Alyn Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 (edited) sSeems like the MCM forum is crawling with 29 Fords of one type or another right now. I've been wanting to build one since this spring. I was visiting my parents in Salt Lake City and my dad was showing me some pictures a friend had given him of their early years. When he came across a hot road roadster that his friend Rob use to own, I knew immediately it was a future model subject. When I ran across the AMT/ERTL Ford Model A Roadster kit at the recent Kustom Kemps Leadsled show, I grabbed it. Â Not much to show yet. This one is molded in red plastic, so primer will be key. My dad's picture was in black & white, so I don't know the true color of his buddy's car, but it's dark, so this one will be a dark midnight blue. The wire wheels are from AMT's 32 5-window kit. The engine will be the flathead from the 29 kit. I resin cast the 32 grill shell, some heads and a manifold and stripped the chrome off the carbs. Not a whole lot of progress so far; mainly because a lot of the details are still up in the air. Â Â Â Edited September 12, 2015 by Alyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt LeBlanc Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Nice start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Cool. Channeled over A rails with a flattie. Is this what the original was? Definitely a lo-budget car, especially with the pre-war wires. Was the original a pre- or post-war car? The V-8 would tend to place it post-war but those wheels make it an early car, whether it was the owner's build ore an existing rod that he tiought. All this lends tons of uniqueness and interest. Looking forward to more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfa Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Looking good . More pics please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 A week's gone by and not a whole lot more to show. I don't know much about this car, mainly just what I can see in one small, grainy, black and white photo. I don't have it in .jpg format, otherwise I'd post it. My dad, and presumably his friend were a bit young before the war to be building and driving hot rods, so I'm pretty sure this car is post war. Unless maybe it was built by someone else and bought later on. To get the front end down, it'll be getting a suicide front end. This will force me to mount the grille shell above the frame rails. I had a couple of practice resin grille shells around, so I cut one down to see if that would work. The diagonal cut was used to work around a flaw in my casting. Looking at the cut down shell, I wonder if maybe just lopping off the bottom might be the better way to go. I tend to start a kit by building the motor. The reason is probably because it's fun to work on details, and motors don't take as much creative thinking and design decisions. This will be my first flat head, so here goes. As mentioned, the heads and intake are my own resin casting. I'm still learning, so don't look for perfection. Like most motors, this one is split halves. I hate to leave the seam on the oil pan, so a couple of rounds of priming and sanding were called for. The loops in the background are plug wires and right angle boots, although I've decided not to use the boots after all. (I've seen too many pictures with bare connections at the plug). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Alyn, The engine is coming along nicely!! From the pics, the resin parts look fine. Let me know if you need any 1:1 pics of flathead engines. I've got a pretty good selection of various years and modification types to pick from. It's hard to tell how well, (or not), the grille shell will look without seeing where it will be positioned on the model and how the top of it aligns with the top of the cowl. As a retired bodyman, I'm a bit of a stickler for that kind of detail...everything has to be properly aligned... Keep up the GREAT work!! Later, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fletch Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Great Start Alyn, good collection of parts and pieces. You can't go wrong building a '29 no matter the body style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Great Start Alyn, good collection of parts and pieces. You can't go wrong building a '29 no matter the body style. Couldn't have said it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Retired body man huh Raul. I should have known by looking at your work! Thanks for the offer on the pictures. I took a bunch at the Kustom Kemps event a few weeks ago, but I appreciate the offer. As far as the radiator goes, I know what you mean. The first thing I think of is making sure the top of the radiator shell is in line with the cowl. My concern is how the bottom fits to the frame. I'm not sure leaving the curved bottom on the shell will match up nicely with the frame cross-member. The other option is to just cut the bottom off, leaving a flat surface to set on top of the cross-member. I haven't actually spent much time on that issue yet. It's really not that big of a problem. Here's a few more shots of some motor work. I was going to use the standard 90 degree boot style plug wires and built these. Since this is a budget build from yesteryear, no fancy colored silicone wires. Looking at my reference pics, it was obvious that many flatheads use these guide tubes for the plug wires so I scrapped plan A and decided to go with plan B. The tube is 1/16" aluminum. The boots will be cut off. There are at least 3 different styles of distributors for the flathead. This is the front mounted version on mine. The center is suppose to be metal (cast aluminum?) with caps on either side to enclose the plug wires and a cap on top that covers the mechanism (secret mystery stuff). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) Many of these older motors didn't have boots at all, so I stripped back the insulation a bit on the plug wire where it attaches to the plug to give a little glint of metal. You can also see the dip stick and wire clips over the distributor end caps. I didn't think using tape as a fan belt would look thick enough for this style of engine, so I took the easy way out and used the kit front belt and pulley assembly as is. Still a lot to do such as generator, starter, fan, carbs and headers. Edited August 21, 2009 by Alyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Retired body man huh Raul. I should have known by looking at your work! Yeah...full time for 10 years until I retired in the mid-80s, then part-time, (as needed), for another 25 years... I did mostly major accident repair/reconstruction work, but we also did the occasional custom motorcycle or hotrod... The engine details are coming along very nicely. I like the way that you used brass wire to pin the spark plug tubes to the distributor. That kind of minor, hidden detail really helps keep the visible