Bernard Kron

Thanks Carl!

Thanks again, guys. Big Fun to research, build and photograph. Box Art is definitely a relaxing diversion although I'm not by nature a historian and collector of model car kits, just a humble builder, so diversion it will remain, although I suspect it won't be my last one...

Massive doses of quality over quantity. When modeling can be done at this level then Big Scale should be the weapon of choice and these two models deliver in spades! Brilliiant... You replica stock guys slay me. Such skill and discipline.

The best handling of the channeled version's ride height dysfunction I've seen to date - and in the modern style at that! Love all the details and textures that make it a contemporary rod. Gorgeous result. Bravo!

Two different directions they might go. The key word in Phil's original post was generic by which I assume is meant a general purpose resource kit. As opposed to the Rat Roadster, which is a model (however well done is another matter...) of a specific car complete with idiosyncratic details which compromise the utilitarian value of the kit (i.e. the rear valance on the body, the entire interior, the hood, and the exhaust system). Doane Spencer replicas, salt flats cars, etc. fall in the non-generic category in my opinion. Ironically, the original Deuce HIghboy release was a very generic kit for its day - it was a very contemporary hot rod in the hugely popular style of its day, the mid-90's. I opt for the generic category since I can rely on either whatever skills I can muster, or, more likely, the aftermarket for projects that require more specific details. I think I generally agree with the agree with Phil's original post. So... I can't believe that the aftermarket has never offered a decent continuation of the classic Revell louvered hood side panels with a proper louvered hood top. Unblievable but true!!!! Think of the missed sales. So a louvered hood is top of my list.A decent buggy spring rear end, more important than the quick change IMHO. In fact personally I'd prefer a more generic pumpkin like a Ford 9" or Olds or something. But I suspect a q.c. would be the smart marketing move.The beam axle has been on everyone's list virtually at least since the turn of the century (that's 15 years, not 115 years LOL). It's part pf the whole TRJ, new traditionalist thing. The good news is the basics for it are now in the new '29 Ford roadster release. Of course that's never stopped Revell from failing to offer an already existing part before... And hairpins, naturally. I despair of Revell ever getting the front ride height anywhere near low enough, however...Basic generic juice brakes, please, not the finned Buicks on the '29. Keep It Generic, guys!The motor should most definitely be generic, and so should the transmission. So either a small block Chevy or a flathead Ford. I'm .greedy so give me both! The SBC should have ramhorns or block hugger for exhausts and Old School carburetion, ideally triples. The Flatty should (at last for Revell!) have triples, too. The trannies should be period appropriate manuals and not modern Tremecs or giant automatics hanging off the back of a poor old flattie...The interior has never been a big deal for me, but if they went old school then go really old school and give me a 40's style interior with a big fat old bolster on the back. But that's not generic, so just give me a classic tuck and roll and a decent 5 gauge Stewart Warner setup. Also include the steering wheels from the new '29 kit. A 4-spoke Bell at last!.And as long as we're going New Traditionalist TRJ style then a decent set of steelies is in order, with, as Phil points out, a decent dish and offset on the rears for some big meat rubber for a decent rake. The tires from the '29 would be OK but some bigger rubber for bigger power at the rear, in keeping with the beefier style of the Deuce body shell, would be nice. Coker style pseudo bias plies are definitely the order of the day.The up top is great, but obviously a luxury, although it would establish a theme for the kit that would help from a marketing point of view.So that's my wish list. Keep It Generic!!!!! Let the hobbyist do the rest.

Great taste in cars, and execution to do them justice seems to be your hallmark. Again, 1/43 temps me greatly.

A beautiful car beautifully done/ Your brother is a lucky man. What's been said about the variety in 1/43rd is certainly true. I am sorely tempted...

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you all enjoyed it. This was my first box art. It reminded me that if you want to capture the spirit of an era in scale your best off building a kit that was created in the era you're modeling. They may be less sophisticated than modern kits, but their creators new their subject! This was great fun. As Ray said above, "What a Flashback!"

