Bernard Kron

Like many of us I do a lot of modifying and fabrication in my modeling. One task I find myself doing quite a bit lately is removing large, circular amounts of plastic - i.e. drilling large holes - from various objects like firewalls, wheels centers, engine blocks, etc. We're talking diameters easily up to 1/4" (.25", 6.35mm), and frequently beyond, that, perhaps out to 1/2" (.5", 12.7mm) on occasion. I have various micro drill pin vices with collets that will take me out to around 3/32" or so (.093", 2.38mm) but beyond that I have to either hold the drill bit in bare hand or attempt to use a pair pliers or vise grip. Very awkward and tedious, difficult to control, and sometimes downright impossible. I often have to resort to reaming and filing with a hobby knife blade and bits of coarse sandpaper or sanding sticks. Ideally I'd like to find a handle with a chuck that would take standard drill bits. The thickness of the objects I'm drilling is not very great (wheel backs are about as thick as it gets) and the material soft so I would happily trade power for control (I've tried power drills but they don't offer me the control I'd like). Any suggestions? Alternatives? Thanx in advance for any help, B.

That's one of my favorite parts kits for doing late 40's/early 50's style customs. It comes with baby moons, flipper caps and decent hop up parts for an under hood installation of a Nailhead Buick, as well as the original AMT '40 Ford Coupe/Sedan kits' fender skirts. I have that kit in my stash and will give the skirts a good. hard look. With your shiny paint they come out way more "bubblicious" than I remembered them. I'm planning a chopped AMT '36 Ford from the same period and want some of that bubble over my rear wheels!

Very nice period correct stance and chop. Your dad must be pleased with the spirit of your model, at the very least, and most probably the execution as well. Two things I'm curious about: the bubble skirts which came out real nice, and the tie rod detail on the front suspension. Did you make the skirts, or do I need to give the kit skirts another look, because I don't remember that much contour on them. In any case, they really add to the period look and are very cool. As regards the tie rod detail I don't remember the kit having that. Whether or not you added it, the texture of your undercarriage does a nice job of highlighting the suspension detail. Bravo on a cool build!

The spring looks thin enough and doesn't have too much arch and the beam axle looks to have plenty of drop and good definition, so it's a "definite maybe". There are those two funky tab thingies but they look like they would be easily removable. My only concern is that this is a pretty specialized kit and stealing a front axle from it might leave you with a relatively useless box 'o parts... As you indicate, the axle width will be an important issue. These days I'm pretty comfortable with the '29/'30 RPU/Sedan kits from Revell as a kit-based beamed axle source for the Revell Deuces. Perhaps more fiddly than I'd like but they have nicely detailed front axles, posable steering, good looking chromed brake backing plates, and some handsome chromed rear axle tubes that mate up very well with various Halibrand quick changes for a show-car suspension. The kits also come with those nice whitewall tires and steelies and some often neglected/overlooked narrow mags that scream gasser to me. You also get a very well detailed Model A front cross member and buggy spring rear suspension if you want to go all the way to building a period correct '40's style Deuce from the Revell 1/25th Deuce frame rails. There are lots of other nice detailed parts (like much of the steering bits, etc.), so I don’t even feel too bad about neglecting the well turned out bodies... I'm actually intrigued by how well detailed much of the Slingster is and how much is already there to do a classic turn-of-the-decade late 50's/early 60's digger or competition coupe. The hairpins, for example, are really quite successful to my eyes, I like the spoked mags (although the tires look a little square-shouldered) and I think the motor will respond well to some detailing. It's far less toy-like than I had feared. As far as the nose is concerned, it’s not a deal breaker for me. It’s really not too bad at all, not out of line for the period it represents. So, to summarize, I think the general direction is more likely to be to improve and augment the already surprisingly good bones of this kit, rather than to raid it for parts.

Wow! This is why I admire factory stock modelers! I could never even conceive of attempting this. Nice job! Was the "Americar" lettering on the nose trim original with the diecast?

A few years back I stripped a set of the kit mag wheels and finished them in Testors Metalizer Burnt Metal, a very dark bronze color. I thought perhaps I would find a way to use them as a sort of anti-bling statement. As it turned out I found other ways to do that with the Willys Street Rod and never used them. Your combination of matte military color and black mags with black tires really works with the lowered stance and the modern scoop. Cool!

Chris, that's a very nice build, and perhaps some sort of world-wide first posting a completed model. The size comparisons are a real eye opener, especially confirming the relative correctness to other 1/25th models vs. the absolutely huge (1/20th?) original! It also should help allay fears that many had that this kit would be more toy than contemporary model. I think Revell has done a fine job of splitting the difference and this kit will serve as a good source for more detailed and realistic period-correct drag builds!

