Art Anderson

Monogram did the Duesenbergs, the only domestic US manufacturer to do so in 1/24 scale: All were curiously badged as 1935 Duesenbergs, when in reality the only '35 Duesenberg that Monogram did call the year is their '35 Model SJ Weymann Torpedo Phaeton. The others are models of earlier years of Model J's--with supercharged engines that the actual cars were never fitted with (although a number of nonsupercharged Model J's did receive the outside exhausts and screen side hood panels that were the visual hallmark of a supercharged SJ: Rollston Convertible Coupe, Murphy Town Car, and the Murphy Boattailed Disappearing Top Coupe that I referred to in my above post. Bandai "cloned" the underpinnings, chrome parts tree and powerplant of the Monogram Duesenberg series--adding a somewhat inaccurate Figoni et Falaschi Berline body to the kit. Both Pyro and Revell produced a Duesenberg kit in 1/32 scale, Revell's being the LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaeton SJ, Pyro the Murphy Town Car and the Clark Gable SSJ (that 125" wheelbase 425hp muscle car from 1935!). Art

Personally, I'd love to see a new Duesenberg Model J kit--done to the very high standards out there today. However, to balance that desire, I have to remember the virtual demise of new Classic Car model kits, particularly American Classics. Sure, the 1980's saw us get some really superb kits of 30's European Classic Cars--both Heller and Italeri stepped up to the plate there. Right at 40 years ago this year, Monogram laid a pair of beautiful classic car kits on us--first was their "1935 Duesenberg SJ Rollston Convertible Coupe" kit--never mind that the real car was built in 1931-32 and was a non-supercharged Model J, but Monogram had to go with what they had in the basic tooling--and that was their SJ, which dates from 1966 (still a pretty nice kit btw!). And then along came the 1930 Packard Speedster Boattail--wow, that still is a gorgeous model car kit. Following in fairly quick succession were the 1930 Packard Speedster Phaeton, and two metal bodied classics--the 1931 Packard Series 845 Dual Cowl Phaeton (completely different car than the Speedsters BTW), and metal bodied Duesenberg SJ Murphy Boattail--loosely a kit of the ex-George Whittell car from the then Harrah's Automobile Collection. Never mind that the real Murphy Boattail was a non-supercharged car, that kit still is gorgeous--it's only problem being that the metal body, fenders and hood were so heavy that the front axle tends to sag badly over time. These were never repeated, even though Monogram eventually converted their other metal bodied kits to all styrene. In 1979, Monogram introduced a very nicely done 1932 Cadillac Model 452 V16, with a Fleetwood Phaeton body--but that got caught up in the deep recession which hit in early 1981, and while reissued a couple of times since, never really sold that well. Interestingly, at the 1979 IPMS Nationals in Milwaukee, I was shown small printouts of another body style for that Cadillac: A '32 V16 Convertible Victoria by Fleetwood--but it was never tooled. It seems that while, in 1965-67, there was a flurry of interest in model car kits of the great classic cars of the 30's (sparked in part by the intense interest in the likes of Elliot Ness and the Untouchables--that's when Monogram started their small lineup, JoHan brought out their '31 Cadillac V16's and that pair of Mercedes 500 K's, MPC getting into the act with a pair of late 20's Lincolns and two Chryslers (along with the '32 Chevy double kit), but by 1967, the bloom was off that flower garden--within a year or so, most all of these kits had been dropped, their tooling smothered in cosmoline. There've been a few reissues of these kits over the years--JoHan running their '31 Cadillacs and M-B kits, Monogram repoppling some Duesenbergs and the plastic kits of the Packards, along with their '41 Lincoln Continental, but for Revell-Monogram, those have been the stuff of the likes of SSP, The MPC Classics made a return engagement in the 80's, under AMT Ertl's banner--but none of them seem to have sold all that well, judging from the lack of consistent reissues. Testors, of course, generated at least some sales by putting Italeri classic car kits in their ubiquitous yellow boxes back nearly 30 years ago, but those were likely not large runs of those kits. Even today, at shows, Classic Car kits from any manufacturer, as "OOP" kits don't really bring that much--I've seen far too many with $20-$25 prices written on them get packed up, carried back home again. But, I can always wish for a new kit, right? Art

