Bernard Kron

Lil’ Red Roadster – Revell Channeled ’29 Ford Model A The release of Revell’s hugely popular ’29 Ford Model Roadster kit in 2015 was a source of mixed feelings for me. A veritable treasure trove of superbly detailed hot rod parts, the channeled variant in particular left me frustrated. With its mile-high stance it sat nearly as tall as the highboy version, and while I thought the Buick Nailhead motor was perhaps the finest version yet done to scale, it makes such a strong Hot Rod statement that it borders on cliché and tends to dominate a project. The size of the big Buick mill, combined with a large modern transmission also forced Revell to opt for a stretched wheelbase which, combined with the high ground clearance and large rear radius arms sticking out below the body, gave the channeled version a rather awkward overall look. So when the kit came out I set about trying to correct the things. I landed up increasing the drop on the z’d frame by about 3 ½ scale inches and dropping the front suspension a like amount by shaving the front spring and substituting a flat front crossmember. The wheelbase remained unchanged, as did the center crossmember position because initially I thought I would build it with the kit Nailhead. But the modern coil spring rear suspension didn’t go with the generally old school vibe of the body and interior so I substituted a Revell ’40 Ford rear cross member and the rear suspension from a Monogram ’37 Ford Delivery Van. I scratch-built some simple oval section trailing arms from styrene stock, their shallow section remaining tucked up under the chassis rails. Once that was done the natural thing to do was give the car Flathead power, which was also sourced from the Monogram truck kit. At this point it was beginning to strongly resemble a Lil’ Red Roadster Photoshop mockup I had done about 9 years ago, so this became the theme of the build. http://i.imgur.com/K9sXPRb.jpg The Lil’ Red Roadster Photoshop mockup done about 9 years ago For some reason, though, I caught a case of builder’s block just as I got going on the project, and at the beginning of 2016 I put everything away and went on to other projects. But the other week I took the box out and, much to my surprise, it didn’t look as bad as I remembered and was quite far along. So I decided to finish it up. The funky, ultra-simple and basic look is emphasized by the stock heads on the flat motor, finished in Testors Metalizer Steel to resemble the high-compression aluminum “Denver” heads Ford offered as a dealer-installed option for heavy ,duty truck use. The Edelbrock dual-carb setup is from a Revell ’40 Ford Street Rod Coupe, which also provided the exhaust manifolds. The transmission is a Hydramatic from a Revell Small Block Chevy Parts Pak, the total length of the engine and trannny fitting the kit frame dimensions. I have forgotten where I sourced the wheels but the hub caps and and trim rings are from a Revell ’32 Ford 5-window Coupe kit. The windshield is the Ala Kart piece from an AMT ’29 Ford Roadster kit ,which has a more pleasing rake to it that the rather upright Revell piece. I chopped it, removed the Ala Kart dashboard and scratched together a basic dash panel and used a leftover photoetch instrument panel from a Model Car Garage ’32 Ford p/e set. Just about everything else is straight out of the basic Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kit with most chrome parts stripped and finished in various shades of Testors Metalizer to go with the Simple Hot Rod theme. The body is finished in Duplicolor Flash Red lacquer. Thanx for lookin', B.

Thanks James and Kerry! Getting a proper channeled stance on the Revell '29 A Fords seems to require constant tweaking to get them to look right. The stretched wheelbase of the Revell '29 A chassis used for the channeled version is an immediate handicap. In retrospect I wish I had considered moving back the front crossmember. But in thinking about it further I realized this would have required moving the center crossmember as well. At which point the only real advantage of the kit frame, given the modern rear suspension setup and insufficiently deep z-job, would have been the curved front horns. Better perhaps to take the AMT frame rails and scratch build the rest of it! In any case, looking at it mocked up and pretty near completion I realized it would benefit from moving the grille shell back. So I got out the Dremel and shaved the front crossmember face. Not a huge difference but it seems to help. Here's a comparison picture. Letter A is the old position, B the one with the shaved crossmember face. Unfortunately the camera angles are not identical but you can see that the grille shell has been moved back about 1/3 of the diameter of the brake backing plate. Because of the chassis rake the grille shell sits slightly higher, in line with the cowl edge.

