Revell 1/25 '31 Ford Woody

[Hoffman]

 

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by Hoffman
Adding photos

[maltsr]

Wow - amazing workmanship!

[Phildaupho]

Very impressive Woody. Looks great closed up but your chassis and engine are awesome 

[Deuces]

Yeah, what they^^^^said....

[ChrisR]

Great build!!

[beeRS]

Great job - and I love the hinges!

[vintagercr]

Awesome work!

 

[oldnslow]

Very nice , 

[Ken Gilkeson]

a super job

[crazyjim]

I stunned at the fine workmanship.  Very nice build.

[Hi-Po]

Outstanding workmanship!  Simply beautiful model.

[Hoffman]

Thank you, Gentlemen!! You made my day!

This was a long term project. How long? Well, I got the idea when I was a kid in 1975. The year before, Revell had re-released their '31 Ford Model A station wagon as the "Woodstock" kit. I loved that kit, but it's pretty fussy, fragile, difficult to build it and have it come out looking as nice as the model on the box. I was 10 years old at the time. I started it but never finished it. In '75 Revell released an all-new kit of Lil' John Buttera's ground breaking '26 T street rod. That's an awesome car and a pretty good model to this day. My idea as a kid was simply to combine the best elements of the T street rod with the stock A Woody. Simple, right? 

Fast forward to 2015, me in my 50's now, and I'm finally feeling up to the challenge of this "simple" exercise. 

 

[Draggon]

That's pretty amazing. Love the mix of traditional and contemporary styles.  Great use of the Buttera kit parts. Are those the 2-piece tires that usually wont glue? 

[TooOld]

Excellent work oh the Woody and some great detailing too !  Really like the Jag front and rear suspension and the extra detailing .

[Hoffman]

In terms of style, color combination and so forth, I still love the '70's resto-rod look of chrome Borrani wire wheels with big and little tires, mixed with stock bodies on a nice rake and a modern V-8 under the hood. However, as I've gotten older, I've developed a fondness for perfectly restored classics from the 30's, and sports cars from the 50's and 60's. So, you'll notice this woody has something of a classic English sports car flavor to it. The headlights are '32 Ford from the older Monogram 1/24 roadster, but I added amber bulbs inside and a black and chrome dot in the center, mimicking Marchal lamps, or PL700's. The curved, ramp-like sheet metal added below the grille shell is like a '30 Chevrolet, but also an MG TC. Same for the vertical chrome split in front of the radiator. The black painted radiator inside the shell isn't the standard Model A mesh pattern either. The vertical ribs are meant to look  more like an MG. And finally the colors; my inspiration here was a rare Maybach at the Nethercutt museum in Sylmar. I noticed the warm tan color is a close match for the color of maple wood. On a stock Ford Woody, the sheet metal color is very different from the wood, in a basic tan shade. My idea was to have the sheet metal on the cowl and hood be much closer to the wood color, but not an exact match, as would be the case on a full size car. Similar to the Maybach, I really liked the green fenders and top and substituted those colors on the model in place of the standard Ford Model A black. For contrast, I added the lighter shade of green on the seat inserts, suspension, and drivetrain. 

[Hoffman]

29 minutes ago, Draggon said:

That's pretty amazing. Love the mix of traditional and contemporary styles.  Great use of the Buttera kit parts. Are those the 2-piece tires that usually wont glue? 

Thank you, Draggon! Yeah, those tires really don't want to stay together. The solution I came up with is kind of funny. Look at the end of a new garden hose before you screw it onto the hose bib. There's a black rubber washer in there. They sell replacements at Home Depot. Those things turned out to have just the right width, ID and OD to pop inside the Buttera tires and do a good job of holding them together and the wheel inside. By the way, the rims are from the current Revell '32 sedan with photo etched spokes added from Herb Deeks. The hubs are brass brads from the craft store. The drums you see from behind the spokes are Monogram 1/24th '32 roadster drum/backing plates. 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

WOW!!!!!!

I would like it more if it were factory stock, but the craftsmanship involved in building this car is amazing!!!

And the Ford engine is a nice touch.

[echo]

A lot of effort ,time and creativity are evident in the finished model. A really nicely done car.  Great job.

[Spex84]

Whoa, impressive. I was trying to figure out why it didn't look quite like the Monogram or AMT kits, and then I saw the Buttera suspension, ok it's heavily modified...but I was not expecting to see the brass work! Glad you tackled the project and finally made the idea real  

[Dave Darby]

Wow! You certainly didn't just bang that one out! What a beauty. I see a ton of creativity involved. Finished off with some great colors too. Even some tasty woodgrain. Super nice build.

[Hoffman]

Dave, Spex84, echo, Tulio-  Thank you, Guys!!!! I appreciate all your kind words and excellent feedback. By the way, check out Tulio's '57 T-Bird. It's beautiful!  Thanks again, guys. 

[ewetwo]

Wonderful.

[Mr. Metallic]

Wow. It's deceptive how much work is actually present in this buildup. Looking at the first few pics, you don't realize all that's going on. The firewall and frame that are molded around the engine and suspension components, and then the hinging of the doors. Not to mention the scratchbuilding and integration of the Jag suspension. Very nicely done, in such a subtle package. 

[Justin Porter]

This is exactly the sort of subtle street rod I like to see. It's very impressive how the surgery doesn't jump out at first. 

[mustang1989]

Good lookin' lil' street rod!