Fletch

Yeah, I know what you mean John. I look at this thing and think, "It sure would look nice if it were bright and shiny." The trim rings aren't that big a deal, they're actually pretty easy to work with as long as you have a nice sharp blade. If you don't, not so much fun then. The lettering on the '40 SD is outstanding, that is someone with a lot steadier hand then mine. I'll come up with something on the computer and add to the sides before starting the sand through process. That way they can be weathered as well.

It's nothing like changing truck tires. Every thing is done with air over hydraulic rams, basically the same things as porta-powers, and the truck mounted boom. There is an "O" ring that goes around the wheel and a flange between the tire and the wheel/"O" ring. pack everything with Murphy's tire soap and add air. To change all 6 of those tires even with all the power equipment would still be 8-9 hours. Somewhere around 45 minutes for each tire being devoted to airing it back up.

Very nice build. The pair look great together. In the early '80s I worked for a Goodyear dealer in Las Vegas, we were the local Bandag retreader. When Tyrone Malone was going around the country campaigning the Bandag Bandit he spent the afternoon at our shop. It was pretty cool to be able to climb all over the race truck as well as the hauler.

You most likely exerted more effort strapping them down then the guy who is going to change them. I worked for the Firestone Truck Center in Denver. Part of my job was changing off-road equipment tires. Everything is done with a double articulated boom. The toughest part of the job is getting them up off the ground in the first place and dealing with the weather.

The tires and wheels from the '50 Ford Pickup ended up winning. They have been painted Testors One Coat Lacquer Revving Red. Here they are with trim rings from the AMT '40 Ford and the hubcaps from the '50 Ford Pickup: Here's how they look on the panel which is now primed so there's no need for the sunglasses anymore. Hosted on Fotki Over the course of the build and weathering they will get toned down to a slight roar. They are to represent newer add-ons to the panel so they won't be a weather and rusted as the rest.

With the current pricing of the '50 Ford pickup at $25.25 it's getting a bit spendy to get a truly nice flat head. The next best option is getting the entire '50 flat head and Arduns from RMoM. I had considered using the flat head from the '40 coupe/convertible as I had already robbed parts from those kits and using a set of Thickstun heads just for something different from the run of the mill flat head. Yeah, it's BLUE, thank goodness for PPG sealer/primer. I'm not sure what Revell was thinking when they decided to release it with the circus livery in blind you blue. I think the problem I'm having with the tire/wheel combination is they are unfinished. I'm going to shoot some paint later today and then set them up again once the trim rings and caps are in place and see how they look then. Chances are it will either be the stock artillery wheels or the set from the '50 Ford pickup as I think I'm going to save the WIDE WHITES for the Lincoln Zephyr project that I have been gathering parts for.

Move in and setup for the Bob Paeth Portland Classic Model Car Contest is 1 week from today. If you would like additional information on the show and event coverage please PM me or email bppcmcc@gmail.com. Hope to see you there. Dave

After swapping out the stock front and rear suspension for the dropped front axle and spring ass'y from the Revell '40 Ford Coupe and the 2 Speed rear axle assembly from the Revell '40 Convertible. There is a significant ride height adjustment just by swapping the suspension parts. With the stock Artillery Wheels: w/wheels and tires from the Revell Model Masters '40 Ford Convertible: w/wheels and tires from the Revell '50 Ford pickup: What do you think of the wheel/tire combination's? Let me know as I'm not 100% an any setup, it seems they all have their pluses and minuses.

What do you do while you're waiting for paint to dry? I don't know about you but I surf 1:1 sites and look for new projects. This morning I found a site that had a bunch of pics from Bonneville and El Mirage. There I came across this jewel. Some of you may ask what's so special about a rusted '37 Panel Delivery. Well the best thing about it is that it is a rusted '37 Panel Delivery. One of the things about our hobby is the chance to stretch our skills. Building a '37 Panel Delivery is no big deal, making it look like this one well, that's a different story. I can do bright shiny paint standing on my head, but beat up and weathered, is outside of my comfort zone. In the words of Mae West, "Hang on boys it's going to be a bumpy ride" The inspiration: The Plastic: Hosted on Fotki As you can see the Revell '37 Panel is the start, but the stance is wrong as it sits way to high on all 4 corners. Modifying the hood and stance will be the major things and they are far from major changes. So, we'll borrow some parts from the Revell '40 Ford Good Guys Kit to bring the nose down to earth and adjust the rear cross member to drop the rear.

