Hot Rods First Look - Revell's new '29A Traditional Hot Rod Roadster Kit

For those of you who enjoy looking at and/or building hot rod Model Cars, Revell has just introduced what will go down in history as one of the finest 1/25th scale hot rod model kits ever brought to the market.



Picking up right where their enormously successful 1932 Ford Street Rod Series kits left off, this kit includes a Nailhead V8 (probably the best one ever put in a kit) with two build versions, and it has a ton of parts to provide both a Highboy style/'Deuce frame version, and a channeled, lowboy build version on a Z'ed Model A frame. Builders are also offered a choice of three headlamp styles, two steering wheels, two different tailamp setups. There are also extra parts that point to a second version of the basic kit tool down the road (rumored to be a chopped '31 Model A Coupe).



I've posted a detailed on-line walk-thru of the kit, sort of what like I'd do if I were still authoring the Modeler's Corner gig in Street Rodder magazine, except about 10 times more in depth. It includes a look at the parts on every single parts tree in the kit, each page of the kit assembly instructions, a comparison of the body to the one in the old AMT Ala Kart/'29A Roadster Double Kit that many of you built yourself back in the day, and a critique of the just the three things I'd have done differently if I designed the kit.

If you've been away from the hobby since you were a kid, you'll be amazed at how kit design and technology has progressed since then. Just one example? Checkout the fuel block and eight individual fuel lines for the Hilborn fuel injected build version of the Nailhead V8 engine....



So if you're even modestly interested or intrigued about the subject, click on this link and enjoy the review. http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/first-look-at-all-n/first-detailed-look/first-detailed-look/ (I recommend you use Fotki's "Roll" feature, which allows you to quickly scroll through the presentation while reading the commentary below each photo.)



Thanks for looking....TIM BOYD

 

N I C E. GREAT review! But, given my age and eyesight... I'll be one of the builders in the "hell freezes over" line - waiting for the 1/8th scale version. Gary

 

Man I have to get a few of those. Ive been away from building for many years. At one time models were my passion with a few being featured in Scale auto magazine.

 

pretty damn cool

 

Hi Tim! Long time no see. Hope you're doing well. Glad you're still at it. I haven't modeled in a long time.
Kevin Kovach

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the Roadster kit. Every now and then I'll still put together a kit or two. Here's a recent one. Revell '57 Ford Sedan.

 

I really like to detail the underside.

 

Thanks for posting your review! I expect this to be a very popular kit with life time modelers. I will buy a couple of the kits and hopefully find time to assemble them in the near future. I am also hoping the will release a kit version in the near future.

 

Tim,
Thanks for the review, I spent a while checking it out last night. Lots of goodness packed into that box. I see a lot of parts robbing and kitbashing in the future.

 

Nice work! That view really shows the "cowbelly" frame design on the old Fords. I need to get their new Del Rio wagon and start on that soon.

 

I hope the coupe comes along.

 

EXCELLENT review on the Fotki thing!
The anticipation building up around this kit reminds me of the early '60's...the Bud Anderson AMT column in all the car magazines would give details of an upcoming kit, like the '34 pickup and the '36 roadster/coupe kit, each one pushing the detail envelope of the early Trophy Series kits out further and further...I would go NUTS waiting. My Grandfather and I loved road trips together, and I could get him to hit the highway and we'd enquire at every store with kits that we could find, always without results because the blasted kits were stll months from release. I'd be practically foaming at the mouth by the time they actually appeared...

 

Bruce....I completely share your point of view on this one...I bet a bunch of us here can say "been there, done that".

I often tell people that today is the third golden age of the model car building hobby, and kits like this one - and the reaction that they provoke, as you've detailed so well - are a key reason why. Of course, the 1/1 scale "traditional hot rod" movement is also a big part of the reason.

Cheers...TIM

 

Double Dragster, '29 Ford/AlaKart double, '25 T double kit...some oddities like a Buick Special that came with a trailer holding a detailed 392...those were some that were so good they locked up my brain. I would spend hours just looking at all the neat stuff in the box.

 

Very Cool...!

