gwolf Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) Hi all, Not everyone is going to like this one, and that's ok. It's a parts box build of the Revell HOT ROD '34 Ford Roadster. I bought multiples of these kits cheap at a flea market in ziploc bags. All I kept of the '34 Ford was the bodies, tub pieces, radiator chrome, etc. The awful chassis, wheels, tires, and modern seats got tossed, lost, or donated. I like the body and I like the challenge of throwing parts at it, so here we go. It'll be an entry in The Race of Gentlemen contest at the Mid-Atlantic NNL. I need a frame so I'll use a beat up parts box AMT 32 Ford frame. It'll need a lot of sanding and clean up. The molded-in rear axle sticks out a little on each side and will need to be trimmed to fit underneath the (seemingly off-scale) '34 Ford body. Why use a '32 frame on a '34 body? Because that's the parts I have. Decisions, decisions... Do I want the axle mount and frame horns behind the radiator or in front of it. The '32 Ford frame almost seems too long for the Revell '34 body. If I go for the behind the radiator choice I could cut out a section of the frame and and that would allow it to sit back. Or I could just make a real big mess and mount the axle where it actually goes for a suicide front suspension look. Not shown, but I've cut fender well / wall inserts from sheet styrene that I'll glue in behind the wheel wells. The interior tub is three pieces; two doors and the tub itself. I sanded off all the details from the doors and covered them as well as the tub with Wallstickery Cherry Wood Grain Paper. I'll scribe out door lines later. The three piece tub fits together poorly, so the door sections will have to be glued, set in place, then clipped onto the body interior with binder clips. Later I'll finangle the tub part in. More later. Edited April 12, 2019 by gwolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 I like it! Looking good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 First off I like your idea about the TROG build. I also think it's great to use all the left overs you have laying around. The hood and sides look shorter than they should be. I'm not sure how hard and fast you're trying to stay with the TROG rule book but I don't think they include a suicide style front suspension. The chassis you're using may be a 1/24th as well as not really being accurate. In the picture it looks as if the body might move forward maybe an 1/8th to 1/4 max. This still wouldn't get you where you need to be for the radiator shell. The grill you have should have a shell that it sits in and that will give you a little length. Some material could be added to the hood to lengthen it also. Yesterday I was watching Barrett-Jackson in Palm Beach on TV. I would see if you could find it on the net or go to their web site and look for the '34 Ford they had in their auction. While it was a sedan body style any pictures of the front end would give you a good idea of how the 1:1 is set up, the one in the auction looked like the radiator shell was laid back a little bit more than a stock one. Another thing to remember, I don't think that TROG requires a hood or I could be wrong. Either way I will follow your build as it looks very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Just FYI...that particular '34 Ford body is indeed WAY under-scale, as you surmised. It was tooled in a misguided attempt to fit it to the tubular chassis under the Buttera T kits, which were correctly scaled. Also, the AMT '32 Ford frame is 1/25, and it's correctly scaled as well. The T wheelbase this '34 Ford was shrunk down to fit is 100". The wheelbase of a '32 Ford is 106" The wheelbase of a '34 Ford is 112". That's why everything looks like it's oddly off, and nothing fits. In reality, this tiny under-scale body is about the right size to be a '34 Fiat 508, which looks much like a tiny Ford, and had a 95.3" wheelbase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 1 minute ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Just FYI...that particular '34 Ford body is indeed WAY under-scale, as you surmised. It was tooled in a misguided attempt to fit it to the tubular chassis under the Buttera T kits, which were correctly scaled. Also, the AMT '32 Ford frame is 1/25, and it's correctly scaled as well. The T wheelbase this '34 Ford was shrunk down to fit is 100". The wheelbase of a '32 Ford is 106" The wheelbase of a '34 Ford is 112". That's why everything looks like it's oddly off, and nothing fits. In reality, this tiny under-scale body is about the right size to be a '34 Fiat 508, which looks much like a tiny Ford, and had a 95.3" wheelbase. Very interesting, Bill. I wondered about the wheelbases, myself. This build may not be perfect in the real world, but it's fun to throw parts at it and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) 4 minutes ago, gwolf said: ...it's fun to throw parts at it and see what happens. I agree. And according to the ROG rules, it's pretty much a wide-open set of specs. https://www.theraceofgentlemen.com/race-entry Edited April 12, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 (edited) Been working a little more on this: Used sheet styrene to create a pair of contoured fender walls to hide the open areas. I used a Crazy Glue type adhesive and that