alan barton Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) Hi everyone, On any forum or Facebook page, you often see the question - "What is your favourite model kit?"or similar. For me, it is a no-brainer, the Monogram 1932 Ford roadster that started life as the Little Deuce in the early sixties. I haven't owned every re-issue but have owned two Little Deuces and five Sons of Ford. In all I own fourteen of these kits with eleven built and three to go, so I thought I would share them with you with a quick description of each model. Feel free to add a photo of your Monogram Deuce to the post - but let's keep it pure - no Revell, AMT or MPC roadsters please. Not that I don't like them, I have built all of them but this is a tribute to the Monogram Deuce. The first hot rod kit I bought with my own money was the Son of Ford in 1971. I had just joined our local hot rod club and wanted to build a model of Fred Nilan's beautiful Dixibelle. Fred started building the car as a very striking hiboy but completed it as a black full fendered roadster with a 292 Y block Ford engine, the only readily available OHV-8 available in Australia at the time. I used the Y block from a 57 Fairlane mode. l I brush painted the model in Humbrol black and my Mum helped me cover the interior in red velvet ribbon which looked very plush. I made a cardboard roof for the model by copying and enlarging a 1/32 Lindberg roof. This was painted flat white repeatedly until the cardboard didn't show. I showed it to Fred and it was displayed alongside his car at the '72 Car Spectacular at the Pagoda Ballroom in Perth Western Australia. I was very proud of it! In my late teens, I decide to purchase another Son of Ford and recreate the model completely. I re-used the red velvet interior as well as the Y block exhaust manifolds but fitted Chevy finned rocker covers and a tri carb manifold from the Monogram 30 Phaeton kit to look closer to what Fred was running at the time. Yep, those parts were fitted on top of the Son of Ford Pontiac engine but with a bit of paint, who was to know? Instead of the baby moons and chrome rims that I used on the first model, I used Riviera wires just because I liked the look. It was and still is brush painted but I did a lot smoother job the second time around.! By now I had been given a glue bombed Little Deuce so I finally got a proper roof for the model and I also used the Little Deuce tailpipes. The original model was stripped to bare plastic and was re-invented as a hiboy that you will see later. These photos are of the second version. Edited March 5 by alan barton 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Another top car in West Coast Rod and Custom Club was the Lime Green roadster of Lyall Newland. It had a very hot 289 in it with a fair bit of Shelby gear on it. It drove across Australia including about 300 miles of very rough gravel roads to the 1st and 2nd Australian Street Rod Nationals in Narrandera, NSW. Despite the tough drive, it won Best Roadster at the 75 Nats, an amazing feat. Another Son of Ford was purchased and it was built basically box stock. Monogram reckoned it had a 302 Ford motor in it so I went with that - it was years later that I discovered it was actually the old Pontiac! At least I had a Shelby air cleaner for it! The model was actually sprayed GMH Lina-Mint Green at the same time as the hood for Lyall's Deuce was painted. It came out smooth enough but with almost no gloss. It got chipped and scratched over the years so I repainted it, with a brush, in Dulux Lime green and that is paint is still on it today. At some point in time I fitted 5 spoke mags to the model but I really should replace them with the chromed rims and baby moons it had when I first built it. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Fast forward about six years and I am living in a Single Men's Quarters in the remote Pilbara mining town of Paraburdoo. Time to get back into building models. I removed the fenders from the frame of the first version of Fred's roadster and sanded them smooth to make a hiboy. On my later hiboys I would cut the fenders off away from the frame to create the distinctive 32 reveal but I wasnt that sophisticated back then. The motor is a Revell blown 427 with 409 headers, because I had them! Front and rear ends are from a MPC Switchers 32, the rear wheels and tyres coming from an MPC Galloping Ghost that I wish I still had! This model had one of my first ever spray jobs and I learnt that different colours of primer affect the final tone of the top coat. It is now over forty two years old - and I have never changed it other than adding a driver for a club diorama. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 I think my next build is this almost box stock roadster from the yellow 1985 re-issue, built when it was near new. I was definitely one for following trends! It is lowered by drilling and filing out the top of both crossmembers and has my signature right hand drive. Probably the simplest version I have built of this model. The last photo shows the difference in headlight bar location between the first two issues and later ones. An odd mistake to make and even more unusual that Monogram made the effort to fix it! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 I made my first trip to the USA in 1992 and found myself at Chimneyville Hobbies in Pearl, Missouri. A great old guy ran the place which was actually his home! Built up survivors (we didn't call them that then) were going cheap so i grabbed this original Little Deuce. I don't know if any one recognises the colour/? It is a very translucent red, Pactra perhaps? I had good intentions of stripping and redoing the red paint but I'm kinda glad I didn't now. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Next up, probably mid nineties, is my second attempt at a hiboy. The body was a yellow 85 issue that was a short shot so I had to reconstruct the bottom of the cowl on the driver's side.This time I added filler strips of flat styrene, front and rear, before cutting away the fenders from the frame and leaving a lip that would become the reveal of a Deuce chassis and also ensure a snug fit on the fender wells, The motor is a Monogram 40 pickup flathead with a resin Ardun setup that I must complete one day! I had a broken windscreen frame from the red Little Deuce so I cut the posts down to look like a dry lakes racer with the windscreen and posts removed. Front wheels and tyres are AMT 40 Ford while the rears are Monogram 41 Lincoln. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 In early 2022 I decided to try once again to do justice to Fred Nilan's Dixiebelle. An AMT 57 Fairlane Y block was installed with the correct T-Bird rocker covers this time. Fred had the manifolds done in black ceramic so this time they are painted gloss black - the white was correct when I built the first two models. I modified the roof to match photos and used a white plastic body that had the correct headlight bar location. I fabricated a coil sprung rear end to match what Fred had built way back in 1970. This time, I think I am happy! As a side note, I was using an old drag racing newspaper called Rodsports to get some reference shots. You can barely see my model tucked near the back tyre in the photo. As I read the article, I noticed the publication date and it was exactly fifty years to the week of when I originally built my first Fred Nilan roadster. Spooky stuff! