Styrene hot rod frame.

[Frankieboy]

Hello.   Can y’all get me started in the right direction on scratch building a hot rod or t bucket frame from styrene plastic strips?   I don’t know what size to start with.  It would be a 1/24 or 1/25 scale car. I know there’s threads here but I can’t find the right size styrene I’m those posts.     Thank you.   

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hot rod frames, particularly for T-buckets, are often built from 2" X 4" rectangular steel tube.

[Frankieboy]

What I meant was a 1/24 or 1/25 model car. Lol.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

15 minutes ago, Frankieboy said:

What I meant was a 1/24 or 1/25 model car. Lol.  

Yeah, I know. 

You just divide the real measurement by 24 or 25 to get the scale measurement.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy

[Richard Bartrop]

Hot Rod Magazine's 1973 yearbook had a nice step by step article on how to build a Fad T from scratch that I've used as a guiide for scratchbuilding model frames.  Like Bill said, divide all the measurements by 25 (or 24).  If you can't get a hold of a copy, there look to be any number of online tutorials on frame building.

[ModWrench]

I use Evergreen Plastic Item # 167. It's .080 x .156, which for scale model building purposes is a 2x4 frame rail in plastic. Comes 8 strips in a package.

[Frankieboy]

1 hour ago, ModWrench said:

I use Evergreen Plastic Item # 167. It's .080 x .156, which for scale model building purposes is a 2x4 frame rail in plastic. Comes 8 strips in a package.

Exactly what I needed.   Thank you sir.  

[ModWrench]

You are welcome. I've used that 2x4 plastic for main frame rails on a few scratch builds I have going on. Not T Buckets, but some replicas of 1:1 dirt track modified stock cars I helped build in the mid 1970's. I created a jig to get some consistency in making two sides that I could join together. Be sure to post some pics once you start to build up your hot rod frame. I'm always looking for new ideas!

[Frankieboy]

50 minutes ago, ModWrench said:

You are welcome. I've used that 2x4 plastic for main frame rails on a few scratch builds I have going on. Not T Buckets, but some replicas of 1:1 dirt track modified stock cars I helped build in the mid 1970's. I created a jig to get some consistency in making two sides that I could join together. Be sure to post some pics once you start to build up your hot rod frame. I'm always looking for new ideas!

Hey that looks great!!!  

[Jantrix]

The easiest way to do this for anything related to scale, is to remember that that 1 millimeter is one 1/25 scale inch. So, if you need 2 inch tubing for a roll bar you are looking for 2mm tubing, or something very close. Both Plastruct and Evergreen add the sizes in standard and metric on the packages. 

[Frankieboy]

4 hours ago, Jantrix said:

The easiest way to do this for anything related to scale, is to remember that that 1 millimeter is one 1/25 scale inch. So, if you need 2 inch tubing for a roll bar you are looking for 2mm tubing, or something very close. Both Plastruct and Evergreen add the sizes in standard and metric on the packages. 

Thanks for that info !!  

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I build quite a few frames. A 'T' bucket frame is a good start for building your own frame. It's a very basic rectangle.

I use Evergreen rectangle usually .080" by .156" (part #167) or .060" by .125" (part #156) are generally a good size. T frames are very small so don't go too big on the size as it wil look clunky. . 

Most T's us a 'suicide perch' for the front axle. 

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Here's the finished product. The trick is to keep it all square, check your measurements frequently, a digital caliper https://www.ebay.com/itm/125538364598?hash=item1d3aab6cb6:g:14UAAOSwvx1bvgV0&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4EsYY44Omjjkkb%2FKGZCDA7qd3eazRMIn5Tjzx7NstwPKPBMsC%2Bi96IFgrbJ8xm7iCqKxrBbKKCGQ91VDavohv4EA6j0AOpLH%2Fo%2F8iLvpw9lv2FdTpnvPavGugU5sqfDR%2BS7bwjEV2aVfsFzpipv1dZ%2BDjz6SFQ1%2FGAPGc2H2MvV4VsN0rQUmcexCGyeBL02HXbuCbzlbNtyMs99uFAT41Gz34Pkd0ncMQgFR0UTOtVmKKQxQNbZcBfVcHHgyFdImhIloaGKqrC9lOH3tND4F3yvKiCh4HGcqlTyEhXdj6NjV|tkp%3ABFBM7pCt5_Fg  is a good tool to quickly measure side to side and keep it all squared up. 

 

I hope this helps...-RRR

 

[Frankieboy]

Rockin Rodney that’s an Awsome build man.   Thank you for the great info my friend!!!!!

[Bainford]

Nicely done, triple R. Good, clear, illustrative photos.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

17 hours ago, Frankieboy said:

Rockin Rodney that’s an Awsome build man.   Thank you for the great info my friend!!!!!

You're welcome! As Snake would say, "Model on"!!!! -RRR

[Bernard Kron]

This is a low-boy chassis I do for deeply channeled and lowered '29 and '32 hot rods. I fabricate a set of Deuce rails cut from thick styrene sheet stock using a pattern traced from a set of Revell 1/25th rails. In the example here I took a direct approach to the rear z’d portion, omitting the 45 degree z which I also will do and focusing on how the frame would look from below once completed. Styrene strip was used for the k-member and the various cross members as shown below. Since only the portion forward of the firewall will be at all visible the critical thing is to get the upward curve and the horns looking right and the frame width correct to take the grill shell and sit properly under the body. With the very deep channel in this case (some 4 scale inches) the entire rear portion will be invisible except if the model is turned over on its roof. In this instance I used a simple version of the stock Revell kit coil-over rear end. The front suspension uses the terrific re-pops that ThePartsBox.com make of the Revell ’40 Ford Street Rod dropped front axle. I can’t recommend these highly enough, not only for their deep drop, but most especially because they are wire reinforced which prevents them from sagging over time the way most resin front axles do. Massive thumbs up! I make my own leaf spring from thin strips of styrene.

Here is the final result:

[ea0863]

You can now get all issues of Hot Rod Magazine from 1948 - 2021 online for free!

https://www.motortrend.com/hotrod-archive/