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'34 Ford Lakes Style Highboy Roadster - Update 2-11 - Completed!


Bernard Kron

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This is part of what I hope will be a 3-piece set I’ll get done in time for this year’s NNL west in mid-February. It’s a ’34 Ford Roadster highboy done in early postwar dry lakes style. It’s based on a resin body done by Chuck Mier, proprietor of Altered Sates Models (http://www.alteredstatesmodels.com/ ). Oddly, it’s not offered on the Altered States web site. Chuck has recently begun selling his wares on eBay under the name “oldmandowntheroad” and besides many of the items from his web site he’s offering some pieces I’ve never seen before. This is one of them:

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As you can see it includes a one piece hood and grill unit, something I didn’t want to include in my build. The body is designed to fit the AMT ’34 Ford 5-window kit. As usual with Altered Sates stuff, the resin is smooth, bubble free and relatively thin and styrene-like. Fit to the AMT kit is near perfect.

For my version I wanted to build a classic highboy lowered slightly front and rear. It will have a postwar style hopped up flathead and the paint scheme will match the ’40 Ford Sedan Delivery shop truck I’ve already started (Wimbledon White and Dark Jade Green Metallic). The frame rails and fender well panels and the upper part of the body will be Dark Jade Green Metallic. The filled front fender well panels, incidentally, are courtesy of Ed Fluck at Drag City Casting (see http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/member_dealer_directory/drag-city-casting-/ ). Like Chuck’s stuff, Ed’s resin pieces are flawless and fit perfectly (the gunk in the picture is rubber cement used for the mockup).

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At the front I’m using a dropped front axle from the various Monogram/Revell ’37 Ford kits with a little bit of the stock front cross member shaved away. At the rear I z’d the frame to tuck the frame ends inside the body. I also trimmed the rear fender liners slightly at the back and made a small roll pan from styrene stock. The result is a conservative lowering job typical of the lakes cars of the late 40’s. The quick-change is from a Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit and the axles bells are AMT ’25 T pieces with the AMT ’34 Ford brake plates and rear spring. The tires are the ones I’ll be using, Modelhaus T110’s at the front and T180’s at the rear. I haven’t settled on wheel treatment yet.

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I’ll have to build a custom trailer for the setup and that is most likely the part of this project I may not complete in time for the NNL. In that case I’ll put a push board on the shop truck and display the two pieces as a set that way.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

Edited by Bernard Kron
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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanx everyone!

I’ve been making steady progress on this one, shooting for my February 14th deadline to bring it with me to the NNL West. I’m far enough along that I think I’ve got a chance. The bodywork is painted, as is the chassis, and various subassemblies are each about half done. The flathead V8 is from a Revell ’40 Ford Street Rod with heads from a Revell ’40 Ford Standard (painted red to denote the PowerFlow modifications) with a quad ’97 setup using carbs from Early Years Resin. I reversed the front axle to lengthen the wheelbase a bit. The paint needs trimming and rubbing out, the motor needs to get its headers and ignition installed and the carbs plumbed, and … well as I said everything is about half done.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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I’m closing in on final assembly. I built a bare bones gutted interior using the bucket from an AMT ’34 Ford 5-window kit, an AMT ’36 Ford steering wheel, a resin bomber seat from ThePartsBox.com, and a bunch of styrene strip. I also made some graphics decals. But the most important work was probably the heavy revision I did of the front and rear suspension crossmembers in order to modify the stance. I also reversed the front suspension to put the spring behind the axle. The result is that the car sits lower overall with a forward rake to it now. With decals applied the body is ready for its clear coat which I hope to do tomorrow. Still shooting for the NNL West in 10 days (minus travel time gives me a little over a week…).

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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well looks better now with the ower stance :)

love the two tone ...

that bare aluminum inside i just love , something i want to do on my next build myself interiour wise

is the cover staying white or are you painting that matte black ??

just one small thing i think the red behind the moon dics is a bit distracting , not really fits the green / white combo

maybe that green would have been a good color on the rims before the discs went on (not ment badly :) )

curious on the end result with clear

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Thanx all! The tonneau is body color but has been finished in matte acrylic which has changed the shade slightly.

I moved the body to its proper position which was slightly more forward that it has been in prior mockups. This is the final position and helps center the rear wheel in the wheel well. I had made some extensions to the lower edge of the wheel well panels to line them up with the rolled pan I had made. It required removal of some of that material. It was Dremel time, but things survived fine. The surfaces involved are largely hidden by the rear suspension parts, so it was nothing a little touch up paint couldn’t fix…

The chassis is completed. I decided to stay with the stock wishbones as would be quite common during the period of this build, particularly on Fords starting with the more advanced Model 40 chassis (the ’33-34 period Fords). The rear wishbones are from the kit. I removed them from the kit driveshaft, cut my own, shorter driveshaft and glued them into the correct location. The front wishbones and steering are from the kit as well and line up perfectly with the ’37 Ford front axle despite the slight difference in scale, the drop and the reversed spring location. Lucky break! I’m in full final assembly mode. The next post should be as a completed project.

I also have designed a trailer and I’m about to start assembly. Barring any last minute disasters, the roadster will make it to the NNL West … maybe the full set will too!

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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Edited by Bernard Kron
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Thanx!

The Trailer is done, except for paint. Almost entirely scratch built from various shapes of Evergreen and Plastruct plastic, the exceptions being the wheels and tires (standard AMT Firestones and steelies), the fenders (AMT ’25 T rear ‘cycle fenders) and the springs (AMT ’37 Chevy rear suspension). I know zero about trailers so I used the little trailer in the Revell Edelbrock Midget kit as a pattern. Of course this one is much, much, bigger and had to have suspension to take the weight. Tomorrow I’ll start in on the paint.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

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I got the trailer painted and the roadster assembled today. It went more smoothly than I had anticipated. Here’s a shot of the finished out trailer and a teaser shot of the roadster. I’ll do some minor touchups and take the “beauty shots” to post Under Glass tomorrow. After that, on to the NNL West next Saturday. I can’t believe I’ve gotten this set done with days to spare. That’s a first!

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

The completed trailer in matching colors to the rest of the set:

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The roadster with the front bodywork installed. More pictures Under Glass tomorrow!

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