Bernard Kron

A quick update. The motor, a box stock Rochester fuel injected ’57 Corvette, and the interior, essentially the stock interior with the standard dashboard but with a ’53 Studebaker steering wheel. Colors are Testors Acryl Bone and Lifecolor Acrylic Matt Leather. A very straightforward late 50’s proposition… Thanx for lookin’, B.

I have only one model from when I was an avid modeler as a kid. It's a blown small block Chevy stuffed in a stretched Tony Nancy "dragster" chassis. (I was a huge Pete Robinson fan at the time) Somehow it's survived my leaving home, my mother gluing it to a plastic showcase and then sending it to me without proper packing and several moves throughout my life. The plastic is hopelessly brittle, the tires have shrunk, and if I handled it at all it would probably turn to dust. So, instead of attempting to restore it, I want to reconstruct it. I just bought a Revell Tony Nancy double kit (Roadster and Dragster) because I remember buying multiple copies of what I recall as the “Tony Nancy Dragster kit†in order to make a stretched chassis. Back in the early 60’s when this kit came out wheelbases on diggers were getting longer literally by the month so the frames on these kits were always hopelessly too short. The solution was to cut the frame at the point just in front of the motor, then cut another frame at the firewall and glue the two together. Voila! You instantly went front 102†wheelbase to 130â€+. The body was made from index card stock and then painted. Anyway, comparing the old build to the “Tony Nancy Dragster†instantly revealed that I must have built it from the 22 Jr. Roadster and not the later Plymouth engined Dragster. Details in the interior, the fuel tank and the rear wheels pretty much confirm that. I’m pretty certain I never built up a stash of dragster bodies and Plymouth 426 engines. The double kit did not exist when I built this car. Now the mystery – the blown SBC. Almost nothing on it except the headers (if I cut them up) resemble anything in either Tony Nancy kit. The blower drive, injectors , and scoop are all entirely different. The mill has Corvette valve covers, too. The decals on the build may hold a clue to its source. There’s a list of the team members on the panels under the engine: “Builder – Keeler, Owner – Paeth, Driver – Jonesâ€. A web search reveals that this was a little in-joke that the late Bob Paeth made when he first got to Revell. He was assigned the job of checking the soon-to-be released ’55 Chevy Hardtop gasser kit. Jim Keeler, Lloyd Jones and Paeth were all “research analysts†assigned to the project. He got into trouble for doing it and apparently the little decal is only included in the original issue of the kit. Here’s a link to his memoir on the matter: http://theboxartden.com/Artists/Bob%20Paet...Chevy/paeth.htm . There are also some other decals that might help track things down (or not…). Does this engine or any of its parts look familiar to anyone? I know I “imagineered†a few things (the “magneto†drive off the back of the blower is particularly funky!) but I doubt that I would have done much more than tweak an engine from another kit. Here are some pics related to my quest: Thanx in advance for any help in tracking this down… B.

Thanx Alyn. Fabrication is one of the great pleasures of modeling IMHO. My chops have a ways to go but there's hardly a build I do where I don't make something. And chassis work is my favorite of all. I don't do it often enough, though... The inliner 6's are huge, mainly because you're talking about two extra cylinders and 1930's foundry technology. And remember those '32 rails were designed to hold a four cylinder motor. But the setback on this one really compouinds the problem. It's why it'll be a while before I get the body back on. That firewall will take some work... B.

You always seem to add something special to your builds. In this case its the wedge chop that gives the back half of the cab almost a teardrop effect. It really complements the stance well. It's gonna one sexy lookin' ride!