AMT ‘39/’40 Ford Tudor Sedan Trophy Series Box Art Replica This project started in response to a Community Build Project on the Australian Automotive Model Builders forum honoring the 1940 Ford 75th Anniversary. Deadline was this month so I’m in just barely before the Holiday Season. I decided to build a replica of the custom on the side of the original Trophy Series release of the classic AMT 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan kit. It features a unique set of scallop decals and the early AMT “Bottle Cap” moon discs. Here’s a composite of the box top, box side, a close-up of the custom version, and a photo image I created representing the box art using my completed model. The build is, as you would expect, very much out of the box. Unfortunately my “box” consists of various modern re-issues with many of the original parts long gone. Luckily somewhere along the line I had acquired a set of the original AMT “bottle cap” Moonies (which don’t faintly look like Moon discs) and, through the generosity of Johnny Stäveborn I obtained a set of the original capped exhaust dumps. The box art Custom image is based on the stock version on the box lid and many of the stock details are included, such as the full stock trim and door handles, and the roof mounted aerial. Also, the rear fender illustration consists of a pair of decals, one on the skirt and another wrapping around the back of the rear fender. The actual kit decals, when issued, only had a larger single decal to cover this area. So I decided to draw my own rear decals based on a scan of the original decal sheet which was provided to me by Ron Savoie (fordrodnkustom). As you’ll see, I landed up making some small changes from the original box art. The most important one is that my decals have a green edges instead of white. This is because I landed up printing my own decals from my bit map art created in Photoshop using my inkjet printer. I investigated having custom decals printed but this would have required vector graphics art drawn in a program like Corel Draw of Adobe Illustrator. It turns out that printers that can print white (such as an ALPS printer) don’t play nice with bit map images. Neither time, budget, nor learning curve allowed me to entertain this option, however, so I made the command decision to make the change. Other than that, as long as I was departing from the box art image, I decided to lower the car about 3.5 scale inches all the way around by shaving the kit dropped front axle and front cross member, and recessing the rear spring as far as it would go. In addition I did the running boards and engine bay, as well as the undercarriage, in contrasting white. The interior is a bit more elaborate than in the drawing as well. Other than that it’s Out-Of-The-Box all the way. Paint is Tamiya TS-16 Yellow and Tamiya TS-65 Pearl Clear sealed with Duplicolor Clear once the decals were applied. Modern techniques such as Bare Metal Foil and wiring and plumbing the engine we also used. Special thanx go to Ron Savoie and Johnny Stäveborn, and also to John Goschke (froghawk), who showed me I had the rear decal upside down and who shared with me his technique of building up the chrome trim surfaces with .010” x .030” styrene strip. The originals are infamous for how shallow and difficult to foil they are. Thanx John, the BMF went much better this time! Also a special Thank You to Cal Wood who taught me the ins and outs of MicroDry printers. Next time Cal, I’ll be drawing vector graphic art, you can count on it! Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Bob! After an intense last few days of clear coating, polishing, foiling, detailing and assembling, this project is done. Modeling in the modern style with all the high quality tools, materials and techniques we have at our disposal really changes the basic character of the resulting model, even when we’re trying to replicate box art from the beginning of the 1960’s like this. Our paint is better, we can detail out things like chrome trim and engine plumbing in ways that were, for most modelers, difficult or impossible 50 years ago. Combine that with the fact that much box art is an idealized version of the real car or the model (which is it, anyway….???) and box art builds can only be an approximation of the artist’s conception. I printed out a large AMT logo (some 7 inches tall) to provide a background in an attempt to replicate the box art composition in photographic form using my model. But the drawing is hopelessly distorted in scale and perspective so the best I could hope for was to try and capture a bit of the spirit of the original. I took some liberties in my final build, not only using green edges on the scallops so I could print my own decals, but finishing the engine compartment in white, and using white running boards. But the real difference is the crisp realism of a modern model, which contrasts strongly with the fuzzy idealism of the 1960s. I only had time today to shoot some images to create my version of the box art. I’ll photograph a formal set of “beauty shots” and post them tomorrow. In the meantime here’s the result:

I just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I can't edit my own threads either. I just tried in On The Workbench.