Bear in mind guys that in today's market, there are relatively few 1940's or 1950's car subjects that can make it, sales-wise as a stand-alone model--meaning one version only. Simply put--it takes more than one version of any subject these days to make a viable, profitable model car kit of any production car! Art

The Model A front axle is pretty incorrect for a '32 Ford though--for 1932, Ford gave the front axle a very slight "drop", which is both noticeable and made the car sit noticeably lower--the Revell Ed Roth "Tweedie Pie" has a stock Deuce front axle which is adaptable. For the frame, with some work, the frame from any of the excellent Revell '32 Ford street rod kits works--adapt the main crossmember from the AMT '32 Phaeton or Victoria to that, but you will need to build up a correct rear crossmember (mine has 13 pieces of strip styrene in it!--originally done for an early street rod, but now on its way to being built completely stock) The mechanical brake system for the Deuce is essentially the same layout as for a Model A. 1932-36 Ford V8 engines were 21-stud, meaning 21 cylinder head bolts (count 'em!) with their twin water pumps mounted at the outlets in the cylinder heads (never worked well, mostly agitated the water--made those flatheads the finest water heaters Detroit ever knew!) but there is a major difference in the intake manifold and carburetor--for 1932 only, Ford used a "plenum chamber" style intake manifold with a Detroit Lubricator carb--in 1933 they went to Stromberg for carbs, and the engine got the more common "over/under" intake with separate passages to each intake port in the block. Now, if you want to do the really scarce '32 Ford, a Model B can be done, using the excellent Revell Model A Ford 4-banger--visually the B 4-cylinder is the same as a Model A, just lacking the external oil overflow pipe on the valve galley cover on the left side (well, the B water pump attached with just 3 bolts instead of the 4 used on Model A--but that's really not that noticeable!) Externally, the transmissions look the same, Model A having straight-cut gears, '32 getting angled gear teeth. For stock '32 Ford wheels and tires, the AMT kits are, and have always been--FAR from correct! AMT tooled up a 7:00-15 tire for their early Trophy Series kits, and did a way-too small wire wheel for that tire to be a part of their '32 Ford series of kits! The only correct wheel and tire for a Deuce in 1/25 scale is the set that Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland makes--and just like every other part that Norm Veber casts, they are perfect! Norm also casts a perfect stock firewall for the Revell Deuce kits, but I made my own before I discovered his: That was done from sheet and strip styrene about 15 years or so ago. For bodies, look no farther than the Revell series of '32 Fords. Unless you want the Phaeton or Victoria, those bodies are the game to play--they are as accurately scaled and done as you will find--along with the fender/running board units and grille. Of course, for stock hood side panels, those will take some work, as the only stock hoods are those from the AMT kits--but a bit of sheet plastic work they will do the job. Art

Jim, I really dunno about the various sizes of T engines in scale--however, there might be some serious mounting problems between the AMT and ICM kits, given the difference between 1/24 and 1/25 scales, not to mention the 54 year span between the first releases of both kits. I did the '23 Depot Hack back when it first came out, in the mid-1970's, replicated the plastic body with one made in basswood (gave that to a friend here back then)--have in mind doing that body once more, but this time adapting it to the MUCH better AMT '25 Double T kit. Art

