Bernard Kron

’32 Ford Roadster stripped down for dry-lakes racing, circa 1947 The year is 1947 and Southern California’s hot rodders are home from the war. For the first time in a generation there’s optimism in the air. The world is digging itself out of depression and battle and in SoCal there’s plenty of work. Many rodders put their “gow jobs” in mothballs for the duration of WWII and now, between demobilization money and the post-war boom, there’s spare change at last to finish the work they started before they shipped out. Our subject is a classic Deuce Roadster started in 1938 and raced at Muroc before its owner enlisted in the Navy in 1941. Like many rodders his abilities in the garage got him assigned to the motor pool as a mechanic where he honed his skills under the pressure of battle. Discharged in ’46, the first thing on his agenda was getting his roadster back in action. Once he got it rolling some decent speeds at the lakes the previous September earned him the number 32 for the 1947 season. Now it’s time to start bolting on some of that nice new postwar speed equipment that seems to be popping up everywhere. This job already has a set of Edelbrock heads and word is that there’s some hot triple-carb manifolds due out any day now. Our intrepid rodder can’t wait, but for now has to make-do with the dual setup from pre-war days. The Kelsey Hayes wire wheels and the high-bolster upholstery, along with the stock shock absorbers and the Columbia 2-speed rear axle are also decidedly pre-war items. On the shopping list with future paychecks will be some steel rims, aircraft shocks and maybe a nice custom aluminum louvered hood if he can swing it. The model was made virtually entirely from spare parts. The base kit would have been any of the Revell ’32 Ford kits, and the roadster kit in particular contributed the main body shell and the basic interior, but from then on it was all kit-bashing and fabrication to create a period correct Deuce as would be seen in 1947 at the dry lakes. Here are the details: From Revell ’32 Ford Roadster kit: Main body, grill shell, and basic chassis. Interior with high seat bolster fabricated from styrene and dashboard modified to correct period style. Windshield mounting stanchions cut down from kit windshield. Headlight brackets with tubular shocks removed. From Revell ’32 Ford Sedan kit: Kelsey Hayes style wheels, narrowed to fit period correct tires. Stock hood sides. Tear-drop tailights. From Revell ’29 Ford Roadster Pickup kit: Front suspension, including split wishbones, rear crossmember and buggy spring. From Revell ’40 Ford kits: Flathead Ford V8, headers, Edelbrock heads, vane-type “friction” shock absorbers, brakes, ‘beehive” oil filter, voltage regulator, brake master cylinder and Columbia 2-speed rear axle. From AMT ’34 Ford 5-window kits: Pre-war style dual carburetor manifold, including carbs and air cleaners. From Monogram ’37 Ford pickup/delivery van kits: Steering wheel, steering box and rear suspension wishbones (shortened to fit ’32 Ford chassis). Aftermarket, miscellaneous, and scratch built parts: AMT front tires. Truck style oversized rear tires courtesy of Herb Deeks. Stock style firewall and main hood, and flathead compatible radiator courtesy of Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland. Photo-etch taillight surrounds and hood latches and handles courtesy of Model Car Garage. Scratch built fuel block and seat bolster. Paints and finishes: Miscellaneous Testors Acryl colors, Testor Acryl Leather used to creat leather upholstery. Main body color is Tamiya TS-11 Maroon over red oxide primer. Miscellaneous suspension, chassis surfaces and engine parts, finished in varying shades of Testors Metalizer. Home-made “shoe polish number” decals.[/p][p] Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks! This project has bitten hard all the way through, with paint problems which changed the whole direction of the build, and then, during final assembly, the usual problems with tiny parts lost to the carpet monster and last minute fabrication challenges. But switching to a post-war dry lakes racer from a street machine was a good call and today, as I wrapped things up, the ”look and feel” suddenly all came together. Huge sigh of relief! Here’s a teaser shot before I post the final pics tomorrow Under Glass after I gather my thoughts and sit down for a serious photo session. Thanx to all for following along, B.

Just saw this, Harry. Your dedication and commitment to our group is profoundly appreciated by us all. We will wait patiently as you turn your energies to a successful recovery. All my best wishes to you and your family.

When I grow up I want to build models with this attention to detail. Can't wait to see more, more, more...

