Art Anderson

I've seen the real car, at Auburn, perhaps 15 years ago or so. One of my favorite Duesenberg closed cars! Art

I finally decided to try artist's ink to color the tires. After studying the ink markers at a college bookstore next to the University campus, I settled on Chartpak's large artist's ink markers, Light Sand for the sidewalls, and Warm Grey for the tread areas (those light colored tire treads picked up street dirt very quickly!), and on the white soft plastic material it worked great after some practice (I mounted the tires on the painted and detailed wheels first, then used some Testors soft plastic pipettes (used normally for adding thinner to paint, or droplets of color for color mixing), and simply rotated those against the marker to get as uniform a shade as possible. The wheels are drilled to accept bits of 1/32" brass rod stock, which I rounded off, then polished before installing, to represent the rather long brass valve stem covers. After installing those, a bit of Tamiya TS-13 was brushed on, to keep them from tarnishing.

Eric, I thought about making a real wood toeboard, but it would have been a bit problematic, given that in the kit construction, the toe board is a structural member in a multi-piece body. So, I simply modified the slotted plate in that to a reasonably correct spacing for the pedals--they fit right through the slots, and I'll add the foot pads once the engine and body are installed (before installing the dashboard). I did that with a '27 T Tudor Sedan about 15 years ago, worked great. Art

Perhaps (more than likely) that creamier white was pretty much what white automotive paints were as late as the very early 1960's, not only on race cars, but such as Volkswagen Beetles, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, etc. In addition, it's a color with a racing heritage--given that prior to 1935 or so, white was the color assigned to German race cars. Art

TS7 is much more representative of the "warmer", somewhat "creamy" looking white used by nearly all automakers prior to the late 1960's out to today. Back years ago, the lacquers used in the automotive industry lacked the color stability we've come to expect today--in addition, they had a tendency to "chalk out" due to ultraviolet rays from the sun--so virtually every automotive color years ago was somewhat muted in order to give some semblance of color stability. Art

Of course, Ford, until 1940, marketed their station wagons in their "Commercial" catalog, as did Chevrolet back then as well. But, as a general rule, sedan deliveries, being passenger car-based, used station wagon body shells for years. In the middle 1950's, the US Government's General Services Administration began specifying that all sedan deliveries bought by GSA (for the military, for the Post Office Department, US Forest Service and the National Park Service be built with full side windows. Ford was the only automaker who stepped up to those RFP's, with their government contract Couriers having the same side windows as any Ranch Wagon. So, the "boundary" does become very blurred. Art

For a number of years, back in the late 60's/early 70's, there was a '29 Model A street rod running around the Speedway area at Indy, powered by an older, obsolete by displacement, Offenhauser 4cyl, that had run several races at Indianapolis in the 50's. So, an Offy is not out of the question! Art

Actually, while sedan deliveries began as just that: 2-door sedans modified in the factories into delivery vehicles that still retained their 2dr sedan styling, by 1935 or thereabouts, the sedan delivery began getting its own body styling--with Ford and Dodge leading the pack. By 1950, as wooden-bodied station wagons were disappearing from auto assembly lines in favor of all steel station wagons, it was only a matter of months before windowless station wagon body shells began appearing, with side opening doors (supplanted by the mid-1950's with one piece "liftgates", and the sedan delivery most of us know best was born--out of station wagon body shells. Art

Ford, from 1935 through 1948, used 6:00-16 wheels and tires. With only a 6" wide rim, those tires and wheels look a lot larger in comparison to say, a more modern 15" wheel than they really are. Art

An interesting anecdote about the development of the Ford Indianapolis DOHC 255cid V8: As most know already, the intake ports in the cylinder heads are in the middle of the heads themselves, rather than on the sides (as with say, the Offenhauser 4cyl that was dominant at Indianapolis from 1935 (276cid) all the way out to 1964 in unsupercharged form). In order to get a good idea how this center induction might be done, Ford's engineers studied the legendary racing engineer Harry A. Miller, whose engines ruled Indianapolis from 1926 through 1934 and were the basis for the Offy design. Miller built 3 DOHC V8 engines for Indianapolis in 1931-32, but where to find one to study? The answer came that there was a Miller V8 in a small museum in Frankfort, IN, which is about 20 miles southeast of where I live--in the back of all places, a funeral home. Funeral Director William Goodwin had been collecting antique and classic cars for a decade or more, and in his collection? An intact Miller V8. So, Ford Motor Company leased that engine for about 6 months, took it to Dearborn and disassembled it, and their engineers were able to use Miller's centerline induction layout for inspiration. After studying Goodwin's engine, they reassembled it, clearned and polished it, returned it to Goodwin's Museum, where it remains to this day. So, in a way, what was old in the summer/fall/winter of 1963-64 became new again. Art

