Bernard Kron

Outstanding! Basic suede done right. The colors really make it.

Thanx everyone, for all the generous comments From some responses I got on other forums I think this may be a style that is unfamiliar to some, but it's how customizing started out during the Depression years. Craftsmen, "coachbuilders", converted modestly priced cars into glamorous customized autos for their clients, typically borrowing styling cues from the show cars and luxury machines of the day. Since Fords were not only the most common cars around, but also some of the most succesfully styled as well. they were the most frequently customized. Harry Westergard was one of the acknowledged masters of this work, and Sam and George Barris spent time working in his shop just before WWII, growing up in the Sacramento area. Down in the L.A. area, the top names included Coachcraft Ltd. and Jimmy Summers. These early pioneers developed much of the initial techniques and design language that got the Kustom Kar ball rolling. I tried to capture that flavor in this build and the photos I took of it. I'm very glad you all enjoyed it! B.

Thanx guys! All done. "Beauty Shots" in the Under Glass section! Thanx to all for following along. B.

AMT ‘36 Ford Customized Roadster (More pictures below) Inspired by the early custom cars on either side of WWII by Harry Westergard and Jimmy Summers, this project was originally triggered by the release in the aftermarket of a full set of louvered panels for the AMT 1936 Ford Coupe and Roadster 3-in-1 kit just re-issued by Round2. Mastered by Roger “Plowboy” Hayes and beautifully cast by Ed Fluck at Drag City Casting (lowcab36@epix.net), these pieces dramatically alter the whole look and feel of this classic kit. The rear deck louvers, in particular, had initially inspired me to build some sort of competition car, perhaps a salt flats coupe. But once I had installed them the Art-Deco like v-shaped pattern inspired me to go in the completely opposite direction and create a classic early custom. As is generally the case with my models, the basic kit is the key and I tend to limit myself to the parts I am given except where changes are required by the overall look I’m after. In this case I landed up making my own skirts because I was working from older kits which lacked the skirts from the original 1961 issue of this kit (but now included in the Round2 re-issue). The other significant changes include modifying the kit interior, adapting a ’40 Ford DeLuxe grill to the kit’s custom grill shell, and the last minute addition of a DuVall style windshield from the AMT Phantom Vicky kit. All the details are listed below. Thanx for lookin’, B. Chassis and Engine: Kit chassis with dropped front axle, shaved front cross member and front spring and lowered rear crossmember. Kit Ford Flathead V8 with finned heads, twin carbs and manifold from an AMT ’34 Ford 5-window kit. Body modifications: Main body section from AMT 5-window coupe for accurate representation of shorter ’36 Ford Roadster doors. Louvered hood, hood side panels and rear deck courtesy of Drag City Casting ( [a href="mailto:lowcab36@epix.net"]lowcab36@epix.net[/a] ). Scratch built fender skirts. Sunken license plate with Plexiglas cover. ’37 DeSoto ripple bumpers from AMT ’40 Ford Sedan Delivery kit. AMT ’40 Ford Deluxe grill trimmed to fit kit custom grill shell. DuVall style split windshield from AMT Phantom Vicky kit. Interior Modifications: Kit interior with raised head and knee bolsters added to the seat and scratch built dashboard featuring photo-etch Auburn instrument panel courtesy of Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland. Wheels and Tires: Spinner ,hub caps from AMT ’40 Ford Sedan Delivery. Tires of unknown origin from my parts box. Paint: Duplicolor Naples Gold Metallic over white primer on main body panels. Duplicolor Wimbledon White and clear matte acrylic on main interior surfaces and convertible boot. Testors Acryl Tan contrasting trim.

Was this a "breakthrough" build? As an outside observer I'd say it's definitely a significant one in the progression you've shown since you first showed up among us a couple of years ago. The fit, finish, detail and textures are all "on the money" and the realism of the under-hood photos is the proof of that! Your care and attention to detail and the ability to draw on your knowledge as a drag racer shine through. Congrats!

