Dennis Lacy

Thanks for nice comments guys! I'm really having a great time with this project. Haha, no worries on the pun. The latest version of the '50 PU has a yellow truck on the box with big billet-style wheels and red graphics on the door. The updated engine has the propper intake and exhaust manifolds now. Also, I've never held the heads from the incorrect version in my hand but have seen pictures and it looks like Revell changed the engraving to make the valve covers look better. It's definately worth getting now.

UPDATE: Got some more stuff done on the T. Modified a pair of hairpin radius rods from AMT’s ‘41 Woody street rod. The ends have been drilled and have .040†plastic rod installed which fits into corresponding holes in the frame rails. I also cut another 1/8†out of the radiator shell for a total of 5/16â€. With the first chop it was still just a tick higher than the cowl and I can’t stand that on real cars. Now the top of the shell is noticeably lower and also in much better proportion size-wise with the small T body. I made cutouts in the sides of the trunk for the lever shocks. In the picture the cutout looks like it’s not centered… and it isn’t! I didn’t catch it until I loaded the photos but the body slid forward a little when I was moving it around. And another full mock-up with all the latest stuff.

Awesome start on your NSX! I really like the discoloration on the exhaust headers. I'm also really impressed that the car sits "wheels tucked" just like the box art - something many kits fall short on. I don't care much for cars from Asian countries, but I think the NSX is one of the best looking modern-day high performance cars ever made and at one point was going through the motions to try and purchase a first-gen.

The final color is really nice and a great compliment to the T-Bird body. Stance and wheels look really good too. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding between the white and red tires. Since you and Curt are leaning towards white, I'm going to say red! Can't wait to see it with lights and a grill!

Thanks Mike! UPDATE: I love being on vacation! Got the rear axle / suspension pretty much sorted today. Only thing left to do is connect the torque tube to the transmission. I made new support rods that run from the axle tubes to the torque tube using the front wishbones from a Revell ‘40 Coupe. Cut the spring off and squeezed them together slightly to clear the kick-up on the frame then installed .040†plastic pins at all 3 points which fit into corresponding holes in the axle. Also added rear lever shocks using front shocks, again from the ‘40 Coupe. The molded-on links turned out to be just the right length and connect to the rear spring hangers as original Fords are. Rear axle with new support rods mocked up in frame. Note that the support rods match the angle of the rear “legs†of the X-member. Mocked up with the lever shocks in place. (The sides of the trunk will need to be relieved around the shocks for it to fit back on.) I also trimmed the forward corners of the kick-up at the same angle as the rear edge. You can also see what the frame filler pieces look like without the body on.

Hey Dave, you don't have to worry about the rear wheels going anywhere. The situation you describe with the 25 T kit is exactly how I feel. Looking at this thing some more, I'm thinking of trimming out some small triangle-shaped pieces and inserting them at the end of the cove making the end of it follow the same line as the body right there where it transitions from the cab area to the trunk. I think at that point with all the angles jiving it will be right-on.

I learned a valuable lesson with this car. I will NEVER, EVER stress myself out and rush a car project for the sake of taking it to a show or contest NEVER, EVER again. It’s NOT worth it! Anyhow, this is Revell’s ‘32 Sedan and it’s been chopped 3/16†with the rear window only chopped 1/8â€. This was accomplished by cutting out the rear window area, chopping it separate then re-installing it in the body. I also accomplished all this without having to stretch the roof, leaving the soft top insert undisturbed. Used the Moon tank up front from the Revell ‘32 5-Window. The stock ‘32 taillights and stands were used although instead of being mounted at the very end of the frame I moved them up next to the body. The front and rear axle were lowered further and a pair of “hairpin†radius rods were build from several pieces to replace the modern 4-link. Out back, I ditched the modern coil-over shocks and installed a transverse leaf spring modified from a Lindberg ‘34 Pickup rear axle. Tube shocks were added and the kit trailing arms had full-length gussets installed to beef them up. The Sedan’s American Mags were de-chromed and treated to Testors Metallizer “Magnesium†paint with the center caps done in Aluminum. The front tires are some eBay specials and AMT Goodyear slicks out back. The engine is the Buick Nailhead from the AMT ‘40 Coupe. A lot of the excess molded on garbage on the block was removed and the headers were tuned up by removing the chrome, cleaning up the tubes and adding flanges to make them better to look at. The optional supercharged was used and the enclosed blower drive and regular street pulleys were combined along with a parts bin alternator to make the motor more street friendly. The nuclear reactor looking fuel injectors were removed and replaced by a pair of Rochester 4-barrels. The molded on 3-speed trans was cut off and a B&M Hydro Stick trans from a Revell Parts Pack 331 Cadillac engine kit put in it’s place along with a custom length driveshaft. The exhausts were made from several sections of parts bin pipes. The interior, with the exception of the steering wheel, is box-stock. Key colors: Tamiya “Italian Red†over dark grey primer which made the red many shades darker, Tamiya “Semi-Gloss Black†and various shades of Testors “Metallizer†paints. One of these days I still need to make an upper radiator hose and some kind of scoop for the carburetors but for now we need some time apart.

