Alyn

I have a hard time resisting the urge to buy kits that I built as a kid. The AMT double T kit is one of them. I saw this one on a vendors table recently and had to grab it. Unfortunately, it only had the parts for the stock Model T.

That's cool. I'll build it.

This will be the pickup version and will also include a wrecker boom. Here's a mock up of the basic parts:



Like many other kits, the rear axle is open on the top. On most models however, the axle is tight up against the underside of the car, so you'd never notice. On a Model T, the top of the axle is highly visible. Some plastic tube was cut in half and used to cover up the gap.



Some scraps were also added on the top of the differential housing and used to fill in the gaps in the brake backing plates. The axle is not done yet, but starting to look better. Since this truck will support a wrecker boom, I scratch built some heavy duty tires using slices of PVC.



I'm using basswood for the bed floor. The wood is stained with Minwax Provincial # 211. This will eventually get a clear coat.



You don't usually see the doors opened up on the Model T roadster body. They're so small.

The real Model T's I've seen have a passenger side door only. This one will have that door opened up. With such a small door, the challenge will be to make hinges small enough to look in scale. These will be my smallest hinges yet.

I'm building the custom version of AMT's excellent 62 Pontiac Catalina kit. While most cars these days have power brakes with the necessary booster, this kit does not. There's only a small, single piston master cylinder which mounts to the firewall. I wanted to dress it up a bit, so I figured adding a booster would help. Here's how I did it:

The main component of the booster is a fat, round disk. Flat styrene could be sandwiched to a suitable thickness and then cut into a round shape however, by starting with tubing, the part will be perfectly round from the start. Tubing the next size down was used to add some working thickness.



.080" Flat styrene was glued to the squared off end of the tubing. I didn't worry about the shape of the flat material. That will be trimmed once the glue dries. The thicker flat stock was used once again to provide enough material for rounding and shaping.



Here's the tube after the .080 was cut down and shaped to match the profile of the tubing. The edges were rounded over to rough in the booster shape.



The end of the tube was then cut off in a miter box to keep it true. I grabbed a scrap of .030" styrene card stock and then using a file and drill, created a flange where the brake master cylinder will mount to the booster.



To finish it off, the master cylinder was glued into the center hole of the flange. bolts were glued on for some added detail. I also cut a small slice of aluminum tubing to emulate a brake line fitting. Paint is craft store gloss black and Model Masters magnesium. The jury's still out on whether or not the cap will be spiffed up with some Alclad or BMF.



You can see the Pontiac WIP here:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45830&st=0

Our friend and fellow KC Slammer webmaster, Ellis Kendrick finished getting around 400 pics uploaded today. Well over 100 photos from the Elden Titus Model Kemp Spectacular and several hundred more of the full size rods and customs that are everywhere you look.

If you need some inspiration for that next cool build, you should be able to find it here.

http://public.fotki....-leadsled-2012/

Here's some pics of one I built a year or so ago, but just finished the WIP today. Revell 40 Ford business coupe. Chopped top, reworked trunk area, reshaped grille shell and headlight buckets. The interior panels scratch built to give the look of inner structural panels. Lots of scratch built details on engine, interior and chassis.

WIP: http://www.modelcars...opic=49399&st=0