Bernard Kron

Super fine in every way. The tonneau cover, lowered turtle deck, cleaned up nose area and the exhaust exits are all great restyling touches and improve the lines and looks of the original enormously.

Thanx everyone! Glad you dig it. I started a project a couple of years back that included fitting the Streetrod version of the Revell '40 frame under an AMT '39/'40 Ford Tudor. It was more complicated than what you're asking about since it involved channeling the body over the frame rails. It's sitting in its box waiting for me to get back to it, now that my chops are better than they were then. But to answer your question, yes the Revell frame can be adapted to the AMT kit. The issue involves the fender piece which you may recall is a single unit in the AMT kits, separate from the main body. The front half clears the Revell frame with little or no adjustment, if I recall, but the rear half will require you to remove a good deal of plastic from the AMT fender section to clear the Revell frame rails. You will need to reinforce the AMT piece when you're done. But it's not too difficult and if memory serves me the wheelbase is a proper match.

Thanx guys!!! I’ve gotten the paint down, 2 coats each of Duplicolor Red Oxide Primer and Silver Metallic followed by three coats each of Duplicolor Bahama Blue Metallic and Krylon Crystal Clear, each “stage” wet sanded with 2000 grit and polished out. I’ll let the clear cure for a few days and then give it a final polishing. In the meantime I’ll tackle the interior. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Not only is this build technically ambitious but it's a completely successful updating. I think the stretched wheelbase and the cleaned up nose area really improves the look, and the tubbed rear end makes total sense up against the bubble top. Great proportions! This is really Silhouette II, a virtual version 2.0 for 2012. Very cool!!!

You're right, sometimes it takes a great deal of "adjustment" to back date some of these Revell kits to a more genuine representation of an earlier period, something AMT did automatically because they are contemporary with the period they're documenting. Despite thick front axles, molded in details all over the place, and the occasional odd body proportions, it's always in the context of the hot rod and custom "vibe". At the time many of these kits were introduced AMT's customers (generally adolescent boys) were totally expert on that vibe and nailing it meant big sales. After all AMT made the 3 in 1 kit a mainstay of the model kit business. (I also think many of the more ambitious Monogram kits from the period - now in the Revellogram catalog - share this characteristic). The '40 Ford kits from Revell (and the Deuce kits, too) are clearly from the modern era, not just technically, but in what they seek to achieve. They document the hot rod revival, not the Golden Age.

Thanx Alyn. This is a very low-key, close-to-out-of-the box build (as close as I'm ever likely to get). It still has required a fair amount of cutting and fitting, more than I counted on. But certainly not of the epic proportions of your '40 build! Sometimes I'll do a project just to get some experience with a kit or to learn or perfect a technique. In this case it was to familiarize myself with the Revell '40 Ford Standard kit and to try to get beyond its limitations without making too much work for myself. The axle drop will be a handy trick from here on out, too. I stole it from Bryce Michelmore over on the TRaK board and it will keep me from raiding other kits for their front axles as often as I have in the past. I'm limiting myself to suspension mods, paint and maybe some interior work on this one. I hope it doesn't turn out too bland...

Beautiful, radical work. Fearless plastic bashing at its best. The reshaping of the trunk area may be sacreligious, but it's truly inspired - it really complements the chopped and channeled lines by giving the car a more close coupled look. Build on, Alyn, build on!!!!

