FANTA-C
by Ira Dahm
REVELL MONOGRAM PIE WAGON
CUSTOM SURF BUGGY
The FANTA - C was designed to be a little
Custom Beach Buggy, inspired by Ed Roth's "Surfite". I imagined
this little Surf Buggy would be powered by a Hydrogen engine, so I added
an exhaust pipe from an old MPC "Zinger" Kit. Most of the parts
for the FANTA - C are from Revell Monogram's Pie Wagon. The front end is
from the AMT 1965 Corvette. The seats, wheels and "Flame Tread"
Tires are from Revell's Sidewinder Show Truck. Revell's "Road Agent"
by Ed Roth supplied the hood ornament and wild roof fins. The rear axle
is from Monogram's Cherry Bomb.
First the top of the Pie Wagon was chopped,
1/4" at the front and 1/16" at the rear/top. Then the front of
the body was cut off 1/2" in front of the windshield. I removed the
gastank and pie rack supports from the Pie Wagon's floor. Then I filled
the holes with sheet plastic and putty. This gave me a flat area behind
the seats. The flat area was then fit with a plastic "diamond"
pattern piece, cut from a plastic tray found in a package of cookies.
The Pie Wagon body was then glued together
with the interior floorboard in place. I cut the front end off an AMT 1965
Corvette and then narrowed it by an inch to match the width of the front
of the Pie Wagon. This area was then ground down with the Dremel Tool to
make the Corvette and the Pie Wagon contours line up. Then sheet plastic
and putty was used to blend the body sections together.
Next I needed a surf board, so I carved one
from sheet plastic. I added the "Road Agent" roof fins and then
cut a slot in the roof for the surf board. A small surf board shelf was
then added in the interior to hold it steady. Some of the indentations in
the bottom of the Pie Wagon were filled with sheet and strip plastic. The
Pie Wagon front axle mount was cut from the discarded front/bottom section
of the body and attached right behind the Corvette front end.. The bottom/rear
of the Pie Wagon was carved out to fit the Monogram's "Cherry Bomb"
rear axle. A small piece of plastic tubing was used as a base for the hood
ornament. Aluminum tubing was cut in 1/4" lengths to widen the axles,
for body clearence. The Sidewinder wheels then were drilled out to fit over
the aluminum tubing extensions.
The body was then puttied, sanded smooth
and primed. New door lines were scribed in and the final coat of white primer
was applied. The body was then painted with Model Masters Champaine Gold.
Testors Candy Red was sprayed over the gold and Testors Glosscote was applied
over the red. After the paint dried the finish was beautiful but bumpy.
Fortunately my good friend Paul Burke showed me how to use Detail Master's
"super-fine" sandpaper system to smooth the finish. After alot
of sanding the finish was smooth, but dull, then Paul showed me the Novus
polishes. With a little polishing the finish was smooth and shiny. Thanks
again Paul, that really worked great!
The interior was painted with Testors Flat
White and Flat Red. The seats are from Revell's Sidewinder and the apple
on the Pie Wagon shifter was painted to look like an eyeball. The "FANTA-C"
license plate is custom made by Slippery Arts.
