1/25 Revell '29 Model A Roadster 2'n'1

[tim boyd]

is the scale discrepancy noticeable with this body?

i never gave it much truck, but after assembling a Revell 1/24 scale Volkwagen engine, it's bigger than an AMT 1/25 scale flathead.

I've never directly compared the two (Gee, I should probably do that, huh?!), but the Monogram 1/24th body is not as accurate as the R&M of Co. Md. 1/25th body...i.e. compare the belt moldings underneath the windows... .

TIM

Edited March 23, 2015 by tim boyd

[DaveM]

Thanks for all of the info and history, Tim. I have built a few of those Monogram coupes. I have combined them with the hot rod chassis from the Touring car, I have chopped them, I went through a few back when the ssp reissues came out.

I will contact Replicas and Miniatures and get a couple of the coupes ready to go. I will have to figure out how to unchop one of them.

If I am building without fenders, can I interchange late and early parts? If I get a hankering to build a sedan, can I drop the body and cowl onto the early chassis, or are there other parts that are specific to the '28 and '29 cars? I would probably use the firewall from the '31, as well as either a late grille shell, or a '32.

I can't wait for these to come out. If we export a boatload of Jolt Cola to China will we get our kits more quickly?

[horsepower]

Tim, I should have clarified myself in that I meant THAT particular '26 body, it's always been my opinion that Revell might be a little bit short of 1/25th scale on the entire series of Buttera kits, but I could be wrong, I don't have one in the shop to measure from, I'm just comparing how that body fits on AMT fenders from the same general years.

[tim boyd]

Del...I've always thought that the Revell Buttera '26 T Sedan//faux Sedan Delivery and '27T Touring were properly sized. But the '33/'34 Ford kits based on this same tooling were woefully undersized and misproportioned, as they attempted to compress that body design to fit the much shorter Late T chassis wheelbase (apologizing in advance if you already knew this). Again, maybe I need to compare them....but my recollection is that the AMT and Revell '27 T Tourings were pretty close in size and execution as well, with some detail differences (such as the curvature of the front cowl). Best...TB

[tim boyd]

If I am building without fenders, can I interchange late and early parts? If I get a hankering to build a sedan, can I drop the body and cowl onto the early chassis, or are there other parts that are specific to the '28 and '29 cars? I would probably use the firewall from the '31, as well as either a late grille shell, or a '32.

Dave...not exactly sure what you are envisioning here....but basically the Model A chassis was consistent across the '28-'31 model years even as the bodies varied quite a bit between '28/'29 and '30/'31 model years.

So if you are doing a '31 Model A Sedan on the new Revell kit's Z'ed Model A frame, everything should work. You'll need to notch the '31 A firewall, and hog out the floorboards, to allow the body to sit in a channeled confifguration.

Or you could go "highboy" style by putting the body on top of the Model A frame (much as the Vern Tardell/Mike Bishop highboy roadster pictured earlier in this thread); you'd still need to hog out the floorboard in back where the new Revell frame is "Z'ed.

Anyway you go with this, though, it's gonna be very cool when you are done with it!

TIM

[Ace-Garageguy]

Tim, I should have clarified myself in that I meant THAT particular '26 body, it's always been my opinion that Revell might be a little bit short of 1/25th scale on the entire series of Buttera kits, but I could be wrong, I don't have one in the shop to measure from, I'm just comparing how that body fits on AMT fenders from the same general years.

Every time I've looked at swapping Revell Boyd T bodies on to AMT fenders, it's worked fine. I've measured the things and they're really all pretty close.

The turd in the Buttera and Buttera-derived kits (the itty bitty '34) is the Ford engine and automatic gearbox. They ARE significantly underscale...which is unnecessary, as a correctly-scaled smallblock Ford 289-302 etc. will fit. It's tight, just as it is shoehorning a little Ford V8 into a real T, but it goes in there.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

... i just don't understand how forming a somewhat conical shape with .020" styrene as suggested wouldn't springback without some reinforcement. and would the reinforcement be seen? or interfere with velocity stacks or other engine parts?

