Dennis Lacy

Finally, after a year (!) I pulled this poor project out of its box and put in an afternoon of work. With all of the major fabrication done it was down to the details or as my Aussie friend, Bryce, says “the fiddly bits.” 1. The steering system was built consisting of a box from the Revell ‘32 3-Window / Hi Boy Roadster with the double U-joint steering shaft from the new tool ‘32 Roadster and a receptacle added to the underside of the floor. The box pins to the frame rail and the steering link pins to the box. 2. A Revell 1940 Ford dashboard was slightly trimmed on the ends to remove its original mounting tabs and the shifter steering column from the same pinned for a positive connection. Also using the ‘40 steering wheel. 3. Way out back a Revell 1948 Ford gas tank was cut from the floor pan it comes molded to. 4. The radiator was tweaked with a round outlet fitting added to the lower right corner and a filler neck added to the top tank. 5. The lower radiator hose was made from one of the 10 that come in Revell’s modern Model A hot rod kits. 6. A voltage regulator from a Revell ‘40 Ford was added to the firewall. One of my favorite detail parts. 7. In previous mock ups I had been using the dropped headlight bar from Revell’s 1929 Pickup kit. The dropped bar came in one issue, the Hot Rod logo box from the late 1980’s. Problem is like every issue of that kit the headlight lenses are molded into the lights and chrome plated and there’s no way to make them look convincing. To solve that the nice dropped bar from any of the Revell ‘32 Fords was fit and pinned to the fenders. With this comes the added benefit of smaller hot rod headlights that are optional in those kits. 8. Out back the taillight mounting arm and license plate bracket from a Revell ‘29 Pickup was fit with a steel pin where it attaches to the underside of the floor and fit with a ‘32 taillight from Revell’s ‘32 Sedan. The plate bracket was also trimmed down to fit the size of the early 1960’s plate decal. 9. Not shown but equally important is that the engine and fuel injection were drilled for plug wires and fuel plumbing. After all of that I did some final sanding cleanup and meticulous flash cleanup in the webbing of the woody body. I’m happy to say that this project is ready to move on to paint. Finally! ?

Thanks so much! @stavanzer I also have The Beach Boys kit and looked at using the Corvette rear from it as my original idea was a 70’s era car and also strongly considered the Tru Spoke wires from the yellow issues of the Roadster. Problem I ran into was wanting it to sit tires tucked the way I had it with the same radial tires but lowering the back and being able to modify the rear end and the wheels to tuck them in wasn’t going to be easy. That said, the provided stance and wheel/tire poke out of the box is actually pretty 70’s era correct.

Made some progress on the new version of this Roadster project today. Starting with removal of the automatic trans and grafting on the early Ford trans from the Monogram ‘29 Roadster Pickup Cadillac engine. The kits molded engine mounts were removed and new ones built from .040” sheet. There’s also a half round relief just behind the front cross member on the left frame rail that serves no apparent purpose so it was filled with a scrap of round rod. Underneath the wheels and brakes were properly mounted to the axles and I replaced the kits split wishbones with the much nicer ones from Revell’s modern Model A hot rod kits and built some mount for them to pin to. I think I’m going to keep the rear exhaust pipes I had made before but change the mufflers to period correct glass packs and will need to make new front pipes because of the engine swap. Here’s the Roadster mocked up again, this time with the engine sitting IN the car rather than beside it. I also spent some time refining the fit of the roadster top to the body by relieving the inside lower edges. Still needs a little bit more then should be a perfect fit. That’s all for now.

