Art Anderson

More like the first time I ever saw styrene plastic do that, as it had never happened to me before, and never in the 45 years since (and it was good, old-fashioned 3M masking tape, same as I use still). Art

#1: Back in the spring of 1969, while finishing up my bachelor's degree, I decided to tackle two of the then-new MPC 1968 Gurney Eagle Indy cars. One was to be the Rislone car (Bobby Unser, 1968) and the other Bobby Unser's 1969 Bardahl 1 Special--a '68 Eagle painted in the then-current Bardahl black & yellow checkerboard pattern. I got both of them to the black paint stage, and double disaster! When pulling the masking tape away after doing the black on the Rislone car, it didn't just pull the red lacquer (automotive lacquer) off, it PULLED a layer of the plastic off as well--apparently a bad batch of styrene that day? I also had sprayed all the black squares on the Bardahl car, removed the masking tape, and put the "tub" in between two study lamps with 75W light bulbs in them--something I'd done countless times before with no problem. I glanced at that car after about 15 minutes or so, only to be horrified to see that every black square had softened, warped inward--while the yellow squares were just perfect. Not a good day. Art

John, With the Model T, you are most correct: There was no such thing as an annual, model year change in the Model T--changes, both mechanical and appearance-wise, happened as they happened, which makes certainly "brass era" Model T Fords to date just by looking at them. "Sheet Metal Joe"(Galamb, Ford's stamping wizard back then) comes up with a newly shaped, less expensive to produce set of front fenders? They got put into production as they happened, rather than holding off for a specific time of the year so they could be announced as being "new". In fact, there were almost no announcements of styling changes until the "1926" Model T's were introduced. Art

Given that ICM is located in Ukraine, I'm wondering what effect, if any, all the mess over there is having on the company? (fingers crossed). Art

I've got a test shot kit of the '54 Hudson Hornet Special Club Sedan sitting right by this desk as I write this. As soon as I clear another project off my work station, it's gonna get built and finished out. When the production kit comes out, I'll for sure convert one to a 4dr sedan in full Hornet trim, white over red, as a model of the car in which I took my Indiana Driver's License driving test on August 13, 1960 (there's a couple of funny anecdotes about that which I'll share when I've got the car built. The two 54's are another pair of home runs, folks! Art

That would have been the "Car Craft Dream Rod". Art

XR-6 still ranks in my book as one of the best, if not the best expressions of where hot rods/street rods were headed in the early 60's. Even those "stylized" fenders just belong to and on that car, but then I've been accused of being opinionated before! Thanks Dave, for the excellent pics! Art

Rudy, As I read and understand what you say here, it sounds as though your problem is one of paint adhesion--something is preventing the paint you are using from adhering (sticking) to the plastic, correct? If this is so, I would question the use of Dawn Dishwashing Detergent (or most any dishwashing liquids for that matter) as likely it has an ingredient intended to "clean right down to the shine". Often this means silicones, which are the biggest enemy to paint adhesion most of us might face. Rather than dishwashing detergents, I have used with at least 99.9% success, for years now, any old sliver of DIAL soap, as it has no such ingredients, nor any so-called skin softeners which can also leave a film on a plastic model car body. I simply scrub my body shells with Dial and an old toothbrush, rinse thoroughly with clear tap water, "blot" (not wipe!) the larger droplets of water off the body shell inside and out with a plain paper towel, and then "blow dry" with the air hose from my Badger compressor. This has always ensured me that I don't have any surface contaminants to play hob with the paint sticking, and I've used this with just about every brand/type of paint sold for use on plastic models. This experience goes back at least 50 years, so it must be working. Art

I prime all parts, including body shells and hoods, that will be receiving the factory colors, and ALWAYS use my airbrush to apply primer. My rationale is pretty simple there: I paid good money to get a model car kit with fine, crisp surface detail--it makes absolutely no sense to me to go and hide all that with rattle canned primer, which is about as delicate for painting as a fire hose, IMO. Also, using an airbrush for painting makes it a lot easier to get inside fenders, rear quarter panels and the like to ensure that all visible surfaces underneath will get painted. Airbrushing also makes it possible for me to assemble a chassis completely, THEN paint it as a unit, and still get paint in all the crevasses, nooks and crannies. I always "color sand" my primed body surfaces with at least 6000-grit Micromesh polishing cloth, to give the primer a satin finish surface--again, this makes final polishing of the finish colors just that much easier. Art However, for small parts, chassis, engines, etc. I find no value in priming them, after all, the factory didn't do that on the real car.