UPDATE: Got a late start at the bench tonight but it was still worthwhile. Finding a way to finish the ends of the frame rails has been on my brain for the last few days. Dave suggested that cutting the ends at an angle to match the cab would help things flow. Then, a guy on a different message board suggested moving the rear wheels forward so they would help cover the void in the side view. Truth be told I like where the rear wheels are because the axle centerline is in the center of the trunk section and to my eye this keeps everything back there balanced (you could accuse me of building too mathematically sometimes…) What started bugging me more than anything was the big nothing at the end of the frame rails. So I stared at this thing for an hour thinking then I remembered an idea I had for my 1:1 ‘27 Roadster on ‘32 rails which has a similar, but less abrupt situation because the frame is Z’ed and disappears into the turtle deck. So I whipped out some .080 x .250†Evergreen and made some faux filler panels that at first glance make it appear as though the frame continues rearward with a nice curve and angle up into the body. Close up of the filler panel (both sides are done): Standing back 50 feet, the frame appears continuous when in reality it’s BS:

Thanks! It seems like almost every build I've seen of the '34 PU in recent times has been either a ratrod or had proportions inspired by ratrods. I wanted to do a traditional Hot Rod, yet in a non run-of-the-mill color scheme.

Having just driven my '27 Roadster to work this morning, I can verify that T's do NOT have a lot of room to spare! I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up cutting the front corner off at the same angle as the gusset - like you suggested. I mostly left it like it is (for now) because the frame is nice and strong and will hold up better to being man-handled while I'm setting up the suspension and stuff. Once I get the chassis dialed-in and start building the floor and bulkhead it's gonna get sawed off. I think I'm going to add a cross brace at the top/front of the kick up once it's trimmed for added strength (if it were a real car it should have something there.) I've noticed the end of the side rails need something too and was waiting to see if anyone else would say anything. I think your idea of cutting the edge at the same angle as the body is good and I'm probably going to do that. Thanks for the input!

Wow, you did an awesome job of capturing the beauty of this car in scale. That flathead looks serious with 4-2's lined up across it! I think most impressive (for me anyhow) is the interior details. From the perforated door panels, to the roll bar and that perfectly replicated seat. I've been able to stand next to the real car and it is truely one of the coolest Deuce 3-Windows I've seen. Rudy's restoration is probably 10x cleaner than the car ever was back in "the day".

Thanks for the nice comments everyone! I'M SICK!

Mike, thanks for the input. I will probably end up cutting the front corner at the same angle as the back edge of the kick-up. For now the chassis is still in the early stages so a clean up effort has yet to be made. UPDATE: Got the chassis up on all 4 wheels tonight - always a pivotal moment! Did some preliminary clean up on the rear axle seams and mold lines, fit some super cool resin early Ford brake plates (thanks Florian!) and made some wheel mounting hubs for the Revell ‘40 Ford wheels and tires to fit on. Up front I installed a flat plate the extends from the top side of the front of the frame for the Revell ‘32 kit axle to mount to. The spring was ground down until it was just 2 leafs thick to help get the front low. Some Revell ‘40 Ford brake plates were fit and I found that the spare wheel in the Revell ‘50 Ford Pickup comes with the center hole open and that the end of the axle snaps into it! Lucky for me, I had two ‘50 PU kits on-hand to rob the spares from. And a couple pictures with the body mounted. Also shown is the modified Revell ‘32 radiator shell. The mounting area had 1/8†cut out of it allowing the shell to drop down farther on the frame. Then, I chopped it by 3/16†to get the top of it down even with the cowl on the body. Now that the basics are in place it’s time to start filling in all the blanks!

If you guys think this build is stunning in these pictures, it is absolutely, insanely increadible in person! I was fortunate to see it up close and personal at the San Diego NNL show yesterday. Absolutely mind blowing how detailed and realistic this model is.

