Rat Roaster Revisited

[Bernard Kron]

Revell Stacey David Rat Roaster Revisited
(More pictures below)

Revell’s hotly anticipated revision of its venerable ’32 Ford Highboy Roadster kit, a replica of television personality Stacey David’s flashy Rat Roaster street rod was received with much discussion and controversy. Many were impressed with the new parts (particularly the wheels and tires) and modern small block Chevy motor. Others were disappointed that Revell didn’t go all the way and revise the suspension to copy the I-beam front end and sophisticated trailing link rear end of the 1:1. The interior, too, while very striking and highly stylized, was sure to be controversial and hardly universal in its appeal.

But with the old roadster kit no longer in production, and with Revell finally offering an alternative to the dreaded “Wide Fronts” (tires) which have blighted the front end of all their Deuce variants to date, there was much to like about the kit and initial sales have been brisk to say the least.

Personally, I was like most modelers, conflicted with The Good (the tires and wheels, the stock style firewall, the fact that a roadster is back in production, the SBC motor, the nice dashboard, the hairpins and the chopped windshield), The Bad (the air bag rear end which refuses to die, the absence of the 1:1’s I-beam front suspension, the fact that the wheel/tire system is not compatible with most other kits’ wheels and tires, the notched frame rails to accommodate the exhaust pipes’ connection to the sidepipes, the Rat Roaster specific body modifications, particularly to the rear end, etc.) and the Ugly (the porthole infected hood, the wimpy little seats, the disappointing blower and carb setup, the integrated disc brake/front fender bracket system, etc.). So I decided to address the “issues” and see if I couldn’t come up with a version that was more to my taste while sticking as close as possible to the 1:1.

Surprisingly, I landed up making only a relatively small number of modifications which I think result in a significantly different take on this car. The overall theme exploits the sprint car style elements of the 1:1 while deleting many of the cornier rock ‘n’ roll and hotrod/kustom kar themes. Listed below are the changes I made.

Motor: Deleted the blower and carb setup and substituted sprint car style Hilborn injectors and K&N conical filters courtesy of TJ’s Custom Castings ( http://stores.tjscustomcastings.com/StoreFront.bok )
Interior: Drilled out all the fake holes so they’re real now, and substituted replica Speedway Motors drilled out bomber seats courtesy of ThePartsBox.com ( http://www.thepartsbox.com/ ). Finished the bare metal areas in Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate. Made a standard ball shift lever to replace the microphone shift knob (!).
Bodywork: Deleted the fenders. Substituted a stock hood. Substituted teardrop style rear railights.
Chassis: Lowered the front suspension to increase the rake by shaving four leaves off the front spring.
Paint and finishing: Main body color is Duplicolor #E8801589 Nightshadow Pearl metallic blue over white primer and Duplicolor Silver base. Chassis finished in body color with Duplicolor Silver floor panels. Wheel centers finished in Testors Metalizer Magnesium.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Bernard Kron

[Bernard Kron]

Here are some more conventional white background photos:

Edited July 27, 2017 by Bernard Kron

[Porscheman]

Beautiful workmanship!!!

[Roadracer]

Very nice!

[Draggon]

Turned out pretty nice, eh B.? I love the change in stance, the carbs, your wheel treatment and the taillights! And that color completely changes its personality. I dig it!

[Johnny1973]

Great work!Very nice paint work.

[thatz4u]

Better than the original!!!

[cobraman]

Looks great !

[slusher]

Very sharp model.....

[Ramfins59]

Great job Bernard. Much more aggressive stance.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Well sir, I like your results!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx everyone for all the kind words!

Once I made a few changes (surprisingly few as it turned out), this build really came into focus. The toughest part was coming up with a change to the motor that satisfied me. I was forced to use the kit exhausts because of the indentations in the frame rails and that, in a weird way, was the breakthrough. My intention had been to make Limefire exhausts but that had to be dropped because I had already painted and assembled the chassis. That's when I hit on the sprint car injectors and it all fell into place.

Despite my gripes this is an excellent kit with very good fit and finish and, as always with Revell Deuces, a pleasure to to work with. Highly recommeneded.

[Ira]

LOOKS GREAT BERNARD! Nice Work...

[ChrisR]

Great model!

[Tompidom]

Great work! Fantastic pic's give's it a real hotrod fibe!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx again guys. I gotta admit I'm diggin' the way it looks on my shelf. Someone on another forum said the following abut this build and my tendency to go hardcore traditional in my models: "Nice old-new feel. Something this modern is darn near Sci-Fi for you...". It made me laugh!