Thanx everyone! More progress has been made. The interior and motor have been completed and are shown below. Both are based on the AMT kit parts. The interior has a scratch built dashboard using a photo-etch Auburn instrument panel from Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland. The motor uses finned heads and a twin-carb manifold from the AMT ’34 Ford 5-window kit. I have finished up other details which aren’t shown in the pictures. The bumpers will be ribbed 37 DeSoto pieces from the AMT Sedan Delivery kit. I also think I may have found a way to adapt the DuVall windshield from the AMT Phantom Vicky to the cowl without damaging the paint or doing any bodywork. I hope to have this done by early next week. Thanx for lookin’, B.

The trick in F1 is to get up the team standings ASAP to get more of the revenue sharing from the advertising/media/catering/broadcast cash that comes in. The teams get about 60% off the top, pro-rated based on where you place at the end of the previous season. Bottom line, the first year you're on the bottom of the heap and running on your own nickel. So the trick is to get a good design, a good engine, a good engineering team, and good drivers as quickly as possible. If you are a genius and incredibly lucky you can do it on the cheap. but realistically it takes hundreds of millions in the first few years. 250 Million Dollars per year is a decent F1 budget. This is what Ecclestone is referring too. If they fail to advance across the first four years that's probably most of what it will cost them. If they do advance to mid-field by year 4 and get strong sponsorship you could cut that by 70% and even have a team you could sell if you were tired of the whole thing.

Ongais drove it because after trying it on the mainland Leong understood that driving it himself any further would be "unproductive" (or perhaps was reminded of such by his mom...). He tapped his island compatriot for the job and it resulted in Top Gas at the '64 Nationals. Either way it was the beginning of a great and glorious lineage, soon to be know as The Hawaiian.

What strikes me is how impressive that car would be in 1953. Just plain looks good, not just gee-whiz Jetsons like so many concepts from the 50's and early 60's. The proof is that it went almost unmolested into production with a longer wheelbase which, frankly, made it look even better.

Brian,excellent interpretation of the old Monogram 1/24th Deuce roadster. Same to you Michael on the bare metal 5-window. Amazing what a well-judged surface finish combined with a clear-eyed and clean execution will do.

One thing I would warn everyone about is the Slingster Bantam body shell. It is extremely small and won't fit the AMT Double Dragster chassis. I've tried it on other somewhat more modern three-point style FED chassis. It looks like it will fit on the AMT Tommy Ivo sourced Dong Long chassis (Two Much, Digger Cuda, Young American, etc.), the Tony Nancy kit chassis, at least on the roadster, and even on the Revell Dragmaster style chassis (Parts Pack, Mickey Thompson Attempt One, Parts Pack Mooneyes) and the MPC Ramchargers digger (Am,erican Graffiti, Jaw Breaker). It won't fit on the Don Garlits Swamp Rat VI chassis (Wynn's Jammer, HemiSphere, Hippie Hemi).But it's very short and looks a bit odd on some of them. I think the best approach is either to use the 4-point cage from the Slingster or use the best looking 3-point cage that fits and build up the front end of the chassis to the wheelbase and configuration that suits your project. The extra-long wheelbase chassis on the Ivo FED, for example, has a nice close-coupled and somewhat upright roll cage, but the 200+ inch wheelbase looks pretty goofy in front of that little body. For those unfamiliar with the roll cage style terminology here are two of Chris “The Greek” Karamesines’s Chizler cars, an earlier 4-point machine and a later 3-point one.