Hey everyone! Haven't shared any projects in a long time, here is my newest: The chopped ‘25 T Coupe body from the recent AMT Double T release sitting proudly atop a pair of extensively modified Revell ‘32 frame rails. And to make it even cooler, I’m shoving a big motor in a small car: The corrected Ardun flathead from the most recent Revell ‘50 Ford Pickup. Mounted high in the chassis to keep the pan off the ground, filling every inch of available space between the radiator and firewall, valve covers and carburetors spilling out of the top and sides. To construct the frame I started by cutting away everything that wasn’t the side rails of a Revell 32 frame. The insides of the ‘rails were cleaned up then they were carefully cold-bent to conform to the shape of the body, namely the inward sloping cowl sides. Once past the cowl the ‘rails were then bent back outward while still having a bit of taper towards the front. Once I was satisfied with the shape, the ‘rails were then taped securely to the bottom of the body with the front edge of the cowl lined up with the start of the cove in the side of them. Two temporary cross bars of Evergreen rectangular stock were super glued to bottoms of the ‘rails to hold them in position when they were un-taped from the body. From there I constructed a strong center X member using a piece of Evergreen for the main cross piece and sections of the X members found in any of Revell’s ‘40 Ford frames. The front of the rails were removed and a cross piece made from Evergreen was installed. The rear, kicked-up frame section was built entirely from a couple different sizes of Evergreen. The front engine mount risers were also made out of Evergreen pieces. I have yet to construct any front suspension mounts at this time but have a few ideas. The rear axle / spring is going to be based around this piece from a first issue Lindberg ‘34 Pickup. Mocked up with the rear axle / spring and wheels and tires. This is the final rear ride height and the front will only be a tick higher, so this is essentially how the car is going to lay. The rear wheels and tires are from the stock version of Revell’s ‘40 Standard Coupe. The whitewalls will be painted black in the end because I think real hot rods have black walls. The front tires are some super small old bias-ply types from the old tool of the Stone, Woods and Cook Willys. The front wheels are from Revell’s ‘50 Pickup.

Haven’t posted any builds on this forum in quite some time so I thought I’d share some stuff. This started as an ‘80s issue of the Monogram “Early Iron†series 1930 Ford Touring, or Phaeton as they’re also know. Starting with a Revell ‘32 Ford frame, a custom center cross member, or K-member was created using pieces from the frame in a Revell ‘37 Ford Sedan. The gas tank and rear frame rails on either side of it were removed and a Model A cross member put in place. The front suspension is standard Revell ‘32 Ford with the new hairpin arms from the 5-Window Coupe variation and drum brake plates from a Monogram ‘32 Roadster. The rear axle, spring and brake plates are from Monogram’s ‘32 Roadster with drilled trailing arms and driveshaft made from several kit pieces and Revell ‘40 Ford lever shocks. The front wheels and tires are from the Orange Crate ‘32 Sedan show/race car. The rear wheels are from a Revell ‘26 T Sedan Delivery wrapped in ‘60s Vintage Amt Firestone slicks. The wheels were de-chromed and painted with Testors “Jet Exhaust†with a semi-gloss clear coat to simulate the Dow-7 coating used on vintage magnesium wheels. The small block Chevy engine and trans from a Revell ‘37 Sedan was topped with the finned valve covers and 6x2 intake / carburetor / magneto setup from a Revell ‘30 Ford Woody. The rams-horn exhaust manifolds and front pipes are from a Monogram ‘32 Roadster and mate up to exhaust pipes from a Revell ‘32 kit that were moved towards the center of the chassis 3/16†each. The Touring body was converted from a 4-door to the much rarer 2-door “Sport Phaeton†(Ford offered both in ‘30-’31), wheel wheels from a Revell ‘32 Sedan were installed and the stock Model A firewall was made flat to clear the Chevy. A Revell ‘32 grill shell was used and the insert painted to match the wheels. The stock headlights from a Lindberg ‘34 Pickup were mounted on short stands off of the front of the frame and ‘39 Ford “teardrop†taillights were used out back. The windshield and door handles from a Revell '32 Roadster finish the body. The entire interior unit and dashboard from a Revell ‘32 Sedan was fit with no difficulty and a steering column made from Evergreen 3/16†tube is topped with the Bell sprint-car steering wheel from the Touring kit. Key Colors: Tamiya “Blueâ€, “Light Gunmetalâ€, Duplicolor “Gray Sandable Primer and Testors “Jet Exhaust.â€