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!

With most model kits, and certainly reissues, any production run is finite, just so many are put out by the injection molding press to be sent down the assembly (kit packaging) line; unlike mass producing real cars, where the production line just keeps on going, hour after hour, day after day until the market is full up. A production run of model kits is based on expected sales at release/reissue time, and that might vary a bit. Just a bit of guessing here as I'm certainly not privvy to Round 2's planning, but it seems to me that if this reissue took three years to work through the pipeline from factory to retailer to hobbyist, that was a fairly long time, which suggests to me that the sales were considerably slower than expected--unless there was more than one production run. So, how large is a production run, anyway? With a new kit, the factory may be called upon to run say, 25,000 kits to start with, as that's about what will fill a half-size shipping container, with smaller follow up runs as sales indicate. With a reissued kit, the initial run might be only say, 10,000 kits, given that reissues almost never sell nearly as quickly as the kit did when new. Not very often do reissued kits see more than one production run--particularly true with really old kits from years past--the market seldom dictates more than one followup production run, if that. Art

I learned, years ago, that there are some epoxies (glues) that will not stand wet-sanding--when their surface is wet with water, in very short order the stuff just crumbled like sand, as you mention. The couple of brands I had that happen with were off-brand stuff bought at one or the other of the "-Marts", so I went back to using DevCon--with which I have never had that problem. Art

To carry this a bit farther: From about 1931 through 1958, General Motors had a 3-body program across all divisions. They went as follows: "A Body"--this was the body shell used by Chevrolet and Pontiac, and at various times, the smaller, lower-priced Oldsmobile. "B Body"--B-bodies were used by the larger ("Senior) Oldsmobile and at least the lower price/size range Buick. "C Body"--this body size was principally Cadillac, but from time to time used by Buick for their larger, more luxurious cars. As a general rule, these body shells did not vary in their major exterior shape when shared between multiple divisions of GM--note that the lower body sheet metal surfaces aren't completely structural, so GM Styling was rather free to give each division's cars at least some unique "wrinkles in the sheetmetal" below the bottom edges of the side windows--but for the most part, everything above (windshield, roof panels and back glass) remained the same whether the body was a Chevrolet, a Pontiac or an Oldsmobile 76 or 88. The individual GM Divisions were pretty much free to design their own engines, chassis, suspension systems as well as most sheetmetal and trim styling, but since the body shell itself is the most expensive single portion of any car, they were expected to use these shared body shells. As was typical of the era, body shells got longer as you went up the price range ladder, along with chassis needing to be longer when an inline (straight) 8-cylinder engine was to be installed, but even low priced cars could, and were built with straight 8 engines which put them supposedly in direct competition with Ford's mass-produced flathead V8's. Back to the '50 Olds vs '51 Chevy length: From the early 1930's through 1948, Oldsmobile offered not only an inline 6-cylinder engine, but also a straight eight (as did Pontiac through 1954) which dictated a longer chassis forward of the firewall. In those days, size meant status, so the longer wheelbase and overall length was seen by car buyers as having more status (rather like the comparison between say, a McMansion and a suburban "tract house" today), so when the straight 8 engine disappeared from production, and even with the lower-price level Oldsmobile 76, a chassis longer than that used by Chevrolet was necessary to fulfill customer expectations that with an Olds, a car buyer was getting a better, more prestigious car with greater luxury than with say, a Chevy. So that's why the longer front clip (sheet metal forward of the firewall), and a correspondingly longer trunk out back (the trunk actually wasn'tconsidered structurally part of the body, even though it was faired into the body by the sheetmetal quarter panels). Oldsmobile had two series of cars back then, the "98" which shared its C Body with Buick, and the "88", which while using the same Rocket V8 and offering the same transmission choices as the larger car, was built around the smaller, shorter (and lighter!) GM "A" body, which made for a car that looked to be not much bigger than a Chevy, but would sure blow the doors off any Bowtie at the stoplight. (Olds still had the "76" which was the very same car as the "88", but with lesser interior trim and using the last of Oldsmobile's flathead inline 6's, and I believe stick shift only--the "88" being available with either stick or with Hydramatic transmission) Even Pontiacs of the era were longer than Chevrolets, and used their own distinctive chassis underneath, due to Pontiac's offering straight 8 engines clear through to the end of production of the 1954 model year, but Pontiac still was restricted to using the smaller A-body shells. Art