Haven’t touched this project since my last update in early March. Got to looking at pictures of it last night and realized that I really don’t like it. It’s a mish-mash of parts and eras with no continuity. Blown small block with fragile early drive line. Deep and deeper wire wheels with ugly radial tires. Dorky stock windshield and top. Then there’s the interior “tub” with pleated upholstery inserts that is hard to get away from without starting over. Just an odd combo. Today I actually had some free time and decided to see what I could do to improve it. My bread and butter is Traditional hot rods so that’s what I’m gonna do and what the kit readily lends itself to. Changes include: Modelhaus T120 front tires opened up to fit Revell 1948 Ford wheels. Monogram 1941 Lincoln rear tires with Drag City Casting steelie wheels that take Ford hubcaps that I mastered some years ago. Back to the kit dropped I-beam axle. Chopped windshield from newest Revell 1932 Roadster (which fit after some strategic trimming) and Drag City Casting 32 Roadster top that I mastered a few years ago. Revell 1949 Mercury Custom early Cadillac engine (left over from an abandoned project) fitted with the carbs & scoops from a Revell 1950 Ford F1 Pickup. Will cut the hydro transmission off and graft on the early Ford one from the yellow Caddy engine from the old Monogram ‘29 Roadster Pickup. So that’s what we’re doing now!

Man, what a neat project! I had never heard of this conversion kit, either. Nice work! I just finished lowering a 1936 Pickup (subtly different from a 35, most notably the grill shell is thicker) 5” in front and 4” in rear for a customer. We were discussing models because he knew I built them and he asked if there was any way to build a 35 or 36 and I said no. Looks like I was wrong. Now I want to track a conversion kit down and replicate his truck. ?

This is one of the most original ideas I’ve seen in a while and you’re just the man for the job, KK! Very much looking forward to watching this evolve. (You need to find a 1/25th scale Lurch figure for the driver.)

Your truck bashes are always so fun and this is no exception.

The other 4-door body was sold through Hendrix. They had two. One Revell based and the other AMT based. Those are definitely stock height.

The body is from Drag City Casting and I built the mold master. It is chopped 3 scale inches.

Loved the finished model. Looking forward to seeing how it was built.

Finally found my way to the workbench for a few hours last Sunday. Previously I had roughed-in the exhaust but it needed finishing such as blending the glue joints on the tailpipes and smoothing all the mold seams. The tips were drilled out to make the tube thickness more realistic along with a shallow angle cut. The big mounting notches in the gas tank for the kit exhaust were smoothed and some discrete .040” mounting pins installed. Thats about it for the fab work so I spent the rest of the time starting to generally sand and get things cleaned up moving towards primer. It’s been unusually cold and wet this winter here in SoCal so hoping for some good paint weather soon! Still undecided on main and accent color, tossing around some ideas…

Nice start! Really like the Weld Rodlite wheels. Those were super popular in the 90’s.

I just received the first two new production bodies from my friend Ed at Drag City Casting. The quality is absolutely superb. The 1932 Sedan is chopped 4.5 scale inches and is a direct fit for Revell’s 32 Sedan. It includes a matching windshield frame (not pictured.) Thankfully this kit is on the horizon to be reissued after a very long time since its original release. $30 The 1934 5-Window is chopped 3.5 scale inches and is a direct fit for AMT’s 34 5-Window kit which is currently reissued and readily available. This is an improved and slightly more chopped version of the chopped 5-Window body he used to offer years ago. $30 Ed has also built fresh molds and will continue offering his other 3 chopped 1932 Ford bodies: 3-Window, 5-Window and 4-Door Sedan. Each one includes a matching chopped windshield frame. $30 each. Ed is one of the best casters in the business. His bodies come out the same exact thickness as the kit bodies meaning there will be no problems with interior fitment. He also highly polishes the body masters prior to molding so the production bodies come out as smooth as the kit bodies, have no mold seam lines and flash removed so there is no clean up necessary. He does not have a formal website but can be contacted by email at lowcab36@epix.net

It was definitely worth revisiting this project and pushing it through. I was bummed when you boxed it. Turned out really cool. Like others have said the Baskerville inspiration is unmistakably there without being a full-on copy. Nice top! And not to brag (?) but I’ve actually worked on and driven the real deal. Here it is at the shop. ?

Only had a small sliver of time at the bench this weekend but I managed to handle most of the final details. The kit hood top was sanded smooth and then I cut a hole for the blower scoop to poke through. I was getting ready to adapt the dropped headlight bar from a Revell ‘32 Ford kit when I remembered there is one in the most recent issue of the Monogram / Revell ‘30 Woody and as luck would have it, it’s a good fit AND it doesn’t have fiddly separate headlights. Out back I drilled some holes in the back lower body panel to mount the license plate frame from a Revell ‘29 Roadster and the taillights from any of the Revell ‘32 Ford’s.

