1960’s Traditional Blown ‘23 T Bucket UPDATE 10/31/22

[Dennis Lacy]

It’s been on my mind for a while now to build a proper mid-60’s traditional ‘23 T Bucket. Basically ever since I picked up one of the many reissues of the old Monogram - now Revell kit for the first time EVER last year. Yeah, hard to believe I’ve never had one of these kits! Then again, it’s only fairly recently that I’ve taken any interest in T Buckets. I thought forever that they were dumb but then I saw a few pictures of some done just right and realize how cool they can be. 
 

For what it’s worth, I started with this issue:

 

The first thing was to come up with a plan. All the recent issues of the kit suffer from 70’s era “updates” which don’t do the car any favors. Here’s a rough mock up with the front wheels and tires from the recent Atlantis (former Revell) Mooneyes dragster along with rear mags and slicks from Monogram’s Boothill Express show rod. The kit small block Chevy has the blower from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster precariously stacked on top. 
 

 

One of the things I don’t care for in this kit (regardless of issue) is the front axle set up, specifically because of how ridiculously WIDE it is due to the spindle design. I thought the car would look much better with the track width narrowed. I trimmed out the original front frame area and fit the tube cross member with bitchin perch detail from the extra frame in the Mooneyes dragster. The dropped front axle and split wishbones are from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster. The molded brackets were cut off from the ends of the wishbones, .040” pins inserted and then some simple tabs added to the bottom of the frame rails.
 

 

Now for everyone’s favorite part of scale hot rod building, the motor! The kit comes with a small block Chevy which is good with me so I kept the block, trans and heads as a foundation. The molded timing cover/water pump lump got cut off and replaced with the finned cover/pump and belt drive from the Revell ‘29 Roadster. Also from the ‘29 Roadster is the complete 6-71 blower set up. Mickey Thompson valve covers of unknown origin with separate breathers added top off the heads. Shotgun dragster headers from AMT’s Chevy parts pack engine handle the exhaust while the magneto is from the AMT old tool ‘57 Chevy optional 409.

 

The kit already has a quick change axle with split wishbones and early Ford brake plates so I will use all that as is with one tiny modification which was to shorten the tabs on the spring to suck it down against the axle to lower the back just a bit.

Got the basic chassis rolling on all 4 tires. Thankfully there was plenty of room for the blower drive behind the radiator! 
 

And here’s a full mock up with body in place. I’m quite happy with the stance and proportions. I think it looks like a traditional T Bucket should before they got weird with lanterns and other paraphernalia hung on them. 

That’s all for now. Next I’ll be fitting a steering box and building linkage along with sorting out some other details like dashboard, lights, license plate, etc. 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Dennis Lacy

[larman]

Looks great! Your builds are always very inspiring! The stance is perfect and the swapped parts are dead on!  I am not a fan of T-buckets either, but this one is definitely cool!

[OldNYJim]

Awesome!!  I’d been looking forward to seeing another hot rod project of yours!  

Excited to read about the Deuce build in the mag when that comes out too!

Question about the leaf spring arrangement on the rear end - was mounting the spring directly on top of the axle like that a relatively common thing, back in the day?  It never occurred to me to mount one like that as opposed to having it behind the axle, but I love how it looks!

[Dennis Lacy]

59 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

Question about the leaf spring arrangement on the rear end - was mounting the spring directly on top of the axle like that a relatively common thing, back in the day?  It never occurred to me to mount one like that as opposed to having it behind the axle, but I love how it looks!

Thanks! I’ve been needing to get back to hot rods. Not that my streak on newer cars is over. I very much intend to finish the ‘90 Mustang and ‘65 Nova. Just needed a simpler project as a breather. 

As for the rear spring over the axle, that’s how all Model T’s and A’s were arranged from the factory. Common practice in hot rods since the beginning, too. It’s also fairy common to put the spring ahead of the axle. All depends on packaging constraints but you will get the best right quality with the spring behind. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Dennis Lacy

[Spex84]

Wicked. It has a clean 1965-ish look. Not every T had cowl lamps and freakish upholstery! You make kitbashing look easy as pie ?

[bill-e-boy]

Looking good - would be a handfull in real life and you would be forever replacing broken axles and lunched gear boxes. LOL 

[cobraman]

I like T Buckets and it looks like this will be a cool one !

[Mr. Metallic]

Dennis is back to building a traditional hot rod...

[Kit Karson]

Almost what I had imagined, but far more than my pee pickin' mind could have pulled together, Brother!  First, who'd a thunk the 1/24 T Roadster could be hopped up with better options!?.  Second, ADL you have a style!!  Your builds have a certain flavor and the stance of each complements the vintage being represented.  Very well thought out and hanging on every stroke of paint and finish!!!

-KK

[Dennis Lacy]

On 8/8/2022 at 10:29 PM, Spex84 said:

Wicked. It has a clean 1965-ish look. Not every T had cowl lamps and freakish upholstery! You make kitbashing look easy as pie ?

That’s the target year. The later into the 60’s you go things get goofy. 
 

On 8/9/2022 at 3:14 AM, bill-e-boy said:

Looking good - would be a handfull in real life and you would be forever replacing broken axles and lunched gear boxes. LOL 

That’s exactly what many people did back then. I don’t think they cared because the parts were easy to come by. 

[slusher]

A fresh new project getting ready for fall and always got me excited about building when I was still working..

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

A little more work on the T Bucket. 
 

Added a slightly modified Revell ‘40 Ford steering gear box and a pitman arm of unknown origin. I will wait to build a drag link rod up to the front axle until after the chassis is final assembled. 
 