Trouble has reared its ugly head and I’ve had to make a mid-course correction. For some time now I’ve had a problem with paint not hardening enough to avoid fingerprints while handling the car during assembly. It’s especially difficult because I’m an improvisational builder and tend to make modifications and fabrications as I go along – so I handle the model a lot. Doing fabrication and trial assembly, then doing painting and finishing, followed by final assembly is far more organized and ultimately cleaner and more precise approach. But bad habits are difficult to overcome… In any case, I think I’ve diagnosed the problem successfully at last, but, alas, this model has already suffered irretrievably and I had to make a change. The problem was that I had begun using a polish that I have used for many years on my 1:1 cars with great success, Meguiar’s Mirror-Glaze #9 Swirl Remover. It really gives you that “show-car” shine, but unfortunately it does it by softening the top coat of paint. On relatively “green” paint on a model car this means that you have to wait many days (I figure at least 10 days+) for it to harden enough once again to avoid fingerprints. The result is a myriad of laws on what has started out as a pretty darn nice paint job. So what to do? Actually the model looks quite realistically “worn” now so I decided I will touch up the thin spots and then do a very mild weathering job on it, the goal being the kind of look these cars had at the end of a day out at the dry lakes. Like this: We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime it means no headlights but, as was the common practice on ’32 Ford roadsters in 1947, when you got to the lakes you stripped it down to the minimum, removing fenders (if you had any) and the windshield. One thing that often stayed in place was the pair of stanchions to which the windshield was mounted. So I made a set from a kit Deuce windshield. They’re the little posts you’ll see in the photo at the bottom of this post. The engine compartment is almost finished, needing only the radiator hose, and the grille has still to be installed. With the conversion to competition duty the car needed a set of “shoe polish” numbers. Street machines often did double duty, serving as transportation for the multi-hour drive out to the dry lakes, and then as your race car. This could get very elaborate, with some competitors going so far as to swap manifolds, carbs and even heads, then re-installing the street setup for the haul home. But even if this car is largely intact as far as street gear is concerned, one thing any good competitor needed was a set of race numbers. Common practice was numbers painted on using white shoe polish that could easily be hosed off for the ride home (race numbers, cool as they may be, are guaranteed fuzz bait…). My shoe polish numbers were made by using a brush painted number font, flipping the image horizontally to a mirror image and printing it on the back side (the paper side) of some white decal stock. Using the edges of the number as a guide, I then cut them out as shown in the photo. So, even though my humble inkjet printer won’t print white, I have my white shoe polish numbers! So here’s where we stand so far. I’m pretty close to done. I just have to clean up some paint flaws, apply the decals and weather the paint, and install items like the grill and door handles and she’ll be done. Won’t be long now… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thank you, Tom. The technique I use is pretty straightforward. If there's a "secret" it is only about what kind of paint I use and what to do with it as you apply it. I use Testors Acryl acrylic paint. Other acrylic paints will work but the important thing is to make sure it's not too thin and watery. Makes sure it's thoroughly mixed. You want plenty of pigment in it and you want it to thicken as it dries. It should dry fairly quickly, too. What I do is apply the paint with a moderately broad brush, covering the area I'm working on completely with a medium thickness coat - enough so it covers thoroughly with no low spots but not so thick as to slow the drying time. Now what you want to do is purposely introduce brush strokes into it - exactly the opposite of what you'd do to brush-paint the exterior of a car body. As the paint dries continue brushing it, first cross hatching vertically and horizontally, then at 45 degree angles. Use light surface strokes, just enough to leave brush marks but not enough to dig down into the paint. If you do this for a minute or two the paint will take on an irregular "leathery" texture, but still remain relatively smooth. The longer you do this the rougher the texture you'll create. This is the key. Then, after the paint dries, apply a light, thin dark contrasting wash to emphasize the texture, wiping away virtually all the residue immediately after you apply it. Do this two or three times depending on the effect you want to create. Along with the texture you established in the previous step, the amount of contrast and darkness of the color wash you apply will determine the amount of distress or "dirt" in the :leather". The final touch, if you want a slightly shiny "leatherette" look, is to apply a light coating of skin oil, such as that found along the side of you nose, with your fingertip. For a more dull look omit this step. You can use any color acrylic that you want, The color above is Testors Acryl Leather. Below are a few additional examples. The important part is controlling the texture and the amount of contrasting wash. Testors Acryl British Crimson to simulate distressed Oxblood Leatherette(lots of texture and black wash): Testors Acryl Tan for the darker surfaces and Duplicolor Wimbledon White for the lighter ones. No wash was applied and only the tan surfaces were given the "leather" treatment. Testors Acryl Guards Red with dark red wash: Testors Acryl British Crimson, heavily textured with red and black washes and light sand and rust weathering powders:

Thanx Kerry! It’s a roller! The front suspension is assembled, almost entirely from a Revellogram ‘29/’30 Ford Pickup/Sedan kit. I split the wishbones, stripped the kit chrome and substituted Krylon Chrome paint for a duller, more period look. I really wanted to include the posable steering feature but the layout of the ’32 Ford frame interfered with the tie rod, rendered the whole setup impossibly fragile, and forced me to glue the whole thing solid. Bummer… The wheels & tires are now glued in place so the stance is set. It’s got a subtle rubber rake and sits fairly high despite the dropped front axle – very much like early postwar rods did. And I think those narrow Herb Deeks rear truck tires are just about perfect for this era hot rod. So here’s the chassis with the body mocked up into position. The motor is from a Revell ’40 Ford with the early-style dual intake from an AMT ’34 Ford 5-Window Coupe kit (special thanks to Vince and Paul for helping me out on getting hold of this period –critical part). The fuel log is scratch built but the dual lines aren’t hooked up yet, nor are the air cleaners installed. Now for fettling the hood, grill, and then cleanup and touchup on the body work, lighting, windshield (the stock height windshield is just mocked into place), and final assembly. Next week for completion? Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Misha! I’m very near to the final assembly stage. The chassis and rear suspension are done, the front suspension fabricated and painted and ready, the motor about half way there (parts painted, block, heads and ignition assembled including wiring), the interior completed and installed in the body. This leaves intake and carbs to do on the motor, the grill, windshield and lights, and putting it all together. The color and the upholstery are definitely already giving it that 40’s vibe. Can’t wait to see how the stance works out and what the Kelsey Hayes wire wheels do to the look… Here’s a composite showing the Revell ’40 Ford rear suspension, the interior and the finely detailed stock style firewall courtesy of Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland. The rear suspension arms were shortened and relocated to account for the narrowed track and shorter driveshaft. The steering wheel is a Monogram ’37 Ford truck item and the instrument panel is the Revell kit item, cut out, thinned and foiled. Thanx for lookin’, B.

The Columbia was introduced in 1932 on the Auburn Speedster and was a vacuum operated unit. Here's Hemming's summary of the unit:( see http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2006/06/Columbia-two-speed-rears/1280603.html ) "The Columbia two-speed offered a low gear ratio for low-speed pulling power and fast acceleration from a dead stop. It could then be shifted into a higher ratio on the fly to give the vehicle a smoother and more efficient ride for highway speeds. The higher ratio also allowed the engine to run at a lower rpm once the car was moving fast enough to utilize the second speed or ratio. The two gear ratios were achieved by engaging and disengaging planetaries within the rear end housing by means of a vacuum-controlled canister that was mounted to the differential. The shift mechanism for the overdrive unit was a control valve that was attached by a special clip to the unit's bellcrank to the clutch pedal. The control valve was connected to a plate below the carburetor, which supplied engine vacuum on the intake side and sent this vacuum to the "motor" on the rear axle on the exhaust side. The vacuum canister or motor was connected to the control valve by copper tubing and a rubber vacuum line that ran the length of the driver's side of the undercarriage. A cable-operated activation switch was installed on the dash to engage the two-speed unit." Here's a company that rebuilds them and sells repair parts, etc. for them today: http://www.columbiatwospeedparts.com/Pages/default.aspx

Welcome to the forum. A beautiful model. The 30 years experience is evident in every detail. And what a delight to see classic "kit bashing" applied to this subject - with such a stunning result. Bravo!

Just a quick update. I’m making good progress and have gotten some basic housekeeping out of the way. I determined the color of the car and shot a test shot to make sure it looked like I wanted. The body and chassis will be Tamiya TS-11 Maroon over red oxide primer. Here’s a quick test shot with just one coat of color and one coat of clear, but it’s a close match to Ford Mandarin Maroon and what I thought would be appropriate for a 40’s era hot rod. Here’s the interior, finished in Testors Acryl Leather over red oxide wth flat black carpeting. The basic leather texture is in place but there’s still some buffing down and weathering left to do. And finally, I did the final chassis prep before primer and color coat. I separated the Revell kit shocks from the brackets/headlight mounts, stripped the brackets of their chrome, and glued them in place before paint. This is something I always promise myself I will do but manage to overlook and land up having to paint the brackets by hand after the fact. This time I finally did it right. I also made small brackets for the split radius rods I’ll be using at the front. The main chassis will, of course, be body color, but I masked out the floor pan so it will remain bare plastic. It will be painted Testors Metalizer Gun Metal once the chassis is fully painted and cured hard enough to mask. The Flathead V8 block is painted and the motor ready ready for final assembly and detailing. Meanwhile I’ll start primer and paint on the chassis and main body parts. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks guys! The bolster was part of the upholstery, an integral part of the seat back, sometimes extended into the door panels. It was not a cover for the top. Indeed most cars didn't have top, the bolster often interfering with mounting one. The hanl negley car's bolster stop just short of the bodywork, I believe it used snaps mounted to the body to mount the top over the bolster. Some cars extended the bolster to a full wraparound aling the door sides. A very famous example of this is the Eddie Dye '29 Roadster built by the Ayala Brothers in 1950-51. The doors on the cra were welded shut and molded in. You simply vaulted into the car. It was extremely low. The Eddie '29 Ford Roadster:

Thanks Tom! Now for the progress report. I got the bolster finished up. The larger cracks and seams were filled with more styrene stock, the whole thing sanded to final shape, and then a skim coat of putty applied and finish sanded. I think it came out with a nice rounded continuous shape that suits the car. Trying to keep this firmly in the 40’s time frame requires a considerable number of detail changes to the venerable Revell Deuce kit. First off was installing a ’30 rear cross member from a Revell ’30 Sedan kit. I’ll be using the buggy spring and shocks from that kit as well. I decided to go with the Columbia 2-speed rear axle from the Revell ’40 Ford Standard Coupe kit, which will contribute it’s flathead as well. The Columbia rear axle was a popular hop up in the 30’s and early 40’s since it allowed extra high gearing using the axle’s overdrive 2nd speed for dry lakes speed runs while permitting good street driveability for daily driving. I had to cut down the width of the axle to fit the Deuce, so while I was at it I adapted the rear axle ends from the Deuce kits. Besides the rear end the chassis required some detailing and clean up. I used the Revell ’32 Sedan. flathead motor mount, so I removed the standard Revell motor mounts for the small block Ford V8. I also filled the notch in the frame for the modern cross steering as well as the bumper bracket notches on the ends of the frame rails. I also applied a strip of 010 styrene around the frame horns to represent the channels on the stock frame horns. The front suspension will be from the Revell ’30 Sedan kit using the dropped front axle and preserving the posable steering. The wheels will be the Kelsey Hayes style wires that come in the Revell ’32 Ford sedan kit. I’ve figured out how to narrow them to fit 40’s era narrow tires while still preserving the kit chrome. Like the Hank Negley roadster referred to above, I’ll be running chrome rims and hub caps with black painted spokes. The front tires will be plain old AMT Firestones while the rears are the very cool period correct truck tires that I get from Herb Deeks every year at the NNL West (you can buy them from him on eBay as well). The stock firewall is one of Norm Veber’s incredible castings from Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland. So thin, so smooth, so styrene like! How does he do it? It even comes with a matching hood with a relieved rear edge for a perfect fit. The hood comes smooth so I glued some .030 half-round stock down the middle to represent the hood hinge. And finally, I hogged out the inside of the Revell Deuce Roadster kit dashboard to remove the 8-track cassette player (?), radio and air conditioning vents. I substituted a blank panel and hope to be able to apply a range of p/e gauge rings and decals from Model Car Garage. Next up, suspension engineering, then the flathead, primer and paint. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanx everyone! Yeah, a big bolster can definitely get in the way. How about the one on this '27T seen at the lakes around '48: It's just about the whole seat. But as you'll see below there seems to have been a way to accommodate them! I made quite a bit of progress in the past week or so, but before getting to that I thought I’s share a bit more hot rod lore since it seems to have been so well received. I finally trackd down the car that is inspiring this project. It’s one that I’ve noticed quite often in various books and on line but I only recently was able to put a name to the pictures. It’s the Hank Negley roadster, sometimes referred to as the Hank Negley C-Class roadster because of its success at the dry lakes after WWII. Negley started it in 1938, put it in mothballs for the duration during the war, and raced it on the lakes throughout the late 40’s. It was also the inspiration for the far more famous Joe Nitti Roadster. Nitti was a close friend and Negley helped him build his version. This is the Negley car as it looked immediately prior to Negley shipping out to war, presumably in 1942 or so. It already has a nice rubber rake, but sports Kelsey Hays wires and a stock hood. The b&w photo makes it look black but it was in fact a deep purple for which it was well known among California hot rodders. This will be the version my build will most closely resemble. This is the best known photo of the car, in its classic post-war version complete with louvered hood and tubular shocks, ready to go 123.79 MPH on the dry lakes in 1947. Home from the war the roadster was also Hank’s daily driver, including a trip to Denver across the continental divide Somehow he managed to fit a top to the car despite the fairly pronounced bolster and the by-then chopped windshield. This was one classy ride, no doubt about it! Next, my progress so far… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Tulio. I never realized Tamiya paint was so mild. It's sure smells strong! LOL Was the underlying plastic the usual AMT medium gray?

