The HACK Widow

[OldNYJim]

I picked up a bunch of Monogram Black Widow parts on eBay a while back to piece together a nice stock build, plus a detailed-up version:

I’ve got some little background projects to do on that (I want to redraw the original decals and improve on them a little, for example, and source a couple of pieces) but in the meantime I started daydreaming about a much more extreme version using the same parts, loosely.  Just how low and mean and extreme looking of a hot rod can I make by hacking up the worst parts in my Black Widow parts stash?

Quick mockup of some key components:

I’m actually thinking a longer wheelbase and even LOWER if I can make it mechanically feasible, but I’m getting ahead of myself in the story here…

First up, selected the worst body of the bunch…it’s actually not bad, but has some glueblobbery and made a mess of my photo booth:

A wash in my ultrasonic cleaner followed by some cleanup and we have a less smelly and dirty starting point:

Still needs a little work but good enough to get rolling…as you can probably see I removed the bed too so I can drop the body nice and low and get a heavily zee-d frame up in there.

Something like this probably:

Lots to do on the frame obviously, and I suspect that lazy laid-back zee wouldn’t be idea in a real world scenario with the angles, but it DOES allow the body to drop right in place and retain the kit bench seat:

As you can see, I’ve printed a coupla three parts…the kit engine (complete with no transmission) wasn’t going to fly, so I printed a fresh new resin Small Block and tranny:

And fabricated some simple motor mounts to lock it in place:

Plus, referencing the kit design, a front axle with dropped spring:

And something for the rear - not totally set on using the Quickchange but it’s ok for mock-ups anyway…

Maybe a tri-5 Chevy axle would work well?  Fits the time period…

Only just getting going on this one so plenty of scratchbuilding and kitbashing and hacking to come…more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Edited October 30, 2023 by CabDriver

[Zippi]

Nice little grab off the ole fleabay market.  Going to be some pretty kewl looking projects.  I like the mods going on.  

[ColonelKrypton]

very good start to what promises to be a very cool project.

cheers, Graham

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool project. Some interesting ideas.

[espo]

Another consideration for getting the front end lower if that is still in your plan. Find some tires that are a smaller diameter than the rears. The unique tread pattern may make that difficult.  

[NOBLNG]

I’m liking this!?

[slusher]

On 10/30/2023 at 10:20 AM, bobthehobbyguy said:

Cool project. Some interesting ideas.

 

On 10/31/2023 at 6:39 AM, NOBLNG said:

I’m liking this!?

Totally agree!

[OldNYJim]

Thanks fellas!

On 10/30/2023 at 12:54 PM, espo said:

Another consideration for getting the front end lower if that is still in your plan. Find some tires that are a smaller diameter than the rears. The unique tread pattern may make that difficult.  

You’re right…I have a plan…
 

I had a super productive week on this thing - been working mostly on getting the frame figured out and finding stuff to attach to it…

First up, modifying the frame…I tacked it together with that angled zee originally but I was always going to need something more upright to be able to get the seat position and interior how I wanted.  Also started roughing in a scratchbuilt grille…

Going with a 3d printed drilled Deuce axle, leaf spring and some parts box linkages on the front end…I’ve left myself some wiggle room to shim the axle downwards a little if I need more ride height…

As you can see, also added some parts-box T headlamps…I wanted to use a curved mount like the Black Widow has but I was running out of space…

Rear end is a Revell 9” with a parts box leaf spring and linkages:

Those parts-box shocks will get upgraded somewhat, but they fit right in there like they were meant to be…

On the subject of tires, as @espo mentioned the tread pattern on this old 60s tooling is pretty distinctive, but luckily it’s also about a perfect match for the front tires in Revell’s 29/30 kits from a few years back…I like the big oversize look of the rears but the fronts were a little overpowering for the long-low proportions I had in mind for this build so I switched them out:

