Alan Barton

Finally, one that had a big impact on my life. As a fifteen year old, I belonged to the local hot rod club and had my heart set on building a hot rod. This was the car I wanted. Problem was, the AMT 29 Model A roadster wasn't available in Perth but the Monogram Boss A Bone pickup was, so I got that instead and fabricated the rear quarters from cardboard and Bondo. It is brushpainted in Humbrol red. By the time I was 27 I had built my dream car and 34 years later I am still driving it. It even ran a half hod for the first few years. See, dreams do come true! Cheers Alan

Hey Tom, that green 57 Fairlane with the custom front and rear end extensions was my first ever 1/25th scale kit. Sadly it didn't survive the passage of time but I still ave the seats, the front extension and a few other bits and pieces. That really brought back memories. The next one is an AMT 50 Ford convert built by my brother Rob. We were ahead of our time back in the early seventies - this one has a complete late model MPC Pontiac floorpan and frame! Interior is in red and gold velvet purchased from a drapery. Paint is pale blue Humbrol applied by brush. Spray cans were only available at one shop in Perth and they were the same price as a new release kit! Brush paint it would be on our budget!

I built this 49 Merc around 1971 or 72. It is brush painted Humbrol Maroon. I recently gave it a bit of a polish with Tamiya rubbing compound and the gloss is amazing! I am tempted to block sand the whole body and polish it to a mirror finish but then it wouldn't be the car I proudly built way back then. The Pegasus wheels and tyres are recent additions - I built it with the white walls and mags from a Don Edmunds supermod but reclaimed then years later for another build.

Also built by Richard was the Drag Hag. Again, the body is made from Cardboard and Bondo It used parts from an Airfix 1/32 scale MGB. About ten years ago I realised what a gem it really was and managed to find a re-issued MGB kit and replace the missing parts. Otherwise it is as he built it.

What an amazing thread. I hope it turns out to be one of those huge threads that continues forever. That Gravel Girtie is one of the most original designs I've ever seen on a roadster. And the heavily chopped white coupe is so raw it is like a piece of art work rather than a model. Can you just imagine the pride the builder would have felt when he finished it? Here's a few from my collection. The first one was built by my cousin Richard in the mid sixties. The body is made of heavy cardboard and Bondo. I think it used Aurora 22 T rear fenders and radiator and a Little T roof. When I got it , a lot of pieces were missing so I made a dropped (just a little!) axle from sprue bent over the gas stove. I added the Pontiac grille from a 50 Ford kit and the Wankel rotary from a then new MPC 73 Vega. I also used two SweeTee turtle decks to fill the gap between the fenders and pair of bucket seats from a toy XKE Jag . Never did work out how to get a steering wheel in there. I spent days trying to produce the smoothest glossy black finish, brush painted with Humbrol No 12 enamel. Trust me it is about as smooth as the bark on a gum tree!

I photographed this Man-A - Fre manifold in the swap meet area of the Bakersfield Hot Rod Reunion in 2014. I figured it would be a handy reference point one of these days - looks like today is it! Hope it helps you guys in your discussions. Cheers Alan

I'm no Photoshop guy, but looking at the side views, maybe flattening out the top of the door window opening would add a bit of sleekness (is that a word?) to your design. You clinical surgery on the section job is sensational - you have certainly raised the bar as far as that goes! Cheers Alan

That was a very brave conversion to tackle. I wouldn't have thought the 32 panels would lend themselves to the Model A anywhere near as well as this. As if that wasn't enough, you do a truly amazing engine detail job that looks totally convincing, plus what seems to be a perfect match for the original Model A colours. While I'm sure you can think of ways to improve it, it sounds like everyone here would be happy to have it on their own shelf. Cheers Alan

