Paul Payne

Well, it's finally done. Overall, it captures what I wanted to achieve- a smooth, 40's style custom with a powerful engine under the hood.

F&F resin cast made a very good kit of the Continental MKII. They were pricey 20 years ago and I don't think they made many. As far as I know, F&F has been long out of business and I don't know if anyone bought their molds. I have one in my stash and someday I will get up the courage to build it.

Theraif, thanks much for sharing that great picture. Definitely looks like AMT may have been inspired by this little car. I wonder what kind of engine, and what displacement was used? If you have any info or a link, could you send it on? Thanks all for your positive responses to this different little project.

Here are a few more pix.

Thanks, Cobraman! Once in a while my paint jobs come out well- this was Testor's dark red with Testor's clear to seal the decals.

Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything, but in between working on my 1936 Ford 3 window coupe I put together what I consider one of the great bonus kits by AMT. I got an upper body, canopy, and belly pan of the streamlined go-kart as part of a trade- no chassis, engine, wheels or tires. I decided to go radical and built a dohc straight four from half of a grand prix racing engine, mounted sidewinder style, with a supercharger and dual throat carb. The belly pan was not salvageable (I decided to display it as though it had been wrecked), so I asked Norm Weber for a replacement which he graciously supplied. The frame, drive train, and running gear were put together from bits and pieces. The original exhaust exit holes in the body were filled in and a new one cut in the belly pan for the 4 into 1 exhaust. The wheels are cut down salt flats discs from the AMT Avanti, and the tires are o-rings. The seat is from a Green Hornet with a scratch built head rest.The trailer was a built-up haul away trailer I modified to fit the kart (needed to be wider between the fenders). For fun, I decided to use my rebuilt Black Widow as the tow truck. All the pictures were shot with my wife's I-phone- amazing how good camera phones have become! I will have some additional photos soon when Betsy has a chance to resize and e-mail them to me.

Added some update pix- the chassis is now rolling and the engine is mostly done except for the drive belts. The carb manifold is still loose so I can add fuel lines and carb linkages and route them to the fire wall after final assembly. I am discovering that breaking down construction into smaller, specific projects helps me focus and actually make progress- never too old to learn! Paul

What a long strange trip its been........ We are now living in Indiana, and the project is still a project! Still working on figuring out door hinges, how the exhaust will clear the frame, how the hood sides will clear the front ends of the Ardun heads, and how final assembly will go with a multi-piece body. When I make more progress I will try to post some pictures. In the meantime I restored a glue bomb AMT streamlined go kart with Norm Weber's help. I hope to post a few pix of this too. It's good to be back after way too long. Paul

I have a junker I plan on rebuilding. Currently gathering parts. Hope it turns out half as nice as yours! BTW, is the trailer from a kit, or scratch built?

A few more:

Here are a few of my favorite engines.

Augie Hiscano and Gerald Wingrove would be proud! You ought to show this gem without paint for a few years, just so people can appreciate the fabulous workmanship. Thank you so much for sharing in so much detail.

Augie Hiscano would be proud..........

You've been reading your Gerald Wingrove books again, haven't you.......................

Cranky, This one caught my interest. I build 40's style hot rods, raced at the dry lakes. The lakesters and modified were single seat narrowed to about the width of a stock 32 grille shell. Depending on how old school you want to go, consider an Offy 4 banger or Ford model T or A engine with some vintage speed equipment- maybe a Frontenac head on the T block? The Revell ratrods pickup kit would have a lot of potential doner parts and the new midgets look promising. Anything v-8 would stick way out beyond the body envelope, and make the narrow body kind of pointless. Just thought of another possibility- how about the engine from the Monogram Bugatti T-35b kit?

Cranky, I crown you the King of Weathering! Thanks for sharing the great tips and techniques as well as the tantalizing photos of projects we haven't seen elsewhere!

Cranky, we too have a chihuahua named Emma- sweetest little pup you could want- a real eye roller! Keeps our toy poodle Abbie company- they are best buds! By the way, can't wait to see the new project!

Cranky, the aerodynamics alone are mindboggling...........................your builds absolutely define fun and creativity in model building! There is also the possibility you are the ultimate kit basher!

By the way, the newly tooled tires look awesome- as far as I know, this kit was only offered with solid rubber grooved tread tires for front and rear- the same tires used on the sport coupe and original Green Hornet. The re-issue of the Green Hornet had poorly detailed 2 piece plastic tires which were the only disappointment in an otherwise fine re-release.

Guys (and gals!), Check out what I did with restoring an original built example- this is a great start for a model which is not available in any other kit form- see more at "Black Widow rebuild project and Black Widow comparison in "Under Glass".

Really great weathering job- I lived in central Pa for years, we have a lot of dirt tracks with red clay as the surface- you would have had to add a ton more to weather it for that! Could you tell me the diameter of the wheels? They look a bit smaller than 15" or 16" wheels- I am thinking of using this kit as a source for hot rod parts.

A very fine build with lots of attention to detail- the leather hold down straps on the hood are especially well done! I have considered this kit because it looks like it would have loads of parts for hot rod projects- I was wondering what diameter the wheels are, since unpierced Halibrands are hard to come by- they look smaller than a scale 15 or 16 inch wheel.

I actually had to fabricate a new hairpin radius rod from bits and pieces from the parts box- definitely the most challenging part of the rebuild.