Ace-Garageguy

Well, yes and no. People tend to forget that cars that are old-timey now were once brandy-damm-new, and they got driven on long trips all the time. A correctly restored old vehicle is actually quite reliable and comfortable.

Fine looking work, as always. Have you tried MarHyde or Duplicolor interior spray dyes for vinyl for your tires? It works very well on soft plastics, sinks in and leaves no surface grain whatsoever, and adheres almost unbelievably well if you pre-wash the surface with 70% iso (assuming the color you need is available).

When I was a wee lad, I kinda took it for granted that kits would come with swappable engines as well as the stock bits. AMT's original '32 Ford roadster B-model had the stock 4-banger as well as a big ol' Hemi. The AMT '29 Ford spinoff from the Ala Kart double kit had a complete extra airbagged chassis and a Dodge Red Ram Hemi too. AMT's T bucket and tall (or chopped) closed cars had entire optional later-model engines and complete zeed frames and running gear as well. Guess I got spoiled, and want a lot of optional stuff in one box...which is why I'm really looking forward to the New Revell '29 Ford. You're probably right about the zero possibility of ever seeing tubular independent coilover front suspension and a Jag-derived rear-end under something like Revell's '50 Olds...in the box, anyway.

To me it really depends on the particular car, but I think there are some that demand period parts...or they just miss the mark entirely. We had a Falcon Futura convertible in the shop a while back, and I was lovin' it until I popped the hood and saw a crate 5.0 electronic fuel-injection motor...plus a less-than-expertly installed square-tube front subframe with Mustang II front suspension. Yuck. A 289 hi-po would have been so much cooler to me...and it's basically the same engine anyway. And you CAN make the old Falcon front suspension handle perfectly well (maybe not road-race worthy, but just fine for sunny-day-cruising to car shows), so why hack all the originality out when it's unnecessary? On the other hand, I quite like full-on pro-touring cars that have all state-of-the-art guts and underpinnings, but look like beautifully restored period pieces...again, depending on the car and the builder's taste. Then there are the cars that REALLY need to keep the old (or old-style) stuff. The built Merc flathead is part of what makes this car very special. And this one wouldn't get a second look from me if it had another 9" or a Dana...but even with coilovers, that quick-change belongs there.

Steve Moal's shop consistently turns out some of the best of the best metalwork around. True artistry.

After considering all the additional information you've provided us, I'm sure that will be the case. I guess I'm just being greedy. After seeing how good the details look on Revell's recent offerings, and having a lot of their old vintage stuff that I think STILL rates as excellent in quality and scale fidelity, I just badly want a new-tool quick-change or 2 (and if we're lucky even more traditional hot-rod bits) that are up to the standards Revell has set with their best work in recent years. I rarely get excited about much any more, but I AM happily anticipating this new kit and getting several somethings built from it.

This is one of the best peeling-down-to-primer-and-rusting-too jobs I've seen. Looks very real. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=98701

Oh yes, definitely. Lots of Zephyr going on there, kinda.

Nope. The Anglia and Thames panel came with injected first-generation Oldsmobile OHV V8 engines (303-324-371-394). But based on the valve covers and the derivation of the Anglia kit engine from the Revell Stone Woods Cook Willys blown Olds engine, it's probably supposed to represent a 394. All the engines in the first gen Oldsmobile OHV series are visually very similar, and can pass for each other with small detail changes. The Revell first generation Olds OHV engine makes another appearance in the Ed Roth "Beatnik Bandit" kit, but with a 4-71 blower topped with carbs rather than the 6-71 blown and injected version in the Willys. As far as I'm aware, the old Revell Oldsmobile engine was never available in a parts pack version. The Olds 303 in the recent Revell '50 Olds club coupe is an entirely retooled version, and shares nothing with the earlier kit engines (though they're all quite accurately scaled and parts like manifolds and headers will interchange with a little fine fitting).

That really is the key to building this kit. Take your time. Use the fixtures that come in the kit to build the exhausts. Don't get in a hurry, and test-fit carefully as you go. These WILL build into gorgeous models.

You're absolutely right in what you said in post 111...the louvered deck from the 5-window won't fit a 3-window. But it does fit the roadster. I should have been more careful to clarify that. And thanks for your continuing interest in my mashed-up mess.

There's also the very real possibility it was a long-term strategic marketing decision to not include the QC and buggy spring rear end bits in the first offering. Get the sales this one generates, and when it starts to slow down a bit, hopefully after thoroughly replenishing the tooling $$ coffers, introduce a more-old-goody-containing follow-on. I'll buy multiples of this one anyway...assuming the first one I open looks right to my jaundiced old hypercritical eyes. While I agree with Bernard that, in principle, a quick-change rear IS jewelry if the car isn't actually raced, from my own perspective inside the 1:1 hot rod industry, the QC rear end is hardly a rare piece...even on mid-$ cars that ARE intended to be street driven. We recently finished a period-perfect but relatively inexpensive A-V8 (flathead) full-fender car...authentic down to the kinda not-great black enamel paint job...and it got a Halibrand rear end under it. The man who commissioned it died shortly before completion, sadly, but his wife, past 70, routinely drives the thing (!!). The only real concession to modernity was a 5-speed OD gearbox for highway cruising and a split master cylinder for safety. We've got another traditional car just about to go to paint...again, NOT a hyper-expensive build. A mildly-chopped fenderless '32 sedan 2-dr, it runs a Chevy smallblock equipped with 3 Strombergs and rams-horn exhaust manifolds. Again built to be driven, it has a 5-speed OD manual trans, but peeking out from under the rear of the car is another Halibrand. The car simply wouldn't look right without it. The most period-correct car we're currently doing (and the most expensive, by far) IS all pre-'49 genuine "unobtanium". The car will use a Columbia 2-speed rear...but that's already available in one of Revell's '40 Fords.

