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After an inspection of my Ford Model A kit stock I discovered that I
had a double Model A Roadster kit from AMT. I already had some ideas to build a Model A Speedster and now I actually had all the parts I needed! At least, that's what I thought... Although I already had built a Model A chassis I decided to 'investigate' some custom Model A kits just in case I could find some extra parts I could use. And surprise..! The AMT custom kits I had in stock contained a more detailed chassis. Soon my workbench was covered with parts of various kits and me sitting behind it, trying to fit parts together... nope, doesn't fit... hmmm, this could work... and so on... I used the body of the 1929 AMT Roadster and 'streamlined' the body by closing the recessed space for the rear fenders. A speedster does not need a bucket seat so I decided to use that space for the spare wheel. Wind resistance, speed, you know... As usual I do some research before I start a new model and when I found some real nice pictures of a stock Model A speedster I suddenly realized that the Model A had some serious details hidden underneath the fender assembly. The normal and emergency brake rods...! Darn, I could have used that information for my Model A chassis. But I decided to give the Speedster the details it needed. After all, they are in plain sight <sigh>... It did cost me a week to figure out how all the brake 'things' were connected, but I think I got it right now. Phew... The brake rods are from 1 mm styrene and the support brackets are the railing struts from a 1/72 scale bailey bridge (bought many, many years ago for another project). It did cost me another week to get all parts together, but it looks very cool... And to make a model builders life even more complicated I decided not to use the stock windshield as it was, sitting upright, but to make a 'folding down' windscreen. Not a fake one, but a real working one! Just for the fun of seeing it actually folding down neatly. You really don't want to have that extra wind resistance when you're a driving a speedster...<g> The 'hinges' are two pins (with 'chrome' heads) from the needle basket. The headlamps look custom, but they are actually the stock version. I simply removed the middle part of the bar which connects the two headlamps. The now two separate headlamps were switched from left to right and vice versa. I then used the original mounting pins (which should be placed in holes in the fenders) to mount them on the chassis. The pins were a bit too large so I had to scrape away enough material to get a 1 mm pin for which I had to make a 1 mm hole in a 2 mm wide chassis member. Phew again... Talking about a painstaking job. As a finishing touch I added an old style louvered panel below the radiator. When I started this job my intention was to use no custom parts, just to see if I could build a stock speedster from stock parts. And I think it's looking just right, all stock parts, just like a youngster could have build it in the early '30's. |
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