alan barton

Have made a bit of progress recently and got colour on the other day - unfortunately there was some bodywork on the rear tank cover that simply wasn't good enough so that is getting corrected now. Cheers Alan

QA good friend of mine, Vern Scholz from Calgary Alberta, build a ripper many years ago but sadly it was stolen at a contest and its whereabouts are unknown. Like all of Vern's work it was a thing of beauty with exquisite detail.

Yeah, most excellent build! Captures the spirit of Gray's build perfectly without being Gray's exactly. Cheers Alan

No I hadn't but thanks, it is very helpful. Sadly my elderly father is in hospital on his last legs so progress on this model has halted for a while. Thanks to all who have showed an interest so far. Cheers Alan

I fell in love with this as soon as I saw the undersized front wheels hanging out of the front fenders - a look I have loved ever since I saw a black and white photo of an early Plymouth gasser styled street rod in a 1971 (I think) issue of Rod and Custom magazine. Will be following this veeeery closely - I have one Monogram and one Revell 30 coupe kit yet to start! Cheers Alan

In between lots of puttying, sanding and priming I have been working on the frame. The AMT Parts Pack Allison will obviously become the powerplant. Thanks to Ace Garage Guy's comments I have removed the reduction box from the rear of the engine. I have also removed the frame horns in front of the crossmember and added small triangular shaped pieces of styrene to form up engine mounts for the Allison. The original car employed a humongous 14inch diameter by 17 inch klong torque tube to try and control the torque steer of this monster. After hinting in vain through my scraps box, my wife unearthed a Guterman's plastic thread spool that scaled out perfectly, right down to having a flange on one end! This was cut to size and fitted to the rear axle - I later removed it because it will be easier to glue it squarely to the engine if that is done first. I have also started to construct the very crude roll cage that Jim used to protect himself. As best I can tell from photos the front legs were joined to some sort of strong firewall rather than directly to the frame as you would expect - that will be tonight's job! Cheers Alan

So after about a week of evenings it is starting to take shape. The roof contours are a lot more refined now. I glued a strip of Evergreen round rod onto the sides of the roof to begin reconstructing the roof gutter mouldings. I also cut the entire floor out of the 34 chassis as the original car used 34 Ford frame rails but with drastically narrowed crossmembers. There are three holes in the rear pan that need to be filled also.

Truth be known I started this project several decades ago, not long after the AMT 34 Tudor came out. At the time I was very unhappy with the progress of my chop so it was put aside. From time to time I reworked it a bit more but it went back in the box each time. Earlier this week I started to look at it again and dug out my original references. Acclaimed Calgary modeller, Vern Sholtz built a replica of this car about thirty years ago but it was sent to a contest and never returned, a great shame considering the calibre of Vern's work. He gave me copies of his reference material and since then I have found two more magazines and a thread on the H.A.M.B. that provide more information. Although this car is very famous it was not around for long so there is not an endless supply of photos of it, especially in colour. My intention is to build it as accurately as possible but make educated guesses on the items that cannot be discerned from available photographs. The first photo is about where I left it a few years ago. Yes, it is a ridiculous chop! That's how it was. I had thought the rear of the driver's compartment was opened through the roof but realised that was incorrect so that has now been corrected. The stock hood sides were removed and replaced with new smooth sides made from flat styrene. The original car had a one piece lift off fibreglass body, the very first one in drag racing and I will be replicating that a feature. The door hinges and the firewall have to be removed as well. One change I would make if I was starting the car today would be to use the fender unit from an AMT 34 5 window coupe. This is because the fenders are closer to the correct stock appearance than the skinny ones in the Tudor kit but I'm not going back now! Cheers Alan

That is really something Phil - first class effort! Cheers Alan

Thank you, Dave, much appreciated, P.M. sent.

Hi admin, I do apologise at using a public forum to express my concerns but I have exhausted all other avenues. I have been a subscriber for around 20 years. I have only ever had the one home address and one email address in this time. My renewal notice is sent to that email address, which is also the one I use for this forum, and my magazines come to my home address, obviously. However, I have been trying on and off for a few months to either renew my subscription or get this problem solved with no success. I have now missed out on the opportunity to buy one, probably two issues of my collection. Every time I try to renew, the computer insists that my credit card does not match my address. This is not so. It is the same credit card I have used for years. It is the same address I have lived at for 22 years. I have gone into my account and corrected an email address that I have never used (an icloud version that must have been automatically inserted at some stage) and updated my phone number, not that I would expect an American company to call an Australian number. I have tried and tried but to no avail. I have written to you via the "subscribe" address at the bottom of the subscription page but have received no response to three emails. After all, all I want to do is give you money! It shouldn't be this hard, and it has never been a problem in the past. If you can possibly let me know what action I need to take to renew my subscription it would be greatly appreciated. This is the message that appears on my screen. The address provided does not match billing address of cardholder.

