Toner283 Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 I built this one after building Revells new 29 Model A Roadster and not being 100% happy with the proportions of it. Something just looked off to my eye. So, with this one I started with the chassis and running gear out of Revells 32 Ford 5 window kit. The chassis is built essentially box stock although 90% of a chrome has been removed in favour of paint. The front spring has been modified and recessed into the front crossmember to drop the front another four or five scale inches. Both front and rear axles have had backing plates added to have drum brakes rather than the kit disc brakes. The backing plates are either from the Revell 29 Ford kit or the RM 40 Ford kit. I don't remember for sure which kit I pirated them from. The hemi is box stock except a scratchbuilt 4 deuce intake with 4 of the strombergs and air cleaners from the Revell 29 ford roadster kit. No wiring or additional detailing was done to the Hemi. Just paint detailing since this is just a shelf model. The biggest difference is the rear wheels. To me, the offset on the steelie rear wheels of Revell's 5 window looks goofy. The centre of the rim is way too close to the outside of the tire. A hot rod with wide wheels should have a deep set rear rim. To fix this, I used the wheel backs from another set of front wheels from a second 5W kit, the wheel backs from a set of the front torque thrust wheels that are included in the kit, and the original rear wheels to scratch build a proper looking set of deep rear wheels. I removed the centre portion from the Torq Thrust wheel back and sanded it smooth where I removed the spokes and used that as a new outer rim and attached it to the kit steel wheel. Shaved the back side of the kit steel wheel down to narrow it a fair bit, and then used the second set of front wheel backs to deepen the offset even more. Looks like a proper hot rod wheel now. I mostly only used the body and interior of the AMT 1929 ford roadster. I feel it is better proportioned than the newer revell offering. One exception was that I used the 1940 ford dash from the 5W kit with Crystal Clear canopy glue to act as a gauge face rather than the kit piece. I also used a straight pin bent into a curve to make a swan neck shifter. I removed the original rear wheel wells and instead used the wheelwells from the 5W kit to make the body sit down nicely over the frame. I sectioned the grille shell and the grille from the Deuce kit to make the body lines flow nicely. I also trimmed down the recessed firewall from the Deuce kit to fit the smaller roadster body and to make room for the Hemi. Questions and comments always welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toner283 Posted November 21, 2020 Author Share Posted November 21, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon wagon Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 Very well done I like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Very nicely proportioned Model A on a Deuce frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Thibodeau Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Hi Chris! Very nice roadster! I'm just curious: did you need to tweak the lower body to adapt it to the frame so harmoniously? It seems to just "fall in place" naturally... CT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toner283 Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Claude Thibodeau said: Hi Chris! Very nice roadster! I'm just curious: did you need to tweak the lower body to adapt it to the frame so harmoniously? It seems to just "fall in place" naturally... CT Thanks! In the 1:1 world, a Deuce frame is not flat on the top. However, a model A body is flat on the bottom. So, in order to mate the two you have to either build a spacer to fill the gap or modify the model a body to sit down flush on the top of the Deuce frame rail. However, the model kit is engineered so that the top of the deuce frame is flat so that the interior and such fits easily. To mate the roadster body to it, I had to sand out a couple of lumps and bumps and tooling marks and had to thin down the body sides slightly at the cowl if I remember correctly. This is also where removing the original rear wheel wells from the Roadster body came into play. A stock Model A frame is flat on the top from front to back. A Deuce frame has the kick up where the frame rails curve up and over the rear end. Quite often in 1:1, hot rodders either slightly "pinch" the rear of a deuce frame to fit inside the model A body or they modify the rear wheel wells of the model A body to follow the contour of the Deuce frame similar to what I have done here. To fix this in scale and make it look good, I used the rear wheel wells from the Deuce kit that mate with the kick up over the rear end and attached those to the model A body. To anyone unfamiliar with the Revell Deuce series of kits, they can be built either full fendered or highboy style (fenderless). To facilitate this, the deuce bodies have no molded in rear fender wells. And the modeller either uses the fenders to fill the rear wheel wells or an optional set of rear fender wells for the hi boy version. I used these fender wells and modified them to fit the AMT 29 roadster body. I feel that it worked out well and it looks like the roadster body is supposed to be on that frame. Sorry for the long winded explanation, but I hope that answers your question. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Thibodeau Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 19 minutes ago, Toner283 said: Thanks! In the 1:1 world, a Deuce frame is not flat on the top. However, a model A body is flat on the bottom. So, in order to mate the two you have to either build a spacer to fill the gap or modify the model a body to sit down flush on the top of the Deuce frame rail. However, the model kit is engineered so that the top of the deuce frame is flat so that the interior and such fits easily. To mate the roadster body to it, I had to sand out a couple of lumps and bumps and tooling marks and had to thin down the body sides slightly at the cowl if I remember correctly. This is also where removing the original rear wheel wells from the Roadster body came into play. A stock Model A frame is flat on the top from front to back. A Deuce frame has the kick up where the frame rails curve up and over the rear end. Quite often in 1:1, hot rodders either slightly "pinch" the rear of a deuce frame to fit inside the model A body or they modify the rear wheel wells of the model A body to follow the contour of the Deuce frame similar to what I have done here. To fix this in scale and make it look good, I used the rear wheel wells from the Deuce kit that mate with the kick up over the rear end and attached those to the model A body. To anyone unfamiliar with the Revell Deuce series of kits, they can be built either full fendered or highboy style (fenderless). To facilitate this, the deuce bodies have no molded in rear fender wells. And the modeller either uses the fenders to fill the rear wheel wells or an optional set of rear fender wells for the hi boy version. I used these fender wells and modified them to fit the AMT 29 roadster body. I feel that it worked out well and it looks like the roadster body is supposed to be on that frame. Sorry for the long winded explanation, but I hope that answers your question. ? Hi Chris! Thank you for the "recipe". I build real 1/1 rods for a living, and your observations about the flatness of A frames and the arc of 32's are correct. Hence my inquiry. Superb results. Bravo! CT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toner283 Posted November 22, 2020 Author Share Posted November 22, 2020 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Claude Thibodeau said: Hi Chris! Thank you for the "recipe". I build real 1/1 rods for a living, and your observations about the flatness of A frames and the arc of 32's are correct. Hence my inquiry. Superb results. Bravo! CT Thanks! I also spent several years professionally building hot rods and modified cars. Getting paid to work on other people's six and seven-figure cars was a lot of fun but I found that I got burnt out and as a result, I wasn't working on my own projects. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was go out and work on my own cars after having worked on cars all day. Took a bit of time after I left the shop I worked at, but I've got my fire reignited to work on my own projects now and I'm slowly getting work accomplished on them again as time and money allows. With three young kids at home time can be the most difficult commodity to come across. Here is a couple of my toys. Edited November 22, 2020 by Toner283 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 Nice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Thibodeau Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 11 hours ago, Toner283 said: Thanks! I also spent several years professionally building hot rods and modified cars. Getting paid to work on other people's six and seven-figure cars was a lot of fun but I found that I got burnt out and as a result, I wasn't working on my own projects. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was go out and work on my own cars after having worked on cars all day. Took a bit of time after I left the shop I worked at, but I've got my fire reignited to work on my own projects now and I'm slowly getting work accomplished on them again as time and money allows. With three young kids at home time can be the most difficult commodity to come across. Here is a couple of my toys. Hi Chris! I can relate to that. And since I'm 65, daily responsabilities with kids are less intrusive, should I say. Nonetheless, you are right: building a 1/1 car for myself took backseat to commission builds. Last one ( yellow 33 in background) dates back to 2016. Memories... CT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koellefornia Kid Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Very nice Roadster, Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Really neat little roadster, Chris, with a colour scheme I would never have thought of. I love how clean your dash detailing is. If I could make one suggestion, some skinnier front tyres would take a bit of bulk out of the front end and retain the light agile look that Model As are known for. On the other hand, if you love fat tyres, then that is just fine as well! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Beautiful roadster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Beautifully done , all of your mods and changes really set this one apart from the rest ! I completely agree with your comment about the wheels and your solution worked great ! The correct wheels make or break a model , why do the manufacturers always get them wrong (almost) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixties Sam Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Beautiful model! I like the color scheme a lot. The only addition I would make is adding spark plug wires. Hemi's are fairly easy since the holes for the plug wires are already there in the heads. An aftermarket pre-wired distributor would save some more work. Sorry to nit-pick. It's still a great build! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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