Jairus

Frame fits well but had to cut a hole in the sheet metal for the Model-A rear spring pirch. That is an old hot rodder trick by the way. The spring on an early Model A was located higher than the '32 model B so this effectively lowered the rearend and the whole car sat lower with-out having to "Z" the frame. For this build I am doing it the Rat Rodders way by keeping it simple.

Mike, because neither of those kits had the right parts. Revell never made a '29 Roadster body only a pickup and the pickup roadster is not in the picture. (dang...) The only thing that might have been easier would be to use a Revell 32 set of frame rails... but didn't have. Besides, they are 1/24 and would have been too long and too wide where as the little '29 body fits on the 1/25th AMT rails perfect!

Hey, you got all the right elements there, just remember that this is not a custom. It's a RACE CAR so get rid of the interior door panels, trim and extra weight those items bring. Think sports and racing cars of the time period and this one will turn out super cool.

This is the car that I am constructing for this build off: A traditional 1929 Ford roadster on deuce rails with a Caddy powerplant. The drawing was originally produced for Revell back in 2002 for a series of 1:64th scale diecast cars called "Rat Rods". There were 9 designs total and I received the chance to illustrate not only the blistercard art but create even the tampo prints and choose all the colors applied. So to build a 1/25th version is sort of exciting to me. This is the one and only of this series that does NOT have white wall tires. White wall tires were a premium prior to the the war and considered an extravagance during. After the war wide whites were relegated to customs and eventually fell out of favor only to be reborn during the 90's nostalgia craze. But the truth is that very few hot rods built 1946 to 1959 used wide white wall tires due to the cost. Especially the cars called Rat Rods! Ed Sexton, product mgr at Revell then was a little miffed that I wanted to do even ONE of his cars with black wall tires! This I believe was because of the greater cost it required to create the white wall tire in the first place. Okay, back to the build. A few years ago I started a thread called.. "the conservative rat". This was a response to Gregg cracking down on political speech in this forum. Mark and a few other liberals were going to build like vehicles. (Think Marks was to be a Corvair something or other) At any rate that died down but the body work on the AMT '29 did not. The floor of the body was cut out from between the fender molded piece and attached directly to the '29 body. This makes the body a one piece unit and that is step #1. Step #2 is a little harder in that I need a 1/25th scale set of frame rails. AMT bits take the stage as the molded in floor and exhaust pipes are removed.... ...and the rails behind the axle added using evergreen strips. A lot of sanding later and the addition of a '29 Model "A" rear crossmember... ... things are starting to look like something!

Very nice and good photography too!

Jason, Pegasus also has a set of wheels that are close: #1238 Chrome Phat Boyz's. The wheel diameter is a tiny bit smaller so the little VW wheel wells will not it look like a DONK!

That illustration was not done of an existing model. It was drawn for Rod & Custom of a mostly stock bodied 1963 Fairlane and R&C decided not to print it for unknown reasons. Unfortunately there is not a known kit of a 1963 Fairlane, only a 1964 (The Revell Thunderbolt). However resin bodies are available for that Revell kit or the original kit can be modified by a talented modeler as all the major elements are there with little effort, patience and evergreen plastic. This is why it is called modeling. Or, you could trade with someone...

The look and stance are great! Pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking about.... Is that a quick change poking out there in the back dude?

Well, the boxes may be slightly over priced... but they are rare and I give him credit for not using the word "rare" in the title. Plus he is accepting offers and that is something. Actually for relatively the same money, I would rather buy this box as it contains something even rarer and worth much more!

I have built a few of them. They go together as well as a Fujimi or Tamiya kit since the same mold makers were involved. I did a how-to article for Gary Schmidt back a few years ago. I thought he was going to have it published but ... now that it has been 5 years maybe he would not mind I have MCM publish it.

JT, the rear bumper is or was suppose to be a 1962 but a '59 Galaxie will work. The '59 part is slightly narrower than the space on the '60 rear end. But the dips provide room for decent FORD taillights, also from '59. The photo above was the inspiration for the artwork and preceeded the art by a few months. The car is a 1962 Galaxie and that has not be released in YEARS. The roof is a hard top roof like the skyliner but the front pillars and windshield are artists rendering soooo I would simply remove the wind wings and call it good. But if you want to put on a '86 Thunderbird front windshield... or even the full T-bird roof like I did then knock your self out! See, it fits!! The side vents are '98 Vette... ...and the blond is tired of being chased and lead her pursuer's up this lonely road for a confrontation with her Desert Eagle! Note the headlights reflected in the side of the car?

Eelco... what nationality is that btw? There was no description to go with that illustration. The four images published then were for an article about "Rat Rods" back in 2002. However, the body in that illustration would be AMT's '34 five window coupe and frame, with a '48 full race flathead, '40 Ford wheels, brake hubs and a hand painted sharks mouth on the grill bars.

I am building one of those for someone. Body only as it will sit on a slot car chassis. Never had problems getting paint to stick since I sanded, primed and shot all colors in lacquer BUT... I found that the left and right decals do not match! Some places the decals follow the chrome trim and on the other side it follows the roof line perfect. Now I wish I had simply masked and painted the blue instead of relying on the decals... which required mixing a blue to match for the spaces not covered and the roof! Now... how to replace those missing red lines? (yes, it went back into the box for a while)

Weeeellll... those are Olds "Festia" caps... ... and they are only found in the last two releases of the Revell 1959 Galaxie Skyliner kit. I would think someone out there in TV land might have an extra set, or else you could simply use some alternative wheel cover. Here is a set of them on a little rod I was building a while back.