I needed some backers for those wheels - some spares from the Monogram Badman fit almost perfectly…just a little loose, so I ran some styrene strip around the rim, trued them on my lathe and then added a little round tube to the centers to get them to fit my 3D printed front axle:

Meanwhile, I don’t have the heart to chop up original 1960 plastic to make the kit seat work, but the one in the aforementioned Revell A kit is very close in design and looks and will drop right in:

 Front end will run disk brakes - printed some nice in-scale drilled disks that have separate calipers:

As you can see, I also printed some finned drums for the rear, but haven’t figured out rear wheel mounting quite yet so no on-it’s-wheels mock-up…but here’s a quick one from my bench as I wrapped up for the evening tonight:

Can’t wait figure out the rear axle so I can get it on its wheels - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!  Thanks for looking!

Edited November 6, 2023 by CabDriver

[Mr. Metallic]

Back in the thread where you were asking about these i was really hoping you would do something like this, and a couple weeks later here we are. So cool.

[FLHCAHZ]

 

Nice skills!  Looking clean

[Earl Marischal]

This I like.

Lovely kit to start with.

I built this one over 40 years ago.

steve

[OldNYJim]

Thanks fellas!  Nice build Earl…I’m planning a box-stock version too!

 

Some more progress…

Printed some adapters / wheelbacks to get the rear wheels mounted:

And finally got this thing up on all fours:

Still playing with ride height, but it’s nice to see it not on blocks so I can start tweaking the stance…

In case anyone is curious, a Revell 32 Ford firewall fits this curve of the cowl GREAT - just needed to slice off some material on the bottom edge and we have a firewall:

I don't need all that set-back though, so I smoothed it over:

As you can see, found some parts box valve covers that were more interesting than what I had printed…no idea what they’re really for, but they were a perfect fit!

Read a great thread on The HAMB about interesting small radiator options - people have used all kinds of rads from forklifts, old tractors, compact cars and so on…I decided that sounded interesting to me so I found a 1:1 sprint car sidepod radiator I liked and printed an approximation:

Not that it’ll be very visible anyway…

Next fabrication job was a floor…a good source of transtunnel material is dollar store party noisemakers - whatever these things are called:

Not done yet, but started building that to figure out pedal placement and so on…

Next up, some more printing - I wanted a 3x1 intake setup like the original Black Widow so I printed one today:

Plus some header options - looks like the short ones are going to work best:

Mocked up:

My measurements were sound and they clear the steering link on the other side ok too:

And that’s about where I am so far…plenty of fab to do before I’m ready to start laying down paint, but it’s getting closer!  Thanks for looking - more soon!

Edited November 12, 2023 by CabDriver

[bobthehobbyguy]

Wow. Coming along nicely. Great idea for the transmission cover. Great fab work.

[chris chabre]

sweet! I plan to build something similar with some of my spares!

 

Your carbs are backwards though on your mock up just in case you didnt know

[OldNYJim]

5 hours ago, chris chabre said:

Your carbs are backwards though on your mock up just in case you didnt know

Yep, that sounds like something I’d do ?. Thanks for the heads up (I would’ve looked at a reference pic eventually and worked it out, hopefully…)

A little more this past few days…printed some tiny hand grenades…

…to make a shift knob:

Didn’t quite get this one drilled perfectly (they’re small and hard to hold) but I printed about 50 of the things so I’ll figure it out ?

The seat back sat a little high for my liking so I chopped a couple of inches out of it:

And as you can see I found a windshield that will work (flipped a Revell Deuce roadster part backwards and reshaped it a little:

Some hot rod builds like a very careful curation of parts to meet a specific vision - and some are awesome because they have a bunch of stuff that happened to fit ok, sometimes used wrong, but still end up looking cool anyway.  That’s what I’m going for on this one - less designing parts, more parts-box digging.  

