Dennis Lacy

Outstanding project idea and the mock up is a fantastic combination of pieces. I can't wait to see it once you get those headers built! Also, thanks for the neat tire holder-upper idea.

Right? This rear suspension set up practically falls right into place on the channeled A frame from these kits. I eyeballed fitting it to the '32 frame and it would be a bit more work but still doable. It's funny because when I selected the rear end setup and Orange Crate rolling stock I wasn't even thinking about your killer roadster. Then I went and had another look at it when you put it up on TRaK and realized what was going on, LOL! Sure, we can line 'em up but I think my Cammer has a horsepower advantage over your injected Nailhead.

Thanks, Tim. Having you comment on my projects always means a lot to me!

A good set of traditional 30's wires would be killer, for sure! In particular, Kelsey Hayes 16" 40-spoke accessory wheels from the mid-30's that were on virtually every hot rod before WWII. This is my favorite wheel for the Firestone track tires, they just look so natural together. I had a set on my Deuce Pickup with Firestone bias-plys for years. Hosted on Fotki

Nice work on the reversed firewall!

Thanks, Chris! I've always loved the look of the Orange Crate's Firestone ribbed track tires. I also love the fact that the Halibrand wheels have all the inside reinforcement detail. If I go full Altered with this project it won't have front brakes and the extra wheel detail will go a long way towards the overall appearance of the car. The ribbed track tires in the new A kits (and first seen in the Stacy David roadster) are also Firestone's (minus the name because of licensing, of course) and are actually very accurate to the real thing. The real ones have the hard edges to the sidewall blocks. In any case, I've always been a fan of the Firestone ribbed track tires on vintage styled hot rods and race cars. I'm really happy that Revell stepped up and gave us a killer set of tires, finally!

Yeah, stance and drivetrain angle are set so no worries there. Not sure what the final colors will be. I'm leaning heavily towards full competition car which would be a mid-60's Altered. I'm probably going to use the yellow Malco Products decals from AMT's '33 Willys and thinking of using yellow as an accent color to tie in so the main color would have to go with that. The interior is gonna be spartan with the kit "skeleton" panels. If I go full Altered I will probably use the single bucket seat from the Mazmanian Willys which has tuck & roll padding (Altered's only required a driver seat). I'll save those sweet bomber seats for something else.

Grabbed one of these new kits (finally) last weekend. Thanks to Tim Boyd's excellent review pictures I pretty much came up with a solid plan ahead of time. I'm undecided if this is going to be a full mid-60's competition car or competition-inspired hardcore street going hot rod. I haven't done anything that would swing it one way or the other - yet. I started the chassis modifications with the rear axle and suspension from Revell's Mazmanian '41 Willys which consists of an early Oldsmobile axle, quarter elliptic springs, tubular shocks and loooooooooooong ladder bars. This entire setup was surprisingly easy to fit into the A frame. All of the joints are pinned together with .040" Evergreen rod. The molded on axle stands will be removed in the end. I used them to locate the axle while fitting everything. The brake plates and finned brake drums from the '30 Coupe kit were then fit to the Olds axle with .060" Evergreen rod protruding to attach the wheels. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The complete set of pin-drive knock-off Halibrand wheels, ribbed track tires and M&H slicks are from Revell's Orange Crate '32 Sedan. To fit the rears I simply shaved the backsides of the wheels flat and center-drilled them to fit onto the .060" pins on the axle. Super easy! Hosted on Fotki The kits tubular center frame member was modified by building up a new transmission mount with additional triangulated gussets on the sides. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I forgot to take a good, clear picture of the engine assembly but this pic mostly shows it. It is the Ford 427 SOHC "Cammer" out of AMT's '33 Willys. I removed the molded on C6 auto trans and installed the bell housing from a Revell parts pack 427 Ford engine and the GM Hydro (B&M Hydro-Stick) auto trans from Revell's Cadillac parts pack engine. New engine mounts were added to the forward part of the frame to accommodate the molded brackets on the sides of the engine. Hosted on Fotki I had to trim out the front part of the floor to 1) clear the bell housing and trans and 2) allow the engine to sit up higher in the frame because the installed height allowed by the original shallow hump in the floor would have the entire oil pan below! the frame. Hosted on Fotki I installed some temporary pins to hold the wheels on the front axle and have a '32 shell with solid grill panel from Revell's 5-Window sitting in place. If I go for a streetable car I will put a normal grill and the A kit front brakes and finned drums. Instead of the blower setup from the '33 Willys I used the dual 4-barrel intake and carburetors also from Revell's 427 Ford parts pack engine. The engine was mounted so that the intake carburetor mounting pads are level. The Hilborn scoop is from the blower option in the new A kit. The headers are from the Mazmanian Willys. I also didn't notice until I was processing the pictures but I sure did manage to tack the drivers cam cover on crooked. Good lord! One of the issues with the channeled versions of these new A kits is that there seems to be a lot of "dead air" under the car. The heavy duty ladder bars hanging under there sure do solve that problem! There have been no modifications to alter the stance other than the rubber rake caused by the new wheels & tires. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Lots more to come. Any thoughts welcome!