Opel was finished almost a year ago, in late August 2014

It's been quite a while since I posted up any progress. I had hoped to have this model done in time to take it to NNL East, but a major problem cropped up! Whether it is a design fault, or my own mis-doing, I do not know, but at any rate, the radiator would not set back far enough to capture the hood hinge part, by a considerable distance. So....with some careful, and I do mean CAREFUL!, study, I figured that the fan belt assembly mounts too far forward on the engine to allow sufficient clearance for the radiator, so that was removed, and the mounting pegs for it shortened as much as possible. Next, I thinned down the edges of the rear radiator part so that it fit deeper into the radiator shell--I think that should do it, but if necessary, I can sand off the front of the fan (like anyone will see that anyway!), all this enough to move the radiator back to where it has to be. Once that was done, it was time to figure out how to do the spark plug leads, along with the throttle and spark advance linkages (bear in mind that a '13 T engine relied entirely on hand controls, no gas pedal, and ho automatic spark advance! I added the appropriate lever arms to the rods on the sides of the steering column in the engine bay, with small holes drilled into their outer ends to capture the rods to actuate the throttle and the spark advance, Those are made from .015" K&S brass rod stock. As for the plug leads--those are pretty heavy, compared to any modern engine--given the very high voltage put out by Model T Ford ignition coils (grab hold of the output terminal of one of those, and with the engine turning over, the shock will almost knock you into the next room!). Those leads were insulated with either PVC (which has been available since the 1890's, or gum rubber--who knows now?) which was further armored by a finely woven linen sheath, which was then varnished--all in the name of protecting that insulation from both engine heat and the almost omnipresent oil! The plug leads presented a special problem, given their fairly large diameter, so after experimenting with annealed brass rod (still to hard, to stiff given the tight quarters!), I went for 20-gauge sterling silver wire from the jewelry department at Michaels--the most expensive wire I have ever bought! ($19.95 for 4-grams of the stuff, but still more than enough for a number of engines! The plug terminals were made by annealing some 18-gauge copper electrical wire, then squashing that flat with smooth flat pliers, finally drilling a hole in each one to make it slip over the top of each sparkplug (sanded to a round shape after all this), and then silver-soldered to the end of a short bit of that sterling silver wire. The throttle linkage is the only aftermarket accessory on this T. Due to ICM's not understanding completely a Model T engine, there is no cylinder barrel detail on the left side of the block (prominent on a Model T or Model A Ford engine block) with a gap between #2 and #3 cylinders, through which the carb linkage went--so I bought the "100 Miles Per Gallon Linkage, made by the Wiley Coyote owned ACME Company (Guarranteed or your money back!). I made the bell crank affixed to the cylinder head (under a head bolt), the actuating rods made from K&S .015" rod stock. For this, and the spark advance system, I made tiny little arms for the sides of the steering column, and extended the control rods on each side of that to stock length. Anyway, enough prose--on to pics of what it all looks like now

Of course Bill--you could even do up the designed, but never built, Tucker Carioca convertible too! Art

Around here, rebuilt engines almost always came from Jasper Engine Exchange, with their blocks painted a dark royal blue, heads, intake manifolds and oil pans a bright orange! And, it didn't matter if you saw the engine at Sears, Montgomery Ward, Unit Parts, or Guarantee Tire & Auto--they were all the same colors. Hmm, it could be fun to build up a model with a Jasper rebuilt engine--what a novel idea! Why haven't I done that yet? Art

I found some things that should lay some of the criticisms of how model car kits somehow "don't exactly make it" nowadays as opposed to say, that so-called "classic period" of 40-50 years ago. If you really read closely, it's pretty obvious that in so many ways, the old adage "You can't go back home again" very much describes why model kits are developed in the manner which they are today--along with a bit of the hassles that can create. The bottom line, for me at least, is that unless one has been either directly, or indirectly, involved, exposed to the development process--it's really pretty hard to grasp just how difficult it is at times to communicate exactly what is expected in a new tool for a new model kit, especially in light of having to deal with such limited resources that are available in researching a vehicle that was produced well before any sort of digital drawings etc. were even a dream in a designer's eye. Not only can that be (as it often is!) going in for the first time on a new project, but even more importantly, getting the needed corrections done after that first proposed tooling mockup has been reviewed by those in charge of the project--and that set of problems would exist regardless of a common language, or the "language barriers" which can exist when dealing with technicians fully half the planet away. Note too, that there are very few traditional pattern makers around any more, in most any industry requiring masters for any sort of molded products from metal foundry patterns to intricate injection molding patterns--that is a skill set from now a completely different era--those that had those skills by and large are either retired, or have passed away. It's also interesting to read just what the demographics are of our hobby (and thus, the market for any model company's products)--most of us who frequent this, and any other model car message board or forum aren't getting any younger--thus the need to find that key to bringing new, younger modelers into the customer base--something that no model company (at least based here in the US) has really managed to quite break into--but Revell is giving that a pretty strong try, it seems to me. Hobbico isn't in the hobby products business to have it end when the last boomers fade away--Hobbico has been around since about 1970, and hey've been quite successful in most all of their ventures for now 45 years. Art