That’s so rad!!!

Totally bitchin! I especially like the rusty green one with the Rat Roaster wheels.

Another T Hot Rod? Make it so!

Thanks for nice words, Craig. You know, you and your recent Monogram 1:24 hot rod builds are largely responsible for my desire to build this one. I loved this Roadster kit as a kid / teen. It’s proving quite difficult to draw the line on modifications and not going all-out as I typically do. The evolution of the engine is a perfect example. The slot wheels from the ‘29 Pickup are actually pretty nicely done if a person likes 70’s Ansen Sprints. Before I switched to the wires the idea was to paint them aluminum. Although they didn’t make the cut this time I’d like to put them on something. And, while I haven’t commented yet I’ve been keeping an eye on your T project!

It sure does! I’m going to run the top but it will be getting smoothed out with a hole in the middle.

Found a little more bench time yesterday afternoon. I had left the Roadster mocked up and after sitting down I got to looking at it. I realized I wasn't totally feeling the engine setup. Part of it was that the 1:24 engine bay still looked a bit empty and after some trial and error I found a way to fill it up! I carved 1/16” off the back of the trans to move the engine back the same amount. I also carved the molded in timing cover / crank balancer off. To the engine I added the complete supercharger assembly, timing cover and belt drives from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster. I’m also back to the “Deuce” valve covers. Totally ridiculous with the fragile early driveline but it looks cool. So that’s it, final answer!

Hmm, I’ll have to give that some thought. I do plan on hood sides which have hot rod louvers like the tops. Smooth as well?

And, the winner is… The Kelsey Hayes wires! I was able to spend some time at the workbench this afternoon and decided to get the wheels adapted to the axles. The fronts were very easy only needing to slightly enlarge the holes in the wheels to fit over the axle stubs and sand the center area down, even with the edge of the rim. The rears, on the other hand, took a fair bit of work mixed with trial and error. The inner wheel halves ended requiring the whole raised center area be removed. The rear brake plates were replaced with front plates from the same kit because they are roughly half the thickness and don’t have a raised center area on the front which allowed them to suck in closer to the axle. Even then I needed all of the room I could get so I sanded the slight ridge down on the back sides of the plates. Because the plates are thinner it was necessary to notch them to clear the end of the spring. All of this to allow the rear wheels to suck in as much as possible to get the tires under the fenders. I mocked the Roadster back together and upon looking at it I just wasn’t feeling the engine dress. While a single 4-barrel is perfect for drive ability it’s kind of boring on a scale street rod. Digging through my small block Chevy parts I came across the dual 4-barrel cross-ram intake from Revell’s 1969 Camaro Z28, the only remaining piece I have since having the original issue back in the early 90’s. The carbs come from a couple of Monogram 1937 Ford Sedan original issues with air filters from a Revell ‘32 Roadster (Rat Roaster.) The Edelbrock valve covers come from AMT’s ‘34 Ford 5-Window Coupe. I’m liking this a lot better and it’s much more interesting to look at. And here’s the Roadster sitting properly on its axles with the updated engine dress. Very happy with the stance and wheel fit.

Last night I did a mock up with a different set of wheels, the Kelsey Hayes style wires from the Monogram ‘30 Woody. When I was first starting this project they were the first wheels I tried but I was not going to be able to modify them enough to tuck the under the front fenders using the kit dropped axle. Last night it occurred to me that I should try again since I changed the front axle and it’s quite a bit narrower. I haven’t started adapting the wheels yet so now I have to decide which way to go. I definitely like the wires and they will look much better with the chrome hubcaps. Thoughts?

Thanks! My friend Ed at Drag City Casting was reproducing the grill insert and he also had a kit for the Pontiac engine. He doesn’t have a website but if you email him he’ll take care of you. He’s a good guy. lowcab36@epix.net