glue joints to a minimum. I do the same thing for parts like door handles, mirrors... Keep up the GREAT work!! Later, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 Good eye my friend. I like to pin things for several reasons; a couple more of which are alignment and strength. Not much strength needed in this application, but the pins made aligning the tubes to the distributor a snap. The drivers side tube isn't even glued on and will not be. The pin and plug wires hold it securely and will even allow for a bit of movement when I add radiator hoses(which will also be pinned). Here's another shot of the motor. I tried to upload it earlier, but ended up with an X instead. Now it loads, go figure. The dip stick is 24/26 gage wire with the curled section flattened with pliers. It and the 1/16" brass tube it slides into were dipped in Blacken It for about 2 minutes. I've been leaving my brass parts in this solution for longer than the specified time, but they aren't getting quite as black as I'd like. I guess a little more experimenting is in order. Thanks for your good words and observations. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 ...It and the 1/16" brass tube it slides into were dipped in Blacken It for about 2 minutes. I've been leaving my brass parts in this solution for longer than the specified time, but they aren't getting quite as black as I'd like. I guess a little more experimenting is in order... And...that's why they call it "Blacken It", not "Black It", "Make It Black" or "It'll Be Black For Sure After You Dip It In This Stuff For A While...". For some metals, it doesn't seem to matter how long you leave it in, they just don't get completely black. Go figure... Later, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 This is looking like an interesting project, love all the small details you are adding, they go a long way at the end.!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 22, 2009 Author Share Posted August 22, 2009 (edited) Ok, I'm gonna google ""It'll Be Black For Sure After You Dip It In This Stuff For A While..." and see if I can find some on the internet. Thanks, Marcos, happy to see your interest. I've been working on some frame rails tonight. I don't have much yet, but they're starting to show some promise. I cut a slot in the end of each rail and the used solder to close them back up again. Most of the solder was filed off leaving just enough to hold the shape. Then a row of .080" holes were drilled with the Dremel on the section of the rail that will be visible ahead of the firewall. That should be a 2" hole in scale. I used rectangular brass tube so the walls of the frame rail would be apparent once the holes were drilled. The wall thickness is .012 or roughly 1/4" in scale which is reasonable thickness for frame material. The frame was going to be painted basic black, but I think I may have to change to a brighter color to show off the holes. Edited August 22, 2009 by Alyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHR1S619 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 VERY NICE START!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MORE OF IT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 OK Alyn, now you're hitting your stride. After that really nicely detailed out flattie you hit us with this Gorgeous Frame Work. And, BTW, did anyone notice that really nice engine stand? Why do I think more care and craftmanship is likely to go into this build than went into the original 1:1? Like I always say - Keep On Buildin'! B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Replicas and miniatures of Maryland makes some resin spark plug tubes for flatheads- how you can run the wire through them without shattering them is beyond me! Like how you scratched yours- just might have to steal that method for one of my builds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted August 25, 2009 Author Share Posted August 25, 2009 Hitting my stride; maybe, but my steps are short. I'm not a very fast builder. Here's the current status of the frame. I used brass to get the look I wanted on the holes. With no other reasons to use brass, the frame will end up as a brass/plastic hybrid with the cross members at each end coming from the plastic 29 frame. To get a reasonably strong joint, pins were superglued into each side of the front cross member. Then the pins were inserted into the ends of the rails using epoxy to secure the parts together. The cross member, with drive shaft safety hoop was also made from brass. The reason for this is that I felt it would be stronger to solder this part in place rather than using glue or epoxy. The rear cross member, which I am still working on will also be from the plastic 29 frame and will include a Z'd kick up in the rails. Here's a mock-up showing how the body and frame will mate up. You can also see how nicely the tapered frame rails flow into the curve of the plastic frame horns. Here's the front section pretty much done. I used a bit of red glazing putting to clean up the seam between the brass and plastic. Still to come will be front spring hanger, motor mounts and radius arm mounts. Thanks for following along Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyBad Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Great looking Frame. Motor is Very cool looking.. Sweeeeet work.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I agree...the frame is coming along very nicely!! Later, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voljeepx Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 This is going to be one great build! I will be watching with much anticipation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 (edited) Tried to post two pictures of the engine, but I FAILED! So, here's the one that worked. I added the rear cross member to the frame and primed it and set it aside. Then I got busy on some more engine detail. Some 26 gauge wire was used for throttle shafts with flattened 26 gauge used for the linkage arms. Then silvered 28 gauge was used for the link between the arms. I also wound my own throttle return springs using silvered 34 gauge wire. Fishing line with 3/64" brass tube used for fittings, 3/32" aluminum tube used for carb stacks. The insides are painted red with brass inside the base to simulate butterfly's. The red was more visible in the other pic. I'll try to upload it tomorrow if I get a chance. Edited September 1, 2009 by Alyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 the other pic (gotta touch up that belt!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noname Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Engine is looking dandy. If it looks decent up close, it will look great in the car. I always like budget themed cars. They all weren't pretty and new looking were they. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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