vtecfour

Nice skills and patience. I much prefer the original Tweedy Pie as built by Bob Johnston and constructed the Revell re-issue with a de-chromed, more paint look. Quite a fiddly kit with tiny parts, but worth the effort. Dan

"Tweedy Pie" has been my all-time favorite T bucket rod as originally built by Bob Johnston rather than the more famous Ed Roth version. I liked the less chrome, more paint look, so that's what I set out to do with the latest Revell re-issue. The kit only had Roth's quad headlamps so I used the single bucket ones from Revell's Modified Custom T Roadster, another re-issue. Easy Off oven cleaner did a great job of removing chrome from suspension, steering, windshield and wheel parts. Sprayed many of those parts along with the body, firewall and gas tank using Tamiya TS-11 Maroon. Interior was given a few shots of Tamiya TS-59 Pearl Light Red. Everything else was brush painted with Tamiya bottle acrylics. Was built to complement my earlier Lindberg 1/8 T bucket short wheel base conversion. Pretty pleased with both after fifty years away from static models. Building on. Dan

Pretty much done, except for that droopy carburetor horn. Pleased with the short wheel base, less chrome and more paint look. Gonna give 1/8 scale a breather and get back to 1/32 slot cars. Dan

Took some day light shots for a better view. Got the short wheel base look I was after. The 3/4" shortening was just right for another reason. The hangars for the rear suspension arms ended up just in front of the transmission cross member mount without any modification. Dan

Got enough parts so can continue without delay, thanks all. Good progress. Frame and suspension were painted with Tamiya Maroon and Matte Black then assembled. As mentioned to achieve the shorter wheel base, the rear transverse spring was re-located 3/4". Drilled 1/16" holes into the rear chassis deck for the new retaining pad held by metric M2 nuts and bolts. The front suspension retaining pad had only one good locating pin so I replaced the three broken ones with M2 bolts and tapped their pad position with an M2. Mocked positioned the motor and transmission painted Tamiya Yellow... ...then the body and modified gas tank. Pleased that it's going in the right direction. On to finishing the motor. Dan

Not much progress. Trying to see what parts I have or don't have from the glue bomb parts purchase. Pretty hard to tell from the Custom "T" instruction booklet as it's only pictures of a completed car. Having the Tall "T" instructions with parts illustrations made it much easier. Starting to de-chrome some parts. Had heard that Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner works well and wasn't disappointed. Seconds after spraying on the grille, it was down to it's black plastic and any remaining was easily tooth brushed off. Very impressed. This encourages me to de-chrome the suspension and paint black or maroon, my choice for the body and frame. Slow going but we're moving forward. Dan

Inspired by Oldmopars T bucket posting, I've started on my first 1/8 scale build, a Lindberg T bucket rod. One of my favorite hot rods of all time is the original "Tweedy Pie" built by Bob Johnston before Ed Roth took ownership and changed it. Mine's not going to be a faithful reproduction but I'd like to get the short-wheelbase look. Revell's 1/25 Tweedy Pie kit will be my reference. I'm missing some suspension bits from my estate sale purchase of Lindberg Bobtail and Custom "T" parts but there's enough. Started with, - shortening the wheelbase 3/4" by relocating the rear transverse spring that's attached to the rear axle. Want the tire edge to be in line with the rear of the chassis. - sectioning the oblong gas tank into a round one. - mock fitting the parts for an idea of the overall look. It's working out. I like where it's going. Dan in Canada

In my attempt to slotify the body, I've ended up enclosing the engine bay and adding some trim detail on the hood and roof. Quite pleased with the look, so I made another mold and slosh cast a few bodies. After eye balling a glue bomb Revell 32 Ford Orange Crate chassis next to the body, I think it'll work for a re-body. Will start another build thread for this. Dan

Took three tries and finally got a clean slosh cast of the Bantam Coupe body and grille. The so-so ones are OK for slot car builds and the good one will be a static build. Gonna try putting this body on top of the Revell Roth "Tweedy Pie" chassis. Having lots of fun getting back into static building. Dan

Finished off with these last details. - trimmed a windshield from .020" PETG clear plastic with a painted flat black surround and spot glued in with UV-cured glue - simulated front springs with thin solder wire - attached light lenses at the back and a licence plate and holder (unknown origin) l Still can't find the L'il Coffin suspension shock absorbers so will adapt some from the parts bin. Pleased with the results after such a long time. Dan

I've got this car coming my way but won't get my hands on it for a couple of months. In the meantime, could you provide some measurements? - Width from tire sidewall to sidewall, fronts and rears - Wheelbase I'd like to see what other bodies this chassis could fit. Thanks if you can. Dan

I was very hesitant to scribe door shut lines as I find them difficult to get straight and making opening doors (as per the article) is even more daunting. May try scribing on one of my eventual resin copies but will leave the static as is. Dan

Covered the interior tray floor with adhesive-backed black felt from the local craft store. Seats, dash and steering wheel are of unknown origin but look appropriate. Gear shift is .032 piano wire and UV-cured adhesive at the end painted yellow. The steering linkage interfered with the exhaust header (unknown origin) and engine mount but worked out after some grinding and hot knife work. I'm missing some of the original L'il Coffin's front and rear suspension pieces but I think what's there is good enough for me. Pretty much done. I'm really pleased the 50 year stored parts are together and represent what was in my thoughts so long ago. Now to build a slot car version. Dan

I've got this kit coming my way. Are the provided tires different from the box picture? The two Goodyears look completely different. Thanks. Dan

Got some paint on. Sprayed Tamiya TS-59 Light Pearl Red onto the body, grille, chassis, rear axle and drive shaft. Details done in red, gray, silver and flat black Tamiya brush paint. . Missing a number of front and rear suspension pieces from the L'il Coffin's chassis but this'll do for now. More engine work and then we're onto the interior. Coming along well. Dan

I've always wanted to build the Bantam coupe street rod as featured in Dennis Doty's article in Car Model magazine, November 1967. So after almost 50 years, I retrieved what parts I had collected from so many decades ago and started. First up was filling in the optional coupe body's (Monogram Sizzler dragster kit) wheel arches, firewall and roof with .040" sheet styrene. After many cycles of filing/sanding/spray primer, I got a reasonable body. I'm more of a slot car builder these days, so this was prepared as a master for a silicone slosh cast mold too. I've got visions of a bunch of these running on my three-lane wood track. The chassis as suggested by the article is from the old Monogram L'il Coffin show rod shortened 1/2" not the 3/4" as in the article build. Needed that extra length to fit my chosen motor, a Hemi of unknown origin. Body's test fitted and the stance is good for me. I modified the custom quad-lit grille from the AMT Willys/32 Ford kit into a dual for fit and a better look in my view. I haven't built a static car model in decades, so am pretty pleased with the progress so far. Dan in Canada

This is very inspirational. I've just got back into car modelling and will be delving into my first 1/8 scale build. The catalyst has been the purchase of a pile of Lindberg T bucket parts to build a short wheel base, channelled T in the vein of "Tweedy Pie" by Bob Johnson, the original builder. Thanks for posting. Dan