1932 Ford Sedan “The Orange Crate” Custom Show Rod by CDW - FINISHED - Revell - 1:25 scale

[CDW]

It’s been many decades since I last built this kit. Time to give it another go.

Edited November 24, 2023 by CDW

[bruce d]

Great kit, a raunchy looking '32 Ford.  I bashed mine ( a loooooong time ago) as a Bonneville racer by simply changing the tires and a couple of simple mods.

Looking forward to this one!

[CDW]

22 minutes ago, bruce d said:

Great kit, a raunchy looking '32 Ford.  I bashed mine ( a loooooong time ago) as a Bonneville racer by simply changing the tires and a couple of simple mods.

Looking forward to this one!

A Bonneville racer was a great idea. What color did you paint it?

[bruce d]

The brightest yellow I could find!

 

[CDW]

This is what comes inside the box.

Back when this kit was first issued in the ‘60’s, there was a major fit issue with the hood/engine cowling. Subsequently reissues like this one contain a corrected hood, or so they say. We’ll soon find out.

 

I plan to build this one as it is on the box art, original colors. Maybe will try to save as much of the original chrome plating parts as possible for nostalgia’s sake. But don’t hold me to it. Just depends on how much of it I can salvage.

[CDW]

Are there ANY companies actually molding plastic models in the USA Today? Not that I know of.

[Canute]

I'm in, Craig.

 

I think one model RR manufacturer still does. I just ordered parts and they showed up in about 5 days. Most others don't even keep a parts inventory.

[realworkingsailor]

8 minutes ago, Canute said:

I'm in, Craig.

 

I think one model RR manufacturer still does. I just ordered parts and they showed up in about 5 days. Most others don't even keep a parts inventory.

Tichy, Kadee, Accurail, there are a few. 
 

Andy

[CDW]

So much for my thoughts of using the chrome parts. There was too much flash in places, and too many sprue attachment points to deal with. It would have ended up a patched up, mixed up mixture of chrome plating and Molotov ink touchups. I believe that in the long run, carefully cleaning up all the plastic pieces, assembling, then painting the assemblies with Alclad chrome will give much better results.

 

Here are the plastic trees all stripped down. Will begin the tedious chore of removing all the parts and cleaning them up for assembly and painting.

[CDW]

I was 35 when this was belly pan part was stamped. Sigh….

[CDW]

Have you seen these cordless polishing/sanding tools marketed by Mr Hobby? They make short work of removing ejector pin marks in hard to reach places. Comes in very handy.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, CDW said:

Will begin the tedious chore of removing all the parts and cleaning them up for assembly and painting.

I spy some small amount of twist to that frame as well, definitely old molds... ('88 pressing notwithstanding, it's still the molds from the early 70's)

 

I'm sure you can handle it....

Edited November 13, 2023 by Egilman

[bruce d]

4 minutes ago, Egilman said:

... it's still the molds from the early 70's ...

I wish.  Try the early 60's.  I think the frame of mine was a bit iffy way back then and they don't 'heal' with time.

[Egilman]

1 minute ago, bruce d said:

Try the early 60's

I know that, mine was the early 70's pressing, which had a similar problem.... (eveil grin)

[CDW]

 

[CDW]

Invested several hours into cleaning up these parts and assembling the engine/blower components. The chassis is straight as an arrow. Only the belly pan has a twist in it but that can be straightened out.

 

Will assemble the entire chassis before doing any painting as the whole unit is chrome. Will be using Alclad chrome this time. The blower assembly, valve covers and oil pan are chrome as well. Guess what color for the engine? Bingo! It’s orange. 😀

 

There’s a whole lotta’ flash on these parts!

[CDW]

I should mention, if you ever decide to build one of these old kits, particularly the older Revell kits like this one, do yourself a big favor and cut off the locating pins and tabs. Use a flat file to sand the mating surfaces level and eyeball the parts fit rather than depend on the locating pins and tabs. Thet are way out of alignment much of the time and are a hinderance rather than help.  

