Bernard Kron

Thanx again, guys!

I just can't seem to add text to my last post. I have no idea why. So I'll try adding this brief comment on the photos above..

Thanx! Here's part 2 of what I'm struggling to post...

Thanks everyone! Progress is being made. I thought I’d take the time to show some of the details as I go along. Here’s how I slammed it. The photos show the offset spindles at the front. In addition I shaved the front crossmember to raise the lower A-arm bracket for adequate ground clearance. Not shown, but I also cut the posts on the kit’s A-arm bracket which stand in for the coil springs, effectively “cutting the coils”. At the rear I used simple lowering blocks, trimmed the rear spring shackles, C’d the frame rails and relieved the undercarriage to provide clearance for the differential. Since my last post I removed about .04 inches from the lowering blocks, raising the rear about 1 scale inch. Also, the chassis tends to slip up into the trunk area at the rear so I glued in a locating block to firmly locate it in the proper position.

I'm having trouble posting my latest update to this thread. So this is a test to see if typing fresh text works. I seem to be able to post everywhere else...

Thanx Danno.

Very nice indeed. It's a non-trivial matter to adapt the Revell chassis to the AMT fenders. Congrats!

Thanx Eric! There now on my list for my next traditional build with Strombergs.

The details of the forthcoming A-bone release will lend themselves well to a traditional style 27T roadster on Deuce rails. I completed a just such a project last Fall. If you're using any Deuce chassis you need to narrow the width in two areas, under the passenger cab, and then narrowed some more under the turtle deck. In my version I z'd the chassis as well, which actually lent itself more readily to narrowing the turtle deck area because the rails tucked up into the body work at that point. Here's a link to the build thread which shows the chassis work as part of the initial post: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91554&hl= . Here are a couple of build pics: And the final result:

Good on the Holthauses for choosing to wind it all up. Hopefully their invaluable contributions to our hobby will have been well rewarded. It's especially laudable that they have announced it with such a long lead time. I'm certain they will be inundated with large orders between now and then. In the meantime it reminds me that many of the hobby's greatest aftermarket contributors are getting on in years and among them are businesses with very large, very sophisticated, catalogs that would be impossible to replace from scratch. It's time for a succession plan!

Now that's how to do a tasteful Deuce 5-window. Bravo! Immaculately turned out with all the right changes and details to get the effect you so successfully achieved. I have plans for a similarly approach to a full-fendered chopped '34 5-window and your build inspires me to move it up the list. Are the air cleaners from the Revell flathead? I never noticed the nice detail on the bells before.

AMT Shoeboxes are my curse. I've started 6 over the years and only ever finished one. I recently had one come close to getting done but it's still sitting on the bench after I abandoned it in January to get some projects done for the NNL West. So here I go starting another one! The original motivation was to build a simple traditional mild custom for the Primer CPB on the TRaK board. I had seen a '51 Ford customized grill listed at Modelhaus and thought it would be a straight fit and give my model just enough originality so that I could keep it simple and build a basic primered custom. I got the grill and it looks great, but I suspect it came from a promo and has required extensive grinding and fitting to work. But I've got it on and, inspired by some cars I saw on the web, I've decided to build a radically lowered tail dragger. Below are the initial mockup pictures. The bodywork is already shaved with the stock side trim, although I removed the logo by the front wheel opening. I'll be running Appleton spots and had hoped to include side pipes but the car is simply too low. At the front I used offset axles to lower the car an additional 2 scale inches over the lowered position in the kit for a total of about 6 scale inches. At the rear the tail is slammed more like 7 1/2 scale inches. I might raise it a tiny bit before I'm done. I also made a visor out of styrene sheet and rod. I'm ,going to attempt to keep the interior and bodywork simple so I actually get this one done! Thanx for lookin', B.

When I took the original final photos, the ones with the dark background, the camera I'm accustomed to using had just died and I used an old 5 megapixel backup camera to take them. I just got a replacement for my preferred camera which is a 9 megapixel Fujifilm E900. What's important about it is that it shoots in RAW format, which is high resolution and doesn't manipulate or compress the color data. It allows me to more accurately process the photos using Photoshop and gives a clearer, more precise result. Here are some pictures I just took with a white background: Thanx for lookin', B.