I keep the really cool old AMT , Revell and Monogram boxes with nice artwork but for all the rest, I cut them down and store them in plastic sleeves in lever arch files. Takes very little time or space to organise and it can be great fun to go back and revisit old kits from your youth. Now, at the risk of sounding like a reformed alcoholic, here is how I store my parts. I have passed this idea on to many of my model making friends and it has been working for me for over forty years - I have found no need to change it! And in case you are wondering, I am not a neat freak - quite the opposite. The difference between me and a complete slob is that while I am good at making a mess, I recognise the need to clean up from time to time and my system has worked for me for a long time. Surrounding my model bench I have two sets of pigeon holes holding approximately 180 small flat boxes that used to hold photographic paper - I used to teach photography in a former life. At the back of my bench are five of those plastic nut and bolt tray cabinets that you get at a hardware store. You need to find some form of container that you can obtain lots of, in a consistent size and cheaply. Avoid round containers (jars, cans etc) like the plaque - they waste space obscenely! So, you start your modelling hobby and you take one of these boxes and you write on it "tyres" (OK, tires for you guys!). When that box fills up as it surely will, you get a second box and label it "Racing Tyres" . The first box gets relabelled "Street tyres" and you then sort your tyre stash into the two boxes accordingly. Some time later your Racing Tyre box fills. So you get a third box and call it "Drag Racing tyres" and the other becomes "Circuit racing tyres"'. Split the contents of the Racing tyre box into the two new boxes. When the Drag racing tyre box fills up, split it into Goodyear slicks and M&H slicks. You get the idea. There is one overwhelmingly simple, fundamental rule to all of this: "Never duplicate, always split!" The benefits of this system? Well, when I am looking to start a new model, or maybe restore an old one, there is no need to sort through thousands of parts - you just go directly to the box describing the part you are looking for. Secondly, when I am cleaning up my benchtop, I can do it in less than an hour - no wasted time thinking "Where will I put this?" You just put it in the fenders skirts box or the fuel injection box or whatever it may be. Obviously this works mostly for the smaller parts - I still have old kit boxes with old bodies, chassis and interior tubs. Finally, this system is inflation proof. As your collection grows, there is no need to start over - you just keeping splitting boxes. OK, I have filled more than one box with those horrible AMT Goodyear Rally GTs but that probably is just telling me it's time to get rid of some! Here's some photos to explain what I am on about. I might be sounding a bit evangelical right now but it works well for me!

You've got some great proportions there, Glen. Now I know what to do with my spare Speedwagon body! The colour is a great match to a woody body. All in all a very believable street rod. Would I be correct in guessing you used the Revell Buttera 34 coupe fenders to rework the Willys units? Cheers Alan

George, the Buttera coupes are very small compared to an AMT 1/25th scale or Monogram 1/24th scale coupe. This is because Revell chose to use a Buttera Model T sedan tubular frame to base the model on. As a result the coupe is considerably scaled down to suit the Model T wheelbase and track measurements. It can build into a really nice looking model but it will never be an accurate rendition of a 34 coupe. The model below was built by an entrant in last year's Super Model Car Sunday event here in Perth. He did an excellent job but as you can see the proportions are not what you would expect - the hood is particularly short as is the grille. Cheers Alan

I got the chance to look at one of these at a club meeting recently. Beautiful kit of a not so beautiful car. If I was to rod it, I would seriously consider separating the front fenders from the body and sliding them forward to be at least level with the grille. It would help get rid of the anteater look. Cheers Ala

No worries Craig, that is exactly how I felt when I started gathering my collection! I found a bunch at the Toledo Toy Fair back in 1996 while I was living in Canada for the year and then set about finding the rest of them. I have three brothers and as kids we had Snap Draggin, Shiftin Drifter, Scat Cat as well as a bunch of Lindberg and Pyro rods. Hey, they were cheap and often all we could find over here in Western Australia. I still have a Hot Surfer to rebuild from a Hot Dogger (I think), a Ram Rod that has taken extensive restoration owing to the first builder misaligning the body panels and the Chevy pickup to restore from a gluebomb. I have also started a major rebuild on a rough Scat Cat (I actually had to fabricate an entire missing quarter panel!) which will be a track nosed salt lake roadster, to be towed by the Chevy. Tonight I will see if I can post some photos of my completed Scat Cat, Moody Monster, and the Buick and Tee for Two ( the one posted above was given to me by a friend over thirty years ago - after building my own I returned it to him for nostalgia stake as it was a childhood build of his.) And Mike Cassidy, I'm a bit busy with some other projects at the moment but when I get the chance I will flick through my Car Crafts and see if I can find the articles detailing the cars for you. If you have any other questions about Aurora rods, be sure to ask. Michael Smith, yes that is a great book and a big help to identifying all the Aurora's - I'm lucky to have an earlier one in my library. Cheers Alan