Tried a few dashes before finding that a Model A dash from the current Revell kit fits pretty well, long as I don’t mind running the steering shaft right through the dash.  Luckily, I didn’t mind that and it’s the kind of slightly-messed-up funky engineering I wanted this thing to have, so that’s another part mostly figured out:

Sprint car steering wheel is from the same source - I love these wheels and have to make an effort not to put them on everything…

Side note: The interior floor is sitting a little high in this mock-up, but there would be room for Lefty’s legs if he wanted to drive it, promise…

Oh, and I got a vintage Bomber oxygen tank printed as a gas tank, plus a period correct Autolite battery mounted right out back:

I’ve got a particular paintjob in mind for this one so I’m excited to get all the fabrication done to where I can start laying some paint down…getting closer!  

Trying to find some 50s Cadillac bullet taillights in my stash but I don’t have any 50s Cadillacs to rob them from…need to dig through some more kits and see if anything I have on the shelf has a set in the box…

Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more! 

Edited November 17, 2023 by CabDriver

[OldNYJim]

A little more this weekend…spent a bunch of time doing basically nothing - lots of sanding and priming…a couple of major steps completed overall tho…

I’ve had a very particular colorscheme in mind for this one since I started it…first step of that was this pukey Vallejo Olive Green:

Next major thing I wanted to get rolling was the bodywork.  Laid down some Bondo to fix some glue damage on this old original body:

I like using styrene to fix things wherever I can, then the 2-part Bondo which is this light blue stuff.  Once I had it sanded smooth…

…time for a little primer to see how straight this thing actually is…

Actually wasn’t too bad!  Needed a little filler to blend the trim pieces I added at the top of the not-doors, and a couple of little spots but nothing major.  For jobs like this, I really like the regular red Bondo…it DOES shrink if you’re not careful, but for little tweaks and fixes like this I’ve found it works ok.

A little more sanding and tweaking and we’ve got something almost ready for paint:

I gave the body a few more little tweaks at this point - for final fine tuning I like Vallejo plastic putty - it’s great for fixing any micro scratches or pinholes and you can mix it with water to thin it way down. 

And finally, after all that sanding…some color on the body:

This is the first couple of coats - I’ll nib out any dust or flaws tomorrow once it has shrunk down but the shade is just what I had in my head.  A nice vintage aged-looking white/cream - and the exact opposite of the black that this thing is MEANT to be.

Not a huge update; but getting paint on the body always FEELS like a huge update ?. More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[OldNYJim]

Bonus half-day at the bench (happy thanksgiving!) - good chance for some more work on the body!

Last night I shot some intercoat and then gave the body another light buff with an 8000 grit pad just to ensure it was nice and flat ready for the next steps:

Next, some work on the tailgate…I designed a bootleg Ford logo a while back that I had never used and this seemed a good project for it.  Cut a mask and laid down the same olive green I had already used on the drivetrain:

That’s “York” as in “New”…not sure why my brain thought of that but some homecity-pride tends to show up in a lot of my projects somewhere…

Next up, I needed to remove the mask and lay down another intercoat so that was a good opportunity to lay down some decals too.  My backstory for this build is that it was maybe an old NYPD T that ended up getting rodded.  

Not totally impossible, although the ACTUAL NYPD Model Ts were black, and carried a subtler livery.  They DID have some T pickups but basically as a historical recreation this thing is all wrong.  The same brain of mine that made an Alternate-Universe Ford logo where Ford has a different name also thought this thing should be ivory, so…there it is.  ?‍♂️

Decals applied:

Another intercoat later, and back to the tailgate…cut a second (fractionally smaller) version of the same mask and laid it down marginally misaligned.  Intentionally…but that sometimes happens unintentionally too…

A light mist of white:

Next up, a coat of dark green to match the decals:

And after all the masks are removed:

Not the most exciting masking / painting process (and that big photo really reveals the cleanup I need to do on it still before locking it under some clear) but it has a little more depth than just painting one pass of paint on there and looks pretty good held in my hands I think.  

Just a mini update, but more soon - thanks for looking!