32 Ford "Vicky": WIP (Photos Restored)

[David G.]

 

I had one of these kits when I was 12 or 13 years old. I don't recall that I finished building it but I do remember that I enjoyed working on it. When I found this kit at a swap meet a couple of months ago, I just had to get it and take another shot at it.

 

The box said that the kit was "Molded in Color". It's grey with little sparkly bits (bleah). It's probably supposed to be silver like the illustration on the box.

 

There's just a little bit of clean up. Not too bad considering the likely age of the molds.

 

On an actual car the floor boards would have most likely been painted with the same black paint as the frame. Treating them as lightly weathered wood however, creates more visual interest,

 

The lightly weathered chassis with the wheels and all the bottom bits installed.

 

I decided that I wanted to do a more basic "out of the box" build so I didn't add any fuel lines or plug wires to the engine. The fan will be added during final assembly.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

Edited June 17, 2021 by David G.
Photos Restored

[misterNNL]

Looking very good.Nice detail work and subtle weathering on the wooden undercarriage.Thanks for sharing.

[PARTSMARTY]

I'm liking this a lot !!!

[espo]

Always thought the Vicky was the best looking body style. I like your idea of building it more as a stock car instead of a Hot Rod.  

[oldnslow]

Your paint detail is excellent .

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looking good so far. The Victoria really is a very attractive body style, and the nice thing about the old AMT kit is that it has a separate rear suspension and exhaust (unlike the roadster) and makes for a nicer model.

The wooden floor as depicted in this kit is entirely wrong for a '32 Ford (it's actually all stamped steel...not your fault, or course), but the way you've treated it looks great.  

[David G.]

Looking good so far. The Victoria really is a very attractive body style, and the nice thing about the old AMT kit is that it has a separate rear suspension and exhaust (unlike the roadster) and makes for a nicer model.

The wooden floor as depicted in this kit is entirely wrong for a '32 Ford (it's actually all stamped steel...not your fault, or course), but the way you've treated it looks great.  

I actually wondered about that Bill. In my research I didn't see any 32 Fords with wooden floorboards but I figured that after 85 years they'd all been replaced or upgraded. No biggie, I'll keep that in mind if I build another one. Thanks for the tip and the comment, too.

Looking very good.Nice detail work and subtle weathering on the wooden undercarriage.Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Tom, I'm glad you enjoy it.

I'm liking this a lot !!!

Thank you Marty.

Always thought the Vicky was the best looking body style. I like your idea of building it more as a stock car instead of a Hot Rod.  

I agree with you David, so many of these have been hot-rodded that it's almost a cliche.

Your paint detail is excellent .

Thanks Robert.

 

David G.

[D. Battista]

Great start so far David..!    Always enjoy your attention to detail...

[hedotwo]

I'm following along.... I agree that the Vick was Ford's best style.

[CometMan]

Always thought the Vicky was the best looking body style. I like your idea of building it more as a stock car instead of a Hot Rod.  

I agree with you David, so many of these have been hot-rodded that it's almost a cliche.

I agree with you guys. Seeing any Ford from 1932-36 in any scale, including 1:1, that looks anything like they did when built seems to be more the exception than the rule!

[horsepower]

Looking good so far. The Victoria really is a very attractive body style, and the nice thing about the old AMT kit is that it has a separate rear suspension and exhaust (unlike the roadster) and makes for a nicer model.

The wooden floor as depicted in this kit is entirely wrong for a '32 Ford (it's actually all stamped steel...not your fault, or course), but the way you've treated it looks great.  

that's ok, it's just a minor thing considering all of the AMT '32 kits are based on a body that has been sectioned around four inches.

And I agree it's a super build. Especially like the aged light tan exhaust manifolds instead of the usual rust shade, or clean cast iron.

Edited April 17, 2017 by horsepower

[David G.]

Great start so far David..!    Always enjoy your attention to detail...

Thank you Dave

I'm following along.... I agree that the Vick was Ford's best style.

Thanks Rich

 

I agree with you guys. Seeing any Ford from 1932-36 in any scale, including 1:1, that looks anything like they did when built seems to be more the exception than the rule!

Yes, I think you have to do something really spectacular to pull off a good custom hot rod from that era.

that's ok, it's just a minor thing considering all of the AMT '32 kits are based on a body that has been sectioned around four inches.

And I agree it's a super build. Especially like the aged light tan exhaust manifolds instead of the usual rust shade, or clean cast iron.

Thanks Delton, I'm glad you like the weathering details. I always do at least a little light weathering. "Factory fresh" is great, but in real life, they never look that way for long.

Also, I didn't notice that the body of the model looked any different than the photos of real cars I checked out during my research. Where did they do the sectioning? 

Thanks,

David G.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Looks like a factory stock '32. Unfortunately, it's a rarity. She deserves to be stock.

If a more accurate stock appearance is what you are shooting for, replace the wheels and tires by the ones in AMT's '34 Ford kit, They look better, not perfect, but a lot better. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

that's ok, it's just a minor thing considering all of the AMT '32 kits are based on a body that has been sectioned around four inches.

 

Also, I didn't notice that the body of the model looked any different than the photos of real cars I checked out during my research. Where did they do the sectioning? 