Nuts - I like it! For what it's worth, the real Red Baron has a silver painted helmet rather than chrome ( or polished alloy) so if you pained it silver it would be appropriate. The radiator overflow can is a nice touch! Cheers Alan

Like it! My first ever 1/25th scale kit was a first issue AMT 57 Fairlane so i have a soft spot for them! This would look so good in a parking lot or used car yard diorama. Simple, understated. a little time capsule of the era. Cheers Alan

Here's my contribution to this amazing global community project. Thanks to Dennis, Tim and everyone who got involved or cheered us on! Cheers Alan

Surely the most beautiful and stunning commercial vehicle in history and you have truly done it justice with your model. I have three of these to build and after seeing yours I am seriously rethinking my colour choices. Absolutely beautiful! Cheers Alan

Incredible! Was this based on a real prototype or simply created from your imagination? Cheers Alan

I'm a born and bred hot rodder but for some reason I keep getting drawn to these factory stock projects. Congratulations on a beautiful rendition of your Nova! Cheers Alan

That's a beautiful build of a pretty average kit! I found out about the Vicky interior many years ago while teaching high school kids how to build models. This kid comes up to my desk and says something to the effect of "This thing sucks, the dumb thing doesn't fit , its not my fault yadda, yadda, yadda." In my most professional and compassionate tones I re-assured him that , "Of course it fits, we'll just fit it up towards the firewall - wait a minute, we'll move it towards the back a touch, hang on, maybe if I just, just, just, ahh, this thing sucks, the dumb thing doesn't fit, it's not my fault........" LOL! Long story short, I had a spare correct interior at home, I swapped it with the kid's Vicky interior and we all lived happily ever after!!! Cheers Alan

I love the whole colour scheme on this one - pure fifties style even if it has a sixties engine. Using those big ol' Revell Racemasters has done a good job of disguising the altered wheel arches of this model. Just on that, Tim, were you ever privy to the decision making on raising those rear wheel arches, both on the roadster and the coupe? I reckon I could count on the fingers of half a hand the number of Model As I have seen with this treatment in real life. Considering the inclusion of two sets of interior panels in these kits, a far more sensible option would have been to keep the body stock for the hiboy option, and provide the raised inner wheel wells on the channelled interior panels. Then those who wanted to have raised wheel arches could have radiussed them before gluing on the panels with the raised wheel wells. This would have given a further option to the kit with absolutely no increase in engineering or production costs. Ahh, one day when I own a model company, I'll show 'em.......sigh....... Cheers Alan

What a great conversion - the finished project disguises the amount of work you did to get it looking just right. And this is definitely one of the times when huge wheels really suit the car - they look perfect on this one! Cheers Alan

Tim, I would have to agree with your comments regarding the awkwardness of the Revell roadster out of the box, as well as how we view things with today's eyes rather than the eyes of a hot rodder in 1962! I have been filing the daylights out of the lower apron of the grille shell as well as the front surface of the front crossmember in order to get the radiator further back. I think this is definitely a case of where the thickness of plastic desirable for rigidity in a plastic kit is way over scale compared to a 1-1 vehicle. I also find that the kit has the headlights spread too far apart and any effort to bring them in closer to the grille is rewarded. I have already lowered the rear wheel arches on two of my builds but I must write down the actual measurements so that I don't fluff around next time - I'm sure my latest effort is now a bit further down than it should be but fortunately on a black body it is not so noticeable. Channelling was a very popular choice for Australian rodders right across the country in the sixties and only started going out of favour in the mid seventies. One thing about channelled Aussie Model As, they were always dropped on their guts! I know they were not scared of Zee-ing the rear of the chassis but don't recall what they did to lower the front, other than sometimes using '35 and onwards style front axles with the spring in front of the axle.. Now THERE'S a style that has gone out of fashion! I can also recall a few that used long sidepipes to close the gap between the body and the ground. Your red roadster is a cool looking addition to your fleet - you must post a photo one day of all your fenderless Model A roadsters together! Cheers Alan

Hi Tim, this one would really ride nice and smooth with that long wheelbase! Looking at your suspension, I cant help wonder if both front and rear came from an AMT 25 T. The front axle looks too narrow for a Monogram Lil T and the skinny quickie and long rear radius rods also smack of the AMT version, as do the hairpins. Having just finished a few AMT 25 T's these components rang a bell as they say! Just a thought! Cheers Alan

Here's mine, the original "twelfth of never" project. I have been on this over thirty years but refuse to give up. A 1935 Ford phaeton that I bought at an auction as a complete basket case for $100, and then sold unrelated parts out of it for $100 the next day - yep, a free tub! This has had a huge amount of work done on it in the time I have owned it but still has a long way to go. I promised everyone that as soon as I retired I would be working on it seven days a week. No, really! Instead, I have been building models like tomorrow is the last day of the universe. I have finished eighty models in 20 months but alas, the phaeton is still sitting in the garage laughing at me. Will eventually be a fifties style custom but with 350/T400 under the hood, Holden IFS and Chrysler Centura coil sprung rear. The basic fabrication work is all done but final details like interior, plumbing, exhaust and gear shift are killing me! I want to get this car so right and not just hand it over to someone to finish. My motto is, "I can make mistakes for half the price of a professional!" Wish me luck!

This thing is so creative! I have this kit, still in it's shrink wrap because I hadn't come up with a good idea of what to do with it! You have achieved that in spades! Such a clever design. Cheers Alan

Thank you everyone, so glad that you all can appreciate an ugly duckling! Tim, the paint is Tamiya Metallic Red over grey primer with Tamiya gloss clear on top. It was all done with spray cans and then polished out and yes, I'm very happy with it! Cheers Alan