"Little Feather" Jr. Fuel Dragster - Circa 1964

[Bernard Kron]

“Little Feather” Junior Fueler circa 1964

Mid-60’s short wheelbase Junior Fueler dragster based on the Tony Nancy Dragster chassis from the Revell double dragster kit. The body is a “shorty” body from Altered States Models. The Tony Nancy Dragster chassis, a Kent Fuller design, has been modified to fit the shorty body and to set the motor further back. The motor itself is a small block Chevy from a Revell Parts Pak with Hilborn fuel injectors from the Revell Slingster dragster kit, a fuel pump from Altered States Models, and scatter shield and headers from the Tony Nancy kit. The block and heads are finished in Testors Metalizer Aluminum paint to simulate an aluminum short block. The Tony Nancy Dragster provided the front suspension and rear end, fuel system, and front and rear wheels and tires. The front rims are finished in Tamiya Gold Leaf paint to simulate anodized aluminum rims. The rear Halibrand wheels are finished in Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust to simulate Dow 7 finish. The frame is finished in Testors Chrome Yellow. The bodywork is painted in Krylon Premium Chrome to simulate a bare aluminum body. The yellow and white accents were done with homemade decals.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Mr.409]

I already complimented this on TRaK, but it turned out so nice that I keep coming back to the pics. Very nice detail work and that Altered States body is very cool too. And as always, your decals are top notch, I wish I could make my own decals too some day!

[TooOld]

Sorry I missed your wip on this one , I love the short wb dragsters of the 60's !
Nice work as usual and some great detailing !

[harron68]

As always, a quality, well detailed, beautifully finished and researched model. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[scooke123]

Great job - those '60s front engine dragsters are my favorite!

[sharp]

Very cool build Bernard,great color and detail work!

[Bernard Kron]

Thank you, everyone. To my eyes Junior Fuelers capture the very essence of what makes mid-60's front engine dragsters so beautiful. These were originally D/Fuel dragsters until the promoter at Lions gave them the brilliant "Jr. Fuel" moniker. The desperate search for the lowest possible weight and highest possible power from a mere 310 cu. in. kept them ultra simple with a bare-frame look imposed by the quest for an under 800 lb. race weight. Because they only managed a little over 400 horsepower with relatively low torque from their screaming 7,000 rpm motors they never needed to have their wheelbases stretched to the far side of 200" like the AA blown Top Eliminator cars. All that added up to a minimalist look that can't be beat. I build one of these every couple of years and finally did one that's as short and simple as I remember them. Next time I'll probably do a somewhat longer one, but still under 175", the way they eventually evolved in the late 60's.

The resin "shorty" body from Altered States Models is a perfect fit to the Don Long designed long wheelbase chassis found in countless AMT and MPC digger kits, including many recent re-issues such as the Tommy Ivo FED, the Too Much twin-engine dragster, Carl Casper's Young American, Don Garlit's Wynn's Charger and the Don Schumacher Stardust Digger/Hemi 'Cuda kits. It's a long chassis, over 200" IIRC, but it's relatively easy to shorten to an eye-pleasing 160" by simply removing a couple of bays in the chassis like this:



The result is your classic mid-60's SoCal dragstrip weekend warrior:

[Bernard Kron]

Broken Photobucket links repaired.