tim boyd Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) 30-year project just completed Conclusion to “Building a high-tech Smoothie” column in Street Rodder/Modeler’s Corner, April 1990 · See 1990 magazine reprint for photos of body conversion details (compare to stock bodied and mildly kitbashed 1932 Ford Roadster previously built from the same kit) o Hood and grille shell glued to body and molded flush o Grille shell angled rearward at top o Hood beading extended into grille shell o Door openings recut to match angle grille shell o Hood recut with integral extension over cowl and top of grille shell o All character lines and beading removed from rear quarter panels and trunk area o Panel below grille shell reshaped o Rear fenders bobbed and wheel wells given minor tubs · Three-tone paint using Testors Enamels (Platinum Metallic, Candy Purple over Silver, Gloss Clear, and purple stripes from model airplane Monocote (buried in clear). · Boss 302 engine with “Cross Boss” intake and carb (from Monogram 1970 Boss 302) · Modified/accurized frame rails, reshaped and relocated transmission crossmember, Corvette IRS (from Monogram Beach Boys 1932 Ford Three Window Coupe Kit) · Wheels/tires from Monogram 427 Cobra Roadster kit · Photoeched instrument panel and printed gauges · Ride height lowered all around · Custom inner cowl under hood extension As you are looking, please keep in mind that this was built to the standards of 30 years ago, so the body panel gaps, ever so slightly yellowed gloss clear, and so forth, represent a somewhat different era of model car building. Still, really overjoyed to add to the "finished" status a project that was started so long ago. Lots more pictures below, and thanks for looking.....TIM Edited September 24, 2020 by tim boyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gman Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I am glad you brought this one across the finish line! Excellent workmanship, color choices- looks like a survivor built in that era brought out to see the light of day once again (which I suppose it is). Always a pleasure to see your older builds, even when recently finished off. Thanks for sharing it. That black & orange Deuce looks familiar too. I was a very big fan of your column in Street Rodder, which led me to SAE and Model Cars magazines (among others). Many an inspiration came from those pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 They're both beautiful looking builds. I also like the interesting paint schemes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 They are both very sharp ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classicgas Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Absolutely on trend for thirty years ago! I've been finishing a few decades old projects myself lately and you do run the risk of looking out of date when in fact you are just catching up! I love that it is a total package, the grille shell slope matching the door cuts, the digital gauges, the smoothy body style ( not my favourite but absolutely accurate for the time) - it all comes together for a time warp model that is just as relevant as a black-and-red sidey powered hiboy from the fifties. Like gman said, it was these projects of yours in Street Rodder that got me back on the horse and brought me to where I am today in the hobby. Thank you for taking the time to answer a letter from a guy in the bush in Western Australia nearly forty years ago! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonhawk1066 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Looks awesome! Paint job definitely has that 90's vibe. Just a very cool looking '32 Roadster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koellefornia Kid Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Very nice, Tim! It perfectly represents the style of a Hot Rod at the time my interest in such cars started. I kinda grew up with these early 90s Rods and I still love them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcarfan27 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Great work Tim! I don't have the Street Rodder article, so please forgive me for asking, But which kit did you start from - AMT, MPC, Monogram, or Revell? If I'm not mistaken, the Revell kit came out around '96, so that's probably not it. If it was the AMT, then color me very impressed! That would've taken a lot of work to do what you described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bartrop Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 It still looks sharp! It's kind of sobering that the high tech "Modern" look is over 30 years old now. The new traditional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 I enjoy this throwback to the years when I eagerly anticipated "Modeler's Corner" articles This build is certainly bang-on for the era. Needs a tweed interior, haha! (Or was that more of a late 90s thing) I'd happily build a 90s style rod, but I really want it to be a chopped fat-fender sedan, and there aren't many kits available! Some aspects of the "high-tech" trend are pretty timeless still. Change the wheels and paint (and maybe the headlights) and this '32 could be updated significantly, even with the 90s-style body mods. Love the hood modifications! I still have sketches in my notebooks of similar ideas from the 90s when I was obsessed with "smoothie/hi tech" styling. I keep a bag of parts I've rejected from all the trad-rod builds in anticipations of eventually building some 90s-style stuff. Thanks for sharing and congrats on finally finishing the '32! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 14 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said: Great work Tim! I don't have the Street Rodder article, so please forgive me for asking, But which kit did you start from - AMT, MPC, Monogram, or Revell? If I'm not mistaken, the Revell kit came out around '96, so that's probably not it. If it was the AMT, then color me very impressed! That would've taken a lot of work to do what you described. Patric, it was based on the Monogram 1/24th scale 1932 Ford Roadster kit, specifically the mid-1980's modest update of the tool. The orange/black car in some of the images is essentially that kit, albeit with different set of wheels and Posies-style two tone. In fact, the only part(S) I used from the all new c. 1996 Revell Ford Street Rod kits were the block-hugger headers. Everything else dates from 1989 or earlier, excepting the fog lights which are from the 2013 Revell kit of the 1970 Hemi-Cuda. Thx for the comments and question...TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 14 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said: It still looks sharp! It's kind of sobering that the high tech "Modern" look is over 30 years old now. The new traditional? Richard, interesting comments to be sure. Time sure does fly. I wonder how the troops would react to a hot rod with these types of extensive body changes, but otherwise done in pure traditional hot rod style (single 1950's paint color, tall n taller skinnies on steelies, Ford Y-Block, etc.) Hmmm....TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 12 hours ago, Spex84 said: I enjoy this throwback to the years when I eagerly anticipated "Modeler's Corner" articles This build is certainly bang-on for the era. Needs a tweed interior, haha! (Or was that more of a late 90s thing) I'd happily build a 90s style rod, but I really want it to be a chopped fat-fender sedan, and there aren't many kits available! Some aspects of the "high-tech" trend are pretty timeless still. Change the wheels and paint (and maybe the headlights) and this '32 could be updated significantly, even with the 90s-style body mods. Love the hood modifications! I still have sketches in my notebooks of similar ideas from the 90s when I was obsessed with "smoothie/hi tech" styling. I keep a bag of parts I've rejected from all the trad-rod builds in anticipations of eventually building some 90s-style stuff. Thanks for sharing and congrats on finally finishing the '32! Chris....thanks for taking the time to post your comments and thoughts. As for the interior, does anyone remember to old Accu-Pro hi-tech interior parts for this kit? Those are the ones I had set aside three decades ago to finish the model, but in the time since the original kit's 1960's era interior has come back in style, and in reviewing the project recently before I began the effort to finish it, I thought that kit interior actually fit the overall sty ling of the body better than the Accu-Pro parts, so that's the way I went. As for that tweed upholstery fad, sounds like we are in the same boat when it comes to that topic! And, obviously, I'd love to see your project if you ever decide to go ahead with it....! Cheers....TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, tim boyd said: I wonder how the troops would react to a hot rod with these types of extensive body changes, but otherwise done in pure traditional hot rod style (single 1950's paint color, tall n taller skinnies on steelies, Ford Y-Block, etc.) Hmmm....TIM I think that's exactly what's going on with Ridler and AMBR award contenders these days! All the impulses of the hi-tech era persist, it's just that they've been marinated in "traditional" so the end result seems current. *EDIT* So go for it! This guy would love to see what you'd come up with Edited September 23, 2020 by Spex84 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Very interesting and thought provoking thread. It got me to thinking of all the eras and styles of hot rodding. Some of those were simply timeless but just about any car can be made to look current with a change of colour, wheels and stance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Very sharp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAMBENNA Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 perfect, such a excellent job, love the colors and paint job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 This is awesome, Tim! I remember the black and white shot from Modelers Corner showing the group of bodies you were working on at the time, this one among them. You definitely nailed the old hi-tech look with the finished model. All the body modifications I remember seeing on the full scale feature cars in Street Rodder, in particular the hood top and sides blended into the grill shell. It also makes me extremely happy to see the “Posies Two-Tone” roadster. I fondly remember that Modelers Corner how-to and how you showed sinking the springs into the cross members to get the slammed stance. You better believe I dig into one and built it just like yours, wheels, tires and all except mine was solid red. At the time I wasn’t confident enough to mask and spray the upper half black. My model is long gone but this makes me want to build a modern version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeRS Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Great to see a build of this era. The 90s is when I first got into street rods. I used to think smoothed our bodies and billet parts was the way it would always be, and that traditional rods were dead for ever! How times change. Back then, to find a copy of Street Rodder in the UK was not easy. When I did, I’d go straight to the modellers corner. Thanks for sharing this build. It captures the era perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Super nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PARTS GUY Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 Looks good as does the other roadster. I remember getting the mail before my dad in the early eighties just so I could read modelers corner in Street Rodder. The real cars were cool, but I was still building model cars and the stuff you were doing, especially the 39 Chevy sedan delivery was WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted September 27, 2020 Author Share Posted September 27, 2020 Guys....I'm pretty surprised by how many of you remember those old Street Rodder Modeler's Corner columns. Very, very cool to know that in their own way they inspired you all. Dennis....it really is cool to hear that you built your own Posies-style rod based on that article! And Kyle...here are some more recent pictures of that Street Rodder Sedan Delivery project, in case you have not already seen these updates. Thanks again everyone for your comments and memories! TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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