I got started on mine yesterday. When I get a little farther I'll get a thread going on the Workbench.

After what you did with the sister roadster kit I can't wait to see what you do with these. The topless Sport Coupe idea sounds sweet!

It looks like the Happy Days version and later but similar version to its right have the Orange Crate wheels & tires transplanted. If they're not from the Orange Crate then they're nearly identical. Either way, I think it looks pretty neat like that!

Thanks for your comments, everyone! It would have a hand pressure pump mounted within reach of the driver like the one shown above. I didn't do any cockpit details so there's no hand fuel pump, brake lever / master cylinder, clutch pedal, accelerator pedal, gauges, etc. Like I mentioned above, the dragster is more of a prop for displaying the engine. in hindsight, I guess I should have pushed myself to add all that stuff but I'm just glad it's not a pile of parts in a box anymore.

This little early 60's retro dragster started life as a mid-60's Revell Dragmaster frame parts pak that was given to me by my friend Jon Ferren. As it came from Revell it was very similar to the Mooneyes dragster frame kit from the same period. It is also very similar to the dragster frame found in Revell's Mickey Thompson Attempt 1 land speed car. The frame kit is bare basics providing the frame rails, body side panels, cowl top panel, firewall and dash panel. It is up to the builder to provide the rest of the parts. I rounded out the chassis with the narrow tube front axle & tierod assembly from Revell's Kurtis Midget's, side steering pitman arm from AMT's Double Dragster with a scratch built drag link, hairpin rods and Halibrand quick change rear axle from Revell's Tony Nancy 22jr double kit, rear brakes from Revell's Ed Roth Tweedy Pie T, Halibrand resin front wheels from Drag City Casting, Halibrand rear wheels from AMT's '33 Willys, T100 front tires from The Modelhaus and AMT parts pack slicks. The seat was also narrowed and shortened from the 22jr kit. Paint is Testors one coat Icy Blue and the wheels are finished in Testors Model Master Jet Exhaust to replicate the Dow7 anti-corrosive coating applied to magnesium wheels back in the 60's. The decals are from Revell's Edelbrock Kurtis Midget. The centerpiece of this model is a Model A 4 cylinder engine with an Ardun overhead valve conversion of my own design. (Ardun 4 cylinder conversions never existed in the old days but a handful of them were created and sold in modern times.) I used the very well rendered engine block, oil pan and custom Ansen side valve chamber cover from Revell's '29 and '31 Model A kits. The clutch housing and direct drive transmission are from the 22jr kit. To build the Ardun conversion I scratch built the cylinder head and intake manifold. On the front of the head and side of the block I used the little finned block off plates that come on the hot rodded flathead from Revell's '40 Ford's and '32 Sedan. (These indicate where water inlet and outlet/water pump would be if there were a cooling system.) The Ardun rocker arm cover is from Revell's '50 Ford Pickup. Up front a Chevy finned timing cover from Monogram's Slingster dragster was modified to fit and I scratch built the right-angle magneto drive. The magneto itself is from AMT's modern-tool Ala Kart and ignition wires were added to it. I also scratch built an oil filter mount on the rear right corner of the engine and ran oil hose to and from it. The header is a modified piece from AMT's Double Dragster kit. The carburetors are from the Ed Roth Tweedy Pie T. I built a small tee-fitting and ran fuel hose to the carburetors and down to the Moon fuel tank from Revell's '32 5-Window. I also added a little retaining tab to the frame to keep the long hose from flopping around, a finned oil breather cab and a dipstick. The engine is painted Tamiya Gold which is a real good match for the decals. This engine was a long time in the making. It originated it a different, now abandoned project before being re purposed in this dragster where it continued to evolve. I'm very happy to see it finished. The rest of the model didn't receive any extra special detailing. I more wanted to use the dragster as a way to display the engine. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

When I opened this my jaw hit the floor! Aaron, this is seriously fantastic and my new favorite version of this kit. The colors, the styling, the proportions - it's got 'em all and at the same time it just looks all-business. PS: The magnesium finish on the wheels is superb! Please tell how you achieved it.