[CDW]

For a set of molds this old, Revell put a lot detail in their creation. One part that is very strange is the fact they molded a nicely detailed suspension and rear end, but omitted an axle housing. I’ve cut a section of styrene tubing that’s now serving as a spacer to keep the correct distance and alignment of the disk brakes while the glue sets up on the assembly. If there was a reason you never saw many of these old Revell street and drag strip rods finished, it’s because of the amount of time required to clean up the parts and then the assembly of them is very fiddly. I have no less than six hours invested in this so far, probably closer to seven.

[CDW]

Sitting on the right side of the box of drag slicks is the kit supplied drag slick. I’m tempted to use either the wide white wall slick from the box or the raised white letter slicks. What do you think? Both are probably not historically accurate but does it matter?

[realworkingsailor]

Either of the raised white letter slicks might look good (with or without whitewalls). Do you have to rush to get the tires mounted? Can you wait until the body and frame are painted and partly assembled, or, at least, mocked up? It might give you a better idea how things might look, rather than guessing now and being unhappy with it later.

 

Andy

[CDW]

22 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

Either of the raised white letter slicks might look good (with or without whitewalls). Do you have to rush to get the tires mounted? Can you wait until the body and frame are painted and partly assembled, or, at least, mocked up? It might give you a better idea how things might look, rather than guessing now and being unhappy with it later.

 

Andy

Oh sure, no rush on a decision at all at this stage. The wheels can go on last.

[Egilman]

1 hour ago, realworkingsailor said:

Either of the raised white letter slicks might look good (with or without whitewalls). Do you have to rush to get the tires mounted? Can you wait until the body and frame are painted and partly assembled, or, at least, mocked up? It might give you a better idea how things might look, rather than guessing now and being unhappy with it later.

 

Andy

I agree with Andy, it's not time to make this decision yet..... The only issue I had with the kit tires was that they were shiny vinyl in my version of the kit, they needed to be dulled down a bit without discoloring the black vinyl...

[CDW]

Another dry-fit mock up. We’re getting there.

[Canute]

Nicely done. That kit has a ton of detail, Craig.

[CDW]

25 minutes ago, Canute said:

Nicely done. That kit has a ton of detail, Craig.

All the old Revell kits are detail packed and tricky to assemble. Rewarding if done slowly and carefully cleaned of flash and minor fit issues. No wonder kids had a tough time with them. More adult experienced modeler oriented.

[CDW]

While it wasn’t from this particular kit box, trophies like the yellow one in these photos were commonly found in the 1st generation model car kit boxes of award winning show cars like the Orange Crate. This trophy comes from my spares box of car parts from decades ago. 

[CDW]

All the parts in white plastic are ready for paint. The entire chassis will be chrome. Will start with Mr Surfacer 1500, followed by gloss black, then Alclad chrome.

[CDW]

Just in case you were wondering about it, the Orange Crate engine is a tricked-out Oldsmobile built to 418 cubic inches, a front mounted Potvin blower with Hilborn fuel injection. B&M hydro transmission. The engine is said to have produced 600 horsepower. The article that I learned this information from said the engine was from a late model Oldsmobile but did not specify what particular engine or the year model of it. Suffice it to say the time period the article was written was very early 1960's. So, it can be reasonably assumed the engine was anywhere from 1959 to 1962 vintage.

Edited November 17, 2023 by CDW

[gsdpic]

Looking good.  That does appear to be a fairly intricate chassis.

 

You are getting a lot of mileage out of the sawhorses.  Hope you are not having to pay royalties to @yvesvidal for that idea

 

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, CDW said:

Just in case you were wondering about it, the Orange Crate engine is a tricked-out Oldsmobile built to 418 cubic inches, ......

A little further into the story, it wasn't just a show rod, it started it's career as a track runner, it took the '61 Winternationals, both on the track and the rod show afterwards, took the America's Best Competition Car trophy at the '61 Oakland Roadster Show and was the cover car of the Feb. '62 issue of Hot Rod Magazine...

 

It ran at the '62 Winternationals as well then went on a nationwide tour as America's Best Competition Car winner once it won for the second consecutive time at the Oakland Roadster Show... (it was after the US tour that Revell asked for and got the measurements for the model)

 

In '63, it made it's last appearance at the Oakland Roadster Show and won it's third consecutive trophy as America's Best Competition Car at which point it was retired...

 

It resided at the owners custom car shop for a number of years before it was sold off....

 

It is truly an American classic.... (both the car and the model)