Rat Roaster Revisited

[BERNARD "HOT ROD" KRON]

Revell Stacey David Rat Roaster Revisited
(More pictures below)

Revell’s hotly anticipated revision of its venerable ’32 Ford Highboy Roadster kit, a replica of television personality Stacey David’s flashy Rat Roaster street rod was received with much discussion and controversy. Many were impressed with the new parts (particularly the wheels and tires) and modern small block Chevy motor. Others were disappointed that Revell didn’t go all the way and revise the suspension to copy the I-beam front end and sophisticated trailing link rear end of the 1:1. The interior, too, while very striking and highly stylized, was sure to be controversial and hardly universal in its appeal.

But with the old roadster kit no longer in production, and with Revell finally offering an alternative to the dreaded “Wide Fronts” (tires) which have blighted the front end of all their Deuce variants to date, there was much to like about the kit and initial sales have been brisk to say the least.

Personally, I was like most modelers, conflicted with The Good (the tires and wheels, the stock style firewall, the fact that a roadster is back in production, the SBC motor, the nice dashboard, the hairpins and the chopped windshield), The Bad (the air bag rear end which refuses to die, the absence of the 1:1’s I-beam front suspension, the fact that the wheel/tire system is not compatible with most other kits’ wheels and tires, the notched frame rails to accommodate the exhaust pipes’ connection to the sidepipes, the Rat Roaster specific body modifications, particularly to the rear end, etc.) and the Ugly (the porthole infected hood, the wimpy little seats, the disappointing blower and carb setup, the integrated disc brake/front fender bracket system, etc.). So I decided to address the “issues” and see if I couldn’t come up with a version that was more to my taste while sticking as close as possible to the 1:1.

Surprisingly, I landed up making only a relatively small number of modifications which I think result in a significantly different take on this car. The overall theme exploits the sprint car style elements of the 1:1 while deleting many of the cornier rock ‘n’ roll and hotrod/kustom kar themes. Listed below are the changes I made.

Motor: Deleted the blower and carb setup and substituted sprint car style Hilborn injectors and K&N conical filters courtesy of TJ’s Custom Castings ( stores.tjscustomcastings.com/StoreFront.bok )
Interior: Drilled out all the fake holes so they’re real now, and substituted replica Speedway Motors drilled out bomber seats courtesy of ThePartsBox.com ( www.thepartsbox.com/ ). Finished the bare metal areas in Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate. Made a standard ball shift lever to replace the microphone shift knob (!).
Bodywork: Deleted the fenders. Substituted a stock hood. Substituted teardrop style rear railights.
Chassis: Lowered the front suspension to increase the rake by shaving four leaves off the front spring.
Paint and finishing: Main body color is Duplicolor #E8801589 Nightshadow Pearl metallic blue over white primer and Duplicolor Silver base. Chassis finished in body color with Duplicolor Silver floor panels. Wheel centers finished in Testors Metalizer Magnesium.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.









Here are some more conventional white background photos:

[JOE66]

Looks great Bernard, those subtle changes make a big difference.

[BERT "THE CRUSHER"]

I'm diggin' it. I can't seam to pull the trigger on this kit. I just might have to. Nice Work!

[BERNARD "HOT ROD" KRON]

It's been a while since I posted this and I've never said Thanx! for the kind comments. So... thanx.

As pointed out, the changes I made were pretty conservative and low key, serving to tone down Stacey David's original concept, so perhaps it's not all that flashy, but of my recent projects I still find this one one of the more satisfying ones from the point of view of whether I pulled off what I was trying to get done.

Bert, the kit has a tendency to tie your hands a bit, with not a whole lot of options beyond the look and feel of the 1:1, so I'd suggest scratching around in your parts box to get a little more freedom. For me it was drilling out the fake holes and substituting the seats that got me going. The hardest part was abandoning the top side of the kit engine and coming up with a decent substitution. But the basic kit is excellent and it's hard not to come out with something decent from it.

Thanx again for the appreciation!
B.