tim boyd

Over the next year I plan to post pictures of all the Hot Rod sedans I have built over the last 45 years. I've started with probably my most ambitious hot rod sedan, a project that started with a Street Rodder magazine Modeler's Corner column on chopping tops that appeared in the October, 1978 issue, and finishing with a three-part how to series in the April, May, and June 1995 in Street Rodder, just shortly before I gave up the column due to a new job assignment heading up the SVT performance sub-brand of my long time employer Ford Motor Company. The Revell Model A Sedan Delivery body was modified to reflect the original Tudor Sedan format, requiring some detail bodywork and molding. The top was then chopped a scale 5". The Logghe style frame came straight from the late 1960's funny car chassis found in MPC and (in slightly different guise) JoHan kits. The engine was based on the Boss 429 in the AMT/Lesney 1969 Cougar Street Machine kit released around 1979. The narrowed rear differential/suspension was from the street machine version of the AMT-Ertl 1972 Corvette Coupe kit, while the front suspension was mostly Monogram ZZ-Top kit components. The interior was mostly scratchbuilt, including a six-point roll cage with integral cowl brace. The paint scheme was inspired by the old Pete Eastwood Hot Rod magazine cover car, complimented by driveline components in Testors then-just-introduced Boyd Coddington Sunburst Orange paint. A close inspection of the following photos will show that although the project began in 1978, the finished product clearly showed the "billet era" influence of the mid-1990's in such components as the instrument panel, tailamps, and air cleaners. I've posted 20 additional photos, including many detail shots, at this link for your viewing. I'm not sure if this car has ever appeared in a magazine in color form, and I don't recall having posted photography of it myself in the past. So this is the first time most of you have seen it in full size color pictures, and I hope it lives up to whatever memory you have of the original project. Finally, I want to tip the old Boyd model building hat to Dennis Lacy, one of the most talented model hot rod builders I've run across in many a year. Dennis gently nudged me - several times if I recall correctly - to get this car photographed and onto my Fotki site. If you like this one, you'll love to look at Dennis' many hot rod projects that reflect the contemporary hot rod design themes and quality model building techniques now in play as we approach the third decade of the new millennium....such as this chopped 1928 Model A Sedan drag sedan project currently underway on his modeling desk.... Thanks for your interest, and enjoy.....TIM

This one was yet another Street Rodder magazine Modeler's Corner how-to, focusing on kitbashing a "phantom" Model A SuperCab DRW fifth wheel trailer towing rig. The orange graphics came from yet another Revell kit decal sheet designed by the late Brian Bordon, while the charcoal gray paint was from the Testors Car Colors paint rack and those deeply tinted (actually, opaque) windows were unexposed camera film. This one was never finished in that there's no engine or interior (yet) and the chassis, derived from a 1/32 scale semi-tractor kit, was a bit crude in its design. I was also never fully pleased with the paint, but I didn't want to redo it, nor bury it in a bunch of clearcoat. Will it be finished? Given that it has existed in this state for just about exactly 30 years now, probably not, but never say never....meanwhile, thanks for checkin' her out! TIM

This is how it looks in a built-up form. This was a glue-bomb resto with a couple of minor deviations but I also had an unbuilt kit beside me to guide me as I went along. The roundel at the front was for the NNL Nats "Vintage Beach Racing" cult theme a couple of years ago... For comparison purposes, here are photos of a similar 1/1 1930 Indian Ace Four taken at the Concours of the Americas at St. John's in Plymouth Mi, last summer.

...X2, Dennis. Looking really great. I guess you've finally shamed me into digging out my chopped '30A Sedan you've been wanting to see, I'll try to get those pictures taken and posted in the next few days. Will be great to see this one take final shape and come together.....TIM

Great thread suggestion, Tom. ********** For those of you who do not know Tom other than reading his many posts here, just let me see that his appreciation for the human spirit is just as strong as his talent for building great model cars. Tom is among my very few lifelong friends (all the way back to the 1971 MPC Dayton show) and I count my blessings that I met him and his family back then, and that we have remained friends all these years. He and his wife Karen have influenced me for the better a whole number of times in my life.... This thread is just one example of how Tom is genuinely interested in people in general, and particularly those who still pound plastic after all these years. ********** Oh...and as for my own screen name....well the answer is obvious. Guess I left the creativity on hold for this one.....Cheers....TIM

UPDATE - 6pm 18 February....three additional hot rod pickup models are now posted at the "Pickups/Light Commercial/Vans" Under Glass Section in the Truck portion of the board.........TIM

This was a late 1990's kitbash project that was a nod to the then-emerging "traditional hot rod" design ethos. It was a cover story project for Car Modeler Annual magazine. The cab from the then-Lindberg '34 Ford pickup kit was chopped and converted to replicate 1932 Ford sheet metal, then placed atop the highboy chassis from Revell's then-new 1932 Ford street rod series kits. Those tall'n'taller skinny whitewalls came from the old Revell Parts Pack kits, along with the chromed reverse wheels as well. The engine was the MEL V8 from the original AMT 1925 T Double kit. The paint was airbrushed from the last two bottles I had of a 1960's Pactra paint color that was sort of a blue-gray-teal mix. More pictures including detail shots here.....thanks for looking....TIM

