Ace-Garageguy

Article in Hot Rod, just came out yesterday (Sept. 10, 2015) http://www.hotrod.com/features/1509-now-it-can-be-told-true-story-of-how-mickey-thompson-was-the-first-to-race-big-block-chevy/

More pictures here... http://www.irishstreetrods.com/newsite/deforum/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1272 Feature article in Hot Rod here... http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/hrdp-1303-couprageous-1937-ford-coupe/

First thing I'll try is to build up a fendered car on the old Revell '30-'31 fenders. Nice thing about the little SBC in this kit is that it will fit under a full hood, so the sleeper potential is high.

I honestly didn't have a clue. I took a wild guess, googled "1904 Ford" images, and there she was.

And there's this one from the shop I work with... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/62959-chopped-31-ford-coupe/#comment-761589

Yes, the wood colors and graining look very very good.

Heavily channeled cars are tricky to get to look right from every angle. Lots of them end up looking squashed. Many end up with overbites or monkey faces, and often, the top of the grille-shell ends up higher than the cowl. You have to be willing to tinker and fiddle, sometimes a lot, to get a car that doesn't look dorky. I raised the grille shell, extended the lower edges of the body shell to represent the bellypan, mocked in a windshield and side pipes, and a pair of headlights (again from the NEW Revell '29 kit). Adjusted the proportions all around just slightly. Getting there. I ALWAYS try to dial-in the look, stance and proportions BEFORE cutting or committing to gluing or modifying anything. Now that I'm pretty close to the final look, I know what the wheelbase is going to be...close, anyway... so I know how much frame modification I'll need. The rear of the frame needed an additional amount added to the zee to get the ride height in the ballpark, so I cut it through the rails on a line parallel to the forward edges of the vertical members at the zee, and plunked the resulting stub down on top of the rails. I can get away with this (in this case, it's shortened the frame a bit) because there's enough length in the rails to let me fit the new front crossmember that will take the suicide axle mount. The headlights need to come up slightly, and the grille-shell and body need to go down a little. Still, I'm close enough to get on with the chassis building and do the adjustments as work progresses. The inspiration car (this is the only photo of it I've found) appears to have its grille a tick higher than the cowl. I don't want that. The rear of the car also appears to be lower relative to the tires than my model so far. I DO want that. The real car appears to have had the floor dropped between the rails, to get the seating lower, and a partial bellypan built to conceal it...and it makes the car seem lower. The real car also appears to have front tires with a bit shorter sidewalls than my mockup pieces, and I'll be looking into getting something to represent those too. Getting all these things to work together takes a critical eye, effort, and time.

R2 HAS spent money on restoring old tooling, re-creating parts that were lost entirely.

I see it as a logical move, frankly, because there's so much enthusiasm...think free advertising... about the new Revell '29 kit, and the mix-and-match possibilities between it and the older kits is infinite. Amazingly, many modelers seem to be unaware that AMT and even Revell made very nice model A kits previously. R2 HAS restored some older kits to original-content condition ('36 Ford, '32 Vicky) and has added or up-graded parts as well (the very nice chrome-reverse rims and whitewall tires in the '36). And though I know it'll NEVER happen, I'd sure like to see the original Ala Kart tooling restored.

Good looking rusto-rod.

Beautiful, beautiful model. I've been fascinated by British "tipper" trucks ever since I saw the Dodge "parrot nose" units in the old movie "Hell Drivers". I just happened to come across a couple of photos of real trucks painted in the same livery as your model.

Gorgeous paint.

Great paint, love the color. The 1:1 '33 Plymouth I finished building for a client here is being painted the same HOK color, so I guess I'm kinda partial to it. Fine looking model.

Holy cow! I have a full-scale Beck replica, and your model looks more real than my real car. Nice.

I hear you, Ray. The '29 lakes car is still moving, and though I said I wouldn't get into another one until that was done, the new Revell kit just got me so fired up, I couldn't hep mysef. I've even got moving again on the wedge-channeled '32...finally figured out what I didn't like and started fixing it. I'd really like to have at least one of the traditional rods done for the upcoming November show here.

