ACE Balsa wood hot rod kits

[alan barton]

HI folks, hoping some one may be able to help me with a project.

  As well as building plastic models, I collect toy hot rods of every size, shape and material imaginable but I haven't been able to track down an Ace balsa wood kit.  Just for giggles I want to construct a replica of an Ace T-Rod.  I found a set of plans off the net but there are no dimensions as the blocks of balsa were already pre-cut in the kit.  Does anyone have one in their collection that you could measure and give me the length, width and height of the body from?  I can scale it up from these dimensions. The diameter of the tyres would be helpful as well.

Cheers

Alan

[Mark]

Wish I could help, but in occasional checking of "wooden" car kits on eBay over the years, I haven't seen more than a couple of Ace kits.  Most were Jeepsters.  I've got a couple of Berkeley car kits, a couple of F-B car kits, and even a Megow cardstock/wood Jeep that was manufactured during WWII.  No Ace kits though.  Keep looking though, an instruction sheet could turn up.

[espo]

Interesting subject. The first "model" I ever built as a child was from a wooden kit of this very type of construction. The kit cost about 10 cents a very long time ago. 

[Oldcarfan27]

That reminds me of the "build and take it" kits they have at Home Depot for the parents to teach their kids how to make things with simple hand tools.

[alan barton]

Thanks guys, yep, they are very simple beasts but a great memory of the origins of our hobby.  The box art is fantastic but for now, I would be happy to simply create a replica of this style of model to be representative of where it all started. 

I have a beautiful old English kit of a Maserati F1 and it came with pressed paper louvres to be glued on to the hood.  How cool is that?  The original builder started carving the shape of the nose onto the body block ( a firmer wood than balsa) before giving up. It also came with rubber tyres on aluminium wheels with clear plastic spoke inserts and foil grille detail. The instructions are printed on incredibly delicate tissue paper.

This morning I did find an image of the instructions for an ACE A-V8 and it mentioned that the scale was 3/4 inch to the foot which is 1/16th scale so I might just use that to establish my sizes.  Still, if anyone has an original that could be measured for me, I would love to hear from you!

Cheers

Alan

[espo]

Since this is really nothing much more than a block of wood and some glued on side pieces for sanding and shaping, why not just get a block of wood, cutout the general shape you're wanting. Then get some softer thin wood strips to glue to the sides and start sanding ? 

[alan barton]

You've got it Dave - that's exactly what I am planning. My intent in chasing up approximate dimensions was to get it as close to the size of the original model as possible.  Obviously, with people carving their own shape from the given block, they would never have all been the same size anyway - I am guessing that most of them would have come out undersized due to a few errors along the way and the vagueness of carving balsa - it is hardly a precise material, nor forgiving!

Thanks for thinking of me!

Cheers

Alan

[Mark]

The instruction sheet, or a full-size copy, would be neat to have.  It would dictate the sizes and shapes of the blocks and sheet material needed to remake the kit.  The wheel/tire units and steering wheel were probably bought from another company, or maybe farmed out to a supplier.

The Ace and F-B car kits are made up of sheets and blocks, gluing them together would make the completed "block" more resistant to warpage.  The bumpers and trim parts in the F-B kits are all stamped into a sheet of thick aluminum foil.  I'd like to see someone cut those parts out with a pocket knife.  A plastic steering wheel is also included.

The Berkeley car kits consisted of a single block milled to a rough shape, making it tougher to shape some areas because the grain of the wood isn't always going in the preferred direction.  Trim parts in the Berkeley kits are cast soft metal.  The Chrysler D-Elegance concept car has a roof/window unit vacuformed in clear acetate.  The builder is supposed to finish off the interior, then mold in the roof and paint around the windows.  Tires in all of these kits are probably off-the-shelf hobby items, maybe the same ones used for some airplane kit or toy.

Believe it or not, one partial F-B kit I have (Chrysler Imperial) is pretty close to 1/25 scale.  The proportions of the model, as built according to the instructions, would be pretty accurate. 

These companies offered a number of cars never offered in "mainstream styrene", like a Packard Caribbean, Buick LeSabre and Chrysler D-Elegance concepts, and other interesting cars.

[Mark Robison]

Late to the topic but can help with info on Ace Model of Merit kits.

Image shows models add for there kits.. starting with Ace Pick-up kit R1

Next in line would have been the Jalopy kit R2 then the T Rod kit R3.