Super work so far. Gonna be slick when you're done! I'm glad you caught the tie-rod issue up front. I didn't when I lowered mine and it was a horror-show fixing it. Don't forget to check you engine clearances, too. Again, I didn't, and it was horror-show, part 2! Can't wait to see more, more, more...

Wow, now that you've gotten things cleaned up and dialed in it sits beautifully and looks very "hooked up". The 'caps and rings are an important part of that, too. The last photos emphasizing the grill didn't do justice to the overall look. Are you including a windshield?

Yikes! I can imagine that the Alfa and Talbot Lago are based on the old Merit models, but the Bardahl Ferrari? At the very least a major makeover of the nose of the Revellogram Kurtis Kraft is required...

Thanx so much everyone. I'm glad you all dig it. The comments are always appreciated! I don't know how many times I rifled through that box of parts looking for something I needed and thinking ... someday, someday, ... Finally I encountered the photo below, probably 2-3 years ago, from a wonderful collection of 50's-60's kar kulture images in a little book called "Hot Rods and Custom Cars: Vintage Speed Graphics" by Coco Shinomiya. Not exactly what I had started but close enough that it continued to bug me until I realized I had the skills to undo the damage and create a respectable finished product. It still took a while for me to finally get to it but now it's done and it will look good on the shelf. I know what you mean. Actually the wheels and tires are meant to go together. But the sidewalls are oddly bulbous and the tires roll away from the rim slightly around the opening. Since the rears were already glued to the rear axle I stuck with them. As exceptional as so many of of Norm Veber's parts are, when it comes to aftermarket wide whites, today I would go with Modelhaus and either their wheels or the AMT steelies they're designed to fit. Is it that time already (they keep pushing back the NNL West more each year...)? I need to contact our mutual friend to see if he has any interest at all any more in attending... If not, I don't know what I'll do. In the meantime I have several projects on the bench and should be able to finish one or two by then. I hope one of them will be a theme table car. What are you planning for the theme table?

Great to see this thread come alive again. As always, do we look at the pictures of cool cars, or go for the cool pictures of cars. Hmmmmm... Ron, that Deuce roadster pic is somethin' else. Besides the impeccable period details included in your model, I find it impossible to decide what scale it's in! That's when you can tell a perspective shot like that has worked.

I recently switched full-time to using a tripod and a self-timer on my camera. I have banished camera shake forever and can exactly replicate a shot. This has allowed me to fool around making see-through or "ghost" shots. Here are some:

Thanx again guys. After 5 long years (mainly in a box) this project is done! The final "Beauty Pics" can be seen Under G;ass here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82470#entry1062833

Here are some additional detail shots:

A Deuce Resurrected – ’32 Ford Roadster set aside 5 years ago, finished at last. (More pictures below) I started this car over 5 years ago, just a few months after returning to modeling, having been off the bench for decades. Because I’d been away from the hobby a long time the phenomenon of the aftermarket casters was a revelation to me. I’m afraid I went a little overboard in those first days and bought far more resin bits than I knew how to handle. Combined with some pretty rusty skills I was riding for a fall. Sure enough in starting this project I got in way over my head. I had ordered a whole lot of parts from Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland with an eye towards building a car largely based on their offerings. This was to be it: a ’32 Ford HiBoy Roadster to be done in classic 50’s style using a buggy-spring chassis mastered by Rik Hoving for RepMin, combined with a Flathead built around RepMin parts such as heads, distributor drive, carbs, air cleaners, etc. A stock style firewall from RepMin was installed and I included RepMin’s resin grill shell made for the Model Car Garage p/e Deuce grill. The interior was to be the Lyle Willits mastered tuck’n’ roll offering. The whitewalls and steelies were also courtesy of RepMin. My early mockups include baby Moons and chrome beauty rings from an AMT ’40 Ford Sedan Delivery kit, but these found their way on to another build. In the final version I have used “V8” hubcaps from a Revell ’40 Ford Standard, and decided against beauty rings because they removed too much color from the wheels. The Hoving traditional chassis used chassis parts from the Revell “rat rod” ‘29/’30 Ford RPU/Sedan kits and I also threw in a quick change rear end and finned Buick drum brakes, also from RepMin. As it turned out the Hoving chassis was quite thin and fragile. Combined with the decidedly fiddly Revell posable front suspension and novice modeling skills when it came to handling resin parts, the project began to go south pretty quickly. First of all I painted and assembled as I went along, rarely test fitting and giving little thought to the sequence I should follow for clean work and structurally strong results. Soon I was breaking parts, smudging paint and generally messing up bad. The project went into a Revell ’32 Ford Roadster box marked “50’s HiBoy” and sat on a shelf until last month when I thought I would tackle it again. Over the years I had forgotten how badly things had gone. The car had fallen on the floor at one point and the right front horn of the chassis rails had snapped off. I had fiddled with the front suspension so much I had worn off the kingpins on the left side of the front axle. And there were whole areas I had never settled on, like what front locating arms I would use (I have used chrome hairpins from a Revell Deuce 5-window kit – which didn’t exist back then…). I had even attempted to detail the finned heads by giving them a red wash which only succeeded in turning them a lurid chrome pink! Yikes! Fortunately I’ve learned a few things since then. So I started by ditching the resin chassis, only saving the rear suspension and the rear crossmember. I fabricated a new chassis based on Revell Deuce rails. The stance on the original build was horrible, either pan flat or even slightly nose high in some mockups. This time around I did my usual thing of shaving some leaves off the front spring and hogging out the front crossmember in order to lower the front end. This routine is generally good for at least 3+ inches of additional drop and the new chassis has a conservative but handsome big ‘n’ little rake to it. I repaired the left front corner by drilling out the axle end and installing wire kingpins. With new heads, intake manifold and carbs (the originals had long ago been stolen for another build) from a Revell ’40 Ford Street Rod the motor got a thorough freshening up. And finally I was able to do something I had wanted to do originally but simply didn’t know how to do cleanly – chop the windshield, which has about 2 ½ scale inches taken out of it. The body and chassis were painted Duplicolor Aquamarine Blue five years ago and somehow it has survived intact. To say it is well cured would be an understatement. It polished out nicely. The AMT ’49 Ford steering wheel also survived. The interior was finished in Testors Acryl Guards Red. Today I doubt that I would rely quite so heavily on aftermarket parts. At the time I might have had a dozen kits in my stash and had very little knowledge about where to find the parts I needed for my builds. Overall it looks very much like I wanted it to look back then, but with far fewer compromises than I had originally been willing to make. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Yum, yum! I just completed an order and am getting ready to send him an e-mail. Fingers crossed that he's still got a working mold and will sell me one! Thanx loads for the picture. Now I'm really salivating!

I seemed to recall the same thing but am not sure. It's not listed in the catalog, but many things Norm has done over the years aren't listed which simply means you must ask. And of course, RepMin makes the finest "white resin" I can think off! I'll drop him a line. Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone know any more about this?

I started a project earlier this year based on the Jimmy Flintstone chopped '50 Ford pickup body shell. It's basically all done but the JF shell is too thick to fit properly without mucho collateral damage to what has been completed up to now. I'd love to get her done and off the bench. I know, I could chop the kit body myself, but I'm knee deep in other projects and feeling lazy. So... does anyone else make such a shell? Preferably not so thick this time...

Thanx! Just about done. Here are the final workbench shots. An exhaust system was fabricated from the Revell Deuce system, consisting of solder used to join the mufflers to the Replicas & Miniatures competition headers from the original build 5 years ago and the Revell mufflers with shortened rear pieces exiting in front of the rear wheels. The Revell kit windshield received a 2/12 inch chop. Many small detail bits have been added. The chromed headlights from the Revell kit were stripped and painted body color to match the shock mounts and frame. Grill shell braces were made from .020 stainless steel piano wire. A beehive oil filter of probable AMT origin was added to the engine compartment. The chrome coolant pipes are from the Revell Goodguys '40 Ford Coupe Street Rod kit. The hubcaps are Ford V8 items from the Revell ’40 Ford Standard Coupe kit. I tried adding chrome beauty rings from an AMT ’40 Ford. They fit perfectly but took too much color out of the wheels so they were removed. I can’t recall the origin of the wheels themselves but I believe that they may have come from Replicas & Miniatures like so much of this project when I started it. Still to do is completion of the small bits including installing the ’49 Ford steering wheel from the original build which fell off 5 years ago. There’s also the usual touch up and clean up to do. And then it’ll be time for the “beauty shots” and to call this project done … at last! Thanx for lookin’, B.

PS has a hige amount of redunancy in it, which is one reason various processes are so complex and just ... sprawling... Not that that's a bad thing, actually, because each of us approach a problem from our own perspective and PS, at this point, offers various ways to "get you there". The variety of tools offers a pretty good chance that you'll encounter what you require, one way or another. What impressed me most about the reflections on the Jag was how they conform to the contour of the fender surfaces. Nicely done indeed!

Best Model Car Parts: http://bestmodelcarparts.com/

Verty nicely done. I need to learn more about how to do reflected surfaces in P-Shop. I think one could spend the rest of their days learning to control layers in that program...

Thanx for this Neil. As I said on the other thread, when Bill posted the original photo I immediately began searching for your model which I had seen on other forums, but couldn't recall who built it or which forum. So glad to see it once again. Along with your Ramchargers '49 Plymouth, one of my favorite drag models of any sort, but especially that unique subset of expressing a subject in action. You have a special eye for the iconic early drag cars and the skills to deliver great replicas representations of them...

Now that is a truly elegant machine!