'30 model A coupe

[Speedpro]

This is one of my side builds that gets a little work every now and then. My thoughts when I started it were to take each part and modify it in some way. In this case it turned out to be "Take 2-3 scale inches out of the part in some way" and see what comes out of it. I'v got a few things done and some pics to share.

 The first thing I did when the build started was chop the top 2 inches. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during this modification. Wasn't looking for a huge change, just enough to make a small change.

So the next mod was for the body. Plan is to take 2-3 inch wedge cut out of the body. The interior side panel's and fire wall were taped to the body.  The side panel will be used for locating the first cut. If you look at the second picture you can see the blade cutting through both the body and door panel at the same time. It was important that the cut is perfect separating the top of the door panel from the bottom part of it that has the pleats. The next cut took out 2-3 scale inches tappering from front to back. Things were cleaned up and the body was glued back together. No putty here, just ca glues to fill all gaps. You can see by the cut line, It was a challenge at times. The top is not attached yet.

 

Next time we will fill the top.............

Thanks for looking.

Edited April 9 by Speedpro
fix a word

[Speedpro]

With the wedge in the body done, filling the top is next. Using the kit part of course, test fitting shows the top filler sits too low in the body. There is a channel that the filler panel sits on that needs to have some material added to get the filler panel sitting were it needs to be. Using some .026 sheet, strips were cut and added to the channel in the top. Things were cleaned up and the top put in place to check the filler panel fits correctly. Since the filler panel was raised,the bottom side now needs material added. Using the needed thickness of evergreen sheet, a panel was made to fit the bottom side of the filler panel and glued in place. The filler panel is now ready to be installed using some ca glue. No filler's were used to fill gaps, just the ca glue, then sand and repeat as needed. Next, some primer was sprayed on and sanded smooth a couple times, till things looked good. While I was at it, I recessed the license plate and added a little something to the lower leading edge of the cowl.

 

 

Next time, the '30 is getting channeled, kinda?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TopherMcGinnis]

Nice work! I just finished this kit.

[Zippi]

The ole 30 Model A sure is taking on a new look.  I like the mods.

[Kit Karson]

Absolutely a project to follow & keep an eye on! -KK

[tim boyd]

On 4/8/2025 at 10:10 PM, Speedpro said:

This is one of my side builds that gets a little work every now and then. My thoughts when I started it were to take each part and modify it in some way. In this case it turned out to be "Take 2-3 scale inches out of the part in some way" and see what comes out of it. I'v got a few things done and some pics to share.

 The first thing I did when the build started was chop the top 2 inches. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during this modification. Wasn't looking for a huge change, just enough to make a small change.

So the next mod was for the body. Plan is to take 2-3 inch wedge cut out of the body. The interior side panel's and fire wall were taped to the body.  The side panel will be used for locating the first cut. If you look at the second picture you can see the blade cutting through both the body and door panel at the same time. It was important that the cut is perfect separating the top of the door panel from the bottom part of it that has the pleats. The next cut took out 2-3 scale inches tappering from front to back. Things were cleaned up and the body was glued back together. No putty here, just ca glues to fill all gaps. You can see by the cut line, It was a challenge at times. The top is not attached yet.

 

Next time we will fill the top.............

Thanks for looking.

Paul...can't wait to see where you take this project.  Knowing your modeling and design capabilities, combined with starting with one of the very best hot rod kits ever, this one has great potential!   Onward!!!!   TIM 

[Supernurd]

Looks great 👍 

[Speedpro]

For this next mod, I want to lower the body a couple inches on the frame, but without actually channeling the body over the frame. Having worked out a seemingly reasonable way to accomplish this, it is the other things that change along the way, that may be the real challenge in this mod. So far, the firewall, trans tunnel, drive shaft tunnel, rear inner fender panels, and all new attachment point (mainly because I don't like the one it has) are just a few of the fun things to come by doing this. 

Got the frame taped off. The predetermined area of the frame was cut down 3 scale inches checking with the trusty calipers while doing this. 

 

Here's with the first fit of the frame to the floor pan/body. You can see how much of a difference this is going to make. I cut enough off the body mounts to get the body to sit on the frame. During a mockup with the interior door panels/rear inner fender panels, I found that some trimming was needed on the bottom of the inner fenders. I want to seperate the inner fender from the door panel, so now is a perfect time to get those fit.  

 

At this time, I decided to remove molding on the front of the cowl. I had extended the cowl and had to add to the bottom body line.

 

Got the body sitting on the frame and now have a whole lot more to do. Next time, I'v got some plans for the frame.

Thank's for any comments and for checking this out......................

 

 

[FoMoCo66]

This looks so good man, it's super clean and I can't wait to see more updates.

[DJMar]

Lots of nice work here! The body section sure is subtle. I like it.

I did the exact same thing when filling the top on one of these, great minds think alike and all that. I've got another one of these in the stash and was contemplating creating an open top with the correct shape and wood framing.

[bill-e-boy]

Looking good. Some very different body and chassis treatments going on here. I like your change to the cowl lines.And, your cut lines are very accurate - I am jealous

 

[OldNYJim]

This is really impressive work - just the kind of thing I come here to see!  Love all these little changes that will add up to an impressive final product with that cool ‘it’s different but I can’t tell HOW’ factor.  Keep going!

[Bullybeef]

That’s some tidy surgery Paul, I’m always impressed with your subtle modifications to your builds!

