The "new" '32 Revell Roadster

[TopherMcGinnis]

59 minutes ago, customline said:

OK, Topher, I'll bite. Who's Alex?  The only Alex I know goes in a caulk gun. 😂

https://www.est1946.com/socalhistory1.aspx

 

Alex Xydias founded So Cal in 1946.

[slusher]

On 7/26/2025 at 10:37 AM, customline said:

The engine in this kit isn't the greatest. There's one option on mounting the air cleaners directly on the carbs, which are poorly represented, or on velocity stacks. The entire intake assembly consisting of twelve pieces, all plated, was, for me, a tedious operation and kept me busy scraping plating from all the mating surfaces. I chose Testor's liquid cement to allow a little adjustment while fumbling with parts that have no alignment features except on the ends of the blower. I thought seriously about using the engine from a '29 roadster kit but decided to build this one anyway. 

One reason for my attitude is the split oil pan, which is rendered as a high volume, racing style pan. I'm not sure how I should paint it. After sanding to try to make the seam disappear, I "skinned" over the pan bottom surfaces with scrap .010 or .015.  Bonded the scraps with thin cement, let it set up a while, then trimmed and sanded the edges.  I suppose you can just use a filler to smooth things out but my method is quick and done. 

 

The "False bottom" is in place and sanded on the front portion. This piece of scrap, I discovered, had white paint on it 💩.  

A nice clean scrap piece is shown bonded to the sump. I can't be the only one who does this. 

Ta-da ! 😊.  

The T-bucket headers are in the kit but not on the parts list, holdovers from a previous version. I like them, it's just the plumber in me. They must be assembled. That leaves a visible seam on the muffler that will need to be tended to. The kit also includes a set similar ( but not identical) to the ones from the '29 kit. Not sure which ones end up in service yet. 🤔

I will try to get it painted today. Thanks for looking in. 🤓

Jim,  love what you did with oil pan so I learned something today.  How do you handle transmission crack?   Red every post to catch up……

[customline]

4 hours ago, slusher said:

Jim,  love what you did with oil pan so I learned something today.  How do you handle transmission crack?   Red every post to catch up……

Thanks, Carl, those things bother me.  If it's an automatic, and the pan isn't a separate part, skinning would fix it, the rest of it I just try to sand out. I don't worry about seams on castings too much because cast components can have mold parting lines. If it's really bad, gotta fill and sand, I guess.

[customline]

5 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

https://www.est1946.com/socalhistory1.aspx

 

Alex Xydias founded So Cal in 1946.

Ohhhhh.....that  Alex 😯

[customline]

I did some things today that I've been avoiding. One of those is connecting the headers to the muffled system.  I like to handle small parts with my favorite spring-loaded tweezers and occasionally I will inadvertently launch an item into the ether. Such an event occurred today. One of the connectors disappeared as I was about to install it. Luckily, I have solder of the size needed to replace the lost part. I need to stop using those tweezers. Anyway, I bolted on the rear fenders, added the gas cap, installed the steering box (it lined up perfectly with the tie rod) and I glazed the Duval frame. The glass is much thinner than regular kit glass. The frame is pretty thin too. I usually like to scrape the plating in the glue surfaces but not this time. I used clear enamel to bond the glass to the fully plated frame. Wish me luck.

 I thought it might be difficult to glue the windshield to the painted and polished body so I drilled the frame and the cowl for an .020 pin. Yes, it was dangerous. I was victorious 🥴.  

 

The arrow indicates how I totally missed this parting line. 💩 That's the solder job☝

The arrow is for the steering box(which includes the shaft and a u-joint) I may run a pin through it just because 🤓 

I installed the coil-overs. Big R could have done better here. The locating pins on the axle are three sizes too small for the holes they mate with........ 😉

Moving along.....

I thought it might be cool to do a one piece hood.

That was easy 😊

WDYT about 86-ing the headers and doing solid hood sides. Or custom louvered ones. It makes sense with the Duvall.  Oh, heck, that's the SO-CAL talking.

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say I don't like all that empty space under the rear fender.  And that's a pretty big tire.  Should it be bigger? 🤔

I'm having sec....47th thoughts about the color scheme. 

