The Ice Cream Model A

[mrm]

3 hours ago, Plowboy said:

I've often read that the shock mounts on a full scale can't be chrome. I've always thought that was BS as the shocks don't hold the car up. The springs do. Someone posted this photo in one of my build threads on another forum and the first thing I noticed were the chrome shock mounts.

Except that's not what I said. Or meant. There are many many hot rods with shock mounts that are chrome. When they are an individual part bolted to the frame. It's a great detail on properly built hot rods. But that is not what the frame in the series of '32s by Revell represents. And to a degree in this series of '29/'30 kits. especially when it comes to the rear suspension. 80% of the models using the '32 four bar front suspension in the Revell kits that I see built have the space between the bars chrome, which should be part of the frame rail and therefore the same color. My comment was that I have never seen a shock tower that is part of the frame (welded on) that has been chromed while the rest of the frame painted. It is such a small part that is so easy to touch up and not doing it is just like not dealing with sink marks. 

[mrm]

By the way, I know there are quite few people on here from Tennessee and I was wondering if anyone would be attending the Chattanooga show/contest tomorrow (well it kinda starts tonight)? 

I will be there for sure and if I muster the motivation to finish it, the ice cream A will be too. 

[mrm]

So, Friday night - or should I say Saturday very early in the morning - the model was done. I rushed through the night to finish it, so it could be done for the Chattanooga show on Saturday. More than anything out of stubbornness, because I just had wound myself that it "HAS TO" be done for the show. Big mistake! As this was probably THE WORST model contest I have participated in. Guess where I'm not going next year......?

  Anyway.......I did menage to snap few pictures of the process before I wrapped it up. And in the process I learned few things about the kit. Main thing is that it is NOT the same as the first edition. And it ain't better either!

As it is my usual practice, I painted the surrounds of the windows with a sharpie. What I like to use better than the sharpie brand are these commercial markers, which are made for construction and mark over pretty much any surface - wet, dusty, oily - whatever. Any Home Depot or Lowes carries them and they are about the same price as the Sharpies. They come in few basic colors too. 

 

Next stop was the interior. I used the yellow gauge faces as I like them better. The small ones are pain to fit right in the bezels as the whole panel shines and you can barely see where the decal is. I would recommend one of those halping hands with magnifying glass thingies. I just bought one from HL for ten bucks, but haven't used it yet. 

 

The steering wheel was sprayed with grey primer, followed by fine white primer and topped with pearl white. All Tamiya color sprayed straight from the can. I masked the spokes with liquid mask and here you can see some of it being peeled after the paint dried.

 

The door panels and the seat received a good dusting of the white pearl also from the can. This made the white pearl and the turquoise lighter and it toned down the silver flakes in it, while giving it more uniform with the white finish. Basically, the effect is perfect representation of the vinyl seats you can still find in some old diners. And it is exactly what I was looking for. Did I know that?! No. I just had the idea and took the chance and ran with it. I just got lucky and now I know for the next time. LOL Also it is important to note that the inner side of the rear wheel openings have to be painted body color just like their outside. The reason why is that after assembly, you can see a solid portion of their lower end above the frame rails from underneath the model. So make your life easier and paint the entire fenderwell from both sides from the get go. 

 

Next everything was put together, minus the seat and the steering wheel. People don't glue the top part of the roof and leave the seam because they fear that they can not assemble the interior after that. Not true. You can fill the seam, have the body as a one piece, install the interior panels and the dash and even the floor and then easily put the seat in through the opening in the roof. On this kit I did a lot of things in a very unusual for me order just try something new and to see if any of it makes things different, easier or harder. Like for example after the shifter received same treatment as the steering wheel, it got glued together with the pedals to the floor and and floor got glued with the rest of the interior panels to the body. I use five minute epoxy for these parts which gives you plenty of time to put everything together and to adjust for perfect fitment. It's worth mentioning that you do see the inner fire wall from the roof opening once the model is finished, so don't forget to paint it the proper color. I did forget, so mine is grey now. LOL

 

After the body was pretty much completely closed, I lowered the seat into it and glued it with 5 min epoxy. Then I glued the exhaust to the floor.  I tried something new to me and listened to Dennis Lacy and painted the mufflers. In another thread he recommended a Tamiya color which supposedly matches the color glasspack mufflers come in. I decided to take his word for it and found out that for reasons unknown to me, I actually had a can of TS-58. I have to say I am very happy with the results. Thank you Dennis! The rest of the exhaust underneath was painted with Tamiya Silver Leaf. 

 

This would be a tricky operation later on. If you have built your chassis completely with the engine already glued in it, you should have attached the steering box and column to the frame before the engine. This is what I did. So if you chose to do like me and attach the floor to the body and then the exhaust to the floor and then put the whole assenbly on the frame, you would have to thread the steering column through the hole in the fire wall and then move the body as far forward and patiently wiggle the ends of the exhaust over that rearmost cross member on the frame. It is totally doable and a lot easier than it seams. it just looks hard and complicated. This can assure the body sits perfectly all the way down on the frame rails as it should. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would much rather not glue the exhaust manifolds to the engine and add the steering box and column AFTER the engine and body have been glued to the frame. 

    What I figured out is that this kit was not very well thought out. Actually, for lack of better words, it was half a$$ed in the design department. I am saying this comparatively speaking to the first edition. This kit was designed to work with the small block Chevy engine, not the Nailhead. First the pulley of the nailhead hits the front cross member, so it really should be moved slightly back. However, even if you don't move it back the bell housing on its transmission interferes greatly with the firewall. Like an eight of an inch or more. And I'm not talking scale inches. I happened to have few of the original kits and one built sitting next to me, so the fire walls are actually not the same. On the new reissued kit the fire wall is thinner and sits further back. Which means that Revell were aware of the issue and attempted to fix it, but not very well. If you want proper fitment you definitely need to trim the fire wall around the transmission. Which brings us back to gluing the floor to the body first as it would help with the trimming. 

   The other issue you are going to run into is if you want to use the Deuce grille. This kit is not designed to work with it. Or rather it is not designed to use it with the engine supplied in the kit. This is why it is missing from the instructions or anywhere on the box art, which is a shame really. The radiator (which at least is supplied) is designed to hook up to hoses for the SBC engine in the original kit. There are three sets of radiator hoses supplied win the kit. Neither one of them is made to connect the '32 radiator to the nailhead. You are absolutely on your own there. 

  Don't get me wrong, I love the kit. I just built two of them and now that I am past my builder's block, I already have plans for four more '30 coupes and few roadsters. It is just a shame that after all the anticipation, Revell pulled such a half a$$ job on putting the nailhead in this kit. 

Thanks for looking and expect the Ice Cream Coupe in the "Under Glass" section. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by mrm