Big Red Rod

OK here we go again.

This is a kit I am building for a friend of mine, Don Richardson. He owns Richardson Custom Auto Body in Hoquiam, Washington. He builds some awesome street rods. Know nationally for his work. Here is a link to his website if you would like to look around.

http://richardsoncustomautobody.com

The kit is the Big Red Rod. A 1925 model T Ford roadster by Lindberg. I am not sure how old the kit is. There is no bar code on the box nor copyright date on the instructions. I talked with Bob Paeth about it. He said it came out about 1960 or 62. It was already on the market when Monogram released their Big T series in 1963. It wasn't very popular because of the difficultly of the build, so the Big T series out sold it with no problem.





Some of the things that have to been done with this kit are building a working Rear end, Transmission, working steering and working headlights.

I will do as detailed an OTB as I can on this build so that it will be archived here at the Realm. I know that some of you have been part way through this build. I will move it along pretty fast until it gets back to where I left off at the old Realm. Thanks to everybody for stopping by to take a look or walk down memory lane. LOL

The kit is 1/8th scale. People wanted to see the difference so here it is. The little bucket is the AMT 1925 model T. gives you idea of the scale.



A couple more details you might be interested in. This kit is built just like a 1950's street rod would have been built. The engine is the 1949 Rocket 88 Oldsmobile engine. It was a powerful OHV engine in it's day and a favorite with the street rodders. The transmission is a LA Salle from the Cadillac line. The rear end is the old Ford banjo type that they used for so many years. The steering box looks just like a 1940 Ford box. It is worm and sector steering. The big drum brakes are also Ford looking but hard to put a year to.

When the model is turn on the crankshaft of the engine turns, which turns the pulleys up front. Generator, water pump and all. In the rear it turns the input to the simple in and out box transmission. No Reverse, one speed forward. A shift collar in the transmission couples with the drive shaft and turns the ring and pinion in the rear end. This drives both rear wheels. I count the teeth on the ring and pinion the final gear ratio it 4:08
to 1.
So lets start with the engine. Here are the parts that go into it.



The hardest part here was getting the gear teeth cleaned up from flash so the would mess smoothly. Also the shaft had to be trued and the molding lines removed so it could spin freely.Here is the assembly together and ready to go into the engine halves.



Here is the first test fit of the motor and it's frame into the engine halves.



Regular cooking oil was use as a lube on everything. Super glue doesn't stick to it and it makes the easier to keep the moving parts moving.LOL

OK now the engine is ready to build the long block. The color is Dulpi-color Candy Apple Red. It is a 2004 Ford Mustang color. The color is a little darker than I wanted but no way to strip it and start over now. The electric motor and all the gear drive is in the engine block and I don't feel good about putting it in CSC. It will the primary color for the whole build. The intake is painted with Orr-Lac Dull Aluminum.

Love T-buckets !!

Thanks guys the comments are always welcome.

This is the intake manifold and carbs. 6 Stromberg 97's. They were a little to polished for me so I used a Testors flat black paint pen to do a wash to them. Here's the before and after.





Here is some of the other engine assemblies built.

Front engine plate and generator with brackets.





oil pan.



Bell housing and starter





timing cover and water pump



Next update I will start to put it all together. At this point everything is tested and turns like it should. Again cooking oil for lube.

Thanks SAm, This one was a ball to build.

Thanks for the input guys. It is all welcome. Now lets start putting this Oldsmobile engine together and see what it looks like.











I painted the spark plug insulators white. You can see the oil filter and oil return line. Everything has been tested and still turns. The fan belt that came with this kit was brown. I went to Walmart and got a bag of 200 rubber bands, assorted sizes and colors. None of the black ones were the right size. So I went to Staples and got a bag of 200 rubber bands. In that bag there were 2 black rubber bands that were the right size. When they say " assorted colors and sizes" they mean it. The next thing on the list is to do the transmission. Then the frame will be put together and everything test fitted for the first time. It's always cool when it fits right the first time.