Thanks KK, Bill and Randy! I’m pretty close to done. The chassis and motor are completed and glued together. The interior is largely finished. The most critical part seems to have been getting the body to sit right on the frame after the engine swap. I think I got it. Lights and detailing are still to do, but I’m probably max 2-3 hours of bench time away now. Here are snaps. Thanx for lookin’, B.

This particular RRR model has always been my reference point when it comes to a true traditional Deuce roadster. Very little of this gives it away as either a scale model or a contemporary build. The proportions, shape and surface texture of the up-top in particular should be appreciated. Really an exceptional piece of work throughout. Big thumbz upz!!!!

It’s been over a year since I touched this project. Frankly I found getting a decent stance out of the channeled variant of the Revell Ford ’29-A Roadster a bit frustrating, and just when I started to tame it, it “stopped speaking to me”, so I set it aside. Some 7 or 8 completed projects later, while I wait for the decal paper for my ’56 Oval VW Bug project to arrive, I decided to look it over. To my surprise I’d forgotten just how much progress I had made on it when I stopped. I only did one post so I hadn’t done an update post. Updates often help me focus on where I’m at in a project and what needs to be done. So when I cracked open the box this morning I was pleased to see I had done quite a bit of important sub-assembly work, to such a degree that all that was left was paint and final assembly. Even some of the paint had been done. So today I .did the rest of the paint work and then took some photos of the status of things as I resume this stalled build. The chassis and front suspension were completed last year so I painted the chassis Duplicolor Gloss Black and the floor panels Testors Metalizer Titanium. The interior is the stock kit interior with the exception of the windshield and dashboard. I wanted to save them for the highboy version so I chopped and modified an AMT ’29 Ford Roadster Ala-Kart piece to fit. This was another detail completed last year which today got painted gloss black and Krylon Chrome. It’ll get a photo-etch instrument panel. The kit seat and interior panels were painted today in Testors Acryl Leather textured to look somewhat weathered. The wheels and tires are from the kit but I didn’t think Buick finned brake drums were in keeping with the build concept so I had modified them to take simple ’40 Ford backing plates. Like the original concept drawing, they’re finished in gloss black. The Ford Flathead V8 is a Revell piece from my stash, probably from a ’40 Ford Standard. I kept the stock heads but finished them in Testors Metalizer Steel to resemble Ford high compression aluminum “Denver” truck heads, a popular cheapo hop up in the early 50’s for hot rodders on a budget. The intake manifold is a twin carb Edelbrock-style piece from a Revell ’40 Ford Street Rod Coupe kit. It will get high-flow exhaust manifolds taken from the same kit. The rest of the exhaust system will be adapted from the basic Revell ’29 Ford kit. The kit firewall is gloss black and I stripped the kit’s chrome grill shell and finished it in Duplicolor Flash Red to match the bodywork. I had gone so far as to color sand and polish out the main body last year. In the ensuing period it had picked up a a few nicks and thin spots so I shot a light coat of Flash Red and gave it two coats of Duplicolor Clear Gloss today. After a few days to cure and harden I’ll give it a final polish. The rear suspension is still somewhat up in the air. I landed up pinching the ’37 Ford rear axle for another project. I’ll decide in the next day or two whether to use the kit’s modern Ford rear end or snag a banjo unit from another ’37 Ford kit. But really, I’m pretty much down to final assembly. Hopefully the stance will cooperate and I’ll land up with something resembling the Lil’ Red Roadster… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thank you both!

Chrysler Turbo Encabulator

Fabulous subject and great result. I have been tempted by Pinto's wheels, and impressed by his ambitious kits. Thanks for sharing this. How did the build go for you?

