Stacey David's Rat Roaster by : REVELL

[CEKPETHO BCE]

This kit isn't perfect, but it has a lot of decent parts. Only thing it's missing, in my opinion, is an I-beam front axle. It would have been nice if Revell decided to build an all new frame that is somehow compatible with other 32 kits, but this kit is a step forward in the right direction regardless of the frame.

[Brett Barrow]

They used a drum kick pedal for the throttle, too. Shouldn't be too hard to scratch up.

He mentioned it on the show but it didn't end up making it in the end. At least it wasn't in there when it came back from the Hot Rod Institute.

[Harry P.]

Please lock this thread. Its a dead horse now.

Let's leave it up to the moderators to decide when a thread needs to be locked.

[High octane]

I've got enough Deuce kits in my stash and I'm taking a pass on buying the roaster.

[brad4321]

I have very little interest in this subject. But I had to have one for some reason. I like to go outside my box sometimes. I'm enjoying the build. It's typical Revell quality or lack thereof. Include me in the group of people that would never notice the innaccuracies. I do hate the wheels. They require a lot of force to get inside the tire and the process of doing so means you can't paint a whitewall or dullcote the tires. The chrome trees are junk but that's typical. Most parts have to be stipped, sanded, and repainted, unless you want crappy looking marks on the parts.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Hey Michael - have you tried white Duplicolor upholstery dye in a spray can?

Revell's '50 Oldsmobile tires were giving me the exact problem you described. After finding the decals useless and realizing I would have to use paint of some kind, I gave this stuff a try and it's very flexible and opaque - not to mention, formulated specifically for vinyl.

I found the best masking method to be using a compass blade to cut a circular stencil out of a piece of card stock, putting that card stock in a set of "extra hands" clips, and simply holding the tire at the right position behind the stencil as you airbrush the decanted dye onto the tire, building thin coats to a pure white. To block the dye from getting on the backside of the tire, I also cut small card stock fillets to put inside the tire, slightly larger than the diameter of the wheel.

Then, if you just make sure to push the wheel in from behind, the whitewall you have on the front should be plenty flexible enough to take the necessary bending and stretching till you get the wheel home. Worked like a charm on the Olds tires; I know Revell has since supplied tampo prints on request from the parts department, but I like the way mine turned out.

[Chuck Most]

Might not be helpful for painted/decaled wide whites, but I've had great luck with recalcitrant Revell tires by heating them up by means of sitting them on a sunny window sill, or setting them near (not ON) a furnace vent for a few minutes. I've heard some guys use the microwave for that, but I'm not gonna be 'some guys' in that case. I can spend the time I'm not using kneading and squeezing the tires to soften them to work on some other tedious model-building task. That (kneading) also works well, by the way, I'd just rather be able to work on something else while the tires soften .

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ummm........ why not just grind off that stupid rib in the middle ot the rims, or at least 90% of it ?? Leave just enough to locate the correct depth of the wheel relative to the tire bead.

Worked great on the Olds rims.

[Chuck Most]

That it does- wasn't sure if the rib on these would be as much of a bear as those Olds wheels or not.

[azers]

I apologise for the lock thing guys. I spoke outa turn. It musta. Been my medications. What i interpreted and what i read on second thought was wrong. Still new to terms. But it appeared to be taking a totally wrong turn from what i was reading. Again sorry for my mispeaking. I will quietly go to my corner now. Post deleted.

Edited February 10, 2013 by azers

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Ummm........ why not just grind off that stupid rib in the middle ot the rims, or at least 90% of it ?? Leave just enough to locate the correct depth of the wheel relative to the tire bead.

Worked great on the Olds rims.

Yeah, Bill, but I had to keep mine box-stock for the review. Turns out the Duplicolor approach worked so well, I'm using it on a less-stock variation, too.

Now as for the Roaster, it's got not just the ring, but those ribs on the back ones - I'd say knocking those down a bit is just about a mandate.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Chuck Kourouklis

[Ace-Garageguy]

Chuck, have you ever tried frisket paper or film for your whitewall masks? Works great for me.

[Chuck Most]

Chuck, have you ever tried frisket paper or film for your whitewall masks? Works great for me.

I have, and it does work well. I've even used Bare Metal foil to mask whitewalls- works even better, but it's quite a bit pricier to be sure!

[azers]

In all my years i have never came by a kit that was shake and bake. I have never built a model oob. They all needed some kimd of fixing. This one i just might build oob for the fun of it to see what it looks like. I might have missed this but has anybody addressed the color of this car or what might be a good color match.

[johnbuzzed]

I've Read this topic with interest, and found a number of people who have made some interesting points. Like always I try not to comment on the model itself until I hold it in my hot little hands. Now that I have one here is my take on it;

First let me say I tend to come to the subject of scale fidelity and accuracy from a slightly different perspective. I've been building Models for the better part of 40 years. Had this kit, or anything close to its quality come out back in the '70s when I started building, it would have been met with accolades by the modelers. I'm old enough to remember when the typical kit merely bore a close approximation to the real car. Back then the only '32 fords available were the AMT (almost toy like) MPC (look at the recent American Grafitti re-release) and the Monogram (Roadster only, fenders molded to the frame and no easy way to do a fenderless car) Take a look at any of these and tell me that even this compromised kit isn't far superior to any of those options.

