Bare Metal '32 Ford Highboy Roadster

[Bernard Kron]

Bare Metal ’32 Ford Highboy Roadster

This is a kit-bashed Deuce Highboy featuring a bare steel finish utilizing a technique I developed consisting of a base color coat of silver lacquer metallic paint (Duplicolor Silver Metallic), Kosutte Gin San metalizing powder and Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash. Everything is plastic except the grill shell support struts (.020 piano wire) and the driveshaft (aluminum tubing stained with black wash). Non-steel surfaces are finished in various combinations of Testors Metalizer paints and Molotow Chrome or are kit chrome. The only color besides metallic tones are black rubber and the blue-gray seat belts.

Here are the details of the kits used and the scratch built or modified items:

Revell ‘32 Ford Highboy kit – Chassis rails, front cross member, radiator, grill shell, hood, main body, knock off hub spinners, head and tail lights, license plate frame. Chassis z’d 6 scale inches at rear. Model A cross member and buggy spring from Monogram Model A Ford kits grafted in place. Front suspension from Monogram ’32 Ford Roadster kits.
Revell Stacey David Rat Roaster: Hairpins, Moon tank sides, miscellaneous small parts and steering gear.
Revell/Monogram ’37 Ford Van kit: chassis K-member, exhaust mufflers.
AMT ’53 Ford Pickup kit: 8-carb DeSoto Firedome Hemi V8, shift lever.
AMT Phantom Vicky kit: Halibrand front mag wheels used as rear wheels, dashboard, steering wheel, front spot brakes.
Polar Lights Funny Car kits: front wheels.
Aftermarket parts: Modelhaus T120 front tires, Herb Deeks bias-ply rear truck tires, Halibrand quick change rear suspension, ’40 Ford rear brakes and Schroeder cowl mount sprint car steering by the late Ron Royston at Early Years Resins, louvered rear deck and stock style ’32 Ford firewall by Ed Fluck at Drag City Casting, bomber style seats by Big Donkey Resins.
Scratch built parts: Interior tin work, steering bell crank and tie rod, exhaust system. Chromed Moon tank made from Revell side pieces and AMT ’49 Ford center barrel to avoid a tank seam and preserve kit chrome.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[TooOld]

Sorry I missed the build on this one , just looked at it and your technique for bare metal and the combination of parts and finishes make this an outstanding Highboy Roadster . Excellent job Bernard !

[fordrodnkustom]

Outstanding work Bernard. It looks 1:1 metal. Great choice of parts too. Well done sir!

[jerseydevil]

Great job! The finish looks so realistic you could imagine yourself feeling the bare metal under your finger tips!

[volvo544special65]

Looks authentic to me!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks to you all for the kind words!

I accidentally discovered this technique a few years ago when testing the metalizer powder over various paints. It was being hyped as a chrome finish, something which I failed miserably at achieving. But... by varying the brightness, texture and color of the underlying metallic paint, and how much and how you add and remove the black wash after applying and polishing the metalizer powder you can imitate anything from brushed or polished aluminum to old worn steel. It's definitely worth the time to fool round with it and come up with the look(s) that are appropriate to your project. . If you omit the wash completely it becomes quite difficult to get a proper steel look, and you are more likely going to get an aluminum effect.

Also, I should note that this was a particularly hard subject to photograph successfully. The interior especially tended to act like a black hole and I had to resort to adjusting the exposure of that area during post processing. The color, too, was hard to nail. It tended to be too blue and saturated looking. But the final photos capture the result fairly well.

I'm glad you all enjoyed it,
B.