Bernard Kron

Very nice work so far. The recent Revell '29 roadster isn't my preferred choice for doing a V8 highboy hot rod, mainly because of the high rear wheel arches and the very high kit stance. A recent A-V8 I completed was done using the AMT body and the Revell Deuce chassis. But I did do an all-Revell highboy roadster a couple of years ago that, addressing the stance issues came out just fine. I used a Revell Olds motor with a Caddy air cleaner. But as a parts source for virtually everything else it may very well be one of the very best parts sources. Your backdating of the rear end and the front end lowering is elegantly and cleanly done and should result in addressing the stance deficiency very nicely indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on the Maple Leaf Modelworks rear end conversion. It should look great. Build On!

Thanx Chris! Thanks! I've always had my "dream deuce" kit, which in my case would simply be to "shrink ray" the old Monogram (then Revell) Big Deuce down to 1/25th. It's perfect for most of what I build with both a Chevy Small Block, and in later re-issues, a Flathead with correct vintage Stromberg 97's and full multi-carb setups, great headers, full detail chassis with an I-beam front axle and quick-change buggy spring rear end, tuck and roll interior and on and on. Just awesome. I even bought a Big Deuce once, but as soon as i was confronted with the shear size of the thing, realized that, unless I was fully committed to building, and owning, such a monste,r I would have to sell it on, which is what I did. But what a beautiful kit! But Revell came mighty close with their 1/25th Deuce series, IMHO. Sure the bagged rear suspension is kinda goofy and definitely not right for period correct vintage hot rod builds, and the stance needs some serious revision. Also, the years have not been kind to those wide front tires that, until the Stacey David version, they all came with. And that "curtain rod" brace between the firewall and the radiator shell is something that I personally truly despise! But frankly there's nothing there that's not within reach of any reasonably competent modeler to correct. So much is right about these kits that a little extra effort can reward you with a wonderful model. Thanks Bob. As they say, when it comes to hot rods, Stance Is Everything. Thanks Jim. I was surprised that building something like this, with such severe time constraints, would come out as well as it did. But then again, I sure have had a lot of practice, LOL. Thank you Trevor. I consider that a great compliment, since a "real world hot rod" was definitely the goal.

Here's my latest Deuce Roadster, an "Ohio Style" highboy completed on Sunday for a 96 hour buildoff on the TRaK board:

Here's my most recent Deuce 5 window, "Louver-mania", a show 'n' go competition street coupe I finished last month:

Thanks so much, Phil. Here's some detail on what is by now becoming almost standard for my Deuce bjuilds. Back in 2008 when I first started car modeling again I built a channeled Revell Deuce 3-Window and hated the kit stock stance. It was my first encounter with this series of kits and, despite the channel, it was mainly OOB and I soon understood that to get them to look right more work would be required... At the time here on the MCM board there was a fair amount of discussion about how to get the front end of these Revell Deuces down "in the weeds". in particular an elegantly simple modification that Tim Boyd had discussed - I assume in one of his magazine articles. It was simply referred to as the "Tim Boyd" modification and it has become standard operating procedure on my Revell Deuces ever since. It consists of narrowing the mounting tab so that you can raise the spring/axle assembly closer to the front crossmember, thus lowering the front end. In addition to this modification, I generally will shave the front spring down, usually removing at least 2 leaves, and quite often 3 for a modern mono-spring setup. This may also require notching the frame rails to clear the front axle. Here's an explanation of these Mods: "Tim Boyd" Revell Deuce front axle tab modification with optional spring shaving: Shaved spring Revell Deuce tubular 3" dropped axle w/ "Tim Boyd" tab modification installed: For an even more radical drop (and an I-beam as well) you can employ a Revell '40 Ford 4" dropped I-beam axle (or ThePartsBox.com re-pop I used in this case), here shown w/ "Tim Boyd" tab modification installed and shaved spring: Resulting rake with "Tim Boyd" front axle modification and standard Revell rear axle height: The "Ohio Look" stance, and indeed the stance on many modern "Traditional" hot rods as well as many from the 50's and 60's involved lowering the rear end as well. If you were deleting the rear-mounted fuel tank then a simple "Z' job was all that was required. But recently I've wanted to conserve the stock tank location but still lower the back end. For some reason achieving this is rarely discussed in hot rod lore, even though it's a critical aspect of the stance on many iconic highboy Deuces. Below is the technique I developed for the kit rear suspension of the Revell Deuces, which consists of raising the floor portion of the Revell chassis where the rear axle is mounted, In the case of a traditional "buggy spring" leaf spring setup you would substitute the requisite rear crossmember. Stepped/lowered rear axle mounting allowing preservation of stock gas tank location on '32 Ford: Similar modification on the Bob McGee Roadster (circa 1950): Resulting rake with "Tim Boyd" front axle modification (tubular axle) and lowered rear axle modification:

Thanks! ? Thanks! These days I simply refuse to build a Revell Deuce with the stock stance! Thanks! I'm still surprised this style isn't modeled very often, especially given how the Revell Roadster is so obviously based on the Lobeck cars. It's probably because of the additio nal mods required to get it to look right (stance and maybe the chopped windshield). Thank you! The secret to the rake is actually that the overall car is lowered. It's actually a flatter stance than if the rear ride height was left kit-stock. (see additional post below) Thanks for noticing! I was surprised that I was able to make time for the details give the 4-day challenge. It's probably because I've built these kits so many times, LOL...

Final "beauty shots" for my Deuce are posted here Under Glass:

”Ohio Look” ’32 Ford Highboy Roadster for TRaK 96 Hour Build Off This project was for the Traditional Rods and Kustoms In Scale forum April 96 Hour Buildoff which ran from midnight April 6 to Midnight April 9th. I managed to get this done within the deadline and the result is what you see below. The inspiration for this build was the box art of the original 1996 (?) release of the classic 1/25th scale Revell ’32 Ford Highboy roadster. This is patterned after the 90’s style “Ohio Look”traditional hot rods coming out of the late Barry Lobeck’s shop Lobecks’ V8 Shop in Cleveland. But the thing that always bugged me about the kit is that they got the stance wrong. The “Ohio Look” features a dramatic rake with a real “in the weeds” nose. The Revell kits all are flatter rakled with a higher nose. I have a standard set of adjustments that I make when I start these kits to get a lower nose and frequently lower the rear as well. That’s what I did here, with a the front lowered about 3 scale inches and the rear about 2 ½ scale inches. The rest of the rake is a “rubber rake” due to the difference in the tires. Other than these adjustments the build-off car stayed close to the basic kit, in the interests of getting it done in 4 days. The pther changes included the substituting the small “implement” front tires found in the Revellogram ’30 Ford Sedan kits, along with resin Radir wheels from my [arts stash. The motor is the Stacey David kit small block Chevy with carburetion from the small block Fords in the earlier Revell Deuce releases. The Stacey David car also offered up its chopped windshield. The ram horn exhaust manifolds were purchased on eBay. The stock hood sides are the Revell Deuce 3-window. Paint is Duplicolor Flame red. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Formal presentation pics tomorrow. Meanwhile battlefield pics of the completed model...

Thanx again guys! Day 3 status check. The motor is built and installed: Revell SBC from the Stacey David Deuce with carburetion from the various Small Block Fords in the Revell Deuce kits. Rear tires are from the Revell Deuce kits, front tires the small "implement" tires from the Revellogram '30 Ford Sedan kits. Front and rear wheels are resin Radirs from a long forgotten source I found in my stash. Tomorrow is final assembly day! Fingers crossed things don't blow up on me!

Thanks guys! I've got the paint and interior about done. It's Duplicolor Flash Red over red primer. Next up is the motor, suspension and wheels, then final assembly. Tick tock, tick tock....

I started this project today for the Traditional Rods and Kustoms In Scale forum April 96 Hour Buildoff. It runs from midnight April 6 to Midnight April 9th. I began today by making sure it would be possible to get what I had in mind done by the deadline. A couple of years ago I scored a huge stash of Revell ’32 Ford spare parts on eBay, enough to build maybe 8 or 9 complete 1/25th scale Deuce roadsters, and 3-window & 5-window coupes, with plenty of parts left over. The only thing missing were wheels and tires. And since I.ve built literally dozens of Revell Deuces over the years I figured it was the perfect candidate for a speed build. Of course I want to keep the amount of fabrication and detailing to a minimum so I have a chance to complete it. I have a standard prep for any Revell Deuce that I go through and I decided to do a highboy roadster since it would be pretty close to the basic kit build. The one thing I did do that's not S.O.P. for me is to raise the rear axle mounting surface, effectively lowering the rear end the same amount, using a technique I first used on the Louver-Mania Coupe I finished last month. This allows me to maintain the stock location of the fuel tank. The picture below shows the start of the thrash and the inset details the lowering technique. You can also see the giant heap 'o chassis from my Deuce stash, LOL. As I write this I have virtually all the parts in primer and the SBC from the Stacey David roadster painted and ready for assembly. I hope to get the main body parts and interior painted today and then focus on the drivetrain and chassis tomorrow. The style of the car will be similar to the original release Highboy box art, a red Barry Lobeck "Ohio Look" roadster, but with the stance corrected and a chopped windshield. I had done a similar car many years ago and sold it off on eBay last year. I miss it so I thought I'd give it a go for the build-off. Thanx for lookin', B.