I’ve always felt that AMT and Revell models were philosophically different, each with it’s advantages and disadvantages depending on what you wanted to do with them. Personally, I’m a kit basher and customizer by nature and have almost never built a kit out-of-the-box. I find AMT kits generally are simpler and less detailed than Revell kits. They often lack the kind of fine detail at the subassembly level (engines, suspension chassis, interior) that characterize their Revell counterparts, There are plenty of exceptions but generally speaking I think this is true. On the other hand, AMT kits often have more “soul” than Revell kits. By this I mean that they do a better job of capturing the essence of their subject. Revell kits sometimes seem more fiddly and busy than AMT kits. To my eye they often lack something in their proportions and approach to the subject when compared to an AMT kit. And quite often all that fine detail has a profound effect on the sequence of assembly and can be quite limiting with respect to body and chassis modifications. A perfect example is my current project, a Revell ’40 Ford Standard Coupe. It’s been in my stash for a while and I had already used the flathead from it in another project. The other day I was looking at it and comparing it to the classic AMT ’40 Ford Coupe 3-in-1 kit that’s been around since the dawn of styrene auto modeling. First off the Revell version is a replica kit, meant to be built as a showroom stock ’40 Ford Standard Coupe with a stock engine, interior, wheels and tires. Oddly, it comes with a Columbia 2 speed rear axle which was rare and expensive and not a factory item, but we'll let that pass. The point is that it can only be built one way. It comes with absolutely no parts to hot rod or customize it Having already stolen the motor out of the kit, I began to think about building a hot rod. So the first thing I did was drop the front axle 3 ¾ inches by cutting it behind the kingpins and adding vertical extensions. By shaping the extensions I was able to make it look like a regular dropped axle. With the stock height rear end this gave the car a radical early sixties rake. That made me decide to reserve the very nice period correct steelies and whitewalls from the kit for a 40‘s or 50’s era build. Instead I grabbed the mags out of an AMT ’40 Ford Tudor kit along with the pinner style fronts and slicks from the recent Round 2 re-issue of the Double Dragster kit. This made me think about running the car without the hood and I decided it would need a motor with lots of bling. The blown Oldsmobile from the Revell Roth Beatnik Bandit kit seemed perfect. So here are pictures of the initial mockup after I had dropped the axle and partially assembled the chassis and motor. I’ve selected the color, Duplicolor Bahama Blue Metallic over red oxide primer and Duplicolor Silver base coat for a Kandy Kolor effect. The fender liners, firewall and engine compartment sides will be white. Still to be determined is the style and color of the interior and whether I’ll be running black or white running boards. Also, it’s still up in the air if the car will really be hoodless. If I run a hood then it will most likely need a small scoop to clear the carbs. Since these pictures were taken I cut the firewall and floorboards to gain engine clearance, and radiused the rear wheel openings to clear the slicks. I also have applied and polished out the primer and silver base coat and applied the color coat to one of the rear fenders as a test to make sure I have the color I want (I do). In the next few days I’m hoping to get color and clear down and move on to the interior. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Those are big. Take a look: http://www.sonictron...nsions/S130.pdf Unfortunately it doesn't look like they make anything smaller although they have quite a variety of types.

That was part of the mystery and magic of The Surfers. Those three guys were as close to Naturals in the Top Fuel game as ever existed. I've always gotten the impression that not even they understood how they did it! But that mysteriously simple efficiency shows in every aspect of the car they ran - something Shane has captured so well.

This is the second OOB build I've seen of this kit. In each case a quick one from an enthusiastic and able modeler who couldn't wait to see it on the shelf. In each case it looks GREAT!!! This kit obviously has great "bones" and responds beautifully to skilled hands. Thanx for sharing!

I actually don't know since the kit was after/before my time (I was away from the hobby for several decades and never have owned the kit). Betcha Chuck knows, though. But it seems to me it's somewhat irrelevant, since the Rat Roaster's fronts are pretty crucial to its look and omitting something closely resembling them would be a gross embarassment to both Revell and Stacey David. Hence my mantra.... NO FA.... (I'm sure you now it by now)...

Like I said, it's really very simple: NO FAT FRONTS!!! And yes, as I mentioned earlier, they do have some in the form of the front tires on the Orange Crate, a kit they are due to re-release as part of their Fall 2011 schedule. Oops, looks like our posts crossed each other, Casey! So.. repeat after me: NO FAT FRONTS!!!

With regard to the Rat Roaster, at least, I thinks it's really very simple: NO FAT FRONTS!!!* *For those who may have missed it a few pages back, it seems Revell is actually considering omitting the signature skinny front tires on Stacey David's Rat Roaster '32 Ford roadster.... perhaps even continuing with the antiquated and unwanted wide front tires that have blighted even the most recent releases of the Deuce series.

Hmmmm.... Now that might explain more than a few things...

