Lil Red Rodster - Re-Tyred

Finished, completed and done.
AMT '29 Roadster dropped as far as it'll go on a stock chassis and channelled 2 scale inches.
Drop tube front axle, inlet manifold, bomber seats & brakes from The parts Box. Flattie from Revell '40 Std Coupe. Wheels from Revell '32 Sedan with caps from AMT '50 Chevy 3100. Cut down Revell '32 grille and rear lights are driving lights from AMT '89 Probe.













The horror, the horror...
...but they look perfect.

I love it - that era of hot rodding will never die. It looks fab and those bomber seats really give it a cool look. I also like the original wires - it is just like I would build the real thing if I could afford to. What about some closeups of engine and interior please.

PS - the photos look rather "grainy" or noisy - any chance of improvement? This model deserves it.

I think his camera's confused. Its not used to taking photos of sedated colours . Its a grouse looking little rod Zen better pics are kind of a must ,please.

Great work mate!!

Very cool rod. No frills just a pure driving experience.

great old school HotRod

A good lesson for everybody that you don't need a huge blower, fat tyres and a multiple hod rod cliche's to end up with a model that's cool. Old school style rules the road.

A great bug in the teeth ride, lets go and find a Locust swarm .

That sucker is shiddot Fred.  Would be perfect parked in the shed beside my A coupe.

doorslammerfan wrote:I think his camera's confused. Its not used to taking photos of sedated colours .

Thanks all.

Except Bryce and DSF. To you both I fart in your general directions (Northish and Eastish I think).

The pics were, well crap to be honest because I was playing with the camera settings.
I've taken a heap more on auto (as it obviously knows more about taking pictures than I do) and replaced all the earlier efforts.
This of course makes everyone who commented on them look super fussy.

Mate most of my photos are now taken in Auto mode, because I can't see the camera settings let alone use them.

Thanks for replacing your pics - the new ones do your model the justice it deserves.

(super fussy)

Great,...Like the simple clean hotrod look.

Thanks Cobra.

Yeah Tezza. Teach me to follow photography advice I read on an american forum! Trouble is given the amount i spent on getting a digital SLR just using it on Auto is a bit of a waste. I just need to remember to take some auto shots as well as experimenting.

There's no harm in experimenting and learning more about your SLR but it's no disgrace to use Auto to obtain good shots. As long as you achieve the desired results why worry about how it's done.

Check out this website for photography tips and useful info:
http://www.photonhead.com/

I have just (carefully) replaced the tyres on this.
Much better now IMO.

That's better. Smaller and skinnier on the front would help the look IMHO.

Yeah that's made a huge difference Fred. I've Photoshopped a skinnier front wheel to see if there's any difference. It does look good IMO? I've already said this but it's a ripper model - well done mate.

Smaller & skinnier would improve the look but the rims are almost too wide for these tyres as it is. I got away with changing the tyres because I hadn't glued the rim halves together. There is however no way I can get the rims off of the end of a resin front axle without it snapping.

The rears are from an AMT '96 Blazer BTW. I would have never thought of using them on a rod if Dakotajohn on the TRaK forum hadn't done so first.

Nice rod Zen, ol skool cool !! Looks great, cheers Wayne

zenrat wrote:Smaller & skinnier would improve the look but the rims are almost too wide for these tyres as it is. I got away with changing the tyres because I hadn't glued the rim halves together. There is however no way I can get the rims off of the end of a resin front axle without it snapping.

I was looking at these rims the other day as I have a build planned that needs some wires but there is no way I want them that wide. I reckon you could shave quite a lot off the inside back of the front half (does that make sense?) and a similar amount off the back edge of the back half. That might get them into a smaller width tyre.

Having said all that, I totally understand your reluctance to un-glue tyres from a model. Every time I have tried it, I ended up adding parts to my spares box...

zenrat wrote:
Fiddlearsing around making wheels & tyres fit is one of my least favourite things.

I noticed this comment in another thread, but didn’t want to hi-jack it. Fiddlearsing around with wheels and tyres is actually one of my favourite parts of the build. I get real satisfaction from making a rim fit into a different tyre or combining different rims to achieve something new.

It got me to thinking how cool it would be to do a true ‘group build’ where each individual got to do their favourite part of the build and then passed it on to the next person...just a crazy idea!

To add to the fun on this. When I levered the tyres off I discovered that the vinyl had started reacting with the white paint (undercoat with clear on it) creating a nice sticky white residue.
Mmmm.

It would probably be possible to narrow the rims like you suggest but I don't have another set to try it with and this time I superglued the 2 halves together...

Group build is a good idea but who gets to keep it when its finished?

Cool looking rod Zen, very nice.


Cheers Graham