Dennis Lacy

Beautiful looking build, Dave! You have an amazing quality of fit and finish with your builds and this is just another fine example. Love the way you chopped the top. Combined with the raised fenders it really gives it an aggressive look. Reminds me of the real contest cars that are being turned out today that are handmade with a resemblence to an original design. Can't wait to see how you rebuild this one. Also, I assume this started as the Revell kit? How is that kit out of the box as far as detail, fit and finish goes? I've often times wanted to bid for one on eBay but always hold back at the last minute since you don't see much about this and the sister Pheaton kit. Any impressions you can provide would be appreciated!

Raul, The set is looking really good. Actually, it's downright awesome. The dedication it takes to do one piece is usually demending, let alone a 3 piece matched set! My eyes say you did the right thing by removing the fin from the edge of the bed, the single fin at the rear of the roof now flows with the roadster. I couldn't have imagined how you were gonna do the trailer and what you came up with looks fantastic. Plus, it will keep all the stones and bugs off the car while haulin' down the road from show to show, haha. What do you have planned for an engine in the tow truck?

Fantastic looking build, love the color and stance! That body looks really good. Was it actually intended to be used with the Revell kits?

Wow, that turned out fantastic! Awesome resto and the Lancer caps look right at home on this car.

LOL! In that case I expect to post some mile-away pictures in a couple weeks when the next project is finished. Nick, Tom - thanks for the nice compliments!

Thanks, Raul. Several weeks ago I started a thread about my camera in the "tips and tricks" section and the consensus was it is no good for taking pictures of 1:25 models since it does not have a macro feature. In fact, one person stated he had the very same camera at one time and had no luck with it either. Several people offered suggestions for affordable cameras based on their own personal experience that would do what I need. I'm going to upgrade before I post anymore projects.

I knew I forgot something in my write-up and it was the picture disclaimer, haha! My digital camera, to put it nicely, sucks. These pictures are the best I can do at the moment. I tried cropping one and after doing so the image gets fuzz(ier). I'm hoping Santa will bring me a new one next month and if he doesn't I'll go get one myself because I would love to be able to post way better pictures. Thanks for the nice comments on the car!

Had a lot of fun with this one! Was originally going to be Racing Orange with matching wheels, but after mocking it up in the red primer just for fun, I knew I had to leave it this way! Only thing not finished is the radiator hoses cause me plan got screwed up, so I need to come up with a solution. Chassis: Revell kit frame with stock gas tank cut out and remaining rear frame rails bobbed with new rear frame cross bar added from Revell '37 truck frame. Motor mounts replaced with mounts from Revell '37 Ford frame. Front suspenion and steering from kit, lowered slightly and disc brakes replaced with early Ford drum brakes from AMT '41 Woody. Rear suspension from kit except coil-overs replaced with regular tube shocks, disk brakes replaced with drum brakes from AMT '41 Woody and ladder bars de-chromed and painted. Shallow & deep Kelsey-Hayes style wire wheels and front tires from Monogram '30 Woody, M&H slicks from older release of Revell Stone, Woods & Cook Willys. Chassis, components and wheels painted with Tamiya gloss black. Engine: Revell 'parts pack' 331 Cadillac / 4spd trans from Revell 'parts pack' 427 Ford. Block, waterpump and trans components de-chromed. Hellings style helmet air cleaners added from AMT '25 roadster (engine kit did not provide air cleaners.) Headers from Monogram '29 pickup and kit exhaust extended to connect to headers. Engine is painted Testors Model Master gray-blue metallic and exhaust Testors silver Body: Channelled height of frame. Rear wheelwells re-worked to accomodate channel. Flat firewall from Monogram '32 roadster shortened with new cut-out for engine. Rear gas tank filler neck cut-out filled, taillights from Revell's Dan Fink Speedwagon and trunk handle added. Radiator shell moved forward and down from front crossmember to accomodate long Caddy engine, chopped 1/8" and thinned flat black flowed between grill bars. Radiator made from Revell '37 truck, shortened and filler neck/cap added from kit radiator. Headlights are optional small lights from kit. Body painted Duplicolor red-oxide primer. Interior: Kit floor and side panels. Rear bulkhead sectioned 3/16" and same amount trimmed from bottom of side panels to accomodate channel. Filler strip added to fill gap between toe board and flat firewall. AMT '40 Ford dashboard which, after trimming V-shape so straight across, is a direct drop in - no other work required! AMT '40 Ford coupe bench seat with 1/8" trimmed off bottom. Steering column made from styrene tube with chrome 3-spoke steering wheel from Monogram '32 roadster. Dash and column painted Tamiya gloss black, "upholstry" painted Tamiya satin black.

The rebuild looks way better than the original in every way possible. Not that your first go around wasn't nicely done, just not my style of car. I know the front wheels come from the AMT '33 Willys coupe, but what did the front tires come from???

The modifications you made to the bed look awesome. Scrolling through the thread the first version looked good but at the same time like it needed something. Then I get to where you pie-cut the back to match the fender and it all came together perfectly. Leaning it forward also gives the truck a sense of motion even tho it's sitting still. I also really dig the dual hatch bed cover too, never seen such a thing done before. Question about the hood: Have you ever considered rounding the rear lower edge? Every other line on the truck is rounded and swoopy and that one hard, right angle really stands out (to my eyes anyhow.) Just a thought...

Good looking build so far! I had read your review on this kit a while back and now seeing it mocked together with some paint it really looks good. I've offered up an AMT '29 body to the Revell '32 frame and to make it fit would take a lot of re-work. Hell, the AMT body doesn't fit any of the AMT '32 frames either. For someone wanting to build a '29 on Deuce rails this is definately the way to go.

Wow, what a cool project! Ordinarilly, I'm not into these "truckster" and "kulture with a K" kind of rods (I won't use the "R" word) cause they're usually a hodge-podge of parts and suck proportions, but this really has a neat look to it. The new shape and proportions of the cab work great, wheelbase is perfect and the use of mostly early Ford parts (so far) is a major plus. Also really dig the use of a wood pallet out back - never, ever seen that done before. Press on!

Your off to a great start! It's really, really refreshing to see a Merc not built as a custom - model, real or otherwise. It's got a good stance and the 12-spokes and radiused fenders look awesome.

It's interesting to me that you'r considering that Hemi. My dad still has an AMT '40 coupe he built in the '60s and it uses the Hemi from the '32 roadster. To make it fit he removed the bottom half of the firewall and part of the inner fender walls for the headers to fit. He also removed the running boards and radiused out the rear fenders for tall slicks to fit. I've often considered doing a new version using all the same parts as a tribute (or something.)

Thanks for all the kind words! It feels good to be back and I don't see the next one taking 10 years, haha. With any luck I'll have #2 wrapped up next weekend.

Thanks for all the detailed replies, you've all been very helpful! It's no surprise that the consensus is to upgrade and a camera in the neighborhood of $150 isn't out of the question. I finally ended up posting some pictures in the Under Glass section on Sunday. These I took on the medium quality setting, zoomed in 2x and they were better than any before since I was a good two feet away. I was then able to sharpen them a bit with a photo editor. I'm gonna experiment as per Aaron's suggestion. Maybe try full 3x zoom on the highest quality at 3 feet back since this is about the fixed focal length as Pete pointed out. Thanks again everyone!

Wow, the new front-end treatment really works! I think the best thing you did for it tho was moving the front wheels forward. I've always thought these trucks could use just that, even when the body is left completely stock. Do you have any plans to modify the back end or just leave it as is? Either way, can't wait to see this when finished!

It's refreshing to see a '34 Sedan getting shown some love. While I realize you used a resin body, it's too bad AMT screwed up so bad when they made that kit back in the '80s. Maybe a healthy top chop is all the original needs to look decent... I've seen a picture of that reverse induction car before and like your take on it better since you used those custom manifolds and automotive carbs. I also really like how you made the wood and chicken wire in the roof opening, very convincing!

Very neat. The stance is great and I especially like the way you did the bed. Also dig the colors, they work very well together. It's funny, for many years my father had a nice, stock, dark blue '50 pickup and I always thought it was ugly. But, now that it's been some years since he sold it I really like them! Haha, go figure.

This is simply awesome. Love the shade of red and wood tones you used. I was never aware that this early version existed until I saw this thread. I check Ebay almost every week and have never seen one, just lots of the "Early Iron" version and the recent re-issue.

This is the second fenderless '36 I've seen and they're really starting to grow on me. In fact, I can feel the wheels start to spin as I type this. Nice looking rod. The extreme chop gives it a really agressive look and the front axle rear bumper is really creative.