The Ford 4-cam Indy engine (255cid unsupercharged) had a scream like no other engine at speed, especially down the backstretch at Indianapolis (5/8 of a mile long), where those engines would wind out to just shy of 10,000 rpm, an almost unheard-of rpm range for racing engines up to 1964 when it was first introduced to USAC Championship Racing. The megaphone style tailpipes were angled upward slightly, which on the Front Stretch (also 5/8 mile) put the sound right in the eardrums of people in the penthouse seats (the upper deck). About the only other Indianapolis Car engine of those years that was that loud, but with a flat (180-degree) crankshaft was the NOVI V8, at 167cid, supercharged by a large centrifugal supercharger that turned at amost 90,000 rpms (10X crankshaft speed), but the Novi's screaming sound was as much from the blower as from the exhaust. The loudest of the Ford cars was a Leader Card Racers Watson Roadster which Chief Mechanic AJ Watson had installed a 4-cam Ford as a backup team car for 1965. That car had the "bundle of snakes" exhaust headers, but with the megaphone tailpipes angled slightly to the right, which put the exhaust sound right in people's laps down the front straight. (that car failed to qualify--too slow to bump anyone from the field on the 4th day of qualifications that year.) I think you can find some vintage films on Youtube of Ford-powered cars 1964-67, before the Ford DOHC Indy Engine was turbocharged. Art

I've been doing pretty much the same thing, with one exception: To get a truly sharp and straight edge to that fold, I scribe the back side of Wet or Dry sandpaper with an Xacto knife and a straight edge. This allows the paper to be folded without any jagged broken edge to the grit. Art

Also, it's generally better to paint the globes/covers on the outside, as when you paint them on the inside, the paint tends to puddle into corners, making a darker area--doesn't do that when you paint clear colors on the outside. Art

Great suggestion! I do that a lot with not only small parts, but even larger parts where I want a more positive, secure joint. With CA, just as with any other type of glue--the size of the gluing surface matters a lot! The more area for glue to contact, the stronger your joint will be. Also, CA glue bonds much more tightly to the surface of paint than any paint will bond to your plastic model kit's surface--so whenever possible, glue unpainted surfaces. Art Art

Xacto stainless steel #11's, by the box/100 for most all work. For really delicate cutting, I prefer Bard-Parker #11 stainless steel surgical scalpel blades--INFINITELY sharper blades, and they fit right into any #1 size knife handle. Art

I bought the 24" Pace Peace Keeper booth in 2010, and yes, it's more than adequate for any 1/25 scale car or pickup (even OTR truck cabs and frames! One thing to bear in mind in considering the cost: A unit such as this is a "one time investment" in a tool. Once you have it, it's going to last a lot of years. Art

AMT Corporation put 22" wheels and tires in all their White Truck kits, beginning with the White Freightliners which came out in 1971. All the other AMT kits that I was aware of back then had 20" rims and tires. Art

I've been installing valve stems on model car wheels since the late 1970's, and the coming of small plastic rod stock. I'm currently installiing polished brass valve stems in the rims of my ICM '13 Model T Ford wheels--used my Sherline Mill like a drill press, with their 360-degree indexing head to hold my lathe chuck, for perfect spacing and exact alignment (critical on a wood wheel with just 12 spokes). Art

Gabriel was a conglomerate company which bought up Hubley in the late 1970's, and reissued the Hubley diecast model car kits under their own name, but retained the original Hubley box art. With the demise of Gabriel Industries, Joseph L. Ertl, one of the sons of Fred Ertl (founder of the farm toy line that bears his name to this day) bought up the tooling, and reissued many of the old Hubley diecast car kits from his home town of Dyersville IA. Art

Just added two small details to the right side of the engine: The oil petcocks. The top one was to check the oil level for overfilling--you opened that, and if oil ran out, too much oil--so open the bottom one, drain a bit out until oil stops coming out of the top one. However, if you opened the bottom petcock, and no oil came out--better add oil! These were made from .032" brass rod stock, silver-soldered together, then carved to shape with a very small needle file. The thumbscrew was made by squeezing the annealed brass with a good pair of needle-nose pliers, aided by using a regular set of pliers on top of those--SQUEEZE.