Most of the instruction sheets drawings are to scale with the model size.

The wheel types do change on the different kits as well.. however the Pick- up, 

Jalopy and T Rod kits use the same wheel type 1 1/4" in diameter.

The Finished T rod car would be about 5 3/4" long and 3in wide.

A good place to find wheels as close to a match of the ACE model wheels that i know of.

Are out of vintage pinewood derby car kits.

https://www.pinewoodpro.com/vintage-wheel-and-axle-set.html

The next PWD kit type that matches the screws for axles.

https://www.pinewoodderbycars.com/Pinewood-Derby-Cars-s/31.htm

A few pics of some Ace Model of Merit kits I have collected. 

Ace jalopy cars.

 

Most mistake the Ace Model of Merit cars as Pinewood Derby cars.

Like this image seen in the National Pinewood Derby Museum and Pinewood Derby Hall of Fame.https://www.pinewoodpro.com/mm5/5.00/merchant.mvc?Screen=CONTENT&store_code=PinewoodDerbyCar&scotsblogger_slug=pinewood-derby-museum

The 2 cars seen in top left of the display that pre date the Pinewood Derby One of them is an Ace Models car.. The Blue car looks like the  Ace T-Rod kit no.3  in fact if you in large the pic you will see T-rod painted on the trunk plus see the #3 decals on the car.

Edited August 17, 2024 by Mark Robison
forgot one image of add

[Mark Robison]

According to this web site the T-rod kit  release date is 1951.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/ace-products-company-3r-t-rod--1148455

So it fits with in the time frame of 1952 in the last image with the Pinewood Derby cars that date to 1953 for the first race and 1954 & 1955 for the LA parks and recreation Pinewood Derby Races.

Some images of the Jalopy kit. and the T-Rod kit. 

Edited August 18, 2024 by Mark Robison
more info found on kit in question

[Mark Robison]

Image of the Ace pick- up kit 1R.. and Dirt track racer kit 4-R

Thought id share these  kits with you all as well.

The Midget 5R kit.

And the large Midget kit 10R scale 1 in to 1 ft.

The Jaguar kit 25R.

The Sport Roadster kit 146 scale 1/2 in to 1 ft.

And the 1954 Corvette kit 30R.

 

Any how hope you enjoy building or collecting these vintage balsa Ace Model of Merit kits.

Edited August 24, 2024 by Mark Robison
more kit images

[Mark Robison]

There were 2 jeep kits in his line up for kits.. the civilian jeep kit no. 246

and then the U.S Army jeep kit no. 242 ( same kit just did not have wooden bed rails on the  Army jeep!)

Plus the JEEPSTER kit no. 7r

I've been told that..

Out of all the car/truck model kits in Gordan A. Babb's line up

that he sold more jeep kits over the years then all the rest of the kits.

  

 

[Mark]

Not surprising, really...the Jeep was created in anticipation of something like it being needed for the war.  From all accounts I have read, it did everything expected of it, and then some. 

The kids at home wanted models representing the planes, ships, tanks, and wheeled vehicles that they were hearing and reading about...and there were more Jeeps than anything else.  More soldiers came into contact with them than any other vehicle, so they were the most talked about and written about.

[Don Sikora II]

I have these two kits and an empty box from the Jeepster. A previous owner tried to restore the color to the Midget box with not very good results.

 

 

[Mark Robison]

On 9/5/2024 at 8:15 PM, Mark said:

Not surprising, really...the Jeep was created in anticipation of something like it being needed for the war.  From all accounts I have read, it did everything expected of it, and then some. 

The kids at home wanted models representing the planes, ships, tanks, and wheeled vehicles that they were hearing and reading about...and there were more Jeeps than anything else.  More soldiers came into contact with them than any other vehicle, so they were the most talked about and written about.

Yeah i know.. WWII lasted six years September 1,1939 - September 2,1945

speaking of models the kids wanted back then.. ( like tanks.)

ACE also had a tank kit called General Shermans U.S Army M 4 Tank kit # 544.

picked one up off of E-bay along with the English MG kit.

 

 

  

Edited September 7, 2024 by Mark Robison

[Mark Robison]

Don did your Midget Kit have the red bake light wheels in the kit or the black wheels?

I've seen these kits with both wheel styles in red or black.

[terry54999]

I only have one, but it's the coolest one.  🙂