Bernard Kron inspired 40's style 32 Hiboy

[alan barton]

I have been building scale hot rods since I was 12 and the first rod model I ever bought with my own money was the Monogram Son of Ford. 32 Roadster.  In the ensuing 50 years I have built eight of these kits with another three on the bench and they are definitely my favourite model hot rod kit.  Notice I didn't say the best kit, just my favourite.

And yet, they just dont seem to get built much.  I see far more of the AMT kit which in my opinion is a very crude, bordering on Palmerish,  32 roadster.  I completely understand the historical significance of that iconic kit and have built two myself but it bears little resemblance to a real 32. Give me the Little Deuce any day!

To convert a Monogram full fendered roadster is not as hard as you might think.  It takes a little time but you could complete the conversion in a night or two. The trick is to cut the fenders and running boards off first, with about a 1 or 2 mm flange left on the frame side.  Seen from underneath the frame will appear to be skinny on the outside at the front and skinny on the inside from the cowl back.  By making up some filler strips from flat styrene, you can thicken up these areas and then file the whole thing to shape, including the infamous character line of the stock deuce frame.  The front and rear horns will also need some work but in my opinion it actually gives a more prototypically correct look than the esteemed Revell kit of the 1990s.

This model was always going to be an early 40's style hiboy and it got a white metal Duvall windscreen very early in the build but I ground to a halt over the interior.  The Monogram kit in it's many variations has the distinctive horse collar style pleated and padded upholstery.  As much as I like that piece, it does rather identify it's origins and I wasn't quite ready to start scratchbuilding an alternative.

Then Bernard posted his lakes-inspired high seat roll hiboy here a while back and the light bulb went on!  By adding the ever so period correct high roll, I would also help disguise the origins of the kit.  This inspiration hurried up the completion of a long stalled project.  I used the seat roll of a Lindberg 23 T bucket kit, yeah, the ugly one, and built it up with body filler.  The body was a glue bomb from my childhood that had been sprayed with lacquer causing significant crazing.  As a result some of the swage marks around the rear of the car are a bit soft as it took a lot of sanding to correct the damage and I wasn't prepared to start reconstructing swages on this project.

Please excuse the dodgey painting of the gauge panel.  Somewhere I have a beautiful MCG photoetched panel but I have put it in a safe place and until I find that safe place, I have to put up with the results of my shaky hand!

Paint is cheap hardware store enamel with just the right amount for shine, with a satin black frame. The interior was sprayed first with red lead primer then stippled with various Humbrol orange and brown enamels.  It was nearly working but then I applied a black wash and it really popped.  Probably my favourite part of the car. 

The recipe is as follows.

Monogram 32 Roadster - Body, hood, grille,  frame, front axle rear axle, interior

Firewall Resin copy of Rat Roaster stock style firewall.

Front wishbone and steering gear - AMT 32 Ford slightly extended

Duval Windscreen - white metal, Replicas and Miniatures Or R&D Unique - it was a long time ago!

Dashboard and steering wheel- AMT 40 Ford converted to RHD.

Skull shifter knob - Off the front of Hot Wheels Rigor Motor toy ( looks like Grandpa Munster's dragster)

Engine Monogram Tom Daniel's Pie Wagon show rod flathead

Headers Revell 427 SOHC with one pipe removed (Henry J, Willys P/U, Austin) with aluminium lakes pipes

Wheels Revell 37 Ford Commercial on one side, AMT 40 Ford on the other.

Tyres - I forget but I think they are AMT skinnies on the front and the revell 37 slightly taller skinnies on the rear, just to give a rubber rake.

 

So thank you, Bernard, for kicking this off the dead projects pile and getting it "under Glass."  Let me know what you think!

Cheers

Alan

 

 

[ChrisR]

NICE!!

[PappyD340]

Looks great!!

[slusher]

I agree it looks great..

[alan barton]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments.  However, I really must check my photos more closely, I didn't notice that the rear hubcap had slipped out of position - old age I guess! I often use Blu tac, a poster putty type of product, to fit hubcaps without risking glue damage to paint but it appears to have let me down this time!

