Monogram Little Tub in 1/24th scale

[alan barton]

I haven't been posting a lot in recent years as I was the columnist for Australian Street Rodding magazine's Scale Rodder column and it felt like a conflict of interest to be posting models that I was featuring in the column.  Sadly that has all changed as next months #400 of Australian Street Rodding will be the last.  Following the untimely passing of the founder and publisher of Graffiti Publications, Larry O'Toole, the family has decided that they will close the publication down while it is still going strong.  It is very sad for all Aussie rodders and especially modellers as in recent years it has been the only printed coverage of the model building hobby available in Australia.

 

This project would have gone in a future column but I will now share it with you all here.

I was first inspired by seeing a similar conversion in the first ever Scale Auto Enthusiast contest annual in the early eighties. I recall that it was built by a Swedish modeller.  I started it about four years ago when I came across a spare Monogram T bucket body and a spare Revell 27 T touring body. Some will notice that this body looks different to the real Big Tub from Monogram and there is a good reason for that.

The Monogram '23 touring uses full doors front and rear. If I had attempted this conversion using two long halves of a Monogram T bucket body, the straight rear door line would have intersected with the radius of those big pie crust slicks. On the other hand the Revell body had the radiused door line that would clear the tyres.

A further benefit was that the Revell body came with a roof that was a near perfect fit on this conversion and it also came with a full rear seat and interior side panels.  I also used a second rear seat to create a front seat, using flat sheet and putty to fill in the missing areas.

The frame was also modified quite a bit a the rear.  It was extended about 1/8th of an inch and the Zee was pushed to the very rear of the frame to clear the rear seat. Extra crossmembers were added in a nod to engineering requirements.

The engine is a Nailhead Buick from an AMT 40 Ford, just to be different yet era appropriate with headers from the Revell Model A hiboy kit. The grille is cut down from a Monogram 32 Ford. The colour is Tamiya Lime green pearl over white primer.

Getting the bodywork tied up where the two bodies were joined caused me enough grief to put it away several times over the years but I finished it a few months ago and am very happy with the results.

Cheers

Alan

 

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Great looking project.

[espo]

Great looking body work and paint. The color and finish are nice and smooth. 

[karbuildr]

Lots of work but the end result was worth it. A fine looking little tub, nice color, great scratch building, well done.

[atomicholiday]

That is one beautiful little rod.  Excellent work! 

[afx]

Nice work.

[Flatout]

Cool little Hot Rod Alan…love the lime green with white top and interior.  Also, the nail head Buick fits the build perfectly.

Sorry to hear about the magazine, this is happening far too often in today’s internet driven world ?

Edited August 15, 2023 by Flatout

[larman]

That's kool! What a great idea! I still regret selling my original Big Tub......

[oldnslow]

Love these throw back models , great job

[Kah puts]

That’s a bingo ?

[Street Rod]

Great looking model! Really like the green and white.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Very nice job. Looks like quite a bit of work. Thanks for sharing. Really nice hot rod.

[XYHARRY]

Great looking T bucket Alan. That colour combo looks great on this. I'm sad to here the end of ASR magazine, I spent many hours in my youth reading this fine magazine. I still have quite a few in my library which I flick through for inspiration. Well done and thanks for sharing. 

Cheers, 

David. ????

[slusher]

Impressive beautiful build!

[Koellefornia Kid]

Awesome! Looks great from every angle!

[alan barton]

Thanks, everyone.  It was a fun build apart from the bodywork and it is nice to know that others enjoy it as well.

Cheers

Alan

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[bill-e-boy]

Another beaudy from you Alan. It is sad sad to see the magazines falling by the wayside. I for one prefer holding a magazine in my hand but if I have no alternative I will go online. There is something about the tactile feeling of holding the piece of paper as you read - a bit like putting a record on a turntable and enjoying the whole experience (another hobby of mine)

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[carrucha]

Cool hot rod.  Glad you finished it.  Nice paint job and wheel/tire combo.