Haven’t posted any builds on this forum in quite some time so I thought I’d share some stuff. This is an AMT ‘34 Ford Coupe. The body was channeled over the frame and a custom rear roll pan was created to bridge the gap from the rear edge of the body to the rear edge of the frame, which had everything behind the cross member cut off. The front edge of the stock hood was cut vertical and a Revell ‘32 Ford grill shell with the custom insert from a Lindberg ‘34 Pickup put in place of the stock ‘34 piece. The louvers from a stock AMT ‘36 Ford hood were grafted into the ‘34 hood sides and the hood top had its center hinge detail removed to simulate a one-piece top. The long, chrome headlights are the custom pieces found in the newest Revell ‘37 Pickup. The unusual front suspension from AMT’s modern tool of the Ala Kart show truck was fit to the front, while the rear axle from a Revell ‘32 kit was used with the stock ‘34 leaf spring, tube shocks and ladder bars made from several kit pieces. The wheels and tires are also from the Ala Kart. The small block Chevy with 4-speed trans and tubular headers come in the ‘34 Coupe kit while the valve covers, intake manifold and dual 4-barrel carburetors come from a Revell “Parts Pack†283 Chevy engine kit. The kit exhausts were also used but carefully bent to fit around the long ladder bars. The interior is all from the ‘34 Coupe with the sides and seat shortened to work with the channeled body. The stock dash and steering wheel were brightened up with bare metal foil on the instrument cluster, ash tray door, glove box door and horn button. Key Colors: Testors One-Shot “Root Beerâ€, Tamiya “Maroonâ€, “Pearl White†and “Semi-Gloss Black.â€

Haven’t posted any builds on this forum in quite some time so I thought I’d share some stuff. This is a combination of the chassis from Revell’s ‘32 Sedan and all of the “sheet metal†from a Lindberg ‘34 Pickup. The chassis was lowered front and back by trimming the mounting tab on the front axle and the air springs on the rear axle - otherwise the suspension is kit-stock. The cab was chopped 1/8†of an inch and the bed shortened 9/16†of an inch. Headlights are from an AMT ‘36 Ford while the matching bullet-shaped taillights are from a Revell ‘37 Ford. The bed cover comes in the ‘34 pickup kit and it was shortened to fit the bed. Wheels and rear tires are from Revell’s ‘32 5-Window Coupe and the front tires are some unknown eBay finds. The Flathead engine block, front cover, distributor and headers are from the ‘32 Sedan. The cylinder heads are the stock versions from a Revell ‘48 Ford. The intake manifold is the Edelbrock Super-Dual from a Revell ‘40 Coupe and the Holley 94 carburetors and stock air filters and oil filler tube came from a couple of Revell ‘37 Pickups. On the inside the floor panel, bench seat, dashboard and steering column were used from the ‘34 Pickup kit with the custom steering wheel from an AMT ‘36 5-Window Coupe. Key colors are Tamiya “Light Gunmetalâ€, “British Greenâ€, “Olive Drab 2â€, “Semi-Gloss Black†and “Gloss Black.â€

This is an absolutely awesome build Dave! I love the frame you made for it, very nice work. There's only one problem; The frame on the real car was probably no-where near as nice. In fact, it was probably a total butcher job!

Thanks for the nice comments guys! This build was a lot of fun. Ken: I did paint the hood top (molded on sides were cut off) but it came up about 1/16" too long. I need to trim as much off the front edge and touch up the paint then it will have a hood. I agree that it should have one.

Got my Revell ‘37 Pickup just about wrapped up and I’m very happy with the results. It has the “look†I had pictured in my noggin throughout the build process. I wanted this build to represent a clean, yet serviceable hot rod shop truck. Something that could showcase a shops workmanship without being too nice to actually drive and run local errands in. Using a large amount of the provided parts in the ‘37 PU kit, I replaced the front suspension with the dropped axle and split wishbones from the rod version of Revell’s ‘40 Coupe and the 2-speed Columbia rear axle from the stock version of the ‘40 Coupe kit. By doing so and flattening the front and rear springs resulted in a nice raked, front wheels tucked stance but kept it out of the weeds. The stock ‘37 wheels were used but modified to fit into the whitewall big & little tires from Revell’s ‘31 Sedan / ‘29 Pickup. The Flathead engine block, front cover/water pumps, starter, exhaust manifolds, stock single exhaust and water hoses come from the ‘37 Pickup while the Edelbrock heads, Edelbrock triple intake, carburetors, air filters, pulleys/drive belt and generator come from Revell’s ‘32 Sedan. Since the original fan and shroud couldn’t be used with the offset mounted generator I attached an electric fan to the stock radiator from one of Revell’s ‘32 kits. I de-chromed the grill, headlights and side mirror and painted them for more of a commercial look. I also sanded down the headlight mounts to get the lights tucked down closer to the fenders for less of a bug-eye look. The windshield frame (which is molded with the windshield) was covered in Bare Metal Foil. Bumpers front and rear were ditched for a sleeker look. The stock rear lights were replaced with fender-mounted ‘39 “tear drop†lights and the license plate is mounted under the bed to get things un-cluttered. I had planned to run the hood top only and painted it but found that the front edge of it will need to be trimmed to fit so when I get a chance I’ll address that. The interior was assembled kit-stock with the exception of the Revell ‘40 Ford steering wheel. Paint is Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black, Tamiya Light Blue and Model Master Flat Gull Gray. So there it is, another one for the display case!