Aaron, As others have stated, the use of powdered fillers such as Micro-Balloons has the capability of "softening" otherwise very hard glues such as epoxies or even CA glue, which makes them far easier to file, sand, even carve with Xacto knives--to get the shapes and surfaces desired. I first learned about Micro Balloons back in 1981, when a newly made modeler friend in far Northwest Indiana showed me a complete 1/25 scale model race car body (1920's Frontenac Model T Ford) he was scratchbuilding. By mixing Micro Balloons with Devcon 5-minute epoxy, then spreading that over a "buck" he'd carved from a scrap block of that blue insulation styrofoam used in construction, he was able to form that body shell in perhaps an hour or so. Once cured out, he would file and sand it to shape, add more epoxy/MB mix just as we all use commerciallly made putties, and work it down. After he was satisfied with the results, he simply opened up the grille area and cockpit, took the project outdoors, and poured a coffee cup of acetone into the body shell, which dissolved the styrofoam in a heartbeat so that it could simply be poured out through the grille opening. I used this technique a few times after that to create my own Indy car and USAC Dirt Championship model car bodies--works great! In case it's not been really explained, micro balloons come out of the realm of high-tech industry and scientific research. Builders of radio control model aircraft discovered the material nearly 40 years ago, finding that when mixed with epoxy glue it made a very lightweight filler that could be used in smoothing out balsa wood cowlings and other fairings on model aircraft, where low weight is highly sought after. They are minute, tiny glass balloons, as fine as grains of talcum powder (which some of us older model builders can remember mixing with Testors plastic cement back in the late 1950's to make our own fillers before putties became readily available for model building), and yes, they can be an irritant if breathed in or if air currents should happen to stir them up to the point they get in your eyes, so protection is highly advised. Of course, wet sanding will keep that dust down, making it into a white mud that washes down the drain very readily. In addition to the glass microballoons discussed here, phenolic microballoons have also been available, but not as popular with modelers over the years. By comparison, pretty much all putties used in autobody use a filler material to make the product easily spreadable, relatively light in weight and more easily filed and sanded to shape--surprisingly, talc is what has been traditionally used to thicken up these otherwise very liquid compounds, and for the same reasons Micro Balloons come up for discussion in forums such as this one. Art

Nope. That's the E-Type roadster that Revell Inc. introduced in the 1960's. The Aurora XKE roadster kit hasn't been produced since about 1964-65 or thereabouts, IIRC. Art

Aurora did two E-type kits, the coupe and a roadster, back in the 60's. The coupes are fairly plentiful, considering that Monogram bought the tooling back about 1978-79, and reissued it, but the Aurora roadster hasn't been seen since forever. Revell (USA) did an XK-E roadster back in the middle 1960's, in 1/25 scale, been repopped only once I believe, and that was in the late 70's under their "ADVENT" brand. Art

Geez Brett! I use Goldberg SuperJet (my preferred brand and grade of CA glue) for almost all final assembly of model cars, INCLUDING glass and chrome parts! My "secret"? Bob Smith Industries makes an excellent CA Glue accelerator, which when spritzed on the wet glue joint, sets it up right now, and in the bargain, ABSOLUTELY PREVENTS any "fogging". I think you saw my '49 Merc wagon at NNL East--that was almost 100% assembled with SuperJet and BSI accelerator--not a hint of fogging on that car, believe me! Art

