Show 'n' Go Chopped 5-window Deuce Coupe - Update 12-13, Paint

[Bernard Kron]

A couple of months ago I posted here about the louvered hoods for the Revell ’32 Ford 1/25th scale kits and the roof panels for the Revell ’30 Ford coupe that Jason Lookabill (lookabillj@gmail.com) has created. I consider these an important addition to any hot rod modelers’ tool kit. The hoods in particular, as far as I know, have never been offered before. They match the louvered hood sides that came in the pre-Rat Roaster Revell Deuce roadster kits.

I decided to start a project to feature these parts. I settled on a Revell ‘2 Ford 5-window coupe. The car would be a street-Iegal coupe designed to run in the same class as street roadsters in the 1960’s, but styled to also compete in local rod & custom shows – show ‘n’ go as it was referred to back then. I chopped the top 3 1/2 scale inches and cut a hole in the top to take the louvered hood panel Jason is casting. Along with the hood sides from the aforementioned Revell Roadster kits I added one of Jason’s 5-row louvered hoods and the optional louvered rear deck from the Revell 5-window kit. It’s a highboy but, because it’s running in Street class, I added fenders from the Stacey David Rat Roaster.

The interior was adapted from the Stacey David kit with a scratch built roll bar and the Cal-Custom bucket seats that come in the Revell “Rat Rod” ’30 Ford Sedan kits. (See A & B below). The rear suspension was lowered by inserting 2 scale inch drop where the rear axle is located to allow the chassis rails to continue rearward to include the stock fuel tank. (See C below). The front suspension from the Revell 5-window kit was modified to lower the front end an additional 3 scale inches. The wheels and slicks are from the AMT Double Dragster kit with front tires from the Revellogram ’30 Ford Sedan kits

The motor is the Chevy Small Block from the Stacey David Rat Roaster kit with a 60’s period correct GMC 6-71 blower from a Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit. I’m still settling on carburation. The headers will be tubular block huggers.

The louvered panels are finished in Krylon Chrome to simulate freshly polished aluminum. The body surfaces and chassis, which are white in the mockup pictures, will be finished in Tamiya TS-96 Fluorescent Orange with an overcoat of Tamiya TS-65 Pearl Clear. (See inset E below). The overall look will feature lots of kit-chrome bling as part of the show car aspect.

I’m about at the midpoint now with the interior nearly finished (it will remain Aluminum and white as show below). The motor is also nearly there and largely what left is the paint and final assembly department.

Thanx for lookin’
B.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Bernard Kron

[Ace-Garageguy]

Most excellent. My kinda car.   

[Paul Payne]

Great build!

[Bernard Kron]

23 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Most excellent. My kinda car.   

 

23 hours ago, Paul Payne said:

Great build!

Thanks to you both, and thanks, also, for all the "Likes"!

[68shortfleet]

Looking good Bernard. 

Happy to see those louvered parts getting used. Even if that's not the original purpose of that roof insert.

[larman]

That's really cool! You really captured the look you are going for!

[Zippi]

Good looking 5 window Deuce so far.

[Bernard Kron]

13 hours ago, larman said:

That's really cool! You really captured the look you are going for!

 

3 hours ago, Zippi said:

Good looking 5 window Deuce so far.

Thanks guys!

14 hours ago, 68shortfleet said:

Looking good Bernard. 

Happy to see those louvered parts getting used. Even if that's not the original purpose of that roof insert.

Thanks for producing these Jason. In my view, they are basic to so many styles of hot rod modeling. I chose this show-style build so I could highlight the panels by finishing them in the polished aluminum look against the bright body color. The roof panel, which was developed to replace the solid rood insert on the recent Revell '30 Ford coupe kit, is close enough in contour to the roof contour of the Revell '32 Ford 5-window that the main work required to adapt it consists of correctly matching the shape of the hole you have to cut into the roof to the louvered panel itself. The panel is is slightly longer front to rear than the roof insert molded into the Deuce 5-window. I added the length at the rear when I made my cuts.

[Calb56]

12 minutes ago, Bernard Kron said:

The roof panel, which was developed to replace the solid rood insert on the recent Revell '30 Ford coupe kit, is close enough in contour to the roof contour of the Revell '32 Ford 5-window that the main work required to adapt it consists of correctly matching the shape of the hole you have to cut into the roof to the louvered panel itself. The panel is is slightly longer front to rear than the roof insert molded into the Deuce 5-window. I added the length at the rear when I made my cuts.

Good to know, I was wondering about adapting it to the 32...

[Kenmojr]

Looks fantastic....

[Bernard Kron]

3 minutes ago, Kenmojr said:

Looks fantastic....

Thanks!

13 minutes ago, Calb56 said:

Good to know, I was wondering about adapting it to the 32...

It's pretty straightforward. The tricky part, as it would be for any such adaptation, is the corner radiuses. The lucky part, as I said, is that the rood contours are so similar. It's a little like adapting the louvered rear deck that comes in the Revell '5-window kit to the the '29/30 Ford Model kits (Both the new Revell ones and the old AMT and Monogram ones). That also proved to be surprisingly straightforward because the contours match so closely.

Here's a composite of the w.i.p. shots I sent to Jason while I was doing my roof cuts. In the first shot you can see that I initially a straight rectangular piece out of the roof. The second shot of the opening shows the work I put into radiusing the corners and also the fact that I had to add material back into the sides because, despite the fact that I made my cuts with the back of a No. 11 blade, the kerf from the cuts made the width slightly too wide. The 3rd shot shows the panel in place during this initial work.

