MPC Futuristic Dragster

[2qwik4u]

After years and years of searching, last year I was finally able to find another kit of the very first model I ever put together. What made it so difficult is that it's a fictional vehicle, and I couldn't remember what it was called. Compound this with the fact that its an off scale (1:32) snap together model made finding it near impossible. But imagine my surprise when one day I stumbled upon a factory sealed example on the internet. Here she is:

I remember receiving this as a Christmas gift from my uncle when I was around 5 or 6. I immediately unwrapped it and put it together right then and there. I did need some help putting on the windsheild, which oddly enough isn't in the cover picture. I also didn't put the decals on as they were still the usual waterslide variety, which was a little to advanced for me at the time (or still is depending on who you talk to ).

I held off even opening the box because I was torn between building it, or just keeping it as is for nostalga's sake. But, this GB along with a similar theme for my model club has inspired me to open it up and put it together. Being that the theme for my model club is for the meeting I have in a couple weeks, hopefully, this will go quickly.

So, with great anticipation, I cracked open the box....

WTH???!!!!??? It's freaking YELLOW!!!!????

Yup, it was just as I remembered it. All except for the color. Upon seeing this, I immediately flipped the box cover around and noticed on the side "Bodies may be molded in either red, orange, yellow, or blue". Mine was red, just like the box art. Other than that, immediate trip down memory lane. Well except that is for the nice melt marks along the nose of the chassis.... It literally looks like someone took a soldering iron to the chassis in a couple places. Luckily, most of them will be covered up by the body and won't be seen, but one of them runs right across the little vents that look like headlights.

Well, I was planning on painting it anyway, which cures the yellow issue, but the melt marks are something else. Instead of trying to rebuild the vents out of styrene, I decided to sand both of them down flat, and I'll but some mesh over top of them instead. Not exactly the same but it should look good.

So far, I've sprayed all of the chassis parts and wheels black. I've also cleaned up all of the mold lines on the bodywork, primed it, and sprayed the first coat of Italian Red. Not much to see yet, but I'll get some more pictures up in a couple days.

Thanks for following along!

-Dave

Edited November 1, 2012 by 2qwik4u

[Bigasshammm]

Looks like Bernie Ecclestones great hope for the future of F1. Lol

[2qwik4u]

Well, I've added the second coat of Italian Red, and here's how the body looks so far:

That will set for a few days to cure and then I'll put the decals on it.

I've also made quite a bit of progress on the chassis. Of course, considering that there aren't that many parts, its not very difficult.

Here is how I dealt with the melted portion of the chassis. In the first picture you can see the melt mark in the middle of the nose, and a little bit of the remnants of the melted "headlight" section. This had a louvered type surface before, but because most of it was destroyed, I just sanded both flush.

After the chassis was painted, I took some leftover mesh from a Tamiya car kit and cut a couple pieces to go on top of the vents. These were attached with white glue.

Once the glue had dried, I simply trimmed up the mesh with a sharp knife and some sandpaper.

Here are all of the chassis parts laid out for final assembly.

The engine block was painted at the same time as the body, and then the bell housing and transmission were brush painted aluminum. Everything that is black is just rattle can black primer. Everything else was painted by hand, with the smaller details picked out with a toothpick. The seat also received a brush painted coat of Future to give it more of a shiny leather look, which you can see in the images below.

And here is the fully assembled chassis.

Pretty much all that is left is decals and clear coat, and then this one will be done.

Thanks for following along!

-Dave

[2qwik4u]

And done.

For whatever reason, the box art doesn't have the windsheild in place. I remember putting it in when I first built it though, so on it went.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

-Dave

[Bigasshammm]

Cool