'26/'27 turtle deck T hot rod kits requested

[Dennis Lacy]

Well Hell, if we're posting models we made out of '26-'27 Roadster bodies. These are both made from Altered States bodies.

Hosted on Fotki

Hosted on Fotki

[Bernard Kron]

OK, I'll play...

[horsepower]

Thanks for the clarification, I did do some research after I posted (yeah I know that I did it dead backwards) and did see that the Ala-Kart used the "baby Hemi" 241c.i. engine and it is smaller BUT not as small as the new kit would lead us to believe. Maybe they were confused and someone provided one of the REALLY little Daimler Hemi's for them to measure. If that's the case then it's out of scale again, but this time it's a bit on the large size. (Would be nice to have one of the Daimler engines in scale to put in one of the Revell Midget kits)

[Eric Macleod]

On 11/11/2017 at 12:48 AM, Richard Bartrop said:

Ideally an option for a stock 26-27 roadster would be nice, but something tat builds up into a traditional style roadster would still be very welcome.  Options for Deuce and track roadster fronts would certainly work, as would a nice set of Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels.  Now injection moulded wired wheels don't always look that great.  but I thought Jo-han had a great solution for that.  If you look at their Gold Cup classics, the spokes have a rectangular cross section that looks close to scale thickness when viewed n the finished model, but there's still enough plastic to do the job.   Photo-etch spokes are certainly an option, especially with the premium prices that modelers are increasingly expected to pay.

 

 

 

I am finishing a complete set of stock 26-7 Ts now. Its a big project but can be done. It is currently up under the heading assembly line Fords on the workbench. 

[jeff f]

Still hoping for 33 - 34 Fords , in four or five variants .

Jeff .

[Art Anderson]

On 11/11/2017 at 9:32 AM, tim boyd said:

If done correctly (e.g. original OEM parts breakdown) this could be done both as a '26/'27 turtledeck and as a '26/'27 roadster pickup kit.  That's one of the angles I've been pushing....

TIM

 

Simple as pie!   On all Model T Fords, the "turtle deck"  (trunk, actually) was never part of the roadster body, but rather a bolted on unit.  Remove that, bolt in place the pickup box--and PRESTO, a Model T Ford Roadster Pickup!  That is exactly what Ford did, when in 1925, they became the very first automaker to mass-produce a pickup truck, and the assembly sequence stayed the same for 1926-27.   Now, I may have written about this one before!  The early AMT "Sell Sheet" showing a '27 T/XR-6 Trophy Series kit, SHOWED a stock '27 Roadster, but that was quickly changed, to show the  Touring Car.  

Even though the Roadster and Roadster pickup '27 T was never done by AMT--it's not rocket science to make one.  For 1926, Ford's roadster was very simply, just the front half of the touring car body--which can easily be done using the back panel of the front seat of the Touring, and cutting away the rear portion of the Touring body as you can see in this picture.  That is a stalled project from about 10 yrs ago or so, for a "bob-tailed" '27 T hot rod.  For the pickup box, simply use the box from the AMT '25 T Double Kit, which is still about as plentiful as popcorn.

ARt

[Dennis Lacy]

5 hours ago, Art Anderson said:

Simple as pie!   On all Model T Fords, the "turtle deck"  (trunk, actually) was never part of the roadster body, but rather a bolted on unit.  Remove that, bolt in place the pickup box--and PRESTO, a Model T Ford Roadster Pickup!  That is exactly what Ford did, when in 1925, they became the very first automaker to mass-produce a pickup truck, and the assembly sequence stayed the same for 1926-27.   Now, I may have written about this one before!  The early AMT "Sell Sheet" showing a '27 T/XR-6 Trophy Series kit, SHOWED a stock '27 Roadster, but that was quickly changed, to show the  Touring Car.  

Even though the Roadster and Roadster pickup '27 T was never done by AMT--it's not rocket science to make one.  For 1926, Ford's roadster was very simply, just the front half of the touring car body...

ARt

 

Your text implies that a roadster cab is just the front half of touring. Very misleading. The roadster cab has specific quarter panels and rear panel that are nothing like the touring body pieces. Cowl and doors are the same and that's where it ends.

[iBorg]

Count me in as wanting a '27. Its my most wanted street rod.

[Eric Macleod]

2 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Your text implies that a roadster cab is just the front half of touring. Very misleading. The roadster cab has specific quarter panels and rear panel that are nothing like the touring body pieces. Cowl and doors are the same and that's where it ends.

You are absolutely right.  The bodies are the same from the front doors forward but are completely different in the seat areas on back. Actually the Runabout  (Ford didn't call it a Roadster, unless it was a Roadster Pickup) has quite a bit more room than a Touring.

[Eric Macleod]

Here is what a Flintstone resin looks like when built stock.Not too bad IMHO.

[tim boyd]

13 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Your text implies that a roadster cab is just the front half of touring. Very misleading. The roadster cab has specific quarter panels and rear panel that are nothing like the touring body pieces. Cowl and doors are the same and that's where it ends.

Dennis, I agree, that's what my research shows as well. 

As for the roadster cab itself, that portion IS shared between the Turtledeck and the Pickup body styles - only the rear clips are different.  This is what makes a model kit offering both versions such a viable possibility.   The Touring body, as you say, is completely different starting at the rear edge of the front door to all the way back from there.    

BTW, I also have a "bobbed" (for lack of a better word) '27 T Touring project underway - first constructed about 15 years ago, that appears largely similar to Art's image, except that it does not have the "dog legs" at the bottom of the rear quarter as shown in Art's pic.  (Art, I'd love to see you finish your project!)   I made mine from the front half of the AMT Touring kit body, along with a rear piece that is the kit's front bench seat back panel, slightly widened.  In real life these "shorty" T's were nothing more than the front half of the touring body, including the front seatback which was a sheet metal part.  