Thanks guys! I’ve been concentrating on the decal design side of this project. One decision I had made was to use white decal paper in order to get white backgrounds and color into the graphics. As many of you may know, inkjet printers “assume” white paper and overlay transparent inks onto the white to make color images. If you use clear decal paper the white disappears and the base paint color on the bodywork shows through. White decal paper is very opaque and results in a true color when you print. But white decal paper has some serious downsides. One is that you must cut your decals out very accurately in order to avoid any white edges. Even then, because white decal paper is significantly thicker that clear decal paper, some white may show along the edges. Wherever possible you should design around this issue. The other significant negative about white decal paper is that is much stiffer and less stretchable than clear. This means that if you are applying white decal stock to a compound curve the decals may bubble or fold on themselves. They may even crack along the surface. The roof of my VW bug is very much compound curved, curving continuously in all directions with virtually no flat surfaces. I attempted to make a single sheet decal for the roof, and while dimensionally it was extremely accurate, the decal would not lay flat and conform to the roof’s shape. It wrinkled and bubbled and cracked. The ink layer broke up as a result. A true disaster!!! Take a look: So I went back and redesigned the roof art so it could be assembled from several smaller pieces of decal. Here’s the result: I also experimented with additional panels on the sides as well as the tops of both the front and rear fenders. As I had feared, the overall look got too busy, so I opted to only put scallops of the front fender tops, leaving large areas of gold on the sides of the front fenders and the rear fenders untouched. It should complement to areas of gold on the roof redesign. Here is the final decal art: Unfortunately all the experimenting meant that I ran out of white decal paper. I ordered some but for now I can’t show pictures of the final art. Below are a couple of pictures shopping the additional scallops on the front fenders and the rear quarter panels. Once the decal paper gets here I’ll apply the final graphics and can move one to clear coating and the remaining mechanical and interior work. Thanx for lookin’, B.

The first 27T I built used a Jimmy Flintstone body. Rough, thick but usable - the usual Flintstone drill. The second time around I used a body from Altered States - IMHO the best one out there: thin, straight, smooth, almost styrene-like. Highly recommended, and available in an ever expanding array of variations (with and without louvered deck, dry lakes roadster with tonneau cover, competition roadster to drop over a digger frame, etc., etc.). Now if I could just convince him to offer an interior and windshield... The color combo sounds cool. And yes, I think this is definitely shaping up to be TRaKable. C U on the Other Side...

I’ve been concentrating on the paint and decal art. Everything isn’t quite settled yet, but it looks like I’m going towards gold paint and white decal stock with contrasting red graphics. I’ve also included a vintage EMPI trade logo for a race car flavor. I’ll be trying out a roof panel, and perhaps fender scallops, although I’m concerned that the design might get too busy if I include the fender details. We’ll see… The decals you see on the car were an interim design before I added the EMPI logo. That's the cool thing about working with decals, you can make some pretty radical mods without trashing the paint. Here’s where I’m at so far. Thanx for lookin’, B.

The better interior of the two '27's I did was the highboy. Here's a picture showing the AMT '37 Chevy custom dash I used. The steering wheel is from that kit as well. The seat and side panels are heavily modified Revell '32 Ford roadster pieces. You can also see the cut down AMT '27T Phaeton windshield.

These resin 27T's make terrific hot rods once you get past the "long pole in the tent", which is the complete lack of any interiors for them. So, if your not going to do a competition car or rat rod with a totally gutted interior the first order of business is to fabricate a proper upholstered setup, which is just what you've done. The other key missing part is the windshield, but the good news there is that the windshield from the various versions of the AMT 27T Phaeton is a perfect fit, and looks great chopped. I've done both highboy (on Deuce rails) and lo-boy versions of these bodies and the relative lack of parts, aftermarket or otherwise, is the biggest challenge. But the result can be very satisfying. So far so good!. Looking forward to seeing the results once you get the chassis z'd and the roadster down low.

