1936 Ford Coupe

I started this old AMT kit this morning.



As usual with these kits, I'm off to a good start.  The body is two parts and I really think it should go together a little better than this.



I guess it is time to get out the putty or I might solve the problem with a Jimmy Flintstone resin chopped 36 Coupe.  Haven't made up my mind yet.  In the meantime, at least the rest of the kit looks pretty good.  Onward and upward..

That seems to be par for the course with AMT. I read somewhere that "AMT kits are like a box of Chocolates".

Buck: One of the chances you take when you pick up old kits. Actually even though I'm whining about it, this one is not nearly as bad as the Model A coupe I did a while back. I think that I am going to give the chopped resin body a try.

I know I'm a cheap old bastid, but a little bit of filler offsets the price of a resin body

But they are cool chopped !!

I think if a kit is perfect, there is not fun to build it! :D Looking forward to see what you will do with it.

Geezer: Is that car one of the resin bodies and did you paint the flames?? If you did paint them I would sure like to see a "how to".

John, a bit of polishing will sort that gap. LOL.

Either way you I'm sure you'll turn in a nice one John.

JohnJ wrote:Geezer:  Is that car one of the resin bodies and did you paint the flames??  If you did paint them I would sure like to see a "how to".

John, that is a regular 5 window coupe that I chopped in 2006.
Airbrushed the flames with little home made, hand held stencil shapes.
Kinda like this:

Love the flames. Going to have to finally get out the stencils Al sent me a while back and give it a go. Normally I'd do the chop myself, but to tell the truth I just don't want to this time. Ordered a body from Jimmy Flintstone today. Haven't done a resin body before so I'm looking forward to it.

I have been out of town for the past couple of days, but got home this afternoon.  This is the first chance I have had to really take a close look at the frame of the 36.  I found that the frame, belly pan and exhaust are all one piece.  There is absolutely no realism here.
 

 
I decided to open up the frame and scratch build the exhaust system.
 

 
As you can see in the second photo,  there is still a lot of smoothing and cleaning up to do before the frame is acceptable.  This is the first time I have attempted something like this, so I would love advice from those of you who had done this before.  Thanks.

I think that, judging from the '36 body and hardtop pieces, that is yet another re-release of the kit from the mid '60s. Considering the mold's age and that they weren't necessarily well cared for, it looks not too bad. Molded in exhaust, par for the course back then too! Nice job removing that wart from the underside. The '36 Ford was, to my eye at least, the most beautiful and graceful of all the '30s Fords. The '34 grille was nicer, but the body/fender design was clearly from an earlier era. I'd take a '36 any time.

The frame looks good!

I did the same thing to a 36 Ford frame for a build a couple years ago. Instead of trying to smooth out the floor board I cut the whole thing out and then put .020" styrene on the frame rails. I use MEK to weld the pieces together. Then scratch build the exhaust and drive line hump.

https://skidsplace.forumotion.com/t454-1936-ford-billetproof-coupe

Hope this helps. What you got going is looking good.

Thanks for the comments guys.  The resin body I ordered from Jimmy Flintstone came in yesterday.  I like the look of the chopped roof and I think the stance is about where I want it.  Here is the first mock up.
 

 
I also like the wire wheels, I think.  Let me know what you guys think about the wheels.  My other option is wide no name Goodyears on chrome rims.

I also like the wires. I vote use'em.

The wheels look good John,a bit small for my tastes but nice all the same.001 

You kinow my thoughts on wheels John but I'd rather use those wires than the horrible uni-directional ones in the box art.

When I ordered the Flintstone body I was a little concerned about the quality of the mold.  Turns out it was excellent with very little excess flash or rough or thick areas.  On the other hand the AMT kit has turned out to be a piece of s** t!!!  The fender and running board piece has areas of excess styrene that are without exaggeration 1/8 of an inch thick.  This is particularly true of the undersides of the running boards.  I spent most of this afternoon cleaning this piece up.  On top of that the piece was warped.
 

 
I managed to get it straight with hot water a couple of times.  But, it took a Dremel, exacto and much sanding before I could say it was ready to go.  I think it looks pretty good now.
 
I also finished opening up the frame and think it is much better now.  In removing the belly pan and exhaust I had to destroy a part of the rear frame member.  After reshaping it, it was not balanced so I removed the bolt castings on the other side and replaced all four.  I think it looks much better now.
 

 
I can hardly wait to see what comes up next. 
 
Onward and upward.....

Quite a bit going on to get this one presentable. One of my favorite Old Ford body styles.

Hope I'm not stepping on too many toes here, but, a little extra work separates a modeler from an assembler.
Like Buck. I really like the '36 body styles.

Nice work on the chassis John. 001 

Sorting out problems like you have here is part of the fun for me. It gives a sense of satisfaction BUT this hobby of ours embraces all types of modelling from complete box stock to totally scratch built. All have there place.

I have seen some superb box stock builds that I'd be proud to put in my display cabinets and some scratch builds that would go in my recycling builds.

Hey guys,  I'm just whining.  I love the lines of the 36 and have no intention of giving up on it.  Thanks for the encouragement.

This morning I did some more work on the stance.  I was able to lower the rear about one scale inch by removing one leaf from the rear spring and adding thin lowering blocks.  Ran out of room then.





I think this will be the final stance unless somebody can give me an idea on how to lower it further.  I really would like to get another scale inch or so.

Re the white walls; I'm not going for a current style.  I want this to be more of a 60s to 70s style.  Gonna stay with the wide whites.

Resin body looks very nice and clean, good door line and roof too. It looks like there will be a good deal of fitting to the fenders, a trade off with the roof-body fit on the original kit. You did save time and effort in doing a top chop.
Tires, wheels: with the style of small to almost no sidewall on tires, white walls don't look "right." Foto distance makes wire-ish wheels look O.K.

When you say you would like to go lower I am guess you mean in the rear. I think the front looks perfect. If you can't get it lower you might think about some fender skirts. That would be old school and get rid of the air above the tire in the wheel well. Just kinda thinking out loud.