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Duesenberg J Judkins Victoria


Eric Macleod

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I have been pretty quiet in regard to my current projects. I was working on a Packard project for a while but came to a point where I need to take a break from it. Looking over my "in progress" cars on my bench I decided to pick up the project that is closest to completion and held the most promise as a finished project.

Here I present a long ago abandoned project, a 1932 Duesenberg J Judkins Victoria, which is car 2375, J 354. When I first saw the car it was owned by the late Frank Kleptz of Terre Haute, IN. It was partially finished which afforded me the opportunity to carefully examine the chassis and engine compartment includng behind the cowl. This was very beneficial in terms of running brake, electrical and fuel system lines. Later the car was the subject of a cover article for the May 2004 issue of Car Collector magazine. It is one of two Judkins Victorias, with the other owned by the late Al Ferrara of Gates Mills, OH. Both are fabulous cars with truly unique exterior body moldings and facinating interior features.

My model started using a shortened wheelbase chassis from a Monogram Duesenberg Town Car kit. It also features a chopped and sectioned body. The engine was converted from SJ to J specifications with significant scratch building. The chassis was fully plumbed with brake booster and crankcase mufflers added. The fender assembly was shortened and changed to J specifications. I also obtained a correct resin Model J hood from Aardvark models. And that is as far as I got.

I have a model show in mind as a deadline. I need something to shot for so I plan to try to do one to two hours of building daily in order to finishe the model in time for the late March contest. I will keep you posted. Attached are photos of the (dusty) model as it appears today.

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Here is a shot of the model very early in the build up of the model. I used a Monogram Duesenberg Town Car for the basis of the body. You can see looking at the photo that top was chopped slightly right in the middle of the rear window, for a lower profile and smaller window opening. I also sectioned a portion of the body out to eliminate the portion of the body hanging beyond the midpoint of the rear axle. The front of the roof had to be extended so I used the front portion of a roof from another open car model. I think (though I cannot remember for sure now as it has been so long) that I used the front portion of a roof from a JoHan Cadillac V-16 Cabriolet. This was reinforced using some sprue. The window frames were made from sections of the window frames of an Italleri 1933 Cadillac V-16 Convertible Sedan. Huge amounts of Bondo followed by a couple tubes of Squadron Green Stuff, and here you have it so far. Intially I tried to use molded in body trim which I intended to score and sculpt with my X-acto knife but realized I needed to start with flat sides (shown above) in order to add the trim moldings. I will post more progress photos tonight.

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Eric, your building skills are impressive and glad to see anothe rDuesenberg fan on the site. The resin hood is a life saver as I have eleven currently on started projects. Please finish it this time so we can see it.

Aardvark also has the down exhaust and carb for this conversion.

The monogram metal Packard kit has a great body for conversion to open car duesenbergs per Lee Baker previos conversations. Currently modeling an Murphey open car on short chasis.

Sorry to ramble on, but you hit one of my passions.

Larry

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Eric,

A wonderful project, well researched and skillfully done. I'm a Duesey fanatic too but sadly, not hands-on.

The chassis / drivetrain looks fab but please take better pics; your workmanship demands it.

And respectfully, I'd stay with the Bondo and avoid any other fillers, Squadron or otherwise. Bondo won't shrink; the others will and ghost your paint work. All my Rolls is Bondo and you can get it as fine as you like.

I'm glad to have a project of yours to view and post in after all the support you've given me in my Sedanca build.

Keep it coming....

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Good progress tonight. I added the trim moldings to the body. I need to let them dry a bit and then give them a VERY light sanding before hitting the body with another coat of primer. I know these look a bit heavy handed, but to me they look a bit heavy handed on the 1:1 car. I am also including a photo of the inside of the body that should give you an idea of the motifications made to the Town Car body.

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This is 1:24 scale. As I look at the photos it looks pretty big doesn't it?

I appreciate all the praise I have gotten so far. When the model is done I will share the back story and you will see why this has felt particularly gratifying to me.

More work tonight and I promise to try to get some better photos.

E-

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I have now installed all the trim on the body and hit it with two more coats of primer. I am at a point where I am ready to spray a guide coat and move to color. The latter will be a bit of a challenge as there will need to be some very detailed painting done here in order to make the car look right. I plan to use the base coat clear coat process though I also have to cover the top with fabric before moving on. I am thinkng I will "upholster" the top using masking tape with a bit of super glue around the seams.

Meanwhile I am also working on the instrument panel, a real jewel on a Duesenberg. I have drilled out all the guages and made copies of actual Duesenberg instruments to mount behind them. I will use a layering process of kit panel face, thin clear plastic with guages mounted behind. I am also turing some knobs for use on the instrument panel to give it more of a 3-D effect.

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I did not get a lot done yesterday other than printing off the gauges for the dashboard. I plan to do a bit more bodywork tonight and will finish with a light sanding. I am hoping to begin putting color on by the weekend. In the mean time I am also working up the interior which, by necessity, will be almost 100% scratch built. Photos this evening I hope.

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