I just finished one of these myself. Great kit isn't it? bags of detail to work with. Yours is immaculately turned out. I like all the plumbing you added, and the mounting tabs for the hood. Can't help but notice the "Ertl's Garage" decal. is that from your version of the kit? The edition I picked up had pretty generic decals and no trade decals at all.

Thanx everyone. There was enough of a link to the hot rods, customs and drag machines I usually build that attempting one of these wasn't totally out of reach. This kit was a big help, too,. It's very well engineered and rich in detail with excellent instructions which were an invaluable guide. The Scale Racing Lobby guys have been very welcoming and generous with there tips and pointers, too. It doesn't hurt that many of them are top-notch builders whose models were a real inspiration and example of what can be achieved. I'm also enjoying boning up on a corner of American racing that is relatively unknown to me. It's been a real challenge trying to nail the right "look & feel", but a stimulating challenge and a pleasure to take on. I can tell you right now that this won't be my last circle track project!

1970’s Eastern Style ’37 Chevy Dirt Track Modified (More pictures below) After recently joining a specialist forum, Scale Racing Lobby, whose focus is primarily in the area of circle track racing of one form or another, especially dirt track racing, it was time to get real and try my hand at modeling a dirt track modified. For my first project in this genre I thought it would be best to limit myself to a fairly standard kit and build it largely out-of-the-box. I picked up an AMT '37 Chevy Modified kit at the recent NNL West show and got down to it. After extensive web research and lots of good advice from the SRL membership, here’s the result. My approach was to go for a non-nonsense regional racer kind of look, which is the vibe I'm getting from the pictures of the original cars that the kit seeks to model. The chassis and all the interior surfaces except for the chassis tin work are painted Duplicolor Cream, a kind of medium light beige color. The cockpit tin is finished Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate. The basic body color is Duplicolor Chrome Yellow, with Duplicolor Flash Red trim. As is my practice on virtually all my race cars, I made my own decals. I didn’t rub the paint out because that’s how it is on the real thing. The motor is standard Chevy Engine Orange. I used a Morgan Automotive Detail pre-wired magneto and after-market headers, but otherwise the motor is kit-stock. While the kit I bought was used it was complete, although some of the parts were loose. Unfortunately I failed to notice a small hole in the bottom of the box and during the build I lost several small parts. Among them was part of the multi-piece kit headers. The good news was I happened to have some resin small-block circle track headers from my Rat Roaster project last year and, with some tweaking, they fit this car. I made an oil filler tube to replace the one I lost. All the chrome bits have been stripped and refinished in various shades of Testors Metalizer. The exception is the wheels. I used the kit wheels but they have been refinished in Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust, which is a pretty close match to the Dow 7 anti-corrosive finish used on Halibrand mags. The tires are from Big Donkey Resins with a small "pony tire" for the inside front and a staggered oversize outside front tire. I had to fabricate some hubs from styrene tubing and rod because I landed up losing those, too. A nice detail I noticed on some of the dirt track modifieds that I studied, both 1:1 and in scale, is the wire mesh grilling in front of the radiator and safety netting in front of the driver to protect him from flying dirt and debris. I made the radiator grill form 1/8” aluminum sculpture mesh and the safety netting is tule wedding veil fabric. Both these details were courtesy of tips from the SRL guys. I have to say that the basic AMT kit I used was excellent and choosing to build it close to out-of-the-box was a wise decision because it’s highly detailed and somewhat finicky, and with little subject knowledge as I started out, the first-rate instructions were a critical guide to learning the ropes. I hope you all dig it. I know I had a blast building it! Thanx for lookin’ B.