OK, the Road Raider wasn't the Buick Touring, it was the Model A Phaeton with the half top. If you look at the cover of the Ventures album you will see the same car on there with the band! Here's some photos of my built Auroras. And Mike, you're right about the Forty-Niners. They also make a cool little rod that is a throwback to a simpler time. The channelled 32 roadster they do is very neat. Wanna trade the trailer? In my humble opinion the 1/32 Aurora hot rod models are very underestimated kits. The quality of engineering is very high and the fit is as good as you could ask for. Sure they have multi piece bodies but they fit better than any multi piece body you ever attempted in 1/25th scale. I have made no attempt to modify any of the models you see below. Some were built from virgin plastic while others were restored from glue bombs. When you use modern hobby paints plus Bare metal foil and a few adult modelling skills, they can look quite smart on the shelf. I only wish Molotow pens were available when I built these at least I can use them for the half a dozen or so 1/32 scale kits I still have to build. .Me, I love them!

Did someone say 1/32 scale Aurora? I am a nut for these things and have managed to amass all the original hot rods - I must admit to not chasing Old Ironsides, The Meat Wagon or the Heavenly Hearse because they did not appeal to my traditional definition of a hot rod. What I can tell you is that pretty much every one of these cars was originally featured in either Car Craft, Hot Rod or Rod and Custom around 1961 - 1964. I thought I had written down all the corresponding articles and magazine issue dates somewhere but can't seem to find it right now. The ones I know for a fact existed in real life are as follows. Shiftin Drifter - right down to the rear bumper and taillights Scat Cat including the Rolls Royce grille shell The Spyder Beatnik Box 32 Skidoo - the early version of Dave Stuckey's Lil Coffin before Darryl Starbird bought it. Wolf Wagon (including the bed rails and rippled exhaust pipes Moody Monster - a very famous drag car, Hugh Tucker's silver 29 Chevy. The only thing missing is the full hood that Tucker usually ran. Tee For Two - the only one that used the original car's name. I modified my version to run a flathead but the real car later replaced the flathead with a Chevy, still with the unique exhausts out the front of the car. If Road Raider was the Buick Touring, then that is in the magazines as well. I hadn't found The Charger before until I followed the link in this thread to another thread that I somehow missed before. I figure if such a high proportion have appeared in magazine articles, maybe they ALL did? Unfortunately my early sixties Car Craft and R&C collection has a few gaps so I can't be sure but it makes sense to me. I believe that Snap Draggin, the 27 T coupe, is the rarest of all of them. I am very fortunate to have a restored one in my collection. It not only had a 390 Ford instead of a 409 Chevy, but also had totally different wheels and tyres to every other model in the series as well as posed front wheels. The grille was a very squared off version of the Ala Kart or Silver Sapphire grille. Not that pretty and I didn't lose a lot of sleep over the fact that mine was missing! With a copyright date molded in the floor for 1965, I believe this was the last Aurora hot rod to be designed. I would love to know if, with the significant engine and wheel changes, if it was to be the start of a new generation of hot rod designs that sadly never continued. I guess we can only speculate now. I will see if I can find some photos of my collection too post here. Cheers

Just thinking randomly here but in the mid to late sixties, when channeling was very popular on the Aussie rod scene, a lot of cars ran post 34 style front axles, with the spring in front of the axle but still in the stock crossmember. It allowed the car to sit closer to the ground but shortened the wheelbase at the same time. Would that help with the close coupled look you are after, Bernard?

Just thought you might be interested to know that the Guild contest made it to Australia! When I was ten years old, my parents took me into the R&I Bank headquarters in Barrack Street, Perth. On display in the foyer were glass display cabinets full of Fisher Body Guild contest models. As a ten year old I was blown away. I so badly wanted to enter this but, alas, I was nowhere near "16 to 21 years old". I was aware of this contest having read about it in 1964 or '65 Model Car Science magazines that my cousin had given me. I went home and Dad gave me a block of pine that I started carving away at with a one inch chisel. I seem to recall it looked more like an old sneaker than anything automotive - I wonder if it is still lurking in amongst my Dad's timber stash? One car I remember in the display was a very smooth swoopy two door coupe in a soft light metallic green. It was very believable and could even be compared to some early 21st century Japanese coupes seen on the road today. There was also a black car with red trim and I remember thinking it wasn't very well finished (much like my own models of the time!) . The green one was flawless. I have no idea if these were some of the models that GM had bought from US contestants and was now using as promotional material or if in fact these were built by Australian modellers. Last night, I was searching through a 1966 Australian Hot Rodding Review magazine for some info on early Australian Holden customs. There on the very yellowed pages I found a one page article on this forthcoming contest - closing date was March 1st, 1967. But just like you guys, in all my years of travelling around, doing model shows and hot rod shows, I have never encountered anyone who even remembers this contest, let alone has one of the models. Can any Aussie forum members shed any more light on this? Cheers Alan

