The Widow by Tommy Kortman
(’32 Ford Highboy Roadster)
This roadster was built as an Old School Hot Rod.
I like the look of the old hot rods in the days before billet aluminum and
Pro-builders. I chose the Revell ’32 Ford Highboy Roadster as my starting
point. I collected photos from Street Rodder and Rod and Custom Magazines.
I also used some of my own photos. I wanted a primer paint job, some simple
graphics, wire wheels, dirt track tires, and of course a flathead. Simple
right? NOT!
At this point I happened to be going through some old stuff and came
across an old Robert Williams poster and some CAR Toons magazines. Now the project started
to become sort of a tribute to George Trosley and Robert Williams. Robert Williams
did a lot of designs for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (R.I.P.). Anyway, now we got a blown flathead,
web theme and graphics, checker board firewall, and the Skull details.
I tried to build the model just like you would build and
assemble a real hot rod. I started with the chassis. I cleaned up the kit piece, filling
in ejection marks, sanding some rough edges, and correcting the character line along the
sides of the frame. I also “C’d” the frame for axle clearance and cut off, or “bobbed” the
rear of the frame. This also meant moving the gas tank into the trunk. (No it’s
not really in there.) The suspension is from the kit. I removed the chrome
using 90% alcohol and modified the transmission X-member to accept the new
transmission. I also scratch built the new frame mounts for the flathead. The
kit steering box had to be modified to clear the motor, so a new lower steering
column was made from brass wire.
The wheels were next. I used Replica & Miniatures Kelsey Hayes wire wheels.
The front wheels and tires were built straight from the set. For the rear set I used
R&M dirt track tires and Detail Master rims with the R&M centers. The
center caps were sprayed with Alclad chrome.
The powerplant & tranny came from R&M.
I used several different shades of Metalizers, Dupli-color, and Alclad for
the natural metal finishes throughout the build. The engine is wired and plumbed.
The Stromberg carbs are Model Car Garage pieces, as is the fan.
The body came next. With the exception of the scratch built roll pan, the body is box stock.
I painted it with Polly Scale Railroad Colors, Tarnished
Black. This gives a real nice faded black primer look. The Web striping was
hand painted, freehand. The hour glass was masked and sprayed. The fire wall,
another R&M item, was sprayed with Tamiya white primer, masked with bare
metal foil, the pattern was cut out and the Tamiya gloss black was sprayed.
After removing the foil I hit the entire fire wall with Tamiya clear.
The “hood” is from Model Car Garage, as is the grille (complete w/skull).
The interior features a R&M dash board, a Model Car Garage steering wheel
and shift knob, and a scratch built shifter, shift boot, clutch pedal, and….oh yea, the
seat. The kit seat was the base. I sanded off all of the raised detail and
added 64 individual pieces of styrene. The seat alone took 12 hours over 2
days to complete. The floor was flocked with Testors flocking.
I had a blast building this rod. I can’t wait to do another. Maybe a chopped
and channeled 31 Ford Model A 2 Door Sedan. Hmmm…