For some reason this project isn’t moving along as fast as I’d like. Perhaps it’s a minor case of builder’s block… In any case the bodywork is completed with the interior and glass installed. Patina is where I want it. The picture below at last shows the car up on its wheels for a stance check – it looks pretty much as I imagined it. The motor is completed and ready to install, the rear suspension is completed, and the front suspension done except for the steering tie rod. Lighting and final assembly are mainly what’s left. Hopefully it won’t be long until completion, now. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Steve! For some reason this project isn’t moving along as fast as I’d like. Perhaps it’s a minor case of builder’s block… In any case the bodywork is completed with the interior and glass installed. Patina is where I want it. The picture below at last shows the car up on its wheels for a stance check – it looks pretty much as I imagined it. The motor is completed and ready to install, the rear suspension is completed, and the front suspension done except for the steering tie rod. Lighting and final assembly are mainly what’s left. Hopefully it won’t be long until completion, now. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thank you Andrew. This all aerosol. Learning to airbrush is on my to-do list for this year. I'm hoping it will be a step change in my modeling. I've always been disappointed by the Tamiya clear pearl. It adds a subtle metallic sparkle but totally lacks the iridescence a good "show car" pearl should have. On certain colors, mainly medium-tone pastel-like shades, it shows up fairly well like, the outlaw Porsche 356 I started a while back shown below (the base color is Tamiya AS-29 Grey Green over white primer). But mainly its just too conservative and not worth the effort, IMHO. I keep trying it on various shades but, in this case as in so many, I could just as easily left it off. It was shot straight out of the can and there are two coats of Testors clear lacquer over it which went on smoothly enough that it didn't need polishing. Learning to airbrush will give me access to "real" show car pearls at last. [Edit] Oops, almost forgot the pic, LOL...

This project is progressing nicely, with a minimum of unexpected hassles so far. I got the body and chassis brush painted, and as I’d hoped, the effect was that of old, oxidized paint, rather than the more exaggerated worn through or rusted paint that I’ve usually done. The only surface treatment I did was to burnish the paint with a light sanding with1000 grit sandpaper followed by rubbing it out with a paper towel. Where any red primer showed through I actually dry brushed the area with body color paint so that the worn areas are kept to an absolute minimum. It’s a type of weathered paint I’ve never attempted before. The stock appearing firewall is a re-pop of the Stacey David Deuce firewall from e-Bay vendor Forward Resin. It’s a top-flight casting and it’s finished in black lacquer. The interior is the Revell 3-window kit interior with the only modifications being to lower the seat height to accommodate the chopped top and to add a floor shifter. Color is Testors Insignia Red. The rear wheels and tires are the really nice high profile bias ply tires mounted to ’37 Ford truck “artillery” wheels offered by Ed Fluck’s Drag City Casting based on masters by Dennis Lacy. The matching smaller diameter fronts are the stock Revellogram ’37 Ford truck wheels. Paint is Testors British Crimson over red oxide primer. The hubcaps are cut down and thinned AMT ’36 Ford spare tire caps because I’ve run out of Revellogram ’37 Ford truck caps. Next up is fabricating the steering and suspension, then lighting, grill, graphics and final assembly. Thanx for lookin’, B.

This project is progressing nicely, with a minimum of unexpected hassles so far. I got the body and chassis brush painted, and as I’d hoped, the effect was that of old, oxidized paint, rather than the more exaggerated worn through or rusted paint that I’ve usually done. The only surface treatment I did was to burnish the paint with a light sanding with1000 grit sandpaper followed by rubbing it out with a paper towel. Where any red primer showed through I actually dry brushed the area with body color paint so that the worn areas are kept to an absolute minimum. It’s a type of weathered paint I’ve never attempted before. The stock appearing firewall is a re-pop of the Stacey David Deuce firewall from e-Bay vendor Forward Resin. It’s a top-flight casting and it’s finished in black lacquer. The interior is the Revell 3-window kit interior with the only modifications being to lower the seat height to accommodate the chopped top and to add a floor shifter. Color is Testors Insignia Red. The rear wheels and tires are the really nice high profile bias ply tires mounted to ’37 Ford truck “artillery” wheels offered by Ed Fluck’s Drag City Casting based on masters by Dennis Lacy. The matching smaller diameter fronts are the stock Revellogram ’37 Ford truck wheels. Paint is Testors British Crimson over red oxide primer. The hubcaps are cut down and thinned AMT ’36 Ford spare tire caps because I’ve run out of Revellogram ’37 Ford truck caps. Next up is fabricating the steering and suspension, then lighting, grill, graphics and final assembly. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Pete. I've always dug your build style and I was glad to see your recent posts. Thanks! Couldn't of done it without you! ?? Thanx! U R 2 kind. LOL? ?

