1/72 Scratchbuilt F-80 drop-tank Bonneville Salt Flats racer.

[CSMO]

"The idle mind and hands are the Devil's Workshop."(often repeated words of my father)





Back in the days after  WW2 a number of guys got the Hot-Rod Bug and went Speed-crazy. Some of these fellows got the idea of handbuilding streamlined speed record cars, for racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats, using airplane drop tanks. I got the idea of scratching one in 1/72 after seeing one on a magazine cover at the local bookstore. I knocked this out in a little over an hour. I have enough parts assembled to do a neater job on the next one.





The tank is from an Airfix F-80. The wheels are from two scrapped Airfix DH.88 Comets. I didn't realize that 1/72 passenger car type tires would be so hard to find. The exhausts came from a wrecked Revell SPAD XIII. The axles are paperclip wire and the Moon-style hubcaps are punched from .010 card with a standard hole punch. The seat, floorboard, headrest, steering wheel, dash, and airscoops came from trolling around in the botom of the scrap-box. The windshield was cut from a piece of clear packaging from some  Oscar Meyer baloney. The painted scallop on the nose of an unpainted tank was typical. It is Tamiya Gloss Red.

Adios, Larry.

[Captain Canada]

Is that ever cool ! And tiny ! Very neat idea....makes me want to drive it around the coffee table. I'd have no idea it was a P-80 drop tank unless you had said so.

As for wheels that size, best bet would be dinky cars, as there are so many varied scales these days.

Cheers !

[CSMO]

I haven't seen Dinkys here in the U.S. since the early '60s when Bartletts Bookstore in my Missouri hometown burnt down in 1963. But, thanks for the tip. I could raid some wheels from my grandsons Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars.  I have seen the large P-38 ferry tanks used for these cars too. I guess you could build a modern one with an F-15 centerline tank or a Mirage 2000 wing tank.  Adios, Larry

[Go4fun]

I like it. I'd like to see more builds like this. Maybe the cheap toy jewelry in a toy stoe o $1 shop might have things that would make neat wheels in that scale.