Rocking Rodney Rat

I mix parts from 1/25 and 1/24, I don't pay any attention to the scale. If it fits, it gets used.... My $.02 and my opinion is worth BOTH pennies. Model on (as Snake says).... -RRR

I love the '27 body style..... https://public.fotki.com/jferren/27-shorty-t-tub/ https://public.fotki.com/jferren/lakes-turtledeck/ https://public.fotki.com/jferren/27-roadster/ never finished by me, scale version of ADL's roadster he sold to a bloke in Australia. I sent kit to ADL to finish. He has it now. https://public.fotki.com/jferren/1927-turtle-deck-t/ Looking forward to seeing more on the shelf, TIM.... -RRR

Paul- I love seeing this kind of work! Keep at it... -RRR

I have been thinking of that. In order to make a hardtop, the door would need to be lengthened to keep the proportions correct...IMHO -RRR

There most likely won't be much left of the quarter windows by the time I'm done.... -RRR

Well, I revved up the Sawzall yesterday and made real mess!! LOL. This is the easy part, cutting the roof off... First cut along the crease between the rear window and the sail panel.... then cut across the top of the roof..... cut out the B pillars and put them aside for now.... Free the roof from the body.... With the roof being dropped down, the difference in the roof curve will need to be addressed.... The plan is to make a few relief cuts across the top of the roof, carefully splay the roof open and fill in the slices with some long triangle slivers of styrene to flatten the curve a bit....that's as far as I've gotten so far. I'll see if I can make this all work. You'll notice a cut the firewall off, I'll show you why in a later installment. thanks for looking, more later.... -RRR

WOW!! Nice subtle touch with the scale sawzall. It's good to see another '49 going under the knife. I'm going the opposite way with mine....if I can get some time to actually get going on it. I'm looking forward to see how this progresses. I do like the laid back windshield.... -RRR

deuce roadster. -RRR

That pic of Tony Nancy above looks like me may be thinking "I wonder if I could stuff a Hemi in that Mini???" -RRR

I started building it from the available Stude kit (same decals) and the Piranha chassis, which is basically what it is. There is an interior piece and what appears to be different headers. I haven't seen on ebay and years and of course it would be stupid money.... -RRR

I had an interesting on on ebay recently. I bought a package of drill bits, various small sizes, it came with a pin vise. A US seller. I get the bits and start looking at them. Several of them don't have any point ground on to them, just blunt ends. Weird, I've never seen that. I ask for a return, get the label, ship it back, ebay refunds my money when it hits the PO. The package comes back to me with a label says no such address. Free (some usable) drill bits and a pin vise. -RRR

Thanks for all of your kind compliments! -RRR

I guess 'out of proportion' was not the proper term to use. The Revell Merc body is not an accurate representation of a kustom/custom (lead sled) 1949 Mercury body. The chop is wrong, higher at the B pillar than the A pillar and the lower body panels are flat while a Merc rocker panels curve inwards. I'm no expert on the 1949-51 Mercury body, but it appears to me the AMT body is more accurate than the Revell body. Comparing the two bodies, the Revell body is too 'square' where the AMT body is more 'round'. It just doesn't look right to me. I'm a big kustom fan and I was sorely disappointed when this kit was released. Certainly, the new tooling has some nice features that benefit from today's quality. The interior, engine, and floorpan/frame are superior than the old AMT offering (tooled in the 60s (?)). I will be incorporating those updated features in my build. -RRR

I thought about it! -RRR

Very nice rendition of the Nick Metranga Merc. I wish AMT or Revell would issue a '40 Merc kit.... -RRR

