RancheroSteve Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I waited until I was a little ways along to start a thread on this one. The Revell Kurtis Offenhauser Midget, with a few modifications. I added a crossmember under the transmission (per Tim Boyd's suggestion), nerf bars to the rear radius rods, and modified the front nerf bar. I'm building a specific car (more about that later), so I've made some other body modifications, as well as custom decals. More soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Henderson Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 VERY nice. those are wonderful little kits... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Porter Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Always awesome to see one of these go together. They're really fantastic builds that don't get enough credit for how clever the tooling is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Looking great, so far! I've been wanting to pick one of these up! 40 minutes ago, Justin Porter said: Always awesome to see one of these go together. They're really fantastic builds that don't get enough credit for how clever the tooling is. Ohh, what did they do with the tooling that was clever? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Porter Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 51 minutes ago, CabDriver said: Looking great, so far! I've been wanting to pick one of these up! Ohh, what did they do with the tooling that was clever? Various small instances where they molded subassemblies together to make them more robust like the front friction shocks. They managed to pack a lot of detail into a relatively tiny kit without making it a fussy mess. It's going to sound hyperbolic, but it's very much akin to the Tamiya Mini Coopers or Lotus Seven in 1/24th scale for how it's designed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I think you ought to leave the body off and display it as is! Then build a second one with the body! What are you favorite metallic finishes and how do you apply them? Thanks for sharing the great pix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I have a few of these kit, they are impressive. Doing a great job with it Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 6 hours ago, Justin Porter said: Various small instances where they molded subassemblies together to make them more robust like the front friction shocks. They managed to pack a lot of detail into a relatively tiny kit without making it a fussy mess. It's going to sound hyperbolic, but it's very much akin to the Tamiya Mini Coopers or Lotus Seven in 1/24th scale for how it's designed. Huh, interesting! I like how Tamiya handled that on both of those kits, it makes what would be a fiddly tricky part of the build into a much more enjoyable one. Thanks for the insight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, Paul Payne said: I think you ought to leave the body off and display it as is! Then build a second one with the body! What are you favorite metallic finishes and how do you apply them? Thanks for sharing the great pix. Thanks for the interest, everyone. I absolutely agree with Justin - this kit is right up there! This is indeed a fine little (and I do mean little) kit; really fun to build, goes together without any drama. Delicate for sure, but very much in scale, with nice opportunities to add a few details here and there. Metallic finishes are a combination of things: Testors Metallizer (airbrushed), Molotow (airbrushed), Tamiya TS-30 (out of the can), some Model Master and Testors bottle paints (brushed on), plus a wash here and there with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Black. I'm also experimenting with a new lighting set-up for photos - I recently bought a couple of rechargeable LED worklights, and the combination of those lights and old-fashioned incandescent bulbs makes for some interesting reflections and color casts, but also illuminates well overall. Edited November 12, 2020 by RancheroSteve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sflam123 Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 As a long time open wheel fan, I'm definitely looking forward to more of this one!! Great start so far!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie libby Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 very nice .looks like it will be a great piece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Getting the bodywork and a few other bits on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Henderson Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 still stunning. I wish they would reissue these as a "2 n 1" with both engines in one kit. Both these engines would work great in Model T and A hot rods... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Looks great ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew McD Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 I am currently in the process of finishing a build of this model. Very satisfying as I've worked through the challenges of the assembly process. I found building up the suspension took some planning and careful work; not a fault of the kit but a reflection of my current skill level.? I'm finding I have the most success if I assemble most parts using Tacky glue to ensure proper fit and understanding of how things should go together and then take it apart, paint and reassemble permanently. I like what you have done with the paint, look forward to seeing how this evolves and learning a little about the car you are modeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 Up on its wheels; the dash is in and wired, and a few more parts added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sflam123 Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Great, GREAT job on this!! It looks near perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted November 20, 2020 Author Share Posted November 20, 2020 More progress: the seat (with belts) is in, windshield and handbrake lever on. Just some decals to put on, a couple of small details, then a few touch-ups and it should be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted November 20, 2020 Share Posted November 20, 2020 Looks great! more! more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 I have really enjoyed the evolution of your Kurtis which has looked fantastic from the first bodiless photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 I decided I was unhappy with how the "snaps" along the sides of the seat looked. I had tried to represent them with dots of silver paint, but it just wasn't cutting it in my eyes. I went back and drilled a series of small holes where the snaps were and inserted pieces of .035" wire. Also applied a few contingency decals; sponsor decals next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 Looks great, Steve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RancheroSteve Posted December 2, 2020 Author Share Posted December 2, 2020 It's done - all except for the trailer, at least - I still need to build that, but here's a shot of it finished. I'm going to do an "Under Glass" post in a few minutes with more photos and details. Thanks to all who commented along the way - your encouragement means a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DustyMojave Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Very nicely done, Steve. Teh markings hit close to home. More about that later. As I posted earlier today in the thread about converting the Monogram Midget into a vintage Sprint car... My avatar is an Offroad race buggy. I built that car in the 1970s and raced it to a Championship and have been involved in offroad racing for many decades. And I grew up around sports car racing. But my dad in the 1940s was a SoCal hotrodder and raced track roadsters and owned and raced his own Kurtis Offy midget. Then from the mid 1980s until I retired in 2015, much of the time I was a self employed race car fabricator. Many of my customer's projects were vintage midgets and sprint cars. So I can share a few photos of those cars for reference. The Revell kits build a beautiful models and there are just a couple of issues I'm unhappy with in them. While I find that the grilles of the 2 Revell Kurtis Midgets don't match any of those I worked on, the one item about the kits that bothers me the most is the inner cowl structure. Something that doesn't show in the assembled model sitting in the display case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DustyMojave Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 That yellow fiberglass body work car is one I worked on nearly 30 years ago. Note that Kurtis gave new midget buyers the option of body in fiberglass or handmade aluminum. This body came from a brand new set of molds taken from an original NOS Kurtis Body. Note the V8-60 engine. It's an interesting one, the sides of the block are thin galvanized sheet steel resistance welded to the cast iron main block instead of cast iron block sides. Thus a noticeable weight savings. The inner cowl structure consists of a 1" tube hoop, that is vertical and as you see, bends forward where it reaches toe straight line of the edge of the hood/cowl. That hoop supports the edge of the dash and the edge of the hood. The firewall is actually a motorplate that mounts the back of the block and the in and out box. The top of the motorplate is, as you see, about even with the top of the body side panels (less upholstery). From there, up to the dash panel is the upper firewall of aluminum sheet to the back of the dash at the steering support bar, that goes across the hoop just at the bottom of the dash panel at the knee cutouts. There are a pair of 1" vertical uprights that support the steering gear and meet the hoop just at the steering shaft support bar. There is a pillow block bearing attached to the cross bar to actually support the steering shaft. You can see that bearing just under the edge of the dash here. Before my career in race car fabricating, I spent more than a decade in Plastics R&D including at Mattel Toys when they owned Monogram Models. I made short run molds along with many other things I did in that line of work. So I understand what it takes to make model kit molds to produce a kit. Considering that, it seems easier to make that part of this kit right than to do it incorrect as it is. Perhaps somebody didn't get a good look inside so had to guess and go? Oh...And those block shapes at the frame ends of the radius rods are part of the frame, so should be painted the same as the frame itself. But overall...Damned nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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