Cheers

Alan 

[TooOld]

Wow that looks great !  I agree the Monogram '32 roadster is  one of my favorites too and your conversion to a fenderless is something I may try one of these days .

[alan barton]

Thanks Bob.  The following photos should give you a rough idea of how I did it.

 

[Dennis Lacy]

Bitchin! I built two of these this way back in the 90’s as a kid/teen before the modern Revell hiboy kit was available. I didn’t add material to create the reveal lines, though, and that makes a huge difference. I love the overall styling and color scheme. The big seat bolster turned out really nice and I dig the Duvall style windshield. I also have to say I prefer the side with the ‘37 “artillery” wheels, in part because (IMO) their larger diameter is in better proportion to the car. 
 

Seeing this is also bringing back memories and makes me want to recreate one of mine...

[alan barton]

Talk about brothers from a different mother!  I too built my first one when I was around 15 or 16.  It was a replica of a local car, the only hiboy in Perth at the time.  it was also my very first spray paint job ever, with a coat or three of Testor's metallic Purple, I think.  Man, was it thick.  When I got back into modelling in my early twenties, I stripped it to create the red one below in 1982 and guess what, it doesn't have the reveal either - I simply hadn't thought about it when I was 15!

About ten years ago I started a new one, intended as a dry lakes car, but it isn't quite finished yet.  This time I knew about the reveal and found it relatively easy to achieve. It uses a resin ArDun flathead conversion and 41 Lincoln rear wheels and tyres.

[Dennis Lacy]

@alan barton

I like the gray primer lakes car a lot! Those big Lincoln wheels and tires really look great out back. A small detail I love is the windshield brackets left on the cowl which can be seen remaining on 100’s of old lakes pictures. I’m willing to bet that most model builders don’t even realize those are separate pieces on the real 32’s. 
 

I wish I had pictures to share of one of mine but neither of them survived and the first one was pretty rough as I made it when I was about 12, haha! The second one years later turned out pretty clean, though. It was a dark orange from the Boyd colors (sunset, maybe?) and had the flathead from the first issue of the 1950 F1 pickup with the heads and intake from the 1940 pickup. Wheels were shallow & deep steelies (probably from the AMT ‘49 Ford) with the ‘50 pickup hubcaps. 

[alan barton]

Thanks Dennis!

Doing the windshield posts like that is something I always wanted to try and I was helped by being down to my last windshield frame at the time, which was broken!  I want to improve them by making a couple of tiny little "washers" to glue to the inside edge of the stanchions and replicate where the top half of the posts bolt on. There's still a ton of details to add to this model before I can truly call it finished but I like where it is going so far and I'm glad you like it too!  

Cheers

Alan

[Plowboy]

That's a nice clean looking little hot rod Alan! I really like the interior and the right hand drive conversion! Nice work!

[Zippi]

Great looking and I like those Flatty's.  Can't get enough of the old school look.  Nice build.  

[bill-e-boy]

Hi Alan

Nice conversion of the old Monogram 32. The other projects look interesting to

The roadster without the reveal looks good. There were some earlier repro chassis builders did not build in the reveal in their frames so you can get away without the reveal. 

 

[doorsovdoon]

Super cool looking rod! Steering wheel on the correct side too;) haha.

[alan barton]

Thank you Bill, Gareth, Bob and Roger!  I know we build for ourselves but it's always rewarding to get compliments from your peers.  

Yeah, I do punish myself by doing right hand drive conversions on most of my builds. Its an Aussie thing I guess but even my mates mostly build them LHD so maybe its just an Al thing after all!  I did a coupe of quickies recently that I left LHD just because I was lazy and wasn't overly in love with the car ( finishing old, stalled builds from decades ago!) and some of my dirt track jalopies and late models speedway sedans are LHD simply because that's how the prototype was but for the most part I cut and shut into tiny pieces until I get the result I am after.  Obviously pre-48 hot rods are easiest but I will tackle even modern cars with complex asymetrical dashboards.

Cheers

Alan