All the AMT '32 bodies are more heavily sectioned towards the front. I've spent considerable time measuring and working out correction procedures for this interesting anomaly. Here's some work I started on the AMT Vicky, compared to the almost-correct Revell '32 bodies. 

The white strip added to the bottom of the Vicky body (after trimming on the fendered-version) is the necessary correction amount for any of the AMT '32 Fords. To complete the correction, the door lines at the bottom need to be re-scribed as well.

                                                      

Thread here...   http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/78983-chopped-32-vicky-amt-body-on-revell-fenders-and-rails/

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[David G.]

Wow! I had no idea.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello everybody! I finally made some time to post some more photos.

 

This is supposed to be dark green, Tamiya TS-43 Racing Green. It's probably supposed to be the equivalent British Racing Green. It looks a good bit brighter tin the photo than it does in natural light.

 

When I painted the green on the radiator shell, I sprayed it over the white Tamiya primer that was on it. I wanted to see if I could darken the green just a bit by shooting the rest of the body with dark gray primer before spraying the green. It worked... a little. The rest of the body is darker than the radiator shell, but not much. 

I plan to do do some work on it this weekend, by then the paint will be cured and ready for some color sanding and/or polishing.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

Edited June 17, 2021 by David G.
Photos Restored

[DumpyDan]

Impressive work, I like it

[Draggon]

Wow! I had no idea.

David G.

After looking at the AMT 32's for decades, I still think that correct bodies look wrong. 

I like your work on the chassis David!

[randyc]

Looking great!  Seeing these builds reminds me that straight out of the box is a good way to build.  Love it.  And your original comment about the molds being in good shape - they would have been for this release since it came out in the late 70s?  

Looking noce.  Keep going.

Randy

[horsepower]

Thank you Dave

Thanks Rich

Yes, I think you have to do something really spectacular to pull off a good custom hot rod from that era.

Thanks Delton, I'm glad you like the weathering details. I always do at least a little light weathering. "Factory fresh" is great, but in real life, they never look that way for long.

Also, I didn't notice that the body of the model looked any different than the photos of real cars I checked out during my research. Where did they do the sectioning? 

Thanks,

David G.

 The body from the beltline down is shorter than it should have been for correct scale dimensions. Compare it to any of the Revell kits and you can see it clearly. I forg the reason why, maybe if Tim Boyd knows he'll let us know. 

The only AMT kit that was correct ironically is the Phantom Vicky street rod and that's a custom. It really shows up if you try to use the Revell interior parts in one of the AMT early bodies. But the Phantom Vicky interior, (or the Dan Fink Speedwagon) interior will fit in the Revell two door sedan body for a nice looking street rod interior.

[David G.]

Impressive work, I like it

Thank you Dan.

After looking at the AMT 32's for decades, I still think that correct bodies look wrong. 

I like your work on the chassis David!

To me the corrected bodies and 1:1 cars don't really look wrong Glenn. I actually have a difficult time telling the difference unless they are compared side by side. And thank you for your kind comment on the chassis, that's always my favorite part to build and paint.

Looking great!  Seeing these builds reminds me that straight out of the box is a good way to build.  Love it.  And your original comment about the molds being in good shape - they would have been for this release since it came out in the late 70s?  

Looking noce.  Keep going.

Randy

Thank you Randy. It'll be mostly out of the box- there are a couple of improvements and additions I have planned.

 The body from the beltline down is shorter than it should have been for correct scale dimensions. Compare it to any of the Revell kits and you can see it clearly. I forg the reason why, maybe if Tim Boyd knows he'll let us know. 

The only AMT kit that was correct ironically is the Phantom Vicky street rod and that's a custom. It really shows up if you try to use the Revell interior parts in one of the AMT early bodies. But the Phantom Vicky interior, (or the Dan Fink Speedwagon) interior will fit in the Revell two door sedan body for a nice looking street rod interior.

I have to say Delton that I was surprised to learn this. To me the body didn't really look out of proportion and knowing of the errors hasn't changed my opinion of it. I do appreciate the insights that you and Bill have provided- I find them rather interesting. Thank you for sharing them.

David G.

[David G.]

Now that I have a more regular work schedule, I have a bit more time and energy for hobbies. So Here's another update.

The paint is cured and polished. I've painted the rubber treads on the running boards with a flat black. They should probably be semi-gloss, but there you go. The white bit in the panel gap on the cowl vent is either polish or a lack of paint. Either way I plan to tap in some black pastel scrapings to cover it.

 

This is the spare wheel kit that AMT provided for this model, yuck. In my research I wasn't able to find anything that looked remotely like this in the photos of Fords from this era.

 

This is what the spare wheel should probably look like.

 

Luckily, I was able to find these bits in the parts box.

 

With some modifications they should work nicely.

 

As Always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

Edited June 17, 2021 by David G.
Photos Restored

[Modelbuilder Mark]

MUCH better option on the spare. 

[espo]

I agree with the Wire Wheel to match what is on the "ground". A thought on the polish residue, there are many ways to get that out of the seams. One that I have used is an old tooth brush and even a moist tooth pick to get the seams cleaned up. Look forward to the finish on this build.  

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Get a BABY toothbrush, VERY soft, and put a little soapy water on it and get into those creases. That is what I use after I polish one out.