Ace-Garageguy

Thanks for your interest, Bernard. Actually, the headers shown on the mockup are for a 1/24 scale Offy engine, and the port spacing is too regular for the nailhead. Revell's new kit (and the Eric Black illustration, it seems) both have the end-paired ports a little too close together, and the center ports a little too far apart. This is the Tim Boyd photo of the new kit headers, and though they would be a vast improvement over what I have on the early mockup shown above, they're still not quite right. The port-spacing on the 50+ year-old Revell nailheads (Tommy Ivo and parts-pack versions) is spot-on correct (OK...it's about 1/4 scale inch off), and I'll be seeing what it will take to get the NEW Revell nailhead dialed in to match the OLD one. (The orange and white engine in the mockup above is the unit from the Monogram 1/24 Orange Hauler...which scales pretty close to 1/25 actually...backed up with a Dynaflow automatic. I'll be using the new Revell nailhead in its place, but backing it with the old parts-pack manual gearbox rather than the molded-on automatic)

The QC really makes an instant statement when the car is viewed from the rear. The skinnier springs are a nice touch too; this would be a very light car. I've used those fine old Revell axle tubes many times as well. Looking better and better.

Man, I LOVE the chop and section job on the winged Chebby. Likin' seein' somebody else using f'glass for reinforcement too. A bunch-o'-good-stuff here.

Looking great. Really love the box-art drag cars.

The car is built on a '32 frame with a suicide spring perch in front, which lengthens the wheelbase somewhat over a stock '32. It's also deeply channeled (7") and was said to be lower than a Jag XK-120 of the time. The new Revell frame is much too nice to be hidden under a deeply channeled body and a full bellypan, so I'm recycling an old AMT '32 frame from another WIP to do duty under the Dye car. Deep channel, and rear wheel wells being filled. Cowl details also in the process of being removed. The floor of the Dye car was dropped between the frame rails to get the seating low. The nice extra Revell '29 floor will be trimmed to slip between the rails just the same way. A slightly modified old AMT Ala Kart seat insert makes a good starting point for the interior.

The Eddie Dye Roadster, built around '49-'51, is to me, the absolutely best-looking hot rod ever...period. There's a long and interesting story about the car, its early days as a dry-lakes racer, the people involved in building it, its reincarnation in a couple of different forms (including a 409-powered movie car), its "disappearance", and its fairly recent rediscovery and a movement to restore it to the condition shown here. I've done a LOT of research, and have managed to unearth some photos of the structural details, all in an effort to get this one as right as possible. I've been wanting to build this car in scale for years, but the necessary motivation just wasn't there to really dive into it until 1) I built a bellypan and a tracknose / hood very similar to what's under the Dye roadster for my '29 lakes car (learning what to do and what not to do in the process) and 2) the release of the new Revell '29. The new Revell kit body is better, more accurately proportioned in the rear deck area, and the curve of the quarters is more correct than the old AMT '29 body shell was. This is kinda critical to get the model to accurately capture the look of the real car. The Revell body shell also has, to me, what appears to be a little heavy-handed, too thick body detail lines, especially in front on the cowl sides. This won't be an issue on the Dye car, as all of those details were smoothed away and the doors welded shut on the real one. This is it, circa 1951/ '52

One step forward, one back. Got the shaping and final fitting of the forward bellypan almost done, but the rear bellypan just wouldn't sit square. It's laminated from sheets of styrene and pieces of old gluebombs, and as the glue dried, it warped. Only solution was to twist it 'til it broke, dig out part of the old joint, re-glue it in the correct position with thickened CA (with the pan taped to the body-shell as a jig, to insure it dried square), then re-bondo the area.

Thanks for your comments, Dennis. You're right about the new Revell frame saving a lot of work. I've started mocking her up, and all I really need to do is pinch the rails just a tad more to fit better under the old AMT '29 shell. This is a shot of Eric Black's original illustration that inspired the build. I'll probably iron the pages and get a better shot of this later too.

Stand by for updates shortly, swapping in bits from the new Revell '29 kit.

Congrats on getting your 914 race car in series production. I watched your conversion process; nice work. It would have been good if more of this thread had been devoted to a discussion of the concept of "a minimum threshold of accuracy for a manufacturer’s kit", as you say above, rather than primarily focusing on repeated attacks on those members who point out flaws that could have easily been avoided.

Love these old Merit (some available boxed as Smer too) kits. I've got most of them, some bought as built-ups and some still virgins. Though they are a little short in the accuracy department, they represent some important historic race cars not otherwise available. Very nice work, very nice collection.

The "their" in bold type seems to be another of those thinly veiled indications that it's somehow becoming offensive to express an aesthetic judgement about someone else's work.

I fondly remember a time in American history when the martini-holders in the door handles would have been a popular option. Ah, the good ol' days.

I DO have the MPC kit, box photo posted above, #1-0561, and the doors are molded shut on that one as well.

Coming together very nicely, Dennis. Looking good.

Good to hear she recovered fully.

I think we may have been through that at some length here on the board recently.

It's a Ford Mk IV. MPC did one in 1/25, molded in red (I have one here) but the MPC kit didn't have the opening doors shown in your photo. Of course the black chassis above it isn't part of the Mk IV.

What's up with you, anyway? The bellhousings and the oil pans in the nailhead parts-packs are unique to that packaging, and the gearbox with the separate shifter linkage in the same pack is a nice bonus. Why do you want to argue about EVERYTHING?

I love it...except for the pipes, which I personally find cartoonish. Otherwise, about perfect. DISCLAIMER: This is only my own aesthetic opinion, and is not meant in any way to condemn or criticize the builder, Greg, the maker of the pipes, or anyone who likes them...or their dog, their political stance, their gender preference or their position on global warming.

The change in the angle of the shocks will be so small that they should still be within acceptable limits if this were a real car. They'll look fine. Honest.

Piece of cake. Look at Tim Boyd's photo from his first build thread on this kit, and follow along. To lower the front suspension, simply remove material from the top of the front spring, and/or slot the crossmember deeper. You can remove all but the lowest spring leaves and still have a correct representation of some cars in the real world that run a mono-leaf spring. Do it clean and square and you can get at least a couple of scale-inches of additional drop. Of course you'll have to shorten the shocks a bit to compensate. If you cut the shock shafts off at the shock bodies and drill the bodies the diameter of the shafts, you can simply slide the shafts into the bodies to fit the lowered axle exactly. To lower the headlights, simply remove the mounting pads from the headlight support brackets. If you want to go lower, deepen the notch in the brackets where they attach to the frame. You'll have to shorten the shocks as noted above if you do this, too.

Well JB ol' buddy, the Ivo versions have slanted oil pans and big-ol scattershield bellhousings instead of the parts in the 'packs, which also have nice manual gearboxes the Ivo versions lack. But thanks for chiming in.

Just snagged another one of these beautiful old Revell nailheads; they're getting few and far between.

Love it. I have a couple of these old Merit kits, and have been thinking along the same lines. Nice job on the resto. The Lindberg wheels make a big improvement too.