[Speedpro]

17 hours ago, OldNYJim said:

This is really impressive work - just the kind of thing I come here to see!  Love all these little changes that will add up to an impressive final product with that cool ‘it’s different but I can’t tell HOW’ factor.  Keep going!

Thanks Jim,

I love your comment ‘it’s different but I can’t tell HOW’. Thats exactly what I am looking for. I think I'm on the right track!

[Speedpro]

The idea for this next mod came from a conversation I had with my good friend Kit karson. Are talks come up with some interesting Ideas. So, what this mod is going to do is give the effect that the frame has been Ze'd, but infact hasn't. It is going to take a fair bit of work to do, but I like a challenge. 

The first thing to do is add some strips of evergreen on top of the frame rail as shown. This material will be sanded down to make a nice smooth radias on top of the frame rail. To off set the added material on top, the bottom of the rail lost the same amount, keeping the rail thickness the same as when I started. The rail looks taller and flow's better now, which is what I wanted. When the body and frame came together, one area that I found needs help is where the body joins the frame at the reveal on the frame. I had added the extension on the front lower part of the cowl. This needs to be addressed as it needs more room.

 

In this picture, you can see how the reveal on the frame flows up and gets real tight with the bottom of the cowl. What I did to correct this, was to change the angle of the reveal as it flows up the frame rail. This worked perfect. 

 

Another area that needed a small addition is the visor. A small piece of scrap evergreen was added to the body, connecting the drip rail to the visor giving it a continuous bead that runs around the top. A little reshaping at the visor was done to complete this mod. Another small detail was to give the frame a nice smooth radius leading to the rear inner fender. Arrows point to areas of the mods. 

 

A last but not least, The rear of the frame recieved a part. Out with the square, in with the smooth.

 

In the next update, more work on the frame and floor.

Thanks for all the comments. Much appreciated!

[bill-e-boy]

Fantastic - this just keeps on getting better and better

[Zippi]

All those little touches make for a nice build there Paul.  Looking good.

[Kit Karson]

OVER the TOP, Brother! Simple yet complex in so many ways! -KK

[DJMar]

I wasn't quite sure what you were trying to do with the front of the frame until I saw the pics of the area shaped and sanded. It really changes the whole appearance of the car and looks fantastic. Kinda like a z'd frame without actually cutting anything. I might have to add that trick to the toolbox. Cool, very cool.

[Speedpro]

I'v been wanting to make a way of being able to attach the floor to the frame repeatedly during the build process. Especially on this '30 as there is quite a bit going on. There are only 4 body mounts. Two holes at the rear and two with a little nub that fits into a recess on the floor at the trans crossmember. The plan is to redesign the mounts at the crossmember. My main goal is to have something that will hold the floor and frame together while I'm working on it.

First things first, things are a little tight around the shock mount and exhaust route since the floor is closer now. A couple of recesses were added built with some evergreen sheet scraps.

 

The body mounts at the trans crossmember are the next area I would like to change. Figure if I was to put round rod in the floor were the recesses are for the old mounts, then I could make a tube to slide over the rod. Using this rod/tube method, should be able to install and remove the floor to the chassis as many times as needed. A round tube support frame was built using a old tamiya engine stand from the parts box. For now, everything fits and performs the way I had hoped. 

 

 

After all said and done, This thing just clicks together. The frame will always be in the same spot now also. Good stopping point. 

And now there are a few more things to ponder and figure out. 

Next time the body gets another mod.

 

[Kit Karson]

Great tutorial, Brother! -KK

[Speedpro]

The '30 is back with another mod to share. I'v done quit a bit to the body at this point. Things like chopping the top, wedging the body, and filling in the top, you would think would be enough. But there is still one more change or mod I'd like to do. This mod has to do with lengthening the doors a couple inches. And while doing this, the Quarter window will get shorter. I'v always felt the doors on the roadster and coupe kits were too short. I feel that adding 2-3 inches will tend to give the car a longer look....maybe!

 

Started by making the new door line .090 is 2.25 inches in scale. The old lines were filled in will evergreen stripes. the door handle hole was also filled.

 

The added material was sanded down and covered in super glue. It was then sanded smooth.

 

The tops are set side by side so one can see the difference after the chop. A donor top was cut apart. All I needed was the window frames. The top and new window frames were marked. With my exacto knife, the marked area was cut out. Then the new window frame was cut to fit the new opening. The whole time I was worried I would ruin the top and have to start all over. This actually all worked very well. And I would do it again on other builds. 

I need to start thinking about an engine for this thing. It will take some work to get one in there.

That's it for now, I appreciate the comments.

 

Edited Sunday at 09:46 PM by Speedpro

[bill-e-boy]

This move is very radical. May need some time to let it grow on me. Normally a chop will give the effect of longer doors but both is like I said radical especially with the wedge section.

Suicide doors?? blue tinted windows, white interior, loud colour like a bright bright metallic (or pearl) blue and an Ardun with modern injectors - lets start dreaming. I saw somewhere an Ardunised Lincoln V12 - will that fit?

[Kit Karson]

Absolutely stunning, Brother! Once thought to be a very basic Model A body this has morphed into a custom coach works modified Town Coupé. When finished I wonder how many will be able to detail the true number changes that have been incorporated into this masterfully engineered hot rod!?. -KK

[Zippi]

I'm really liking this build.  Going to be a nice looking little Hot Rod.