Monogram '32 roadster: a red-headed step-child.

[Sledsel]

I have one of these 32's. Old but still builds up nicely especially with a few mods. I guess it is the first uni-body deuce!

[customline]

3 minutes ago, Sledsel said:

I have one of these 32's. Old but still builds up nicely especially with a few mods. I guess it is the first uni-body deuce!

Hey, Andy.  Yeah, I'm allergic to fenders so I'm being forced to employ them by default. They come with the frame. What can I do? 🥴.

I'm learning that there is a cult-like worship of this particular version of a '32 Ford roadster. 

[Sledsel]

10 hours ago, customline said:

Hey, Andy.  Yeah, I'm allergic to fenders so I'm being forced to employ them by default. They come with the frame. What can I do? 🥴.

I'm learning that there is a cult-like worship of this particular version of a '32 Ford roadster. 

Not much you can do considering it is 1/24 scale. Maybe modify the frame from the 1/24 scale 37 Ford? It is the same basic shape.

[customline]

1 hour ago, Sledsel said:

Not much you can do considering it is 1/24 scale. Maybe modify the frame from the 1/24 scale 37 Ford? It is the same basic shape.

I might see if I could do a channelled roadster using the deuce frame from the 29/30 Revell kits. 

[customline]

Today's masterful modifications (well, masterful might be a bit strong 🥴) started with the discovery of a botched attachment of the spring to the axle housing.  This masterful blunder was the result of applying CA to the "recepticles". It must have set up on one side as I was pushing the two parts together. The fix was cutting the offending post at the axle, drilling out the glued in post (a very thin pin, in fact) and inserting the remaining portion of the post and gluing (and kicking) the post from inside while holding the two parts parallel. 

I had considered getting the rear end set with just gluing the spring and then removing the mounting posts but decided against it due to the fragile spring attachments to the housing. I cut the torque tube off, to be replaced with a scratched open drive shaft. The radius arms could be bent out and a mounting fabbed but I'm thinking about using ones from the '29/'30 Revell kits but I'm not there yet.

The gas tank, oddly, includes mountings for the tail pipes. This seems wrong on so many levels. I'm not doing that.

In order to install a new tyranny cross member, I thought I would complete the frame on both sides so I would have something to attach it to.

What's this for? 👆🥴

Evergreen strips were added to fake the frame rails and the cross member was added.

There will be some filling and sanding to complete the illusion. Gotta get back to work. More later.

 

 

[customline]

Moving right along, I added more Evergreen to the chassis and filled the seams of the new rails with CA. I removed the tail pipe "hangers" from the gas tank 🙄. 

Many kit parts have very thin, fragile attachment points. The front axle is quite flimsy and the attachment points for the tie rod and drag link are not well defined and the instructions are of little help. The backing plates do not seat on the spindles in a positive way making it difficult to get them positioned correctly. Of course, this could just be me 🥴.  But I don't think so. 

Part #26, the drag link, has no connection point on the back end. This could be because there is no steering box 😕.  I guess I will need to make one.

I replaced the split wish bone with the parts from the '29/30 kits for a better attachment on the frame after removing the "blocks" the kit provides, I guess, for that attachment- it's hard to tell from the instructions.  They are much beefier than the kit 

DJ reminded me to scribe the door lines on the inside of the tub. I used Dymo tape and a dental pick to do that. Not too difficult. 

I also filled the holes on the rear quarters with styrene rod and CA. Hopefully I get some paint on the bottom tomorrow and then I can get the wheels on. Till then, don't spill paint!

 

 

[espo]

You're making a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" as the saying goes. 

[customline]

3 hours ago, espo said:

You're making a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" as the saying goes. 

I had a plan when I bought this kit. I saw it as a dry lakes car in survivor dress. That was before I found out about the non-existent frame. Imagine my dismay when I opened it and realized it was not to be.  I have a few deuce frames left over from the '29/'30 kits. All I need is a decent flat-motor. It could happen. 🙂 I have a second kit (which begs the question "why didn't you just use one of the spare deuce frames for this one?....🥴) 

[stavanzer]

I really like the stance you have gotten.

 

[meechum68]

Looking good Jim! I have 3 of these in my stash.... glad to see one in progress. I think I may add on my bench for a filler build while I work on 2 others.

 

[customline]

8 hours ago, meechum68 said:

Looking good Jim! I have 3 of these in my stash.... glad to see one in progress. I think I may add on my bench for a filler build while I work on 2 others.

 

Thanks, Michael.  It will certainly keep you busy. 😂

[customline]

9 hours ago, stavanzer said:

I really like the stance you have gotten.

