by "Big Daddy" himself! He asked me if I would be interested in building a car to present him when we arrive to take the tour. I jumped at the chance! I perused evilbay and found a sealed kit of his Swamp Rat 30. The car that blewover and flipped around and went back towards the start line at Englishtown in 1986. I called upon Shiryl from Detailmaster to get me some parts lined up to make it a nicely detailed car. I have a little over a month to get this project done so lets get started!

The frame and body were cleaned up and primed with a little boxart in the backround



Then they were all covered in PPG Black basecoat followed by 2 part Chromaclear to make them "Garlits black" ready for decals.



Even though the front end will be closed up on this build it lends itself to nice detailing that I cant help but add. I added a detailmaster battery hardware kit upgrade, new steering rod made from brass tubing along with .080 solder for the fuel line. Don's interior panels were gold on this car so I carefully painted that area with Tamiya gold. The fuel cell, steering linkage, and bulkhead were painted with Testors buffing aluminum metalizer.





The top loader Rear Axle was "misted" with Primer for a texture look and painted with Metalizer. I picked out the "Strange" rear end logo with a black wash.



Finally I added decals to the painted cowl cover. I was skeptical about bleedthrough and age of the kit decals, but fortunately they worked out nicely considering this kit wad made back in 1987. That worry is over with!



Engine work next up!!

DaveT

[klutz_100]

WTG cool - both the kit and the reason for building it

The length of the steering rod just made me laugh out loud!

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

WTG cool - both the kit and the reason for building it

The length of the steering rod just made me laugh out loud!

The same from me, good start!!

Not only the length of the steering rod but also its (IMO) big diameter made me frown

[Duncan1098]

Looking really good, an interesting project, great finish on the bodywork. Great reason for the build aswell, have to get some good photos when you hand it over.

[SeanyG]

Dave,

I just love your projects and this is another beauty, brilliant stuff!

[rollover]

Big Daddy does not know how lucky he is to ger one of your masterpieces!

I've had dragsters in the past and the steeering shaft from the butterfly to the rack is a hollow tube. With a bigger diameter you can use a thinner wall tube for less weight. They are supported 1/2 way down with a rose joint(heim joint). They appear to be simple chassis, but are complicated in engine height, distance to rear end, and angle for the best traction.

[SkylineFan]

Thanks guys and here is more progress, time constraints looming I really have to stay fairly dedicated to this one....

Engine is well underway, Alclad paints were used for the engine block and supercharger. I have also installed detailmaster pulleys, a homemade belt from electrical tape and business card, and started plumbing the fuel lines using craft wire ( supercharger lines) and detailmaster braided line and fittings. The barrel valve and fuel dist block out back on the supercharger are scratch from square rod. Don ran only one magneto on this car so I used a pro tech distributor, plug wires, and a MAS PE magneto cap all painted red.




Here are the wheels and tires labourously sanded clean and slixx decals applied followed by dullcoat. I scuffed the front bicycle tires. Hand painted the good year lettering and popped them on.



Finally a few mock ups......

[klutz_100]

[Sigmaman]

Mighty nice build you've got happening there. Built this one about 19 years ago when I first started modelling. Not as goos as this one.

[Shunter]

Nice start Dave, don't see many rails get built. Watching with interest.

[jaykay640]

Beautiful work again!

[SkylineFan]

Thanks guys......

Motor is done for the most part. All detailmaster hardware on this one with Pro Tech PE bolts. The headers required major clean up so much I think I needed a little more on those inner seams..... : Blast belts are extra seat belt material from model factory hiro kit. Again, I went for the older vintage look. This car had.







Here is a chassis test fit. Its looking busy. And I am pleased by that. Building a top fuel car with no detail is like asking me to cut my arms off! ;D

[klutz_100]

Lovely engine

I always feel depressed when I look at your work

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Lovely engine

I always feel depressed when I look at your work

HAHA, the same from me, especially klutzy´s second sentence ;-))

[jaykay640]

Very nice work...again!
One thing puzzles me though. The exhaust pipe ends look a bit chunky ( wall thickness ). With all the neat work you're doing why don't you thin them some? They're not supposed to be like that are they? :-)