HotRodaSaurus Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 From the earliest times before styrene some kits were basic shaped Balsa with metal/plastic parts. I just wondered if anyone had ever finished a model from those days. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARS-VINTAGE-GENERAL-MOTORS-LE-SABRE-WOODEN-MODEL-KIT-BY-BERKELEY-MLFP-/201151530834?hash=item2ed590c752:g:FwIAAOSwbqpT7-Fs
High octane Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Probably not, and I forgot about them on purpose. LOL!
SfanGoch Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I once finished a balsa midget racer. It ended up as a test bed for bottle rocket propulsion.
Tom Geiger Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I own this one, but I swear I didn't build it! It is in my old build collection.
Shafter44 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I have 10 or 12 of them in my collection and while some appear easier to build than others I have never seriously considered trying to build one.
BigTallDad Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I have 10 or 12 of them in my collection and while some appear easier to build than others I have never seriously considered trying to build one.If you decide to build one (or more) make sure you have an ample supply of Band-Aids.
Shafter44 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I prefer the paper towel and electrical tape method.
espo Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I built one as a child. It was supposed to represent a '32 Ford roadster. As I recall it was little more than an oblong block of hard wood with a dip in the middle for the interior. The sides that you glued on to the block was made of Balsa wood. The sides covered the back half of the "body" and extended to just past the door opening. You would then sand the leading edge to blend it into the hard wood body. There were two notches in the block on the bottom for the wooden axels. The tires were a very hard rubber like material thru which you could drive a nail to hold them to the axles. As I recall it cost about .15c. A lot has changed since then.
unclescott58 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Pinewood Derby car is as close as I ever came, when I was in Cub Scouts. I never did really finish that car. I remember continuing modifications I made to it over several years.
Art Anderson Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Most of those old solid balsa car model kits were made by Berkley--who started out using very high-grade balsa. But, by the mid-1950's, Berkley cheapened all their product line, using some of the worst grade balsa they seemingly could find. These were solid balsa kits, with cheaply cast white metal detailing for bumper & grilles.Perhaps the best of the non-plastic model car kits of the early years were Hudson Scale Miniatures, 1/16 scale multi-media model car kits, Materials were Strathmore board (a hard fine-grade card stock, with spruce for making up the frames, and injection-molded acetate plastic wheel/tires, radiators and such as headlights. Bits of wire stock were provided for making up windshield frames and the like. All the HSM kits were of horseless-carriage and/or brass era cars.Most today have never heard of, nor seen an HSM kit, but many here in this forum (and other model car message boards) have heard of Oscar Kovaleski Sr & Jr--the founders of the original "Auto World", the model car kit & supply mail order hobby shop. It was Kovaleski Sr. who produced Hudson Scale Miniatures kits.Art
Harry P. Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I have 5-6 Hudson Scale Miniatures kits. Never have gotten around to building one, though. Some day..
Mark Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I've got a couple of the Berkeley kits; one is a Chrysler D-Elegance concept car (designed by Ghia; cover up the grille/headlamp area and it looks like an enlarged Karmann Ghia). The roof/window unit is vacuum formed clear acetate; you're supposed to trim it, fit it to the shaped body, then paint the whole thing with airplane dope while avoiding the windows. You're supposed to finish the interior first, though. The roughly routed-out balsa block Berkeley used isn't the way to go. Another wood kit in my stash is from a company called F-B: their car bodies are built up from pieces of sheet balsa, then shaped. This design would allow for a hollow body, though you can't make it as thin as a plastic one. Berkeley used cast metal trim parts, while F-B kits included a sheet of trim parts that are stamped from an ultra-thick aluminum foil. I can't imagine trying to form a curved bumper from the relatively flat sheet without wrinkling it, let alone cutting the pieces out. Both of these companies used model airplane or toy rubber tires with stamped metal hubcaps. Some of the Berkeley kits provided decals to make the wheel covers (same ones in each kit) look a bit different.Auto World published a small book in the early Sixties, showing the construction of a custom '49 Chevy convertible from balsa and kit parts. It even had opening doors and trunk lid. They provided scale profile views of the Chevy, a '58 Chevy convertible, and a '55 or '56 Ford four-door hardtop (all of which were taken from original promotional models).I did do a 1/25 scale midget racer about thirty years ago, following a Joe Henning article in an old Rod & Custom Models issue. Wood body/frame rails, slot car tires, other parts adapted from kits. Curbside, no engine. Finishing the wood was time-consuming, but I was able to get certain areas (cowl, belly pan, cockpit) relatively thin to match the model in the article. I used the old-school finishing methods (sanding sealer, dope) to get rid of the wood grain and get a smooth finish. A few years ago I did a larger car (static copy of a "thimble-drone" gas powered scale racer) for my older brother. I used more modern epoxy finishing materials on that one, and it came out great in a lot less time than with the sanding sealer. I'm messing around with another project now, and will use the epoxy materials again on it.