Also, here's a couple of shots from the first time I ever adapted the louvered Deuce deck to a Model A, the AMT roadster in this case, showing how simple it is. Since the contours match all that's required is to trim material from the top and/or bottom edges.

[Calb56]

33 minutes ago, Bernard Kron said:

Thanks!

It's pretty straightforward. The tricky part, as it would be for any such adaptation, is the corner radiuses. The lucky part, as I said, is that the rood contours are so similar. It's a little like adapting the louvered rear deck that comes in the Revell '5-window kit to the the '29/30 Ford Model kits (Both the new Revell ones and the old AMT and Monogram ones). That also proved to be surprisingly straightforward because the contours match so closely.

Here's a composite of the w.i.p. shots I sent to Jason while I was doing my roof cuts. In the first shot you can see that I initially a straight rectangular piece out of the roof. The second shot of the opening shows the work I put into radiusing the corners and also the fact that I had to add material back into the sides because, despite the fact that I made my cuts with the back of a No. 11 blade, the kerf from the cuts made the width slightly too wide. The 3rd shot shows the panel in place during this initial work.

Also, here's a couple of shots from the first time I ever adapted the louvered Deuce deck to a Model A, the AMT roadster in this case, showing how simple it is. Since the contours match all that's required is to trim material from the top and/or bottom edges.

Thanks, good info on the deck too, thank you. I'm planning on doing that with the Revell 29 for the TRoG California Drags build. 

[Bullybeef]

Inspiring work there Bernard, I did a mock-up a couple of months back of a 5 window with all the louvred panels. I may have to dig it out and give it a shot at the bench again. 

[Bernard Kron]

1 hour ago, Bullybeef said:

Inspiring work there Bernard, I did a mock-up a couple of months back of a 5 window with all the louvred panels. I may have to dig it out and give it a shot at the bench again. 

Thanks Bill. I consider the louvered hood a breakthrough offering, opening up a whole additional aspect of hot rod building.

[Bernard Kron]

Today was paint day.  The Tamiya TS-96 Fluorescent Orange doesn’t cover very well, especially over the white primer I used, so I decided to put down a single coat of Tamiya TS-31 Bright Orange as a backer. It had the effect of darkening the color slightly but the overall contrast between bright aluminum and the strong main body coclor is very much what I had hoped for. The photo below shows the result with Duplicolor white primer followed by the aforementioned single coat of Bright Orange, 2 coats of Fluorescent Orange and two coats of Tamiya TS-65 pearl clear.

While the paint cures I’ll move on to finishing up the motor and then final assembly.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[phatfender]

Bernard,  this Deuce is looking super. Like all the louvers.  Paint looks really good. 👍

[Bernard Kron]

I started this project in December but then got sidetracked building a couple of cars for the TRoG California Drags community build. For 2023 I better assume they’ll be more “sidetracking” since I’ve got more cars planned for the TRoG build-off, LOL. But for now I’m back to the world of shine and bling for this show ‘n’ go racer.

When I put this project back on the bench I was surprised how much I had already gotten done. Even while building the 2 TRoGsters I managed to get the motor completed and the racing numbers applied and the paint clear coated.  The gold numbers are part of a sheet I designed and which a friend printed for me a few years back. The scoop and injector plate on the motor are from the Revell Tony Nancy double dragster kit, finished in Krylon chrome. The headers are from the AMT ’65 El Camino kit and were bought on eBay.

In the last few days I managed to finish up the chassis, mainly the front end and the exhaust system. The racing pipes are aluminum tubing while the car also has a street system adapted from the Revell Tracey David Roadster. The front axle is the Revel Deuce tubular dropped piece which got my usual workover to drop it in the weeds- shaved spring and cut down mounting tab. The chassis pictures below show how low the overall stance is now, much more on the Show side of the Show ‘n’ Go equation. This is the first time I’ve attempted a rear end “z” lowering that is limited to the immediate rear axle area, allowing the use of the stock Deuce fuel tank location between the rear chassis ends.

I also finished up the interior with a dashboard which is reworked from the Revell 5-window kit dash, and a steering wheel from my parts box.

Basically, it is time for final assembly, which, the way I build, involves a fair amount of last minute fabrication for things like lighting and engine cooling and various other small details.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Bernard Kron

[NOBLNG]

This is looking mighty fine!👍

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Greg.

This project is now completed. The only new parts not covered in earlier posts are the grill which is the stock Revell ’32 Ford piece and minor trim bits, also stock Revell Deuce kit stuff. Still learning how to photograph this thing, but the color is fairly accurate in the pics below. But I must remember to make sure the roof panel, which isn’t glued down, is properly seated. Final photos as a completed model will be posted tomorrow.

Thanx to all who followed along,
B.

 

[Calb56]

Another amazing build.

[Bernard Kron]

On 2/28/2023 at 7:15 AM, Calb56 said:

Another amazing build.

Thank you Charles.

Here's a link to Under Glass:

 

[adamelvis]

Great Work ! 

[Bernard Kron]

On 6/9/2023 at 9:11 PM, adamelvis said:

Great Work ! 

Thanks Adam!

Edited June 12, 2023 by Bernard Kron

[SPOONYSCHOPSHOP]

One nice build 

[Bernard Kron]

15 hours ago, SPOONYSCHOPSHOP said:

One nice build 

Thank you Michael! Much appreciated.