Project "Leftovers" - Deuce Pseudo-Tub

[Bernard Kron]

Back in 2008 when Revell released its Sedan Street Rod version of its 1/*25th scale '32 Ford series it created quite a stir, both because it expanded the Deuce series with an important and useful new body style, and because it contained a full-dress Flathead Ford V8 and Kelsey Hayes style wire wheels in it. As a result it remains and important staple in every hot rod modelers stash.

At the time on the TRaK forum there was a MAMA’s boy (Maryland Automobile Modeler’s Association member) who went by the handle of Dub (Jonathan Lutz) who had a real flare for hot rods done in a simple, straight-up and to-the-point style that I greatly admired. One of my favorite models of his was a Deuce Sedan with its top removed; he called it the Pseudo-Tub. In 2008 I was just restarting as a modeler and I loved how successfully he had achieved the look he was after in what was a deceptively simple yet sophisticated build. Here’s a picture of it:

Back then when I got my initial copy of the Revell Deuce Sedan kit I immediately set to chopping it. But I messed up, losing the center portion of the A-pillar (a technique I no longer use) on one side, thus rendering the body useless. I went on to buy more copies and eventually produced a couple of properly chopped renditions while this first kit was stripped of most of its parts for other projects. The forlorn, half dead body stayed in my stash until now.

After finishing a Revellogram ’30 Ford Phaeton in December, I slipped into a minor case of builder’s block, as I usually do after finishing a project, and, as I sought inspiration, the Phaeton reminded me of the Pseudo-Tub, which was made by removing the top from a Revell Deuce sedan down to the lower molding line. Maybe Jonathan had had some problems with a chop as well? I don’t know, but I decided to try my hand at my version of Dub’s Pseudo Tub. So, off the top came:

And since this was already a project based on leftovers, I decided to use the very nice chassis in the AMT Phantom Vicky kit, but with a 2” Z job at the rear and the front suspension back dated to a dropped I-beam, using one of the very fine deep drop ’40 Ford axles offered by ThePartsBox.com in Australia. In fact the entire car will be built from spare parts. While I was at it I grafted the DuVall style windshield and cowl to the Pseudo Tub body. Here’s the chassis in that wonderful hot pink metallic paint from the pre-painted version of the Phantom Vicky:

At first I thought I would go for the period traditional look that Dub had done so well. So I decided on a set of artillery wheels and skinny blackwall tires, the fronts coming from a Revellogram ’37 Ford kit, and the rear wheels and tires the splendid period Lincoln rear tires and complementary artillery wheels offered by Ed Fluck at Drag City Casting. But then while looking through the Drag City section of my resin stash I encountered a pair of wonderful diamond-quilted bucket seats and started thinking about an early-60’s show car version of the Pseudo-Tub (having just finished the Phaeton in that style).

So below you’ll see two possible versions, the 50’s style skinny-tired hot rod, and a possible show car variant rolling on the tires and wheels from the Monogram Lil’ Coffin kit. If I go 50’s style I’ll go with a suitably authentic 50’s mill, either a Flathead or perhaps a Caddy V8. If it’s Show Time then I’m thinking I’ll use the blinged out Nailhead that comes in the recent Revell Model A coupe and roadster kits with lotsa kit chrome. The 50’s version would get a mauve tinted primer paint job while I’m thinking Candy Purplicious with a white full-dress interior for the show car. Which one do you think I should do? Opinions welcome and encouraged.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Bullybeef]

As a tribute to the original I’d go 50’s style. Either way I’m watching with anticipation.

[alan barton]

60's showcar, absolutely.  Far more attractive and eyecatching on your shelf.

Cheers

Alan

[espo]

I look forward to seeing what all you make out of this. 

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks everyone.

Dub did such an on-the-money interpretation of the 50’s style that I’ve decided to go with the 60’s show-car version. With that in mind I’ve gotten several of the basic subassemblies out of the way. The motor is the Nailhead from the current Revell ’30 Ford Model A Coupe street rod kit. I swapped out the rather huge modern transmission for a more traditional LaSalle box for a better fit in the AMT Phantom Vicky chassis. The only other change is the intake scoops from Replicas and Miniatures Co. of Maryland. The floor panels have been made, a combination of the floor from the AMT Phantom Vicky and some styrene sheet. I also cut down a Revell Deuce fuel tank to fit the rear of the AMT chassis.

