Harry P.

No, you didn't do anything wrong, but Casey locked your post because the answers to your question are already posted in a pinned topic (he added the link to where you can find the answer to your question, all you had to do was click on it).

And yet we consider both Norman Rockwell and Jackson Pollock to be artists. Interesting...

I can understand the concept that a car, no matter what genre it is, is first and foremost a car, and as such should function as a car, at least to some extent. That's one way of applying a baseline to what one finds "acceptable" in the world of custom cars. But to me, when the functionality of the car is the least of the builder's concerns (if it is a concern at all), I can't take points away for "impractability." I can't criticize a car for being unsafe or impractical if it was never intended to be either. I like rat rods as sculpture. I like the textures, the mix of parts, the unexpected use of objects as things they were not meant to be used as, etc. Whether or not any given rat is actually drivable doesn't matter to me, They're not "hot rods" in the way most of us define the term, and to me, at least, they shouldn't be judged by that standard.

I think that a lot of rat rods are built more as a vehicle (no pun intended... ) for artistic expression than as functional transportation–the same way those outrageous show cars of the '60s, like many of Roth's creations, were built to look at and visually dazzle you, not necessarily as sane, practical transportation. So I can't say a rat rod that's maybe poorly engineered, or impractical (or dangerous) to drive is "junk," because in many cases, to create a safe, practical, drivable car was never the builder's intent or end goal.

No disrespect meant to veterans. But "Happy Veteran's Day" is not a model car or automotive-related topic... so no matter how noble the sentiment, it belongs in "Off Topic."

Here are the three ladders with all the miscellaneous brackets, pulleys, and guides attached. Lower ladder in the back, upper (narrowest) ladder in the front. I also added a black wash (naturally! ) where the rungs meet the rails. Paul... the one ladder that was in the kit (the narrowest one) was used as a template to build the replacement in wood. Then looking at the instruction book illustrations, I saw how the three ladders nested into each other, so I measured the width of the narrow ladder to get the needed width of the middle ladder and cut the rungs to the required length... then after building the middle ladder I measured the width to get the needed width of the lower ladder, etc. The way I built the ladders was like this: I laid the one existing plastic kit ladder down right at the edge of my work surface, then laid a wooden ladder rail against it, laid 2-3 rungs down to get the correct spacing between the rails, then the other ladder rail. I made sure the wooden rails and the ends of the kit ladder all lined up, then I laid a couple of thin flat pieces of scrap wood down on each end, on top of the kit ladder and my wooden rails, and used a couple of large spring clamps to lock everything down tight. I laid down two thin strips of styrene between my wooden rails, to keep the rungs properly centered within the rails, then just glued each rung in place between the wooden rails with a drop of super glue at each rung end, using the kit ladder as the guide to space my rungs. I used a small piece of wood with a perfect 90 degree angle that fits between the rails as a small square to square up each rung before I glued it into place. Once I had all of the center rungs glued in, I removed the clamps and finished gluing the rest of the rungs onto each end of the ladder, still using the existing kit ladder as my spacer guide.

No, it's not just you. It's me, too.

Remember... do not post any hints or answers here. PM me with year, make, and model. The answer: 2007-12 Caparo T1

It doesn't make any more or less sense than the lowrider thing. Or the donk thing. Or the billet rod thing. Or the ricer thing. Or the pro touring thing. Or the bosozoku thing. Or the... well, you get the point.

It all depends on who restored the truck, I guess. But what you say about keeping the ladders protected with a high-gloss varnish makes sense.

Maybe not as "hot" as it was, but still alive. Like any other automotive fad or trend... they appear, they get a lot of attention for a while, and gradually they fade into the background and make room for the next fad. But I think rat rods are going to be around for quite a while.

I know I'm different than a lot of you guys in that I don't have a huge stash of unbuilt kits. I tend to buy a kit with the intention of building it, not with the intention of storing it, so my stash of unbuilt kits is very small... maybe 20-25 or so, tops. I'd guess that I build the vast majority of kits I buy... probably around 85-90%.

The end result sure looks a lot better than what you started with!

Correct, grasshopper...

I don't remember any rules you posted regarding this topic.

Those are very cool!

I paid $40.

The bottom ladder has guides that the middle ladder rides inside of, and the middle ladder has guides that the top ladder rides inside of. The top ladder has no guides, because it's the top ladder... nothing else rides on it. The kit only has the top ladder–the middle and bottom ladders were missing. The plastic kit ladders would have had all of the attachment "pockets" for the ladder guides molded in, so attaching the guides would be a snap. But obviously, when I scratchbuilt the missing ladders, those pockets had to be created. The guides have to be the exact right distance apart... enough space for the next ladder to slide between, but not so much space that the next ladder wobbles in the space between them. I used a sharp X-acto to carve out the guide pockets on the middle and bottom ladders. Woodworking in 1/16 scale!

Interesting. From all the reference photos I could find, the ladders look to be pretty much "natural" wood, no gloss. But what you say makes sense. I can always give them a clear coat once all the little brackets and guides are attached. This is the photo I've been using as my main reference. It's a slightly later model truck, but the ladder carriage looks just about the same as what's in the kit:

The first ladder is done. Real wood (front) vs. molded plastic (rear).

That's an unusual looking Mustang. It's definitely different! BTW... I doubt the washer fluid bag would have been body color... And I agree with Lee that your cables and wiring are definitely on the hefty side. Do a google image search and you'll get a better idea of how those battery cables and ignition wires should look (for your next model). One more suggestion... after you apply foil, you need to burnish it down to get rid of all the wrinkles.

Beautiful! Very crisp and clean, I like that.

Time to cut the rungs to length. I made this super simple jig out of scrap pieces of wood (leftovers from a stagecoach kit) to make sure each rung was the exact same length. The two clamps on the left hold the jig to my work table, and the black clamp holds the stop block. These are the rungs for the narrowest (top) ladder. To make the wider rungs for the middle and bottom ladders, all I have to do is move the stop block back a bit. This jig took me all of two or three minutes to make.

The main reason the seller offered this kit at such a bargain-basement price was because two of the three ladders were missing. Not a problem, as I was planning on rebuilding them anyway, using real wood (nothing looks more like real wood than real wood!). By looking at the instruction book's illustrations I was able to determine that the ladder I had was the top ladder–the narrowest of the three (the ladders nest into each other; the top ladder is the narrowest, the middle ladder wider, the bottom ladder the widest).. First step was to take the plastic ladder (which is molded in a brown "wood color" plastic) and snip off a part of it, so I could take that piece with me to the store and get some basswood strips to exactly match the dimensions of the ladder's rails and the rungs. Taking a small part of the kit ladder with me to the store was easier than taking the whole thing! Basswood is the ideal material to use when creating a wooden part in almost any scale. The wood is very light colored, so it's easy to stain to represent just about any species, the grain pattern is very tight and even, so the grain looks correct in scale, and it's soft enough to easily cut and sand, yet strong... much stronger than balsa. I cut the larger strips to length for the ladder rails, but left the rung strips alone for now. I stained the wood a "honey oak" color to match reference photos. Staining the wood couldn't be easier: Dip a bit of paper towel or a small rag in the stain, and wipe it onto the wood, working it into the piece. After the pieces sat for a few minutes, I took a clean paper towel and rubbed them down to remove excess stain. In the photo below you can see how light natural basswood is (the piece in the foreground): The reason I stained the rung parts as one long strip is that it's much easier to stain the wood as whole strips, then cut the individual rungs. The rails, though, were cut to length first and then stained.

If two is better than one, is four better then two?