34 Ford Coupe A/A

[Straightliner59]

I am happy to announce that, for the first time in 15 or 16 years, I have completed a model! Revell's SnapTite '34 coupe is one of my favorite kits. Inspired by the Mooneyham/Sharp 554 coupe, the 7-11 coupe and the original 15 Oz. coupe, I built this in an attempt to capture the spirit of those cars, in scale. I think I just might have pulled it off! Is the model perfect? Not even close. Even going through these photos, I've noticed a couple of things I need to clean up. It's built to comply with NHRA's 1960 rules for A/A. I drew on my memories of some old businesses from the town where I went to high school, (and attended my first several drag races) for the "Thanks to:" list. Conrad's Engine Service is an ongoing tribute to my Dad. This is the first time I've made a set of decals that actually look decent. I made them all, except for the smaller contingency type decals and the skull.

The interior is paneled in aluminum sheet, the roll bar, seat and dash are all scratchbuilt. There's not just a Hydro-Stick decal on the car--I scratchbuilt a Hydro-Stick shifter for the interior. The scoop is hand formed from .005" aluminum flashing. The tach was turned on the lathe. The front splash aprons were formed from "Tooling Aluminum", available from many craft stores. I burnished the tooling aluminum sheet over the molded in plastic aprons on another kit I have. Once they were formed and trimmed to shape, I used an awl, to create the screw heads that hold the aprons on. After all these years, it's great to finally have something new in my display case! I feel like I accomplished exactly what I set out to: A bitchin' '34 Ford coupe, that's the essence of the three iconic cars named above. Hope you guys like it, too! Comments and criticisms are welcome!

 

 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Straightliner59

[dragcarz]

Great job, I love it, thanks for sharing!

[vintagedragcrazy]

Super nice!!!!!

vince

[TarheelRick]

Looks like a real strip burner to me.  Great job on this build.

[misterNNL]

Great project.Nice touch adding the local town businesses with decals.

[Straightliner59]

Vince, Tom, Roger and Ricky; Thank you all, for the kind words! They are much appreciated!

 

[Metaldrumm]

Cool stuff ,i really like that sheet metal look,good job?.

[Spex84]

Love it, in particular the various metal details. Those splash guards and the scoop are extra cool.

I wish it was real, so I could hear it run

Great work! Feels good to have something finished, eh?

[bondo bill]

very cool - I started something kind of similar

[John Goschke]

Love it!  Definitely looks period correct.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Nice model

[Alan]

Hi Dan,

Looks killer !!  Captures the era as you always do in your builds ...... Now I am curious about this snap kit, so it is worth buying?

Alan

[High octane]

I'm likin' that drag coupe.

[Bernard Kron]

I followed this as a w.i.p. The final cleanup and detailing really makes all that delicious tinwork really pop. Cool, all-business, competition machine.

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[Straightliner59]

Hi Dan,

Looks killer !!  Captures the era as you always do in your builds ...... Now I am curious about this snap kit, so it is worth buying?

Alan

Hey Alan! Thanks, man! There's no engine, but, I love the kit! I've built two of them, and have another one I started several years ago. Revell's SnapTite '70 Chevelle is worth having, too.

 

[Straightliner59]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Chris, it feels great, to finally finish a project, again! Bernard, you indeed said those last few items would really make it complete, and you were so right! It was after that, I decided to take a stab at those splash aprons. Really glad I did those! John, I appreciate that, a lot. I strive to achieve something realistic, with my projects. I spend a lot of time and effort researching the elements that go into a build. Thankfully, with the internet, that's much easier! Case in point: B&M's Hydro Stick was introduced in 1960. I was a little reluctant to use it, here, until I red that it was being developed in '59. That prompted me to go with it. Bill, you should dig that project out! It's a great kit for building something that captures a feeling or look, without going totally nuts on it!

[Sixties Sam]

That is a great model! Those snapper kits can made into some good looking models with a little extra work. Well done!

Sam

[Straightliner59]

Thank you, Sam! The snappers definitely can make for a cool model.

[Snake45]

Wow, that looks FABULOUS! You really captured the spirit and the feel of the times! Well done and model on!

[Straightliner59]

Thanks, Snake. That's what really does it for me: researching to ensure that the speed equipment, graphics, etc., reflect the era of the car I'm modeling. Maybe they're "pseudo-replicas" they are replicas of fictitious cars! Hahaha!

 

[gasser59]

Nice looking build up of a snapper Dan. So now that this one's finished, what's next?

[Straightliner59]

Hey, Brad! Thank you, kind sir. You had to ask, didn't you?grin 

Believe it or not after all those years completing nothing, tonight, I put my second finished model in a week, in the display case! You can check it out, here: