OldNYJim

My wife picked up the Round 2 Mod Rod kit for me a few months ago, and I built a traditional lakes racer with one of the bodies - which left me a bunch of parts left to do a second build! This kit includes a few, but not all, of the parts to build an Ala Kart so this will use some of those distinctive parts (the custom bed, primarily) and whatever else is left in the box to build a pretty little roadster pick up! A quick mock-up to see how it sits out of the box: I’m going for a light baby blue paint job, using the kit’s Red Ram engine, those nice chrome steelies with the pad printed tires and I’m thinking a tan interior...I had a Jaguar once in light blue with tan leather and I always liked how they looked together! Not too much progress yet, but I’ve had this thing in primer for a few months and I figured if I made a thread I’ll have to start making some progress on it ? More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Love that little T! Nice build!

I’d pay that, sure! What car IS that on the flag anyway? It’s cool!

I’ve been picking up expired surgical blades on eBay - they’re no good for medical procedures, but brand new in the packet and the only ‘expired’ thing about them is presumably the guarantee that they’re properly sterilised still. They’re usually really cheap!

I like a really sharp scalpel blade, held at an angle to the tire so it slices it off cleanly, and a LITTLE lacquer thinner rubbed over the surface with a q-tip to smooth it out afterwards

I really like that subtle two-tone custom paint!

Oh, that’s really cool! I’ll have to pick up a can of that - thank you!

Grill looks great! Could I ask what the ‘Walmart German Carpet’ is - I couldn’t work out what that was, but I like the result you got!

Oh, interesting! Do you happen to have a pic of one? (I figure that kind of advanced parts knowledge often comes from having said part on one’s bench at the time, or close-by anyway... ?)

A few of this week’s sights from around Brooklyn:

That’s really helpful! Thank you everyone! I appreciate the pics too, Bill! I did some research, but without knowing exactly what you’re looking for it can be an uphill struggle...

That’s really helpful!! Does it look like any particular manufacturer’s part to you, or is it one of those ‘looks roughly right’ Monogram parts that they used to come up with way back then?

I just saw on Instagram that someone is making 3D printed versions of these in scale

Do I have to? ?? That rear view isn’t bad, but it’s kind of a mish-mash in that first pic, for me. Looks skilfully done though, I’ll give them that!

Doing some research here...is this transmission (from the T’rantula kit) based on a real design? The engine is a 427 SOHC, but no idea what the trans is meant to represent, if anything...any ideas anyone?

It seems, even as big as the aftermarket is I keep coming up with pieces that I wish I could manufacture myself if only I had the tools. Current project that I’ve been mulling for a few weeks is a Ford SOHC engine for T’rantula dragster...and my stupid imagination came up with the idea of a lathe’d aluminum trans for it to replace the kit’s plastic part so now I’ve got to at least see if anyone could make one - or something close to it in shape (I realise those ribs and lumps and bumps won’t be possible without a LOT more work): Does anyone know of anyone who does that kind of work, or would be interested in doing it themselves? I’d be curious to know what it would end up costing, by the time material costs, labor and postage were accumulated up Thanks in advance for any leads!

So Bill, revisiting this (incredibly useful) topic as I start work on another one of these engines...how do you rate the 3D printed version that you picked up compared to the kitbashed version you were working on? I can’t decide between doing a kitbash as you’ve done or just getting the version from Shapeways - I’d be really interested to hear your opinion!

That’s a GREAT idea! Inspired!

Beautiful work as always - can’t wait to see that paint!

This is coming together really nicely! Can I ask who makes the photo-etched bolts?

So, my wife’s aunt sent me a couple of AMT 53 Studebaker kits that she found my wife’s grandpa’s garage - he was a real Studebaker nut before he died, and rather than throw them out I ended up with them. I built one stock, to match a 1:1 the Grandpa had had, but one had a bust up body and was beyond saving for a STOCK build, anyway. So; I used that one for this! Mostly box stock but with a set of resin steel wheels, a z on the front of the frame and some alterations to the leaf springs in the back to get it about as low as it’s possible to get a 53 Studebaker with a stock-ish frame and floor. I made a bomber-style bench seat on my vinyl cutter and added a little detail to the engine, plus a scratchbuilt roof rack and swamp cooler. This was a fun one! It’s nice to do something not-shiny now and then! And a couple of shots of it with it’s box-stock brother ? Thanks for looking!

And...it’s done! More pics in Under Glass!

Huh!! Interesting!!! I didn’t know that - that would certainly explain it! Even the 30 and 40 year old Ford vans driving around here didn’t look as bad as that Astro so I wondered what had happened to it. Fascinating! Spent yesterday doing some assembly on this thing - I’ve found that I really like Elmer’s rubber cement for holding interior tubs in. It stays tacky nice and long so you can get the body over the tub without snapping the glue joints like you would with CA, but then seems to set up plenty strong enough to hold it all in place: I got kinda carried away with getting the engine together and didn’t really take any pics, but it’s in there! Added an aftermarket resin air filter and a few wires and doodads: And today I need to attach the wheels, the exhaust and a couple of little details and I can call this one done!

That’s really interesting!! I’ve never even heard of such a thing - thanks for the info! How does it compare to BMF? Does it work as well?

That’s really interesting - what kind of foil is that?