You just have to get the plastic past its "glass transition temperature", Tg, which for styrene is about 100C, or boiling water. The tricky bit is holding it in the correct shape as you heat it, without cooking the meat off your finger bones.

I'll do a scratch-built hood tutorial soon.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

is the scale discrepancy noticeable with this body?

You be the judge. Monogram 1/24 '30 body, chopped, everything else 1/25

Real car...

Edited March 23, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Greg Myers]

The wheels aren't the same but seriously, what are the little black vertical lines on the chop cuts ?

Edited March 24, 2015 by Greg Myers

[DaveM]

Thanks, Tim. I was just thinking of a basic, traditional, fenderless sedan (Not chopped or channeled) sometime in the future. Mainly I wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing some secret difference in early and late frames. I tend to do a lot of hacking and mixing if parts when I build hot rods. They are much more free form than musclecars, where there is a "Right" way and a "Wrong" way to build. Just like real life hot rods, I just keep adding stuff until it looks right to me!

[Robberbaron]

I really like the Revell '26 Sedan delivery (Which can be made into a sedan easily) and the '27 touring bodies, but the IFS and the "Modern" '80s chassis prevent older or newer style rods from being made with these kits.

Ha! Glad to see someone else having similar thoughts as me! Back in high school a buddy of mine got the '26 sedan in a 3-pack for Christmas. He had no interest in it, so he gave it to me. Honestly, at the time I also had zero interest in it, but even back then I was a packrat. So into the parts box it went.

I recently stumbled across it again, and started wondering if I could find a use for it. As soon as I learned the details of this new '29 kit, I had a vision of slapping that '26 body on the Z'd A frame.

I'm having similar thoughts about the AMT '25 Double T kit. Bought that one to build the chopped coupe, but have zero interest in building the bone stock companion roadster. But now I'm picturing the roadster pickup parts on this A frame.

[southpier]

ps: you will not be the first!

Edited March 24, 2015 by southpier

[tim boyd]

Here's a chopped '30 Model A Five Window Coupe I built last year using the body from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, along with a number of their other parts kits (brakes, suspension, etc.).

Thanks for looking...>TIM

[mrknowetall]

Here's a chopped '30 Model A Five Window Coupe I built last year using the body from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, along with a number of their other parts kits (brakes, suspension, etc.).

Thanks for looking...>TIM

[Greg Myers]

" I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy." Just SO much good stuff,and SO right. LOVE IT!

Edited March 24, 2015 by Greg Myers

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool hot rod time.

[DaveM]

Nice, Tim. When I first saw that, I thought you had posted a real car for reference! Are those tires from the Rat Roaster? Not only is the model nice, but the photograph is great too.

It has been a couple of years since any companies have released a "Sweep the bench" kit for me. One of our local modelers coined the term a few years back for a kit that is so cool that you run home from the hobby shop and go straight to the workbench. You then use your free hand (The one not tearing the shrink wrap off of the new kit) to sweep the other projects and parts off to the side of the work area so you have a big open space to do the new model. This kit will be one of those kits. Everything else on the workbench will get set aside when this kit gets in my hands. Actually there are two "Sweep the bench" kits coming out this year, as I plan to drop everything the second I get my hands on a Moebius Ford Ranger too!

[Roadrunner]

I'm probably in the minority, but I just don't find the fender-less cars very appealing. I might be tempted to grab one for parts though.

[tim boyd]

Dave....Greg....Don....Bob.....thanks! Yes, the rear tires are from the Rat Roaster, as are the wheels front and rear. The front tires are from the Revell '62 Corvette Gasser.

