styromaniac

Definitely following this one....

Congrats again on another spot on build....you continue to set the bar very high with execution and attention to detail. Ive never attended NNL East...thought about hitting the road in the predawn hours Saturday in order to make it up there but decided I didn't have it in me for a 4 to 5 hour drive so I settled for the 1-1/2 hour drive to Maryland's eastern shore for Jalopyrama...which turned out to be a good second choice...almost 300 pre 1963 hot rods, gassers and dragsters on display...and the weather was nice to boot. NNL East remains on my bucket list.

Nicely done...looks like a fine rendition of a not too easy to find kit. I've tried to score one but on the rare occasion I find one it's priced beyond my checkbooks ability.

I'll have to agree. I attend the IPMS Model show in Richmond Va every February. It is a very well attended gathering with first rate modeling on hand....armor, aviation, ships, automotive, figures....almost too much to take in during one day, yet there are concerns about an aging attendence group. Speculation was that participation would be waning with the old baby boomers unable to continue...but this winter there was a boom in younger modelers...and their category? GUNDAM! An energetic group with 200 entries...they had to add tables.

Thanks Bill. A compliment from an expert post war period hot rod builder such as yourself means a lot. I have always enjoyed your own build threads.... as well as your constructive comments on others work .....because they inform and instruct. Your knowledge of real full scale hot rodding coupled with parts sourcing in the scale world is a great contribution to the hobby!

Thanks Mike...Geezers rule!

A simple yet fun build. I'm going to display it on the wall...right under that framed album cover.

I can almost hear that surf medley music wafting over the smoggy LA night air....

Carriage Lamp tail lights ( with MV model Railroad red lenses inserted into drilled out lamps ) ....and photo etch wire looms in place on the engine block with Detail Master distributor.

Indeed JC. You going to the MAMA show in May ? The TROG theme might just be in my wheelhouse.

Tamiya paints...rattle cans for the chassis , suspension , engine and bucket body....bottle paints for the cruising couple. The wide white Big and Little tires are from the Revell 29 Model A "Rat Rod" edition, with the backing brake plates from Revells 48 Woody kit. The photo etch dashboard gauge rims are from Model Car Garage with Detail Master paper gauge faces.

The Stromberg 97 carbs in the original 60s edition of the Revell "Tweedy Pie" kit are really well executed...especially with those nicely detailed curved stacks...but I thought I'd give The Model Car Garages own Strombergs a shot. The tri carb intake manifold is an after market resin item from Replicas & Miniatures of MD, the chrome bell air cleaners are from the new Revell 2in1 29 model A kit. The Rams Horn exhausts come from AMTs stock 57 Chevy re-tool kit.....along with the fan belt and generator.

Spark plug wires.....fitting the photo etch wire looms.

The Columbia Two speed rear comes from the Revell 40 Ford kit...or was it AMT ? Either would suffice. ( I checked my build notes...it came from AMTs '41 stock Woody kit ) The T Bucket body is from the old AMT '25 T re-release kit ( not the Revell Custom Car Parts 23 T Bucket as I previously wrote ) Body required some minor modifications. An ancient re release of the Revell "Tweedy Pie" in "Rodfather" form furnished an interior, the seat will be re upholstered in tuck and roll format with half round Plastruct strips.

Selections for components come from my massive kit collection and parts box in order to duplicate the car in the photo. The engine was an easy choice...the venerable Chevy small block from Revells "Tweedy Pie" kit. The wheels on the real car are apparently 58 Chrysler Imperial wheels, I didn't have anything that remotely resembled them but thankfully Fredericksburg Va modeler Jerry Fraser's own parts box furnished reasonable facsimiles. The romantic couple comes from the classic old Lincoln Futura kit...with a little alteration they can assume a "parking" pose. Other suspension parts are easily sourced from Revells classic 31 Woody / Sedan kit for the dropped I-beam, and rear leaf spring from Revells 29 Model A kit.....

I actually completed this build awhile back but never got around to posting pics. If you are an aging baby boomer like me you might remember this iconic T Roadster ...it was actually built by New England hot rodder Fred Steele. Record company promotion people were looking for a hot rod to grace the cover of The Ventures new release, and wanted it photographed overlooking the L.A. basin from high up on Mullholland Drive...and California newcomer Fred's ( who had joined the LA Roadsters car club ) ice box white T Bucket was perfect for the night shoot...or so the legend goes. First step in the build was to get the Revell 29 model A frame shortened and narrowed with a 90" wheelbase.

I initially started out trying to hand paint designs in a Yellow Submarine motiff, but just couldn't get the look right. In order to complete the build in time for the IPMS show in Richmond last February I came up with the idea of wallpapering posters. While not true to scale...they do pop out visually. I got a lot of inquiries at the show about how it was achieved...for some reason people just couldn't believe it was simply photo copied paper.

Sorry about the cell phone camera photos...but you get the idea. These were done while completing the build.

This past winter I realized that Woodstock was 50 years ago this summer, so I dragged out a project that I had started years ago ...the Revell release of the curbside Hasegawa (one piece body) 23- window VW van kit. I opened the trunk lids and side doors, primed the body with Krylon Black Chalkboard paint, and proceeded to wallpaper the heck out of it with rock concert posters and hippie art work...accessed from the internet and printed out on a quality photocopier then wallpapered with diluted Elmers glue. I installed the engine and bucket seats from a Revell VW bug, scratchbuilt a reel to reel tape deck wall unit from Evergreen sheet, and included little scale tape reel boxes. While a little over the top and not exactly a scale rendition of what you might've seen heading for Hippie land back in the day...it was fun.

First model I ever entered in a contest was the Monogram Little T...about 55 years ago when it was a new kit. Didnt do too bad, won second place Jr division. Have always liked that kit, the last few years I went on EBay searching for the original issue kit with six carbs and wide white bigs and littles with baby moons ....to revisit those formative modeling years. Mint '64 editions were just about impossible to find so I ended up buying 4 or 5 partially built or completed glue bombs at reasonable prices to cobble together at least one buildable kit. I noticed every one I bought had a front suspension that was a glued up mess, requiring a massive effort at restoration. After many stops and starts I finally completed it yesterday morning to enter it in the N Va IPMS Model Classic that afternoon. The result? Another second place finish...in the "Out of the Box" category. History repeats itself.