Deuce roadster / tub kit bash

[customline]

I wasn't sure if this one would get this far but it did so.... here it is. 

The tub was a "junkyard" find on ebay and the original plan for it has since been abandoned.  The chassis donor is the new-ish  "Duval" deuce roadster by Revell. The tub's interior "tub" was cut down apparently for a channelled build but I can't recall if it came that way or if I did it and have no memory of it 🥴.  The first order of bidness was adding back some depth to the interior. I spent many hours trying to make it work.  Do-overs can make a fun build not fun. Now, there's a good chance the tub will succeed as long as I don't screw up this paint.

I bought the roadster kit at Ollie's for 13 bucks and the build went well until the paint job sent the body to the strip club but in the meantime I went back to Ollie's and scored another one that I planned to use as bash material. That body is going to replace the one in the pond and should be painted in the next few weeks but that's another thread. The chassis and drive train for the tub is now mostly finished and waiting for the body to get out of the body shop.

QUESTION: HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU GLUED THE ENGINE IN PLACE AND THEN FOUND THE DRIVE SHAFT SITTING ON THE BENCH WITH A BIG SMILE ON IT'S FACE? 

I opted for the "old" headers that were left over from the Rat Roaster version. They were attached to the engine as an assembly because I didn't follow the instructions. I pinned them to the block and the tie-ins for the muffler system would not line up. I made bosses from aluminum tube to mate the headers to the pipes. I fish-mouthed the tubing with a round riffler file and they are just glued  to the pipes. I can leave them that way or I may try to put a CA "weld bead" at the headers and then Molotow the joints and bosses

I thought about adding levers and cables to the bosses to emulate cut-outs but....nah. 

I found a chrome QC rear end from a 1:24 RM '57 Chevy (probably) but it was a bit small for the kit axle housing so I added an adapter.

The rear doors have been eliminated and the current idea is to use the roadster kit handles on the front of the suicide doors. 

I skinned the cowl with .010 sheet to cover the cowl vent and to help the windshield fit-up. I also added some sheet to the bottom of the cowl to fill the space created by the '40 dash.  The dash was a left-over from some AMT kit.  Narrowing was necessary and the radio speaker was the victim. Photo later.

This is the interior made up of the original back seat  covered by another back seat from the stash and then diamond tufting was added. I used some Plastruct tread plate with the back side showing for the side panels and rear seat inserts.  It was that or I'd still be lining up short lengths of .040 half-round. Thanks for your interest. Your comments are welcome.

 

 

Edited September 3 by customline

[Chris B]

Looks awesome. That vinyl top looks real

[customline]

3 hours ago, Chris B said:

Looks awesome. That vinyl top looks real

That's Tamiya semi-gloss. I prefer "satin" for a quieter sheen but I've sworn off Rusto.  I'm happy with Tamiya but the expense is making me a bit uncomfortable. 

Edited August 31 by customline

[falcon wagon]

looking good

[meechum68]

I like this! Excellent work!

[NOBLNG]

Looking good Jim. Dang, your upholstery guy is talented.🙂 If it was mine I would try to lower that grill shell a bit.

[customline]

22 minutes ago, falcon wagon said:

looking good

Thanks, Carl.

20 minutes ago, meechum68 said:

I like this! Excellent work!

Thanks, Michael. 

18 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Looking good Jim. Dang, your upholstery guy is talented.🙂 If it was mine I would try to lower that grill shell a bit.

I think you may already know how much I hate revamping interiors, Greg. The floor of the interior is the determining factor of how the body sits on the frame. This is where the do-overs happened. The floor you see in the interior shots is not the current version. I put this up early this morning 🥱. 

I was thinking that about the grille. I like to get that right but I think I can make it line up by shimming the body up a little. It looks like a partial channeling job...getting the floor right was a big deal. No more do-overs on that. 

Edited August 31 by customline

[customline]

Greg is right. I checked...I would need to raise the body off the frame to line everything up.  The shell must to be lowered.  Well, at least the it will move forward away from the blower drive. That's a win 🙂

[FoMoCo66]

This is looking good! IMHO lowering the grille would be cooler because the partial channel is killer.

[customline]

7 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

This is looking good! IMHO lowering the grille would be cooler because the partial channel is killer.

The AMT body seems undersized compared to the Revell at the cowl. I can't raise the body enough to line up with the grille without creating a gap between body and frame. It would necessarily do the same at the gas tank. Dropping the grille between the frame horns is the only way to go. I will likely use the AMT shell for that. The Revell unit is, as assembled, complicated by the fan shroud.  Gotta work this all out.  The lower radiator hose is another issue I need to address. I think I need to get back to work 😕

 

[customline]

My first '40 dash section. 🥴 

Though the Revell part(s) is way more accurate and fits between the horns, the AMT grille might be easier to modify for the job. I have a few of them to experiment with (more junkyard stuff).

