32 Victoria hot rod completed

[EchoBravoSierra]

First model I've completed in a long time.  First one in even longer that wasn't a classic AMT kit thrown together in a matter of hours or days.  It uses a good percentage of two kits.  It has no pedals, no brake master cylinder, no gas tank, no battery, no fuel lines, no throttle linkage...  The taillights ended up in the wrong spots.  I hand painted things I should have masked and airbrushed, and it shows.  Lots of other ham-fisted finishing technique... When I build the next Revell Model A kit, it should go together more easily after learning some things on this one.

It does manage to capture the look I was going for, is a little shiny, and all four tires basically touch the ground.

I was really dreading gluing the grille shell on, and imagined a gluey mess with it repeatedly sliding out of place, or a permanently attached crooked eyesore.  I used a little bit of piano wire and drilled a couple of holes to locate the support rod, did a bunch of test fitting and finally got the lower radiator hose trimmed to fit, and the grille shell went right on fairly easily.  I can see it's a smidge off center with the headlights installed.  That windshield trim wouldn't tuck up into the top driver's corner of the body like it was supposed to, and I had to use a strip of styrene between the body and the little skirt molded into the glass to make it fit tighter so the windshield chrome would have support to keep it from sagging down. I don't like how Revell attached the headlight buckets to the sprue in the Model A kit- it leaves a very visible spot on the top of the headlight bucket.  I cut the AMT buckets from the stock headlight mounting bar.  They have the same scarring but on the bottom where it can't be seen when they're mounted.  I drilled a couple of holes and there they are. 

I still need to print a license plate and intend to make a little bracket to mount it at the bottom edge of the body in the center.  I think I have several in the case that lack license plates...  It will get a 1932 Texas plate to represent a car that exists today running a year of manufacture plate since it has the modern automatic overdrive transmission.  Otherwise I'd say it has a solid sixties feel, except maybe for the pie crust slicks.

[falconwagon]

Nice

[flatout]

Nice kitbash Eric…lots of little details stand out on this. Very
cool little Hot Rod!

[Richard]

Looks really cool.

[lo51merc]

Vicky's on parade, and another nice one it is.
Gary

[skip]

Eric, Swell take on an "oldie but real goody!"
This one sits just right, has the right blend of '60s oomph to make it a real loud bad boys toy!
Color choice is great, it put it right smack dab in the '60s, as does the "up grades" from the
Revell Deuce Chassis. All of those old AMT Deuces are a great starting point for a proper Hot
Rod, especially when there is a Nailhead Buick leading the charge! I like it!

[EchoBravoSierra]

Thanks, guys!

Re-reading this, I feel like the first post of this thread should've been the last post of the build thread. To button this one up, here's the rundown of what's what:

AMT 32 Ford Victoria (Iron Lady molded in silver issue):
body, grille and grille shell (sectioned), interior tub (floor cut out), seats, dash, steering wheel, windshield trim, glass, gas cap, door handles, headlights (removed from bar), wheel backs (centers cut out).

Revell Model A roadster:
32 frame, all suspension and axles, brakes, all engine, exhaust, steering box and column, shifter, floor pan (cut and modified).

Revel 32 Ford:
fan

AMT parts pack slicks. AMT/Lindberg 34 Ford truck front tires.

Resin:
slot wheels (Drag City Casting), gauges (home copied from forgotten source), club plaque (home copied from forgotten source), taillights (home copied from forgotten source)

Scratch:
piano wire radiator support, aluminum tubing distributor and coil, wire wrap ignition wires, scrap plastic firewall, modified front crossmember.

Paint:
Duplicolor dark gray primer
Testors One Coat Lacquer Inca Gold
Floquil Railroad Colors enamel Wisconsin Central Maroon
Tamiya gloss black
Tamiya Mica Red
various Vallejo Model Air colors, Tamiya flat black, Molotow pen, Testors Create FX wood stain, and good ol' Testors stop light red.

[Mr. Metallic]

Very cool build. Great stance.

[sharp]

That's a cool lookin' Hot Rod!!

[Mr409]

Very cool model of a body style that we don't see done very often. Very nice job kitbashing the best pieces from different kits into one. I really like the stance and overall look of this thing, and the Nailhead with six carbs on top is a perfect choice for power.

[ChrisV]

Inspiring mix of old and new parts!

The sectioned grille shell looks great. I took it for one of Ed's (Drag City Casting) old "Milner's Coupé" grilles.

I believe that the taillights are based on the roof lights from AMT's 1953 Ford F100 Pickup. Depending on how you tint them, they resemble old Porsche 356 taillights.

[EchoBravoSierra]

Thanks, Niko and Chris.

Chris, you're probably right on the lights. I've (mostly unsuccessfully) dabbled in trying to copy some parts in resin for myself, and made one open faced mold with a bunch of little parts like those lights, carburetors, gauges, toolboxes, etc, the idea being that if I was casting something else in a bigger mold, I could use any excess resin for the little parts and not waste much. Anyway, that's where those lights came from.

[superflekmoonbird]

Well done! I have one of those old kits, this inspires me to try one.

[EchoBravoSierra]

Thanks, Jim. I'm sure yours will turn out nice!