Second, I grade kits on what I can build it into. I have absolutely Zero interest in the 1:1 Rat Roaster, but can understand that if that is what you want to build how you could be disappointed with the kit. Also I Can understand if you are disappointed that there is no I-beam axle as there are many cars I could build with that as well. That said this kit has some great stuff in it.

1. I love the wheels and tires. There are a lot of things I could do with those.

2. Buick Portholes, I see me adding those to my custom Hudson Hornet tonight or tomorrow.

3 The Engine. I can put that in anything from a t-bucket to a 69 Camaro. Heck the short block and tranny would be a great start on a pro-touring engine build.

4. The Front cycle fenders and bobbed rears will look great on a vintage hot rod build.

5. The seats look cool and would work in many period customs

6. the guitar is a nice touch

7. The Gear shift is kinda cool too, and would look good in any hot rod build.

8. Having a stock firewall that isn't resin is nice too.

I'll probably buy several of these over the years because the parts are so nice. Is it a perfect replica of the 1:1? nope, but it is a really nice model kit.

There's some real logic to this post. I gotta agree with it.

[johnbuzzed]

Might not be helpful for painted/decaled wide whites, but I've had great luck with recalcitrant Revell tires by heating them up by means of sitting them on a sunny window sill, or setting them near (not ON) a furnace vent for a few minutes. I've heard some guys use the microwave for that, but I'm not gonna be 'some guys' in that case. I can spend the time I'm not using kneading and squeezing the tires to soften them to work on some other tedious model-building task. That (kneading) also works well, by the way, I'd just rather be able to work on something else while the tires soften .

A dip of the tires in some real warm water might work, too.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

I've Read this topic with interest, and found a number of people who have made some interesting points. Like always I try not to comment on the model itself until I hold it in my hot little hands. Now that I have one here is my take on it;

First let me say I tend to come to the subject of scale fidelity and accuracy from a slightly different perspective. I've been building Models for the better part of 40 years. Had this kit, or anything close to its quality come out back in the '70s when I started building, it would have been met with accolades by the modelers. I'm old enough to remember when the typical kit merely bore a close approximation to the real car. Back then the only '32 fords available were the AMT (almost toy like) MPC (look at the recent American Grafitti re-release) and the Monogram (Roadster only, fenders molded to the frame and no easy way to do a fenderless car) Take a look at any of these and tell me that even this compromised kit isn't far superior to any of those options.

Second, I grade kits on what I can build it into. I have absolutely Zero interest in the 1:1 Rat Roaster, but can understand that if that is what you want to build how you could be disappointed with the kit. Also I Can understand if you are disappointed that there is no I-beam axle as there are many cars I could build with that as well. That said this kit has some great stuff in it.

1. I love the wheels and tires. There are a lot of things I could do with those.

2. Buick Portholes, I see me adding those to my custom Hudson Hornet tonight or tomorrow.

3 The Engine. I can put that in anything from a t-bucket to a 69 Camaro. Heck the short block and tranny would be a great start on a pro-touring engine build.

4. The Front cycle fenders and bobbed rears will look great on a vintage hot rod build.

5. The seats look cool and would work in many period customs

6. the guitar is a nice touch

7. The Gear shift is kinda cool too, and would look good in any hot rod build.

8. Having a stock firewall that isn't resin is nice too.

I'll probably buy several of these over the years because the parts are so nice. Is it a perfect replica of the 1:1? nope, but it is a really nice model kit.

There's some real logic to this post. I gotta agree with it.

Yup. Don't look now, but I've been kinda with it all along.

The maturity in this post is certainly a breath of fresh air...

[azers]

I love it. To the point. And good information. Thats what i was looking for.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Y'know, I remember somebody having posted notes at the '97 GSL about the Revell '32, saying it was nice but not accurate, with one of the less strident notes about the cowl claiming "2 inches to narrow".

For the life of me, I haven't been able to figure out if he was trying to say the infinitive form of "narrow" - as in, you have to narrow the cowl by two inches - or if he really meant "TOO narrow".

Heh. Maybe the Roaster's finally provided an answer on that...

[mrknowetall]

Uhhh. Not quite. That's the Revell '32 five window body next to the RR. The "old" Revell roadster body is a much closer fit to the Rat Roaster body, in terms of cowl measurement. "Old". REVELL RELEASED THEIR LINE OF NEW TOOL FORD '32'S BACK IN 1996. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN THAT LONG AGO. 17 YEARS! I'm still buying first round releases (donut box kits, and before) on the 'Bay. I can't help myself.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

*laughing*, yeah, 17 years baby! "Donut boxes", sheesh, ya had to remind us. I 'member doing the fit-assessment review like it was yesterday, one of the best-building kits I'd ever experienced.

Fwiw, it was the three-window the guy was carping over. Guess I'll have a look tonight...

[Casey]

If someone has the '32 Speedwagon, roadster, 3W, 5W and RR kits to do a nose-to-nose-to-nose-to-nose-to-nose comparison, that would be awesome.

[zaina]

Not that it matters but the model on the box doesn't have a distributor...another mess up

[johnbuzzed]

It would have been cool to see the Rat Roaster kit in Tim Boyd's '32 Ford article. I wonder if it would be possible to see a comparison like that of the '57 Chevy kits many years ago...

[Greg Myers]

Wasn't the Speedwagon the first kit in this wonderful series ?