Bernard Kron

And secondly, a truck! A 60's style Deuce Roadster Pickup based on a resin transkit from Chuck Meir at Altered States Models. Forum rules require this to be relegated to the below-the-fold relative obscurity of Model Trucks - Under Glass: Pickups, Vans, SUVs, Light Commercial so here it is again for the general public (for more details go to http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76261 ):

Got two Deuces done in the last 90 days! Am I hung up or what??? First off a roadster done in an early 60's show car style (for more details Under Glass link here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=73674&hl= ):

1932 Ford Roadster Pickup 60’s Style Street Rod (More pictures below) This project was based on a resin ’32 Ford Roadster Pickup transkit by Chuck Meir of Altered States Models which I purchased from him on E-Bay. While in actual fact it was built from spare parts leftover from the countless Revell Deuce kits I’ve collected over the last few years the bulk of the parts used can be found in the 5-Window version. Unless listed below all parts and assemblies are as found in that kit. Builder’s Note: Apologies in advance for the funky paint. The car was clear coated using what turned out to be a defective can of Krylon clear. Quite simply, the paint refuses to harden. While appearing dry to the touch it remains to this day very soft. This after 6 weeks since the clear coats were first applied! The slightest grip with a finger on any surface leaves a fingerprint. This made the build process tricky in the extreme. I was able to polish it out using a very mild plastic polish (Meguiar’s PlastX) but I had to do it repeatedly as it was almost impossible to avoid contact with clear coated surfaces. If it looks a bit like an old paint job that’s been polished one time too many, well – that’s because it has… I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Thanx for lookin’, B. Body and interior: Resin ’32 Ford Roadster Pickup main cab, interior and pickup bed courtesy of Chuck Meir at Altered States Models. Modified Revell 1929 Ford Roadster Pickup steering wheel, scratch built shift lever. AMT/Lindberg 1934 Ford pickup tonneau cover, cut to fit. Top from an AMT 1929 Ford Roadster, shortened ¼ inch forward of the center bow. Louvers on the hood and hood sides are 3 dimensional resin decals courtesy of Archer’s Fine Transfers. Motor: Revell Deuce kit small block Ford, kit intake manifold modified to accept dual quad carburetion. Chassis and suspension: Stock Revell Deuce kit with four leaves removed from the front spring to lower front end. Chassis notched at front cross member to clear front axle. Wheels and tires: Wheels and rear tires from Revell ’32 Ford Highboy kit. Wheels stripped of kit chrome and finished in Testors Aluminum Plate Metalizer. Front rims narrowed to accept standard AMT kit Firestone tires. Paint finishes: Body finished in Duplicolor Toreador Red over white primer with Duplicolor Universal Black fenders. See Builder’s Note regarding clear coat. Interior finished in Testors Acryl Leather. Top and tonneau cover finished in Testors Acryl Panzer Interior Buff.

I agree totally. The photos are surprisingly convincing, too. Bravo!

