25 Ford Model-T Tow Truck - update: 05/11/13

[Danno]

Beautiful, Alyn!!!

[the4thlord]

One of the Most Spectacular builds i have ever seen.... i'm already a huge fan!

[vintagedragfan]

oh that is some great stuff Alyn, I can't wait to see this in person, all ways enjoy slobbering on your builds!

[crazyrichard]

awsome details again ....whow

[DPink]

Very clever idea with the hook for the tailgate. And I think the bed and side rails look fine the way they are. They have that real nice oldschool look to them

[Alyn]

Thanks for stopping by again, Joe. Glad you're going to stay tuned

Chris, having seen your icon before, I figured you'd drop by, thanks.

Mike, unfortunately (for him), Bill lives in Missouri, not Kansas. You know Missouri; the state with higher murder rate, higher unemployment, higher cost of living, and no Jay-Hawks!

Appreciate your interest and the nice comment, Andy

Thanks, Dan. If you keep coming around, I may have to start feeding you

Gaurav, I've seen some pretty cool examples of the Model T including one scratch built entirely of brass, so I wouldn't classify mine as Spectacular, but I do appreciate the sentiment.

Bill, you slobbered on my quickie promo build, and Ellis said you slobbered on his shoes. We need to have you checked out!

Thanks again, Richard. Keep it up, the checks in the mail

Thanks for the compliment, Dan. By the way, the tailgate hook isn't an original. That's how they were back in the day. Since posting, I snipped a little off the hook and re-bent it to make it a bit smaller.

Here's the latest progress. I covered the gas tank in .005" aluminum with some simulated rivets, and then added the brass hold-down straps. The gas cap is made from a couple of different diameters of styrene rod with ears made from flat styrene.

I cut the tank out of the seat bottom so I could use it for some chassis photo's. The real tank would have a round bottom as well, but I wanted this part to fit back into the seat where it came from so I left it flat. As you can see, the chassis is almost done.

[crazyrichard]

awsome , and the battery with clamps looks awsome in the chassis !

[southpier]

this is from post #24. did you grind the hood sides thinner in order to open the louvers? it makes a nice detail.

also, i have found the early Ford catalog from Mac's to be a helpful reference.

http://macsautoparts.com/1909-1927-model-t-ford-parts/camid/MDT/ca/128/

Edited March 1, 2013 by southpier

[vintagedragfan]

outstanding as all ways Alyn, just gorgeous work my friend!

[Alyn]

Thanks, Richard. I only wish the battery detail would still be visible once the body is in place. No such luck.

Thanks for the link, Joe. I think I may have stumbled upon that sight while looking for some rear fender detail.Great reference. Lots of detail there.

Regarding your hood louver question, I didn't thin the hood panel, although I did consider doing so. What I did do was to cut into the louver openings on an angle so that the cut would help thin the louver edge. I then spent considerable time cleaning up each cut with saws, files and sandpaper to make them look as even as possible.

BIll, always appreciate your blessings, almost as much as I enjoy studying your own updates. Thanks the stopping by.

[Eshaver]

Thanks, Richard. I only wish the battery detail would still be visible once the body is in place. No such luck.

Thanks for the link, Joe. I think I may have stumbled upon that sight while looking for some rear fender detail.Great reference. Lots of detail there.

Regarding your hood louver question, I didn't thin the hood panel, although I did consider doing so. What I did do was to cut into the louver openings on an angle so that the cut would help thin the louver edge. I then spent considerable time cleaning up each cut with saws, files and sandpaper to make them look as even as possible.

BIll, always appreciate your blessings, almost as much as I enjoy studying your own updates. Thanks the stopping by.

Now that's a GOOD trick. Most times the blade would slip causing considerable damage !

[Alyn]

Thanks, Ed. I was lucky and only had one slip that amounted to much; a small scratch that was easy to fill with glazing putty and primer. Looking at it now, it would have been easy and wise to run a layer or two of masking tape above and below the louvers while cutting them open. That would catch a "blade gone wild" to minimize the damage.

[Randy D]

Hi Alyn, Every time I look-in I leave more impressed!!! Those contol levers are too cool, beautiful work.

Randy

[Alyn]

Much thanks, Randy, As always, your interest and comments are highly valued.

[Alyn]

slow but sure progress. I've been practicing with some scrap sprue on a technique to get a wood grain effect on the wheels. Not ready for prime time yet. My wife says the practice bits looks like a pretzel.