Thanks everyone! I’m quite far along on this project. It’s largely an out-of-the-bpxbuild since I not very expert in this type of racing and I’ve never built a dirt track modified before. When I bought the kit it was used and quite a few of the parts were loose in the box, although it had never been started. I checked the parts carefullt against the instructions and everything seemed to be present. Unfortunately there was a small hole in the bottom of the box that I didn’t notice and a few of the small parts have gotten lost, notably part of the header assemblies and the hobs to the wheels. So I’ve had to do a bit more improvising than I thought I would… The chassis is completed now with the exception of the rear nerf bar. The engine has been built. I was able to substitute a resin aftermarket header set for the lost kit exhausts with some cutting and fitting. They’re finished in Testors Metalizer Gunmetal. Most of the chassis details are finished in various shades of Metalizer as well. I’m going for a relatively utilitarian look to emphasize the abundant detail this kit offers. Everything fits very well and the instructions provide an excellent sequence of assembly. The only mysterious omission is a lack of steering gear and lever arm at the end of the tie rod. I’m sure I’ll build another one of these and in that case I’ll add in the missing detail. I also added a proper racing harness to the interior. The other change I made is to substitute some very nicely detailed dirt track tires from Big Donkey Resin which look very nice with the refinished kit wheels on the fully assembled chassis. The body color is Duplicolor Chrome Yellow with Duplicolor Flash Red trim on the roof and rear deck. I also cut back the rear deck. Next up is making some homemade decals. This has become almost a trademark on my racing car builds. My habit is to wait until the car is fully painted and the stance properly dialed in before doing the design work on the graphics. In this case it meant that the car is almost complete. Below you’ll see a sequence of mockup shots where I use Photoshop to create virtual graphics before actually printing and applying the decals. Only the final build up I’ll probably add additional trade decals and some grpahics on the engine cover as well. There’s probably another week of bench time before this car is done. I’m really enjoying exploring this area of automotive competition and I’m pleased to have been afforded such a nicely engineered kit to get started on building dirt track modifieds. Thanx for lookin’, B. With all the nice chassis detail and a kit that’s designed to allow for a simple lift-off body shell I couldn’t resist a little Photoshop Phun while mocking up my graphics. I started with a rear view of the chassis with the body off and body on, using a tripod and being careful not to move the car when lifting the body off. Then, using Photoshop I “cut” out an image of the body and overlayed it on the bare chassis image. Because the camera alignment and lighting are identical for both images this allowed me to create a “ghost” image of the body over the chassis. I also took the opportunity to mock up the graphics at the same time. And finally, here’s the same image with the transparency of the body and decals removed:

I recently joined a specialist forum whose focus is primarily in the area of circle track racing of one form or another, especially dirt track racing. Dirt track racing is not something I know a lot about, but having watched on television and seen some very impressive short track cars of various sorts both in 1:1 and in scale I thought I would try my hand at it. The members of the forum I joined, Scale Racing Lobby, are mostly based in the southeast with some members in the northeast so the style of racing they know about is primarily from those areas. They have been very welcoming and have been able to point me to lots of sources for history and information on these highly regional types of racing series. For my first project in this genre I thought it would be best to limit myself to a fairly standard kit and build it largely out-of-the-box. While attending the recent NNL West show I picked up an AMT '37 Chevy Modified kit: I'm sticking closely to the sequence of build in the instructions as I figure they'll help me avoid an construction issues. So far this seems like a good plan. Steeling an idea from one of the forum member's models, I radiused the opened-up door windows without removing material from the door by the A pillars. The instruction suggest removing the door window panel entirely as an option but I thought this would weaken the body structure too much. This method looks much tidier. My approach was to determine where the stock corner radiuses begin along the bottom edge and use those points for the ends of my horizontal cut. I first cut vertically at those points with my trusty photo-etch saw, then scored my way through the reveal edge. After removing that piece, having marked out what I thought would be an attractive looking radius, I used a round sanding stick to shape the new corners. Here's some pics: The last few days have mainly been about painting and detailing. I'm trying to give it a utilitarian look which is the vibe I'm getting from the pictures of the original cars that the kit seeks to model. The chassis and all the interior surfaces except for the chassis tin work are painted Duplicolor Cream, a kind of medium light beige color. The cockpit tin is finished n Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate. The basic body color is Duplicolor Chrome Yellow. I'm thinking I'll add some red trim paint along the edges of the roof and rear deck and red numbers and lettering to match which I'll do with home made decals. The motor is standard Chevy Engine Orange. All the chrome bits have been stripped and refinished in various shades of Testors Metalizer. The exception is the wheels. I'm using the kit wheels but they have been refinished in Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust, which is a pretty close match to the Dow 7 anti-corrosive finish used on Halibrand mags. The tires are from Big Donkey with a small "pony tire" for the inside front and a staggered oversize outside front. I've included a picture of the rear quick change because I thought it was an especially nice piece in the kit and it responded to paint detailing rather well. Thanx for lookin', B.

