Dennis Lacy

The ‘40 Coupe has been issued a couple of times as a stand alone hot rod kit using the identical wheels, chassis and engine pieces as the Convertible. Also, the Convertible has been issued as a factory stock version a couple of times.

Those wheels would be perfect for billet-era VW Bug! I was never into Bugs but I don’t dislike them and can definitely dig an authentic 80’s and early 90’s style one. A good friend in high school got access to a savings account when he turned 18 and promptly went out and bought a 58 or 59 that had been customized in the 80’s. It was sea foam green with a dark and light gray tweed interior with polished solid Centerline wheels. It had billet accessories throughout. It had a built big CC motor in it too that was actually pretty quick. Would burn the tires off from a 1st gear roll and after hitting the 1-2 shift. I’m pretty sure it was featured in a magazine years before he got it. It’s amazing how many hot rodders that are now in their 40’s and 50’s cut their teeth on Bugs in high school. Like Aaron Kahan of the Burbank Choppers. He still has his and recently dug it out and went through it to put it back on the road.

UPDATE! Today was one of those days where I did a lot but most of it wasn't worth taking pictures of. A good amount of it was what i call "busy work" like cleaning up mold seam lines and other clean up work. Also, time was spent working with options on parts and trying to make the best choices while figuring out execution while also taking into consideration that everything I do has to be done twice! One of those subjects was what rear shocks to use and how to mount them because the shocks that go with this IRS unit are too long and therefor not really workable. After some time I settled on some shocks taken from AMT's modern-tool reboot of the Ala Kart show rod. I made some spacers to go on the mounting pins under the shocks and some simple brackets added to the frame that I shaped a little bit after getting them glued on. On the front axle I cut off the wheel mounts, drilled and installed new pins made from .060" Evergreen rod. Then, using 1/8" Evergreen tube (which the rod fits perfectly inside), I drilled the back centers of the wheels and inserted the tube. (The chrome axle is for reference how it comes.) I modified two pairs of Revell '32 series front shocks/mounts by trimming the mount uprights to clear the '29 fender profile. The chrome upper pair is how they started. I also built a pair of driveshafts using my go-to method: U-joints cut off the shafts in the Revell '32 kit series and Evergreen 1/8" tube. Progress is progress. One thing that screwed me up is that I needed to get all of the chrome chassis parts stripped for the Roadster Pickup and finally got around to picking up some new stripper just yesterday as i was totally out. The parts hadn't quite soaked long enough over night so that prevented me from being able to build up the 2nd IRS unit and get it fit to the frame. At least with the shocks figured out now on the 1st truck I can whip right through the 2nd next time.

I haven’t seen that yet but since I’m mentioned I should pick up a copy. Haha! I’ve known Eric for a while now, he’s a good guy and to put the period authenticity into perspective, he’s not even 40 yet by a couple years! That roadster is home built by basically him and another of our friends, Paul, who did the paint and body. It turned out like jewelry.

A little late to the party but this is bad ass! The 70’s epitomized. When I saw the air filters poking through the hood I knew it was gonna have a tunnel ram and the gold Moroso valve covers are a must. The Cragars. The yellow traction bars. Hell yeah! I also love the dark green. Definitely not a stereotypical Tri-5 color choice.

@foghorn62 That looks like a great pile of parts. The floor and firewall are killer! I’ve never seen anything like them. Too bad about the paint but now you have the perfect excuse to resurrect it.

Looks like you got the ball rolling, Craig! @Mr. Metallic I'm going to jump in the buildoff but it won't be with a 3rd '29 Pickup, LOL! My entry is going to be a current day interpretation of the '32 Roadster seen below. This is one of just two remaining models from my youth. I built this model when I was 13 years old which would have been in 1993. No surprise that it was partly influenced by one of Tim's projects from Modeler's Corner in Street Rodder Magazine (an orange and black two-tone '32 Roadster sitting on the same wheels.) I used Monogram's 1:24 scale kit, smoothed the whole body out including the reveal lines around the deck lid, ZZ Top kit wheels with the extra pair of skinny Moroso front tires Revell used to throw in their '67 Malibu Pro Street kit, Revell '37 Ford Convertible frame pieces - rear tires / Corvette IRS / air filter / ignition box / master cylinder / taillights / tilt column and I believe the Boyd Coddington steering wheel was from an updated reissue of Monogram's 1955 Ford Pickup. The kit dash was smoothed with S&S Specialties gauge panel. '32 Roadster kit front axle with Monogram '40 Pickup 4-links. Now for the bizarre part? Underneath that milled billet style air filter is the Monogram '40 Pickup flathead with horrendously under sized exhausts from the 'Lil John Buttera '26 T Sedan kits. Headlights are AMT/Lindberg '34 Pickup with the ends of the bar cut off to drop it down. The paint is Testors Colors by Boyd "Pacific Blue". I hope to get started in a few weeks or so. Need to get further on my pair of '29 Pickups first over in the Light Truck WIP section.

