customline

I was just looking at pictures of Model A hemi powered coupes and I spotted something odd. Can you find what's wrong with this picture?

Hope so, Bob. The coil-over rear sorta spoils the old-timey attitude and a 426 street hemi brings the build era into the '70s but the channelled body and steel wheels drag it back into the '50s...?.....it's going to be strange, Bob, for sure. A real 21st century look, but with the skelletonized interior saying "still under construction."

The engine choice for today is one I borrowed from Dirty Donnie. It's the '70 Super Bee 426 with tunnel ram and dual quads and 4 speed. It's a tight squeeze but perfectly doable (I hope.) Yesterday I visited H L and came home with AMT's '34 pickup. I looked it over and found some useful things in the box but not for this coupe because the timing was not good. I have a few hot rod projects swimming around in my head including the '34 pickup. There will be much parts swapping in the future ?.....I also came home with 2 rattle cans of Testors Extreme Lacquer in "Icy Blue" and "Turquoise ". This coupe will get the blue. I sprayed the steel wheels with it today. In the sun, that paint is spectacular ? ! ! I have all but decided to take a little more off the top. I'm leaning that way but will evaluate once the engine is complete. I don't want the top of the engine higher than the roof ?. A 1/8" slice should be okay. Comments always welcome.

I built this kit several years ago, it's a pretty decent kit. I had, I think, an early version and the grille/bumper was not correct. Have you discovered this? They corrected it in the later versions so if you have a GTX in the middle of the grille, you're good! If not, you have a hemi Roadrunner ? . You're off and running, good luck, the paint scheme sounds great!

OK, I got the front axle fixed, moved the spring in front of the axle because the radius arms needed a place to land. I think it looks legit, but you be the judge. No mods to the crossmember yet and hopefully not at all (other than the bottom edges were sanded a bit on the corners.) The recesses on the inside frame rails that locate the radius arms (split wishbones) were filled because they can't be used now due to axle relocation to the rear. Thanks for your interest! After separation, the spring was drilled and brass wire inserted. Evergreen strip stock provides tiny mounting blocks, drilled and glued to axle. The top leaf was removed from the spring for a bit more drop. I hope this gets me the look I want because if not.....suicide! (I actually like the way suicide front ends look ?) Some Molotow chrome takes care of the mess and I still have a nice chrome front end ?

It is, Greg, and I built the first edition of it when it first hit the market. They cheapened it a bit but, basically, it's the same. The big thing for this issue is the nailhead Buick which is cool but I personally would have liked something a little cooler, like a flattie with some esoteric speed parts. And a manual gearbox. And a quick-change rear hanging on a buggy spring. But that's just me. I don't want to spend 25 bucks for a kit and then buy 3 more kits and a few aftermarket parts just to build a traditional style hot rod Model A coupe. There, I said it! Oh, and there's a really old-timey checkered decal for each firewall. Good one, Revell! Where's the buggy spring? ?

Glad you are, Paul. Welcome!

Didn't you just build one of these? Seems like everybody has. I can't keep up with it all. ? My feeling about this kit is it's not the same as the first version. The quality seems a bit off. And no wheel option. ?

? Here I go again. I jumped in by increasing the kick-up on the "B" frame and tweaked the floor to get better contact and raised the trunk floor. Pretty standard. I want this puppy low but the kit has limitations. The front axle is always going to need modifications. I'm thinking just a street-legal, no-nonsense, nose-down attitude even if it takes a suicide front end to get there, Maybe more chop, kit supplied skelleton interior with different seating (I borrowed the bomber seats for another project), maybe a street hemi or 440 six-pak, saving the nailhead for something else, ? I dunno, we'll see. No flat black paint job. Possibly satin eggplant or pistachio ?.....OK, maybe not. Lots of options on paint. I don't know about wheels and tires yet. It has a huge effect on "the look". The kit setup looks pretty good but those rears are pretty tall. Stay tuned ?I

Yeah, who knew? Funny how things like that slip from memory

Gotta give credit where it's due so my thanks to Can-Con for setting me on the right path. I looked at the instruction sheet and WHATTAYAKNOW?!?!? Well, you know what they say; when all else fails....no....instructions are just someone else's.....no, no....anyway....I musta missed it ?