And now for something completely different (no, not a man with three cheeks...). Different for me, that is. I've decided to venture outside of 48th street and cross over into the Kustom world, for a change of pace. The '49-'51 Mercury is the quintessential kustom, so I figured it's time to try my hand in chopping one. The basis will be the venerable AMT '49 Merc. (the Revell pre-chopped Merc is way out of proportion.) I've been studying Mercs and I looked at a few ways to chop on both 1:1 cars as well as models. Tim Boyd did an article in SAE on one way to chop a Merc way back in the mid '80s. The AMT instruction sheet showed another way to chop which incudes cutting the roof in a few pieces. From what I've looked at, it seems the way Steve Boutte chopped the top seems the best. Here's some pix of the way Mr. Boutte did. This method provides for slanting the 'B' pillar with a minimum of slicing up the roof. One item that I don't like the look of some (most) chops is the 'swoop' below the back window and into the sail panel. I'm going to do an angled chop (lower in the rear) and hopefully get away from that 'valley'. Here's a couple of pix of 1:1 cars that of the chop I'm going emulate. After doing some mockup and fitting, I realized the Revell chassis fits the AMT body with very few modifications. I cut away the engine compartment pieces of the AMT body as those parts are attached to the Revell floor pan. The other advantages to using Revell floor pan is the separate frame and deeper rear wheel wells for that taildraggin' lead sled look. So, follow along as I attempt to turn this stodgy old hulk into a sleek sled. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve....Rev up the sawzall !!! -RRR

Nice work a finicky kit....well done! -RRR

In 1928-31 Ford built a car style called a Sport Coupe. Sometimes it was called "the poor mans' roadster". It looked a bit like a roadster and a cabriolet, but it was neither. The sport coupe had full frame doors with windows, a slightly longer interior, akin to the size of a coupe and it had a fabric top that did not fold down. Why not make one into a hot rod. A sport coupe body style has never been tooled in scale and I took a few liberties in making the build. The inspiration was taken from a car seen on the H.A.M.B. from Tucson. It 1:1 was built as a "unibody" and I figured it would be an interesting style to emulate. The body was welded directly to the frame and the floor pan was used as an integral part of the structure, hence no center crossmember. Body- Sport coupe style with the cowl from the Revell '29 pickup, sedan doors (longer than roadster doors) from a Revell '31 and the rear section from the recent Revell Model A coupe (the rest of the body was used to make a pickup body, ADL has it now.). Top chopped. '32 grille from AMT Phantom Vickie [sic], chopped. Ragtop: Made from a couple of roadster tops, evergreen pieces for the edges and ribs. Frame: From the new Revell Model A series, scratch built front crossmember and rear end Z'd to get it down low. Floor section: Evergreen sheet and half-round supports with a trans/driveline tunnel from the Revell Matt and Debbie Hay Pro street T-Bird. Suspension: Front made with the spring-in-front, attached to the split bones, in suicide style and rear a Ford 9" on coil overs, both from Revell Model A series. Engine: Revell flathead available in a few kits. Induction is an Eddie Meyer two-carb system made by Replicas and Miniatures of MD. Tires and wheels: fronts are resin from the ubiquitous parts box, rears old AMT hard plastic. Chrome reverse wheels from AMT parts pack. Interior: dash is 1948 Ford (Revell), seats are cut from two AMT 'T' bucket tubs, door panels from Revell '32 sedan. Door handles and cranks from Rep and Mins of MD, "chromed" with Molotow pen. A bunch of other parts from here and there... Paint is Tamiya AS-8 Navy Blue, somewhat like Ford Washington Blue. Tamiya Black accents. Clearcoat is Minwax Polyurethane shot with an airbrush. more pix here: https://public.fotki.com/jferren/29-sport-coupe-hot-rod/ -RRR

I dig it, sans lights, it's ready for TROG.... -RRR

Here a few from K&R Kustom+Rods garage..... -RRR

Thanks for the kind words. I believe the front axle is from the ole Revell '31 sedan (also in the '29 pickup and other versions?) kit re-issued over the years. We (KK & RRR) cut off the spring and made a rather flat spring out of Evergreen plastics. I usually make a crossmember that gets the front end even lower. Spindles were scratch built. The QC is probably from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, they're also available in many kits. Front tires from The Orange Crate, rear tires form Monogram '41 Lincoln with Revell steel wheels modified to fit the Lincoln wheels. Tutorial here: https://public.fotki.com/jferren/tall-rear-tire-with/ -KK & RRR

K&R Kustoms + Rods Vicky combining the Revell sedan with AMT Vicky to get a body having close to correct proportions: https://public.fotki.com/jferren/1932-vicky/ Vicky Cabriolet: '29 Vicky Delivery Surf Wagon slammer:

Agreed, well done, I'm a big fan of A/FX cars... https://public.fotki.com/jferren/agitator-afx/ -RRR

That's really well done. I really appreciate a clean build. It's too bad the front end of the body doesn't sit a bit lower. -RRR