Dennis Lacy

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.

I feel that if Revell were to create an accurate 1933 or 1934 3-Window kit along the same lines as their 1932 3-Window kit that it would be a huge success. What makes the '32 so good is that it is a solid middle ground that looks good built out of the box and can also be easily backdated into a traditional hot rod or into a very modern street rod. And, like the '32 kits, a whole bunch of future '33 or '34 variations would be possible. I'd pee down my leg over a good '34 Roadster kit! At this point there has yet to be a truly good '33 or '34 kit so it's easy to understand some peoples apprehension but if that were to change, so would a lot of peoples attitudes.

It is refreshing to see this kit built into a hot rod. Good parts selection and clean workmanship too. I dig it!

Thank you, everyone, for your generous comments and compliments. I'm very pleased with how this car turned out. Definitely my favorite, and possibly my best workmanship-wise. I have seen a couple examples of this kit built into cool traditional hot rods over the years so I knew it was possible. I've had the general idea in my head for quite a while, just had to wait for the right time to where my abilities would give me half a chance at doing the project some justice. It came together surprisingly fast too. Under a month start to finish. I must have been in "The Zone." Thanks, again!

You completely missed the point, Harry. I wasn't implying that kits didn't cost $2 in the 60's. I know that they absolutely did. i wasn't calling BS on the price of model kits. I was calling BS on the people that constantly compare (and complain) about kit prices now vs. 50 years ago because it's all a wash. Today, your average kid who's saved his allowance money for a month will go to the hobby shop and purchase one new kit at a time. It was no different 50 years ago in 1964. Yeah, kits were $2. And it would probably take a kid a month or so to save up $2 for one in 1964, just like $25 for one in 2014.

Absolutely, if one wanted to shorten the frame that is also a possibility. I just wanted to be clear for the benefit of others reading this (who may be intimidated by that) that it's not a must. I agree that Bernard left an "appropriate" gap between the engine and firewall. A little bit of room to run a wrench back there in the pits between races. I plan to get another body as soon as this Parts Pack is in-stock at my LHS and do a version 2.0 with corrected proportions. The frame is a perfect rectangle so I'll probably just make one and cobble up some axles, suspension and engine since I don't have any more Fiat's on-hand. i wouldn't want a duplicate, anyway.

Thank you everyone for your nice comments, everybody! Here's a few more views of the flathead. I think the cream-white turned out pretty good.

Fresh off of the bench is this 1934 Ford Cabriolet. Built using parts 1950 or older and representing a classy finished hot rod in Southern California back in the early 50's. Particulars: Revell-O-Gram “Thom Taylor” '34 Cabriolet body, top and frame. AMT '34 Coupe grill. 36 Ford headlights. '37 Ford taillights. Revell '32 Ford 5-Window front cross member and axle/suspension. Disc brakes replaced with early Ford brake plates from Revell '40/'48 Ford's. Steering linkage converted to side steer and modified '40 Ford box. Complete rear axle and brakes from Revell '48 Ford's. AMT '34 Coupe wheels and front tires. Rear wheels made .040” deeper and wrapped in .010” sheet. Monogram '41 Lincoln rear tires. Revell '50 Pickup engine block/trans, oil pan, front cover/water pumps, belt drive and fan. Edelbrock finned heads, generator, starter and exhaust headers from Revell '40 Ford's. Dual intake and Stromberg carburetors from Revell '37 Pickup. Model Car Garage carburetor risers. Carburetor scoops made from exhaust tips. Detail Master pre-wired distributor and wire separators. Modified Revell '32 Ford radiator. Hildebrant oil filter from Revell Orange Crate with stock Ford filter lid. Revell '50 Pickup dash board. '40 Ford steering wheel. Modified Revell '32 3-Window floor, seat and door/side panels. Body, frame, wheel color: Tamiya Maroon. Engine color: Tamiya Racing White. Suspension color: Tamiya Mica Silver.

Absolutely, 100% agree. There is not a better summation than what you wrote, Dr. Cranky. And, it applies to anything in life. Your either willing to do what it takes to make something happen or you're not. If not, then it must not be as important to you as you thought.

Every time I see the argument about how model kits were 2 dollars 50 years ago, I have to call BS. It's not like kids in the 60's were walking into hobby shops with fist fulls of $20's and walking out with arm fulls of $2 model kits. My Dad, who was a kid and teen in the 60's, has told me on multiple occasions that he would have to save his allowance for weeks, find "extra" jobs to do around the neighborhood, etc. so that he could buy a new AMT kit plus needed supplies like glue, paint, brushes, etc. Apparently the fancy metallic spray paints were a major luxury. On top of that, he was also into Lionel trains so he had make room in his tight budget for two hobbies. He has also told me that when he was a teenager with his first car, gas was 20 or 30-some cents a gallon. That's great but he also only usually had a few dollars on him at any given time so it's not like he had a full tank everyday. For the people who can't swallow current prices for new model kits, there are multiple second hand market alternatives that are more cost friendly. The best deals I have found are vendors at model shows/contests.

JB, No frame modifications would be necessary. The fix would be to move the engine back in the frame until it is just in front of the firewall. That would be very simple since the frame rails are parallel and the engine mounts simply sit on top of the frame rails. The drive shaft (actually, in this case torque tube) would need to be shortened the amount the engine was moved rearward. Then, the radiator shell would mount between the front of the engine and the platform that the Moon fuel tank sits on. If you look at Bernard's yellow and red version above, that is how his is setup.

Here is this same Parts Pack roadster body kit on top of the Fiat Altered chassis from the Double Dragster set. Don't make the same mistake I did! I built the chassis straight from the box. The roadster body kit IS a direct fit but as this picture illustrates, considerably shorter than the Fiat body leaving a huge gap between the engine and cowl. I didn't do any extensive test fitting because I was under the impression that there was no alteration required to the Fiat chassis. Wrong! So if anyone is going to use this body on the Fiat chassis, the engine needs to be moved back and the drive line shortened accordingly. Compare my model with Bernard's above. His is right, mine is wrong. A few more. The engine placement isn't as horrible from 3/4 shots...

To help illustrate how much narrower a '26/'27 roadster body is than a '32 frame, here is a photo from my project very early on. This might be the day that I received the body and set it on my original '32 frame to see what was what. The '32 frame rail top and bottom flanges are 2" wide and the body just fits on the edges of them. At minimum, the frame must be narrowed about 3" to make it work. If I'm remembering correctly, I narrowed my frame 3 1/2".

That is certainly an interesting exercise in proportion.

That photo clearly illustrates why it's necessary to chop and narrow the cab. Left unmodified, it's just a bloated mass!

The wheels, caps and rear tires are all from a Monogram '41 Lincoln. The front tires are from the stock version of an AMT '34 5-Window Coupe. They make a great set of big & little whitewalls don't they?