Snake45 Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 My Dad as a teenager and college student built some stunning wood airplane models. Unfortunately they got lost in a house fire in the '60s.I've never done one. But I did do a couple scratchbuilt balsawood HO slot bodies when I was a kid. One was a '55 Chevy that didn't come out half bad. I also did a balsa master of a '69 Nova, vacformed it, and painted it like Jungle Jim's funnycar.
Art Anderson Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 I have 5-6 Hudson Scale Miniatures kits. Never have gotten around to building one, though. Some day.. I've had the HSM Locomobile "Old 16" Vanderbilt Cup Winner kit for a good 50 yrs--one of these days! Art
Art Anderson Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 Scientific Models (Known years ago for their wooden sailing ship model kits) put out a 1/16 scale kit of a 1909 Maxwell Roadster that was well done, all the wood parts were a mix of either thin birch aircraft plywood, or every nicely milled spruce parts, with--get--this, a real brass radiator (in kit form, to be soldered up).Art
HotRodaSaurus Posted October 24, 2015 Author Posted October 24, 2015 Some great memories here, thanks. Thought I may have a go and scratch build something out of balsa one day, though it would have to be something simple like a 1960s slab sided family car. Maybe something I could use a kit as a base such as an AMT 66 Galaxy? Oh well, something to ponder J
Jairus Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 (edited) Very interesting that this should come up now. I tried hard to get interest in our Balsa wood proxy couple years ago and very few bothered to comment. The thread is down in the Slot Car section where all entrants hand carved from drawings balsa wood racers. Even tho they were only slot cars, most of them demonstrated higher quality details than many static models built today here on this very forum.Here are a few pictures of my entry if anyone is interested. And all the entries on the starting grid. Two three were from France, four from the states and one from Switzerland. Edited October 24, 2015 by Jairus
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 I've had the HSM Locomobile "Old 16" Vanderbilt Cup Winner kit for a good 50 yrs... Hey... no hurry! Right, Art? I bought my HSM kits in one single ebay spree several years ago, but for some reason I keep passing them over when it comes time for my next project. I really ought to try one. It would be a good test of my skills.
russosborne Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Not a kit, but one of the model mags from the mid or later 60's had a two or three part article on how to build a balsa dragster.I was only 7 or 8 at the time and it was way beyond me to even try. Wish I could find the magazine now, not sure I could do it even now but it would be great to reread the article. It always fascinated me.Russ
Snake45 Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Not a kit, but one of the model mags from the mid or later 60's had a two or three part article on how to build a balsa dragster.I was only 7 or 8 at the time and it was way beyond me to even try. Wish I could find the magazine now, not sure I could do it even now but it would be great to reread the article. It always fascinated me.RussI think that article might have been reprinted in the Car Model magazine annual from around 1965 or 66.
Jairus Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 You don't need a kit to get started. Car drawings are out on the Internet. Just down load and size it correctly. Then you just need some tools and beer!
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