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 In 2023 I built my third hiboy. After seeing Bernard Kron's hiboy with a big seat roll I knew I needed one for my collection. The top of the Monogram seat was built up with a filler piece from a Lindberg T bucket and then puttied and sanded to shape. The windscreen is a white metal Duvall that changed shape every time I touched it! I covered it in Vaseline and moulded it to the cowl with automotive body putty them gently pulled it out and sanded the cowl to shape. Wheels are Revell 37 Ford and the engine is a from a Monogram Pie Wagon. The headers are cut down from those icky things from Revell's 427 SOHC found in the Willys pickup, Henry J and Austin gasser. It has a 40 Ford dash, RHD of course, and the gear shift knob is a skull cut from the radiator of a Hot Wheels Rigor Motor toy - this is the one that looks like Grandpa Munster's Dragula. There's two on all the earlier issues, some white, some chrome, some gold and some black. Later issues do not have the skulls - time to hit the Bin of Death at your next toy fair! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Nice classic survivors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrb124@sbcglobal.net Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Such a wonderful story of pursuing the Deuce! There's nothing like building these. The limitless parts combination and the classic lines make the Deuce hot rod one of my favorites. Thanks for showing your models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 Thanks to all of you who enjoy these models. Here's the last three - apparently I didnt hit "Submit Reply "the other day - dohhh! These ones you may have seen already as they were all done this year. The original Son of Ford was given to me by a good friend and only needed a light restoration and polish. The orange Son Of Ford 2.0 uses a white kit but has genuine Son of Ford parts including pipes, rollbar, headlight bar, injection, fuel tank and firewall and hood. A Boothill Express straight axle gives the right attitude at the front. The Little Deuce 2.0 was built from a yellow 1985 issue with a white interior and the carbs and valve covers from a Monogram 30 Ford touring. It was completely inspired by Mr Metallic's similar build last year. LAstly, a long stalled project that needs to get finished this year I reckon! It's a channelled 32 roadster using the interior, floor and frame of a Lil Coffin and rear fenders from a Blue Beetle. Channelled roadsters were enormously popular in Australia during the sixties and early seventies so I'm aiming for an Aussie feel, including the FE motor from a Mysterion and heades from an AMT 32 Vicky. Cheers Alan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Awesome collection of 32s!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill-e-boy Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Kool collection of 32 roadsters you have there Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulf Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Oh I really like right-hand drive 32s, it emphasises the sports car genes in hot rods. Of course I also have a right-hand drive 32 on my list of what I want to build one day. I have always had a good eye for English rods with Jago fibreglass bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeah Nah Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 What a wonderful collection you've shown us Alan! Thanks for the back stories too mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Very enjoyable post with some great models. I agree that this kit offers so many possibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatout Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Very Cool Alan…great looking Roadsters! I’ve enjoyed this kit since I was a kid and still enjoy building it. I built the gold one years ago and have had one in work for ever and have 2 more unbuilt. Thanks for sharing these and thanks for the invite to share our builds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlecan Dan Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Great collection! Thanks for the show (and tell). Looking forward to those future builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted Wednesday at 07:44 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 07:44 PM Like i said in your Son Of Ford 2.0 post, I haven't been here a lot lately, so I missed this post until now. I'm drooling 🤤 You said to share the Monogram 32's i have, so here you go. All polished plastic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted Wednesday at 07:50 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 07:50 PM On 3/4/2024 at 10:54 PM, alan barton said: Next up, probably mid nineties, is my second attempt at a hiboy. The body was a yellow 85 issue that was a short shot so I had to reconstruct the bottom of the cowl on the driver's side.This time I added filler strips of flat styrene, front and rear, before cutting away the fenders from the frame and leaving a lip that would become the reveal of a Deuce chassis and also ensure a snug fit on the fender wells, The motor is a Monogram 40 pickup flathead with a resin Ardun setup that I must complete one day! I had a broken windscreen frame from the red Little Deuce so I cut the posts down to look like a dry lakes racer with the windscreen and posts removed. Front wheels and tyres are AMT 40 Ford while the rears are Monogram 41 Lincoln. You need to finish this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted Wednesday at 07:57 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 07:57 PM On 4/4/2024 at 9:00 PM, Flatout said: Very Cool Alan…great looking Roadsters! I’ve enjoyed this kit since I was a kid and still enjoy building it. I built the gold one years ago and have had one in work for ever and have 2 more unbuilt. Thanks for sharing these and thanks for the invite to share our builds. That gold one is stunning in it's simplicity. Such a clean build and killer stance. The in-progress one is looking good. Nice stance there too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted Thursday at 09:42 AM Author Share Posted Thursday at 09:42 AM Thanks everyone for the kind comments. Thank you Craig and Pete for adding your models to the post. The more the merrier! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Darby Posted yesterday at 05:29 PM Share Posted yesterday at 05:29 PM On 3/4/2024 at 11:43 PM, alan barton said: The last photo shows the difference in headlight bar location between the first two issues and later ones. An odd mistake to make and even more unusual that Monogram made the effort to fix it! I think that was a custom touch, rather than a mistake. It's a great way to tell a real Little Deuce/Son of Ford from a clone though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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