Changed the steering wheel to a Cragar 3-spoke from the old Monogram ‘32 Roadster. 
 

Decided to glue the bed to the cab and I’ll fill the seam. Many of the full scale buckets had the bed molded to the cab wether made from original steel or fiberglass. Inside the bed I added a heavy reinforcement strip and a smaller one on the underside. 
 

Did other busy work like smooth out the underside of the interior tub (unused alignment posts, copyright, etc), smoothing the frame rails and knocking down all their sharp corners and various other clean up. Here’s some mock ups with the latest work which looks much more tight and fitted to my eyes than previous. 
 

Time to knock it down and put *some* of the chrome in the stripper (yes, I’m actually going to leave some plating on this one!) and do final prep on the rest. 

 

[Limeyglue]

That looks fantastic. Can't wait to see it in paint 

[Calb56]

On 8/7/2022 at 9:31 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

It’s been on my mind for a while now to build a proper mid-60’s traditional ‘23 T Bucket. Basically ever since I picked up one of the many reissues of the old Monogram - now Revell kit for the first time EVER last year. Yeah, hard to believe I’ve never had one of these kits! Then again, it’s only fairly recently that I’ve taken any interest in T Buckets. I thought forever that they were dumb but then I saw a few pictures of some done just right and realize how cool they can be. 
 

For what it’s worth, I started with this issue:

 

The first thing was to come up with a plan. All the recent issues of the kit suffer from 70’s era “updates” which don’t do the car any favors. Here’s a rough mock up with the front wheels and tires from the recent Atlantis (former Revell) Mooneyes dragster along with rear mags and slicks from Monogram’s Boothill Express show rod. The kit small block Chevy has the blower from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster precariously stacked on top. 
 

 

One of the things I don’t care for in this kit (regardless of issue) is the front axle set up, specifically because of how ridiculously WIDE it is due to the spindle design. I thought the car would look much better with the track width narrowed. I trimmed out the original front frame area and fit the tube cross member with bitchin perch detail from the extra frame in the Mooneyes dragster. The dropped front axle and split wishbones are from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster. The molded brackets were cut off from the ends of the wishbones, .040” pins inserted and then some simple tabs added to the bottom of the frame rails.
 

 

Now for everyone’s favorite part of scale hot rod building, the motor! The kit comes with a small block Chevy which is good with me so I kept the block, trans and heads as a foundation. The molded timing cover/water pump lump got cut off and replaced with the finned cover/pump and belt drive from the Revell ‘29 Roadster. Also from the ‘29 Roadster is the complete 6-71 blower set up. Mickey Thompson valve covers of unknown origin with separate breathers added top off the heads. Shotgun dragster headers from AMT’s Chevy parts pack engine handle the exhaust while the magneto is from the AMT old tool ‘57 Chevy optional 409.

 

The kit already has a quick change axle with split wishbones and early Ford brake plates so I will use all that as is with one tiny modification which was to shorten the tabs on the spring to suck it down against the axle to lower the back just a bit.

Got the basic chassis rolling on all 4 tires. Thankfully there was plenty of room for the blower drive behind the radiator! 
 

And here’s a full mock up with body in place. I’m quite happy with the stance and proportions. I think it looks like a traditional T Bucket should before they got weird with lanterns and other paraphernalia hung on them. 

That’s all for now. Next I’ll be fitting a steering box and building linkage along with sorting out some other details like dashboard, lights, license plate, etc. 

 

I think you already have the Era down pat with the ICEE cup in the background. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Absolutely perfect proportions and stance. You're pretty good at this.   

[Hoffman]

Dennis, I really like what you've done with this kit, all the improvements you've made, and sticking to your build theme. Have you decided on the slicks, whether to paint the inserts black or white? Very cool build, looking forward to the finished piece. Check out Dave Darby's T too. It's cool! Better hurry, he's got a 20 year head start on you, and he's ahead at this point! ?

[OldNYJim]

11 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Absolutely perfect proportions and stance. You're pretty good at this.   

He should try building real ones!  He might be good at that too! ?

[Dennis Lacy]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Absolutely perfect proportions and stance. You're pretty good at this.   

 

1 hour ago, CabDriver said:

He should try building real ones!  He might be good at that too! ?

Now there’s an idea! Maybe I should give it a try? ?

[Dennis Lacy]

9 hours ago, Hoffman said:

Dennis, I really like what you've done with this kit, all the improvements you've made, and sticking to your build theme. Have you decided on the slicks, whether to paint the inserts black or white? Very cool build, looking forward to the finished piece. Check out Dave Darby's T too. It's cool! Better hurry, he's got a 20 year head start on you, and he's ahead at this point! ?

Thanks! The slicks will definitely be black wall. I did see @Dave Darby Ivo tribute T. Very cool!

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Here's another entry I missed earlier, although I have been being kept up-to-date via text. I like it! I like it so much ADL inspired me to try my hand at a Fad-T. I'll have to get in the game and start a thread myself.... -RRR

[Jantrix]

This is looking good! I'll be following.

[Zippi]

That is shaping up to be a fine looking Hot Rod.  Looking good ?

[bobthehobbyguy]

Impressive start. Looks great.

[Kit Karson]

How 'bout we start building T's for the everyday rodder!  Turnkey & Boxed Ready to Deliver! -KK

[tim boyd]

Dennis....just discovered what you and the other guys are up to with this Fad T approach.  Needless to say, count me in as a strong cheerleader on this!   TB