Of course, at this point, what we are seeing are TEST SHOTS! Could well be that some of the issues pointed out here could be corrected before the kit reaches production. Art

http://craftsmanship.net/parts-recreation/ Art

One thing though: While what you are doing is to replicate the welting that automakers used, from about 100 years ago through at least the late 1940's to seal the joints between fenders and bodies against road splash and dust, that welting never did have an exposed grain or "pattern". Fender welting was (and still is for restorations) made by wrapping a woven cotton cord with vinyl-impregnated cloth, which was pinched tightly together on one side of the cord, and glued, in order to make a "flange" which extended down between the body panel and the edge of the fender, secured in place by the bolts holding the fender on. That welting did tend to have a slight texture to it--the effect of impregnating a very finely, tightly woven fabric, but that was virtually invisible except under very close examination. I have installed "fender welting" on a number of model cars over the years--while a bit large for exact scale, .020" Evergreen styrene rod stock does a great job of fulfilling this role. Easily done on a model car body, before painting. Art

Darker, subdued metallics were very much available on luxury cars, such as Cadillac, by this time frame. Art

FWIW, Testors themselves never did produce any of their own model kits that I ever saw. What they did offer were, at first, reissues from Hawk and IMC, both lines they acquired about this time in 1975. After that, Testors imported "bagged shots" (complete model kits, but not already boxed for sale--as such, they came through US Customs as "unassembled wooden toys" (yup, that was a standard US Customs, even Interstate Commerce designation for model kits of all sorts well into the 1980's!), and then proceeded to box those kits in their own, legendary "yellow boxes". So, the model kits Testors offered were a wide spectrum, both in scales, subject matter, and design characteristics. Art

A lesser known racing sports car, built by Bob Carnes, the BOCAR Stilletto, used a 283 Chevy with a 6-71 mounted via the Potvin setup--for not only both visibility and aerodynamics, but to also move the engine (and CoG) rearward. That thing was a trackburner when it hit the road racing circuit. Art

Except for one thing: Every one of the kits mentioned were introduced 50 some years ago--a different time, a much different car modeling market, and an era of massive production runs of virtually every model car kit then on the market. Couple that simple fact with another one: There were FAR FEWER model car subjects available in the middle 1960's--probably less than 75 or so in 1/24-1/25 scale. Today, there are nearly as many available from just US-based model kit companies--and another couple of hundred (perhaps a few more) from overseas model companies. All these current model car subjects necessarily do compete for share of a market here in the US which while probably larger than many might think, is nowhere near the "fad" decade that was model car building in the 1960's. In short, not every successful "one hit wonder" model car kit of a half-century ago is a very valid predictor of such a success with such a relatively obscure car subject in today's world as say, a 1948 Tucker Torpedo. Art

Ahh, the legends (urban!) that grew out of this "new kit announcement" back in October 1999, at RCHTA! I attended that trade show on opening (trade only) day, and upon seeing this one and the '50 Oldsmobile Club Coupe (hastily made up kit box art by Racing Champions/Ertl), asked Tom Walsh, then heading up plastic model production for RCE, when those two kits might be coming out. His answer? They'd already presented the concept of those two kits to Walmart (in a private presentation at Wally's headquarters in Bentonville AR) and a similar presentation to KMart just a couple of weeks before RCHTA. The response from those-then major buyers of AMT (and other companies' plastic model kits, Walsh related, was less than the hoped-for positive result. He chose to offer the two proposals at RCHTA, in hopes that the mix of smaller retailers, even some of the lesser "Big Box" stores, along with the hobby industry wholesalers, would generate enough orders to make it feasible for them to proceed with development. However, as of about 2pm that Friday afternoon, Walsh related that more than likely neither kit would be going any farther than box art proposals. Please consider that to a model kit manufacturer, particularly in the mass-produced plastic model kit field, it's the mix of larger retailers and those wholesale houses which supply local hobby shops that are those manufacturers' primary customers! If the buyers from such companies see serious sales potential in any newly announced kit, it almost always comes to fruition--if not, then not. I can still remember several proposed AMT model kits that never wound up being developed, due to that very same thing: At the HIAA (forerunner of RCHTA as a trade organization for model companies) trade show in January 1972, AMT's catalog showed a Link-Belt Traxcavator backhoe shovel--however, when sales figures came in from the recently released Caterpillar D8 Bulldozer kit--those were so terribly disappointing that the Traxcavator was axed, before any serious kit development happened. Same with AMT's proposed 1922 Ahrens-Fox Piston Pumper fire truck--dismal sales results for AMT's American LaFrance fire apparatus showed them that there really wasn't a strong enough market for them to spend any more capital on newly tooled subjects. At the 1978 HIAA trade show in Houston TX, AMT showed box art AND a built-up Ford C600 with a Gar Wood Packer garbage truck body (I was commissioned to do that builtup in the fall of 1977)--another proposed model kit that died due to a lack of wholesaler/retailer interest. Even in 1967, MPC showed a built prototype model of the 1928 Miller 91 that won that year's Indianapolis 500, as an extension of the "Gangbusters" series/era of antique and classic car kits--it too died from lack of enough pre-orders. Art