Thanks! Oh, and........... pre-drilled ET Dragmasters are available with polished centers. 😜

[BK9300]

Awesome work on pinning the windshield!  I'm thinking I shouldn't have said anything about the fender opening.  Maybe a set of scale, 33" Mickey Thompson, Sportsman Pro's for the rear?  Then again, not sure you should be listening to any suggestions from me!

[customline]

13 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Awesome work on pinning the windshield!  I'm thinking I shouldn't have said anything about the fender opening.  Maybe a set of scale, 33" Mickey Thompson, Sportsman Pro's for the rear?  Then again, not sure you should be listening to any suggestions from me!

Yeah but then it becomes a whole big thing trying to find wheels and adapting them and all that. I'm just not that ambitious. I listen but I hate buying aftermarket stuff because the added expense makes me unhappy ☹. 

As far as your suggestions goes, try beginning them with the words "I may be totally wrong but..." if the suggestion causes a disaster, you have an out. 🥴

[rrb124@sbcglobal.net]

Thanks for posting all of this. When I build mine I will watch out for surprise voodoo's.

[customline]

59 minutes ago, rrb124@sbcglobal.net said:

Thanks for posting all of this. When I build mine I will watch out for surprise voodoo's.

You're quite welcome. I like this kit a lot but that may be because I haven't had any disasters yet 😄. There are some things that some might find difficult but not many. Gluing the front fenders raised my BP a little but I got them mounted on the first try. 🙂

This is today's progress

 

[thatz4u]

I'm building this kit now, bad part for me is the Duvall frame is warped...

[Mr. Metallic]

You can bring the rear down by simply shaving the top off the airbags. You'll still have that heavy rake, but it will close up the gap. You may have to do a little massaging with the coilovers, but there's no attachment point for them on the chassis so you can let them land where they land.

As far as the Monogram kits at ollies that had the Ollies tag UNDER the cellophane, I believe they were a contracted run just for Ollies, like they have recently done with some of the Atlantis stuff on their shelves now.

[Mr. Metallic]

20 minutes ago, thatz4u said:

I'm building this kit now, bad part for me is the Duvall frame is warped...

Unfortunately that was an issue with some of the initial runs. But I think it's still a current kit so you may be able to get a replacement.

You can adapt the chopped stock-style windshield with a little judicious cutting and sanding on the cowl and the bottom of the windshield posts

 

I chose to lay mine back a bit and used a now discontinued Drag City uptop.

Edited July 31 by Mr. Metallic

[customline]

50 minutes ago, Mr. Metallic said:

You can bring the rear down by simply shaving the top off the airbags. You'll still have that heavy rake, but it will close up the gap. You may have to do a little massaging with the coilovers, but there's no attachment point for them on the chassis so you can let them land where they land.

As far as the Monogram kits at ollies that had the Ollies tag UNDER the cellophane, I believe they were a contracted run just for Ollies, like they have recently done with some of the Atlantis stuff on their shelves now.

The third member is going to stay put, Craig, too much to undo and I'm too far along but tomorrow I'm going to see if Ollie's has any more (Wifey needs coffee pods-good excuse to go 🥴).  I figured those Monogram kits were a special deal. I bought a couple of those too. Nowhere near as good as this kit. I'd like to channel it and get it down in the weeds.

Edited July 31 by customline

[customline]

57 minutes ago, thatz4u said:

I'm building this kit now, bad part for me is the Duvall frame is warped...

Revell is good about replacing bad or missing parts.  I did it once a few years ago (the '29 windshield frame). Off-hand, I can't recall how to contact them, sorry; try the website?

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 7/30/2025 at 12:09 PM, customline said:

I Thank you, Brian, I'm trying 😌.  I have no "hands-on" with deuce bodies but there are fiberglass and re-pop steel bodies out there.  The model sits higher than that SO-CAL car. Optical illusion? Trick of the light? I dunno but we have some knowledgeable people here that drop in now and then.  Maybe we'll get some Intel on that issue.   Stay tuned ! 🙂    

You could say I have a little experience with the 1:1s.  