 

[Ulf]

QUESTION: HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU GLUED THE ENGINE IN PLACE AND THEN FOUND THE DRIVE SHAFT SITTING ON THE BENCH WITH A BIG SMILE ON IT'S FACE? 
 

Many times, you are not alone. My consolation is that it is a curbside.

 

[customline]

1 hour ago, Ulf said:

QUESTION: HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU GLUED THE ENGINE IN PLACE AND THEN FOUND THE DRIVE SHAFT SITTING ON THE BENCH WITH A BIG SMILE ON IT'S FACE? 
 

Many times, you are not alone. My consolation is that it is a curbside.

 

Yeah, that's what I figured. 😄

[customline]

After some very emotional soul-searching,  I decided the Revell grille is the best choice.  With the aid of my trusty Dremel Micro, I removed the bottom tank and the mounting lugs and anything else that was in the way. I scraped the paint off the front cross member to give the shell something good to stick to. Now it sits about .25" lower. I think it's gonna work. 

I drilled the shroud (and the core 😦) for a new bottom connection and inserted a short length of tube directly into the core and ordered a case of K-Seal HD, which probably won't help much since the bottom tank is gone, not to mention the.....anyway, here's what Tubby looks like now.

The top radiator hose was shortened and a new one was "crafted" for the bottom.

Both are now painted flat black. 🥴

[customline]

I really like this kit 😎

Edited September 1 by customline

[customline]

Okay....because of a disparity in scale accuracy or maybe just the size of the rear tires, the gap between body and gas tank was unacceptable. The only thing to do was extend the bottom of the body to close the gap

First I removed the bead molding.  I welded a fishplate on the inside of the body and, because of the unevenness of the thickness of the AMT body, I built up the thickness of the extension with strips of sheet stock till it was a tad over flush with the body and sanded it down fair.

I added .040 half-round to replace the one I had to remove.  

Tying the half-round into the existing bead was next.  Not too bad.

It will need some love and understanding to get the transition invisible.

Sand, prime, sand, prime, etc going forward. Thanks for coming by. 🤓

 

Edited September 3 by customline

[Zippi]

Closing that gap up made a world of difference.  Looking good.

[customline]

3 minutes ago, Zippi said:

Closing that gap up made a world of difference.  Looking good.

Thanks, Bob.  This thing as had more surgery than I have.

[customline]

I just felt like having a little show. 🙃  here we go.....

[BK9300]

Well thought out ‘saves’ all around, Jim - overall, looks much improved!

[customline]

 

2 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Well thought out ‘saves’ all around, Jim - overall, looks much improved!

Thanks, Brian, it's been an adventure 🥵 but I got help here. 

[customline]

The rear wheel wells have no innards so I started playing around with some .010 scraps. The width difference between the AMT interior bucket and the outer side of the frame was too much for the .010. to bend so I opted for a overlapping configuration with half on the interior and the bottom half glued to the frame.  I glued 'em on and painted 'em flat black. I tried to photo the finished product but couldn't get anything useful so you'll just have to trust me 😉.

I did a little Dremel surgery on the transmission to alleviate positional difficulties during final. That wasn't it. I apologize 😔. Turned out to be the firewall opening. Dremel surgery again. That did it.  😄

It would be almost impossible to squeeze the interior tub between the above inner fender panels.  Final assembly would be me cleaning up the scattered pieces and Wifey whining about the hole I put in the wall. I opted for the overlap. It's still a bit tricky but with practice....🙂 Yes it's jack-leg but we're the only ones who know. 😉

[Mr. Metallic]

You were right with your earlier observation that the AMT body is shorter through the cowl than the Revell. That is an issue with all AMT 32 Ford bodies. However, it can be made to work to ones advantage if you want the look of a slightly sectioned car, which is what you have achieved here. This side profile is niiiiice!

[customline]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Metallic said:

You were right with your earlier observation that the AMT body is shorter through the cowl than the Revell. That is an issue with all AMT 32 Ford bodies. However, it can be made to work to ones advantage if you want the look of a slightly sectioned car, which is what you have achieved here. This side profile is niiiiice!

Yeah, man,  I'm liking it. I like the donor chassis a lot, too.  A full channel job would have taken rear fenders off the table and I wanted to keep the front fenders (one of the reasons I like the chassis doner) and if there's fenders in front then....now I feel like I need to extend the rears to be flush with the body I extended 🤪. I'll never be finshed with this thing. 😪

[mchook]

Man, I wish I could build something this nice. Great job, I love it!