I've wondered about spray dyes for PVC, just haven't gone and looked for any yet. Dunno if there's anything out there that would be as subtle a "buff" color as I want. Tires in the day of this T were natural latex rubber, and carbon black was just beginning to come into the rubber industry--so tires like these, while they photographed as starkly white (the primitive camera film emulsions of the day), more than likely "white" tires were a buff color, not unlike the latex rubber sidewalls on 10-speed bicycle tires of 40-45 years ago. Art

The top (4 very nicely, precisely molded sections) and the seat (4 pcs) are assembled, so it was time for a progress picture. Here it is, with the wooden dashboard sitting in place (not glued in yet, so that chunk of basswood was called on to tilt the whole thing up so the dash would stay where it is). The tires are white soft plastic--I'd prefer them to be a light buff color, but I can't find anything that will simply stain or tint them, and paint's out of the question--so white they will remain. Art

Time for the transmission foot pedals (for those who don't know, Model T Ford transmission is a planetary unit, with contracting bands to control which gear --low and high, reverse, and unique to the Model T, a brake band--all very much like a GM Hydramatic without a torque converter!). It was operated by means of three foot pedals, one for low-high, one for reverse, and another for the rear wheel brakes). As these pedals necessarily extend up through the floorboards, that took some measuring, and a whole lotta "By guess and by God!" work! The pedal arms were made from K&S 1/32" square brass bar stock, silver-soldered to bits of K&S 1/16" brass tubing, which was "sleeved over" 1/32" K&S brass rod inserted into drilled holes in the left side of the transmission housing. There was a whole lotta "by guess and by gosh" fitting, a bunch of bending, straightening, all of that! The foot pads should be integral with the pedal arms, but for my build(s), those will be gleaned from the ICM plastic kit (ICM kit has the pedal arms, but they don't even come close to mating up to the left side of the transmission housing!). So, on to the conversion work, OK? View from the interior: From the engine:

Another method is to use cheap aluminum foil, with the dull side out. To make this work, get some Micro-Scale metal foil adhesive (this stuff also works to conteract the often rough paint overspray on vent wing framing which keeps BMF from adhering well there too!) and carefully paint the adhesive on the trim spear where one needs the dull finish. Be careful about buffing this foil down though, as the friction of a piece of cotton knit is enough to polish it to a chrome like shine. I've used this method a few times in years past, and it does work. Art

Somewhere I have a line drawing created by Bob Clidinst out of Indianapolis, giving all the measurements of the real '57 Eldorado Brougham (once owned and driven by Anton Hulman Jr., long time owner of Indianapolis Motor Speeway, and housed in the collection of the Speedway Museum. Bob did all the critical measurements--here's what he found: Wheelbase, width and height are extremely close to correct for 1/25 scale, but the overall length is 18" too short on the model, that being in front of the front wheel arches (3 scale inches). The rest of the body is correct for length. What throws most people off is that the actual '57-'58 Eldorado Brougham is a shorter car than any other Cadillac. The rear doors are short on the real car, just as they are on the model, due to the roof being "close coupled" as it is. However, the rear doors are "suicide style", hinged at their rear edge, and there is NO B-Pillar whatsoever in that body. Instead of a B-post, there is a short, slightly angled pillar that comes up only about half the height of the door, that has only a latching plate. As such, the rear doors didn't need the length normally thought necessary, when hinging those doors to a B-pillar. The wheels and tires are much too large in diameter--those cars rode on 14" rims, just like very other Cadillac of the era. There are some anomalies with regard to body surfaces, they don't exactly match up side to side, but nothing that cannot be corrected if one wants to make the model more accurate. The tops of the front fenders are missing the pairs of narrow air scoops, and the cowl vent isn't all that great as well. On the plus side, the interior is actually pretty decent though. The actual car rode on a shorter version of the X-shaped frame that Cadillac pioneered, and was used by both Cadillac and Chevrolet through the 1964 model year. Art