Thanx for the good words everyone. And thanx again for the Inliner John, it suits this build perfectly. It’s a big mill and the back half will just fit under the cowl with the setback I’ve got. I made some progress on the chassis which is complete now with the exception of any changes that might be required once I finalize the rear suspension. The rails are Revell ’32 Ford pieces. I removed the floor and all crossmembers and trimmed back the front of the rails so that they end behind the ’32 grille shell the car will run. The front is pinched to conform with the Model A hood and ’32 shell. The new floor will be on the bottom of the rails so that the frame is entirely inside the car. The floor will extend only to where the frame kicks up and the rear will be left open as it often was on these early drag cars. The rear of the rails were pie sectioned to create the kick up and a .100 styrene rod (2.5 scale inches) curved tubular crossmember with a suicide bracket installed. The rear spring will be a Model A unit hooked up to a quick change rear end. The lower rear crossmember where the frame kicks up is made from .100 styrene rod. It will be cut in the middle to clear the drive shaft. I blacked out the area I will remove for the photos. The tubular members reinforcing the rear of the chassis are made from .080 styrene rod (2.0 scale inches). The front cross member was fabricated from styrene U-channel to take a Revell ’32 Ford tubular dropped axle. I’m planning to use vane type hydraulic “friction†shocks from the Revell ’29 Ford RPU on all four corners. The front motor mount/crossmember and the center crossmember were fabricated from styrene T-section stock. They will be trimmed in the middle to lower the motor slightly. The setback on the long inliner is pretty extreme and I will have to build a firewall enclosure that will sit about 5-6 scale inches inside the cab. The hardest part is getting the rear suspension set up so the car will sit right. That’s next on the list. The body sits on the frame perfectly now so that’s a great relief. It was totally dependent on getting the center crossmember done right. Thanx for lookin’ B.

Those are the Morgan Auto Detail (M.A.D.) distributors and they are very nice. They come in a large variety of wire colors and are unique in offering a large selection of distributor cap colors as well. They save a lot of hastle because they are pre-wired at the distributor end and they also have a superbly detailed distributor cap and base. One trick I have found for making spark plug boots and/or distributor boots is to take the black boot wire that comes with the set and, after having removed the wire core leaving the black tubing hollow, stick the spark plug wire into the tubing a short ways, then cut the tubing to the length you desire and slide the "boot" you just made further down on the spark plug wire. Now it's ready to slide back into position at the engine end or the distributor end depending on whether you've made a spark plug boot or a distributor book. For both slide two separate pieces of tubing on to the spark plug wire. Then glue the ends of the wires into the holes you've drilled and slide the boot into position onto the glued area. If you leave any spark plug wire in the boot tubing after you make the cut, just take the next spark plug wire and poke it into the other end of the tubing until any residue comes out the opposite end. If you are wiring using a kit distributor or scratch building your own distributor you may have to use loose wire and drill your own holes. The spark plug boot trick still works but you'll have to determine the size wire to use. If I recall correctly coated wire with an overall diameter in the .016-.024 inch range is pretty convincing. Raul Perez has recommended Train Control Systems ( http://www.tcsdcc.com/Zen/index.php?main_p...amp;cPath=29_27 ) as a cheap source of colored coated wire in fine gauges. I believe 32 gauge wire is what is commonly used for spark plug wire. Critical tools for this kind of detailing include: A micrometer for measuring the thickness of things like wire, mounting pins, etc. A set of wire gauge drill bits for making the corresponding holes. A pinvise for the drill bits. A good set of small round nose pliers to shape bends in the wire. I hope some of this helps.

The White book is commonly available. It's out of print so the price has gone up. It's on Amazon.com starting at about $100.00 used. The Walton book looks awesome. And it's still available direct from the author (who, interestingly, co-authiored the White book). I'll have t save my pennies and get a copy...

I/8th scale, huh? That should give you a great canvas for all the intricate details of this beautiful motor. Is this the book you're refering to, Offenhauser by Gordon Eliot White? If so I can see why you're motivated. If not, it's a must have for this project or for any race car engine buff...: Looking forward to following this build!

Fabulous! The w.i.p. thread is an absolute must to appreciate what a great little kit this is, as well as the fanrtastic job done on this build. One reason it may be under-appreciated as a kit is because that cool little body hides an incredibly imaginative and nicely detailed chassis which, once the kit is completed, totally disappears! And, at the end of the day, this type of kit only really comes into it's own when it benefits from the superb paint and detailing work seen here. Thanx for sharing!

Yes it is. At least on the '32 Coupe set. There are also several other sweet bits that are often overlooked, like the p/e trim for the kit teardrop tailights. I also think on this build he's using the very nice p/e license plate surround.

Great build. Really inspired detailing and weathering. The interior, of course, acts as the centerpiece. But the stance is as nice as I've seen on a scale channeled '32. Looks great from every angle. It was a treat to watch it come together and this great result is the payoff. Bravo.