I was researching Tamiya TS-11 Maroon as a possible substitute for Ford Mandarin Maroon and much to my delight happened on a couple of your projects using it, this one and the '40 Ford Tudor you did, I'm a big fan of your impeccable work and can trust to the clarity and accuracy of your excellent photography as well. The result is this was the confirmation I needed to go ahead with TS-11. I have one question, though. What color primer did you apply under it? I find that this strongly influences the final shade. Thanks in advance for any help. This fine model is definitely worth the bump that will result! LOL!

Like Curt, I built this for the NNL West rat rod theme this year, and like him I forgot to include this in the build off earlier. I'm hoping to do one more rat rod before the year is out so then I'll show the build more formally. In the meantime here's my AMT Ala Kart body shell with home made decals, flat purple Krylon paint, parts box small block Chevy, Monogram '37 ford suspension bits, AMT '34 Ford wheels and scratch built almost everything else...

One of the signature details of many '40's era Roadsters is a large padded bolster across the top of the bench seat, often wrapping around to the rear edge of the door, and even wrapping all the way around the edge of the cockpit opening. It's something that's unique to this period and, as much as it lends tons of period character to these cars, it's rarely modeled in scale. I've attempted it a few times, on a couple of '27 T's and the "Challenger" '29 A from the film Deuce of Spades that's in my signature. As far as I know there aren't any kit or aftermarket parts for these things and you have to fabricate them. I've never been entirely satisfied with the results I've gotten (the '27 T Highboy I did, and maybe the '29 A came closest) so I thought I do a straight-up period traditional Deuce roadster in this style. I'm using the seat and interior from the Revell Deuce Highboy kit as the basis. The kit will also form the basis for the rest of the model. I'm planning a rigorous period build with buggy spring rear end, juice brakes, I-beam front axle and flathead V8. The last time I did a traditional hot rod it was a 7-day quick build last Xmas. This will take much, much longer. Wish me luck. Some examples of high bolstered Deuces: The bolster was built up from bits of 1/2 and 1/4 round styrene stock and mated to the Revell kit seat. It snaps into place along the cockpit opening. Still a lot of filling a finishing to go to be presentable... Thanx for lookin', B.

Radical! What do you use for your circular fender liners?

I've often thought about trying SpazStix Ultimate Mirror Chrome and this beautiful example helped me focus on trying it. I just looked up prices and sources and many listings refer to it as being for Lexan RC bodies. But the SpazStix site itself only lists one type of aerosol Ultimate Mirror Chrome, even though they say it is "specially formulated for lexan plastic". Am I right right in assuming that it works fine for styrene and resin? I had problems a few years back with Tamiya's lexan paint which wouldn't adhere to styrene.

After the initial excitement regarding the Round 2 re-issue of the AMT '36 Coupe kit a while back they've sort of faded. This shows just how nice they build up. Great color and finish and the diorama photography is excellent. Scratch built trailer?

Ditto here! Very successfully turned out. You might know about this car, the Charles Kraft 3-window from the pages of Rod & Kustom in 1958. It should serve as evidence that this radically lowered look has deep roots in the hot rod tradition. Your model captures it so well!

Ah, the confidence that comes with knowing your subject! Fearless plastic surgery... So far, so cool!

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you all dig it. Ron, the rear mounted distributor is left over from the kit's Hemi block. It's not a real Boss 429 - as I noted above, the kit merely comes with a set of Boss 429 valve covers to fit the kit's hemi heads. When I researched Boss 429s I forgot to note the typically Ford front mounted distributor. Given that the kit manifold is designed for the Hemi block I'm not sure there would have been room for it in any case. As it was I had originally mounted the coil at the front of the block but it interfered with the bodywork and I had to move it to the rear.

I use 5-minute epoxy too. I apply it at key points that I'm sure won't show, then wait 5 minutes for it to set before pressing the clear part into place. It's so strong you can use very little, and it doesn't fog the glass or paint. If there's any excess it can be easily cleaned up with isopropyl alcohol as long as it hasn't hardened.