TIM 

 

 

[Eric Macleod]

Here is the basic problem. Having had a few of these apart in 1:1 scale you need the bottom part of the Runabout body all the way back and bolt either the turtle deck or the pickup box to that. Here is how it looks done. Again, I used a Flintstone resin as my basis. 

[Eric Macleod]

One thingI see I forgot to mention in this most interesting thread is I too would welcome a good, easy to build "improved Ford" kit. Either a variant of the existing AMT kit as Art mentioned or a from scratch new model (would it be too much to ask for a really nice stock engine and period hotrod wheels?), anything would be welcome.

[Richard Bartrop]

ICM seems to think there's money to be made with stock brass era T's, so maybe they're the ones to talk to about later models?

[bbowser]

Does anyone know how the ICM kits are selling over here?  I've bought one of each of their 1/24 kits so far, as well as the Opel.  Sales would pique their interest in adding more?  They've done several variations of the basic 1912-15 Model T.

[Eric Macleod]

I too have bought at least one of each. I keep hoping they will scale up the Packard and Mercedes 770 kits to 1:24. We can dream, right?

[High octane]

This 1:1street rod belongs to a friend of mine and would look good in scale.....................

[Richard Bartrop]

1 hour ago, Eric Macleod said:

I too have bought at least one of each. I keep hoping they will scale up the Packard and Mercedes 770 kits to 1:24. We can dream, right?

I could defintiely get behind those too.  There seems to be a market among the military modelers for period automobiles for dioramas.   Maybe at some point we have ask ourselves how badly we need them to be in 1/24 or 1/25?

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

On 12/8/2017 at 7:38 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

Your text implies that a roadster cab is just the front half of touring. Very misleading. The roadster cab has specific quarter panels and rear panel that are nothing like the touring body pieces. Cowl and doors are the same and that's where it ends.

ADL knows of what he speaks... -RRR

[Eric Macleod]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 12:17 AM, High octane said:

This 1:1street rod belongs to a friend of mine and would look good in scale.....................

That wheel and tire combination would be welcome on many workbenches as well...including mine!

[bbowser]

On 12/12/2017 at 11:06 PM, Eric Macleod said:

I too have bought at least one of each. I keep hoping they will scale up the Packard and Mercedes 770 kits to 1:24. We can dream, right?

I would love a scaled up Packard!

[Art Anderson]

On 12/9/2017 at 9:41 AM, tim boyd said:

Dennis, I agree, that's what my research shows as well. 

As for the roadster cab itself, that portion IS shared between the Turtledeck and the Pickup body styles - only the rear clips are different.  This is what makes a model kit offering both versions such a viable possibility.   The Touring body, as you say, is completely different starting at the rear edge of the front door to all the way back from there.    

BTW, I also have a "bobbed" (for lack of a better word) '27 T Touring project underway - first constructed about 15 years ago, that appears largely similar to Art's image, except that it does not have the "dog legs" at the bottom of the rear quarter as shown in Art's pic.  (Art, I'd love to see you finish your project!)   I made mine from the front half of the AMT Touring kit body, along with a rear piece that is the kit's front bench seat back panel, slightly widened.  In real life these "shorty" T's were nothing more than the front half of the touring body, including the front seatback which was a sheet metal part.  

TIM 

 

 

Of course I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the basic dimensions of the Roadster "bucket" and the front "half" of the touring car body, if not exactly the same,  were surely close enough to withstand any criticism.  My fault for not pointing this out in the first place.   The other mistake I made in my post was not saying that my intention was to show that a '26-'27 T Roadster bucket could be made from the forward half of the touring body (the body shell I showed, was intended all along to depict a cut-down touring car body on a modern street rod frame, much like one I saw at a show at The University of Notre Dame in South Bend IN, nearly 15 years ago).  Back some 25 years ago, when I was ramping up All American Models (resin castings), I mastered a '27 T roadster with the turtle deck trunk, but as a street rod body--using the fender/running board/floorboard unit from the AMT '27 Touring (to get the length and width right).  The technique I used on the street rod body I showed early on in this topic is the same as what I did back in 1992.  The back panel of the front seat of the touring can be used, I believe, to form the back panel of a roadster body,  albeit with some putty work toward the bottom, to give it a more "straight line" contour when viewed from the side.  For the sides of the trunk (or "turtle deck") unit, I carved those to shape from .100" Evergreen sheet, then formed the upper and rear surfaces from strips of styrene, filed and puttied to shape, with half-round Evergreen strips for the raised moldings.  As I was working from only a few images of a real '27 T roadster body back then (before I had internet access, and certainly before much in the way of photographs of the real thing were available online), I didn't know that the turtledeck actually has a slight upward curve, side-to-side, seen easily when viewed from the rear, but I now have reference pics that clearly show the correct shape and contour:

Art

 

[Art Anderson]

The above pics were taken on my visit to the "Centennial T Party",  hosted by the Model T Ford Club of America,  at the Wayne County IN Fairgrounds,  on July 25, 2008.

Art

[Eric Macleod]

20 hours ago, Art Anderson said:

The above pics were taken on my visit to the "Centennial T Party",  hosted by the Model T Ford Club of America,  at the Wayne County IN Fairgrounds,  on July 25, 2008.

Art

Why didn't you say "Hi" while you were there Art? My dad and I took one of our cars down there, my '26 Touring. It was a great event. Nearly 1000 Ts in nearly every configuration offered by Ford.

[Tom Geiger]

Just for the record... Green Hornet kit in 1/24.  Deck is a separate part.