Immaculate build. Really nice Candy Red paint and that lowered front end is just the ticket. The fenders hide the problematic tires and leaving the blackwalls was the right thing to do to capture that cool contemporary-traditional vibe. The cowl lamps and tail lights along with the p/e details only serve to strengthen the effect. Really gets the maximum out of this side of Revell's new release. Two BIG thumbs up!

This was and is a great one! Very cool to realize it gets a new lease on life making the rounds on the East Coast. I remember it from when I first started frequenting the MCM board. Hard to believe it's less than 2 years ago. I liked it so much I sent Raul a PM saying so. It's how we "met". I recall Raul saying some folks took exception to it because it wasn't "traditional". Oh well... I actually think it's a pretty fair trade for that awesome '58 Bonneville you sent him ( http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...tiac+Bonneville ):

I guess I just couldn't let myself buy this kit just for the parts. Anyway, other than the engine swap (which appears to be amazingly simple), the lowering (ditto), the firewall detail (ditto), some minor interior stuff and the wheels and tires, this is as close to a box stock build as I will ever get. Just a simple relaxing project as I wrestle with far more difficult stuff on my workbench. B.

The new Revell ’32 Ford 5-window, with it’s stock roof height has a classic funkiness to it that reminded me of the conservative street rods of the late 50’s and early sixties. I decided I wanted to capture the spirit of one of these. Power will be from a ’57 Corvette engine with Rochester fuel injection, absolutely box stock straight out of the Revell Basic Builder kit complete with the chromed distributor cover. The chassis is lowered about 2 scale inches all around. Not shown in the initial mockup pictures is the firewall from the AMT ’32 Phantom Vicky for a more stock appearance. It will be white. The pale blue paint is from Plasti-Kote (FM 8090) and the interior will be white. I can’t decide whether to leave the running boards white or do them in stock rubber finish. The roof insert will be white. I also haven’t decided as whether to run bumpers, nerf bars or nothing, I’m hoarding as many of the cool optional parts as possible for future builds so the front radius rods will probably be the standard parallel bars and the rear suspension, except for the lowering, will be kit stock. The wheels shown are strictly for mockup. They are the ubiquitous Revell ’29 Ford whitewalls with ’57 Corvette hubcaps to capture the look I’m after. Actual wheels and ‘caps will be Fiestas from Modelhaus on wide whites. But they are 3 or more weeks away so they will be the long pole in this build’s tent… I hope this isn’t too rigorously old school funky! Thanx for lookin’ B.

OK Alyn, now you're hitting your stride. After that really nicely detailed out flattie you hit us with this Gorgeous Frame Work. And, BTW, did anyone notice that really nice engine stand? Why do I think more care and craftmanship is likely to go into this build than went into the original 1:1? Like I always say - Keep On Buildin'! B.

We have Inliner Power thanks to the generosity of a fellow MCM-er. A big Thanx!!! goes out to CB for the Fisher 12-port. It came in the mail last week and I finished it up today. There was a surprising amount of revision required to make it over into a competition engine, despite the race parts that came in the kit. First off, some of the parts were a little vague in their details, in particular the fuel injection setup. And the front accessory drive was designed for a road car with a pretty complicated pulley belt system you wouldn’t see on a race engine. If you research these GMC and Chevy 12-ports you soon discover that there weren’t very many heads made, maybe just over 100 among the various Wayne Horning, Wayne, and Fisher variants. As a result virtually every setup is custom. One common hop-up was to take the fuel injection drive directly off the nose of the cam rather than using a belt drive. This was done either by modifying the housing for the cam chain or by casting a new housing. I thought this was particularly neat and tidy and eliminated a lot of the clutter on the front of the kit setup so I made a drive from a couple of pieces of styrene tubing. Also, the kit engine has the bottom of the front bearing housing cut off, as well as the bottom of the front pulley, presumably to clear the metal axle that most AMT kits of this vintage came with. I added back the missing plastic, again using some styrene. Here’s a pic of the modifications to the front of engine before installing the pulleys and injection pump, etc. I replaced the kit injectors with Hilborn units taken from the Tommy Ivo Showboat Buick engines, gluing them to a strip of styrene. I’ll install the injector stacks from the Ivo kit when I do the final installation. I didn’t want to do it now because they are fairly fragile and there will be a lot of handling of the motor as I develop the chassis. The injector pump is from the AMT ’53 Studebaker Hemi mill. The pulleys are modified from my parts box. The magneto is a machined aluminum piece from Pro-Tech. Unfortunately it’s largely hidden by the headers which are only temporarily tacked in place for photography purposes, again because of issues with more handling of the motor. They will be drastically shortened turning final fitting since they are designed to clear the bottom of the body of the ’51 Chevy. Wiring and plumbing will happen during final assembly. Now that I have the engine completed I can tackle the frame in earnest, since I now know the length and width of the motor and can determine the design of the center crossmember. That’s the next step in this build. Thanx for lookin’. B.