The seat is painted. I like the way the back rest turned out, but may have overdone the bottom cushion. Besides creating the look of the black leather dye wearing off, I also wanted to duplicate some leather age cracking. It looks pretty good to the naked eye, but no so much under the camera lens. It may get repainted if I can't tone it down a bit.

The battery and starter cable and battery ground strap, exhaust, pedals, etc are fixed in their final position. I know the cable doesn't go directly from the battery to the starter; in the Model-T, it routes up to the starter switch on the dash. Once the body is on, only the cable connected to the starter will be seen.

[Randy D]

Hi Alyn, Seat is looking good, what was your technique for the wear? Excellent chassis!!!

randy

[Alyn]

Hi Alyn, Seat is looking good, what was your technique for the wear? Excellent chassis!!!

randy

Thanks, Randy.

The seat's just a basic application of two colors, followed up with some artificial wear. After primer, I painted the seat a base color of Tamiya XF-15 to represent raw leather. This was followed with 2 or 3 coats of acrylic clear and them matte black. I used a straight pin to scratch through the black to simulate cracks in the leather, then sanded a few wear spots with some 400 grit. Like I said, the cracks look overdone, so I need to work on them somemore, or start over.

Thanks for your interest.

[vintagedragfan]

I think the seat looks perfect Alyn, looks pretty real to me. its great to see a little final assy. every thing looks top notch, awesome man

[Alyn]

I think the seat looks perfect Alyn, looks pretty real to me. its great to see a little final assy. every thing looks top notch, awesome man

Thank you, Mr Bill.

I touched up the bottom cushion with some streaks of black here and there, then topped that with some dull coat. I'll probably lightly sand it again and add some oil from my fingers to get a semi-gloss patina. It is nice to move into the paint phase. Scratch building is fun, but you never know how well the scratch built parts are gonna do their job until the paint starts laying down.

Thanks for stopping by

[Tom Geiger]

slow but sure progress. I've been practicing with some scrap sprue on a technique to get a wood grain effect on the wheels. Not ready for prime time yet. My wife says the practice bits looks like a pretzel.

I have a tutorial done by Irvin Arter on wood graining. I have it as a PDF so you (or anyone else) who wants to PM me their email addy, I'll be happy to email it to ya!

My results using Irvin's technique.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Tom Geiger

[southpier]

i like those wheels. could you share their origin?

[Alyn]

I have a tutorial done by Irvin Arter on wood graining. I have it as a PDF so you (or anyone else) who wants to PM me their email addy, I'll be happy to email it to ya!

Tom, your results look great. My pretzel sticks are definitely missing the darker shades shown on your work. I added a layer of semi-gloss dull coat on mine and it seemed to hide much of the color variations. Certainly a step backwards.

I'd love to get the tutorial. I'll send you my email.

thanks !

[Alyn]

Here's the results of about a four day process on the wheels. I use artist oils, so planning for drying time is important.

I painted the wheels with some Krylon Meringue and let it set for a day. Then oils were used for the wood grain, starting with brushing on a coat of yellow ochre. Even though some quick drying medium was mixed in, this was left to dry for a day as well. Once the underlying colors were dry some blobs of raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber and burnt umber were smeared on a pallet. These were randomly applied in dabs and streaks by brush, followed by further streaking with a thin dry brush to try and add a little wood grain effect.

After another day and a half of drying time the spokes were covered in semi-gloss dull coat; also by brush. Add another day of drying time This morning I masked around the hub and shot some flat black. This evening, I masked off the spokes and the hub and shot the green.

You can see the color of the underlying base coat on the three that haven't been painted green yet. I wish they all turned out like the one on the left, but this was too much work for do-overs.

Here's the green one with the tire mounted. I still plan on dabbing some dark brown on some of the lighter areas where the base coat shows through, add valve stems, and hand paint the rim clamps either silver or black.

I had some spare time while watching all the paint dry, so I scratch built a screw driver. It'll end up in a tool box later on.

I also toned down the leather cracking on the seat cushion. Here's how it looks so far with some further weathering still to come.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Alyn

[vintagedragfan]

the wheels look fantastic Alyn ol buddy! maybe you could add just a tiny bit of weathering to the wheels around the center and outer spokes to help blend the light spots, just a thought, I think silver rim clamps would really set the green off, man don't lose that screwdriver!! awesome work as usual!!

[David G.]

Fantastic work! Love the added detail.

David G.