Billetproof '29 Coupe - Update 8/12

[Fletch]

The things people will do to avoid paying the $.25 fine for not bringing something to a club meeting. So, at 4am Sunday morning to avoid paying the fine here's what I came up with using the reissued '30 coupe.

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The fun part of the process so far was converting a '30 coupe to a '29 coupe. It would have been a whole lot easier if I'd had a 1/24 scale '29 Roadster Pickup. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what I was up to out in the garage at 2:30 Sunday morning. I realized I had bought only 1 Monogram '29 rpu ever and I had given it away 6 months ago so one of the guys on TRaK could build a Blue Beetle clone. With no 1/24th rpu I used 2 1/25th Revell '29 rpu cowls to create the cowl area of the coupe. It is mounted on a Revell '32 chassis using the axles, wheels and tires from the '32 Roadster.

The top still needs to be taken down 4+ inches and dig out a flathead from one of the Revell kits. I need to dig out a quick change rear end, and change the rear cross member to the '30 or something along those lines. Radiator wise I may see what's in the parts box in the way of a '29 surround or use one of the cut-down '32 grille and surround from MCG.

No clue what the color will be, I know for sure that it won't be flat or satin black as I don't want to even remotely resemble a rat rod.

Comments and suggestions are welcome as always

Edited August 12, 2009 by Fletch

[Fuel Coupe]

no satin black? it's unfortunate that anything painted black with red wheels is considered a "rat rod" these days.

Dave

So true Dave. Look up Rat rod on eBay and you will inevitably find a S-10 with flat black paint and red wheels.

Nice start by the way...

you should do it in an east coast style, low and unchopped....

[Fletch]

Yeah, the term has gotten taken so out of context that it doesn't even remotely resemble what it was originally meant to be. I'm not sure I could build it East Coast Style, not much comes from my workbench that isn't chopped. I don't think the guys in the club could stand the shock. lol

[Lyle Willits]

Dave - I've started the same car. But I did have the Monogram 24th scale roadster pickup, from the 80's. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Lyle Willits

[Fletch]

Dave - I've started the same car. But I did have the Monogram 24th scale roadster pickup, from the 80's. I'll take some pics tomorrow.

I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a fair number of the '30 Coupes converted to '29s. It's a pretty simple conversion as you know. I look forward to seeing your photos, they always serve as an inspiration.

[Hizoot]

A fine for not bringing a model to a meeting..?

WOW Dave,

That would be concidered extreme around here, more like unheard of..! No wounder all you guys & gals build so well up there..!

Good luck with that one,

Hizoot

[Modellpularn]

Cool conversion! I've thought about that too. And of course did I sell my late reissue of the 1/24 rpu..... Have to look for some junk body at swap meets. Or maybe ask some friends.

[Fletch]

The difference in height between the 1/24th scale Monogram '29 rpu and a 1/25th scale Revell '29 rpu is about .060. There is not a great deal of difference in height between the 2 but it's enough to make a big difference in the conversion. I was able to check the differences between the 2 by checking with an original issue of the Blue Beetle. For a brief moment I thought about using the cowl from it for the conversion but that moment of insanity passed quickly.

[Fletch]

Here are the results of tonight's building session.

The roof line was dropped by aprox 0.160" (about 3.6mm). Both front and rear suspension were dropped as low as they would go without modifying the chassis using the process Tim Boyd used in the article of the '32 3 Window Coupe build back in 1996.

The flat head is from the Revell '50 Ford Pickup with Offenhauser heads and tri-carb manifold from MCG. The front of the flat head has been modified to allow the use of a Chevy 409 water pump (this is an actual 1:1 modification), which on the 1:1 allows for greatly improved cooling on the overheating proned flat heads.

Hosted on Fotki

Time to allow the cement to cure overnight before doing some minor fill work then on to the rest of the build.

[mr moto]

I'm lovin' this one! It thas that just right look - well proportioned. It's gonna be a beauty!

[Modellpularn]

That top chop looks perfect, just the right proportions!!

[Fletch]

very nice slight channel there! the chop looks good too and isn't too much.

never knew about the W-engine water pump deal, sounds like a "cool" swap

Dave

It was something I ran across several years ago. As Flat Heads came back in vogue the overheating problem became a major issue. Someplace along the way someone discovered that the 348/409 water pump had the same span as the dual pumps on a flat head. They made an adapter plate to block off the lower water intakes on the flat head and act as the front motor mount. When all is said and done you still have the water outlets on the tops of the heads and a single intake from the Chevy 348/409 high flow pump.

This is what the Edelbrock adapter plate looks like:

Hosted on Fotki

[Fletch]

This has turned into one of those builds where it's easy to loose interest. More often then not I need a reason to really get into a build, and I didn't have one other then to prove that I could graft a '29 RPU cowl to a '30 Coupe body. Not the reason I was looking for to stay interested in the build.

Last month we had the Billetproof NW event in SW Washington and of course you can't go to those events without buying a new t-shirt. This morning I grabbed that t-shirt out of the drawer and there was my muse for this build.

One of the SABA members had already mentioned that the coupe needed more of a chop which it got, but after looking at the shirt it needs even more taken out of the roof. The body was mildly channeled it now sits quite a bit lower but still not enough. You really can't see much of the engine in the artwork on the shirt but my best guess it's a Small Block Chevy, or at least that's what it will be when built.

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At least the build wasn't so far along that it required buying a new kit.

[Bernard Kron]

I hadn't checked this in a while. I really like the Billetproof influence (a concept I thoroughly approve of BTW . The character of the "A" series Fords cries out for it. I'm glad it found you! And the '29 cowl is my all time favorite in the "upright" period of Ford styling. The taper it lends to the front of the car can't be beat. This one's defnitely headed in the right direction as far as I'm concerned!

