Dennis Lacy

I think he is referring to the bare metal foil strip around the back of the radiator shell. Yes, that is a correct detail for a '32 Ford passenger car. It was a stainless steel band that wrapped around the back edge of the radiator shell. AMT did not include this detail on the shell. If you look at the modern Revell '32 Ford series, there is a raised lip around the back edge of the shell meant to represent the trim band. Most people don't do it when they build those kits but for accuracy it should be foiled.

Yes, it is supposed to represent a fabric cover. When AMT tooled these kits in the late 50's and early 60's the quality and accuracy of restored vehicles was not to the level that it is today. Many times, the restorer would take liberties to suit their personal taste. The car would be more, or less, stock but sprinkled with personal touches like a vinyl spare tire/wheel cover. It is highly likely that this was the case with the real '32 Victoria that AMT used to pattern their kit after.

Looks like it's time to stock up on a couple C-notes worth of hot rod tires. There's no other source like 'em!

All of my finished models are displayed in an Ikea glass cabinet. Since the cabinet does not seal tight all of the models are also in individual clear cases to protect them from dust and damage. I had some out to show a friend that was in town recently and even after 7-8 years for some of them they look freshly finished. After all the time I spend building them I couldn't imagine just having them sit out to die a slow dirt death. I'll never understand how or why anyone would do that. Hosted on Fotki

I believe on the transmission I used the tower portion from the Revell '29/'31 Model A kits as it's a separate part. Not really correct for a V8 trans, but it got the job done. I have seen pictures of a Hilborn injected ARDUN in a dragster but that was later 50's or early 60's. I am sure if the interest was there for an ARDUN setup Hilborn would have accommodated it in the 40's or early 50's. Especially considering how accessible pattern makers and foundries were back then. They probably could have whipped one up on short order and used existing guts from an OHV setup. The ARDUN / Hilborn setup I saw also had the fuel pump mounted where the generator normally sits and was belt driven. Nice and tidy.

Bill, this project is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the best looking and best proportioned lakes roadsters in scale I've ever seen. Years ago I did similar with the Revell ARDUN heads. I managed to separate the valve covers from the head portion by scribing with the back of a #11 blade just under the valve cover lip. Hosted on Fotki End result: Hosted on Fotki

Way cool to see some of Tom's work here. Tell him to take some pictures of that blue cab-over tanker truck with the nose made from an actual plastic nose!

I'm not so sure Revell is out of step. While truly traditional rods with all vintage parts are what guys like you and I prefer, they're still in the minority in hot rodding as a whole. I think that the traditionally biased media we follow tends to skew our prospective that there's more of these cars being built than there really are. The way this new '29 Roadster kit is configured is, I think, more typical of what the average rodder is doing. That's to say, everything on the surface looks good ol' days (front suspension/brakes, wheels/tires, engine and upholstery) while the components that aren't readily visible (transmission, rear axle/suspension, electronics) are modern for the sake of more reliable function, driver comfort, ease of repair, familiarity and of course, cost. Taking your average garage rodder and his wallet into account, a new quick change axle assembly is over $3000. A third of that price tag will completely cover a 8"/9" or Dana axle including the entire rear suspension. Even without a fancy quick change, early Ford "banjo" axles are a total shot in the dark when trying to find a good one. You're lucky to find 2 or 3 in 10 that aren't destroyed internally from moisture damage or lack of maintenance. Early ford 3-speed transmissions are getting really hard to come by. A reusable good set of gears (if you can find them) is gonna run a minimum of $500 and if your lucky enough to come up with somebodies stashed NOS parts, minimum of $1000. In the end you still have an old 3-speed that may not live very well behind a "built" engine. Then there's guys who just don't want to be bothered with shifting gears. Small block Chevy's and Ford's are pretty inexpensive to buy or build. Start getting into vintage "traditional" engines and the price can double or triple in the blink of an eye. It's safe to say that after dropping big money on wicked vintage engine the budget may not be there for the rest of an expensive vintage driveline. Another thing to keep in mind is that a good number of the people building traditionally styled cars today are just trend followers and are the same guys who were building billet covered "high tech" cars 10 years ago. They aren't concerned with getting every detail correct and auto transmissions and late-model axles with coil-overs are what they know.

I also gotta say, I remember this roadster pickup and the awesome how-to article from Scale Auto Enthusiast. I got so fired up from that article that I went ahead and started building my own. Got as far as getting everything modified and ready for primer/paint then nothing more happened. Eventually I ended up using pieces from it for other projects. Seeing this again makes me wish I had finished it. You're one of my all-time favorite scale rod builders, Tim! Hosted on Fotki

Here's a couple of my A's. Chopped '29 Pickup on '32 rails: Hosted on Fotki Channeled '29 Roadster with chopped '37 truck grill: Hosted on Fotki Channeled '29 Roadster Pickup on complete Monogram '30 Woody chassis: Hosted on Fotki '29 Roadster Pickup built entirely from cast-off spare parts: Hosted on Fotki Chopped & channeled '30 Coupe Hosted on Fotki '30 Touring converted to 2-door on '32 rails: Hosted on Fotki

Awesome Fotki gallery, Tim!!! This one kind of reminds me of Street Rodder staffer Eric Geisert's "California Spyder"... Hosted on Fotki

Guide 682J headlights are available in the most recent issue of the Revell/Monogram '30 Ford Touring. Should be pretty easy to adapt them to this kit. Guide or BLC lights should be in this kit, they are the quintessential hot rod headlight.

Tim Boyd: What kind of transmission is the Nailhead equipped with???

Street Rodder Magazine - April 1992

We have the magazines at our business. I'll check and report back on Monday.