We had a guy up here in the PNW that took the coupe version of that kit and turned it into one screamn' gasser. It was absolutely beautiful. One things for sure with that kit the only limitation is going to be your imagination.

Art, you are 100% correct, even though we're all complaining about the price of kits today there is one part of the Model Car Industry that is even more at out mercy then the MFG's and that it the LHS. Without our purchasing kits their doors will eventually close. The LHS can't remain open with just sales of paint, glue and magazines. The fact that most of the BIG BOX stores are no longer carrying plastic kits where else do we have to go to get the latest offerings form the "Little Three". Most of us don't have a national chain hobby shop near by. Even if we have a Hobbytown or Hobby Lobby near by most of these are franchise stores and if we don't support the LHS where do we turn? The internet? I don't know about you but, I like to have something in my hand when I spend money. I'm not overly thrilled in waiting for UPS to deliver my latest purchase. I have been building since I was 6, that's 47 years ago. I remember going to the LHS in Redondo Beach CA with my cousin, we each had $3. We both bought a kit, glue, paint and still had money left over. So, to walk into my LHS and see a kit that was $10 when it was released 14 years ago now priced at $25 makes you go "What the .......?" Unfortunately, now I have to consider do I pay the electric bill or buy a new kit. The events of the past year have changed how we look at our hobby budget. More of the budget goes for the day-to-day household expenses then ever before.

To give you an idea of the way things are here in Portland, last November I had my LHS order 2 Revell '50 Ford F-1 kits for me. They came in at $17.75 and I was happy to pay it. The middle of last month I went in and they had restocked after the Holidays. The shipment they received had the '50 Ford kits in it, they were now $21 each. Needless to say I was happy that I had picked up a couple of them last year. I went in yesterday and they had gotten a couple more '50 Ford F-1s in the price is now $25. Someplace, someone has lost their mind. The cost of the molds for a kit now 12+ years old has long been amortized. There is absolutely no valid reason for that kind of price hike in 2 1/2 months. I fully understand that a mfg needs to have capital for new projects but, Revell is starting to price themselves out of the domestic market. If I were inclined to pay that kind of money for a kit, I would expect the quality to match the price. I guess they are pushing us to build what we have upon our shelves, seeing how I have already paid for that plastic it makes them $0 when I build from my collection instead of buying new. ARE YOU LISTENING REVELL?

You're taking the term "out of the box" way to literal. Obviously, you're going to get to use paint, glue, etc to complete the build. The idea is to build the kit using ONLY the parts provided by the kit MFG. Basically, it's an exercise in showcasing your building skills. Not how deep your pockets are when it comes to buying AFTERMARKET parts from Detail Masters, Model Car Garage, etc. Factory Stock is based on models built to represent the way they would have been the day they rolled off the assembly line in Detroit or any other assembly line around the world. Factory Stock means build a model that would be available using the factory literature, catalogs etc. So, stock wheels, tires, air cleaners, anything available in the factory documentation. If the biggest wheel tire combination from the 1:1 MFG was 15X6" steel wheels with G70-15 tires then a model built with Cragar 5 spokes with L60-15 tires wouldn't be "Factory Stock". Factory Stock is not based on how AMT, Revell, Monogram, and the others choose to release them to us the modeling public. I guess the bottom line is find out in advance what is and isn't allowed before you attempt to enter a show/contest. Remember, you're playing in someone else sandbox and you have to play by their rules or don't play at all. If you don't like the way a show sets up their classes, the solution is simple start your own show and set up the classes the way you want them.