Quoting from a review of the Slingster I did for another forum: "The [slingster] kit is a bit schizophrenic. On the one hand there are quite a few parts that are finely detailed and very much to scale. This includes an excellent frame set with appropriately thin tubing, a pretty nice front axle with finely cast hairpins and a set of nicely done spoked front wheels. On the other hand, Revell tried to capture some of the early-60's funk of the original kit and appears to have purposely neglected accuracy and/or detail in some other parts. For example the quick change rear end is pretty pathetic and will be on nobody’s list of spare parts for future builds. The steering parts, too, are pretty vague and cursory. The same can be said for the valve covers on the Hemi and smaller details like the “moon” style gas pedal which is only very faintly scored on one side and is otherwise devoid of detail. ... The Hilborn 2-port injectors are molded into the blower. ... The kit lacks a fuel pump, has a totally blank, smooth blower rear end plate ...and has no tension pulley on the blower belts for either motor. You could argue that that's period correct for very early 60's but even then most runners were using tensioners. The engine blocks come with molded in oil pans and the SBC has a molded in oil filter. [The Hemi has no oil filter at all] This is a kit that’s asking for some serious upgrading if you want to build it to more modern standards of detail ...[Despite all this] for someone like me who really likes to build late 50’s-early 60’s drag cars [the Slingster is] an important kit, if for no other reason than the excellent chassis and bodywork. But this is not going to be a major parts kit; it’s no Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster, MPC Ramchargers, AMT Ivo kit or even AMT Double Dragster, all of which run very deep in the parts department. But virtually everyone who has completed one so far reports it’s a total gas to build and, as I said, it seems to yield extremely acceptable results. So far it also seems to be responding extremely well to some judicious upgrading and detailing. So I would say that my verdict is Highly Recommended as an underlying kit on which to base a project. But it won’t figure heavily in my stash for its parts…" Of the kits I mentioned the Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit remains the most useful for me, despite it's idiosyncratic rather specialized motors. The frames can be readily adapted to represent many classic mid-60's styles, the front suspension is second to none and much of the rest of the kit can be used in any number of drag builds since most all the parts are accurately and finely rendered. It even comes with two entirely different Halibtrand rear ends, a classic quickchange and the less well known closed type. So that's what I voted for. But the AMT kit, until the Slingster came along, was the hands-down best pre-Kent Fuller era kit around, and it probably still is. We now have several excellent kits on which to base dragster builds, not only the 3 being surveyed, but the MPC Young American and Tom Ivo re-issues from Round 2 as well. Even the old Garlits FED/HemiSphere. minus body, can be had via the Hippie Hemi re-issue. So, if kit bashing rails is your cup of tea then it's Fat City these days IMHO.

This old kit has no business looking this good! Darn nice of Aurora to give you the raw material for all that scratchin'...

Paint is completed. The main body color is Duplicolor Naples Gold Metallic over white primer. Interior colors are Duplicolor Wimbledon White with Testors Acryl Tan bolsters and trim. I’ve decided to go with the convertible top cover since it emphasizes the Deco era lines more. The cover and the running boards are also finished in Wimbledon White. In the front ¾ views you’ll notice a small strip of molding above the grill, something I referred to earlier as seen on George Barris' '36 3-window. This will be foiled. The car will have a stock hood ornament and the molding will continue the line between the ornament and the center strip in the grill. This will draw the eye downwards and help fill an otherwise vacant space. There’s still a motor to build and then foiling and final assembly. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Nicely done tudor. Slick flame job. I gotta get into flame masks... Whose did you use?

Motor racing today is the victim of the twin effects of "cost control" and "safety standards". Add to them the introduction of regulations "for the good of the show", and you have a uniformity and artificiality that virtually guarantees spectator boredom. There are no exceptions in this, even F1 being hampered by draconian safety and cost-control regulations, specific powerplant configurations, and arcane aerodynamic and competition rules “for the good of the show”. Indeed the best racing, regardless of discipline, can often be found in the lower ranks where make-do and innovation still dominate. Engines are so complex, sophisticated and expensive to develop, capitalize and build, that sanctioning bodies have been forced to guarantee manufacturers a minimum number of users. Safety standards are so successful in their impact that the design and appearance of cars are often determined greatly by them (along with the tremendous advances in aerodynamics). Most series are based on a single chassis supplier and a narrow range of powerplant options, generally to create some sort of symbolic representation of earlier days of success and notoriety. Some organizers are quite open about this, like NASCAR which operates a “silhouette” series with standardized bodywork and chassis. It’s hard to go 200 MPH in a front wheel drive 4-cylinder family car, after all. Unfortunately this has made its slow, painful death at the hands of television an inevitability. The Indycar coalition is struggling with competition rule-making and odd aerodynamic appendages to bring back the spirit of an historic past. But that era disappeared a long time ago. Gone is the glory of May; 30 days of testing and development full of crackpot ideas, the romance of the underdog, and the spectacle of the emergence of a champion. Today it’s test and qualify one week, “carburation” and race the next. But what exactly is being “tested”? It's certainly not the standardized chassis and motors the regulations mandate. Now I’m no fan of death and mayhem on the track. Racing was never a corrida for me. Great champions are not measured by their burn scars, accidents and the brevity of their career, let alone their madness and irresponsibility on the track. But today’s sanctioning bodies are guilty of thinking far too specifically about cost, safety and “the show”. Why did Indycar put the spec chassis out for tender? Why not accept them all (and more) as long as they met the safety tests that have to be passed in any case? Why did F1 mandate specific energy generation ,recuperation and storage technologies along with their “fuel economy” formula (let alone a spec ECU for gosh sake). Why not just give the teams an energy budget for the weekend and let them have at it? And testing bans have been shown to be ineffective in controlling costs as manufacturers and teams spend fortunes on simulators, the “drivers” and engineers to operate them, and CFD and the supercomputers to power it, let alone the attorneys to get around “cost containment” rules. Perhaps it is a technical impossibility to have it all, but it seems as if nobody is even trying, and the ultimate victim of all this is the fan. Last year was the first time in my life I didn’t actually watch the 500. In fact I had to look up the winner just now because I had forgotten who it was… (which does a disservice to Tony Kanaan who finally got the 500 he has merited for so long). End of rant…

