Spex84

Wow, this car looks SO good as a coupe. Awesome work on the conversion. Neat paintjob, too...I'd have a hard time covering up the bodywork if I'd built it, but it's going to look very cool.

I like the color too! Lookin' good so far. The '30 coupe is a very nicely engineered kit, everything falls into place and the parts fitment is just about perfect.

Thanks all! I'll post some more shots later. Kevin, the kickup is 4mm or so in front (basically sliced the frame at an angle and stacked it atop itself). In the back, I stacked styrene bar stock atop the frame and then cut away everything that wasn't part of the new, taller Z. It ended up being about 9mm total drop (roughly 9 scale inches).

Great start Bernard. For something like that bolster, I think I would consider sculpey or Milliput...potentially less work than trying to shape it all from plastic. But there's something to be said for keeping it styrene!

Kerry--Thanks! Regarding the tire prop.... I've probably spent weeks of my life in total trying to get tires to stand up properly while I'm doing mockups. "Almost there...almost there...*plop*" The worst are the tires that aren't molded square across the tread, so they'll never stand upright. I tried using sticky-tac, but it picks up dust and doesn't hold very well, and eventually dries out, leaving gunk in the treads (because I sometimes leave mockups sitting for weeks, if not months). Finally, after literally years of propping tires up, only to watch them tip over again, I took 5 minutes to bend a paperclip into a holder!

So, in anticipation of the Revell '30 kit I had saved up some parts to build a highboy with hemi power, but I just wasn't feelin' it once the parts were mocked up. The Revell '30 sort of wants to be either a modern neo-traditional hot rod, the kind of thing you might see competing for the Ridler or America's Most Beautiful trophies, or a rat rod. The custom top insert and chromed suspension components do suggest a third route, however: a late 50s/early 60s show rod. I'd been wanting to build a chrome-laden show car for some time, and have a bunch of kits to rob parts from, so here goes: -Revell '30 body with cowl band removed, channeled over the "A" style frame. I'll probably make some other adjustments too. -Frame Z'd in front and back...rear will probably get a transverse leaf spring adapted to the kit axle. -Ala Kart front axle -Revell '29 roadster channeled interior panels, modified to fit the coupe. -Monogram '30 Woody dash (fits perfectly) -Monogram '30 Woody chrome firewall (fits perfectly but had to be trimmed for frame/engine clearance because of the channel job) -MPC deuce grille hollowed out and filled with drawer-pull panel from Aurora Custom Grilles Parts Pack. -AMT '57 Ford V8 with parts box "thunderbird" logo valve covers, chrome pulleys from Revell Ford 427 parts pack, and 6x2 carbs from either the Tweedy Pie or Lil Coffin. -Revell '30 Tudor seats, cut down. -AMT '57 chrysler rear tires and hubcaps all 'round...Revell-Monogram tires up front (from '50 Ford pickup, or '59 Chevy Impala..probably other kits too) -going to tunnel metal exhaust tips from Monogram '30 Touring into the kit's taillight locations, and slide in bullet-shaped lenses made from sprue.

Beautiful! It looks very understated and classy. Really good chop, and the smoothed bumpers are an excellent touch. Great job!

Digging it so far, I love the car you're using as inspiration.

The ones that point down/come very close to the ground are sometimes referred to as "weedburners".

Ford has a really nice harvest gold on their 2011 trucks, not sure about the newer ones. It looks fairly dull under full midday sunlight, almost brown. But just before sundown, in that golden hour, it really pops! It's a color that would look amazing on a late 40s to mid-50s custom.

Looks legit! Seriously, I love seeing this vintage-style builds. So wacky! Even the wiring looks period-correct. Very nice work, and I'm sure the Museum will be happy to have it.

When I go to the auto-parts store to look at the racks of touchup paint, there's...grey, silver, charcoal, beige,vaguely red, vaguely green, and vaguely blue. In other words, if I want silver or "champagne" I have 30 choices, but if I want anything more vibrant...zilch. Nail polish offers a much larger range of color, once you get past all the pink and red.

Looks wild! I have to salute you for having the gumption to do that multi-color dragon mural paint job. And don't worry if you feel your art isn't Mona Lisa level...the pioneering artists of 1950s hot-rodding produced artwork that would absolutely fail the "art-snob" test...but it's awesome regardless. Heck Von Dutch even painted this grille art upside-down

Thanks for mentioning the '57 Chevy supercharger, Del. I didn't know of any good sources for a SCOT blower in kit form...only aftermarket. I know Replicas and Miniatures sells 'em in resin, and also The Parts Box.

Funny how bipolar I am when it comes to "kit price" versus "fun had"...when I spend over 40 bucks on a new-tool kit, I expect the contents to be accurate, and if they're not, I'm a little disappointed. Meanwhile, I'll spend the same on a re-issue of a 1960s kit and be perfectly happy with the old, vague, flash-covered parts. And then I'll spend 3 bucks on an old, half-painted AMT kit with the roof broken off and...I'm genuinely looking forward to starting on that project, warts and all. It's going to be frustrating, and hopefully rewarding by the end, partly because the stakes are so low. The fun-to-cash ratio is going to be very, very high! I'm starting to think maybe I should just build nothing but old junk kits from now on!