worked fantastic. It's not perfect, but it doesn't need to be. A test fit of the body with the added fender walls over the '32 frame and a different, parts box front suspension. I'm beginning to see it come to life. Edited April 19, 2019 by gwolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisc63 Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 The front fender openings in that body are now positioned about right for some funky chrome header exits, maybe some megaphones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkyardjeff Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Could a AMT hood be used to get it where it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 On 4/19/2019 at 8:13 PM, bisc63 said: The front fender openings in that body are now positioned about right for some funky chrome header exits, maybe some megaphones... Hey now, I like that idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 On 4/12/2019 at 11:34 AM, Ace-Garageguy said: I agree. And according to the ROG rules, it's pretty much a wide-open set of specs. https://www.theraceofgentlemen.com/race-entry It's interesting that the rules state "no headlights" and the car shown in the header of these rules has them! I have a car built for this class, and it has headlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 9 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said: It's interesting that the rules state "no headlights" and the car shown in the header of these rules has them! I have a car built for this class, and it has headlights. That is kinda funny. Most of the photos I find are sans headlights but some still have them. They have the rule I'm sure to keep broken headlight glass off the beach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Curious what is so "awful" about the kit supplied chassis under this 34? It's actually a pretty nice representation of late 70's street rod tech, with the open Jag rear. The problem with this kit, like Ace said, is that they took the Buttera T kit (on the bottom right of that 3 car set pictured) and shrunk a 34 type body to fit the much shorter wheelbase of a T. On to your build. I dig it so far, but I would lose the way too short hood pieces. That would give you the opportunity to stick a cool engine in there, and put the grille closer to where it belongs. You can still keep it back a little as it's giving a cool look, but just needs to move a little forward from where it sits now in my opinion. And I really dig the AlaKart dash/windshield frame, it looks right at home in that body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 A super quick update: Lots of sanding and grinding allowed me to put on a suicide front suspension, which solves a few issues, adds a few more, but lowers the front end, which I like. A quick shot of gray primer on the frame, and a coat of rose coral on the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 On 4/25/2019 at 2:55 PM, Mr. Metallic said: Curious what is so "awful" about the kit supplied chassis under this 34? It's actually a pretty nice representation of late 70's street rod tech, with the open Jag rear. The problem with this kit, like Ace said, is that they took the Buttera T kit (on the bottom right of that 3 car set pictured) and shrunk a 34 type body to fit the much shorter wheelbase of a T. On to your build. I dig it so far, but I would lose the way too short hood pieces. That would give you the opportunity to stick a cool engine in there, and put the grille closer to where it belongs. You can still keep it back a little as it's giving a cool look, but just needs to move a little forward from where it sits now in my opinion. And I really dig the AlaKart dash/windshield frame, it looks right at home in that body. I just don't like the modern chassis... I agree, I don't like the hood pieces- BUT, there's no firewall or I don't have the firewall piece. Ideally, I'd add a bigger engine and move the '34 radiator up to where the it sits on the '32 frame. I have to work with what I've got, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Coming together nicely, and looking believably built for speed from what was available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 So, any progress on this?. I really like what you have done so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted May 13, 2019 Author Share Posted May 13, 2019 Getting an error every time I update... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted May 13, 2019 Author Share Posted May 13, 2019 (edited) Edited May 13, 2019 by gwolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 cool. thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 On 6/23/2019 at 9:51 PM, Modelbuilder Mark said: cool. thanks for sharing Thanks Mark, took me forever to even get those photos posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 4, 2020 Author Share Posted April 4, 2020 (edited) Reformatting Edited April 5, 2020 by gwolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 (edited) Reformatting Edited April 5, 2020 by gwolf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolf Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 I don't think my updates are showing up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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