Thanx everyone! The suggestions you have made are both ones I considered. I already have a 5-window going with a p/e LaSalle grill and I also plan to do a Jack-Calori style chopped 3-window which also will have a p/e LaSalle grille and take advantage of the newly introduced louvered pieces (Calori's coupe had louvered hood sides). I decided to keep the whole thing relatively simple and use it as a rehearsal for some of the details I've never done before. For example the sunken license plate is a first for me, as are the skirts, where, even though I've cut a few I've only completed them to full finished pieces once before, and then not as successfully as I would have liked. The kit AMT skirts, while quite handsome in their way, are fairly unique and recognizable and I may not want to use them on the Calori inspired car. Even taking Barris' suggestion, to be done properly, requires you to cut down the '40 shell so it fits into the AMT opening. That grill combo, by the way, is taken from Barris' own '36 3-window he had while he was working for Harry Westergard before the war. In fact the AMT kit coupe is a pretty heavily influenced by that car. I think if I add a small chrome strip between the '40 gill and the hood, the way George (or Westergard?) did, it will work. The Barris 3-window circa 1941 Regarding the windscreen, I did consider a DuVall style windscreen. I have a very nice one from Herb Deeks which I test fit, but it would have required a full re-do of the cowl which is itself a bit short to accommodate a laid-over DuVall. I decided against it because introducing it would have led to a far more elaborate build than I wanted to take on. Had I used the DuVall 'screen then I would have had to think about a flush compound curve panel behind the seat and quite definitely a full-on LaSalle conversion as well as molded in headlights (both of which I'm doing on the 5-window). I have chopped the windshield very close to 3 scale inches already, and I've also glued a support strip to the cowl behind the windshield so I can lay it back. I agree that it's still not quite dramatic enough. I may take another 1/2 to 1 inch out and I certainly will work at getting it more laid back. But the '36 is a transitional car, not a full-on late Deco design, especially in the case of the Roadster. I think I'm right in remembering that this was the last year Ford offered the roadster, by then a pretty old fashioned concept. So I'm trying to stay focused on that side of the design, rather than achieving a modernizing makeover. Thanks for your interest in my build. Hopefully there will be more to come soon, B.

