17 replies to this topic

[Ace-Garageguy]

I started this one a long time ago, intending to build a pretty much state-of-the-art dry-lakes racer from just before Pearl Harbor. It's 4-cyl. Ford powered with a Riley overhead-valve conversion, a Columbia 2-speed rear end from a '40 Ford, Packard rear wire wheels and tires, a '37 Ford tubular front axle with longitudinal quarter-elliptic leaf springs, all hung from '32 rails. Welded-shut doors, a sheetmetal tonneau and a Miller race-car radiator shell finish off the look.

Frame started as an AMT '32 blobular part, so I cut off the molded axle and fabbed kicked up rear rails.



Rear rail mods done, '40 crossmember installed to hang the Columbia, and the '37 front axle, 'bones and springs mocked up.



Had to make a hood to mate the '29 cowl and the Miller radiator shell.....



....so I made templates of both ends and filled in between....



Also scratch-built a hard tonneau from .020" styrene to get a center seating position...



Little car on its wheels....



And today with the hood fitted better, the rear deck cut out, first coat of primer, and the hole in the tonneau finished...

Edited by Ace-Garageguy, 07 October 2012 - 03:58 PM.

[doggie427]

Beautiful start Bill. This is a very underrepresented era in modelling. Can I ask you where the Miller rad shell came from ?

[Joker]

You had me at "Blobular"....hahaha
Nice combo of parts and great Hot Rod era.
I'm sure the historians will chime in with more trivia
on it.

[cobraman]

Thats a great start. It will be very cool.

[1930fordpickup]

Looks great !!

[H.A.K]

Oh I like that a lot. This looks real good.

[Agent G]

Oh yeah!

My favorite, dry lakes racing.

Looking good!

G

[Gluhead]

This. is. rad.

What's the Miller shell from?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Glad you guys like the vintage dry-lakes thing. For those who asked, the Miller radiator shell is a resin copy I made from a vintage Aurora kit part.

[Albie D]

Funny, I was just leafing through the Throttle Magazine book and now this comes up. Looking forward to this!

[vintagedragfan]

very cool Bill, I like it, great era!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Revell Model A engine salvaged from a gluebomb. (Was put together with contact cement.) '39 Ford gearbox from a gluebomb Ala Kart. Have to scratch an adapter, and will be semi-scratching the head. Revell made a Riley 2-port (background) as did AMT, but nobody made a kit Riley 4-port, which was a lot faster.



Coming along. Thinned the oil-pan rail a bit too.

[Dennis Lacy]

Are you still in need of Riley 4 Port reference pictures? I just realised I have a bunch of close-ups that I took at our local Antique Nationals this past June.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Are you still in need of Riley 4 Port reference pictures? I just realised I have a bunch of close-ups that I took at our local Antique Nationals this past June.

Man, that would be fantastic. I have a few, but most are of incomplete engines or only one side, or of questionable accuracy.

[dimebolt]

Cool build Ace.
Good progress so far. Lookin awesome.
Corey

[Ace-Garageguy]

As usual gentlemen, I thank you all for your interest and kind comments.

An extra special thanks to Dennis Lacy for sending me some great refrence pix of 1:1 Riley 4-port head conversions for the Model A-B-C blocks. Now I have no excuse for not getting it right.

[Dennis Lacy]

My pleasure, Bill!

[vintagedragfan]

very nice work Bill!