Spex84

I've had my eye on the Altered States bodies for a while now, in fact, there's an order form filled out but unsent sitting on my desk right now! Thanks for the photo Kit, it's clearer than most I've seen to date. Not to spam this thread, but...here are a few of my favorites, including "Bad News":

When I built my '30 with a DeSoto hemi, I cheated the water pump shorter, for fan clearance. I could understand Revell making little tweaks like that in order to shoehorn the engine in. But side-by side they look pretty close. The Buttera block is nowhere near as shrimpy as the new-tool Ala Kart's tiny hemi, that's for sure! All quibbles aside, what I wanted to communicate in my original post was that if Revell could deliver a '27 couple body with the fidelity, sharp molding, accurate proportions and body moldings of the '26 T, '29PU and '30 Tudor...I'd be absolutely over the moon! As long as the body and wheels/tires were good, I'd happily set about bending the rest of the kit to my will.

Thanks! Re: a see-through '32 grille...the best way to achieve that given the current technology is probably a photo-etch grille. Shapeways can't yet produce thin bars as narrow as deuce grille bars, without them deforming due to heat and handling.

That looks killer, Fred! I'm digging the pinned mounts and spring hangars. Looks solid. *side note: the Shapeways 3D Divco's are something I made. Kinda neat to see them pop up here.

Wow. Crazy! I've tried to mock up a V16 in a number of models so far, and what usually kills it is the height of the engine--I can never get the car low enough to suit my taste. This rod makes it work by maintaining a relatively high stance, and keeping the block as low as humanly possible. With that shortened body, the engine's almost as big as the rest of the car! Ace is right about the proportions...this car could have been a train wreck, but the various modifications give it a very balanced appearance. I'm wondering if the photographer noticed that the car looked best from low angles, where the bulk of the engine protruding below the frame rails helps to visually balance what would otherwise be a tall, long, potentially ungainly looking car. The Roto-Faze '34 Ford coupe had a blown V12 (impressive!) but somehow it's even more impressive to see an even larger engine in a roadster.

Love it! For some reason it seems like a Mooneyes Japan kind of truck...

Wow, vintage unobtanium tires! All is forgiven I had forgotten about that particular parts pack. Those front tires are wider than I would have guessed.

I'd love to see a '27 in either roadster or coupe form. I've been toying with the idea of 3D modeling and printing a coupe body but haven't gotten around to investing the time. Partially as "reference material", and partially because I wanted the Jag suspension and cool sedan body, I just picked up the Buttera '26 Sedan and immediately noticed the engine issue. Interestingly enough, while the Buttera engine seems short in the block, and also not very tall (perhaps due to the low-clearance oil pan?) the valve covers fit perfectly onto Revell's deuce-series ford mill. I think the early Revell Ford A and T kits are sweet...fiddly, but they just look "right". That goes for the '29 pickup, '30 Tudor, '26 T Sedan...a coupe with the same attention to proportion and detail would definitely float my boat

Sweet, this is all kinds of right! Love the new x-member, stock-style roof opening and bows, and the tall rear tires with those Kelsey Hayes high-clearance wheels. The wheels probably came from Modelhaus?? Bernard Kron would know...he's done at least one project using them. The Y-block is going to look great in this thing.

Hear that sound? That's me, howling Looks like a great start, looking forward to watching the project progress! *cough* RepMinCo's wire wheels and tall/taller firestones would match the drawing quite nicely...hehe.

Purely in terms of proportions and flow, I don't hate the chop. IMHO it works best when the car is level or given a slight forward rake, rather than the taildragging late 40's stance that the custom grille, fadeaways, and wheel caps would suggest. I've seen photos of the work required to tweak the windows, windshield surround, chop, etc etc, and it just looks like a ton of work that only aficionados would notice. I'd be inclined to just "roll with it" as Tim Boyd has done to excellent effect. With just about any custom car kit ever, in order to get it "right", a picky builder has to put in the work to make it his own...and that just makes me more appreciative of models that have had the extra time and care sunk into achieving a specific period-correct appearance. Steve Boutte's models come to mind....massive effort applied to both the broader flow of the model and the specific details, all to achieve a result that resonates beyond anything the box-stock kit could deliver. But if I had to re-work it, I'd pick my battles: I think I'd wedge the A pillars and raise the front of the roof a little, section the car to take of the "fat" out of it, and leave the window openings alone because.