So cool to see this model after so many years, and in color! Looks like it has held up pretty darn good, all things considered. Tim, you featured a picture and caption of this model in one of your SRM Modeler's Corner columns that covered the NNL event. I think the article was in a 1991 issue. Your caption pointed out the differences between Borden's rendering and Steve's model. No, I'm not some weirdo that remembers things like this. I've recently been reading through my Dad's old issues of SRM and came across that article a couple of weeks ago.

Had a pretty productive year with 7 hitting the display case. Especially considering I didn't finish any models last year. Here they are in order of completion: Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

As I read this, I'm hearing the Twilight Zone theme music... I honestly don't remember the last time I was legitimately disappointed with a model kit to the point it caused me distress and buyers remorse. After a lot of years in this hobby you just come to expect certain things from the typical Revell, Monogram, AMT kits. Flash, parting lines and ejector pin marks are par for the course. That's what #11 blades and sand paper are for.

Yes, the body comes with the wheel openings cut out. I did have to enlarge them a little to fit the bigger M&H slicks as the body is originally designed to fit the Slingster dragster which has smaller diameter slicks. There is also a roadster pickup counterpart to it, as well as, several standard '27 roadster bodies available, with and with out the rear deck louvers. Nice quality and fair prices. I should also note, this body isn't available from Altered States website. It is sold on Ebay by the seller "olmandowntheroad" who is the same person as Altered States.

This project started by receiving an unsolicited resin '27 roadster body in the mail one day from my pal Jon Ferren. Tucked inside was a short note reading, “Thought you could make something cool out of this – Jon.” Like most (all?) of us, I already had plenty of projects needing attention but decided to show my appreciation for Jon's gesture by getting to work right away on making something out of the body. The body was originally intended to be used on the new Monogram / Revell Slingster dragster kit. Having just built the one Slingster I had before receiving this body, I had to come up with an alternative starting point for the chassis. The only thing I had on hand was an unbuilt Double Dragster rail so that's where I started. Particulars: AMT Double Dragster frame modified with re-worked bars in cowl area to better fit T body. New seem-less front cross member made from 1/8” tube. AMT '57 Chevy '409 engine block, heads and valve covers. Axle holes in block filled. AMT Chevy parts pack bell housing and direct-drive “in/out” gear box. AMT Chevy parts pack chrome oil pan and Potvin super charger modified to fit '409. Double Dragster magneto wired. AMT Double Dragster headers - drilled. Revell '32 5-Window Moon fuel tank with re-clocked brackets. Fuel system plumbed. Revell Orange Crate front axle and suspension parts with scratch built steering link. AMT Double Dragster quick change rear axle. Revell Tony Nancy 22 Jr. front wheels and tires. AMT New '33 Willys Halibrand 5-spoke rear wheels and AMT parts pack slicks. Altered States '27 Roadster dragster resin body. AMT Double Dragster seat, parachute, dash board, tachometer and steering wheel with Revell Tweedy Pie gauge decals and photo etch bezels. Testors 1-coat Fiery Orange paint with miscellaneous decals.

Yeah, there are two front axles, two rear axles and two rear springs. Which axles you use seems to be dependent on which wheels you want to use because the original Blue Beetle style wheels have smaller center holes and the 2nd pair of axles have smaller mounting pins to fit them. Also, the front axle for the Blue Beetle wheels has the wheel mounting pins about 1/16" lower on the axle, otherwise the two front axles are identical. So, for a slightly lower stance when built as the Blue Beetle/Bandito, the front axle for the Early Iron style wheels could be used and the holes in the Blue Beetle wheels slightly enlarged to fit. I didn't study the differences in the rear axles other than the sizes of the wheel mounting pins. I'll have to take a closer look at the springs and how they attach. The top side of the axle has always been molded open and the spring attaches down in the groove. Other Monogram kits of the era are similar. I was also really happy to see that both the original bucket seats and the long-standing bench seat are both included so that the truck could be built with the bench and those cool buckets reserved for a future hot rod project.

I grabbed one of these from my LHS yesterday. While it may not be totally 100% perfect to the original, it's really close. I was very surprised to see that in addition to the restored original parts that the “Early Iron” parts of the last 30 years are also still all there. That means, if a person wanted, that the truck could be build and all of the neat old parts could be saved for kit bashing on other projects. I was also really surprised that the price was only $19.95. I would have thought for sure that this would be in the area of $25 like similar kits. Since no one has shared pictures yet, here you guys go.

Negative. The Cadillac script valve covers are specific to the Blue Beetle. All the cheap Early Iron black & yellow reissue's after that had finned aluminum style valve covers. I would never pay the big money the Blue Beetle's sell for but I can understand a collector or a 65-year-old trying to relive their childhood feeling differently. What I don't get, though, is why people get such a stiff one for the SCUBA gear???

It may be that the "T" body is a good fit on the parts pack tube chassis but I've never had that frame to try it out. The instructions that come with body do clearly show the Fiat Altered frame and label it as a "typical competition frame." The roll bar that comes with the T body is also a perfect fit to the Fiat frame.

Sweet! '91-'92 is my favorite years of Camaro. The tall spoiler just does it for me. Back in '97 I was a junior in high school. There was a senior named Chris who had a real-deal '91 1-LE 5.0/5spd. White with dark gray interior. It also had a bunch of bolt-on goodies like sub frame connectors, Eibach springs, Koni shocks & struts, Hedman headers, cat-converter delete, Flowmaster 3" exhaust with single left-hand tail pipe, Crane 1.6 roller rockers, Jet under drive pullies and Hurst shifter. The license plate read: "Z 1LE". He kept that car in perfect condition for years until he caught the road-racing bug. It became a weekend track car and got beat to hell. It still makes me sick when I think about it.