Dennis Lacy Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) Grabbed one of these new kits (finally) last weekend. Thanks to Tim Boyd's excellent review pictures I pretty much came up with a solid plan ahead of time. I'm undecided if this is going to be a full mid-60's competition car or competition-inspired hardcore street going hot rod. I haven't done anything that would swing it one way or the other - yet. I started the chassis modifications with the rear axle and suspension from Revell's Mazmanian '41 Willys which consists of an early Oldsmobile axle, quarter elliptic springs, tubular shocks and loooooooooooong ladder bars. This entire setup was surprisingly easy to fit into the A frame. All of the joints are pinned together with .040" Evergreen rod. The molded on axle stands will be removed in the end. I used them to locate the axle while fitting everything. The brake plates and finned brake drums from the '30 Coupe kit were then fit to the Olds axle with .060" Evergreen rod protruding to attach the wheels. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The complete set of pin-drive knock-off Halibrand wheels, ribbed track tires and M&H slicks are from Revell's Orange Crate '32 Sedan. To fit the rears I simply shaved the backsides of the wheels flat and center-drilled them to fit onto the .060" pins on the axle. Super easy! Hosted on Fotki The kits tubular center frame member was modified by building up a new transmission mount with additional triangulated gussets on the sides. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I forgot to take a good, clear picture of the engine assembly but this pic mostly shows it. It is the Ford 427 SOHC "Cammer" out of AMT's '33 Willys. I removed the molded on C6 auto trans and installed the bell housing from a Revell parts pack 427 Ford engine and the GM Hydro (B&M Hydro-Stick) auto trans from Revell's Cadillac parts pack engine. New engine mounts were added to the forward part of the frame to accommodate the molded brackets on the sides of the engine. Hosted on Fotki I had to trim out the front part of the floor to 1) clear the bell housing and trans and 2) allow the engine to sit up higher in the frame because the installed height allowed by the original shallow hump in the floor would have the entire oil pan below! the frame. Hosted on Fotki I installed some temporary pins to hold the wheels on the front axle and have a '32 shell with solid grill panel from Revell's 5-Window sitting in place. If I go for a streetable car I will put a normal grill and the A kit front brakes and finned drums. Instead of the blower setup from the '33 Willys I used the dual 4-barrel intake and carburetors also from Revell's 427 Ford parts pack engine. The engine was mounted so that the intake carburetor mounting pads are level. The Hilborn scoop is from the blower option in the new A kit. The headers are from the Mazmanian Willys. I also didn't notice until I was processing the pictures but I sure did manage to tack the drivers cam cover on crooked. Good lord! One of the issues with the channeled versions of these new A kits is that there seems to be a lot of "dead air" under the car. The heavy duty ladder bars hanging under there sure do solve that problem! There have been no modifications to alter the stance other than the rubber rake caused by the new wheels & tires. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Lots more to come. Any thoughts welcome! Edited July 18, 2016 by Dennis Lacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Like it. Great start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Stance and drivetrain angle look perfect- DO NOT mess with any of that. For some reason I'm seeing it in a metallic blue with white accents, and with a relatively stripped but still decently-appointed cockpit- maybe some tuck and roll padding on the kit-supplied bomber seats, or something to that end. Might need to steal a few of your ideas for use on one of the many '30's I now have in the stash... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Nice work, Dennis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Good looking project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Awesome looking so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intmd8r Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Really like the direction this build is going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted July 18, 2016 Author Share Posted July 18, 2016 Stance and drivetrain angle look perfect- DO NOT mess with any of that. For some reason I'm seeing it in a metallic blue with white accents, and with a relatively stripped but still decently-appointed cockpit- maybe some tuck and roll padding on the kit-supplied bomber seats, or something to that end. Might need to steal a few of your ideas for use on one of the many '30's I now have in the stash... Yeah, stance and drivetrain angle are set so no worries there. Not sure what the final colors will be. I'm leaning heavily towards full competition car which would be a mid-60's Altered. I'm probably going to use the yellow Malco Products decals from AMT's '33 Willys and thinking of using yellow as an accent color to tie in so the main color would have to go