Why not contact Revell, let them replace the body shell? Art

One of my favorite memories of Indy (from May 30, 1961): Watching Jack Brabham in his Cooper Climax, which was essentially an enlarged 1.5-liter Formula 1 car with the largest engine C-C could build up, only 2.5 liters, going up against 32 roadsters, powered by 4.2 Liter Offenhauser 4's. Lap after lap (sitting in Turn 1) Brabham would drive inside, outside, around and through the roadsters, only to be sucked under when they hit the backstretch (he'd just repeat the process in 3, then back again in 1), all day long. While many in the crowd scoffed at the dark green (almost black) Cooper, there were some who knew they were seeing the future unfold on the Brickyard that day. Godspeed, "Black Jack"! Art

Back to the original premise of this thread, if I might: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a lot of hot rodding history surrounding it, not just in some of the cars that faced the starter's green flag, but drivers as well. The end of World War II (and with it pretty much the end of a lot of the mindset that stemmed from the years of the Great Depression and its aftermath) brought three distinctive types of auto racing to the forefront in the US: First of all came the midgets. Midget racing got its start in the middle 1930's in Los Angeles, fostered largely by Earl Gilmore, principal owner of Gilmore Oil Company (Gilmore Red Lion Gasoline) along with Gilmore Broadcasting (radio stations). Midgets, of course, were much smaller versions in many ways, of the cars that ran at Indianapolis in the 30's, but were pretty much a low-budget thing. After the war, Frank Kurtis began series-production of his Kurtis Midget, of which over 1,500 examples were produced, both as complete cars from Kurtis-Kraft, along with hundreds of kits consisting of precut, pre-formed parts, ready for one to built his own midget in his garage. Second came the "Roaring Roadsters", which were really nothing more than the hot rods that began dotting the streets of Los Angeles, ultimately spreading all across the USA--those days being the era of Model A and '32 Ford chassis with channeled roadster bodies (anywhere from Model T through '32 roadsters), being run on 1/4-1/2 mile oval tracks, most of which were dirt although there were asphalt ovals. Out west, they ran on tracks such as Ascot Speedway, Bakersfield, and Sacramento, Manzanita in Phoenix, with perhaps the ultimate being an oval track in Soldier's Field on the lakefront in Chicago--which races were promoted by non other than Anthony "Andy" Granitelli, then a partner in GranCor, a speed shop owned with his brothers Vince and Joe Granitelli. And of course, Stock Car Racing, but that's another story for another time. While of course, midget racing sent several stars to Indianapolis who won there: Most notable was AJ Foyt (1961. 1964, 1967 and 1977), along with Roger Ward (1959, 1962), but it was the hot rod "track roadster" that sent a few more: Troy Ruttman (winner in 1952), Bill Vukovich (1953, 1954), Bob Sweikert (1955), Pat Flaherty (1956, and a regular winner in Soldier's Field), and Jim Rathmann (1960). In fact, the very term "Roadster" as applied to Indianapolis cars comes from the hot-rod "track roadster" era! Frank Kurtis (perhaps the most prolific race car constructor of all time--at least two thousand race cars (from 1/4 midgets all the way up to Indianapolis cars, with a hundred or so sports cars thrown in along the way!) kept trying to convince prospective car owners who came to him to consider letting him build a truly low-slung race car for Indianapolis and the AAA (American Automobile Association and it's "Contest Board") Championship Series (forerunner of USAC, CART and today's IndyCar, BTW). Finally, for 1952, he convinced Howard Keck, an Oklahoma oil man, to let him build a race car for Indy, with the Offenhauser engine offset to the left for weight bias on left turns, angled over 18-degrees to the right for low frontal area (a 274cid Offenhauser is a pretty tall engine!), with the driver's compartment set to the right, the driver sitting BESIDE the transmission and driveshaft (which spun--open driveshafts in those Kurtis racecars!) just past the driver's hip!). The car, named the "Fuel Injection Special", having some sponsorship from Stewart Hilborn (ever hear of him, drag racers?). For his driver at Indianapolis, Keck chose Bill Vukovich, the son of eastern European immigrants, who was a regular on the hot rod roadster and midget circuits in California at the time. The story goes that Vukovich, upon seeing the Fuel Injection Special (actually termed a Kurtis-Kraft 500A), announced that it was as low as the (hot rod) roadsters he was driving on dirt at the time--and the name stuck. So now, you know the hot rod tie-in to the famed, and often-considered beautiful Offy roadsters of Indianapolis fame from the years 1952-64. Art

