Channeled Deuce Bellypan Roadster No.2 - W.I.P - Updated 11-28

After stumbling around for a few days trying to figure out what to start next I?ve settled on another attempt at a full bellypan channeled Deuce roadster. One of my favorite hot rods of all time is the Bob Longman channeled ?32 Ford Roadster featured starting on page 28 of the July 1952 issue of Hop Up (or pg. 552 of Hop, The First 12 Issues).:

I did my first attempt at a bellypanned channeled Deuce roadster about 18 months ago. It resulted in a build which, while it looked OK, just wasn?t low enough, and, after an awful lot of work on my part had a bellypan that hardly showed. The stance was a little tail-dragging for my taste, too. Here are some pics:

 

I?m sure you can see what I?m referring to. It?s way too tall and awkward compared to my inspiration. That build was based on the 1/24 Monogram ?32 Roadster (recently re-released) and had a fake chassis glued to the sides of the body and no drive train behind the engine.

This time I?m using the Revell 1/25 kit and will attempt a more detailed build. For starters here?s a mockup of the assembled Revell Deuce roadster body. The bellypan has been ?painted? in using Photoshop as a general guide for the fabrication I?ll have to do. My plan is to make a z?d frame channeled so that the bottom of the rails are just inside the body line and then add styrene below it to make the belly pan. The rails will be pinched so that they finish up hidden behind the grill shell. There?s no discussion in the Hop Up magazine article about how the front axle is mounted, but it appears that the frame rails end on either side of the shell, implying a standard crossmember mount rather than a suicide setup. My model will have a full rear roll pan and be flathead powered, like the Longman car. Here?s the mockup:

Despite the fact that this is my second go-round on a bellypanned Deuce, something tells me this will be a challenging build. While it?s not my intention to build a perfect replica, I hope I can capture the graceful lines and simplicity of the original.

Thanx for lookin?, B.

Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/thread/918816.aspx

Hans Herrmann Francois Hesnault Hans Heyer Damon Hill Graham Hill