The backdrop is a photo I took of Lake Michigan from the Bay Harbor Resort south of Petoskey, Michigan. The base is a piece of foamcore that Tom Woodruff painted and detailed and gave to me (THANKS AGAIN. TOM!). The "logs" mask the transition from the "real" background to the "photo" background, and they are simply the dead stems from the Species Daylillies that I grow in my yard during the summer.

I posted an image similar to this one on the H>A>M>B> some time ago, and it fooled several people until they looked closer and figured out it was actually a model car instead of a 1/1. I much prefer to present my finished model cars in a "lifelike" setting like this, but that sentiment doesn't seem to be shared by many others in this hobby (or at least, that's what I'm told).

Dave., I really like your "Sweep the Bench" phrase.

For me, three prior "sweep the bench" kits were the Revell Kurtis Midgets, the Revell '32 Ford Three Window Street Rod kit circa September, 1996, and the original Revell John Buttera '26 T sedan when it first hit the market around 1975. In all three cases, I "swept the bench" and pounded out the new model start to finish without interruption.

I have no doubts that the Revell '29 A Roadster, and just as importantly, whatever Revell follows up with using the same basic tool, will also be "sweep the bench" moments for me, and, it sounds like, for you too.

Best...TB

PS - if any of you need details about the '30 A Highboy build pictured above, send me a PM and I'll link you to a reference with more details.

Edited March 24, 2015 by tim boyd

[keyser]

Awesome build Tim. Norm has such good rod stuff. The roadster and 5w are killer. I agree bench sweeper is great moniker. This kit, the Del Rio, all the deuces, and the midgets.

Norms K-H wires on this will slay.

[wrecker388]

Here's a chopped '30 Model A Five Window Coupe I built last year using the body from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, along with a number of their other parts kits (brakes, suspension, etc.).

Thanks for looking...>TIM

I thought that pic was real at first glance. What a beauty!

[Hayabusa]

That´s one sweet Model A, Tim Love the stance!

[tim boyd]

I found few more shots of the Chopped Five Window Model A Coupe....

Rear 3/4 passenger side view...note the louvered R&M of Md. trunk lid..and Halibrand quick change peeking out from underneath...

Love these low angle shots but maybe I got a bit too carried away on this one...the separate windshield frame on the R&M of Md. body allows you to pose the windshield open, as seen on many Traditional style Model A Coupes....the "camshaft" front frame crossover bar is from the recently reissued AMT Engine Parts Packs...Buick finned brake drums and '40 Ford backing plates are from R&M of Md., the latter wearing Alclad II paint...the "Guide" headlamps are from the latest reissue of the Monogram/Revell '30 Model A Touring/Phaeton kit./..the drilled windshield visor is part of the R&M kit (which also includes a stock, non-drilled visor).

Thanks again for all the feedback on this...TB

[southpier]

beautiful without a doubt and excellent incorporation of parts from a variety of sources. but i must have nodded off for a bit and missed the segue. are any of these components available in the new Revell '29 roadster kit?

[tim boyd]

beautiful without a doubt and excellent incorporation of parts from a variety of sources. but i must have nodded off for a bit and missed the segue. are any of these components available in the new Revell '29 roadster kit?

Excerpts from Post #8 on page 1 of this thread...

" * The wheels and brake drums are highly detailed....with studs on the finned Buick-style brake drums and holes in the wheels for the studs....and the wheels include fine valve stems. Backing plates front and rear are the traditional ’40 Ford style."

" * The suspension is very traditional up front, with a dropped I-Beam (yes!) and split wishbones."

* " And speaking of tires, they're all new tools and appear just about perfect for all our Traditional Hot Rod Builds..."

I think the last couple pages of this thread have been diverging into all the kitbashing opportunities afforded by this new Revell kit...including those featuring the '30 Chopped A Five Window bodies in the aftermarket...(R&M of Md, Jimmy Fllntstone, and R&R VacuumCraft...)

Hope this helps answer your question and explain the latest posts here..../Cheers...TIM .

Edited March 26, 2015 by tim boyd