tim boyd

Hey guys.....really encouraged to know how well this one really resonated with you.....as requested by David, a few more photos: TIM

In recent years the 1950's/early 1960's "East Coast" hot rod has gained a considerable degree of interest and respect in the hot rod world. One of the key features of this design idiom seemed to be bodies channeled over the frame, combined with stock, non-chopped roofs. Or, the exact opposite of the more popular west coast style of non-channeled highboy coupes with chopped tops I've always felt that the AMT-Ertl 1934 Ford Five Window Coupe kit deserved far more interest and respect than it has received from model builders over the years since its introduction in 1995. This kit was derived from their late 1980's (and thoroughly disliked) 1933/34 Tudor kit, with an all-new and far more accurate body casting. The street rod version of the Five Window kit missed the mark to a degree due to the carryover (and way out of scale) IFS setup and the oh-so-generic SBC engine, but the showroom stock version of the kit was highly authentic, even down to the separate oil dipstick provided. Anyway, I wanted to build a new model in the East Coast style to show the potential of the kit vis-à-vis the current "Traditional Hot Rod" movement and even more specifically the new-found interest in hot rods built in the early 1960's Autorama style show car idiom (think of the pearl blue with violet accents 1934 Coupe from Beau Boechmann of Galpin Ford that toured the show circuit a few years ago). The entire build was featured in other model car magazine (June 2015 issue), so check out the full details there. Meanwhile, in summary level the body was channeled over the frame, the engine is a 392 Hemi with six deuces (liberally swapping in engine parts from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland), the interior was the tuck'n'roll unit from the street rod version of AMT-Ertl kit, a quick-change Halibrand found its way under the rear end, and the wheels were Salt-Flats style units sourced from a test shot of the Revell 1930 Ford Five Window Coupe kit, which had not yet been released to the public when the model was built. (Kudos to Jim Kampmann, who was the first to figure out this "hidden surprise" and correctly guess the origin of these parts). The paint was MCW Automotive Finishes 1957 Chrysler 300 C Parade Green Metallic, and the copper accents were Testors Copper Metallic enamel A number of you totally got what I was trying to accomplish with this build, and told me so. I very much appreciated your feedback! TIM

This is a mild kitbash of Revell's 1940 Ford Standard Coupe kit, combining parts from the "GoodGuys" street rod version of the kit with the separate, factory stock kit relase from the same basic tool. The engine is a mildly rodded Flathead Ford; the front suspension is the dropped axle setup from the GoodGuys kit, while the rear end setup is the Columbia Two-Speed axle from the factory stock version of the tool. The paint is real 1954 Buick Titian Red Metallic from MCW Automotive Finishes; the interior is a 'tuck'n'roll" insert from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. A full buildup of this model was a magazine cover feature in the October, 2017 issue of the other model car magazine; I refer you to that magazine for more details on the project. I think it captures very well the "Traditional Hot Rod" design aesthetic so popular these days in the 1/1 scale hot rod/street rod world....thanks for looking....TIM

This is a just-completed (October, 2018) quick kitbash of the mid-1990's AMT-Ertl 1934 Ford Five Window Coupe kit into a Vintage Beach Racer. The kit was built highboy style, using mostly parts from the stock (vs street rod) release of the kit. (UPDATE: I should mention that this was a "quickbuild" project....start to finish in just a few weeks......so not a full detail model by any means.) The windshield frame, rear window surround, and rear inner fenders (all separate parts in the kit) were molded into the body before painting. The rear gas tank cover was removed and a lower roll pan cut out and added. The kit's inner front fender liners, found on most 1/1 scale iterations of this type of car, were modified to replicate factory stock status, but ultimately left off as they hid the Ford Flathead V8 which sits relatively low in the frame. The single taillight is cut down from the driver's side unit from the Monogram 1937 Ford kits, with an unidentified Streamline Moderne style taillight of undetermined origin added. The suspension and engine all came from the base kit. The engine wears the plated flathead valve covers from the AMT and Lindberg 1934 Ford Pickup kits, with a DullCote finish to look like unpolished aluminum. The dual car intake and carbs are from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. The exhaust headers are from Replicas and Miniatures as well, capped off with exhaust pipes fabricated from the closed driveline driveshaft tubes of two 1936 (Monogram) Fords, just as with the real cars. The end pipes were drilled out, just to make Larry G. happy! The front tires are from the AMT/Ertl kit, while the rears are from the Monogram 1941 Lincoln Continental (both with the whitewall inserts painted black). The wheels are also from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, being a rebob of the stock 1937 Ford pickup "artillery" wheels. Hub caps are AMT 1932 Ford units. Paint is Tamiya Linoleum Deck Brown with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Clear, the "229" numbers come from the latest Round 2 Decal Parts Pack sheets. Low angle shots on a reflective background have always been a favorite of mine, going all the way back to my first-ever magazine column on the Revell '26 T Tudor kit in an early-1978 issue of Street Rodder magazine. Thanks for looking....TIM

James....OK, at this point I am thoroughly stumped. After your feedback, I thought that maybe I confused the contents of this kit with the "stock" (really street machine) version of the Belvedere 1 kit, but I don't see those headers in my box of that kit either. So I looked through all the other kits based on this tool and nothing there, either. I even looked at a test shot of the tool I have from three years ago. Nada. On the other hand the second set of headers I ended using didn't materialize out of thin air, either. I only have one more kit of the California Flash kits and that one is sealed; I'm hesitant to break the seal and look inside due to the (already) rarity of the kit. Plus I bought it much later than the first kit; if there was some type of running change it wouldn't have the parts. Anyone reading this thread who has an early production sample of the California Flash kit, as well as anyone who has the Belvedere 1 kit, can you guys check your parts trees closely and see if the headers I used show up on a parts tree? Thanks....TIM

Casey....I'm a little late to the party on this thread, but to answer your question, but all the MPC Switchers Model T's used their own bespoke chassis/drivetrain/body/engine/suspension/interior setup. Nothing recycled from the King T/Wild Dream tool As for the Evil T, that kit is also 100% derived from the Switchers tool, with the exception of the fender/running board casting which is straight from the original MPC King T tool. TIM

Thanks for digging up that old review, Mike. SVT Lightning owners loved their trucks, for all the reasons cited in that review The second gen Lightning, even more-so. I clearly recall that just as the article mentions, the lack of legroom in the first gen standard cab was really the only shortcoming of that vehicle and in the light of all the other benefits, not much to complain about. Someday before I die I'll recap the adventures during my first media event as the SVT leader when one of our Marketing/Public Affairs personnel got a little carried away driving an SVT Lightning the morning of the event.... makes me smile now. Back then, not quite so much. TIM

Hmmm…..I don't want to second guess a well respected author like Mr. Graham.....but I remain highly skeptical that these molds do indeed exist. With the latest developments in the ownership of these ancient tools, though, anything is possible. TIM

Snake.…...with today's level of adult builder scrutiny on proportions, scale, and accuracy, I'm afraid the Aurora kit would be primarily of interest for its nostalgia value only. Fans of "East Coast" style hot rods would also be interested in the hot rod version, which is an authentic representation of the genre. Some of the parts in the hot rod version would also find their way into current projects, I suspect. Below, two sets of comparison images, first a set of kitbashes replicating the typical "street rod" build genre of the 1970's to early 1990's….(Aurora kit first, AMT-Ertl follows)…..and then.... Next, a comparison of the Aurora Hot Rod kit version vs. an AMT-Ertl based kitbash I finished a couple of years ago.... TIM PS -- at least on my screen, the aspect ratios of the pictures I posted above are very distorted. The original images (from my Fotki site) are fine. Hmmmm…..UPDATE...…...as Snake mentioned below, these pictures now appear with the correct aspect ratio on my laptop as well.....TB

I know the second set of headers are not shown in the instruction sheet, but I recall seeing them hiding among the parts sprues. I bought one of the kits when it first came out; perhaps there was a running change. But I'd be interested to hear if after a second, close look, they show up somewhere in your kit. Or not. Thanks.... TIM

Anders.....great build!. I'm helping with photography of 1/1 scale Hudsons for a fellow retired Ford exec and neighbor who is wrapping up a book on the stepdown era Hudsons. I am learning that their history is much more complex than I had imagined, and very interesting to boot You car looks just like one we photographed a week or so ago. In fact, your car is so sharp that it would look be mistaken for a real 1/1 Hudson if it was placed in a "scale" background. And that is the ultimate compliment for someone who builds replica stock models, IMHO. Congratulations.....TIM

All.....thanks for the feedback and comments. Cheers...….TB

Robert.....thanks for asking. I finished the model about a year ago, and submitted a how to story to one of the magazines shortly thereafter. No commitment on their part to actually run it, though, at least at this point. If they choose not to use it, I'll self-publish at my Fotki site...along with the 20 stories or so already posted there. Best.....TIM

As you know, the Three Window Coupe was a relatively short-lived bodystyle in that early automotive industry...Ford offered it only for the 1932-1936 model years More highly styled (and not surprisingly, somewhat less accommodating) than the more common Five Window Coupe, the Three Window Coupe might be viewed as the 1930's decade answer to the "Personal Luxury" segment (Olds Cutlass Supreme et al) of the late 1960's to 2000's. They also make for really cool street rods and hot rods. Below is a preview of all the seven projects in this album; there are multiple additional views of each model with detailed explanations, including detail shots, at this link. Hope you enjoy these building ideas from my collection, some dating back to over thirty years ago; two others completed just recently. Maybe these, along with the many great hot rod model projects posted here by other members of this Forum, will inspire an idea or two for your list of future building projects. Thanks for looking......TIM

Dennis...thanks for the comments and the inspiration....pretty cool to know that the article inspired you back then. That Street Rodder was a really interesting issue.....nearly 40 pages (IIRC) on model cars and other scale replicas. I remember telling Editor Tom Vogele that I thought he would get a lot of negative pushback from regular Street Rodder readers over devoting that much space to our favorite topics, but he went ahead anyway, and I don't recall him ever telling me later that this occurred. He also never said the following (that I recall) about the issue, but I always thought it was a flier to see if a model-based magazine would be a good addition to the then-growing McMullen Yee Publishing Empire. I've been recently in the process of going through my model collection and photographing like-typed (e.g., five window coupe) and posting them together on my Fotki site. I'll try to make sure I include that pink closed cab pickup sooner than later. Best..TIM

Dave Hill is among the most talented model car builders and automotive designers I have run across during my decades in this hobby. In the mid to late 1980's, Dave designed and built a series of 1/24th and 1/25th scale street rods and customs that built on an idea from another highly talented automotive designer (and in more recent times, author), Thom Taylor. Thom's idea was to apply the styling of the 1934 Ford passenger vehicle line to a roadster pickup body style, which of course was in high-contrast to the original 1934 Ford factory pickups of that year, which used what was essentially the prior generation 1932 Ford passenger car styling. Dave took that idea and applied it in (miniature) to a variety of model kits from AMT and Monogram. The result you see here. I showcased Dave's 1948 Ford Phantom Pickup in my then-monthly "Modeler's Corner" column in Street Rodder magazine. Dave's design subsequently took the form of a real 1/1 scale Street Rod built by Gary Vahling of Masterpiece Rodding in Colorado, unveiled in finished form in 1989. In more recent years, Dave has taken commissions for hot rod era automotive design and authored many articles in magazines such as Custom Rodder and various titles of the Buckaroo Publishing Empire. Individual images each of Dave's 1934, 1936, 1940, and 1948 Ford Phantom Passenger Car Pickups are shown here, as well as his 1949 Mercury Phantom Pickup. I photographed Dave's five phantom pickups on the railing of the deck at my home near Atlanta on a fall day in late 1988. I just rediscovered these slides during a major reorganization of my home office and model studio, and I thought you would enjoy seeing them now. Thanks for looking....TIM

Hot Rod Version of Aurora '34 Ford Double Kit, built straight from the box around 1979 or so.... Kitbashed version of the restored/showroom stock version of Aurora's '34 Ford Five Window Double Kit, built with drivetrain from AMT's mid 1970's AMC Gremlin kits and also completed around 1979-1980... ....TIM

A new series of 1934 Fords, done similarly to the 1932 Ford Street Rods or the 1940/48 Fords tooling created over the last twenty years, has been on Revell's possible new kit list for quite some time. But never made it quite to the top of the new tooling priority list. Now with Revell Germany/Blitz running the show, I don't have high hopes for this ever materializing as a newly tooled kit series. But time will tell.....TIM

There is an article in the current issue of the other model car magazine on assembling the A990 version of the Moebius 1965 Belvedere. I think you'll find it relevant and helpful for your article. Also check their website for an update posted there (scroll down on the homepage) as some of the key information omitted from the magazine article is provided there. Good luck...I think you'll enjoy the kit...TIM

Dennis,.....brilliant progress! Great ideas! Can't wait to see this one progress further....Best Regards...TIM

I think we can (nearly) all agree that the Revell boat kit hull is too wide at the seating area, perhaps even way too wide. But the overall hull length is clearly similar to the other 1/25th scale drag boat kits, which means that the kit was intended to be in 1/25th scale (it was originally marketed and advertised by Revell in its 1963 "Show and Go" release as a companion kit to their 1/25th 1956 F-100 kit). Interesting as well is that the hull width of the original AMT Rayson Craft kit is much wider than the hull width (at the seating area) of the Kindsvater hull that is in the retooled AMT "Hull Raiser" kit. Not nearly as wide as the Revell kit, but wider than I think we generally would expect having used the Hull Raiser kit as our primary basis of comparison. Excellent comments, btw. Thanks....TIM

Thanks for posting that image, Dave. It's probably the best one I've ever seen showing the position/angle of the Y-Block distributor....TIM

Fred.....glad to see you back at this one. Simply killer. TIM PS - check your voice mail.....TB

Smile…but not a fight, just a discussion TIM PS - when I first read that comment, I presumed it applied to the rollers on the trailer. And in that case, I totally agree that they are out of scale! TIM

This is an excellent recap of the differences between the two kits. I also seem to recall that the Custom had a slightly lowered front suspension stance. Again from memory, the custom kit included two sets of early Olds aftermarket headers - plated and unplated, and many of the stock version kit parts were still in the Custom box even though not referenced in the instructions. The only meager part of the entire kit execution was that the custom version tailamps were decals instead of real parts (the stock version tailamps - in this case real parts - were also in the Custom kit.) The Custom version of the kit was largely a recreation of the real car that Revell's late Product Development VP, Roger Harney, drove during and just after high school. As with David, for me, the Custom version was/is the kit to go for. TIM