 

That was fairly easy. The rest is pure fun if you enjoy kit bashing and scratch building like I do 🤓

[LennyB]

It really makes me wonder what the designers were thinking, or not, when they planned this.  The poor and vague attachment points, especially the tailpipes in the gas tank, certainly didn’t do anything to teach a young modeler how a real car was put together.    It’s no wonder a kit like this ended up as a glue bomb as the builder put on a blob of glue and hoped the part would stick to something🤞

[customline]

3 hours ago, LennyB said:

It really makes me wonder what the designers were thinking, or not, when they planned this.  The poor and vague attachment points, especially the tailpipes in the gas tank, certainly didn’t do anything to teach a young modeler how a real car was put together.    It’s no wonder a kit like this ended up as a glue bomb as the builder put on a blob of glue and hoped the part would stick to something🤞

Amen. Thankfully, there are some well designed and detailed kits from current manufacturers. That said, the old stuff does have a certain charm. Well...some of them, anyway 😒 

 

[Kenmojr]

This is gonna be cool...Looking forward to more progress.

[customline]

2 hours ago, Kenmojr said:

This is gonna be cool...Looking forward to more progress.

Well, it ain't much but I did something on it tonight. The '57 Nomad engine needed a bit more space than the truncated kit unit so I tried a fully recessed firewall but I just didn't like it. I tried to modify the kit unit using a cap that comes on the replacement brush cartridges for my Sonicare but I didn't like that either. So I grabbed another kit firewall from a previously busted kit. 👇

I cut the second kit firewall just below the voltage regulator along the molded-in "seam".  Then I glued a length of Evergreen strip to the back side and set the bottom part against the the interior tub, butted up to the Evergreen strip. 

I added vertical strips to the outside for solid attachment. 

It still wasn't enough. I tried "trimming" the mounting points of the engine to get it lower in the frame but it still wasn't enough so I ground a relief in the top portion for clearance.  I hated doing that but there's a limit to my patience. 

Then I remembered to shave the grille shell

I wanted to get the wheels on so I decided to airbrush the chassis with semi gloss black enamel. However....because the fenders and frame are a single unit, painting this thing has me wondering just how the he'll I'm going to do it. All I can think of is paint the fenders and frame ahead of the firewall gloss black. Then, I guess, paint the body some cool color. 🤔. I dunno. It's that or paint the entire car black. Anything else is just too complicated for me at this point. Thanks for checking in! 🤓

[customline]

Well, we had Chineese last night.....🙂

Yay. 🙂

[LennyB]

I guess that means Yellow #5 or #6 is destined to be your paint color😄

[customline]

57 minutes ago, LennyB said:

I guess that means Yellow #5 or #6 is destined to be your paint color😄

Hey, ya know 🤔......I think I have some Ace Premium sun yellow......

[FoMoCo66]

This things lookin' pretty snazzy there Jim, love the attention your giving this kit, especially sence there so readily available at Ollie's for cheap!

[customline]

2 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

This things lookin' pretty snazzy there Jim, love the attention your giving this kit, especially sence there so readily available at Ollie's for cheap!

Yeah, thanks, Elliot. I can't believe I'm spending this much time on a common-a$$ kit like this but I enjoy the work. It gives me purpose 😌. 

[TopherMcGinnis]

Oh yeah, rub it in.......common....pfft! These 2 Ollie's near me just suck......common......grrrrrrr

I'm not upset about it though 🤣🤣🤣

[customline]

4 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

Oh yeah, rub it in.......common....pfft! These 2 Ollie's near me just suck......common......grrrrrrr

I'm not upset about it though 🤣🤣🤣

Oh, sorry, Topher....are you.... no......not that "common".  When I moved south to Virginia many years ago, i found that the natives here use that word differently.  It sorta means 'low grade'. When referring to a person as common, it can lead to an altercation involving violence. The Brits have a "house of Commons" but then it's not a derogatory term, just a way of expressing one's social standing. I meant it in the worst possible way and emphasized it by adding the hyphenated suffix. It might have been a bit strong. 🤓 Ollie's had those kits many months ago. The Duval Deuce is what's in my local stores now, or recently was anyway. But Christmas is coming! You never know what you will find ! I'm holding out for Moebius kits 😏

[TopherMcGinnis]

Here in North Carolina we called those folks "touched".

[customline]

2 minutes ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

Here in North Carolina we called those folks "touched".

I dunno, Toph.  Touched, I thought, meant "mentally challenged ". "Common" is usually followed by m***** f*****  every time it was thrown around. "Touched" seems like a charitable term. What do I know? I'm a Yankee.