Love it so far! Funny, I had a '30 sitting on the bench for over a week, just mocking up various parts and figuring out what it "wanted to be"...and I ended up going with a heavy channel, too. 50s/early 60s show rod, lots o chrome, going to try and fab some long weedburner headers like the Emperor. I'll start a build thread soon, but not before I steal as many ideas from you as I can. The main issue is the front axle...I'm hoping to get away without Zing the front, possibly by using the Ala Kart's dropped axle and maybe even the air springs, instead of locating the whole shebang in front of the grille as you have. Gotta say, that front suicide mount and chopped grille looks good! Have you thought about using stude power for your build? Maybe with side-draft carbs or back-draft like the 1:1 Tom Branch roadster? I wonder if a latham supercharger would fit under there...

The author F.Paul Wilson has a fictional character named "Repairman Jack"; Jack is a bit of a libertarian Robin-hood type character who "fixes problems" for paying customers. One of the stories about this character involves Jack's youth and beginnings as a "fixer"; an elderly neighbor has problems with punks cutting across his lawn and running over a prized shrub on the corner. Jack's solution: mount thin steel bollards deep into the ground inside each small shrub. Of course, a person would be arrested for that in real life, unless they could successfully argue that those shrubs flop over if they aren't supported, and several feet of 3" OD pipe is the best solution...

About $65 I think for an Opel Blitz. I prefer to pay about $15 for a kit...but it's not 1998 anymore.

Right on, thanks for the measurements Chris! Way better than looking at photos and guessing. I've been staring at photos of "A" coupes for so long my eyes are starting to cross and I'm thinking I might build the kit out of the box (!!!) instead of turning it into a marathon accurizing project. One thing I would love to clarify: the quarter window. Could you measure across the window above the Moon decal and then again below the Wynn decal? It's often hard to tell in photos how much of a non-parallel appearance is due to lens distortion. Here's a photoshop kludge I did a couple days ago as I was trying to figure out what's going on. Tried to use an image with as little distortion as possible.

I've been warily observing this phenomenon from a distance...I'm not sure what to think. As a "new" technology it's nothing special. Things like this have been tried before, and flopped. It's only the addition of the Pokemon brand that seems to have given it some hype. I don't play cell phone games or Pokemon, but I DO understand the appeal of being able to locate and collect things. In the past I've done some geo-caching, which involves using GPS to locate hidden stashes of stuff that others have squirreled away. Usually it's just a notebook to record your visit, some trinkets, fridge magnets, whatever. But it's a thrill to wander under an abandoned bridge, climb up a support spar, stick your hand between a couple of bricks and pull out...AIDS. Just kidding! A geocache, something that someone has hidden for you to find. It's a fun way to get some exercise and have a little adventure, find some new places. So the treasure-hunt appeal is strong...I know I spend WAY too long checking classifieds ads for classic car projects, because I love the thrill of searching for awesome deals or unusual finds. Pokemon Go is like a combination of geo-caching (finding hidden caches) with seeking behavior (searching, collecting, discovery, reward). I love garage sales and swap meets too...I can easily imagine people getting excited at potentially finding that "thing they're looking for" literally around the next corner. The fact that normally sedentary people are now actually...walking!....because of a video game is hilarious to me. I just hope that while they're at it, they notice some of the real world around them. As much as I might want to dismiss this game, I know that if there was a car-related game with a similar mechanism, I could see myself getting hooked. "oh, hey, hold up, there's a 6x2 Weiand Drag Star manifold on that park bench (points phone at confused people waiting for the bus). I think I can barter for it...I'll need to get 3 more carbs, but there's a place in the river valley where I know there are tons of used carburetors, so I could probably score some for cheap and refurbish them, and then my '56 Chevy will kick ass at the drags!"... The only thing that bothers me about the whole thing is that when realities diverge too much, there can be friction and violence, whether it be cops wrestling a schizophrenic guy who thinks he's fighting demons, or a bunch of kids climbing onto the private property of a grumpy gun-owner because "that's where all the best monsters are". I read a story today about a guy who heard some teens by his garage, went out with his gun (first mistake)...hear one of them say "did you get anything" as they were getting into a car...so he confronted them with the firearm. Driver accelerated towards him, he fired at the car. Long story short, the teens were playing Pokemon Go. Homeowner's reality: chased off thieving punks, nearly got killed by them. Kids' reality: were playing a game that involves collecting cute virtual creatures in real-world locations, had a crazy man shoot at them, fled in fear. Man the world is getting weird.

Wow, what a beautiful beast. Look how tiny that roof is...really drives home how massive these cars were. And four hinges on each door?? That's how you know yer gettin' quality Very handsome and striking paint scheme, too.

No kidding! Having a set of accurate vintage dirt-track style hot rod tires, right out of the box, is amazing. I'm just a fan of the other style *shrug*. If Revell were to tool up some really nice wire wheels to go with those tires...well now, that would be just beyond perfect!

I was thinking it was in that range, maybe 3.5". I guess I could go and measure, but I'm feeling lazy right now. Revell has given us a very nicely balanced chop....not too heavy, not too mild. I might re-chop mine to about 4-4.5" though. I like the mean look, and since it's just a model, I won't get a sore neck driving it!

Eeeevil! Love it so far, and thanks for all the clear photos of the various modifications. The ladder bars really do fill out the undercarriage nicely, giving it that "highboy" visual bulk. The Hilborn scoop in the '30 kit is really sweet, isn't it. Another thing that I'm very happy about with the '30 kit is that while the Orange Crate front tires look too small on a 1/24 Monogram "A", they look just right on the new 1/25 version. I definitely like them more than the hard-edged dirt-track tires in the new kit.

Love the coilover detailing!