Thanx guys! Here’s a brief update. I’m making good progress. The body is cleared with Duplicolor Clear. A couple of days to cure and then I’ll rub it out. In the meantime the motor is wired and plumbed and installed and the interior is finished. A couple of pictures of the interior are below. The gold stripes are Pactra TT29 Gold Trim Tape with the main interior surfaces done in Duplicolor Oxford White with Tamiya Gold Acrylic paint and highlights in chrome silver gel pen. Thanx for Lookin’, B.

Boy, just a few small mods can make such a difference! Nicely done.

I hit a major log jam on this project as I learned all about having custom decals made, in particular the complex ins and outs of ALPS printers and their relationship with bit map images. It’s far too arcane for this w.i.p. but the bottom line is that I had to make a command decision regarding whether I would stick with white edges on my decals or seek another solution, especially if I was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ’40 Ford and not the 76th! So, in order to make the December deadline for the community build I decided to change the decal art. For those who have followed this build so far you might remember that I had done some sample art that had green edges so I could print check decals on my home inkjet printer. As it happened I got a lot of complements on the look they created so I decided I would use green edges on my final decals. Progress has been made on other fronts in the meantime. The body was prepped for paint. This involved the usual filling and sanding to eliminate seems and dips, and an important modification that’s specific to the AMT ’40 Ford series. A big thank you to John Goschke for this one! The trim molding on the AMT ’40 Fords (all 3 of them - .coupe, sedan and sedan delivery) are very “weak”. They’re shallow and are difficult to foil properly, particularly on the hood. I noticed on a w.i.p. that John posted he was adding styrene strip to the moldings. I asked John what he was using and he told me .030” x .010” strip. So that’s what I used. While I was at it I added the additional trim molding above the grille that’s missing from the AMT ‘40s. Hopefully this will all pay off come BMF time. The basic body was the painted Tamiya TS-16 Yellow with three coats of Tamiya TS-65 Pearl Clear. The pear clear was a disappointment since, much like Tamiya’s Pearl White, it lacks iridescence and doesn’t show up well. Oddly, as you’ll see in the pictures below, digital photography seems to highlight the iridescence more than what you see in real life. The motor is stock from the kit, of course, and is about done except for wiring and plumbing. One cool feature, thanks to Johnny Stäveborn in Sweden, will be a set of original exhaust dumps from the first issue of the kit, just like on the box art. As long as I was departing from the strict box art by doing the green edges I decided to proceed with the white trim theme. The undercarriage is entirely done in white and yellow and the engine compartment is finished in white, too. On the box art the engine compartment is yellow. The interior will be box stock finished in white with gold trim. Here’s some pictures of the body. It will get several coats of clear. Perhaps that will enhance the pearlescence, although I don’t have high hopes on that… Below are some detail shots of the final decal art, the engine compartment and the undercarriage. I think I have a shot at making the deadline – fingers crossed! At least the green trim goes with the holiday season. I think the overall look will stay faithful to the box art. Thanx for lookin’ B.

Very nice. The typical "camionette blanche" that are still ubiquitous in France, although these particular cars were more often in their signature gray back then. Their finally getting to be somewhat rare now... The decals look nice. Are they printed on clear or did you do a killer job of cutting them out on white?

Gack! I'm doing a box art build. I didn't realize the decals were printed, at least at some point, with yellow edges instead of white. Fascinating... Looks way cool. Can't wait to apply my reproduction ones I'm trying to get printed...

Very nice outcome. A great concept and a fun approach. I've always felt that we lost something when modern cars starting having their hoods even with the fender tops. It's nice to see the fenders standing proud.

You're giving this kit wayyyyy more love than it deserves. It should be a stunner when you're done!

Tremendous grouping, beautifully done. The side pipes on the green car, are those original from the kit and/or do they exist or have they existed in some other form? They are sweet!

Beautiful contemporary competition machine with brilliant graphics scheme. A stunner.