What Snake45 said is quite true, virtually no bottled paints are exactly the same for consistency, so really, there just isn't any set "formula" for thinning the stuff. I've found, over the past 50 years, that thinning Testors enamels with lacquer thinner, to the approximate consistency of 2% milk works for me very well. I can observe that consistency by watching the thinned paint as it "sheets down" the sides of my airbrush color jar--when that "sheeting" looks like the way 2% milk runs/slides down the sides of a glass, it's where I want it to be. Art

Actually, superchargers came about a good 25 years BEFORE the Wright Brothers made their first flight! In fact, the "positive displacement" blower was patented by Philander and Francis Marion Rootes, of Connersville Indiana in 1860, as a means of forcing fresh air into coal mines. This, the "Rootes Blower" is the basic type of supercharger most of us know as a GMC Blower. The first application of a supercharger on an internal combustion engine was in 1878, by one Dugald Clerk, who used it on the first 2-cycle internal combustion engine. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler recieved a German patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine. In 1902, Louis Renault received a French patent for a supercharged engine. Louis Chadwick from Pennsylvania built a supercharged automobile in 1908. The first serious use of superchargers on aircraft engines didn't begin development until after WW-I, using "centrifugal" blowers that were mechanically driven.. This was to alleviate the loss of horsepower as airplanes climbed every higher into the atmosphere. This is the type of supercharger commonly used in racing in the US, starting in 1924 with the first supercharged Duesenberg 122cid straight 8 which won that year's Indianapolis 500, and reached its pinnacle with the legendary NOVI supercharged V8. A centrifugal supercharger is very much like the impeller in your vacuum cleaner. Art

Exactly! Hudson built their pickup trucks (including the one and only '49 prototype I mentioned) from 4dr sedan bodies. They simply cut the body just aft of the B-;pillar, and made a back panel to create the "cab". On the Stepdown prototype, the pickup box fits just inside the body-side "bulge", and is a VERY wide pickup bed, IIRC, it's at least 5', if not nearly 6' wide. Here's a link to the only one ever built: http://www.fotosdecarros.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/25/10/1949-Hudson-Pickup-Prototype-01.jpg Art

The '28-'29 Model A Coupe body and the '30-'31 are two completely different body shells--nothing interchangeable. Art

Hudson built pickup trucks starting in 1933, on the Terraplane chassis and body. Those gave way to pickups built from regular Hudson passenger car bodies/chassis (used the name "Dover" for a couple of years), and then became a staple of the Hudson lineup through 1948. The company did build a prototype pickup on the 1949 "Stepdown", but never put that into production. That pickup was retained by Hudson, used as a factory "Go-Fer" until Hudson ceased operations in Detroit. Now preserved in a Hudson Museum in Ypsilanti MI, last I knew. Art

Revell's Kurtis Midget kits have a trailer hitch with ball, and the little race car trailer has the tongue! Art

It's been a few years, but I have made ball hitches using those small round-headed straight pins like you find in a new dress shirt--for the tongue, I've simply drilled a blind hole in a bit of strip styrene that would be the appropriate size. Inexpensive, and quite durable. Art