I'll preface by saying this is my first build in 10 years, finished or otherwise. I decided to re-enter the hobby with a relatively simple kit and build so I could focus on myself and getting comfortable again. I did my best to keep the modifications simple and to a minimum, but you all know how that goes... The car started out as (what I think is) the most recent re-issue of AMT's '32 Ford Roadster. When compared to the technical advances of more modern-tool '32 kits available this kit is quite primitive, but it has a lot of character. Chassis: I took a couple deep breaths and forced myself to use the kits frame with molded in rear axle and stock exhaust system with the justification that when the car's sitting on the shelf and it can't be seen, it won't matter. However, the front crossmember and frame horns were removed and the front crossmember and frame horns from one of Revell's '32 kits grafted in place. Rather than the seperate, plated spreader bar I molded in a bar made from plastic tubing. The entire chrome suspension from Revell's '32 kits was used, save for replacing the disc brakes with period-correct early Ford drum brake plates from the Monogram '32 Roadster. The wheels, hub caps and rear tires from AMT's '40 Coupe were used with the fronts modified to mate-up to the Revell axle. The front tires are from the spare box and are a good match. The frame is painted Testors Model Master gloss black. Engine: The engine is from AMT's '32 Ford Coupe and is an overly simplified early small block Chevy and was a good choice for my "keep it simple" theme and the six-two setup with angled scoops looks period-perfect. I changed things up a bit with some finned Corvette-script valve covers, cut off the molded-on generator and used a chrome one from the spare box and used the Corvette exhaust manifolds from the Monogram '32 Roadster kit and the front tubes that come molded to them. The tubes are long enough to reach about halfway under the car for a simple open lake-pipe look. The engine is painted Testors dark red along with the "mouths" of the carburetor scoops and generator end plate. Details like the oil filter, starter and pulleys were hand painted Testors gloss black. The exhaust system is Testors silver. Body: I chose to use the fenderless, channeled option. A lot of time was spent cleaning up the body by removing mold seams and sharpening the body lines. The cowl vent was "filled" and the working rumbleseat converted to a non-functioning trunk lid. The firewall was made from the optional flat firewall found in Lindberg's '34 Ford Pickup. The radiator shell and insert are heavilly chopped Revell '32 parts and the radiator comes from Monogram's '32 Roadster and was equally cut-down. The windshield frame is out of the box but with new "glass" made from clear acetate. The headlights are the optional smaller pieces from the Revell '32 kits and the taillights are '39 Ford teardrops from the spare box. The body (as well as the shell, wheels, dashboard, steering column and wheel) is painted Testors Colors by Boyd kandy purple pearl over a Testors silver base. Thinned flat black was flowed between the grill bars. Interior: The kit interior, for the sake of cutting to the chase, sucks! To remedy this the side panels and seat from Revell's '32 Roadster were utilized. The bottoms of the side panels were trimmed off to accomodate the channeled body. The seat was cut apart where the upper and lower cushions come together and was minipulated to fit and the head bolster trimmed so that it would fit over the top of the body lip. The dashboard is from AMT's '40 coupe and fit with a lot of massaging. The steering column (with column-shift) and wheel come from AMT's '49 Mercury Coupe. The kit floorboard and pedals were used. The "upholstry" pieces are painted Tamiya matt white and the floor Tamiya semi-gloss black. I'm very pleased with the outcome of this build, especially considering how long I'd been away. Hope you all enjoy! (Sorry about the picture quality, I'm still trying to figure it out.)

My camera is an HP Photosmart 433 3.1mp. It does not have a macro setting or the ability to freeze the focus as you explained. It's pretty much a basic camera with a few adjustment available. I've attempted indoor photos with the same issues, only worse. I see conflicting opinions about wether indoor or outdoor is better and I guess that comes down to personal preference. Regardless, there must be a way for me to take pictures good enough to share on the board.

I need some help from those of you that know more than me about photographing 1:25 models, which is zero! I just finished my first build in ten ten years and I'm eager to share it with the board, but all my photo attempts have failed so far. I was attempting to take the pictures outside and it's overcast here which I figured would be good so I wouldn't get glare or shadows. I'm using a small, round table with the model setting on top of an upside down kit box, which is tan in color and a good contrast to the cars dark purple paint with a wood fence as background. My camera has 3 quality settings and I have tried all three. I have messed with the white balance (set to shade and sunlight), EV compensation (neutral, dark and light) and flash or no flash. No matter what, the end result is the fence and box are in perfect focus and the model is slightly fuzzy with a heavy glare coming off the chrome parts and white interior. Any suggestions? I found a handful of photo tip threads but none of them address the issues I'm having.

Excuse the ignorance of this question, do you brush-on the liquid mask or white glue?