Wow, Steve, that's a revelation! Thank you! I wonder if that's in the instructions. Maybe I should look ? Really, that's fascinating. I thought those white-walls were kinda strange; now it makes sense! ? After assembling the the interior I set the firewall in place in the body and installed the interior/frame assy. into the body and it seemed OK but the glass was not installed. I don't see a problem. Firewall to body looks like the way. Thanks again.

By the way, folks, remember the aerials that weren't telescopic? I remember because I worked in a car wash. ? I consider myself an expert on the subject. I put one through my right hand (the little ball was missing.) Had to shift my 4-speed with my left while driving myself to the emergency room. Yup.?

.....and that's in what scale Trevor? Good gracious ?......although I think I have tweezers that could possibly handle that. No, really.....☺️

Cool project, Bob. I'm eager to see the stance you come up with. Great start ? !

Mini-update: Joined frame assembly to floor assembly ? and installed exhaust systems. Added a little paint detailing to firewall and now I have to decide on the attachment of the firewall. I have thrown the question out there twice now and, as yet, no one has weighed in. I anticipate a fit problem if I go with the AMT instructions. The firewall is shown being glued to the interior assembly but it's not a precise fit - no locators. The fit of the firewall to the body at the inner fenders IS a nice tight fit as if it had been designed that way. I'm inclined to go with that but can't help wondering if I'm not seeing something that I need to before I run up against it during the final fit-up. You all know how that goes. Whomever has built this kit please speak now ? or forever hold your peace. ? The instructions may take into account the placement of the steering box in the sequence of assembly; I can deal with that.

Thanks, Ian and Dave. I like the color a lot for an interior and it's all done with rattle cans in one session. First the flat black which dries fast. Then Krylon gloss Burgundy, no more than two light coats because the black needs to show through. After the burgundy is dry, I hit it with satin clear. Done and done. Results may vary ?. And I think you're right, Ian, that the shine will help to bring out the pleated "upholstery" and the "grain" ; I'm glad you pointed that out. Out in the sun, that color is quite 'purple-ish" but indoors it's good. Below is the first time I did this and it was because somebody on a forum pointed out that what's underneath affects the final color. How right they were. This isn't anything new but it was for me ?. As far as the guages, Dave, I'm a fan of Michael Hanson's work (SEE ABOVE). I buy a small quantity at a time to get the discount and they make quite an impact on some builds where they can be easily seen. I also like that you can get SW in black or white face, and Sun gages too. Great stuff.

Thanks, Rusty. It's a bit too shiny but think "Armor-all" ?. All that work on the dash and you can't see it! I need to decide how to handle the firewall. My gut says glue it to the body. ? I don't trust the instructions.

Thanks, Anton. Here's more shots from yesterday.

Thanks, Bil. I can't understand why, sometimes, the photos I post don't end up in the order I had them in when I hit the enter button. Maybe it's this Android thing that I use. I may try a Fire I have. Driving me crazy ?

Weekend update: got interior detailed and glued up. I figured the door panels were too irregular and detailed for me to use foil for those big chrome things (I'm sure others have been successful) so I used Molotow and 18/0 and 3/0 brushes along with black chrome foil and flat black paint. The dash is detailed with flat black rattle can, foil, Molotow chrome and Best Model Parts photo reduced guages. I tried to shave off some of the instrument detail for a flat surface to mount the "guages" to but had to settle a bit. A parking brake release was added. The front seat was detailed with foil and .022 solder. Rear seat got black chrome foil and Molotow chrome applied with brush. This interior was difficult, for me, to detail cleanly. There is much high relief, complicated detail molded in to begin with and the door panels would have been awesome with chrome foil detailing but for my limited skill with that stuff. I opted to use foil where I could be somewhat successful in doing so and Molotow for the rest. The closeups are quite revealing of the difficulty level for me but I'm happy with the overall result, the "big picture". Heck, once it's all together you can't see much anyway. Thanks for watching i

Wow! (And I was afraid it might have been a false memory ?)

I think one of the gas ⛽ station brands gave 'em to customers.

And then there's the ones that come with plastic balls for heads that you can detail to look like the smile face ones people (not me, of course ?) used to find their car in a big parking lot. Usually, they were florescent chartreuse.

Yes it is, Rusty, it absolutely is. Maybe I should cut back on the brownies ?