Post by Bernard Kron on May 21, 2020 18:18:12 GMT -5
’29 Ford Highboy Roadster With Original “As-Found” Patina
A popular trend among today’s Traditional hot rod enthusiasts is to find a genuine 40’s or 50’s hot rod and restore it to a safe and roadworthy condition while leaving intact as much of the old oxidized paint, road wear and surface corrosion as safety and good sense will allow. This is quite different than the “rat rod” movement where additional rust, perforation and decrepitude is added to the car or in fact invented where none existed. Modeling in scale to create a believable “as-found” patina shares much with military modelers who use many of the same techniques to do this. In this case I stumbled on some cheap black spray paint at my local auto supply store (Brite Touch Gloss Black in the aerosol can). I’m a sucker for cheap paints and was hoping to find a bargain-basement high quality lacquer. Such was not the case, and the paint dried with a subtle but noticeable light orange peel. Sanding it smooth still left a slight dull surface variation. It failed as a proper color coat but formed the basis for a truly believable old, worn, paint job.
I decided to build a model around this happy accident using the recent (and now just re-issued) Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kit as the basis. The style is that of a classic mid-50’s street rod. The kit was extensively modified to correct its sky-high stance and modern rear suspension. I also swapped out the very-nice, but far too deluxe, multi-carb Buick Nailhead for a stock appearing and mildly warmed over Oldsmobile Rocket V8. The details are listed below.
Base kit: Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kit, highboy version. Stock body and interior.
Suspension modifications: Kit front suspension lowered by shaving the front spring and reversing the front cross member. Kit coil-spring suspension removed rear crossmember and transverse leaf spring from Revellogram ’37 Ford truck installed. Kit Ford 9” rear axle retained with scratch built lever shocks and scratch built location arms.
Motor and transmission: Stock Oldsmobile Rocket V8 from Revell 1950 stock 2-door coupe kit with high performance exhaust manifolds from the Custom variant of that kit. 4-barrel carb from Revell 1/25th scale Deuce kits. Resin Oldsmobile “batwing” oil-bath air cleaner courtesy of Action Modeler (eBay vendor: action-shopper).
Wheels and tires: 15” Front wheels from AMT ’40 For with Modelhaus 120A tires. 16” Wheels and Lincoln rear tires courtesy of Ed Fluck at Drag City casting, mastered by Dennis Lacy.
Miscellaneous modifications: Revellogram ’30 Ford steering wheel. ‘32 Ford grill from Revell 1/25th scale Deuce kits.
Paint and finishing: Brite Touch gloss black lacquer over Brite Touch red oxide primer and Duplicolor gray primer sealer. Black lacquer wet sanded with 1000 grit, then 2000 grit, sandpapers. Then detailed with rust red and light gray weathering powders. Interior finished in Testors Acryl British Crimson and Light Tan brush paints.
Thanx for lookin’,
B.
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