Tony, Here is the copy as sent to SAE and published in Oct 03:

Tony, I will send you a PM via MCM forum of the car once Dave tells me what it is. I have 99% of the art here in my computer or in the drawer. Easy to scan and put them on my Fotki and post you a PM of the image. That work? Jody, the engine in the '53 Ford is whatever you want it to be! Hemi, Slant 6, Pinto 4 or 350 crate motor or flathead. The look here is what you are trying to attain. That would be the paint, detailing, wheel covers, stance, top chop (If that applies) are all the little details your build will be judged upon. That car could even be a curbside if you so choose, however if I had to say what was in Neil's pickup it would be a duel or triple carb straight six with a split exhaust manifold and duel exhaust. Speed parts can found in Galaxie's fine Chevrolet kits. :-) In the 53 Ford lowrider.... a 1959 300 hp Thurderbird 352 Special V8 with three deuce carbs! Jairus

Because if headlights angled down then the design would look droopy and sad. Buyers today are very style conscience, now more so than at any other time. Image is everything and since most cars are nearly the same under the skin (re: dependability, mechanically and economocally) all that is left is the styling of the headlights, air intakes and the glass shapes. Incidentally... NO car made today has hidden headlights! How about that fact?

Ahhhhh , I am touched! Though some would say not in the good way... Thank you but I'm just a poor slob trying to make his way in this world like everyone else. Not to mention finding the time to build! I have managed to gather all the bits and actually got a mockup going. I don't like the front tires, thinking they are too small for the illustration. But... rake and stance being everything to me will prob. keep! Getting close to time to start my own thread. I suggest we all start our own threads and use some sort of acronym to identify the challenge entries. I suggest the type of car followed by TJWAC. Like "1929 Roadster - TJWAC"... or some such so that those who are interested can find the thread(s) and compare the progress? Suggestions? Now... where did that Caddy fan belt go?

So sad... Harry has no friends...

Tom, this one is looking GREAT! "Hood jewelry"... LOL, I cannot get over that one. Nice build up so far and I am looking forward to the final pics. One thing... I noted from the design, and no reflection on your considerable building skills. But the slant of the trunk is weird once the roof is removed. Same thing turned up when Ford started making Mustang convertibles again in the mid 80's. The cars looked like the roof had been cut off instead of looking like a finished design. In other words... the hip-line is incomplete front to rear! A car should have a smooth line front to rear to be visually complete. With the "F" body Camaro and Firebird it was the top of the front fender - to roof - to trunk line. Remove the roof and the line is incomplete! Ford figured this out on the 1971 "Bunky" Mustang re-design which had a weird incomplete hip-line that never connected leaving a heavy look to the rear fenders but the strong roof line completed the shape. That is except for the convertible! The convertibles of the day had a crease in the sheetmetal that flowed smoothly between the top of the door and over the rear fender much like it had back in 1969 - '70. So top up or top down the Convertible is a beautiful design in my opinion. Is Tom's model flawed? Not in my eyes... but my original art IS (flawed)! I should have spent more time fooling with this design and playing with body lines in order to "smooth out" the look from the rear 3/4 view. Or... you could just simply add a set of ski racks like I did!

Dave, So this one is not in your stack then?

Wow, great read. I wish I wrote as well as Art does!

Well... no. That is a 1934 five window coupe! This one.... That '34 I already started years ago but never finished... (well duh!) As for the '32 five window coupe, if anyone gets this one it is simply the "American Graffiti" Milner coupe with different wheels. A SUPER EASY build if you have the kit!

Chris, The wheels represent those Revell sent me. In other words I tried my best to draw what would be in the blistercard. That said... I tried to also make them look as close to real cars as possible... but the wheels seem to be close to '39-'40 Ford with '48 Caps. Of course Mercury wheels were the same but with different caps. All the wheels in that series of images were the same and the only two engine options were the Caddy and Flathead. The flathead had three carbs with chrome aircleaners and the caddy had six carbs with airscoops. If Dave used all the images in this build off there are still 6 more; another '29 Phaeton, two '29 roadsters, a '32 five window coupe and two '25 T's!

Hey Chris, I am not really aware of any '29 Phaeton "Tubs" in scale. But as others are quick to point out... I can be wrong sometimes. However, I do know that Monogram had a great 1930 Touring kit and it pops up on ebay from time to time. You have but to swap the cowel with one of the two bodies in Revell's Pickup kits and who would know the difference? My project is this from that same series of images: It is the standard '29 on Deuce rails and I have the body pretty sorted out already. But am having to make a set of '32 frame rails from the pan/floor/frame of that really bad AMT '32 Roadster kit which was the basis for nearly all the Deuce rods back in the day. Norm Vebber is sending a set of 6 "speedboat" airscoops for this project and the Caddy engine will be from the Revell Parts Pack. Updates for the build will be posted on my Fotkiuntil I have enough progress to warrent starting it's own build thread. Incidentally this series of images (Chris' and mine) are from a bunch of 1/64th diecast street rods by Revell. The series was called "Rat Rods" but they were more vintage or nostalgia rods than ratty. Rat's need a bit of an "edge" and have to look simply bolted together and less like they belong together. But just try getting Revell to tampo print rust and dirt? Ha!