I've never been a fan of the stance out of the box of the Revell '32 Fords, and they didn't change it on this one apparently.

Bottom line is that the suspension needs to be lowered to get those rear tires higher in the wheel wells...like the SoCal car, and the front looks like it could use work too.

I just got a couple of these but haven't cracked the box yet...BUT...if the rear end setup is like their earlier '32s, it's no big deal to cut the tops off of the rear springs or bags or whatever they are, to get that tail down.

Pay particular attention to centering the rear wheels in the wells fore-and-aft too, if you want it to look right. That may also take a little bit of modificating.

You can usually get the nose down on a Revell '32 by shaving the top of the front transverse spring. Whether there's enough meat there to get it down as low as the SoCal car is anybody's guess, and the SoCal car just might have a front axle with more drop than what comes in the Revell kit. If so, you'll need to get more creatively radical...

Edited July 31 by Ace-Garageguy

[customline]

5 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

You could say I have a little experience with the 1:1s.  

I've never been a fan of the stance out of the box of the Revell '32 Fords, and they didn't change it on this one apparently.

Bottom line is that the suspension needs to be lowered to get those rear tires higher in the wheel wells...line the SoCal car, and the front looks like it could use work too.

I just got a couple of these but haven't cracked the box yet...BUT...if the rear end setup is like their earlier '32s, it's no big deal to cut the tops off of the rear springs or bags or whatever they are, to get that tail down.

Pay particular attention to centering the wheels in the wells fore-and-aft too if you want it to look right. That may also take a little bit of modificating.

You can usually get the nose down on a Revell '32 by shaving the top of the front transverse spring. Whether there's enough meat there to get it down as low as the SoCal car is anybody's guess, and the SoCal car just might have a front axle with more drop than what cones in the Revell kit. If so, you'll need to get more creatively radical...

I was wondering when you'd stop in, Bill.

My first reflex was to just go ahead and do the stuff I did to the '29 roadster/'30 coupe kits to get them lower but I wanted to just build it. The only mods are some engine details,"no outside door handles" and a one piece hood. That's it. A nice fast build with no "creativity" spent on a pretty decent kit. I need to find a pair of '39 taillights, though 😕

[customline]

Just a word about the grille/radiator assembly. It's a very tight fit. So tight in fact, it must be positioned up hard against the blower drive.  The engine is located by a pin-in-hole scheme at the tail shaft which locates it positively.  No mistake there. In order to fit the hood correctly, the grille assembly must be hard against the drive pulley. This may make you uncomfortable.....

I used 5 minute epoxy for this.  I'm certain that I had a good reason 🤔

[sidcharles]

those blower belts look a bit out of scale.

and i think they're supposed to wrap around the pulleys.

other than that, the car is coming along nicely.

_ _ _ _ _

btw: for a slight of hand with the wheel wells - sometimes to give a small room depth, interior designers will use a bit darker shade of paint on its far wall.

i know it's a bodge, but could painting the inside of the wheel well a bit off from the body make the "too tall" space less glaring?

[customline]

8 hours ago, sidcharles said:

those blower belts look a bit out of scale.

and i think they're supposed to wrap around the pulleys.

other than that, the car is coming along nicely.

_ _ _ _ _

btw: for a slight of hand with the wheel wells - sometimes to give a small room depth, interior designers will use a bit darker shade of paint on its far wall.

i know it's a bodge, but could painting the inside of the wheel well a bit off from the body make the "too tall" space less glaring?

The blower drive came straight from the kit; it's not my fault 😔. Great idea on the wheel wells! I thought about painting them black, but only for a few seconds. I think some gray primer just under the fenders should darken it without being too obvious. Thanks for the idea, sidcharles!

[Calb56]

3 hours ago, customline said:

The blower drive came straight from the kit; it's not my fault 😔. Great idea on the wheel wells! I thought about painting them black, but only for a few seconds. I think some gray primer just under the fenders should darken it without being too obvious. Thanks for the idea, sidcharles!

I think he meant the yellow rubber bands? 🤣

[NOBLNG]

On 7/31/2025 at 1:28 PM, customline said:

I'd like to channel it and get it down in the weeds.