I think my favorite is the last of the single-headlight cars like this '57 series 62 droptop.

This is very well said. The point of getting kids involved with building models is about a lot more than simply passing our interests on to another generation. It's about giving young people a leg up in a world that may be becoming increasingly difficult to really prosper in. Point-and-click is never going to fully replace the importance of physical, hands-on involvement with reality.

Metal, in this particular car's case steel rather than light alloy, I believe. It would have been necessary to build an entire accurate full scale model of the body, in order to make molds, in order to make a fiberglass body with any sort of professionalism. You can't make a decent 'glass part without a mold, and you can't create a mold without having a full-scale model, or "plug" to start from. As this was a one-only project, the additional costs of building the car essentially twice would have been prohibitive. Pininfarina built the one and only body the traditional way, with sheetmetal panels hand shaped over a set of "stations" assembled into a buck, as illustrated below. After the body panels are welded together, they are removed and the buck is discarded (or reused if the car is to be series produced), and the body is reassembled on the bare chassis. A lot of highly skilled work. GM's intent with the f'glass production Corvette was to save a portion of the massive capital outlay required for matched steel dies for pressed metal panels on conventional cars, and fiberglass tooling is significantly cheaper than steel for a limited production run where the tooling costs can still be amortized over many copies. For a one-only project, it's still very expensive. I'm pretty sure the Corvette Rondine, though built by and credited to Pininfarina, was actually designed by the American Tom Tjaarda while he was working for PF. He's also the designer of the Fiat 124 Spider (that echoes the door character line), and the DeTomaso Pantera (which has a similar rising character line on the rear quarter panels).

I really hope this kit is a big and ongoing success for Revell, because I'd love to see justification for putting together a spinoff kit with a Model A rear crossmember (which you'll probably need to do a quick-change rear end in a '32 Ford...real or model...,a well-tooled quick-change or maybe two different styles, accurate axle bells and an assortment of buggy springs and radius-rods / wishbones. To build a truly "traditional" or "period" car, all those parts still will need to be sourced from the stash, or the aftermarket. How cool would it be to get all those goodies, a new-tool '26-'27 roadster body (NEVER done in styrene) and throw in the nice Ardun-headed flathead in a follow-on kit?

Cool cool cool. Fine looking machine work, sir.

I tend to think of things as they would work in the real world, and be cost-effective. Stance is everything, and getting it right takes a little effort. Removing spring leaves on the real truck would reduce the spring rate and tend to let the vehicle sag and dive into potholes. Sanding them off the model could leave you with weak and sagging springs too. Buying and bolting in (or gluing in) a dropped axle is the most expedient course of action...if you've got the money and if exactly what you want is available. Relocating the rear spring hangers (or just filing some material off of them on the model) makes the most sense for someone with the skills and no money, as you don't have to buy anything and you keep the stock spring rate the same (and you still have springs on the model that are plenty strong). If that doesn't get you low enough, relocating the springs to the bottom of the axle will give you major drop. It's common practice in the real world, costs almost nothing if you have the skills, and again, keeps the spring rate the same. It also avoids having the extreme twisting loads that a dropped axle puts on springs under braking. On a model, it's quick, easy, avoids fiddly measuring of the rear spring hangers...but you need to know exactly how much drop that will give you, and how much room you have to work with between the frame and axle. This is one of those instances where understanding how the parts interrelate, and measuring and mocking-up carefully BEFORE you start cutting and modifying...on a real one OR a model...is necessary to get the results you want.

Thanks again for all the interest. Still a long way to go, but it is nice to see the vague outlines of the finished project in the far off distant future...

Love that shop diorama. Man, I'd like to be a 1/25 scale rod builder working there. Great stuff. Your rusty scalloped body shell is very convincing too.

It's great to have an industry insider like Tim Boyd who knows what's going on with this stuff, and who takes a very pro-active part in getting the information out to us. I'm thinking this upcoming release has the potential to up the demand for all of Revell's existing (and excellent) '32 Ford and Model A kits. because it provides so many new build options for these old favorites. I'll certainly be looking for more Revell '32 roadsters, as I've put off building several of them because it's taken bits from so many different kits to get all the parts needed to do one. Having things like correct '40 brake backing plates, a good beam axle, finned Buick drums and a well done pinched-rear '32 frame plus a zeed Model A frame in one box changes the game. Did I read somewhere the engine is separate from the gearbox ? If so, it's an excellent move on Revell's part too. One of the things that made the parts-pack engines so appealing to me was the ease with which different engine / trans combos could be worked out. There's a shortage of well-tooled automatics out there too, at least that don't require an entire kit to source and skillful surgery with a razor saw to liberate.

Saw this back in October probably, before the leaves had fallen. Forgot about it until I was going thru some shop / build photos.

Jimmy Varacalli built the car, called the "Studester". Here's more pix with the top off. Click "About" for info on the build, the mods and the builder. http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/jasch/vehicles/25322

I always get a big smile from your chrome-covered big-fin boats, and this one looks great...especially so as you started with a gluebomb. Nice work, beautiful restoration.

Nice piece of "necessity is a mother" scale engineering. Looks great.