Alyn

You've really hit on a winner here, John. bring on the updates

Between this and the sprue attachment points for chrome parts, it really does make you wonder.

Thank you all for the great comments. How fun would this be if we weren't able to share with each other on the forum. Being part of the community is an important and very satisfying part of this hobby. Here's the tiniest thing I've ever attempted with the soldering iron. This is the starting switch. It consists of four parts. The outer ring is a slice of aluminum tube that has been rounded over and polished. The black section is styrene painted in black primer. The switch part consists of the brass lever soldered to the head of a brass brad. this is then inserted into the black styrene. The other bezel will be an amp gauge, and the red knob operates a rod to the carburetor to adjust mixture. I still need to find a decal small enough for the amp gauge. This might even force me to try home made decals. A few posts back I remarked about a lousy location Revell used for an ejector pin; the top of the motor amongst the head bolts. Well, I found one even worse. My scratch built radiator tank was too close to the engine to allow room for an upper radiator hose, so I had to strip the radiator and cut down the tank. While doing so, I noticed the ejector pin mark on the front of the radiator shell. It surrounds the Ford emblem, and cuts across some of the lettering and some of the bead rolls in the radiator shell. Who's idea was this !

Great looking car, and just different enough to really stand out. Your camera skills do a good job of showing off the high quality finish and chrome details too. Very nice

Those are great parts, Johann. That's the kind of stuff that turns a good model into a great one. Very nice. Nice work on the truck interior too. I didn't slow down enough to notice the detail work you'd done on my first pass. It was well worth the second pass. My dad and uncle kicked around in an old 37 Ford pickup back in the day, so they always bring back good memories.

Thanks, Dan. Your interest and comments are always appreciated.

Thanks, Mike. I think you hit upon it; "going that far". I think a good job is dependent on the willingness to spend the time. Every bit as important as talent or skill. You sir, have the same affliction

Hope this one doesn't stay on the back burner too long. It's a great project. Did the hood hinge start with a photo etch part, or did you cut the pieces from scratch?

I've been trying to concentrate on cleaning my basement lately, but have managed a bit of bench time. Most of this has been concentrated on the engine & tranny. These shafts will support the pedals; low-neutral-high, reverse & brake. I drilled out the mounting holes on the tranny cover plate as well for some added detail. Pedals are made from brass; 3/64" round tube and 1/64" by 1/32" flat bar soldered together. Here's how they mount on the side of the transmission. You can see that the center shaft needs some trimming. Actually, all three need trimming to help narrow down the whole assembly. Each one is bent differently to line up correctly as they extend up through the floor. I had originally planned on making the foot pads on each pedal out of brass, but have since decided to use styrene. This will eliminate the need for more soldering heat that could affect the existing joints. Here's some work on the manifold. The exhaust and intake manifolds don't bolt directly to the side of the block. They are held in place by a series of "T" clamps which are not molded into the AMT part. I added these using some Evergreen half-round rod and miniature hex bolts. There should be a fourth one in the rear, but there's no section of exhaust manifold in that area to support it. The upper and lower (exhaust/intake) sections of the manifold had to be cut into pieces and reassembled closer together to accommodate these clamps. You can also see some work done to the head. The top radiator hose and outlet are grossly unrealistic. It reminded me of the turkey neck from our Thanksgiving dinner. It,was cut off, and a flange was glued in its place. This will be followed by a new radiator hose. There's not much room for this with the engine and radiator mounted in place, but I'll come up with something. The red putty is covering up a pin mark. AMT could not have found a worse place to put it. Very difficult to get to with all the surrounding bolt detail.

The brass work is looking good, Bill, but I sure like looking at that front end shot of the motor. SWEET !

Looks like you're off to a good start on the chassis, Billy Boy. I was wondering if you were planning on a full tube competition style, or something milder for the street. FYI, take care not to pretty up the solder joints too much until you've finished with the surrounding joints. Otherwise, you may be filing them more than once. Work looks satisfactory; carry on

Wow, that real wood looks just like real wood. Great job !

I wonder how they'd look on a Model-T ...

Thanks, guys. Mike, sorry I didn't catch you comment on the last go round. Thanks for the compliment, but remember, Bill ("Billuminum") Davis and many other seriously excellent builders (John Smiley comes to mind) haunt the Midwest area. Got some work done on the engine. I was wrong earlier with the "7 parts" statement. This engine only has 6. So far, I've added around 30 with plenty more to go. The kit 4-banger doesn't have a starter motor. Some of the real Model-T's had starters and generators and some didn't. I scratch built both from styrene rod. Here's the starter. It's a pretty basic piece: The kit motor has the lower radiator coolant tube molded into the side of the block. Not very realistic to say the least. I ground most of it away with a Dremel tool, and then used a #11 blade to carve the front cylinders back into reasonable shape. After filing the output elbow, a rod was inserted to help align the new brass coolant tube that will take it's place. You can also see the extensions on the front of the motor to accommodate a fan belt and the bosses on the transmission where the pedals will attach. They need some further trimming. On the other side, I added a generator; another simple collection of styrene rods, and what I assume is an oiling assembly in front of it (with cap). for a final installment, here's another attempt at the tailgate rivets. I found some brass brads that had a head diameter slightly smaller than the brass plated straight pins. These looked reasonable to me, so they were shortened and super glued in place. Regarding the site glass for the radiator cap, I've already carved up a chunk of clear sprue to a rough fit. With a little more work and maybe a dip in Future, it should look pretty good.