I scratched together some interior panels for the body sides and a divider panel adapted from the rear of the interior of a Revel Deuce 3-window. The tuck and roll and diamond quilt patterns were made from various Plastruct and Evergreen sheet and strip. They’ll get painted in a combination of white and gold along with the bucket seats from Drag City Castings.

The wheel assemblies are also completed. It was suggested that I go with a smaller looking front tire that the Lil’ Coffin ones, perhaps some Modelhaus 120’s. So here are the fronts with the 120’s. They are fitted with Buick finned brake drums; IIRC these finely detailed pieces are also from Drag City. They were narrowed and shaved a bit to fit the Lil' Coffin' wheels. They’re picked out in Testors Aluminum Plate metalizer on the fins and Molotow chrome on the backing plates, to match the chromed backing plates on the Lil’ Coffin rears.

That’s it for now. I’ve been trying my best to stick with unpainted parts and temporary mockups during the fabrication and development phase to ensure as clean a paint assembly phase as I can muster. Paint, in fact, is next.

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Bernard Kron

[misterNNL]

As always this is enviable work on an interesting project. I'll be following along of course.

[Bernard Kron]

Thank you, Tom!

This project is evolving into a far more ambitious endeavor than I anticipated when I started it. Deciding to go with a show rod has involved a lot more in the way of experimentation and fabrication than a straight 50’s street rod would have. Since the last update I decided to go with a true 60’s style show car panel paint job. I don’t airbrush so this means doing it with decals. One reason I went this way was because I thought the car would more “flah” in a light color and doing a panel design would highlight the lines better. The base color will be gloss white, but right now Iim proofing the decal sizes and patterns. The mockup below is in white primer. There are eight decal panels so far, three side panels on each side, a rear panel and a cowl panel. I’ll also do a design for the grill shell. Here’s the decal art so far:

I got the interior door and rear panels and the seats painted white. The gold tone is Tamiya Titanium Gold. I also made a “drawer pull” stye grill using material from a vintage Aurora Automobile Customizing Accessories, #592 Custom Grills and Trim.

That’s it for now. Time for gloss white undercoats on the chassis and body parts and some very careful decal work!

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Kromolly]

Looking great.  You definitely made the right choice on your build.  The Nailhead was a great choice too, with the Buick finned brake drums.  Very nice.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Roy.

Things are moving along at a nice clip now. I decided to tackle a show-style tonneau cover. It’s made from Evergreen (main tuck and roll surface) and Plastruct (diamond tuft insert) styrene sheet. The chassis is built with the exception of the front hairpin radius rods. And all the main surfaces are painted in Duplicolor Universal white over white primer and three coats of Tamiya TS-65 Pearl Clear. Now for the decals and final assembly.

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

 

[alan barton]

Looking good Bernard - I'm really enjoying that  side profile.

Cheers

Alan

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Alan!

This looks a lot like the preliminary decal mockup a couple of posts back, but this is actually the final decal application with 5 coats of Tamiya TS-13 clear over them. That’s 2 coats more than I normally do so that’s there’s plenty of thickness to rub the paint out. This was actually a pretty big deal. The decal art was edited to provide a more exact fit, and a fogged strip was made for the grill shell, which was missing from the first set. As you might imagine, these are quite big decals. There are 12 individual pieces (including 3 for the grill) and a lot can go wrong between printing, sealing them, applying them and clear coating them. In fact it took the equivalent of 3 decal sets to get them all right. One of the advantages of self-made decals is you can always print more! It looks very much how I imagined it would and the application is pretty clean will no major gaps or flaws, so I’m quite relieved.

Once the paint is hardened I’ll polish it out and then do the final assembly

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[1930fordpickup]

Bernard, once again you have taken a simple model turned it into a complex build that you knocked out of the park.  Nice work on the Leftover Rod. 

I also would like to thank you for have a good idea where the parts came from, even though you did not even use them on this.  I guess Drag City Castings needs more of my money. LOL 

Most of use just toss the extra parts in the parts box, but a few of you guys know where or what kit they are from. I am learning  even though I finish nothing. Thank You very much for sharing your knowledge. 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Bernard!

