Charles Carpenter's '55 Chevy Pro Sportsman

[Zippi]

I was searching through the stash for a nice kit to build and came across this old Revell kit.  I'm going to see if I can't pull of a nice build but some things about this kit already concern me.  I don't like painting white, the decals are old (1991), the parts in the kit are not of good quality.  I started with the BIG ole meats trying to save them as they look pretty rough. 

[dragcarz]

This is gonna be good, can’t wait to see where you take it! 

[Zippi]

16 minutes ago, dragcarz said:

This is gonna be good, can’t wait to see where you take it! 

Thanks Roger.  Like the box art or something else???  Decisions Decisions. 

[M W Elky]

This car has special meaning to me as I saw it run at ATCO’S nite of thrills sometime around 1990. I wore my Charlie carpenter shirt until it completely disintegrated . That you may knot no is they used a pale yellow 1956 Chevy sedan delivery with crager s/s wheels to tow it around the track as a support vehicle. Somewhere I have a photo I’ll have to really did deep to find it , but if I do I’ll post it here . I would suspect the decals would be on the thick side 

[Zippi]

26 minutes ago, M W Elky said:

This car has special meaning to me as I saw it run at ATCO’S nite of thrills sometime around 1990. I wore my Charlie carpenter shirt until it completely disintegrated . That you may knot no is they used a pale yellow 1956 Chevy sedan delivery with crager s/s wheels to tow it around the track as a support vehicle. Somewhere I have a photo I’ll have to really did deep to find it , but if I do I’ll post it here . I would suspect the decals would be on the thick side 

Thanks man.  I'd like to see a pic of the tow car.  Here is the original.

[Brutalform]

This should be a really cool build. These kits had some terrible tires. I had the 55 Sportsman kit, and the tires were so bad, that sanding did nothing, as they were not molded correctly. Revell did send me a new set after I sent them a pic of before and after the sanding. This was years ago though. With the low roof, maybe a full on drag car? 

[Pierre Rivard]

Looks like this one may end up being more work than initially planned. Well... if it was easy it would be boring right?

[Zippi]

1 hour ago, Brutalform said:

This should be a really cool build. These kits had some terrible tires. I had the 55 Sportsman kit, and the tires were so bad, that sanding did nothing, as they were not molded correctly. Revell did send me a new set after I sent them a pic of before and after the sanding. This was years ago though. With the low roof, maybe a full on drag car? 

I hear ya Tom.  I've already got the seams filed down on the tires and I think once they are painted and the letters painted white they will be usable.  

[Zippi]

Well...I finished up my 37 Ford Street Rod so I'm now on the 55 Pro Sportsman.  I did a little mock-up on the 55 and I'm seeing warped parts already.  That's not a good sign.  

[Zippi]

I got the heads drilled out for the plug wires and the headers assembled and cleaned up but I'm struggling with the body color.  I really don't think I want to paint it white and go with the box art.  So...for now I'm kinda stalled out until I can make up my mind.

[DJMar]

Ooof, the two piece vinyl slicks in these kits sure bring back memories...not all of them good! You got this, though.

Just my humble opinion, but I would like to see some of the early Revellogram Pro-Stock/Mod/Sportsman kits reissued, warts and all. We haven't seen them on the shelf in years.

[Zippi]

21 minutes ago, DJMar said:

Ooof, the two piece vinyl slicks in these kits sure bring back memories...not all of them good! You got this, though.

Just my humble opinion, but I would like to see some of the early Revellogram Pro-Stock/Mod/Sportsman kits reissued, warts and all. We haven't seen them on the shelf in years.

In hear ya dude.  Just don't see these anymore unless online for a high price.  1955 Ford Pro Modified Sportsman 'Jukebox', Rickie Smith "Motorcraft" Ford Thunderbird Pro Stock, and my boy Bob Glidden's Motorcraft Thunderbird.            

[DJMar]

8 hours ago, Zippi said:

In hear ya dude.  Just don't see these anymore unless online for a high price.  1955 Ford Pro Modified Sportsman 'Jukebox', Rickie Smith "Motorcraft" Ford Thunderbird Pro Stock, and my boy Bob Glidden's Motorcraft Thunderbird.            

It almost makes me angry thinking about how many Glidden kits I bought when they came out (probably at $5 a pop), only to save ZERO of them for the long term stash!

[FoMoCo66]

Cool build! Can't wait to see what you do with this, uh, poorly molded kit. Those tires looked really bad, nice job!

[Zippi]

9 hours ago, DJMar said:

It almost makes me angry thinking about how many Glidden kits I bought when they came out (probably at $5 a pop), only to save ZERO of them for the long term stash!

Yeah, guess we just didn't think about it at the time right.  I've seen them on ebay for $40 plus $10 shipping.  

[Zippi]

Paint is dry so it was time for a little assembly on the BBC engine.  Still a little touch up needed but not to shabby so far.  I'm thinking red plug wires.  I printed out some distributors as I didn't like the one in the kit.

[FoMoCo66]

Red plug wires would go amazing with the red fittings! Looks awesome man, lovin' it.

Edited April 13 by FoMoCo66

[Zippi]

49 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Red plug wires would go amazing with the red fittings! Looks awesome man, lovin' it.

Thanks Elliot.  Yup, I agree.  I was wanting to put black plug wire boots on but the header flange is in the way.  

[Zippi]

I'm a little further along on the engine assembly and now I'm stuck on how to run the plug wires.  Run them down between the headers our up over top of the valve covers.  I like the looks of them between the headers but I also like the wires exposed more over the valve covers as it give more of a visual effect.

[ksnow]

I'd go up and over. Thinking in the real world, down through the headers would burn those wires up I believe.

If you could loom them to run back along the bottom of the valve cover, then up to the cap, that might look more organized.

[DJMar]

56 minutes ago, ksnow said:

I'd go up and over. Thinking in the real world, down through the headers would burn those wires up I believe.

If you could loom them to run back along the bottom of the valve cover, then up to the cap, that might look more organized.

I believe this is how most plug wires were run back in the day, just along the valve cover or over the top. Looking at pics of some of the BB Fords run in the Glidden cars through the 1980s, they just ran the wires along the valve cover. I don't think they ever used looms since the engines were torn down frequently.

[Zippi]

1 hour ago, ksnow said:

I'd go up and over. Thinking in the real world, down through the headers would burn those wires up I believe.

If you could loom them to run back along the bottom of the valve cover, then up to the cap, that might look more organized.

I hear ya dude.  That's what I'm doing as that's how I do most of my builds.  

[Zippi]

58 minutes ago, DJMar said:

I believe this is how most plug wires were run back in the day, just along the valve cover or over the top. Looking at pics of some of the BB Fords run in the Glidden cars through the 1980s, they just ran the wires along the valve cover. I don't think they ever used looms since the engines were torn down frequently.

Yup, I appreciate your input man.  I'm not really looking to be period correct, just kewl looking.  

[Zippi]

I think I'm pretty much done with the BBC.  I'm happy with it.

[dragcarz]

Lookin good Bob!