alan barton

After about 90 minutes I had the five pieces of the hull together. No photos because my hands were pretty busy once I got started. I used Revell Professional cement with the little needle applicator. I ran a bead down both sides of the joint between the hull and the left side. I let it sit and melt for a minute or so before I fitted them together, squishing the glue back and forward until it stuck good. The transom came next, again with glue on both sides of the joint. Next came the right hand side, and as I expected, the joint between the two sides at the front proved to be a little challenging. I let this lot set for ten minutes or so and then ran a bead of supereglue down the inside of each joint, just to make sure it was glued all the way through. I was hoping to get the hull and deck into one piece without any filler.

I just got my re-issued Century Coronado through Stanbridge's Hobbies here in Perth so after doing a bit of a review on Saturday night I decided to get stuck into it - even though I have way too many unfinished projects on the go. I am going to aim for the look I see in the very cool box art. That's not normal for me but I kinda like this thing just how it is.

Hey, I got three photos posted before Photoslowbucket did it's usual hissy fit and threw the teddy out of the cot! I'll just have to paint a picture with words from here on. The pro's of this kit? Simple, it's a boat. There are so few boats out there in 1/25th scale that any new boat is a bonus. I thought I knew my boat kits, thanks in part to Tim's boat chronicles, but I didn't know about this one until I heard of the reissue! Plus, it is a completely bonkers design which displays everything we love about the excesses of automotive design in the fifties. Also, despite its age and its parents, it's not a bad kit and my experiences so far show it goes together pretty well, with one caveat. I mentioned the flash. Flash doesn't usually worry me. Some kits have lots, some have almost none. It's a part of building a plastic model. The problem with this kit is that there is so much of it that if you are not very careful, you can trim off part of the actual part. Which I did. Twice. SO don't be like me and be very careful when you do some test fitting. I should have paid more attention to the actual mating surfaces and not worried about most of the flash until the basic hull was assembled. Hey, it's not a deal breaker but ti did cost me an hour or two fixing by boo boo. The way the chrome sprue is arranged means there is a horrible amount of attachment points on the chrome tiara roof band. You guys could send it off to Chrome tech easy enough but way out here I will just break out the Molotow pens. I think I will leave it at that and start a build thread for this model. I'll talk to you all again when Photopluckit starts to play nice again. Cheer Alan

The next white sprue contains all three rows of seats, the engine cover and the roof. Not to mention a rather toylike flag pole. As you can see, there is a lot of flash on this old tool. You need to prepare yourself to clean up evry side of every part, plus the feed tags are humungous and often interfere with a glue mating surface so you need to be extra vigilant to spot them all. Patience grasshopper, patience.......

Pretty cool artwork huh? The biggest sprue contains the two sides, the deck and the transom. The five piece motor looks like a V6 Hemi - was there such a thing? - and those two big crossmember thingies are part of the display base.

Thanks Tim, I thought you might like it. The woody, by the way, was inspired by your bronze woody that I saw at NNL Toledo back in 2010. So seeing as how this is the boat thread and I haven't seen a review here for the Lindberg Century Coronado, I figured it was time I did one. Here's the box.

My last boat for now is the Westcraft Go Boat from the AMT 64 El Camino. I found this kit at a New Jersey Toy Fair that Tom Geiger took me to in 2013. The guy wanted $150 US which is closer to $200 Aus. The guy wouldn't budge a cent so after carefully checking that the body wasn’t warped and that the glass, tyres, decals were all good, I had to suck it up and part with my money. That is easily the most I have ever paid for a model kit but it was a holy grail and with the encouragement of my wife I laid down my money. When I got home I wanted to build the boat to go behind my 29 Woody first. I started selecting the parts from the box when "Ohhhhhhh NO!" Someone had carefully cut all the boat parts off the chrome sprue. Being right in the middle of the sprue I hadn't noticed their absence when I inspected it at the toy fair. You can’t begin to imagine my disappointment. Anyhow, at least I had the instructions to show me what the missing parts looked like! I cut an AMT Parts Pack Corvair flat six in half to give me a vertical three cylinder. The headers are three short bits of solder capped with three ferrules from worn out paint brushes. The other missing bits were salvaged from my parts box. Turns out a strange hood scoop that I had for years was actually an engine cover for a Go Boat! I now have another hull and that cover to build a second Go Boat but once again I will have to scratchbuild everything else. I'll never know if the vendor was a crook or if the guy that sold the kit to him was a crook but at least I now have a complete 64 El Camino and eventually, a complete Go Boat! Yesterday I picked up my Lindberg 59 Coronado boat kit for just over $50 Aus. It looks pretty cool – has anyone built one of these yet? It goes against the grain but I think I am going to build mine box stock! Cheers Alan

