New hot rod project, completed March 2025

[tim boyd]

Greetings all.  This post covers a hot rod built during early 2025.  Those (I suspect) few of you who read Fine Scale Modeler will recognize this project from the detailed full build article in the September/October 2025 issue) but for most of you, this will be new information.  

There were several inspirations for this project.  The first was that I wanted to take a second whack at the basic vision of a post WW-II themed hot rod project based on the Round 2 "Mod Rod" Model A double kit release from 2015.  This was the most recent reissue of the old AMT 1929 Model A Roadster Double Kit circa 1973 that now restored most (though not quite all) of the parts for Barris' Ala Kart showcar that was part of the original 1962 AMT kit tooling.  Those of you who do read Model Cars magazine will remember the build article on the first attempt of this idea from issue #226.  I also posted a recap of that build here on the forum earlier this year.  

For this "second whack" project there were two other inspirations aka build goals. 

The first was to build a model featuring the new 1935-39 "Wide Five" wheels from Norm Veber at Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland Company.  As had been occasionally noted here on the MCM forum, these wheels were molded in full complete detail with the first several production runs of the AMT 1936 Ford Trophy Series kit starting in 1961.  Unfortunately, AMT had ongoing issues with the tool correctly molding the fully depressed outer rim holes in the Wide Five wheels, and as a result they soon modified the tooling to fill these holes.  Correctly molded originals are very scarce, but I was able to find a few and provided them to Norm, who now offers the original tooled wheels in his aftermarket product range.  To the best of my knowledge, these are the only 1/24th/25th model company offerings to correctly reflect all the details of this Wide Five design.  (There may be other aftermarket offerings, but whether they include all the correct details should be assured before hitting the "buy" button.)

The second goal was to build a model with the Model A "Banger" four cylinder, but to build it with the all-new Engine tooling from the ICM 1930 Model A Phaeton kit.  The fine detail and quality of this new kit blows away the old Revell Model A banger engines.  But since it is provided in factory stock form only, some aftermarket type mods would be needed to add the hot rod flavor.   

There were a number of other changes for the "second whack", including a bare-bones interior setup, a body moved a little farther forward on the frame than the original build (to allow the factory hood to fit), a similar but still different dark green paint color, and so forth.  I am not going into details on all the steps that were needed to bring this project to the display table (you'll need to reference the FSM article for that), but I will provide a general overview and imagery below. 

Some additional build notes - the front suspension is from the current Revell Model A Hot Rod kits, while the QuickChange rear and transverse spring setup is from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland.  Note the inside door panels which replicate the 1/1 car before door "card" upholstery is added.  The instrument panel is from the Revell '30A Hot Rod Coupe, as are the seats with real leather bottom pads added.  Stained, real wood lines the bed.  The (over carbureted for a Banger!) Strombergs and Frog Mouth scoops are from VCG Resins by Reese, while the exhaust headers were formed from parts from two of the Mod Rod kits.  The tranny is a Ford manual from the Revell l1940-48 Ford kits paired with the crossmember from the Mod Rod/Ala Kart (thanks to Dennis Lacy for that idea; it worked great).  Paint is Tamiya TS-9 (without clearcoat, which would be unrealistic for this build era) gloss British Racing Green.  The gas tank was harvested from a parts box junker, exact vintage unknown.  As i did with the first project shown in the MCM article, I retained the fender aprons this time as well.  The "11" door panel decals were a late add after I thought the finished car needed a little bit more eyeball. 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to review the text above and check out the imagery below.  Happy to answer any questions you may have, as well.  Very best holiday wishes to you all....Cheers....TIM  

And here I am showing a couple of comparo images so you can see how this one differs from the original Model Cars Magazine feature build.....

 

*****

Edited 21 hours ago by tim boyd

[Coyote_6]

Love the gauge colors, aircraft seats and Old School Wisconsin plates!  Really love everything about that hot rod!  Awesome.

 

Steve

[falcon wagon]

Very nice vintage look to this 

[Cosmic D]

Love the whole vintage concept - especially the sharp wheels - thanks for sharing - I'm always looking forward to more of your street rods.

[dphipps]

They both look fantastic. The detailing is great but the carburetors really catch my eye, really adds the realism.

[Lunajammer]

Good stuff here Tim. Thanks for sharing this and for always providing inspiration and thorough information for us hot rod novices who are only recently exploring the genre.

[Kanada Kustoms]

Great build!

[Calb56]

Your detail to traditional hot rod builds never ceases to amaze me. I definitely need to get some of those wheels!

Thank you for sharing your talent once again.

 

[PappyD340]

Great looking hot rod!

[rrb124@sbcglobal.net]

So many fun details. The black headers are very good.