Alright. I guess I'll add my 2 cents worth... Western popular music, and now worldwide pop, is currently in a very highly evolved state, very mature after almost two centuries of ever-accellerating change. Starting with the rise of the moneyed middle class in the nineteenth century and the birth of secular music in theaters, first in the form of opera and then music halls, through the revolution that was the phonograph record, then radio play of recordings, and finally the post WWII explosion that began with the long playing record and morphed into the digital music revolution, listeners have always been offered more and more choices in both musical styles and ways to listen. Today, the shear quantity of available listening choices and recorded performances is just staggering. The result I believe is a neo-classical period, where musicians are spending more time exploring established styles than creating new ones. As a result the impression one can get is that music is somehow no longer "new", perhaps more derivative than it once was. To some extent this is true, but much of it is due to the enormous quantity of music out thetre. For many its simpler to listen to the originators of an established style that the third or fourth generation practitioners. Also, with so many choices, it quite easy to just pick a style and decide that's what you like, ignoring everything else. But there's really nothing new about this. It's just that the pace of change has slowed way down. Changes in technologies, instrumentation, methods of composition and notation, methods of delivery, etc. are far more incremental than they were just a few years ago. So, for older listeners, there's a genuine nostalgia for an earlier "Golden Age", when, from day to day, you never knew what you were going to hear next. But new, if perhaps not totally original, music is being created and performed every day, scattered across a gigantic range of styles. Some traditions still survive, such as country music's tendency to recapitulate the pop styles of 10 or 20 years prior. Other traditions have emerged to dominance, such as 70's and 80's r&b and hip hop's virtual death-grip on mainstream pop (a trend which may be showing signs of abating). Some traditions have largely ceased evolving and have become Classical idioms in their own right - jazz and most of the folk-based idioms, and perhaps reggae, come to mind. If there is a problem it's that all the prior styles and output survive and grow ever greater. There's an old expression in the music business that eventually became the name of a band - pop will eat itself. In this era of cheap digital technologies and vanishingly small barriers to entry and time to market, this has never been more true. So, depending on your age/generation, most listeners today have their established favorites and less inclination to explore "the new". Even methods of distribution have conspired to create this kind of conservativism. I can remember in the 1980's having recording executives battling to prevent the easy licensing and distribution of indivdual songs. They feared that this would kill off the album and lower profits by reducing the revenue from a unit transaction. Buyers would only purchase their favorite individual track by an artist - this would eventually stifle creativity and variety in pop music and create a yawning chasm between the hit artist and the rest of the label's catalog.. Well, today with iTunes, Pandora, etc. this has come true. Was their fear justified? Perhaps. But if music is important to you, the means to explore and discover have never been more varied, inexpensive and efficient. On the other hand this is not necessarily good news for the artists. With the exception of the fortunate few at the top of the food chain, the real, inflation adjusted, market price for their output has been driven inexorably downward. Today aspring young artists have not only to compete among themselves, but with the digital ghosts of the past.

What a surprise to see this pop up again! All the kudos are appreciated. This is still looks nice on my shelf and ranks among my personal faves. Again, thanx for the props. I'm glad you all dig it!

Niko... the control you have over the surfaces are stunning. The results are especially imprressive on the dashboard and the engine. I'm jealous!

Wow! Brilliant stance and proportions. Great execution and very tasteful details. As a 1:1 this would rate as a show winner.

If I put myself in the position of the OP I guess I'd find some aspects of this discussion rather depressing as they seem to totally ignore the points he was raising. Of course if we are unable to see any reason for an interest in the future of the hobby as long as our personal needs are adequately served, then there is no reason to consider his points. For myself I find the original insights quite interesting and certainly appropriate if a company like Revell has any aspirations to enduring beyond the next few years. I find the notion of very contemporary, up to the minute releases and true modern 2-in-1 kits quite exciting and inspiring. Subject matter is important, particularly when you're starting out, since the crafts aspect of the hobby is largely unknown to you. In the beginning it's just about all you have to go on. Indeed I think the recent Rat Roaster and Foose releases from Revell points to some sort of attempt to bridge the kind of gap the OP has quite eloquently pointed out. I also agree with what he intimates, that Revell needs to do a far better job if they hope to succeed at filling that void. For Round 2 the challenge is even greater. As for the foreign model companies, the Japanese ones, not so much. Their releases are largely targeted to European and Asian audiences where they appear to be pretty contemporary. I think the OP has done a fine job of raising some productive and apt matters worthy of consideration in the North American market.

I’m nearing completion. While I assemble the main cab and interior and apply what little chrome and trim there is, I have the truck up on its wheels and the fenders and bed firmly mated to the chassis. Below are some quick pics showing the stance which is entirely the result of the tires I chose since the suspension is straight out of the box, using the lowered “custom” variant from the kit. I was suprised at the amount of rake that resulted, but I like the effect. The red/black, gloss/matte contrast is also becoming more apparent, emphasized by the steelies and whitewalls. Thanx for lookin’, B.

.Oops, our posts crossed. See the picture above.

No I haven't but I guess I should. The louvered hood in black is an issue. The Archer louver decals I used on The Challenger are pretty shallow and only made in black so I have to find a way to make them show up against a dark background... The Deuce of Spades is sure a pretty car, though.

Lots of juicy details for you to work with! You say Rat Roadster but the pic is of a coupe. Are you planning an open car?

I'm an active member. I gave Dragmaster a hedz up. Don't know why he dropped the ball... I'm guessing he should be contacting you very shortly.

http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/ Join the club and help support this important resource.