Any contest I have either been to or have judged has used pretty much the same criteria. Filler is allowed to correct manufacturing flaws ie: ejector pin marks, sink marks, filling seams etc. Body contouring, reshaping is frowned upon, unless the custom parts are part of the kit. If you look at some of the 3n1 kits they have the parts and some even came with 2 part epoxy putty. Flocking and the use of P/E and after market parts is over the line and will get a build moved to Factory Stock. THe use of BMF depends entirely on the show some allow it and others don't. You would have to check the rules for the contest you are entering. A lot of "Box Stock" is a question of how well you can build just using what the kit MFG gave you. Yes, some of the kits have a lot more in the box other then plastic parts on the sprue. More then anything else judges are looking for things like removing the mold seams from the exhaust system, removing ejector pin marks, etc. Just because it's Box Stock doesn't mean it can't be a totally clean build. My $.25 worth.

You and me both John. The roof has been had new Polyester putty applied. The rest of the parts have been primed and are now waiting for color. I think instead of using the Testors One Coat, I'm going to go and grab either Dupli-color or Plasti-coat white for the base coat. Then use the HoK Snowhite for the pearl. So, it will put me a couple of days behind. It's not the end of the world.

Mike, most cars from the '70 had uni-body construction. For the most part the under side was a semi-flat black. However, the sides of the under body normally ended up the body color due to over spray when the main body was painted. My personal choice for semi-flat black is Krylon rattle can. It produces a nice smooth surface. If you are using an air brush to paint the body, just haze the body color on the edges of the underframe. If you're using a rattle can tape off the major portion of the underframe and lightly spray the edges of the chassis.

Brian, as someone who was a volunteer Fire Fighter/Paramedic for years back in the early '80s, you did this one justice. There were many a runs I would have loved to have been responding in a rig this nice. Outstanding work on the Revell snap kit. Someplace in the garage I have that kit and never considered using it for this purpose. Again, excellent work.

I'm not sure if the problem was weather caused or if it's just the way that particular color works. The problem was just as you had indicated Mike, coverage it way to heavy straight from the can. Because of that the paint sags and runs. I have not had this problem with any of the other Testors One Coat Lacquers. So far it's been in the purple pond for about 18 hours and is about 80% clean. Once it's out of the pond, it'll be fix any problems with the joints in the roof if needed. Then back to paint, except this time the white pearl will be HoK Snowhite.

Lookin good Big Dave. Very nice on the paint.

Guess we should subtitle this one "Follow Your Own Advice!" This is what happens when you try to rush a paint job to get ready for a contest. Hosted on Fotki

Dennis, as Bernard alluded to the Testors "Rubber" paint is very convincing. It's a blackish/brown color and looks very much like the rubber fans belts and tires I remember seeing in my dads shop as a kid. I have used it for years and have always been happy with the results. As we all know the world is not "Flat Black". As for your dilemma over cutting groves into the slicks that you found in your dad's stash. The tires from Modelhaus are worth every penny. They have slicks in sizes 7.60-15, 8.20-15 and 9.00-15 and at $5 a set would certain;y save the treasures that you found. They come in both sides black wall, both sides wide white walls and single wide white. Their online catalog doesn't have a pic of them and of course I can't find the sets that I have to snap a shot of them either. Here's the link to Modelhaus's Nostalgic Street Rod Tires page: http://www.modelhaus.com/index.php?y=&...p;Submit=Search

Isn't the Illinois state Motto "Vote Early, Vote Often"?

Sorry Harry, but your issue will only arrive after all the subscriptions and hobby shop orders are filled!!!!!!

About 2 weeks late there Dave: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17728 Just an FYI the "Best of the Best" Award is from an anonymous donor. Neither sponsored by SABA or The Portland Roadster Show. See you there!!!!!!!

Dennis, another option you might want to explore to get the rear down a bit is the spring kit from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. Norm has a 2 pack of Model A springs. One is stock height and the other is reduced in height by a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. I don't know if you've used Norm's products or not, but I can vouch for the quality and speed that he processes orders. I would recommend his resin products to any and everyone. BTW, the '29 is looking great. I love the interior. You can bet that some of your tip and tricks will find their way into my next '29 roadster. Thank you for the in depth coverage.