That works for me Dale! The amazing thing is, a 59 Chevy is so outrageous to start with that you can add bubble tops and not change anything else and it works just fine! And, it would keep you nice and warm in Tasmania! Cheers Alan

Thanks Dennis, for showing us a beautiful model and a great way of doing it. I don't know that I would have thought of the zig zag cut but it is so obvious when someone else has already done it! Not only do you overcome any proportion issues that you mentioned, you also have a much easier area to prepare for paint, rather than trying to clean up the join between the back edge of the fender and the front edge of the doors - that would be a nightmare! I had already cut the front off the woody for such a project and was also intending to graft a 41 Plymouth front clip onto the remaining woody body. Your great work here has got me thinking about it all over again! Cheers Alan

I'm guessing this is a fairground only car. If so, that's fine, it has created attention for the builder, some people will love it, some people will hate it, but basically no harm done. Style aside, the biggest issue from a road safety point of view is that with that highly exaggerated rear spring mounting, if either the main leaf or one of the spring perches breaks (believe me, it happens), that frame is going straight into the ground (or it will do after it grinds off the bottom of the cowl.) Either way there won't be much steering going on. Just be hopeful that it's not your wife and kids in a mini-van that it careers into when that happens. Cheers Alan

Rodney, you nailed the proportions and stance on this one and I do like the way the colour scheme flows right throughout the car. Strikes me as a perfect contender for about a 1963 Car Craft feature article! Cheers Alan

That would have been very on-trend for the mid nineties, Oliver. Using the frenched Mustang taillights was a great idea. Cheers Alan

Fair enough! Patrick, this will mean you will get rid of the woody body that you didn't like and also put a much more competent chassis and fender unit under the Tudor body. I am currently massaging an AMT Vicky body to fit the Revell fenders but there are three points to note, one of which I haven't quite resolved yet. 1.The AMT body hangs a bit low at the rear and interferes with the fuel tank. I found the easiest option in the long run was to carefully cut the Revell fuel tank free from the chassis and lower it a couple of millimeters - easier than cutting down the body and having to rebuild the lower swage mark. Haven't tried the MPC body yet. 2.You have to add a wedge shaped piece of plastic to the bottom of the AMT body to get it to sit level on the fender unit. Not hard but definitely time consuming to get nice bodywork. 3. The swage mark on the cowl won't quite line up with the swage on the Revell hood. Still have to come up with a solution there. Maybe a combination of AMT hood top with Revell hood sides - huh, just thought of that and now will have to wait until I get home to see if it will work! Cheers Alan

I grabbed some photos on my phone before I headed off for work so that you can see the differences between an MPC Tudor or Delivery and an AMT Tudor. The differences I see are as follows: AMT door handle is in swage lines, MPC door handle is below them on flat section of door MPC Body is taller at firewall and swage mark is higher as well MPC has noticeably taller windows (as per the Delivery shot) Note that even though I chopped the MPC body A LOT it is still not much lower than the AMT at stock height. From the rear, MPC bodies look much flatter sided and more upright. From rear, MPC body has an exaggerated upwards arc to the swage line. On the chopped Tudor ( I started this over thirty years ago!) you can see that I didn't need to lengthen the roof. On the front or "A" pillar, instead of shortening it by the amount of the chop, I cut a vertical notch into the A pillar after the roof was removed. I then dropped the whole roof down inside that notch. There was so much plastic there that I was able to reshape the front pillar to suit without any filler. If anyone has any tips for sanding the window reveals accurately after a top chop I would love to hear them! (Oh yeah, be gentle about my Delivery - it was built over 35 years ago and was my first spray can paint job ever. Rather than rebuild her, I am waiting for the new re-issue, if it ever gets to Australia!) Cheers Alan

Thanks everyone. I got sidetracked last night Patrick but will get to it tonight. My MPC Tudor is an unfinished chop top but I also have a built MPC delivery so I will grab a photo of it as well. Might even grab the current Revell body to join the party. I agree Dennis, the right hand side is definitely the tough side. I see the whitewall side representing a 59-62 era build while the blackwall side is much more contemporary - I see a lot of cars being built in Australia with this look, pretty much from the mid eighties onwards. Cheers Alan