Thanks Charles. It never really occurred to me to find out if there's precedent in the 1:1 world. For sure there's no more room on the SCoT for four 97's and the prototypic setup, as, for example, by Barney Navarro, is with two 97s. I'll do do some web searches and report back but you may be right - this may just be an example of the kind of imagineering that modeling allows us, LOL.

When the TRoG (The Race of Gentlemen) community build was launched at the end of last year it triggered a stream of possible projects in my mind, the result of which is that I’ve got a string of hot rod builds going starting back to July of last year. With this project it’ll be six in a row and this will be my third car for the TRoG build-off. I’ve promised myself the next project won’t be a hot rod, but in the meantime I’ve got to get this one out of my system. This will be a ’32 Ford 3-window highboy with a severe 4 scale inch chop and a “all-the right stuff” ScoT blown flathead. The TRoG Airport Drags in Flabob, California near Riverside was the theme of the build-off, and one characteristic of the entries for that meet, one which is shared in general by the left-coast TRoG meets, is a relatively high degree of fit and finish compared to the rusty, crusty weathered vibe of the Wildwood, New Jersey TRoG beach races. My first two builds for the build-off were definitely of the weathered variety and for this one I wanted to create a car more like the relatively high-dollar traditional rods seen at Flabob and also earlier in at the Santa Barbara TRoG drags. That’s why I chose the “right-stuff” flatty. This vision also lead to some paint experiments which I’ll outline below. To start with I set about working on the basic body. I decided to include the requisite louvered rear deck so often seen on TRoG style hot rods. The rear deck on the Deuce three-window, like so much of the that particular body style, differs from other Deuce bodies in several significant ways. For example it has suicide doors. It also has a wider rear deck opening than it’s cousin the 5-window. So, starting with the louvered deck from the Revell 5-window you either have to widen the deck lid or open the rear deck to a narrower width. Cutting open a narrower deck opening is simpler, requiring less finishing work since you merely have to fill in the old panel lines. The difference in width is considerable, about 4 mm. or 4 scale inches. That’s the approach I took which is illustrated in the following photo. Next came the chop. As I said, it’s relatively severe in keeping with the style of chopped coupes at TRoG meets. Moreover, generally when I chop a coupe I will remove the rear window panel separately as an intact, un-chopped unit, so I can later control the overall size and shape of the window. But in this case I wanted a relatively crude “mail slot” effect so went ahead and chopped straight through to the widow opening. Although the car is a highboy it will have a low overall stance. To achieve this I gave the Revell Deuce chassis I’m using a roughly 3 ½ scale inch Z at the rear. Being a TR0G-correct traditional rod it’s getting a Ford Model A buggy spring rear end with a Halibrand quick change. The Model A cross member is from an AMT kit. The motor was interesting in the decision making I went through. Normally I would dig through my stash and use a kit flathead and spare parts for my flathead hop-up. But a SCoT blown version would require an aftermarket parts purchase, most likely from Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Marlyland. Not only would this involve some expense but also a significant delay. Perusing eBay I discovered several SCoT setups, invariably requiring purchasing a complete engine and all 3D printed. As far as expense was concerned, they weren’t that much more than a blower-only setup. The one I liked most was from eBay vendor Jay’s Resin Wheels. What caught my eye was the triple-carbs, which no one else offered. Unfortunately to get the triples required getting the Ardun motor, but I have plenty of finned high compression heads (I’m using Offenhauser heads from RepMin) and the Ardun conversion could go into my stash for a future project. Delivery took less than a week and total cost was just north of 20 bucks. Quality is first rate. Can’t complain… And finally, a paint experiment. I want to achieve a faded paint effect, old paint but with little in the way of rust or chipping. And with a moderate degree of semi-gloss. The photo mbelow shows my color choice, Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue, a flat military color which resembles Ford Washington Blue. The photo below has two images one, against a bluch background and other against white. The black background actually is the more accurate with respect to color. The fender is the effect I’m looking to achieve. It’s done partially by brush painting. The Tamiya bottle paint is such high quality and so stable that it self-levels to a high degree. I will use Krylon Satin Clear to achieve the required semi-gloss effect, and that’s what you see on the fender. This will be my first brush paint job on a full body since I was little kid, LOL. Lot’s to do from here on out, but the startup has been encouraging. Thanx for lookin’, B.

