bisc63 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 7 hours ago, Kit Karson said: ACME is having a club build using the '30-'31 Coupe from Revell as a Common Kit Club Build for our Southern National NNL! SWEEEEEET! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 So this week I had a huge cleanup of my model room and found the "cloth" insert that I removed from my AMT 32 Custom Tudor showcar. Now today I see this thread and there is the perfect use for that leftover roof centre. Never, ever, throw anything away, that's my motto. Loving this so far. The stance looks perfect but I'm glad you're ;leaving off some of the funky bits. Form follows function, eh? Cheers Alan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 Work continues on the floorpan on the '30 coupe. I grabbed my trusty Dremel and spent some careful quality time grinding out the area under the trans/driveshaft tunnel. Then I followed that with some work filing and sanding. Now looks like this... ---------- Transmission fits like a glove, as it should as it's from the same Mustang kit as the tunnel! --------------------------- Dropping the frame over it, looks like this. (but this is getting ahead of ourselves a bit). ---------------------- The floorpan nestles nicely in the body. The body will be channeled over the frame a skoshe, the amount depends on the height of the interior panels I plan to use (plus the depth of the floorpan). I will be starting to fab up the interior this weekend. Having a separate greenhouse makes working on the interior easier.... More later, thanks for following along.... -RRR 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 Moving on to the interior this weekend. I decided to use the Revell '32 roadster Rat Roaster interior pieces.... I had already cut the toe board off of one of the side panels. these will be replaced as separate pieces. Since the coupe doors is longer, I'm going to use two panels, cut them to the longer length and splice them together so the door lines match... -------- I already cut away most of the upper 'porthole' section on the panels as I won't be using that. I measured the door length on the body with my handy dandy calipers (thanks, KK) and transferred that to the inner panels to determine where my cuts will be made. As KK is fond of saying: "leave the line!!!" ---------- After slicing and some careful sanding 'creeping up' on the pieces, I glued them together. There was a bit of a bow, so I inserted a slice of super thin plastic to take up the space. A skoshe of putty and some more careful sanding should bring this around. The open area is at the bottom, so it won't so very visible! ------------------------- I added a strip across the top of the panel covering up what remained of the 'portholes', sanding down the edges and slicing an opening for the rear door. I'm going to use white as my accent color, so the plan is to paint the panels white, with the diamond pattern panels in green (to match the exterior color) with BMF for that band in between. ------------------------- This is how it's going to look. The seats will sit further back once I fab up the back panel and package tray. I notched the bottom sides of each seat to go over the tunnel. The door panels hide the seam between the body and the greenhouse. On to the other side. Once these panels are in place, I will know how much of a channel I will have. Then I can determine how much of a 'Z' I will need in the rear frame rail to get the proper ride height. ----------------------- I'm going to use the '40 dash out of the Revell '32 5ive window coupe...sure, why not? I also found this steering wheel out of the parts box. I'm going for a '60s style almost 'show rod' look and I think this fits the theme. Most likely the dash will be in body color metalflake green.... Thanks for checking in...stay tuned for more fun and frivolity!!! -RRR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Looking good, I like the updated door panels, the “rat roaster” look was imo overdone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 What a great start, RRR! You're one of the most prolific builders I know!! Will the never-ending waterfall of hot rod ideas ever dry up with you? The mix of parts that you draw from is most often so period perfect at times that it gives me chills!!! The slight modifications really define you as a hot rod builder!V -KK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 Nice work. Coming together nicely. More great kit bashing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I already told you this but that interior is RAD! I’ve used those panels and seats before in a ‘32 5W but it never occurred to me to splice two pairs together to make longer doors for a coupe. I just left them as-is. Wish I would have thought of this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisc63 Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 Very nice progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 Looking great. I just started a project that I want to channel over the frame too, so I am watching with interest!👍👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted January 27, 2022 Share Posted January 27, 2022 Excellent kit-bashing skills! David G. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 The interior has been pretty much dialed in. I made a rear wall/package tray unit and sliced off a bit on back end of the door panels to fit... ------------- I cut out tunnel notch at the base of the rear wall and got the dash snugged into place... Next up, putting a 'Z' in the rear frame rails and support bracing... Stay tuned.... -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrm Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 This is such a great idea with the rat roaster interior. I’m definitely using it down the road. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 1 hour ago, mrm said: This is such a great idea with the rat roaster interior. I’m definitely using it down the road. Thanks, I have had it in the back of my mind to use the RR interior for some time. The 'porthole' look was a bit over the top, but once that was deleted, the rest of it's quite nice. I still have some work to smooth out the seams on the diamond patterned parts, but it should look cool once I finish it off.... -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 I honestly wonder sometimes, that if you had your own 1:1 Rod Shop RRR, would this be your signature style Model A Coupe "Show & Go" Hot Rod build?! . -KK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 (edited) I haven't posted up too much lately. Now that I have the interior figured out, I can turn to the frame. The height and placement of the interior side panels (and thickness of the floorpan) determined how much the body would be channeled over the frame. This is how much of channel, notice that the wheel wells have been filled in and the rear axle centerline has been marked.... ------------------------ Next I took some length out of the frame behind the rear axle location. Since I'm going to Z the rear frame rails, the frame would have interfered with the inside of the trunk... ------------ Frame Z is completed. Notice the temporary brace on the frame to keep the rails the right width while the frame is put back together...... -------------------------- I used some Evergreen rectangle to make the frame braces... -------------------- Here's a quick mockup of the body on the frame with the rear axle in place.... Thanks for checking in. More later..... -RRR Edited February 6, 2022 by Rocking Rodney Rat 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 7, 2022 Author Share Posted February 7, 2022 I decided to Z the front rails as well. I also flattened the front crossmember to get the ride height wanted. Here's the finished frame as compared to the box stock kit frame... -RRR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Now that I have the frame setup, final ride height could be determined. With the car this low, a stock height grille and shell was too tall. I really don't like the look of a grille taller than the cowl, it's just not proper. The solution was to chop a grille. A '32 grille would be the usual suspect, but I decided to keep it '30 and chop the '30 shell. To that end, I grabbed my trusty Dremel and carefully ground out the radiator from the shell, a little cleaning up with the X-Acto, files and sandpaper dialed it in... The chop is subtle, an RCH less than 1/8th of an inch. I didn't want a squat grille such as the goofy looking American Graffiti coupe overdone grille shell chop (no offense to anyone, an iconic car...but that chopped down, dropped down grille😬)... ----------------------- The next order of business was to find a piece of radiator to fill in the opening. Not as easy as I figured. I finally found a big enough (and thin enough) radiator in the Revell '49 woody wagon (ya just never know where one will find the right part)...cut, cut, slice, slice, sand, sand some more, NOT TOO MUCH!!! ------------------------------------ It's going to look about like this...the shell will be slightly notched over the crossmember and will a bit further back... ----------------------------------- The engine side of the radiator with the fan is dropped in place. Obviously, it will be tightened up once it's all put together. Next up are modifications to the intake and output side of the W motor... Stay tuned... -RRR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAT-T Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 TOO COOL! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Some seriously kick ass work going into this one. This will be your best A Coupe yet! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Looking good!! make me want to go back to my long-abandoned channeled '30 coupe build. Nice work on the shortened grille...the kit '30 grille is difficult to do anything with, being one piece. I'm glad you tackled the challenge because it looks so much better now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrm Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Very cool. Love the choice of a motor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 What a HACK! I can say that because you make it look so straight forward... in another word "EASY"! I have honestly tried to emulate your precise method, but somewhere along the way it begs me and tugs at my soul... "Make it complicated!" I know KISS, ya know, Keep It Simple Stupid or is it Keep It Stupid Simple?!' -KK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Thanks for the comments, guys. And yes, I am a HACK!!! I'm getting pretty good at it, too! -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris chabre Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 coming together nicely! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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