Update: (32 Ford) Horrible Neighbors, Terrible Kits and a New Dremel

[gwolf]

This is an update to my original post of last year ( http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77263&page=2 )

OK, nearly a year later, I'm here to finish this Monogram 32 Ford project, and finish it in a day nonetheless.

First off, I finally realized that the chromed tree of parts was included, however they have never been chromed. So I retract the statement in my original post that seller had clear coated them. You can see in the photo, below, it does look that way.

I know that I'll need to trim the firewall and open up the area for the transmission and engine to fit through. So I clipped a little more than a 1/4 inch off the bottom of the firewall (the same amount of space the body is being lowered onto the frame) with nippers and enlarged the hole where the transmission will go through with a sanding drum bit on a Dremel tool.

The body is set where I want it over the frame and the engine now fits through the firewall. Note that the seat tub is not in place yet.

The seat tub will not fit since the ride has been lowered, so that will need to be modified. I used nippers to clip out the area I didn't want and cut around the tub. I saved the boot area where the shifter sits and will place it on the new floor.

After trimming out the seat tub I sanded down the underneath so it was level and smooth. This is going to be a rat rod, so it doesn't have to be fancy. Below, the seat tub is cut and sanded all the way down tot he base of the bench seat.

I made a new floor out of Evergreen sheet, glued it together and let it sit for about an hour.

After the glue dried I trimmed out the excess Evergreen sheet, glued in the shifter boot and painted it.. I replaced the box shifter that was way too tall and replaced it with an older parts box one.

I don't know where this kit originated from, but some things about it just didn't make sense; they went through the trouble to add a very nice cut glass design to the side mirrors (see below) but added a horrible pad and pin system for the rear suspension that just sits on top of each other, it doesn't even pop into it, it juts sits (see below).

So in general, this kit was terrible, but it was a fun way to spend an afternoon on Easter Sunday. The distributor was molded in to the manifold and I honestly didn't feel like drilling it out then drilling out spark plug holes and putting a nice, pre-wired distributor in it. I would have liked to use the AMT Firestone whitewalls, but could not get anything to fit. The kits rims are ugly, yes. The wheelbacks were the type that snap onto the axle and I just didn't have anything else to make it work. The convertible top was missing when I purchased it, but I wouldn't have used it anyway. So this trash heap of a kit was built essentially in a day and there's a few parts missing, but I kinda dig the way it came out.

Anyway, off to paint, well primer, it went. Since the parts that should have been chromed weren't, I just painted them what I wanted. Here's the finished product.

[

attachment=61694:side.JPG]

I bald the tires by attaching them to a variable speed drill and pressing them onto a sanding block.

The exhaust pipes wouldn't stay glued in place so I thought why not just put them in the passenger seat like the owner just bought them down at the auto parts store. And yeah, the owner didn't get around to getting headlights or license plates either.

Happy Easter, folks.

[johnbuzzed]

That's pretty cool for a quick build. I wish I had the fortitude to build one in a day.

[thatz4u]

Good Save, I like it

[gwolf]

That's pretty cool for a quick build. I wish I had the fortitude to build one in a day.

Good Save, I like it

Thanks guys!

[Art Anderson]

You ask where this kit originated from--and that answer is really very simple: It started out as the Monogram "Li'l Duece", circa 1965-66. As such, it is very typical of model car kits, particularly models of 30's cars (either stock or hot rodded) of that period in the 1960's.

Most model car kits tooled up in the 1960's were designed with younger, less experienced (and probably less patient!) hands than those we see nowadays--and for good reason: For most of the 1960's, model car building was dominated by the same generation that still does--those "Baby Boom" kids born in the years 1946-64, the majority of whom were perhaps 10-perhaps 17 or 18 yrs old when Monogram released this kit and many others that are still the stuff of nostalgia.

Monogram had their fling at multi-version model car kits, as of course did AMT and others, but by 1966, the handwriting was on the wall for those so-called "3in1" model car kits. While kits of new cars (those so-called "annual series" kits) still came with custom and racecar bits in them, hot rod (soon to become street rod) model kits were being reissued as single-version model kits, or at best only a few rudimentary speed parts still on the trees. But, by the time of the '32 Ford kit in question here, Monogram, just like Revell, and to a lesser extent AMT, had taken a pretty big financial hit from jumping into slot car racing sets, only to see their racing set line die within a year or two, and within another year, Monogram would be swallowed up by Mattel, the toy company.

But, one thing to keep in mind: Built out of the box, this kit is as buildable as the come, the bit of flash on some parts, notably the windshield and windwings not withstanding--in short it was apparently designed with 12-year old, rather impatient hands in mind. As for the "cut glass" engraving on the windwings, that was added much later when custom etching of glass on rods and customs (even on restorations!) became very much an "in thing", that was never a part of the original "as introduced" Li'l Deuce, as I remember it. All that said, built box stock this kit does build up pretty nicely, albeit a bit spare for details as we older modelers of today would like to see them. And for sure, to remove the fenders & running boards, then channel the body would be a challenge, certainly as a one-day build!

Art

[charlie8575]

I actually like the concept- a rolling work in progress.

Are you considering bringing that to NNL-East?

Charlie Larkin

[Jordan 191]

That rules! A black wash on the grill would really add to the look if you wanted to try it.

[gwolf]

That rules! A black wash on the grill would really add to the look if you wanted to try it.

Thanks, Adam. I will add that black wash tonight. Good call!

[1 bad55 stan]

Very cool,love that paint job..

[Modelbuilder Mark]

First off, I finally realized that the chromed tree of parts was included, however they have never been chromed. So I retract the statement in my original post that seller had clear coated them. You can see in the photo, below, it does look that way.

unchromed parts.JPG

That may be the factory clearcoat that would be under the chrome. The seller may have used something to strip the chrome that did not remove the clearcoat. That stuff, especially on those older kits can be very thick.