with that. The interior is gonna be spartan with the kit "skeleton" panels. If I go full Altered I will probably use the single bucket seat from the Mazmanian Willys which has tuck & roll padding (Altered's only required a driver seat). I'll save those sweet bomber seats for something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 nice ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Very nice so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Eeeevil!Love it so far, and thanks for all the clear photos of the various modifications. The ladder bars really do fill out the undercarriage nicely, giving it that "highboy" visual bulk.The Hilborn scoop in the '30 kit is really sweet, isn't it.Another thing that I'm very happy about with the '30 kit is that while the Orange Crate front tires look too small on a 1/24 Monogram "A", they look just right on the new 1/25 version. I definitely like them more than the hard-edged dirt-track tires in the new kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I really like the way this looks so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Eeeevil!Love it so far, and thanks for all the clear photos of the various modifications. The ladder bars really do fill out the undercarriage nicely, giving it that "highboy" visual bulk. The Hilborn scoop in the '30 kit is really sweet, isn't it. Another thing that I'm very happy about with the '30 kit is that while the Orange Crate front tires look too small on a 1/24 Monogram "A", they look just right on the new 1/25 version. I definitely like them more than the hard-edged dirt-track tires in the new kit. Thanks, Chris! I've always loved the look of the Orange Crate's Firestone ribbed track tires. I also love the fact that the Halibrand wheels have all the inside reinforcement detail. If I go full Altered with this project it won't have front brakes and the extra wheel detail will go a long way towards the overall appearance of the car. The ribbed track tires in the new A kits (and first seen in the Stacy David roadster) are also Firestone's (minus the name because of licensing, of course) and are actually very accurate to the real thing. The real ones have the hard edges to the sidewall blocks. In any case, I've always been a fan of the Firestone ribbed track tires on vintage styled hot rods and race cars. I'm really happy that Revell stepped up and gave us a killer set of tires, finally! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 No kidding! Having a set of accurate vintage dirt-track style hot rod tires, right out of the box, is amazing. I'm just a fan of the other style *shrug*. If Revell were to tool up some really nice wire wheels to go with those tires...well now, that would be just beyond perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Dennis...great start so far. Love the theme. Have used that rear axle/quarter elliptic setup on some of my Gasser and A/SR - AA/SR builds myself...an outstanding selection on your part. Will be enjoying watching this one come together....TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron_F Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Great work so far! That rear axle just works so well with this kit! I'll be waiting at the starting line with my '29 roadster, ready for a match race! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 (edited) No kidding! Having a set of accurate vintage dirt-track style hot rod tires, right out of the box, is amazing. I'm just a fan of the other style *shrug*. If Revell were to tool up some really nice wire wheels to go with those tires...well now, that would be just beyond perfect! A good set of traditional 30's wires would be killer, for sure! In particular, Kelsey Hayes 16" 40-spoke accessory wheels from the mid-30's that were on virtually every hot rod before WWII. This is my favorite wheel for the Firestone track tires, they just look so natural together. I had a set on my Deuce Pickup with Firestone bias-plys for years. Hosted on Fotki Edited July 21, 2016 by Dennis Lacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 Dennis...great start so far. Love the theme. Have used that rear axle/quarter elliptic setup on some of my Gasser and A/SR - AA/SR builds myself...an outstanding selection on your part. Will be enjoying watching this one come together....TIM Thanks, Tim. Having you comment on my projects always means a lot to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 Great work so far! That rear axle just works so well with this kit! I'll be waiting at the starting line with my '29 roadster, ready for a match race! Right? This rear suspension set up practically falls right into place on the channeled A frame from these kits. I eyeballed fitting it to the '32 frame and it would be a bit more work but still doable. It's funny because when I selected the rear end setup and Orange Crate rolling stock I wasn't even thinking about your killer roadster. Then I went and had another look at it when you put it up on TRaK and realized what was going on, LOL! Sure, we can line 'em up but I think my Cammer has a horsepower advantage over your injected Nailhead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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