It was an extraordinary car when it came out, It made huge waves. It was almost shocking in its "purity", applying a customizer's aesthetic to refining the basic lines of the production car. The nose "sells" the lines of the stocker by radically de-chroming it and applying the European glassed in headlights, as seen on so many sports-racing cars of the era, in a unique way, especially with the Lucas spots. The inside was full tuck 'n' roll black leather and the engine was a chromed out Carrera cammer with twin Webers. The paint was pearlescent silver, the early stuff made with fish scales. As a little boy this car was my ultimate dream machine, encapsulating everything I loved about cars. It could also be viewed as a fitting tribute to Jeffries' friend James Dean who had perished four years earlier at the wheel of his Porsche 550 RS, a car the actor called the "Little Bastard", which JD had asked Jeffries to letter on the back end shortly before his demise. Perhaps all this will serve to remind us of the powerful cultural wave that Dean Jeffries helped create and which he rode throughout much of his life.

They weren't related. Matt Jeffies was born in 1921 and died in 2003. He considered himself a Southerner, his parents being from Virginia. Matt Jeffries was a cultivated man, a writer as well as an engineer and designer, a Navy man, and the son of a successful electrical engineer. Dean Jeffries was more protypically part of the post-war California Hot Rod and Custom Car culture. His parents came to California with Dean from Iowa where Dean was born in 1933. He grew up in Compton and Lynwood California, a hot bed of all things hot rodding. One of his neighbors was Champ Car legend Troy Ruttman who first helped promote Dean's gifts as a pin striper and car painter.

Jeffries was a giant of his generation, a tremendous natural talent. I've always associated him and Larry Watson for what they did for painting. They were key figures in pioneering and developing many of the techniques we associate with the hot rod and customizing idiom. But I have to remind myself of cars like Dean's personal Porsche coupe and the Manta Ray and give him his due in the metal bending department. Over the years there has been quite a controversy over who actually designed and built the Green Hornet Black Beauty and the Monkeemobile, Dean Jeffires or George Barris. George Barris owns the rights to the names and at least one original copy of each but Dean designed and built them although he gave up the rights to promote them. I had always thought they looked unlike any of the other cars of this period ascribed to George Barris, far too "together" looking and original in concept. In retrospect it has always made more sense that Jeffries created them than George Barris. Jeffries' originality and creativity was second to none. RIP Dean, we're lucky to have had you! The young master at work Dean and his Porsche 356 Dean operating the Mantaray by remote control Dean upon completing the Monkeemobile Dean and the Black Beauty

Alfa Romeo... Fisher Model and Pattern has offered one of the B.A.T. 5 in resin at various times, as recently as last year. Unfortunately it's out of stock right now... Here's a link anyway: http://fishermodels.com/page/14fj/Home.html . Look under kit/automobiles. My friend Raul Perez built one of them a couple of years back. Here are some pics:

Yes. I've checked repeatedly. I did have to shave the blower manifold somewhat, 'though!

I’m making more progress. The chassis is completed and I’m ready to put this puppy up on its wheels. I’m really enjoying this kit, it’s full of highly detailed sub-assemblies which are sort of mini model kits in their own right. I don’t normally build OTB and this project is not without a fair number of modifications, but Revellogram have a real winner with this kit, IMHO. Below are a couple of pictures of the highly detailed chassis. I have yet to install the radiator and front splash panels but I wanted to grab some pics that showed the front of the blown 427 before I button things up. I’m pretty much down to cutting window glass and final assembly. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Nicely done in an Old School traditional color w/ wide whites. How did you apply the sidewalls?

Oops! How embarassing... I read but I did not retain...

Since it was released, and despite the fact that they kept the airbags and Fat Front Tires/Wheels, this kit has become a classic. It's the quintessential parts kit as well as a great build straight out of the box. It looks great as a highboy, chopped, full fendered and any other way you can think of. The hairpins are awesome, the hemi motor very useful and the separate louvered rear deck can be easily adapted to most of the other Revell 1/25th scale Deuces as well as the AMT '29 Ford Model A roadster and the Monogram '31 Ford Model A 5-window. The interior comes in 2 "flavors" and the '40 Ford dash and steering wheel can be easily adapted to other Deuces. Big ThumbsUpz to Revell! And a big thanx to Casey for the detail shots of the kit trees!

Exquisite!!! Artful use of Rat Roaster bits. And the patina of the paint is stunning. Is that chopped A-Bone coupe a new piece from RepMin? I wasn't aware of it. A must have if it is... Big labor saver! Especially with the proper trim in place. And as long as I'm in an inquiring frame of mind, what's the source for the cool wheels?