I'd like to raise an aspect of the auto modeling hobby that I think is fairly unique and helps distinguish it from other idioms such as military, airplane and ship building. Since the advent of the 3-in-1 kit more than 50 years ago auto modelers have created models that are not replicas, often using combination of kit bashing and scratch building. I'm certainly one of those auto modelers who has almost never built out-of-the-box and I know that an awful lot of what is discussed on this and many other boards involves something besides replica modeling. I believe this is important because it drives sales in specific areas and for specific kits. When was the last time you saw a 3-in-1 Ferrari, regardless of vintage, from one of the Japanese companies? Indeed, many kits are engineered to discourage this, or at least render it quite difficult. So which kits do support the creation of "imaginary" cars? Generally speaking you're talking about hot rods, customs and drag racing subjects. These types of kits drive a lot of "surplus" sales, as enthusiasts buy up multiple copies for their parts and the rich possibilities for build variations they support. I believe this is why you've seen the rise of Round2 and their re-issue driven sales strategy, and why you've seen the dominance of automotive re-issues and complex new-tool 2-in-1 automotive kits from Revell. Just look at the most recent Revell new release brochures, as far back as Fall 2009, and you'll see that far more than half the releases are of these types. The only other modeling discipline that I can think of that has as much or more of this type of activity is possibly in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. Anyway, I think this goes some way toward explaining the preponderance of older subjects and re-issues. Just like in the 1:1 world, it is quite difficult to modify and customize a contemporary Aston Martin or Honda without a pretty radical design approach and modeling skill set. The kits don't support it, nor do contemporary trends in the "real" world. I'm not saying it can't be done, or shouldn't be done, just that it isn't done as often or to the degree it was in the past, and that has heavily influenced kit design and release schedules.

I've used Bare Metal Foil Co.'s decal paper for years. It's called Experts-Choice Decal Film and it comes in clear and white for inkjet printers which is what I use. They also make versions for laser printers in clear, white, gray and gold foil. I have no experience with the laser stuff but I can highly recommend the inkjet product. It's stable, keeps for a long time, and prints very crisply in a manner similar to high quality glossy photo stock. Used with a good quality decal film coating, the resulting decal is quite strong and easy to handle while not being too thick and responds very well to setting solutions . I've never worked with the Testors product so I can't comment on it or compare between the two.

Hey! John!! Maximum thumbzupz man! Too cool!

I haven't seen a date yet. Here's a link to the Fall 2011 release catalog: http://downloads.hobbico.com/misc/rmx/2011_FallNR_Brch_lo.pdf See page 3, lower left corner.

I have just heard the following from a modeler on another board. It's very disturbing: "...In talking with the reps from Revell, at the show yesterday, I was told that the tires were the least likely parts to appear in the kit... They will most likely use tires that they already have molds for. Too bad, as that is probably the coolest thing about the car and the most likely reason I would bother to buy the kit." Let's all do everything we can to make sure Revell doesn't repeat the mistake they made on both the Sedan and the 5-window, to adapt Old School style front wheels (Kelsey-Hayes style wires and Ford-style steelies respectively) to those pathetic, sadly out of date, fat wide front tires (decal sheet white walls? - Give me a break!)* This car is very heavily stylized and those front wheels and tires are key to its look. It has every possibility of being a hot seller with a broad range of modelers, far beyond die-hard traditional hot rod builders like me, but it will lose an awful lot of credibility with a repeat of a mistake like this. On the other hand, a re-release of the Orange Crate is in the Fall 2011 catalog so similar tooling does exist... Please, please, please... Stacey David and Revell, do this one right! *Note: Airplane modelers would never tolerate such a ridiculous shortcut, why should we car modelers?

The air cleaners and stacks are removable and the car can be run with or without the hood and hood sides. Apparently there are enough exterior and interior changes that Revell is treating this as a "new tool".

Whether or not you agree with the overall look and details of the car it is an awesome collection of parts. Backwards compatibility with the existing '32's doesn't look like too much of an issue with the exception of the rear panel below the rumble seat. On the 1:1 it has a molded inset license plate mount that extends bel;ow the panel line... I grabbed a bunch of shots from the site which summarizes many of the keynote details of the Rat Roaster. Have a look:

The summary sheet on page 1 has been updated to reflect confirmations and changes reported so far. Here's an additional copy for those of you who don't want to page back:

And dinner and a few drinks in Chicago is not necessarily a bad thing...