Now that Round 2 has released what amounts to the definitive re-issue of the AMT 36 Ford 3-in-1 kit it’s time for me to use up all the parts and kits I’ve gathered up to try to duplicate the original issue. Besides, Ed Fluck at Drag City Castings has just released a hot new set of louvered pieces for the kit that I can’t resist using. So here’s my latest project, a pre-war style customized ’36 Ford Roadster made from various AMT ‘36’s in my stash. The pictures below are of the car with all the “basics” done but slapped together in pure mockup form using temporary adhesives. Lots of body cleanup and fitment to be done but it confirms the look I’m after. The main body is from an AMT 5-window coupe because the 5 windows have the shorter door found on the roadster. A flaw in the original AMT 3-window/roadster kit was that they engraved the longer 3-window door in the body to match the 3-window roof. Rather than fill and engrave a new door line it’s easier to use the 5-window body if you’ve got one. The chassis has been lowered front and rear to the maximum by shaving the front spring and crossmember and hogging out the rear crossmember to shove the rear spring up as far as it will go. I plan to use the kit flathead with some hop up parts from the AMT ’34 Ford 5-window. One set of parts I was never able to gather up from the original issue ’36 3-window was the rear fender skirts, so I made my own. I used the kit custom grill shell and filled it with a ’40 Ford Deluxe grill as suggested by George Barris himself in the original release. The windshield has been chopped 3 scale inches. The interior will be largely stock with two major changes. First of all I made large rolled bolsters which fit across the back and the front seating area of the stock seats. Secondly, I made a filler panel to cover the package tray. There is a comparison picture below showing the car with either the stock convertible boot or the fill panel viewed from different angles. I haven’t decided which to use, but the car will be shown as an open roadster. I won’t be making a Carson top. The flipper caps on the front are from the AMT ’40 Ford sedan delivery. The tires are from my parts box and are of unknown origin. The final major customizing touch is the louvered deck and hood as mastered by Plowboy (Roger Hayes) and re-popped by Drag City. In order to establish some continuity across the rear deck along with the louvers I made a recessed license plate area which will have a molded clear plastic cover. I haven’t decided on bumpers as yet. I’m thinking the ribbed DeSoto bumpers that come in the ’40 Sedan delivery kit to go with the prewar Kustom vibe of this thing, but I may go with post-war items with bumper guards, depending on what I decide for taillights. Color is up in the air but I’m thinking a lighter shade with a white or light tan interior. Even though the basic look is dialed in there’s still a lot left to do. Thanx for lookin’, B.

I got mine today. I couldn't resist grabbing a '36 off my (dusty) shelf and slapping them on. Fit and finish are flawless. They add a whole new dimension to the car. I can't wait to see what the rear deck louvers do for it too.

PM for price information, please.

Yup!

Thanx everyone! Thanx John. The tires are sanded in the detail photo whith the Dow 7 Halibrand wheels and M&H pie crust slicks! The "thrash" pic was taken earlier (hence the paper cutout graphic on the nose piece) using dummy Goodyear slicks for mockup.

This is my entry in a Slingster Challenge over on the Vintage Drag Models board. Some entrants are restricting themselves to the parts in the box. With the range of alternatives included in this kit there is quite a lot to choose from! But I'm taking the opposite tack, using a bunch of alternate parts to give it a more realistic texture than the kit stuff allows. As usual, I'm going with some fantasy logo art as well. Paint is two-tone Duplicolor white and maroon. The front wheels are some custom wire wheels a friend of mine gave me, with Ace Hardware #57 O-rings for tires. Rear wheels are resin Halibrand kidney beans sourced on eBay, finished in a Dow 7-like Testors Acryl Jet Exhaust. The rear tires are AMT pie crusts from the AMT Double Dragster kit. The kit hemi is finished in gloss silver paint to resemble the 392 factory stock color from the 50’s with various shades of Testors Metalizer to detail out the blower, injectors and manifolds. The scoop is from the Revell Parts Pac Pontiac motor. The valve covers are Chrysler FirePower items courtesy of Early Years Resin, which I foiled (yeah, I know, they're upside down... at least for now...). The idler pulley belt drive is from a Two Much kit, including the front adapter plate. I'll be making my own weed-burner style exhausts from 2 mm. aluminum tubing. The rest is from the kit. Here's a "battle zone" picture in full thrash, the completed body with decals and clear coat, and also pictures of the logo art. I'm shooting for a "turn of the decade" vibe, the kind of transitional car seen at the 1960 Nationals before the California look took over. Thanx for lookin', B.

Sorry about the dead picture link. But fear not, Ed just published an official pic of the test shot. He's ready to take orders! Ed just sent me a request to pull the test shot picture. He's preparing a more professional looking photo of a production set. I'll post it as soon as Ed's satisfied with it and has released it. BTW, I'm in for 3 sets. Picture to come...

Me too. i've already got a build planned for the first set of the 3 I ordered! Apologies to Roger for not giving him due credit for the masters. Without his intiative we wouldn't have them. When Ed makes pics of the test shot available I'll post them.