Thank you all for your interest. Johann, comments like yours are inspiring as well. I appreciate the sentiment. Here's a little detail you might enjoy. I just finished (for the third time) the radiator cap tonight. Not actually finished, but close. The first attempt consisted of a base made from 3/32" brass rod roughly 1/8" high. The center of this piece was narrowed with jewelers files with one end being the base and the opposite end a platform for the wings and site glass. I filed some flats into the site glass end to create a hex shape and then filed a groove across the top to provide a firm seat for the wing. The wing is simply a small diameter brass rod with each end curved and filed to a flattened point. The site glass "was" a sliver of 3/32" brass tubing set up on it's edge. After several attempts trying to keep these three pieces in alignment while I soldered, I lost the site glass part. I built another one and went through several more attempts to get everything in alignment. Once the pieces were finally together, I filed away the excess solder and the followed up with fine sandpaper, finer sandpaper, Dupont rubbing compound and then metal polish. When it was almost finished, the site glass part broke off and commenced to play hide-and-seek on my cement floor. It won I gave up on the three piece design. The new version consisted of a base of 3/32" brass rod. The site glass and wings were created as one piece by bending a loop in the small diameter rod with the ends of the loop crossing over and extending to each side to serve as the wings. This was easier to solder into position. The downside of both designs is that the solder covered up all the work I did to create the hex top. Here's how it sits now. I can see in the picture that some more filing is in order. This will then have to be followed up with another round of sanding and polishing. I will also be shaping and polishing a piece of clear styrene to fit into the center of the brass loop (site glass). Pretty simple update, but it was a lot of effort for such a small part. Mock-Up:

Super cool pic, Mike. It really shows off what a great job you've done with this truck.

Can't get enough of you outdoor glamour shots John. Taking on these old school customs takes some serious talent. You are fearless, my friend. As usual, looking forward to the next one.

Thanks for the compliment, Art Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. My week off is almost over and I certainly don't have much 25 Model-T building to show for it. Here's what I do have. This build is broken down into several sub-assemblies; the tub, top, bed, wrecker boom, fenders, engine & chassis.I'm trying to get the fabrication work done on each one before getting into any paint. Not even primer unless it's needed for the fabrication. The wrecker boom is pretty much complete. I wanted to wrap up the bed as well, so I needed to address the tailgate. I soldered a short piece of brass tube to some sheet brass and fastened that to the rear of the bed. For the other half of the hinge, two strips of brass were fitted the the tailgate. Each strip has a small section of tube soldered to the lower end. A thin brass rod slides through all the tubing to create the hinge. You can see the rivets on the right hand strap, but this may change to bolts. A chain supports the tailgate in the open position In the closed position, the hook is used to keep the tailgate up. That finishes the fab work on the bed. The radiator also got some attention. In all the research photos, there's a large tank at the upper rear of the radiator, so I used some styrene strips to add that to the kit piece. The tank as pictured isn't finished. It will get a rear panel to finish it off.

A real standout 55, Pete. The yellow takes it over the top; perfect choice of color.

Beautiful work, Erik. Outstanding realism.

I want it to be a dark color, and just happen to have a partial can of Krylon Hunter Green; so that works for me. The paint is a matte finish, so it will require a gloss clear coat. I did a test shot and the green lifted after a somewhat wet coat of clear acrylic laquer. I'll need so it not so wet, or switch to a water based acrylic such as future. thanks for asking

Thanks for checking in Bill, and thanks for the offer, but I'm taking the easy way out on the top; styrene fabric all the way. Durable and easy to clean. I'd bring this to the Slammers meeting, but it's not fit to travel. Still a collection of loose parts. Now get back to your soldering iron, or in your case, mini-tig.

Turned out great, especially your use of color. The body color has a nice military look about it and the gray tones are a nice complement.

Excellent work on the dashboard. Looking forward to more.

hey, looks like you're scrapping the cab and going for the rickshaw look. I never would have thought of that. Cool idea. by the way Mike, if you're looking for a place to hang the master cylinder, put it under the floor. That's where it is on these trucks. The pedals come up through the floor as part of a lever arm that operates the master cylinder push rod. Maybe with that you could still run the brake lines. It might even be easier. Still loving that bed. One of the best I've seen.