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. They are always appreciated!

I called my local shop today and they still don't have this in stock. I was told possibly the coming week and I'm one of many who has called asking. I. Want. One.

I have a couple but i bought them purely to rob parts for other projects. I've seen enough box art Blue Beetles and Banditos that I don't need my own.My local shop, Pegasus Hobbies, still has 'em on the shelf. I'm happy to have all the retro parts I can get but I still think it's too bad they couldn't get the Cadillac script back on the valve covers.

All that power with such a short wheel base would make for one scary ride down the strip!

I really like this model! The overall look you've achieved is actually quite representative of what's going on with young hot rodders in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway right now. The tall ride height paired with the aggressive chop, the colors, the vintage airplane references with the header tips painted red, the horn mounted on the frame rail along side the engine, the somewhat rare but out of character (date-wise to the rest of the components) 60's mag wheels. These guys over there just get this certain look that guys here in the States don't get even though we have the same cars and parts. I also think the weathering on the body is fantastic and that pealing sun visor is such an effective accident.

That's pretty freaking nice for 7.5 hours! If there's a better color than Maroon for these 40's Ford's, I don't know what it is?

This is the first showing of this new kit that I know of and I like what I see. The Anglia grill works surprisingly well and your tweaks to the stance look good, too. Interestingly, the very modern engine doesn't look out of place against all of the otherwise traditional styling. Sweet! Question: Did you attach the roof before or after painting the body? Is there really any reason why the roof shouldn't be attached ahead of time, despite what the instructions show?

Thanks, B! You'll probably be surprised to know that I made no modifications to the suspension that would change the stance. It's all a result of the rubber rake and channeling the body which makes those big slicks tuck right up into the wheel wells. The 3-Window trunk lid is not only wider and slightly shorter, it's on a softer curve as well. I had to manipulate the shape of the 5-Window trunk lid to match the curve of the body then fit it in while leaving the original molded panel lines to the left and right intact. In the full scale world it would not be practical or plausible to alter a 5-Window lid into a 3-Window, or vice versa. Good thing we work in plastic! I've had better success blacking out between the grill bars using a black Sharpie and quickly wiping away the ink from the tops of the grill bars with my thumb. I learned that from our young friend Florian Dylinski (from TRaK). You gotta be quick, tho! I would have done it this time but my Sharpie is MIA. Most likely my toddler is to blame...

Thanks! The carburetors received multiple steps. First, they were primed in Duplicolor Gray Sandable Primer, the bases painted black and the bodies painted Testors Model Master Jet Exhaust. They were then sealed in Tamiya Semi Gloss Clear. After that the scoops were painted bright silver and the throats touched in with flat black. These carburetors represent mid-late 30's Stromberg units which had black painted cast iron bases and natural colored pot metal center bodies and tops. Some carburetor restoration places coat them in a color similar to what I used on the model. It's not correct for an exact restoration (and I would never do it on a real carburetor, haha) but I like it on my models because it adds some accent and interest.

It does have a wash, although it came out a little thin and the camera flash isn't doing it any favors... I guess it'll have to be, "Good enough for the girls I go with." Hosted on Fotki

This is my first finished model since September of last year! My projects are usually pretty heavy on modifications and fab work so I decided to take a break from those and throw something together that would go pretty quick and fill another spot in my display case. I used mostly Revell '32 Ford series parts for ease of interchangeability but deviated with a little back dating by replacing the disc brakes with early Ford drum plates, skinny bias-ply front tires, rear mags & slicks from Monogram's Lil' Coffin, valve covers with Moon breathers from Revell's Mazmanian '40 Willys, a parts stash log intake and 6 carburetors from Ed Roth's Tweady Pie T. The body was channeled and got the louvered trunk lid from the Revell '32 5-Window grafted in. For interior I used the 5-Window floor, pleated bench seat and '40 dash with pleated side panels from Revell's '32 Sedan and a parts stash Bell Auto steering wheel. For paint I decided to use up a bunch of partial cans that were laying around which include some Testors 1-Coat Fiery Orange, Duplicolor Gray Sandable Primer and various shades from Tamiya. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki And a parting shot with another channeled but not chopped '32 3-Window I built about 8 years ago right when I got back into the hobby. Hosted on Fotki