Hot Rodders at Indianapolis you say? Well, no car speaks the start, the beginning of hot rodding than the Model T Ford--the first car to have truly an entire speed equipment industry built around it. More than one Indianapolis 500 driver from the 20's and 30's cut his racing teeth, several winning drivers having started their racing careers driving hopped up Model T's on short dirt tracks--men such as Frank Lockhart, Wilbur Shaw, Louis Meyer, Kelly Petillo. In 1924, Indianapolis Ford dealer, Barber-Warnock Ford, entered a team of 5 cars, all Model T based, using the then newly introduced Frontenac 16-valve, DOHC Chain Drive cylinder head (Frontenac speed equipment was designed and produced by Louis and Arthur Chevrolet after the demise of their passenger car company by the same name). They were virtually all Model T Ford based, from engine (with the Fronty DOHC head--same version as found in the AMT '27 T Touring Car kits) to chassis, suspension and driveline. One of those Fronty T's, a nearly perfect example of the hot rodder's art, finished 5th at Indianapolis in 1924, ahead of a bunch of Duesenbergs and Millers--not bad for a Model T Ford, and that run included a long pit stop to replace a broken front spring--which was scavenged off a stock Model T found in the infield (it was replaced after the end of the race, allegedly before its owner discovered it!). In the driver's seat in this photo is non other than Henry Ford. His son Edsel is to the right, and the man standing behind HF is the legendary Barney Oldfield. Art

Addendum: When the Granitelli Brothers decided to exit the speed shop business in suburban Chicago, they sold out to the guy who became "Honest Charley's Speed Shop" down in Tennessee.

And, the Grancor V8 Special was a rebuild of one of the 1935 Miller-Ford front drive specials. That project was promoted to Henry & Edsel Ford by none other than Preston Tucker, of 1948 Tucker fame/notoriety. The chassis and body were designed by the famed Indianapolis car builder of the 1920's, Harry Armenius Miller, and powered by specially prepared (by Ford Motor Company) 1935 Ford flathead V8's, which churned out slightly more than 150hp, or about the same power as a 255cid Offenhauser of that year. There were 7 or 8 of these cars built, but just 2 or 3 made the race, all dropped out due to steering gear failure. However, in addition to the Grancor Spl shown by Greg, one chassis was purchased by Bud and Ed Winfield, who had Offenhauser engineering build up a 183cid supercharged V8 engine to fit in it. That car, the Winfield Special, went on to finish 4th at Indianapolis in 1941, and while the chassis did not return for 1946, the engine appeared in a new front-drive chassis built by the fast-rising carbuilder, Frank Kurtis, known thereafter as the NOVI--same basic engine as in the STP Novi 4WD Greg has pictured above, from 1963. BTW, the Winfield 1941 NOVI Miller-Ford car still exists: After being displayed in the former Briggs Cunningham Museum in California for years, sans engine, it was bought up and restored by a Denver collector--Chris Etzel and I watched it turn many laps on the Milwaukee Mile at the first Harry Miller Club Race Car Reunion in July 1994, reunited with its original Winfield (AKA NOVI) supercharged V8. Art

Frank Arciero out of Albuquerque NM was the car builder I believe--Mexican road racer Pedro Rodriguez drove it. Art