Holy Virgil Exner!!! Very cool. It'll be great watching you overcome it's glueness and bombness....

The April list according to Norm is his latest update. It doesn't include the wide-5's or the Willits pickup body. A good source for updates and pics is the Drastic Plastic website under Bob Black's folders ( http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc...casminiatureof/ ). The [previous update was last October. Here is the April update from Bob's site: The most exciting item has got to be the Offy 270/255. I just built one and it's awesome. It's in the Under Glass section ( http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22278 ). Here's a sample pic:

You may thinks it's funky but I think it's totally cool. Unique with beautiful lines, color, and details - the whole package. All those nifty closeups of cool details in the W.I.P. didn't even begin to hint as to where this would land up. You may not agree but I think it's a stunner!

Every part that was changed out, modified, or added to this build improves the model over the original. The motor is killer, the color spot on, and the "little" stuff like the headlights, taillights, hubcaps, wheels and tires, etc. all combine to make the result better in every way when compared to the box stock highboy. Great build, Craig!

The Offenhauser 270/255 DOHC four cylinder as reissued by Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Md. from the original multimedia kit by Etzel Speed Classics This resin kit is a masterpiece of the resin caster’s art. The fineness of detail must be seen to be believed. The only significant additional detailing required is plumbing the ignition and injectors. This is a limited edition release so get them while their still around! More pictures and details about it can be found Under Glass here: ( http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22278 ). (Thanks to Lyle Willits for this image)

Thanks for the background, Art. Your histories are always enriching for those of us who are recent arrivals (or returnees) to the hobby. I have seen photographs of the Etzel Kuzma Champ Car with this engine and the model is as exquisitely detailed and lifelike as the motor. The RepMin kit comes with what appears to be a photocopy of the original Etzel instructions (it refers to the engine as the "Kuzma"). Apparently the main engine piece, the transmission and a finely cast ribbed bottom plate were done in resin with the other eleven parts (exhaust, intake, fuel and water pump, magneto and magneto drive, and coolant pipes) all done in white metal. Norm has done a superb job of casting all these ultra-detail parts in resin. His kit has the identical parts count so that the original instructions serve perfectly as a guide to a successful build. If he has made new molds to support the resin casting process, then, for what amounts to a second generation reproduction, the work Norm has done is second to none.

The Offenhauser 270/255 DOHC four cylinder, the motor which dominated American circle track racing for 40 years. (More pictures below) This is the first of what I hope will be a series of builds of 1/25 scale models of iconic American performance engines. There’s no way I can hope to come close to covering them all, especially in their variations so I hope others will join in (perhaps a subject for a long term Build Off?). This is based on the Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland resin casting of the Etzel’s Speed Classics cast metal 1/25 scale kit of the Offenhauser 270/255 racing engine which dominated American racing for more than 40 years. The resin kit is a masterpiece of the resin caster’s art. The fineness of detail must be seen to be believed. The only significant additional detailing required is plumbing the ignition and injectors. I bought this kit for the shear beauty of the model work after seeing the original Etzel motor in Bill Just’s stunning 27 T Lakester he finished this past February for the NNL west (see http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...amp;hl=Lakester and http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...ic=9094&hl= ). When Norm Veber at RepMin announced he was casting the Etzel motor in resin I had to have one. I have no idea what I will put it in! Thanx for lookin’. B. (Thanks to Lyle Willits for this image)

"Truck-Meister" indeed! You really are in your element when you tackle a pickup. That bed is grrrrreatttt and will be the guidepost that will keep the "more modern" theme in focus for the rest of the build. (BTW, go for the working tailgate, what the heck!) Those rear fenders, combined with the '53 Vette headlights and that bed tell me this one will be a positive evolution beyond the already awesome '57 Z06. Love the idea of the tunneled taillights, too. (It appeals to my Old Skool instincts I'm sure) These full custom pickups have so much style they say 1:1 to me...