That’s Bitchin! Worth the effort to put those rear wheels and slicks together. Stance and proportions are just right, too.

No pictures but from the original issue in the 60’s all the way up to the early 90’s (I think the Hot Rod logo box was the last) the closed cab had an oversized rear window. When the kit finally got reissued in early 2000’s Revell finally corrected the back window and panel detail to stock. A google search should pull up plenty of examples. The back window is HUGE comparatively.

@mrm Sounds like a kick ass plan to me. I’ve been wanting to grab a BB2 for that neat looking ‘Vette engine. Can’t wait to see you get going! And regarding the chop, I’d like to chop one of these by leaving the windshield intact but remove the awkward header panel above it and bring the rest down to match. I’ve seen that done on a full scale ‘29 Pickup and it look killer. One of these days if I come up with a 90’s or older issue of the kit where the truck had an oversized rear window I’ll tackle it.

Looks TOUGH! Flat black with raw magnesium wheels always makes that statement. I dig the unconventional accent color, too. The wheels are all from the Revell Mickey Thompson Attempt 1. Does that engine come with the Ford Motorsport valve covers? If so, I need to get my hands on one of those. I'm a huge FMS nerd!

You are absolutely killing it with this model! The bed wood idea is freakin' awesome!!! I can't believe it's actually painted strips of styrene. What is the darker color you made the grain lines with?

UPDATE! Riddle: What's better than one Tim Boyd tribute '29 Street Rod Pickup??? Answer: TWO TIM BOYD TRIBUTE '29 STREET ROD PICKUPS!!! A week ago I grabbed a Revell '29 Pickup parts lot on eBay for cheap that contained all of the body and interior pieces. As luck would have it I have a few spare frames and a few more each of all of the donor kits I'm using so... Why the hell not?! Today was spent building a duplicate of the modified frame... ...and setting up another Chevy small block. I used the same block, trans, oil pan and heads from AMT's '34 5-Window street rod and Monogram '37 street rod belt drive and headers as a base. i made the same modifications to the header flanges so plug wires can be easily ran. From there I used the standard intake and single 4-barrel also from the 5-Window and the billet style valve covers and air filter from the '37 Sedan. I then went ahead and changed the first engine to the same valve covers and the oval version of the air filter from the '37 Convertible kit which will fit the dual 4-barrels on the tunnel ram nicely. I made a parts change on the second engine and then went back and revised the first one to match. Originally I set up the first engine with the blue timing cover/water pump pice from AMT's '66 Nova Pro Street (same source as the tunnel ram) because it was virtually identical to the piece that comes with the gray engine except for it has the two mounting pegs for the belt drive which lined up perfect with the Monogram drive. Only problem was that the face of the bottom pulley was up against the frame cross member. It just fit in bare plastic but get a few layers of paint on everything and it would be have been a problem. So I went back to the timing cover/pump that actually goes with the engine and was able to shave off the raised lip where the crank pulley goes and shave off the front of the water pump the same amount. I then added pins made from .060" rod. This pulled the belt drive in closer to the engine enough to create a comfortable gap. And here's a mock up of truck #2. Obviously the sister truck will be using the kits optional Roadster Pickup cab. The tire set are the same as the closed cab truck but this one will use the second design of Boyd Coddington wheels that came in the follow up kit to the original '37 Sedan, the '37 Convertible with Trailer. This way the Roadster has its own personality but is still in keeping with using the '37 Street Rod kits as donors. And, with the standard intake and single 4-barrel this truck will be more of a "cruiser" while the Closed Cab version with its more brutish looking tunnel ram small block will be the one you'd want to take out to haul some ass and do some burnouts. That's it for now. @tim boyd

WICKED!

