tim boyd

Andy/Kevin. Unless I'm missing something, the AMT fenders are for a '28'29 Model A, while the R&M of Md body would theoretically fit Revell '30A/'31A Tudor/Woody fenders. Problem is, those Revell fenders seem to have a problem on the rear...one side of the rear fenders doesn't center the rear tires properly. Still...would be a very cool model to build if you could fix the Revell fenders...TB

Excerpts from Post #8 on page 1 of this thread... " * The wheels and brake drums are highly detailed....with studs on the finned Buick-style brake drums and holes in the wheels for the studs....and the wheels include fine valve stems. Backing plates front and rear are the traditional ’40 Ford style." " * The suspension is very traditional up front, with a dropped I-Beam (yes!) and split wishbones." * " And speaking of tires, they're all new tools and appear just about perfect for all our Traditional Hot Rod Builds..." I think the last couple pages of this thread have been diverging into all the kitbashing opportunities afforded by this new Revell kit...including those featuring the '30 Chopped A Five Window bodies in the aftermarket...(R&M of Md, Jimmy Fllntstone, and R&R VacuumCraft...) Hope this helps answer your question and explain the latest posts here..../Cheers...TIM .

I found few more shots of the Chopped Five Window Model A Coupe.... Rear 3/4 passenger side view...note the louvered R&M of Md. trunk lid..and Halibrand quick change peeking out from underneath... Love these low angle shots but maybe I got a bit too carried away on this one...the separate windshield frame on the R&M of Md. body allows you to pose the windshield open, as seen on many Traditional style Model A Coupes....the "camshaft" front frame crossover bar is from the recently reissued AMT Engine Parts Packs...Buick finned brake drums and '40 Ford backing plates are from R&M of Md., the latter wearing Alclad II paint...the "Guide" headlamps are from the latest reissue of the Monogram/Revell '30 Model A Touring/Phaeton kit./..the drilled windshield visor is part of the R&M kit (which also includes a stock, non-drilled visor). Thanks again for all the feedback on this...TB

Skip...a very big "THANKS" for the lead on the Dennis Adler MB 300SL book. Ordered a used copy through Amazon and got it today. Just as you said, a great reference for 300SL modelers! Cheers....TIM

Dave....Greg....Don....Bob.....thanks! Yes, the rear tires are from the Rat Roaster, as are the wheels front and rear. The front tires are from the Revell '62 Corvette Gasser. The backdrop is a photo I took of Lake Michigan from the Bay Harbor Resort south of Petoskey, Michigan. The base is a piece of foamcore that Tom Woodruff painted and detailed and gave to me (THANKS AGAIN. TOM!). The "logs" mask the transition from the "real" background to the "photo" background, and they are simply the dead stems from the Species Daylillies that I grow in my yard during the summer. I posted an image similar to this one on the H>A>M>B> some time ago, and it fooled several people until they looked closer and figured out it was actually a model car instead of a 1/1. I much prefer to present my finished model cars in a "lifelike" setting like this, but that sentiment doesn't seem to be shared by many others in this hobby (or at least, that's what I'm told). Dave., I really like your "Sweep the Bench" phrase. For me, three prior "sweep the bench" kits were the Revell Kurtis Midgets, the Revell '32 Ford Three Window Street Rod kit circa September, 1996, and the original Revell John Buttera '26 T sedan when it first hit the market around 1975. In all three cases, I "swept the bench" and pounded out the new model start to finish without interruption. I have no doubts that the Revell '29 A Roadster, and just as importantly, whatever Revell follows up with using the same basic tool, will also be "sweep the bench" moments for me, and, it sounds like, for you too. Best...TB PS - if any of you need details about the '30 A Highboy build pictured above, send me a PM and I'll link you to a reference with more details.

Here's a chopped '30 Model A Five Window Coupe I built last year using the body from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, along with a number of their other parts kits (brakes, suspension, etc.). Thanks for looking...>TIM

Dave...not exactly sure what you are envisioning here....but basically the Model A chassis was consistent across the '28-'31 model years even as the bodies varied quite a bit between '28/'29 and '30/'31 model years. So if you are doing a '31 Model A Sedan on the new Revell kit's Z'ed Model A frame, everything should work. You'll need to notch the '31 A firewall, and hog out the floorboards, to allow the body to sit in a channeled confifguration. Or you could go "highboy" style by putting the body on top of the Model A frame (much as the Vern Tardell/Mike Bishop highboy roadster pictured earlier in this thread); you'd still need to hog out the floorboard in back where the new Revell frame is "Z'ed. Anyway you go with this, though, it's gonna be very cool when you are done with it! TIM

Del...I've always thought that the Revell Buttera '26 T Sedan//faux Sedan Delivery and '27T Touring were properly sized. But the '33/'34 Ford kits based on this same tooling were woefully undersized and misproportioned, as they attempted to compress that body design to fit the much shorter Late T chassis wheelbase (apologizing in advance if you already knew this). Again, maybe I need to compare them....but my recollection is that the AMT and Revell '27 T Tourings were pretty close in size and execution as well, with some detail differences (such as the curvature of the front cowl). Best...TB

I've never directly compared the two (Gee, I should probably do that, huh?!), but the Monogram 1/24th body is not as accurate as the R&M of Co. Md. 1/25th body...i.e. compare the belt moldings underneath the windows... . TIM

Joe....the process to do a hood to fit a '29A Roadster on '32 Ford rails along with a Deuce grill has been covered several times in the mags over the years. These include articles in the other model car magazine around 1983 or so (it was called "Highboy Heaven IIRC) and again in the late 1990's. I can look up the issues if you need them. In both cases, this involved taking a '32 Ford hood, and narrowing it (via removing a V-Shaped section) toward the rear to fit the smaller cowl of the '29A body, then straightening out the forward and rear edges of the hood (which adopt a shallow "V" shape of their own after the narrowing operation). It's not a particularly hard modification, but you do need to have a sturdy mockup with the radiator/grille shell and body in place to make sure you get an accurate length dimension for the hood. TIM

Dave....about that '30/'31 A Model A coupe....you are correct, there's never been a styrene kit in 1/25th scale. Your best bet is to use the Replicas and Miniatures '31 A Chopped Body...it's a better finished product than the Jimmy Flintstone offering (albeit at a slightly higher price), and includes a couple of building options (plain vs. hole-drilled sun visor, plain vs. louvered trunk, and a separate windshield frame that allows you to pose the model with the windshield cranked open at the bottom). The molding quality is just about flawless, and the master for the mold was well modified, requiring only some slight touchups in the rear quarter panels (below the C-pillar) and the C-pillars themselves (along the chopped area), which is very easy to accomplish with any hobby putty or auto body filler. If you are building a primered car, no touch up is necessary at all (due to the lack of a reflective, glossy finish). As far as future Revelll derivatives of the Model A Roadster, their recent business practice has been to bring out at least one, and often more, spinoffs of a kit if the initial kit release sells well. I do suspect we'll see a derivative of this tool, and hopefully sooner rather than later. Of course, the '30/'31 A Chopped Five Window Coupe is about the hottest thing in the 1/1 scale Traditional Hot Rod world these days, and I think that would be a slam dunk if Revell chose that as body style as a follow-up to the Roadster kit. Best....TIM

Dave...yes, a '26/'27 T of any kind (roadster, sedan, touring..) on '32 rails is feasible, and in fact many have been built as shown in Bill's follow-up post to your comment. A '27T on '32 rails won the America's most beautiful roadster award (a Roy Brizio build) a couple of years ago, too. That one would be a great place to start as a style guide for this type of model build. I did a '27T Roaster Pickup on '32 rails about 12 years ago, using a Tim's Resin Rods body on the Revell '32 Ford frame. The challenge, though, in both 1/1 and 1/25th scale, is that a stock '32 frame is too wide for the T bodies. So it has to be narrowed - not a job stopper, but not a slam dunk either. I did this project in the other magazine, I think it was in their Contest Annual around 2004 o4 2005 (I can look it up if need be). I'll also check my Fotki site and see if I previously posted pictures there.... Just more of the many, many cool ideas this kit will enable...TIM

Lee....you bet it would! And...that is exactly one of the first kitbashes I plan to do when the kit comes out.....TIM

Bill....I think you've very accurately captured the potential appeal of this Revell Model A kit, and the derivatives that will hopefully follow it. TIM

Charlie,,,interesting...about four or five years ago, I got an estimate of the Vendor costs for digital scanning a car from someone who is familiar with the work scanning companies do for the auto industry (including detailed exterior and underbody scans of their own and competitive vehicles). At that time, the estimate was around $4.000-$5.000, and costs should have come down since then. So what you are relating here seems "on the money", so to speak from a second data source. Of course, the kit sales volumes are much small these days. along with the kit development budgets. And I am not at all clear on what the overseas design base charges the kit makers to develop the digital data from pictures and measuring sessions, and translate that into a finished tool. Still...seems a development that should be investigated at the least. TIM

