Little Deuce 2.0 and Son of Ford 2.0

[alan barton]

As a dyed in the wool hot rodder in both 1:1 and 1:24th scale, my favourite hot rod kit of all time is the 1932 Ford roadster produced by Monogram, starting with Little Deuce way back in 1962.  In total I own 14 of them, eleven built and on display and another three to go including two channelled cars.

Last year I started collecting parts and modifying a recent white issue (not sure of the date) to become a clone of the Son of Ford issue.  I have had at least four, possibly five Son of Ford issues but never built it out of the box.  I thought it would be nice to bring back the memory of the first hot rod kit in 1/24th or 25th that I ever bought with my own money. I was well underway, with the body painted, the engine mounts modified to suit the earlier Pontiac engine and everything looking good.  An old friend Allen, a very talented model builder who has diverged into large scale plastic and diecast models, 1/18th or larger, dropped by one day and I was telling him of my renewed interest in old Monogram models.  He replied that he still had a few Early Iron series kits kicking around, and also a 32 roadster but it was orange and had a funny name!!!!  Are you kidding me?  He said it was of no use to him and yes, it was a clean unpainted buildup of Son of Ford. He wanted to give it to me for free but I insisted on trading him for a diecast 32 3 window coupe that was far more useful to him than me.

That got me to thinking about the direction to take with my clone build.  I decided to build it as if Tom Daniel had been given freer rein by Monogram to update the kit back in 1970, keeping it as close to the era as possible. To wit, I swapped out the dropped beam axle for the straight tube axle from a Boothill Express. While up the front I also used some skinny AMT tyres instead of the very blocky monogram items.  At the rear I swapped the rear axle for a 57 Chevy unit with coil over shocks and the ladder bars from, I think, the Garbage Truck.  I couldn't bring myself to cut the mint windscreen frame that I had for the model so I cut and trimmed two AMT Deuce windscreen frames that are not very nice in stock form so no loss, LOL!

The Mustang taillights are typical of the era even if they are a bit funky by today's standards. A parachute on a simple aluminium mount finishes it off. And, naturally, right hand drive!

Shortly after finishing this model I spotted a great clone of :Little Deuce built by Craig Stanfield on the Scale Survivors Facebook page.  I was in love!  I have a survivor Little Deuce in red that I bought in the USA back in 1992 but here was a chance to build the "other" colour.  I used the 1985 version with the yellow plastic body combined with a white interior from the most recent version.  Wheels and tyres are from a Monogram Orange Hauler. Spare tyre mount is trimmed from an AMT Deuce and the Pontiac taillights are from a Revell 32 5W. The pleated firewall is from a Son of Ford.

The front and rear ends and exhaust ( with filled in mufflers) are in Alclad chrome and the only other paint is the red engine block and interior inserts.

I didn't have a spare custom Little Deuce grille but I never liked it a lot so was happy to go with the stock Deuce grille.  The yellow plastic is polished out with Meguiars Scratch - X and I reckon it looks as good as paint!

Cheers

Alan

[falcon wagon]

Well done

 

[ncbuckeye67]

Very nice! That yellow really looks great (of course the red does too).

[Muncie]

Hey Alan,

what's the deal? have you gone roque on us... Monogram 1932 Fords instead of AMT? Next thing we know, you'll be building with the steering wheel on the LH side. 

Ok, well OK, these are really great - taking things back to their origins with cool and appropriate changes.  The straight front axle on Son of Ford is a good improvement and really makes it look like it should.  I like them!

Good to see you back, 

Steve

 

[espo]

Beautiful looking builds. Amazing how many different ways you can build a '32 Ford. 

[Yeah Nah]

Beautiful Dueces Alan! A standard we all should aspire to. 

[karbuildr]

Very well done Dueces, great colors, nicely detailed.

[Flatout]

Lookin’ Good Alan!  It’s amazing how good this kit has stood the test of time…with a little extra work the finished model looks as nice as any of the more modern kits.  I’m gonna have to see if I have a few more of these in the stash.  Well done!

[alan barton]

15 hours ago, Muncie said:

Hey Alan,

what's the deal? have you gone roque on us... Monogram 1932 Fords instead of AMT? Next thing we know, you'll be building with the steering wheel on the LH side. 

Ok, well OK, these are really great - taking things back to their origins with cool and appropriate changes.  The straight front axle on Son of Ford is a good improvement and really makes it look like it should.  I like them!

Good to see you back, 

Steve

 

Nah, always been a Monogram Deuce guy, Steve!  AMT was always a bt funky with their Deuces.  Still had to have them all though!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments.  Sometimes it's nice to do something simple like these models as a break from fully detailed models or heavy bodywork and fabrication.  Its all about having fun!

Cheers

Alan

[XYHARRY]

Great pair of Deuce's there Alan, well done.

Cheers, 

David.??

[larman]

These are both great! I really like the Son of Ford, Nice upgrades!

[PappyD340]

Very nice pair of hot rods!

[Zippi]

Great looking Hot Rods Alan.  Both are nice looking builds.

[slusher]

Fantastic builds!

[alan barton]

Thanks guys! Looking back at the photos enlarged on my computer I can see that I need to go back and take the sharp mold line edge of the swage lines of the Little Deuce - I didn't use polishing pads on this body, only the Scratch-X and it needs to be attended to.  Still good fun though!

Cheers

Alan

[Mr. Metallic]

Hello my friend. I haven't been able to spend as much time at MCM the last couple months so I just found this post. Awesome stuff

Of course, you knew you had me with anything to do with Monogram 32' roadsters. I like the unique changes you made to the SOF to make it your won.

And thanks for dropping my name and the praise for my little Big Deuce. Here's a link for those who are curious