1930´ midget 1/25 secale model

[recareyjuancarlos]

Hello, I want to work on an 1930´ midget model ( 1/25 scale ). Know yours some kit capable of modification or adaptation ?

[Art Anderson]

Hello, I want to work on an 1930´ midget model ( 1/25 scale ). Know yours some kit capable of modification or adaptation ?

It sort of depends on what style of prewar Midget you want to attempt, but no, there are no kits made of any of those cars, to the best of my knowledge.

All is not lost though, as such a Midget can be a pretty easy scratchbuild--given that every prewar Midget was a "rail frame" car, the tubular chassis like the Kurtis not coming until after WW-II (Kurtis began building those in late summer 1945).

Joe Henning (artist and writer for Rod & Custom and Rod & Custom Models magazines back in the 60's did an article on how to scratchbuild a late 30's rail frame midget in R&CM in 1964 (dunno which issue though). Thar article had scale drawings, and suggestions as to where to find correct-looking wheels and tires. His plans had no engine, simply because there were no engines in model kits back then that would have worked. But now, with the 110 Offy and the Ford V8 60 from the Revell kits, you'd have the two most popular engines with which to work.

Those rail frame midgets generally used transverse leaf springs, although a few were "3-spring cars", meaning parallel leaf springs in the rear, transverse spring up front. Many of those cars used modified Model T Ford front springs, having probably half their leaves removed, and in back, either a modified Model T, or a Model A rear spring and crossmember. Front axles often were shortened Franklin (the air-cooled car) tubular units, shortened of course, and a lot of them used Model T or Model A Ford rear axles, with the axle housings shortened at each end to get the narrower track that AAA and most other Midget sanctioning bodies required back then. the body shell can be laid up by laminating sheet styrene to get the width, then carving, filing and sanding to shape.

In short, see if you can find that copy of Rod & Custom Models, or someone who will photocopy the article out of one they have, a little thinking, a little bit of planning, some work and I suspect you can get there.

Art

[Jairus]

I am pretty sure that article was about building a "Sprint Car" and not a "Midget". As we all know there are three levels of cars out there with "Speedway" being the largest. (Incidentally running on the bricks... today?)

The main differences between the three levels being engine size and wheel base.

I tried using the Joe Henning article and only managed to build a hybred of a Sprint Car and Midget. The biggest problem was finding proper wheels and tires....

Edit: Found the link: 1947 Midget

Edited May 30, 2011 by Jairus

[Steve D.]

I am pretty sure that article was about building a "Sprint Car" and not a "Midget". As we all know there are three levels of cars out there with "Speedway" being the largest. (Incidentally running on the bricks... today?)

The main differences between the three levels being engine size and wheel base.

I tried using the Joe Henning article and only managed to build a hybred of a Sprint Car and Midget. The biggest problem was finding proper wheels and tires....

Edit: Found the link: 1947 Midget

[Steve D.]

Recently I completed a diorama with the Revell midgets , and I needed some spare tires for the tire rack . The Revell Chevy lowrider kits from the early 60's have gold plated accessories including rims . Strip the plating and repaint with metalizer , then turn the tires into speedway slicks with the trusty old "Dremel". This diorama can be seen on the Masscar show website titled "The Spring and Fall of a dirt track summer" . I used these tires on the fall midget , and although not completely accurate , when dirtied up they are more than passable . I threw a set in the bed of the pick-up also .

Take care and see you around the clubhouse ,

Steve D.

[Art Anderson]

I am pretty sure that article was about building a "Sprint Car" and not a "Midget". As we all know there are three levels of cars out there with "Speedway" being the largest. (Incidentally running on the bricks... today?)

The main differences between the three levels being engine size and wheel base.

I tried using the Joe Henning article and only managed to build a hybred of a Sprint Car and Midget. The biggest problem was finding proper wheels and tires....

Edit: Found the link: 1947 Midget

Jairus,

Nope! Henning did a how-to for a 30's rail-frame midget (may have been in Rod & Custom, not the models version though). I actually built up one in 1965 or 66, long before I ever thought of getting any pics of it. Mine was carved from basswood, finished with Aero-Gloss sanding sealer, insignia red frame rails, Taylorcraft Cream for the bodywork. I used straight pins for the grill bars. An old Revell Highway Pioneers '32 Ford Jalopy kit provided the axles, wheels and tires (amazingly very close in scale. The model went to California in the fall of 1985, when a model race car collector came through here, paying insane (for the time) money for scale models of race cars.

Art

[Mark]

Jairus,

Nope! Henning did a how-to for a 30's rail-frame midget (may have been in Rod & Custom, not the models version though). I actually built up one in 1965 or 66, long before I ever thought of getting any pics of it. Mine was carved from basswood, finished with Aero-Gloss sanding sealer, insignia red frame rails, Taylorcraft Cream for the bodywork. I used straight pins for the grill bars. An old Revell Highway Pioneers '32 Ford Jalopy kit provided the axles, wheels and tires (amazingly very close in scale. The model went to California in the fall of 1985, when a model race car collector came through here, paying insane (for the time) money for scale models of race cars.

Art

The article "Building the Gilmore Midget" appeared in the September 1964 issue of Rod & Custom Models. I too built one of those in the mid-Eighties. My older brother Mike had finished restoring an early Kurtis-Kraft midget around that time. He then acquired a Hillegas rail-frame midget, and was doing some work on that. He got that one up on four wheels, but lost interest in it and sold it (it was a V8-60 car, and he never had any enthusiasm for those). The Kurtis was powered by a Ferguson tractor engine (basically a four cylinder version of Ford's overhead valve inline six from the early Fifties).

Henning's model used wheels and tires from the Revell 1/32 scale Hot Rod kit, a narrowed front axle from the Revell Ed Roth Outlaw (which used a Ford V8-60 tubular axle). Rear axle was the narrower of the two units from a Revell parts pack. Other parts were scrounged from various sources.

Like Henning's, model, mine has parallel leaf springs in front, and a single transverse spring in rear. I used a narrowed front axle from an AMT altered-wheelbase '65 Nova funny car, rear axle is the same Revell parts pack unit Henning had used. I didn't have access to a Highway Pioneers Hot Rod kit, so I used 1/32 scale slot car tires and wheels, reworking the centers with six-bolt center hubs cut from some wheels out of the parts box. I used balsa for the body and frame rails. After first seeing this thread, I pulled it out of the display case; the sealed wood is still holding up well. Next time I have batteries in my camera, I should take a picture or two of it. It's not contest material by any means, but it was fairly easy to build. I'd like to revisit some of these earlier projects at some point...

[recareyjuancarlos]

Hello friends. Tank yours for the invaluable information. Surprise !!!: I found 30´midgets photographs on:

oval.race-cars.com/carsold/historicmidget.htm

[Mark]

After remembering that I have one of the Minicraft reissue Highway Pioneer '32 Ford hot rods laying around, I dug it out. The 1/32 scale chassis and engine parts actually compare quite well size-wise with the modern Revell 1/25 scale Kurtis midget parts. Of course, the modern parts are far more detailed. But it would be interesting to revisit the Rod & Custom Models article now, with the reissue Highway Pioneer hot rod kit in hand.