When the TRoG (The Race of Gentlemen) community build was launched at the end of last year it triggered a stream of possible projects in my mind, the result of which is that I’ve got a string of hot rod builds going starting back to July of last year. With this project it’ll be six in a row and this will be my third car for the TRoG build-off. I’ve promised myself the next project won’t be a hot rod, but in the meantime I’ve got to get this one out of my system. This will be a ’32 Ford 3-window highboy with a severe 4 scale inch chop and a “all-the right stuff” ScoT blown flathead. The TRoG Airport Drags in Flabob, California near Riverside was the theme of the build-off, and one characteristic of the entries for that meet, one which is shared in general by the left-coast TRoG meets, is a relatively high degree of fit and finish compared to the rusty, crusty weathered vibe of the Wildwood, New Jersey TRoG beach races. My first two builds for the build-off were definitely of the weathered variety and for this one I wanted to create a car more like the relatively high-dollar traditional rods seen at Flabob and also earlier in at the Santa Barbara TRoG drags. That’s why I chose the “right-stuff” flatty. This vision also lead to some paint experiments which I’ll outline below. To start with I set about working on the basic body. I decided to include the requisite louvered rear deck so often seen on TRoG style hot rods. The rear deck on the Deuce three-window, like so much of the that particular body style, differs from other Deuce bodies in several significant ways. For example it has suicide doors. It also has a wider rear deck opening than it’s cousin the 5-window. So, starting with the louvered deck from the Revell 5-window you either have to widen the deck lid or open the rear deck to a narrower width. Cutting open a narrower deck opening is simpler, requiring less finishing work since you merely have to fill in the old panel lines. The difference in width is considerable, about 4 mm. or 4 scale inches. That’s the approach I took which is illustrated in the following photo. Next came the chop. As I said, it’s relatively severe in keeping with the style of chopped coupes at TRoG meets. Moreover, generally when I chop a coupe I will remove the rear window panel separately as an intact, un-chopped unit, so I can later control the overall size and shape of the window. But in this case I wanted a relatively crude “mail slot” effect so went ahead and chopped straight through to the widow opening. Although the car is a highboy it will have a low overall stance. To achieve this I gave the Revell Deuce chassis I’m using a roughly 3 ½ scale inch Z at the rear. Being a TR0G-correct traditional rod it’s getting a Ford Model A buggy spring rear end with a Halibrand quick change. The Model A cross member is from an AMT kit. The motor was interesting in the decision making I went through. Normally I would dig through my stash and use a kit flathead and spare parts for my flathead hop-up. But a SCoT blown version would require an aftermarket parts purchase, most likely from Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Marlyland. Not only would this involve some expense but also a significant delay. Perusing eBay I discovered several SCoT setups, invariably requiring purchasing a complete engine and all 3D printed. As far as expense was concerned, they weren’t that much more than a blower-only setup. The one I liked most was from eBay vendor Jay’s Resin Wheels. What caught my eye was the triple-carbs, which no one else offered. Unfortunately to get the triples required getting the Ardun motor, but I have plenty of finned high compression heads (I’m using Offenhauser heads from RepMin) and the Ardun conversion could go into my stash for a future project. Delivery took less than a week and total cost was just north of 20 bucks. Quality is first rate. Can’t complain… And finally, a paint experiment. I want to achieve a faded paint effect, old paint but with little in the way of rust or chipping. And with a moderate degree of semi-gloss. The photo mbelow shows my color choice, Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue, a flat military color which resembles Ford Washington Blue. The photo below has two images one, against a bluch background and other against white. The black background actually is the more accurate with respect to color. The fender is the effect I’m looking to achieve. It’s done partially by brush painting. The Tamiya bottle paint is such high quality and so stable that it self-levels to a high degree. I will use Krylon Satin Clear to achieve the required semi-gloss effect, and that’s what you see on the fender. This will be my first brush paint job on a full body since I was little kid, LOL. Lot’s to do from here on out, but the startup has been encouraging. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Nailed it!

Nice stance work. It 's already paying off. ?

Solid! ??

The details of the weathering certainly look promising and worth the effort. Looking forward to a more distanced shot.