I started my AMT 55 Chevy for the rat rod build but I decided to change models sinc the AMT kit is such a piece of junk. It is so ill fitting that it would take 6 months to build any type of presentable model with it--now I remember why I put it away after I filled in the exhaust system. I think it will become a stripped down straight axel drag car in the future. I decided to rebuild a chopped top 25 T glue bomb that I bought on Ebay. It looked like it was put together with a full tube of glue, but it did come apart easily. So far I have the frame back in primer, the body stripped of the gold paint and the chrome stripped from the suspension pieces. I will most likely use the 430C.I. Lincoln engine that came with the model. The whitewall slicks and mags are from a Monogram Lil' Coffin and the front spindle mounts are from an original 1960's double dragster kit. I dont know the source of the front whitewall tires. I plan on running no front brakes and I am not sure about the interior yet but I think I will use aluminum WWII aircraft seats. So thats where I am for now--back to work.

Great to have you with us Gary that old T should work well for this build, i like the wheels and tires.

Excellent choice of material for a Rat Rod Gary.

What a cool idea. That Lincoln engine is makeing me drool also. This is gonna be a nice one when you get her finished Gary.

Hermon

It's a shame about the '55, but the T is certainly a worthy substitute! It looks like you have all the pieces in place for a very cool rat rod build.

Seeing that '25 kit in pieces sure brings back memories.

-YL

Gary,

Looking forward to watching this "pig's ear to silk purse" progress. The idea of the AC seats should be very interesting to see.

Mike

Just a couple of pics of the seats I plan to use, I dug out a 1/25 scale P-51 the other night and the seat was way too big for a Model T so I decided to make a couple of vacumn formed aircraft style seats. I made a buck from a cut down plastic seat and the made some copies on a Mattel Vac-u-Form. I also have a set of resin aircraft seats from Replicas and Miniatures Co. of Md. but I decided to make my own. The first pic shows the original seat from the T glue bomb, the buck I made, an untrimed vacumn formed seat, the next two are trimmed and have a coat of primer and last, the RMCOMD resin seat. The second pic is of the vacumn formed seats. I will either paint the seats aluminum or maybe olive drab (surplus seats) with chipping and wear. I also plan to use a set of aircraft style lap belts. I am trying to limit this build to most of the parts that came with the original built up kit with just a few added details. I do have a later issue 25 T kit from 2001 that has almost the same parts to replace any of the original parts that are not usable. So far I have only destroyed the rear spring from the original and I will need to replace some of the engine parts. The 2001 reissue did not include the chopped top T body. Back to work for now.

Nice work on the seat Gary, you don't see to many of those machines any more.

The fact that you actually own a working Mattel Vac-U-Form automatically places you at the top of the "Who's Got The Coolest Things" list.

I haven't seen one of those in ages. If I had one, I'd be afraid to use it.

-YL

WWII aircraft seats - Fantastic idea!

and BTW, HARV recently scored one of those old vac-u-form machines

Actually, I scored 2 working Vac-u-Form machines on Ebay last year for around $30 each. Also there are quite a few Ebay vendors that offer the plastic sheets and one offers a rebuild kit for them that turns it into an upgraded vacuum former. I bought one of the upgrade kits but havent installed it yet. The machines turn up on Ebay quite often -- hard to believe that many of them survived all these years.

Gary, I'm glad that you and I are such good pals. Now, I'm gonna send ya a list of all the parts I need you to make for me.

Seriously, as I said before, the aircraft seat is cool. I actually thought about installing a set of 1/24 scale Merlin exaust pipes from a P-51 kit on my 53 Bel Air hood at an offset angle. Looked pretty cool in the mock up, but I chickened out and went with the buble hood scoop.