 

I started out with the old balsa car kits...then Revell 'Highway Pioneers' 1/32 scale kits.
Made a model of Art Chrisman's '29 'A' Tudor from a much 'bashed' '15 Center door T sedan...
But then...AMT came out with a Giant size '39 Ford Tudor, in mammoth 1/25 scale! Then the '40 Coupe, and the '32 roadster...
I couldn't get over the tooling it took to make scale parts! (more evident in the late '60s, and '70s)
Engines and parts were recognizable, just like the real thing!
I once just placed a lot (a LOT!) of parts (transmissions, front and rear axles/pieces, springs, engines) on a small picture-framed 1/4" ply sheet, a scale diorama of my 2 car garage, roadster all apart.

Parts were so accurate some non-modelers thought I must have carved them...

Question, Tim: Is the new '29 roadster cowl close to the former '29 roadster kit...(Revell roadster, or Sundance Express Roadster pickup)?
I'd like a stock '29 firewall...
Thanks for posting this! (I'm a lifer in model cars, same genre as the fullsize...
Is there a HAMB in 1/25?

 

Another recent effort.

 

.............and the underside.

 

I hope they got the valve geometry right on that nail head or there will be a lot of little broken plastic rocker arms.

 

[QUOTE="
Question, Tim: Is the new '29 roadster cowl close to the former '29 roadster kit...(Revell roadster, or Sundance Express Roadster pickup)?
I'd like a stock '29 firewall...
Thanks for posting this! (I'm a lifer in model cars, same genre as the fullsize...
Is there a HAMB in 1/25? [/QUOTE]

********************
Mike...the new Revell Roadster cowl looks like this (left side of picture), compared to the original AMT '29A Roadster/AlaKart Trophy Series Double Kit body on the right.


I just checked the Revell '29A Roadster pickup, and its cowl setup is just like the AMT kit.

I also just realized that the new Revell kit design includes the first plated '29A Windshield frame in a 1/25th scale kit (the AMT and Revell windshield frames, carrying part of the cowl with them, were not plated in those kits.

There's no 1/25th scale equivalent of the HAMB, somewhat sadly I would say... TIM

 

The old AMT RPU kit had a chrome windshield frame.

 

A chopped model A coupe would be nice. Hope that comes soon. I'd build a few.

 

Dean...that's a very cool model project.

If you double check, however, I think you'll find it's based on the 1/24th scale Monogram kit. The original AMT never did a '29 Roadster pickup.

There was a 1/25th scale '29 A Roadster pickup from MPC first introduced in 1966; several decades later it appeared under an AMT-branded release when Ertl owned by the AMT and MPC labels, but I just checked, and that kit doesn't have a plated windshield frame either.

BTW, that Hemi (it appears) looks really sharp under that hood...but I bet it took a major engineering effort to make it fit (just like the real ones!) TIM

 

That is a nice kit.

 

For those that are interested, I have just completed building this kit, straight from the box (other than paint and glue).

I built the Highboy version with the '32 Frame. Here is how it came out...

The Nailhead looks terrific, at least to my eyes....

Here's how it looks underneath. The kit pretty much follows the Traditional Hot Rod Design Aesthetic in every area, other than the Ford diff and coil overs.

Those of you used to old AMT and Revell kits would be amazed at the quality of this kit. The detail blows away those old kits, and the kit practically falls together for any moderately experienced builder. Here's the interior....

I've posted a complete album with 38 photos and captions showing how the kit assembles. If youo'd like to check it out, click here: http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/tim-boyd-on-line-mo/tim-boyd-
on-line-ho-6/

Thanks for your interest, and thanks for looking. Cheers...TIM BOYD

 

Very cool!

 

Just opened my kit up.... WOW!!!!
Can't wait to get started on it....

 

Here are my kit bashed versions of the Revell kits. They were fun to build. It is unfortunate that the coupe kit tooling was damaged. There were only a few made and I have heard nothing so far about the tooling being repaired. I was fortunate that I talked a guy into selling me one of the coupes while at a Goodguys show when they first came out. Otherwise I would not have been able get one.

 

Nice!!!... Thank you for posting those....

 

I think someone did a post on the roadster on the Sunday models thread that showed that there is also a difference the details of the wheel well area of the quarter panels.Fun man since you have both bodies can you show that differences in the two bodies? You did a great job on your roadster!