Very "period correct", shall we say! The panel painting and wide whites are spot on.

I agree with you: the Phantom Vicky frame is a very nice foundation for any 32 project. Most of those that I was able to put in my stash were the "pre-painted" units, that require a little more bit of work, but well wort it.

Bravo!

CT 

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks to you both.

12 minutes ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

... Most of those that I was able to put in my stash were the "pre-painted" units, that require a little more bit of work, but well wort it. ...

Thanks Claude. I have always tried to buy the pre-painted ones because they have generally been cheaper. The Phantom Vickie is really the ultimate parts kit, The list of items to steal is seemingly endless: headers, independent front suspension, chassis, windshield, two-pece headlights, two-piece talights, dashboard, firewall, front wheels (make great rear wheels), motor, etc., etc. The only problem with the pre-painted ones is that the paint is almost impossible to remove. When I grafted the Phantom Vicky cowl on this build I had to sand the paint down to bare plastic because it wouldn't come off in the "purple pond". Recently, too, Phantom Vickies are getting more sought after with the commensurate increase in price, pre-painted or not.

[Claude Thibodeau]

13 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

Thanks to you both.

Thanks Claude. I have always tried to buy the pre-painted ones because they have generally been cheaper. The Phantom Vickie is really the ultimate parts kit, The list of items to steal is seemingly endless: headers, independent front suspension, chassis, windshield, two-pece headlights, two-piece talights, dashboard, firewall, front wheels (make great rear wheels), motor, etc., etc. The only problem with the pre-painted ones is that the paint is almost impossible to remove. When I grafted the Phantom Vicky cowl on this build I had to sand the paint down to bare plastic because it wouldn't come off in the "purple pond". Recently, too, Phantom Vickies are getting more sought after with the commensurate increase in price, pre-painted or not.

Hi Bernard!

I concur: this kit a a gold mine of parts... even the Cobra engine fits nicely in many rods. I think I have never seen one FINISHED on a table at a show... I suppose our secret source of fine parts is no so secret, eh? 

To your point about paint removal, the only solution I found for removal of the apparently silk-screened checker motif on the body-side was 48 hours in a tub of brake oil, followed by a dip in Simple Green non-toxic degreaser. But it worked, ultimately. Note that the brake oil with silicone seems less effective. 

CT 

[Phildaupho]

Great looking show rod. Just the right combination of everything. I am intrigued with your decals. How did you do the artwork?

[Bernard Kron]

Just now, Phildaupho said:

Great looking show rod. Just the right combination of everything. I am intrigued with your decals. How did you do the artwork?

Hi Phil,

I use Photoshop. I start by laying out the shapes in masking tape on the model. I then pull them up off the model and stick them on sheet of paper to scan them. I mark them up with an eye to what I'll be doing later. I then "cut" them up in Photoshop to individual images for each decal.:

Then I process them in Photoshop to get the effect I want. In this example you see the cowl decal made by taking the cowl part of the scan, cutting out the right half of the cowl, cleaning up the edges, applying a Photoshop effect (a "Layer Style" in Photoshop lingo) called Inner Glow going from purple to transparent (or white in this image). I then flip the right half to make the left half to make sure it's symmetric. When I print on clear decal stock it allows the base color (in this case pearl white) to show through.

I usually make an initial set and actually apply it to the model to test for fit and effect. In this case most of the decals had to be adjusted for final fit.

 

[Phildaupho]

3 hours ago, Bernard Kron said:

Hi Phil,

I use Photoshop. I start by laying out the shapes in masking tape on the model. I then pull them up off the model and stick them on sheet of paper to scan them. I mark them up with an eye to what I'll be doing later. I then "cut" them up in Photoshop to individual images for each decal.:

Thank you Bernard for such a complete explanation. The resulting decals look fantastic on your model

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Phil!

The back half and interior of the car are now done. The to-do list is still fairly lengthy, with details like the exhaust headers, front radius rods, steering gear, windshield glass and headlights left to install but really this project is about done. Below are pics of the interior (minus shiftlever), and rear end of the car. The taillights and license plate frame are from the inevitable Revell Deuce kits. This should be the last post as a w.i.p. Next time it’ll be a completed model!

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[bisc63]

Fun build, and a cool rod!