Phildaupho

Thanks Tom Thanks Rusty It was a very interesting and enjoyable project. It only took me 60 years to get around to building an Ala Kart but it may have been worth the wait !!??

I have been a fan of the Ala Kart since I first became aware of it in the early 1960s after it had already won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy twice. For whatever reason I never had the original AMT Ala Kart kit. When the second tooling of the Ala Kart was released in 2002, I immediately bought one and eventually had four kits in my stash. Although I have long had intentions to build a model of the Ala Kart to compliment my Rodder’s Journal poster of the restored car, over the years I have only robbed parts from those kits such as the chrome wheels, white wall tires, steering wheel, twin outlet chromed exhaust and nerf bars. This year I decided it was time to finish building models of all six of the Rodder’s Journal poster cars that hang over my model building workbench. Having recently completed a model of the Sam Barris ’49 Merc custom, it seemed natural to follow it up a model of maybe the most famous Barris creation – the Ala Kart. There has been a lot written regarding the relative merits of the two generations of the AMT Ala Kart kits. Many consider the second generation second best for numerous reasons. I do not dispute those observation but I do not have the original kit - only the few carry over parts that came with later reissues of the AMT ’29 Ford Roadster. My objective was to build a good-looking model that is recognizable as the Ala Kart. ENGINE – Without close scrutiny the most glaring deficiency of the more recent Ala Kart kit is the too small engine. The correct sized Dodge Red Ram block from AMT ’29 Roadster was installed connected to with the correct length transmission and various other parts from the Ala Kart kit. Venturi stacks are from the Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kit. CHASSIS – Air bags were smoothed with springs made from wire. I installed the rear suspension Panhard bar which is supplied but not shown in the instructions. Forward engine mounts were altered for the longer engine. The track was narrowed front and rear so the wheels and tires fit better under the fenders. INTERIOR – A gas pedal was added. Gauges were printed from a photo of the actual dash and mounted from behind. BODY – I do not have much of a problem with the over-all look of the 2nd generation AMT Ala Kart compared to the real car. The underside of the Ala Kart was upholstered with pelted Naugahyde and was an iconic aspect of the car that was highlighted when it was displayed. This detail was reproduced by AMT but marred by the numerous injection circles. I redid the upholstery simulation with Evergreen V-Groove with 1.5mm spacing. In doing so I was able to cover some areas missed by AMT. AMT also went to the trouble of fully rendering the ribbed texture on the pickup bed side panels and provided a full coverage decal but half is covered by the inner fender structure. I removed that area to expose the gold covered area behind the rear wheels. The sides were removed from one of my hoods so the engine could be exposed and the hood scoop was opened up. I also prepared a second full hood with sides. The Ala Kart used ’58 Chev taillight bezels that are replicated in the kit which also supplies eight clear red lenses of two different styles. The instructions say to use the “Bullet” lenses which are similar to the stock Chev lenses but the Ala Kart used flat-top ’56 Desoto lenses which are also supplied. GRILL – The opening in the grill shell was cut open leaving a narrow shoulder for the modified grill to mount. Horizontal rows of pins were separated from the clear grill part and glued to a piece of photo-etched square mesh. The pins and other “gold” items on the model were painted with Tamiya clear yellow. PAINT – Tamiya Pearl White was applied over Tamiya Pure White which covered the Tamiya Light Grey Primer that was top-coated with Tamiya Clear after the decals were applied. The upholstered areas were dull coated. DECALS - Although I had Fred Cady decals, I went with the kit decals for a number of reasons. Neither version of the decals is totally accurate but the kit decals are easier to apply, I had multiple sets if I screwed up [which I did], it allowed me to have two hoods, and they were designed after all for this body proportions. The kit decals are incomplete in that they do not provide for the black stripes on the back of the body in line with the stripes on the bed cover, or the ones on the top of the fuel tank in the pickup bed and under the pickup bed cover. Having extra sets allowed me the decal these areas. The gold on the pickup bed was done with Bare-Metal-Foil. Interestingly there are no Barris crest decals on either the Fred Cady or kit sheets even though there is a crest on the AMT box. I did make my own Barris crest decals but came across some phot-etched crests that I got years ago from a former Barris Kustom model car enthusiast who was getting out of the hobby. There is an On The Workbench thread about this project. It took two attempts to get the engine installation to work Ala Kart – 2nd Gen with 1st Gen Engine - WIP: Model Cars - Model Cars Magazine Forum The real Ala Kart has been restored by Brizio Street Rods. There are two galleries of photographs of the restoration and finished car. Rods in Progress - JOHN MUMFORD’S ALA KART (roybriziostreetrods.com) John Mumford - Ala Kart Model A Roadster Pick Up (roybriziostreetrods.com)

You really brought the box-art to life. Very well done.

THe only thing that could be better it a full scale 427 Cobra. Spectacular.

I like it a lot. Great job with the patina. I have seen a few Deuces that look very much like this.

When looking for a photo of the 55 Mad Camino I just posted I came across photos of another build that sort of fits this theme in a reverse sort of way. It is a '59 El Camino turned into a 2-seater hardtop Coupe with a very large trunk. It has Impala trim and interior. The rear wheel wells were radiused to the same shape as those in front and is powered by a Rochester fuel injected 409. The concept was that it would be a sporty vehicle to transport expensive sporting equipment like scuba gear and golf clubs.

This is a tribute replica built many years ago of a car that cruised the streets of Victoria BC Canada in the 1960's. It was known as the Mad Camino and as the story goes a tree fell on the Nomad crushing the back part of the Nomad roof was was converted into a pickup. I have heard the car still exists but needs a serious restoration.

