Dennis Lacy Posted March 12, 2018 Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) Quite a while back I did a How-To for another site on how to chop a Revell '32 Sedan. A while after that I converted it into a Sedan Delivery and then went down the path of making it an 80's style street rod. Got pretty far along then got bored and put it in the box. There's a thread for it here: For some reason I felt compelled to open the box today and give it a look. The whole 80's thing wasn't doing it for me anymore so I started playing around with different parts and decided I would start over and make a modern Newstalgia hot rod out of it. That is, a mix of traditional styling elements with modern components. That decision came after I realized I could fit the oversize retro Halibrand style wheels from AMT's '32 Phantom Vicky kit into tall & skinny bias-ply tires. Here it is mocked up on a fresh frame. As I said, the wheels are from AMT's '32 Phantom Vicky kit with stock front tires from AMT's '34 Ford 5-Window and rear tires from Monogram's '41 Lincoln Continental. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The engine is going to be the Ardun flathead from Revell's '50 F1 Pickup. To modernize it I've added the ribbed front cover assembly from AMT's '41 Woody, a deep finned oil pan from AMT's small block Chevy parts pack engine, Ribbed air filter from Revell's '48 Convertible and a C4 auto trans & bell housing from the old Revell '26 T Sedan. Lots more details to come here. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Just getting started, plenty more to come! Comments & questions welcome! Edited March 19, 2018 by Dennis Lacy
Codi Posted March 12, 2018 Posted March 12, 2018 Cool look build Dennis. Your choices for the engine and wheels are perfect. I saw that Scale Motorsports is going to go out of business so I checked out their site yesterday. They have some really sweet billet wheels that are very similar to the ones you're showing here, big and littles, that might interest you. Good luck and I'll be sure to follow as well. Cheers, tim
Spex84 Posted March 12, 2018 Posted March 12, 2018 Killer. I was just about to ask you whatever happened to that 80s-style project! Funny that the plan is a newstalgia '32 sedan...I had plans to build up an Orange Crate in a very similar way, but probably using the Revell '30 wheels and tires. This is looking great, love all the finned accessories to give it that gold-chainer Rodders Journal appeal
Dennis Lacy Posted March 12, 2018 Author Posted March 12, 2018 27 minutes ago, Spex84 said: Killer. I was just about to ask you whatever happened to that 80s-style project! Funny that the plan is a newstalgia '32 sedan...I had plans to build up an Orange Crate in a very similar way, but probably using the Revell '30 wheels and tires. This is looking great, love all the finned accessories to give it that gold-chainer Rodders Journal appeal Yes Sir, the "I raided the O'Brien Trucker's catalog" look. Gauranteed to land you a Rodders Journal cover! LMAO!!! I took tutorial pictures for modifying the wheels and tires which I will add to the thread in the next few days. It was your suggestion on TRAK that they might fit the '41 Lincoln tires that got the ball rolling. So thanks!
Spex84 Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 7 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said: It was your suggestion... I thought the timing was suspicious Looking forward to seeing more of this project!
Dennis Lacy Posted March 13, 2018 Author Posted March 13, 2018 (edited) Here's how I modified the wheels and tires to fit together. More on the axle modifications later. The front outer wheels fit into the tires as-is. I made rear inner rim rings by cutting away the larger flange from the inner wheel half. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki To mount the wheel I installed a plastic bushing in the center dimple of the wheel made from 3/32" Evergreen tube and drilled them to fit onto the .060" rod stubs I glued into the ends of the axle. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki To make the rear wheels fit I first had to remove the four flange quarters inside of the tires and sand them a bit with the some 80-grit so that the wheels weren't a super tight fit. Hosted on Fotki After modifying the tires the outer wheel halves fit as-is but like the fronts I'll have to modify the inner wheel halves to fit. To do that I cut the centers out of the barrels then shortened the barrels to 1/8" under the flanges. I then attached the removed centers to the backsides of the outer wheel halves and installed plastic bushings made from 1/8" Evergreen tube which already had the correct outside and inside dimensions. In the end it turned out I needed to space the wheels out a bit so I made spacer discs from the discarded front inner wheel halves. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Here I've propped up an unmodified set of wheels and tires to show the difference. Hosted on Fotki Comments Welcome! Edited March 13, 2018 by Dennis Lacy
mike 51 Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 I like this so much better then an 80s "street rod" .... nice work with those wheels. too
Modlbldr Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 Great, clean work on modifying the wheels. They look nice! Later-
espo Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 Great tutorial on the wheel modifications. I like the stance and the delivery body style.
Hoffman Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 Excellent work! Thank you for sharing all the how-to details. I've got these same parts in my collection and you've given me plenty of food for thought on how I might use them. Thanks again!
dino246gt Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 I almost always modify wheels and tires, but I LOVE the way you've shown it done! So many kits offer cool wheels and tires, but the fronts are almost always too wide! The main thing is to remember that you CAN make any wheel and tire fit any model car with some modifications!
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 13, 2018 Posted March 13, 2018 Stance and proportions don't get any better than this. Very nice work modifying the wheels to make it all look righteous.
geewhiz Posted March 14, 2018 Posted March 14, 2018 Fantastic build!!! I love the new direction and the wheel/tire tutorial!!! Thanks, Dennis!!!?????????
krassandbernie Posted March 14, 2018 Posted March 14, 2018 Awesome work on modifying the wheels Dennis! I can't wait to see more.........as usual!
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted March 15, 2018 Posted March 15, 2018 Since you asked, I'm not feeling those rear wheels, they're too deep for the tires. Everything else I dig. My $.02 and worth both pennies... -RRR
Dennis Lacy Posted March 15, 2018 Author Posted March 15, 2018 1 hour ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said: Since you asked, I'm not feeling those rear wheels, they're too deep for the tires. Everything else I dig. My $.02 and worth both pennies... -RRR You're the only that doesn't like them! So far...
Dennis Lacy Posted March 15, 2018 Author Posted March 15, 2018 On 3/13/2018 at 9:18 AM, Ace-Garageguy said: Stance and proportions don't get any better than this. Very nice work modifying the wheels to make it all look righteous. Thanks, Bill! Either I know what I'm doing or I got lucky. A little of both, perhaps.
Dennis Lacy Posted March 15, 2018 Author Posted March 15, 2018 Thanks to everyone for the comments, they're always appreciated! Glad to see such positive feedback on the wheels & tires. They're definitely not the same ol', same ol'. Looking forward to the weekend so I can put some more time in on this one. Gonna try and fast-track it to completion since, technically, it's my oldest WIP at this point.
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