Detailed preview of this new Revell kit - and why you should consider it even if you only build full-detail assembly kits.... Thanks for looking....TIM

Just want to reconfirm the earlier posts here...the JoHan kit chassis is correct only for the Gene Snow 1970 Challenger. There was no other Challenger funny car back in the day (at least among ones covered in the magazines) that had a chassis even somewhat similar to this Gene Snow design...it was truly a one-off. What's equally interesting is that the Gene Snow chassis apparently evolved during the year (as did most other funny cars back then). The original version (at least the one I used as the basis for my scratchbuilt replica back then) used a direct-drive setup, whereas the JoHan kit had a Torqueflite tranny. I'm not certain which version came first, but my guess would be the direct drive. Here are some photos of the scratchbuilt (Styrene tubing and sheet) chassis I built back then, about 18 months prior to the debut of the JoHan kit...(note that while I based the chassis design on the Gene Snow Challenger, many other elements of the build differed, including the engine setup shown....) More pictures here Good lluck with this project...the original JoHan kit was among the very best (easily in the top 5) of all early funny car kits from the model manufacturers.....TIM

Richard....according to John G at Round 2, they added a bit of pearl to the plastic to repicate the color of the real car. The effect is there, but very subtle. I just checked my kit...there is only one swirl mark, across the upper rear quarter panel on the driver's side. Hope that helps....TIM Round 2 AMT Piranha first look

Here's some shots of 1/1 scale Model A's that show the difference between the '29/'29 and '30/'31 bodies that are described in the posts immediately above... * '28/'29A Five Window Coupes (and a Sport Coupe bonus) Photo Album: http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/correcting-or-kitba/192829-model-a-coupe/ * '30/'31 A Five Window Coupes Photo Album : http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/correcting-or-kitba/193031-model-a-coupe-1/ And below are a couple of images from the above albums: * '28/'29 A Five Window Coupe on a '32 Ford Frame - * '30/'31 A Five Window Coupe on a '32 Ford Frame - Cheers...TIM

Bill...thanks...got it, and yes, i was aware of that problem, just didn't recognize that specific issue is what you were talking about. Really appreciate the follow-up (also sent you a PM). Best Regards...TIM

Bill...I've been cataloging all the tweaks needed to take the Revell '70 'cuda body from "pretty good" to "nearly 100% correct". But I am not aware of a problem with the rear quarter panel line. Can you explain further (or emai mail me privately) with what you are referring to? Thanks a bunch...TIM

One of the first products from Missing Link Resin (bought my copy in 2005) was a rebop of the AMT 1969 Mustang body, which is clearly the best of the lot as illustrated by the pictures from Mike above. Surprisingly to me, apparently it didn't sell that well and it's been out of their catalog now for a number of years. One has to wonder if the AMT 1970 body mold (last seen as the "Mach Won" funny car) still exists in the vast AMT/Ertl (now Round 2) toollng archives. Still, even if it did, returning to 1969 status would be problematic (the body was hogged out for the rear funny car slicks, and the rear quarter panel scoop was redone - incorrectly as it turns out - to replicate the ventless 1/1 scale 1970 body....). TIM

I'm hearing rumblings (not directly from Revelll) that it will be introduced around July-ish. Recommending you get those pre-orders in now, though! TB

Great idea - but why not run this with NO restrictions - just let people exercise their creativity, as long as they start with this new kit. And don't award "places" or designate an overall winner, just let the models appearing in the magazine be the award and recognition for the builder, not to mention a fantastic source of inspiration for all who read the magazine. . This new kit was born to live for kitbashing. Trust me on this. Gregg/Harry/Darryl - I'd love to see you do this. I might even be willing to write the photo captions and help you choose the cars to appear.... TIM

Interesting thread here... Some really sharp builds, too. Just a quick note that the '40 Ford "Early Modified" box art on page one is an entirely different kit series...it's the AMT Early Modified kit tool from the mid 1970's, and the tool also includes a Plymouth and Chevy (and probably others that I can't recall at the moment) bodies in the tooling. It's an interesting kit, reasonably well detailed, but suffering from the fit issues of many AMT kits developed in the mid 1970's era. TIM