Thanks everyone! The Bug is up on its wheels with most of the final mechanical work completed. I’m going with the shallow offset Torq-Thrust style wheels from the Revell ’29 Ford Roadster Pickup kit. They’ll pass for EMPIs to my eyes. The chassis is assembled and paint detailed. There’s no engine in this curbside kit but the engine compartment is finished out in matte black in the hopes it will “disappear”. I modified a rill bar from an AMT ’40 Ford kit and installed it. The stance is set and the wheels adapted to the Gunze kit suspension with, as mentioned last time, the front suspension lowered about 3 scale inches. I cut open the engine cover and fabricated offset hinges to represent the typical popped-open hood on modified Bugs. The interior will be largely stock other than the roll bar. Now for the critical part: paint and trim. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Glad to see you back, Mr. Banes - especially with another impeccable model!

Lately I’ve been continuing my experiments with large area decals as I develop techniques to replicate various lettering and paint styles. This time my guinea pig is a Gunze Sangyo ’56 VW Bug which I’m doing as a 60’s style customized street rod and weekend drag racer. The front end has been lowered 3 scale inches. The rear tires are the little narrow slicks that come in the recent Revell Slingster kit. Other than that the mockup is straight out of the box. The areas that will get the 60’s style panel treatment have paper cutouts of the decal templates I’ve made. The kit is a curbside, although, in typical Japanese style, quite well detailed. The wheels will be either period mags of the type offered by EMPI at the time, or perhaps Moon discs. I plan to cut out the engine cover and pop it open across the upper edge, a cooling trick popular with these types of cars. I haven’t decided whether I’ll customize the interior, since the emphasis is on the paint, stance and wheels. Paint will most likely be either a red or green candy metallic with complementary fogged panels. Thanx for lookin’, B. These are the EMPI wheels I’m contemplating. Oddly enough both styles can be found in the various Revell “Rat Rod” ’29 Ford Roadster Pickup and ’30 Ford Sedan kits. [img src="https://pptprd-performanceplust.netdna-ssl.com//wp-content/uploads/imagesProducts/13952.jpg" style="max-width:100%;"] [img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-khh1v/products/7905/images/16367/large-WHL-E9736__29805.1421970309.500.750.JPG?c=2"]

As well as being a superb modeler and the Master Of The Box Art Build, Ron is the head honcho at the Drastic Plastic Model Car Club forum. For those of you who enjoy a smaller, more intimate environment in a general interest car modeling forum, I highly recommend stopping by and having a look around. Here's a link: DPMCC Forum On the DPMCC board I said the following and I think it's worth repeating here:

Drama & Political BS is where it's at in the 21st Century! LOL I think you'll find the Under Glass and On The Workbench sections will prove more than adequate as venues for those of us of the Hot Rod persuasion. Just use the "New Content" button on the upper right hand side of the top of the page and check out what's new since your last visit. It works for me... This is a very large and very active community with wide and varied tastes. By far the best General Interest car modeling forum on the net, IMHO Glad to see you and KK here now.

Great to see your posting, KK. I dig the concept - all the grace and drama of the dry lakes look tamed for the street. Gorgeous proportions - not too hot, not too cool... just right! I share Bill's observations, natch.

The mods make it look more modern. Cool...

Good to see you back, RRR. B.

Howdy RRR! Good to see your fine work being posted in the forums once again. Nice and innovative, too. B.

Coolness!! The crappy camera and the color you chose combine to give it a distinctly "little pages" vibe. Glenn and I built ours at about the same time over on the TRaK board, so as long as we're in hijack mode here was mine: The details are coming along great. Can't wait to see it with everything dialed in and in full battle dress.

Once again, thank you. It's always encouraging when a model comes across as intended.

Nice! The key on these little guys is color and texture and keeping it crisp. You nailed it on all counts. Are those rub-on numbers?