Henry J gasser -kitbash challenge -update 7/9/22 COLOR!!!!

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I picked up one of the new reissues of the venerable Revell Henry J kit, kind of on a whim. All of you of a certain age (I mean us olde guys) remember fighting with this kit as a kid to make it actually go together correctly. I was joking with KK, that these old Revell kits with ill-fitting body parts (Thames panel, Anglia, Orange Crate, this kit et. al.) were most likely responsible for thousands of kids stopping building models back in the 60s/70s...

The challenge is, can I make a decent looking kit out of this one? 

Here's the 'yard sale' of parts... Wheels and tires from AMT, seats and some other parts from the Moebius Chevy II gasser, front axle from the Revell '41 Willys....

I found an old chassis with some nice tubs that will be used to bring the back end back down out of the stratosphere. 

 

Some cutting, fitting and sanding got the tubs in place...

 

The Cammer is an AMT item I got on eBay. Several parts swaps will be made...

 

I decided to glue the doors shut and glued the front fenders on to the body...making my challenge that much easier...LOL.  I radiusized (is that a word?) the rear wheel wells and added a lip as well as adding some half round to the side spear...

 

Thanks for looking, more later... -RRR

Edited July 9, 2022 by Rocking Rodney Rat

[Zippi]

This should be a pretty kewl challenge RRR.  I built this re-issed kit a few months back and boy was it a real challenge.  I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.  

[lucky 130]

I remember when this little jewel came out the first time. If they weren't challenging enough, some of us thought converting them into Alstates. Yours is going to be fun to watch, and bring back some very good memories. Thanks

 

                                                                                                                                                                   Mike

[dragcarz]

I like what your doing here , I’ll be watching!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool project. Will be following.

[Kit Karson]

@Rocking Rodney RatI know from our conversations on your HJ build that you understand the uniqueness and challenge this kit kan be... I got this far on mine shortly after the first go round:

Keep us up to date on your progress, Brother! -KK

[iBorg]

One of the things I hate about this kit is the chassis. It claims to be a gasser but gasser rules NEVER allowed a round tube chassis.

[stavanzer]

Cool Build! Can't wait to see more.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

7 hours ago, iBorg said:

One of the things I hate about this kit is the chassis. It claims to be a gasser but gasser rules NEVER allowed a round tube chassis.

Yeah, I'm not really going for gasser class accuracy, the kit certainly has it's limitations! -RRR

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

A little work on the chassis. The front suspension is from the newer Revell version of the Stone Woods and Cook '41 Willys while the rear springs are from the Revell '57 Ford gasser kit. I modified and trans mount and added a driveshaft loop to the rear crossmember. -RRR

[Scott Colmer]

I'll be watching this one. Great start so far.

[Codi]

You had me at "Henry J"..........knowing the quality of your builds I'm certainly looking forward to how this one turns out.  cheers, tim

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I added rear brakes from an MPC funny car kit. The axle is from the Moebius Chevy II gasser kit..... -RRR

 

[ozmodeler]

Looking forward to seeing those rear wheels &tires under those "radiusized" wheel arches. Looking good so far .

 

[Scott8950]

Nice job

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I fabricated a rear seat delete panel/package tray...

 

I added some bracing to the roll bar...

 

The engine has been finalized with pullies, fuel intake with pump and distributor driven off of a camshaft... 

Happy Froth of July to all... -RRR

[Misha]

Great work RRR! I’m following your build closely as you have offered very practical solutions to improve this kit. As a kid I picked up the new Revell series of Thames, Anglia, Willys, yet the Henry J has eluded me until this recent release which I picked up couple of weeks ago. The interior changes look great with the rear seat removal. Gluing the doors shut is certainly the plan to follow I agree. The pulleys look great, what is the origin? (Haven’t looked closely at the kit yet).

Always a pleasure to see your work, cheers Misha

[crazyjim]

I like the process on this Henry J.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Finished up some chassis fabrication work...

Upper shock perch. Shocks from the Moebius Chevy II gasser kit....

 

Rear shocks, ladder bars and axle from the Moebius Chevy II gasser, springs from the Revell '57 Ford kit...

 

I fabricated up a rudimentary steering setup. The original Henry J kit doesn't have any steering linkage and between that hunking Cammer motor and the headers there isn't much room...

This one's off to the paint booth so we'll see Under Glass over there in a few weeks, maybe a couple of paint booth progress pix if I feel inclined....

 

Peace out...-RRR

Edited July 8, 2022 by Rocking Rodney Rat

[Kit Karson]

And I've seen proof!  The kolor is striking!!

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

OK, here, it's blue...Testors Extreme Icy Blue. Happy now??? ?

[Dennis Lacy]

Proving once again that if you put a mediocre kit in the right hands it can be transformed into something bad ass! Love all the changes and details you added and it’s really hard to go wrong with the Icy Blue. 

[Kit Karson]

On 7/9/2022 at 12:27 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

OK, here, it's blue...Testors Extreme Icy Blue. Happy now??? ?

Was I wrong?

ABSOLUTELY

[cobraman]

You picked a great color.

[Tom Geiger]

Lookin’ good!  I support your decision to glue on the body panels, 100% improvement!  Nothing like fiddly old kits!  Yes, I glued doors shut on a bunch of oldies!