Excellent update, Eric! You're frame back-dating looks fantastic. I'm a huge fan of using those Revell '40 Ford frame "X" pieces and rear cross members. Although I always use the kit center tie plate for the "X", it never occurred to me to ditch it and make my own plate. I'll definitely be swiping that idea for future use! I also really like the look of those American wheels. I'm not much into 60's cars like the Cutlass you say they came from so i never would have known about them on my own. I'll need to keep my eyes peeled for a set on eBay. The front tires do look like they're from the Thunderbolt. The rear tires very possibly could be from Monogram. There's a first-gen 'Vette kit and T-Bird kit (forget the years, maybe both 58's?) that use what look like bigger Firestone's with separate whitewall inserts. Being 1:24 they look good on the back of 1:25 hot rods.

@CabDriver 1933/1934 Pickups had a steel subframe structure around the perimeter of the cab, a plywood floor board ahead of the seat frame and the toe board was a stamped steel piece. Under the seat was a stamped steel floor filler panel. The fenders on these trucks don't so much get rusty as they do dented, mangled and beat to hell. The rear fenders especially. To find them in any kind of decent condition is a miracle.

The details you’re putting into this cab are awesome. I love all of the interior structure you’ve created. You’re correct that these trucks didn’t have a headliner originally. The only upholstery was the seat cushions and cowl kick panels. The floor had a beige rubber mat. Very basic. When riding in them everything echos inside like you’re in a tin can!

Nice!

Glad you ventured over into truck land. I always enjoy your thoughts on my projects and glad you’re enjoying this one. It seems several guys have been inspired by this thread to build their own versions so why wait any longer? Dig out a kit and get going on your own!

I hear you. My passion is and will probably always be for traditional hot rods but being born in ‘79 there’s no denying I have a certain fondness for these 80’s era street rods and 80’s pop culture in general being that it’s what I was exposed to as an impressionable youngster. Just like any other era, when it comes to billet rods there’s well done and not well done. My aim is to end up in the spectrum of well done. I’ve seen Lime Fire in person many times and it is 100% Hot Rod and quite the juxtaposition of what was popular at the time.

Heck Yeah! I really dug your full size Roadster. It reminded me a bunch of Monogram's Big Deuce. You're off to a great start with the model version. I had never given any thought to the interior side panels in this kit but the thinned down versions look 100x better and more accurate. The cut down 3-Window seat looks cool too, especially the way the top bolster fills all that space around the back. Great color choice! I like it a lot more than the color that ended up on that Roadster you mentioned. Keep it coming, can't wait to see more!

UPDATE! @tim boyd Got to spend some time at the bench today. First order of business was to finish building the frame center "X" using pieces cut down from Monogram's '37 Ford Sedan just like Tim did. On the rear sections it was necessary to pie cut and taper them where they join with the side rails. When Tim set up his I believe he added material to the frame rails to make them as tall as the rear “X” pieces so he didn’t have to modify them. And with the engine and trans in place... Next I needed to adapt the rear wheels to the IRS. I found that the wire wheels from the Monogram Slingster dragster were a perfect fit onto the axle stubs so I cut their hubs out to creat sleeves, drilled the holes in the back of the wheels to a little bigger diameter and glued the sleeves in. I'm also going to use the disc brakes found in all of the Revell '32 kits and they are a perfect fit as-is. Here are the wheels and tires fit to the fenders. Thankfully my planning worked out and the truck still sits slammed like it did when the fenders were just laying over the tires. And just for fun I propped the chassis up onto all 4. The front axle is fit to the frame but the wheels are not adapted yet. They're just precariously stuck on the spindle stubs. That's it for today. Plenty more to come soon!

Heck yeah, bring it on!

A lot of good stuff going on here. I have a feeling this is going straight to my top favorites from you when it’s done. ?

Since you follow me on IG I don’t have to tell you how much I dig 32-34 Ford Pickups (I mean, I daily drive a 32!) I know these trucks like the back of my hand and I love the details you’ve added to the cab, especially the stamping reliefs on the lower back panel - that’s RAD! I also really like the weathered look you’ve achieved. And this is just the cab. I can’t wait to see the rest of the project unfold! Are you gonna have a bed? Because just like the full scale versions the front of the bed completely hides those reliefs in the cab back. Would be a shame to cover that detail up!