I like your engine stand. lol

Very nice looking great so far. And damn that's gonna be huge

I got the transmission done. On the gearshift knob I used the flat black paint pen for a wash and Stoplight Red for the eyes.





Got the wheels painted body color. You can see the chrome brake drums behind them.



Also got the frame rails together and in primer.



And this is the first mock up of the engine into the frame. Everything fit quite well. So far a good kit for fit. The flash and burrs on the gears was the only part the need real attention.



Thanks for the words of encouragement. They are always welcome.

Thanks guys, Yes it is huge. LOL. But a great challenge. :lol:

Thanks a ton for the input guys. Comments are always welcome. I look forward to them. Makes the build all that much more fun.

Here is the frame rails all painted.



There are a couple places on the frame I wanted to detail a little more so I decided to BMF the bolt heads for the shock mounts. Here are some before pictures.





And after.





Also the wheels and tires are ready to go. It doesn't show in this picture but I went with black tire stems.

Time to start on the rear end. Same problem as before lot's of flash in the gear teeth. I got all that cleaned up and ready to put it together.

Here are the parts involved in the rear end.



When everything was mocked up. The pinion gear wouldn't turn the ring gear. I used aluminum foil to make shims and move the ring gear over into the pinion. Kinda like setting the backlash on a real differential.





After I got the pinion depth set so it didn't bind up and turned the ring gear freely I finished the assembly.



Now it's time to mount the rear end into the frame. and get the drive shaft lined up with the transmission output shaft. I will have another update soon.

Hope you enjoy the update. Thanks for looking.

OK time for another update. With the transmission put together and the shift tower assembled it is time to put the collar together and get it lined up so that it will slide smoothly on the engine output shaft.



Here the rear end is mounted but not glued into place. I want to get the two shafts lined up so that the shift collar will slide back and forth easy.



That is the transmission housing sitting beside the chassis. One more shot of the collar and shafts.



Now I can glue the rear end into place with the collar holding the two shafts in the right position. Once the glue has set I can remove the engine and finish the transmission and shift housing. Then I can place the engine into the frame for the final time. I should have a roller before long.

You can see in the photos that the front axle and suspension is in place and set.

Thanks for the reply guys. Here are a couple pictures of the rolling chassis.







I started working on the body now. Here are a couple pictures on the firewall and the dash bondoed in place.





And finally the body in primer. This is always one of my favorite parts of the build. When the body goes into primer it seems like you have done a lot.





Won't be long until the first interior mock up and put so color on this bad boy. Thanks for stopping by and looking.

Since my last update the body is painted and I started fooling with the interior pieces. Here is the first interior update.





I want to do something to the pleated panels on the interior sides, but so far I can't find a paint that will stick to the plastic. It feels more like the plastic you would make a child's toy out of than styrene. I have an extra white wall that I have been experimenting with. So far no luck. Any help here would be nice. I thought about flocking them but if paint won't stick would glue? I also thought of using Black Chrome BMF.

Here is the body in color. I haven't wet sanded nor cleared it yet. That will happen soon.





And last but not least is the teaser to keep you coming back. You guys know me by now I had to know what it looked like. Here is the first mock up minus the interior.



Now I am working on the headlights, fuel tank and some of the display goodies while the body cures. Be back soon with another update.

Man it sure has been a long time since I updated this build. It's winter time now and finally have some time to spend on this build. Here is some of the stuff I have done.

Got the headlights all put together and working.





Got the side marker and tail light done. The lenses were clear so I painted them on the inside with turn signal amber and stop light red.



Got the off on switch all put together and tested with a DVOM, so it should work.



got the radiator together. I had to do this to figure out how the wiring for the headlights would go on the frame.



I also got the switch mounted to the frame and started running the wiring for the motor and headlights. If I ever build another large scale kit like this I will box the frame rails to hide the wiring. Oh well live and learn.



The batteries are in the the fuel tank. I got all the wiring done inside and everything has been tested.





The fuel tank as been mounted to the chassis and most of the wiring done. I will be updating again soon on the steering box and linkage.