It's always the case in my experience that you don't know diddly until you get the car up on its wheels and tires - it's an iron rule. I'm guessing you're right on all counts, that I'll probably have to move the rear suspensions upwards more than the Z will account for, and that the reversed front cross member will cause more trouble than its worth. In which case I'll have to use something more practical (although I'm running out of Revell Deuce chassis to butcher) and, as a result, take some more height out of that front spring setup. That's why I like to Photoshop mockups - you avoid the practical compromises and get down to the pure look. Now for the hard part!

Several years ago, when I was just getting back into modeling, I mocked up a channeled ’29 Ford Roadster hot rod in Photoshop. I used an image of a black highboy I found on the web and cut, paste and colorized until I got the image I liked. The picture has stuck with me despite the fact I never got around to building it. With the release of the Revell ’29 Ford Roadster with its channeled option the need to build something like the “’Lil Red Roadster” hit me once again, especially since Revell’s channeled version had quite a few things about it that I thought needed changing, especially the enormous ground clearance. So, with the greatest apologies to Tim Boyd, whose image I have stolen, here’s a before and after Photoshop mockup showing a very crude lowering job. All I did was “cut out” the wheels and ground line from the rest of the car’s image and then lowered everything around the wheels – it’s the same thing I did to make the original ‘Lil Red Roadster. As you can see there’s a bit more rake than the LRR but otherwise the lowering isn’t too far off. For reference I noted the fact that the top of the rear tire now sits just at the upper body molding. So I then measured the distance between the original position of the rear tire and the raised position. This would be the amount I would need to increase the Z at the rear of the Revell kit frame. It worked out to about .152 inches. Allowing for the kerf on my Zona zaw of about .003 inches I could use some .156 x .080 inch styrene strip and insert additional height to the factory Z (fig. 1 and 2). Then, to reinforce the new joint I inserted some of the same material across the frame to increase the glue area (fig. 3). After the usual sanding and shaping (fig. 4) I added some .010 inch strip on either side of the joint to finish it out and add a little more reinforcement (fig. 5). It’s now standard operating procedure to cut the wheel well panels from the interior sides if you contemplate any sort of modification to the Revell ‘29 kit. So I did that before removing additional material from the wheel well panels to accommodate the raised Z on the frame. To lower the front end I reversed the front cross member and cut 3 leaves from the front spring. I decided that I wanted a more traditional rear suspension to go with the general retro-funk of the LRR so I installed a rear crossmember and spring from a Revellogram ’37 Ford Panel Truck which has been mercilessly raided over the years for its parts. The rear axle will be removed and I’ll be using the kit axle instead. That’s it so far. I still haven’t gotten it up on its wheels so I don’t know how low I’ve gotten it, or whether the stance bears any resemblance to either mockups. One ,thing is clear already and that is that I must use the tires that came with the kit. They are perfect for this type of build. For the rear wheels I probably will switch out to some deep dish reversed steelies as shown in the picture above. Those are 9” 60’s stock car wheels from Plastic Performance Parts. I still haven’t decided whether to stick with the flathead in the original ‘Lil Red Roadster image or to use the kit nailhead. I’m leaning towards the flattie, but then I have to decide to keep it fairly crude as in the LRR mockup, or maybe make it a bit more nicely turned out with finned heads, etc. Once I get it up on its wheels I have no doubt that the ‘Lil Red Roadster will let me know what’s right. Thanks for lookin’, B.

An important and perceptive observation. We've already seen an exceptionally large number of variations and personalized builds for such a new kit. Flawed it may be, but this kit is tremendous "grist for the mill".

Nice one. Definitely an improvement over the OOB. It really benefits from less air under the chassis. I'm impressed with how much you were able to do without increasing the Z on the chassis. l just got started on my swing at the channeled version. I'm basing it on an old Photoshop collage I made which is very low, so I'll be increasing the Z. And even though I agree that Deuce radiator shells look best on these cars, on this go round I'll be attempting to keep the stock A shell and make it look good. After seeing this I think I have my work cut out for me.

So the more modern kits have the double roll cage, then...