I have molded some parts from Shapeways that were Frosted Ultimate Detail (FUD). The only time I had trouble with parts not releasing from a mold was when I attempted to mold some tires with very fine, deep tread detail--the large surface area of the zig-zag tread grooves provided enough grip that it overwhelmed the strength of the rubber and I tore parts of the tread grooves out of the mold when removing the FUD part. I'd suggest sanding the FUD or FXD parts to get the surface texture off before molding them, and this will also help them release from the mold.

Smooookin' ! This looks like something a Tex Avery-drawn wolf would drive I love it. Very sinister!

I did a '59 Impala frame in gloss black once, with masking tape carefully sliced into thinner pieces to fit around the curves. It took a long time, but the results were pretty decent.

It's a real kick where the sun don't shine, but it's also a fantastic excuse to post new material! What I'd like to see, though, is the old barren threads kindly killed off somehow so my searches aren't full of nothin' results. I don't think it's necessarily a nail in the hobby's coffin--but places like Facebook came out of it free and clear, while other online communities (forums, blogs) got hammered hard. I prefer forums to social media platforms! The forum format is most informative and stores information well...until something like the PB money-grab comes along.

Aargh. I'm using Fotki, seems to work just fine. Photobucket is unbelievable. They must be getting enough hostage payments to stay afloat. I guess the silver lining (for us) is this means you'll have to update some threads, Bill!

That was my big disappointment in the kit...opened it up, looked at the slicks, and went..."what the eff??" I've seen them used on a '27 Ford hot rod, they're about the right size for that application. I'd be curious to see some actual measurements. Just from looking at historical photos, I can see that the slicks should probably be larger in proportion versus the Bantam body.

This is interesting to me--I used dry transfer lettering from a local office supply store on a rat rod a number of years ago. I bought the only 2 sheets they had, ancient yellowed artifacts buried on a rack of stuff that hadn't been properly cleared since the '80s, judging from the products surrounding it. I missed out on that era of graphic design, managed to come in about 6-8 years after computers had completely taken over. The dry transfers were fun to use! They applied reasonably well to a rough matte surface, which made them superior to waterslide decals in that particular application...no matte topcoat necessary.

Those louvered panels are quite something, Bill!

"Or C: they reached out to the copyright holder " Bwahah, I didn't even consider this, I'm so used to seeing online chicanery. Who knows, maybe it's all above board!

As an artist, stuff like this frustrates me immensely. I could make a lot more money if I just straight-up traced other people's work. Until I inevitably got busted. That's not cool at all I can only imagine that A: they have an overworked in-house artist who is confident with car rendering but not with backgrounds, who simply decided to copy the photo or B: they're using a super-cheap outsourced artist who doesn't have much in the way of scruples because he's not being paid enough to have any and he's in some foreign country anyway.

Great idea! I love it so far, and the fin suits the design well...gives it that boat-like feel without going over the top.

I'm partial to the ultra mean lookin' traditional first version! I think the second version could use some side pipes or chromed zoomies and maybe a passel of Webers instead of the blower to match the hi-tech vibe of the wheels and tires. Just my 2 cents. Either way it's awesome to see some shots of what you've been working on.

Crazy, I like the '59 dash cluster! Glad to see this project popping back up

This thread is very entertaining to watch! Great scratchbuilding. Just the other day I was looking at photos of a '25 Dodge and wondering how hard it would be to create some alternative '20s model car bodies...Dodge, Essex, etc....because they're all pretty similar to Ford in general shape, just with variations in visors, beltline trim, trunk lid design...ok, quite different after all! This is very ambitious and I look forward to seeing where it goes!