I may be wrong but…that’s what I was thinking that I would do if I ever get one of these kits. The aerodynamic duvall windshield just begs for the car to be in the weeds. JMO.😈

If the rad being tight to the belts bothers you, you could add a sliver of Evergreen to the front or rear edge of the hood and move the rad forward slightly. The work you have done is coming along nicely though Jim.😎

Edited August 2 by NOBLNG
Spelling

[sidcharles]

the other foil might be a fan shroud, and no one would be able to see a 90 view of the engine/ radiator matchup.

or could you shave down the crank pulley a few thousands to give light through?

remember: only You can provide fan clearance!

 

too many years back we were sidewall shingling a house. the goal is always to run a course straight through at the tops of the windows. doors didn't count because their head jamb height was always different.

anyway, we prided ourselves for always trying to go one step further and in this case we had a good shot at hitting the tops of the gable end louvers with a course across, too.

so the numbers [say] were 3 courses @ 5 1/2", and then 4 courses @ 5 3/4" and the last course would run straight across the top trip. kabahm!

except i did the first gable [east] as instructed, and then we had lunch. after, i went to the west gable, and flipped the dimensions to 4 and 3. well; the last course still went across, but the shingles bumped into the bottom of the louver with a different  margin of louver showing. poopy.

so hat in hand i had to tell the boss before we went home for the day. anticipating a really quiet ride in the van for a half hour or so, he said "did both ends have a course straight across the tops of the louvers?"

"yup"

"well, you can't see both gable ends at the same time. let's stop and pick up a sixer for the ride"

whew; huh?

Edited August 1 by sidcharles

[customline]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

I may be wrong but…that’s what I was thinking that I would do if I ever get one of these kits. The aerodynamic duvall windshield just begs for the car to be in the weeds. JMO.😈

If the rad being tight to the belts bothers you, you could add a sliver of Evergreen to the front or rear edge of the hood and move the rad forward slightly. The work you have dine is coming along nicely though Jim.😎

Thanks, Greg, it's okay to be wrong.  In order to channel this car, you would need to pinch the frame. I was wondering if the deuce frame from the '29/'30 A kits might let the body fit down over the rails. The highboy frame in those kits, I think, are narrowed to accommodate the A body. I have a few of those hanging around. Then you could probably use the short interior side panels. I will check that in a while, but I have an important (to me 🥴) update to post.  As far as the radiator goes, I have been informed that the blower drive is out of scale and the belt isn't on the pullys correctly. I don't want to keep re-doing stuff any more than I already have,and I could be wrong, but your idea is the way to get that issue straight and I appreciate your help.

[customline]

1 hour ago, sidcharles said:

the other foil might be a fan shroud, and no one would be able to see a 90 view of the engine/ radiator matchup.

or could you shave down the crank pulley a few thousands to give light through?

remember: only You can provide fan clearance!

 

too many years back we were sidewall shingling a house. the goal is always to run a course straight through at the tops of the windows. doors didn't count because their head jamb height was always different.

anyway, we prided ourselves for always trying to go one step further and in this case we had a good shot at hitting the tops of the gable end louvers with a course across, too.

so the numbers [say] were 3 courses @ 5 1/2", and then 4 courses @ 5 3/4" and the last course would run straight across the top trip. kabahm!

except i did the first gable [east] as instructed, and then we had lunch. after, i went to the west gable, and flipped the dimensions to 4 and 3. well; the last course still went across, but the shingles bumped into the bottom of the louver with a different  margin of louver showing. poopy.

so hat in hand i had to tell the boss before we went home for the day. anticipating a really quiet ride in the van for a half hour or so, he said "did both ends have a course straight across the tops of the louvers?"

"yup"

"well, you can't see both gable ends at the same time. let's stop and pick up a sixer for the ride"

whew; huh?

Great story, sir!  Do they still put shingles (shakes?) on sidewalls? 

[customline]

2 hours ago, Calb56 said:

I think he meant the yellow rubber bands? 🤣

Ohhhhhhh.......🤣.....hey, maybe...🤔