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! I had a lot of fun with this one. Hey Roger, thanks for the compliment! I tried to follow the link you provided but it no work. I tried pasting it in the address bar too but that also no work. Maybe try again?

Hot rodders accumulate “stuff.†Sometimes there’s “stuff†left over from a build because we changed our mind a couple times. Sometimes our friends drop off their extra “stuff†in our garage to clean out their own. Sometimes we buy “stuff†at the swap meet or on eBay because it’s neat and the price was right. Will we ever use all this extra “stuff?†Who the heck knows. Who the heck cares? It sure is cool to look at! But…, what if one day we were standing in our garage having a frosty beverage and admiring that beautiful, spared-no-expense traditional Rod we built and our attention wandered to the walls, the shelves, the rafters, under the workbench, and we suddenly realized, “Dang! I have enough extra “stuff†to build a whole ‘nuther car!†A nice original “A†frame leaning against the side of the house. A decent ‘25 “T†roadster body hanging from the rafters that we pulled out of an old ladies back yard down the street. Sure, it needs a couple patch panels but we know how to do that and the rest of it sure is straight! That old dropped axle and split wishbones we found at the swap meet for a fraction of what it was worth because the seller didn’t “know†what he had. That low-miles, rebuilt A “bangerâ€, trans and rear axle that our friend gave us when he bought a restored “A†only to pitch the drive train for a “me too†350/350/9inch. The Kelsey wires we were gonna use on the last build but went with “steelies†instead. That box full of Stromberg cores thanks to evilBay. That old sprint car wheel that’s been hanging on a nail for 20 years. Those sedan buckets we bought cause we thought we could use them, then come to find out they didn’t work for “that project.†Hell yeah, this is some really GOOD “stuff!†This build needs to be different though. We’re tired of spending years building one car. Sweating all those details. Trying to make it perfect. No. This is gonna be a quickie. Give ourselves a deadline. 6 months. Yeah, we can do that. What about paint? Screw paint. Do the body work good ‘nuff and spray it with some gray suede. That ‘shield is way too tall, chop that sucker in half. Much better! Rattle can the running gear black. Engine’s gotta pop though, it’s the center piece. Orange will make it stand out, can’t miss orange. Throw a re-pop Winfield on it and some other speed goodies to give it a little more juice. Paint the wheels orange too and wrap ’em in some bias-ply ‘Stones. Have Jose trim the buckets in brown vinyl for a few bucks and a 12-pack. Upholstery? Screw that too. Rubber floor mat gets the job done. Trim it with an old “T†shell and lights for some more old timey! Now we’re talkin! Been building Rods for 30 years, never had this much fun! Amen.

Hey B! This A-bone of yours is looking really sweet! I'll second the dullcoat, gave the car just the look it needs. Nice job pulling the interior pieces together too. The Chevy dash is a nice departure from the typical '32 or '40 swap. That Nailhead looks cool in there and will look even cooler when those headers get put on it. Can't wait to see more!

Mis-information on the HAMB? Never! I'm glad what I wrote came across the way I intended. There is a lot of mis-information out there regarding these scarce trucks. I know that in '32 only 593 cabs were produced and ended up on everything from regular 1/2 ton chassis to big, 157" wheelbase dump trucks! The cab sheet-metal was the same in '33 and '34 and even less were made in those years. The version your building is a pretty popular alternative (using passenger car styling) cause not only are the real ones hard to come by, but they're fairly unattractive to many people - especially the windshield. They were not one of the higher class models Ford offered and were basically slapped together. I think that the passenger car-based version is a good idea and can be very cool looking when done properly. From the traditional-influenced builds I've seen you do I'm sure this one will be no exception. And, using the finished cab as a resin plug is a good idea. I'm sure quite a few people would be interested in building they're own RPU.