Hermon

Got started on smoothing the body out today and I made a drilled visor from .020 Evergreen strip. I think this will be the last scratchbuilt part except for a gastank--takes too long to make parts--I never will get finished. I hope to get the body in primer this weekend and get the floorboard smoothed out--it really had a lot of glue damage. Anybody know where I can get a 1/25 scale shrunken head to hang from the inside mirror???

Gary why not sculpt it your self, if not you can make an 8 ball or a large dice, just a few ideas. the body and visor look very good.

I just thought after I posted my last post--I can use a 1/35 or 1/72 scale figure head for the shrunken head base. I will make one if I think I will have the time--it will go good with the skull shifter knob I plan to use.

A small update on my "T" rat rod--I didnt make the deadline with all the snow we have been having here and its still up on blocks. I hope to have it finished within the next couple of weeks. I did make a small shrunken head from a 1/48 scale Aurora WWI ground crewman figure and it came out ok--hard to see in the picture. I think I am going to save it for my Caddy Corpse de Ville surf hearse though since it has a bigger windshield. I hope to start spraying paint on the "T" tomorrow.

Nice work Gary the body looks great in primer and i really like the shrunken head nice idea, i am putting an extension on the build so you and Jesper can both finish to the 10, i hope another 5 days will help.

Gary, the T is coming together nicely. I like the shrunken head idea.

Hunter

It's looklng good Gary I always liked that kit.
Sheldon

Looking good Gary.
Love the shrunken head.

Thanks guys. Starting with a glue bomb, the model had a lot more repair work to do than I had planned for especially with the suspension and steering mounting pins. Also since I am old and slow, I will need all the extra time I can get too!

Just a small update--as everyone can see, I didnt get done by the finish date. I hope to be finished by the end of next week. I have a rolling chassis so far. The tires and wheels were finished today. The tires were airbrushed with Tamiya flat black and a mist coat of Tamiya NATO black on the tread areas. The tires were gently buffed with an old t-shirt to give the paint some sheen to look like rubber. The whitewall inserts were sprayed with SEM white flexible upholestry paint--its an offwhite and looks just right on whitewall inserts. The front wheels were sprayed with Eastwood aluma-blast aluminium paint and then buffed with SNJ aluminum powder to look like polished aluminum. The back wheels were left chrome and I added 34 Ford V8 logo centercaps. All wheels have Replicas & Miniatures Co. resin valve stems. Body and engine are just sitting on the frame to check fit since the frame now has been painted, So far all the original gluebomb frame parts were used except for the front radius rods--they were too messed up from excess glue. I hope to get the engine wired tomorrow and mounted in the frame. So far I am pretty happy with the way the model is coming out.

Outstanding work Gary, i know this was for a Rat Rod build and i can't believe i am saying this but i would keep it pretty and not weather or dirty it up, it looks to good clean i would detail this one to the max ignition wires, hoses, linkage the works and put a nice gloss paint job on it maybe red to match the engine, either way you go clean or dirty i think it looks great.

Thanks Robert. To me this is still a rat rod (junk car built with a bunch of leftover parts and paint) even though I dont plan to weather it heavily--just going to add some rust in a couple of places and some chipping wear to the interior floorboard and the airplane seats. I see plenty of real rat rods in the magazines and car shows that are in various stages of construction and condition. I am planning on a flat green or medium gray primer body color with some pinstripes with a white firewall--I still have to go through my left over paint to see what I have. I will mildly detail the engine with plug wires and boots, radiator hoses (the original kit had none), simple fuel lines and linkage, and some paint detailing. I will post an update in a couple of days.

Almost finished. I have the body drying in the food deheydrator now and except for some paint touch up, some parts adjustments and final assembly, its done. I hope to do the final assembly on Wednesday. I am posting these pictures because a lot of these parts will be covered up when the body is mounted. The rust on the grille shell and the headers is real rust. If you put 000 steelwool in water and let it soak, it makes a nice rust powder. One nice thing about real rust is that it keeps rusting, but I see no real advantage over using pastel powders. I will post the finished model as soon as I finish.