alan barton Posted January 11 Posted January 11 (edited) With hot rods being my number one automotive passion, I have set myself the goal of obtaining and building one example of every hot rod model kit ever built. Áfter 45 years on the job I am doing pretty well, having only one more 1/32nd scale hot rod to find (if you have a dead Hearse with A Curse - call me!) and less than half a dozen 1/24th or 25th examples to find, to the best of my knowledge. Early this year Mr Metallic, Craig Stansfield, gave me a tip off about an Aurora Meatwagon on eXpensiveBay. The Meatwagon was based on a chopped 37 Packard Ambulance, just your typical surf rod from the early sixties. It's one of the three hardest Aurora hot rods to find. With our Aussie dollar being worth only 60-65% of the US dollar, extortionate overseas shipping rates and our ever-caring government with its hand out for import tax, it was never going to be a cheap exercise. The model that Craig spotted was certainly interesting in its own right. It appears that the original builder attempted to make a police chief's car from the ambulance. He did a pretty good job for the time but the build quality and materials used (paint and putty) suggest to me that this conversion was done a very long time ago. Missing were the original bumpers and four spotlights, the engine, radiator and exhaust pipes top and bottom and the rolled up stretchers from the roof. The front wheels were from a Monogram T bucket and I don't recognise the rears at all.The box and instructions and decals were probably missing since the sixties! The back of the body had been replaced with the rumble seat of an unknown model and the louvres on the hood were filed off - judging by the scratches, he may have used a chainsaw to remove them! Landed in Oz it owed me just over $120 Aus! Here's what I got for the money Edited January 11 by alan barton 1
alan barton Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 (edited) After a day in caustic soda this is what was revealed! That grey primer could have been used on the nose of the space shuttle - it is indestructible and was rather character building throughout the exercise! The rear conversion was completed with what looked like dried up Tootsie Roll but I am told it was most likely a wood putty from the hardware store. Fortunately there were some critical parts remaining of the roof and back door to assist in the restoration. Edited January 11 by alan barton 2
alan barton Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 Restoration consisted of prepping all the undamaged body panels and making templates to recreate the missing sections of the rear of the ambulance body. I ended up removing most of the heavily damaged gutters and remaking them with thin Evergreen. Evergreen was also used to recreate the waistline moulding. In case you are wondering, well-assembled Aurora models are very brittle and prone to exploding if any sort of force is applied. As a result, dismantling this model for repair was not practicable. 3
alan barton Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 (edited) After several months of putty-sand-primer-repeat routines, here she is! Some details are not exactly to the box art but I am very happy to finally have an example of this model on my shelf. Paint is Tamiya flat white with three coats of Tamiya Clear. The stretchers are lengths of Evergreen tubing with the ends of toothpicks for handles. A big shout out to Craig for enabling me to capture this elusive model! Cheers Alan P.S. I chased a gluebombed Hearse with a Curse last month. Not as bad as this one but still needed massive work and parts replacement - I gave up at $107 US when my total would have exceeded $250!!!!! It makes no sense. Edited January 11 by alan barton 3
Old Buckaroo Posted January 11 Posted January 11 Wow - what a great way to start the day seeing a restoration like this and a great backstory. I never even knew these kits existed and I like old Aurora models (aircraft & figures) You definitely gave this model a work over.
Mr. Metallic Posted February 6 Posted February 6 It looks great Alan. Glad I was able to help you complete your collection in a small way. And now you have your minty hearse to build! 😁
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now