Ace-Garageguy

Very fine work. Though I like this kit immensely, there are some issues that someone who's spent a lifetime looking at, driving, and working on real ones will find immediately jarring. Still, your build shows how good this kit can look.

Historic Racing Miniatures and Accurate Miniatures. Limited availability now, but my kind of material...and the only kits I'd ever build pretty much as they come. Gunze, Tamiya and Fujimi close behind. Then Revellogram, AMT, Johan, Heller, SMER, Lindberg, etc. as source material for heavy mods/upgrades.

Guess you missed page one of this thread.

OK. I was aware of the incorrect exhausts on the early one (though I've never actually seen one), but not the incorrect intake manifold. Good to know. Thanks. How does one tell from the box which is which?

I just tried to register. Same problem as the OP.

I bought a Dauphine Gordini with a burned exhaust valve once for $35. Had the head off in about 20 minutes, cut the exhaust seats, lapped the intakes, put in 4 new exhausts, and drove it home that afternoon. Not fast, but a perfectly adequate little car that routinely got over 30MPG, no matter how it was driven. The Gordini, was the "high-performance" version. I think it had something like 9 more horsepower than the base engine. Yippie-yi-yo-kayah. Feel them horses, pardner.

Isn't that blower a little gem? One of the nicest resin parts I've ever seen.

The Revell Ardun engine has a reasonably correct 3X2 intake manifold. There's simply no way a flathead manifold will work on an Ardun, model or otherwise. The intake port layout on an Ardun is similar to a Chrysler hemi...four evenly spaced ports on each head. Replicas and Miniatures makes the complete setup. I bought all he had back at the November show here.

You need the heads, intake manifold (and carbs), as well as the EXHAUST manifolds. Ardun HEADS have 4 exhaust ports and manifolds to match. Flatheads have 3 exhaust ports IN THE BLOCK, and must also have manifolds to match. NOTE: When a flathead is converted to an OHV Ardun, the exhaust ports in the block are no longer used, and are capped.

I'd wager those fenders are the stock width. The rear axle is very narrow, and the frame rails have been narrowed as well.

If you don't want to buy a couple of kits just to get an engine and the right bits, the ancient Revell parts'pack 427 is really very good. Overlooked and sneered at by some, it builds up into a good looking piece, and includes a 2X4 setup. They're available on eBay for reasonable money...though the prices are rising. Originally tooled 50+ years ago, it STILL is worth a look. NOTE: The parts-pack engine only includes aftermarket finned alloy valve covers, so if you want the stamped steel ones like in your photo and the model engine above, you'll have to source them elsewhere...or scratch, which really isn't all that difficult. Also, just FYI...the parts-pack blown version places the distributor (a dual-point Spalding Flamethrower, NOT a magneto) in the wrong location.

Good question, Bob. It depends on what the final vertical dimension of the kingpin boss of the particular axle I'm using turns out to be. What I'll usually do is work one end down to a semi-finished configuration, and measure the vertical dimension with calipers. Then compare that dimension with the inside dimensions of channel I have in stock, pick the one that will work, and go from there. The kingpin boss gets finished to the nominal dimension of the chosen channel. Naturally, the finished dimension of the kingpin bosses will be different on various axles. Immediately below is the dropped axle from the OLD Revell 1/25 '28-'31 Ford kits. In this case, backing plates with integral spindles may be used. Below is a dropped axle from an early AMT hot-rod kit. These are found in the '32, '36, and '40, and with some work, can be made into acceptable high-detail parts.

Nope. It's being used as an attempt to conflate two thoroughly different procedures, that of forging metal and that of forming composite sheet-molding-compound in matched press-dies, into a term that is, frankly, highly misleading...especially to those outside the composite materials industry. "Fake" or "counterfeit" carbon fiber has been available commercially for well over a decade, in the form of decals, other types of decorative film, and black-dyed fiberglass. The stuff really does have some interesting and novel characteristics, and its use in highly-stressed structural applications where traditional carbon fabrication techniques don't work well at all, looks promising. But it's no more "forged" than I am...though the term is kinda typical in a world that now largely ignores word meanings.

It's back across all my devices now too...but it was gone when I posted.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, it's important to note that "forged" carbon is nowhere near as strong as traditional carbon with carefully oriented fiber. "Forged" carbon is essentially chopped carbon fibers and resin goo, pressed in matched molds. It was developed to make carbon parts quickly and economically, in shapes that would be too complex to be laid-up in the traditional manner, at considerable reduction in structural strength. Think of the difference between particle board or MDF, etc, and plywood, and you have the idea.They all use wood fibers and glue, but the specific orientation of the fibers in plywood, and the much longer fibers, results in much greater strength. "Forged" carbon really isn't forged at all, as anyone familiar with metallurgy will realize instantly. Forging is the repeated hammering of a metal into a shape that has much better controlled grain than cast metal, is more dense, and is stronger as a result. "Forged" applied to carbon is a catchy marketing term whose meaning is stretched far from its correct definition. "Forged" carbon is used primarily in relatively low-stress parts, for now, and though work is moving forward to try to utilize it for things like suspension control arms, so far, it's not being integrated into production vehicles in high-stress applications. NOTE: The Wikipedia article contains several errors and/or incorrect or incomplete information regarding this material.