Thanks Dennis - I agree with you entirely. Previous to this project I have used two sets of the chrome wheels but in both cases used white slicks so never encountered the recessed white walls on the rear tires. These kits are a great source of cool parts and I bought all mine for cheap at swaps. I have also used various other parts such as the nerf bars, steering wheels and exhaust pipes

After I read your first post I pried the wheels and tires apart and cut a couple of rings from sheet styrene to go under the whitewalls. It definitely makes the rear tires look a lot better.

Thanks Craig. Good tip about the rear white walls which I will try to do.

Thanks Rusty - I agree that the Ala Kart has a great chassis that would work very well under many hot rod projects and yes there is always something to learn which makes this such a great hobby.

Great concept and very well executed.

ROLLING CHASSIS TAKE 2 - I have essentially built an entire new rolling chassis. This time the 1st generation engine is mated to the 2nd generation transmission and bellhousing. Other changes to the engine include venturi stacks from the Revell ’29 Ford roadster kit, the elimination of the generator and fan and a lower mounting of the front cover. On this version I used the headers from the 1st generation engine. An interesting bit of trivia regarding the engine is that before it was installed in the Ala Kart it was used to power the owner’s race boat. Over the years the valve covers were polished and chromed so many times the Red Ram Dodge scripting has become very faint. I think AMT generally did a very good job replicating the suspension system. On this Take 2 I did install the rear Panhard bar which is supplied but not shown in the instructions. As with the previous version I built, I did use wire to simulate the coil springs. After mounting the wheels and tires, I decided to see how the rolling chassis fit with the fenders and discovered that the track both front and rear was too wide. I removed the shoulders from the wheel retainers and axles to bring the wheels and tires within the fenders.

Thanks guys. It was a fun build. I hope I can come up with a good prank for next April Fools.

I like your choice of red. Very good looking Ferrari.

Thanks Mark. I am going to see if I can make horizontal strips of pins work but if not what you see is what you'll get !!

Another aspect of the look of the 2nd generation kit I was not comfortable with is the grill. It sure is helpful having more than one kit for checking out modifications and of course for extra parts when a change goes awry. The grill on the real Ala Kart is very complex and AMT gave it a good try the multi pin clear piece but it just does not look very realistic with the flat perforated chrome piece that the clear pins protrude through. It took awhile to come up with something that better approximates the real thing. I felt very fortunate when I found a piece of photo-etch for a large-scale model with square openings on which the clear pins painted with Tamiya Clear Yellow could be mounted. I opened up the grill housing just leaving a narrow lip for the grill assembly to mount. I did consider cutting the pins in horizontal rows to glue to the photo-etch but after using double faced scotch tape to attach the clear grill so I could cut the photo-etch to shape, I thought I would leave it as is. Once completed I think the black radiator behind will give the grill even more definition. You can see in the photo that I have also opened up the hood scoop and separated the hood sides

Thanks guys. It is proving to be a very interesting project and more involved than I originally anticipated.

I do not have much of a problem with the over-all look of the 2nd generation AMT Ala Kart compared to the real car. The only change I am making to the exterior is to open up the hood scoop. The underside of the Ala Kart was upholstered with pelted Naugahyde and was an iconic aspect of the car that was highlighted when it was displayed. This detail was reproduced by AMT but marred by the numerous injection circles so these surfaces were first filled and smoothed. I then simulated the upholstery with Evergreen V-Groove with 1.5mm spacing. In doing so I was able to cover some areas missed by AMT. AMT went to the trouble fully rendering the ribbed texture on the pickup bed side panels and provided a full coverage decal but half is covered by the inner fender structure. I have removed that area which will expose the gold covered area behind the rear wheels.

The Foose truck is modified from stock in many subtle ways which would difficult to reverse.

Yes I did glue the doors and those doors were another reason I never finished the '56 as a kid when it first came out.

In my April Fools Foose Pickup post I wrote about a fictitious 53-56 Ford F-100 display at the Petersen Museum. If true that would be an incredible exhibit to see as there have been so many great looking 53-56 F-100s built over the years. I also know that there have been many great looking models of 53-56 F-100 built by members of this forum so let’s see what you got. Here are my two. The yellow ’56 was built from the Roth kit and converted to a big back window as the tow vehicle for Allen Grant’s 289 Cobra. The left-over decals were finally used to Overhaul the Foose Pickup. I checked my stash and I currently have two 53-56 F-100 kits – the 1/24 Revell ‘55 with the 5.0 Liter FI engine and the AMT ’53 with a car trailer and lots of other cool parts. I had the Revell ’56 when it first came out in the early 1960’s. My skills at the time were certainly not as advanced as the kit and I found it a struggle to build. I seem to remember it having chrome reverse wheels that were to be mounted on plastic pins which I broke. That kit never got finished.

Fantastic model Dennis. Extremely well built while keeping true to your chosen theme and concept.

Thanks everyone. I like to build something for April Fools Day but I missed last year. I built the truck in Roth kit as a replica of another 1956 F-100 a few years ago but did not want the great set decals to go to waste. I think a tread for 1953 to 1956 F-100's might be kind of fun.

I did a little more research into the engine and tried to be more observant this time. The fuel injection set up was essentially always for show. It did not and does not run a fan or a generator and uses a magneto for ignition. After its original car show career it was converted to carburetor induction for street-ability and in that configuration did have a fan and distributor. This being the case, I don't think the forward cross-member will need to be trimmed for the longer engine. Interestingly the carburetor option comes with the 2nd generation AMT kit but is not shown in the directions but does specify to install the fan and distributor with the fuel injection. For a lot of great photos of the Ala Kart during restoration at Brizio's check out this link Rods in Progress - JOHN MUMFORD’S ALA KART (roybriziostreetrods.com)