Model Car Garage makes a nice resin track nose with a p/e grille that is a very close copy of the Eddie Dye roadster nose:

That's one good lookin' car. I'm surprised the whole Tuner thing never got bigger in the model car world. Done right these truly are modern Hot Rods. Then again if you look in the Little Pages most hot rods in the old days were done wrong more often than not and looked like garbage...

As owner of the above mentioned hopped up Frogeye I know of which you speak. Only dire necessity will get me on a freeway!

I always have been a fan of the Series 1 Mister Two. When I was about to start the Sprite the co-finalist was doing a Supercharged MR2 in the modern style. I opted for the Sprite because I located a rust-free tub in the bare metal - that clinched it... Funny thing, at that time I was driving a white first series SHO. That Yamaha engine was sweet, but I kept going through clutches and the car didn't handle all that well. I flipped it for a Series 2 GTi which made me much happier. I guess I like light cars... Wouldn't gutting the bumper and door reinforcements get you in trouble with John Law?

Now that would be a pretty nice looking engine compartment since the 2JZ has a reasonably good looking cam box on it. 25 year cutoff = 1990. What would be the nicest donor car to gut, leaving the safety stuff intact, of course, to build the ultimate Georgia Loophole ride, I wonder?

I think this is an excellent point, but I've taken the liberty to edit the comment in order to emphasize an important aspect of how these things are working right now. Because of the technological evolution of autos, much of it driven by legislated mandates such as bumper laws, emissions standards, crash-proofing, CAFE, and, in Europe, pedestrian safety rules, and additional costs driven by the recurrent tech booms (GPS, computerization of suspension and motor/transmission systems, display technologies, etc.) modern automobiles are getting prohibitively complex and difficult to modify without radically disassembling them and replacing large portions of their systems. Even this has legal ramifications that make the result expensive to license once done. So, far better to modify a simpler, more basic automobile which flies under the regulatory radar. Unfortunately this has created a captive market that drives prices for the donor cars, and for the talented artisans who can work on them, upwards and out of reach for many would-be hot rodders. This escalation in costs has meant that increasingly only the wealthy and those benefiting from various tax preferences can consider these sorts of projects. Mass market hot-rodding, once the purview of the home garage mechanic and customizer, is increasingly a thing of the past. It has been replaced by working-man fantasies such as Hot Rod magazine cover articles on $20,000.00 carbureted pseudo-Big Blocks yielding 950 bhp, the TV fads for muscle car auctions and hot rod shop reality-show series, and other silliness, but declining interest in automobiles by emerging generations who might have formed the basis for a continuation of the tradition. This trend may yet reach its climax in the fully automated robot commodity-car. The issue is far bigger than the auto hobby, but this is certainly an area where the generalized multi-generational escalation of costs has come home to roost.

Of course he wouldn't "drive a car with only gas-lit headlamps, semaphore turn signals, and ask [his] family and friends to ride in the rumble seat when it's raining". So the question does come on more than a bit hostile. But it's a good one none the less. What is the cost in subjective experience that one is willing to pay in order to gain modern levels of performance and comfort? Or the opposite, what is the cost in safety, comfort and performance that one would pursue in order to achieve period correctness? And of course, what does any of this have to do with car modeling, where such issues don't have any practical impact? In scale I can afford to be as much of a purist or iconoclast as I want to be! Regarding tires and wheels, etc. Of course it's a personal preference. But once you get past that do you have to accept a penalty in quality and performance to maintain the older proportions? That's what I'm asking. From a modeling point of view I have been considering doing models that would be a hybrid of new and old technologies and aesthetics in the Resto-Mod vein, but one area where I run into issues is the tire/wheel thing. Even the relatively mild tire/wheel combos John shows in his pictures still look too light and airy in the wheel wells to my eye. (That 40 section in your post just shows way too much wheel well for my tastes). Do I have to accept this if I'm modeling a contemporary high-performance vehicle? Is their an ultra-high (or even just high) performance 15" or 16" 60 or 65 section wheel tire combo out there? This is in the interests of authenticity and accuracy in my model...