I can give you a real life example of your back story SFD, way out here in Australia. Like the USA, our manufacturers were involved in muscle car wars in the early seventies. Around 1972/73 they were looking like bumping it a level or two when a prominent newspaper ran a beat-up scare story (Young Drivers in 150mph Cars!!!!) and the manufacturers dropped their plans like hot potatoes. The XU-2 V8 Torana (GM), the Phase 4 Falcon ( Ford) and a new Valiant Charger are all well documented but Ford was also working on a V8 Cortina based on the 4 cylinder English car of the time. It did get a one page preview article in a local motoring magazine but was basically overlooked in the furore. Ford gave the handful of prototypes to executives to drive as company cars for 12 months and then quietly auctioned them off. My mate’s quite elderly mother was looking for a new car at the time and headed off to the auctions and came home with a mint green with white top Cortina with a 351 sitting up front! Everything about the car was neatly finished as if it was ready for the showroom floor. I saw it once in 1977 but didn’t have a camera at the time and I have no idea where it ended up. This is no fantasy, it really happened and is a very close match to your back story. Love how the Satellite is going, by the way, and I will continue to enjoy your story. Cheers Alan

I like where this one is going and I would kill for a set of those wheels! What a natural choice! Looking at the side view, is there any chance of getting the nose down just a smidge? I think it would really show off the bellypan is there wasn't so much air beneath it. Cheers Alan

I was wondering if this might work - I wonder no longer! Nice job mate. It also looks like a natural for a 36 Ford Tudor conversion. Cheers Alan

Here's the only rear shot I got. At our regional Nationals in Busselton last year I managed to get 13 28-29 roadsters lined up side by side. You can just see in the first photo that it has black headlights like yours as well. The 32 grille, flathead and brown interior are the only big differences. between the 1:1 and the 1:25. That's my sixties style red roadster alongside the brown one - it's now in its 33rd year of constantly on the road as a daily driver.

I am really enjoying your traditional interpretation of hot rods Dennis, and this one is a knockout! The engine bay detailing is phenomenal and I love the way you grafted the 40 X member int the 32 frame. I thought you might like to see this local car from Perth Western Australia. It has been on the road about two years now and has striking similarities to your model.In real life the colour is a bit closer to the shade on your model. Hope you like this touch of deja vu! Cheers Alan

Hi everyone, July 9 will mark the 19th running of Australia's largest display of hand built model cars, trucks and bikes. Last year saw over 1000 models ranging from 1/64th scale to 1/8th scale. It's a great day for anyone with any interest in models and it is the social event of the year for all model builders. Details are as follows Fantastic model cars, trucks and bikes! Awesome displays! Slot car racing and R/C demonstrations! Real hot rods outside! Demonstrations and Trade stalls! 9 a.m. til 4 p.m. Sunday 9th July 2017 West Coast Street Rod Clubrooms 12 Cusack Road Malaga Western Australia Adults $7.00. Kids under 16 free Contact Alan on 9448 0110 for more details or email at ausbodies1929@hotmail.com Follow us on Facebook! Cheers Alan

Pat, congratulations on getting this far on your epic project. Sure, there might be things that annoy you or that you would do differently next time but considering that a '34 Chevy is probably THE most underrepresented classic American car in all facets of modelling, from HO scale train accessories to 1/64 diecast to 1/43 collectibles to 1/25th scale plastic to 1/18the scale collectibles, well, you get the picture, you have created a genuinely unique model and it is a solid representation of the real thing in the garage. That HAS to put a smile on your face every time you look at it! Cheers Alan

Heaps of Aussies here Michael, welcome aboard. Cheers Alan

No worries, mate. One other thing I just thought of - while I have been working on all thee forties, I stumbled on two separate running boards in AMT tan plastic. I don't hahve the kit but am wondering if these came on the Diamond in the Rough version? That could solve your running board problem! Cheers Alan

Hi again, Bernard, I had another look at the new frame and new fender unit. The stock Revell frame definitely DOES NOT touch the AMT crossmember. it doesn't need trimming at all. The interference is entirely between the floor versus the fender unit. At around the rear seat mount area it clashes with that cross member. I don't have any spare Revell frames to start a new conversion (Revell kits now run about over $50Aus, or at least $38 US so buying donor kits is a bit prohibitive at the moment) but if I was to do this again, especially with regard to your running board removal, I would try it this way. First, I would trial and measure to cut the rear of the floor off at the point where it interferes with the central crossmember. I would then deal with the front half of the remaining floor. From my checking, I don't think it would take very much trimming to get the Revell floor to fit neatly within the inner edges of the AMT fender unit. Once I was happy with the fit I would glue it in tight and do any remaining bodywork to clean it - I am guessing very little. Now your fender unit would be nice and stable. I really can't visualise how I would tackle the rear part of the floor but I am guessing cutting it up into two or three section and doing lots of trial and error fitting. When all of this was locked in I think you would then be in position to safely remove your running boards. Hope that helps Alan

OK after investigating I found a few things I did. You're right, Bernard, I did need to cut out the centre crossmember of the Tudor fender unit, the one just forward of the rear fenders. But what I had also forgotten was that I lost the Revell floor (which I found after finishing the model!) so instead I used a sheet of self adhesive brushed/polished aluminium paper (from a scrapbooking store) to cover the bottom of the interior tub. I took another piece of the same paper but did not remove the backing sheet. I trimmed it to fit the rear half of the Revell chassis, folding a return into the front edge where it butts up with the interior unit. I then used superglue to attach the rear section of this paper to the downwards sloping section of the top of the front rails, leaving the front half of the paper free. When I drop the chassis into the fender unit, it all snuggled together nicely. I then glued an AME fuel tank in place. I suspect that not using the Revell floor is probably why I didn't encounter some of the problems you did, Bernard. Who knew misplacing the floor could be beneficial? Cheers Alan

Sorry Bernard, I missed our post when I made the last reply. Yes, I definitely used the AMT Tudor fender assembly. I did the body to frame conversion several years ago and don't remember making any cuts at all. I have just painted another Revell 40 frame and I have a raw 39 Tudor sitting out at the moment - at our big model expo next weekend our club is doing a Before and After theme to educate the public so my build room is littered with Forties this week! Anyhow, I will go and have another look at my finished four door and also at the two new components and see if I can clarify anything. Yeah, the wheels get me guessing all the time. I used to think I was indecisive, but now, I'm not so sure!!!! The odd thing is, of the twenty or so models I have with different wheels on each side, I usually end up preferring one side over the other. However, other modellers who see them often have preferences for the opposite side. On my tangerine pumpkin, both sides are talking to me at the moment. Cheers Alan

Thanks guys, The colour was Plasti-cote Odds and Ends Tangerine over white primer. I really like it - it has a very clean bright look to it and covers brilliantly. No clear applied at all, just a bit of Tamiya fine polishing compound on the roof. Only one hardware store in Perth ever carried this paint and it is long gone now but all the colours were awesome. If you can still get it in the USA, I strongly recommend it! Cheers Alan

Darn, missed that! I was aware of the '39 having a chrome windshield frame as distinct from the fixed, rubber edged screen in a forty. Removed the wipers for that reason. I have several more 39/40s in the works so I will keep that info in mind for those versions. Glad you all like it! Cheers Alan

I figured someone would spot the wheels, Jay! It's just a quirk of mine. I only have a limited number of my favourite wheels, and also I like the effect different wheels can have on a rod. So, when I'm building low fat fendered rods or fifties and sixties classics, I sometimes run different wheels on each side. By changing the direction of the front row of my display cabinet, I have a whole new collection to show off! (And it never ceases to amaze me how many people do nit notice!!!!!) I wouldn't dream of doing it on a hiboy for example. And mike 51, right is right! Cheers Alan