Thanks guys. I've already chopped an AMT '32 shell for this, and I'll be going with that to get the exact look I want. Far as the track-nose shells that are out there, the subtle lines of a track-nose can make or break a car. The noses on the Eddie Dye car and the Dick Flint car are very similar, but I think the Flint nose is kinda ugly. I personally think the one in the older Revell RPU is one of the ugliest I've ever seen. I've built several track-nose cars using other kit parts as the basis, but the next one, particularly for the Eddie Dye build, will be 100% scratch-built (with the possible exception of the grille-insert itself). I'll definitely have a look at the MCG offerings though. Thanks for the lead, Nick.

All very nice work. The first shot also shows the WRONG slope on the old AMT body behind the cockpit. The new Revell kit body captured this important feature MUCH better. I noticed the discrepancy while getting set up to start the Eddie Dye build, and it's very obvious in your top photo. It's funny...I've been looking at and building with the old AMT body shell for years and just assumed it was right, never put a really critical eye on it until I had the new Revell kit to measure and compare to a Brookville shell I have access to (as you probably know, the 1:1 Brookville shells are just about perfect, dead-on accurate reproductions of the real thing...all the parts interchange too).

GOOD lookin' little truck. Well proportioned, great stance, looks fast just sitting there...everything a hot-rod should be.

Very very nice so far. I like the showcar-esque exaggerated proportions, and the overall lines. The frame comes off immediately as a well thought-out, engineered and finely crafted showcar piece as well. This is so far beyond the typical "rat rod" that it's kinda a shame to stick it with that label. If you can keep the stance and immediate impression of your first mockup, you've got a slam-dunk winner.

Decided on this one. Least bodywork, and a good few of the new Revell '29 kit parts will show. First mockup is kinda close, but no cigar. Biggest correction needed is that the radiator shell (old AMT, chopped) needs to be higher relative to the front tire-tops. Engine needs to go a tick lower relative to the body, too. Side shot shows there's enough ground clearance to have some leeway to go lower there, which may be necessary to get the tail a tad lower relative to the tops of the rear slicks. Rear tires are vintage Revell Racemasters, with vintage Revell chrome-reverse rims from the '57 Chevy (old opening-door kit). Front wheels and tires are new-release AMT '36 Ford. Front axle is new Revell '29 kit, as will be the brake backing plates and finned Buick drums. Engine is a vintage Revell smallblock Chebby parts-pack unit.

Nice clean '32. Looks very good.

Just got caught up on this one. Beautiful work, still. Your adapter for the tube-bending mandrel is sheer genius.

The maroon one is the 2013 AMBR-winning, V8-60 /Ardun-powered, Brizio-built John Mumford car. There's no track-nose in the current kit, but I'll be doing a one-off nose/hood for the Eddie Dye car. Assuming that works out well, I'll do a nose and hood for the Mumford car too. Revell makes a V8-60, so everything to build it exists other than V8-60 Ardun heads.

OK JB, tell you what. I should have kept my mouth shut about everything EXCEPT the dimensional discrepancy until AFTER I actually had the kit in hand. My bad. I admit it like a grown-up...might. Calling it "worthless" is a stretch, as, since I've seen it in the flesh, I realize it has much to recommend it, like a stock front-cover / water pump setup, and the multiple-carb intake manifold option that the 50+ year-old Revell version simply lacks in any form This makes it useful, at the very least, for swapping said parts on to the OLD Revell basic engines which lack the stock front-end, and only have an FI manifold. Or, I may swap the Ivo heads, of which I have many, on to the new engine...and correct the new exhaust headers accordingly. I'll be doing a lot of work with this engine to see just how well everything fits and swaps back and forth with other nailheads (similar to what I did with the 303 in the Revell '50 Olds kit). I SHOULD have mentioned these things earlier. Thank you for reminding me that I had a little crow to eat.