[Fletch]

Bernard, I couldn't agree more. I love the '32-'50 Fords, but the quintessential Hot Rod has always been the '29. It was Fords last body style that had a character that could not be touched by any other. My impression of Hot Rods was heavily influenced by '29s on Deuce rails. That combination just screams Hot Rod.

As for the Billetproof influence, when you spent an entire day surrounded by almost 600 rods that are backyard burning the midnight oil to get ready for the cruise Hot Rods, you can't help but fall in Love with Rodding all over again.

I'm excited to get this one back under way.

[carrucha]

The Billetproof coupe is a cool idea. I bought the same t-shirt last year in black at the northern California Billetproof show. I look forward to seeing the finished model.

carrucha

[Fletch]

Chop #3 for this build, guess I never listened to the old adage of measure 3 times and cut once. I have no idea how much has been removed for the top at this point, but the total amount is the entire vertical rear of the quarter windows. All that remains of them is the upper and lower curved sections.

One minor mishap occurred during the last chop, the blade grabbed and away went the bottom of the passenger side window. I spent the better part of an hour searching for that piece. It must be in the same place all the lost socks and keys reside. You wouldn't think that a piece of green plastic could disappear but it did. The next part of the project will be to replicate the lower window sill.

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The body now sits as it should on the chassis, but in order to get the ride height level the rear of the frame will need to be Z'ed. The tires and wheels will be the ever popular Revell wide white walls from the '29 Rat Rod Pickup. Still need to find a SBC and tri-power manifold.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Fletch

[Dan Helferich]

Some nice work there. I also have a '30 coupe in progress but without the '29 conversion. (That was very clever!) I'm building it chopped and full fendered using parts from the Monogram '30 Phaeton kit which has a SMALL BLOCK CHEVY WITH 3X2 INDUCTION as you seek for yours. This '29 is looking cool, I see a fenderless '30 in my future!

[Chuck Most]

Sounds like it'd be cheaper and easier just to pay the 25 cents and not bring something! For my money, though, glad you opted NOT to do that!

Maybe if my 'club' had such a policy I'd be a bit more motivated...

[1320wayne]

Nice work Dave, which doesn't surprise me with your building skills. I had to go almost all the way to the end of this post to finally see that your weren't actually going to run Billet wheels on a Billetproof project. Can't wait to see more.

[Fletch]

Nice work Dave, which doesn't surprise me with your building skills. I had to go almost all the way to the end of this post to finally see that your weren't actually going to run Billet wheels on a Billetproof project. Can't wait to see more.

The initial plan for the build Wayne was to build it as a straight up Hot Rod using all the modern parts and pieces. As noted I quickly lost interest in the project as it was going to be just another build, nothing special. The concept of Billetproof is more along my lines of thinking, not that I don't like the bling of show rods but, traditional is just the way to go.

The wheels are drying out in the garage, They along with the rest of the car will be Tamiya TS-34 Camel Yellow With a white roof insert so there's not such a stark contrast between the body color and the insert.

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The project of moving forward, still haven't really taken the time to search for an engine, I'm sure there is something out in the garage that will sacrifice it's power plant for this build. Next update should have some paint even if it's just primer.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Fletch

[Fletch]

Got some work done on the Coupe last evening after playing with a couple of other projects.

Got the ride height set where I think it looks right, feel free to weight in on it if you like. The frame was Zed the depth of the frame rails to get the rearend to sit down where it should be.

The front is a combination of the Revell '32 springs and the Revell '29-'31 dropped beam axle in order to get the pose-able steering. Still a couple of tweaks there to make it look correct.

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I'm most likely going to use the Caddy engine from Revell's '49 Merc. It needs a carb upgrade, the addition of some RMoM stacks and a set of headers and would fit the Billetproof image perfectly.

And Yes, I did find the missing piece, or should I say one of the cats found the missing piece and was carrying it around in their mouth. Good thing he didn't swallow it, it might have hurt coming out the other end.

[Fletch]

The coupe is starting to actually look like the artwork from the t-shirt. I thought I'd give you a quick update. The Caddy mill from the Revell '49 Merc is a perfect fit for the build. It has the size, bulk and attitude need to truly represent Billetproof. The carbs were upgraded to those from the '50 Ford pickup, the stacks will be replaced with curved units from RMoM.

The lower portion of the stock '29 firewall will have to be modified to fit around the Caddy Bell housing. Cut down a Revel grille to see how it would look, other then it could stand to be a bit shorter it fits the concept.

With the firewall out of body it doesn't fit as tightly on the chassis so the body rocks on the stopper glued to the inside of the body. As a consequence the rear end is sitting lower in this photo then it will be in the final assembly.

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The black line over the rear quarter windows is to mark the location of the rear of the roof insert. For this build I choose the more "stock" configuration and will be using the entire roof insert instead of the insert that is only in the center of the roof as in the '30 kit.

The Camel Yellow of the rims is a great color, but I'm not sure about the body being that color as well. I'm starting to think that it might be to much yellow. Your input and comments are always welcome.

That's all for now.

[envious8420]

i like the yellow, it lends an updated touch to 1 sweet ride.

[Alyn]

Cool build. Looks like you've got all the right pieces coming together in the right way to create a nice period piece.

I don't think I'd paint the body and wheels with the same camel yellow. One or the other, but not both. If the body was the camel color, the wheels would look good in red or some other high contrast color like baby blue, medium blue or maroon. Some pin striping or bold graphics would also help pick up what would otherwise be a pretty unexciting color. Two toning with some maroon could work; making the break at the belt line.

You've come up with a pretty cool look though, so the paint can only make it look better.