There have been detailed discussions elsewhere on the MCM forum on this subject....but to summarize....there were just a few kits that were developed under the original AMT/MPC agreement. In each case, the kits were designed and manufactured by MPC, but first sold, for one time only under the AMT label. The list includes the aforementioned '28A Tudor, the 1965 Dodge Coronet 500, the "Wild Dream/King T" Trophy Series Double kit, and the Car Craft Dream Rod. There may have been one or two others that escape my memory at the moment. But there was no sharing of Corvette annual kits. The '67 et al C10 kits and the '67 et al Barracudas were an entirely different story. These kits and tools were originally engineered and manufactured by AMT (with the '67 'cuda being derived from the '65/'66 'cuda tool), then these tools migrated to MPC at a later point for some reason. They were not part of the original AMT/MPC/George Toteff arrangement. One other point. In talking with industry experts back in the day as part of the research for my recent book, I was told that the AMT/MPC teams were not the mortal enemies we all presumed they were. There was more behind the scenes cooperation and communication than we might have expected. Which seems a bit odd to me, as MPC pretty much cleaned AMT's clock in the late 1960's and this was one of several factors that put AMT in financial distress as the 1970;s decade approached....Best....TIM

Scott....just in case you didn't know.....check this '67 Comet 202 from Motor City Resin....I still plan to build this one with the 427 Wedge from the AMT-Ertl 1966 Fairlane 427 kit, which supposedly was factory ordered in 1967 by a few very savvy 1/1 scale racers.....TIM

Lovin' it. Great color....and excellent choice for your wheels, too......Congrats,.....TIM

Thanks Guys....I'm knee deep right now in restoring a 51 year old model that was mostly destroyed soon after it was completed, so I have not had time to post pictures of the rest of my hot rod closed cab pickup collection, but hopefully will do so soon. As mentioned elsewhere, the remainder of those models, when posted, will appear in the Pickups/Light Commercial/Vans "Under Glass" section rather than here...….TIM

...and here is what it looks like built up..... TIM

It was only in the original release.....TIM

There was a full "Classic Kits" column in the other magazine a year or so ago, devoted entirely to this kit. It's a good one....btw so is that Heller 917k. It blew away the competition in some ways when that kit debuted in the early/mid 1970's. Body fit, though, was a bit problematic. Great source for "big'n;bigger" wide racing tires at the time, too. TIM

The original Switchers kits, circa 1972 or so, had a Roadster/Five Window Coupe version and a second kit with a Tudor sedan and Phaeton....TIM

Thanks Geoff....Best Regards....TIM

..in the "Under Glass Light Commercial Trucks/Pickups" Forum section....as the mods moved one of my posts here in this section over there. I've never really thought of hot rod pickups as trucks, but technically, they are. So the rest of the collection photo tour should rightly and will be posted there. Here's the latest one......thanks for your ongoing interest on this topic and my apologies to the Mods for my lack of clear thinking on where to post these images! .....TIM

As part of my series of taking you all through the Closed Cab Hot Rod Pickups in my collection, next up is this 1930 Ford Model A Closed Cab pickup. This was based on aftermarket kits from R&D Unique (the chassis/suspension) and All American Models (the body). This was another one of the resin aftermarket cabs replicating the 1930 Model A Closed Cab pickup that I used in a "comparo" type article that appeared in Car Modeler magazine IIRC. The engine was a Ford Motorsport V6 from the NASCAR support series, and the paint was two shades of aqua from the "Odds'n'Ends" paint lineup back then. The red wires were from AMT's 1934 Ford kit. Plenty more pictures here.....thanks for looking.....TIM

Bill….I just tried to send you a Private Message it was rejected saying your are not able to get messages right now....TIm

Thanks Geoff.....TIM

Heh guys...this is the type of street rod that was makin' the grade in the mags back around 1980 or so. So I built something similar for my "Modeler's Corner" column in Street Rodder magazine back then. Back in the early 1980's, "fuel efficient" engines were the big thing in the 1/1 scale street rod world, and the Buick V6 was among the most popular choices.I was pleased to "discover" the same engine in 1/25th scale, as part of the MPC Jeep Jeepster kit series (the 1/1 scale Buick engine tooling was sold to AMC in the late 1960's, and then reacquired by GM in the mid 1970's after the first Arab Oil Embargo).I built this model for my Street Rodder magazine "Modeler's Corner" column to show that a scale replica of this latest 1/1 scale trend was fully possible. In addition to the Buick V6, I added four-bar radius rods up front, and a ladder-bar style traction bars/likns at the rear. The wheels shown here, btw, came from the late 1970's AMT Indy car kit series, and the tires were stolen from an Eldon kit replicating one of the famous late 1960's show rods. The pickup rails were built from real wood, and feature a cut/paste treatment of the decals from AMT's 1972 Chevelle "Red Alert" kit. The paint was an off-brand pale yellow aerosol, with a Testors Yellow chassis. Plenty more pictures here....thanks for lookin'....TIM

Geoff...thanks for the pictures. Wonder where the hot rod/street rod kits are? Thought I saw somewhere some other catalog pages with at least a reissue of the '32 Five Window kit with box art derived from the original kit release. But sadly, no signs of a second run of the new-tool '29A Roadster and '30A Five Window kits. TIM

Yes....development was nearly complete before the Hobbico debacle. Question is whether it will contain any of the body refinements we suggested based on the original c.2013 Hemi-Cuda kit. I was told it could not be done, but over the years I have seen Revell say just that, then find a way to include some of those suggestions in their final products. Even without any refinements, it would (will?) be a huge improvement over the prior two 1/24th scale AAR attempts based on the original Challenger T/A tool.....TIM

The AMT kit, though, has notably superior engine detail compared to the Tamiya.....(for instance, the fuel injection pump)...but of course it's 1/25th, not 1/24th..... I never grabbed the Heller 300 SL kit so I will be grabbing this Italeri reissue when it comes along.... TIM My Italeri 275 Roadster also has a broken windshield frame.....fortunately, doesn't look too difficult to repair TB

Spike....thanks for the response. Those last two images are killer and a gold mine for anyone trying to replicate yours in 1/25th scale.....good luck with your project and thanks again....TIM