Some wagon models I have built.

I have been a model car builder since 1968. Starting in 1986 however, I began a line of woody models with the plan to build one example of every Ford woody in 1:25th scale. To date I have a 1928, 30, 32, 36, 38, 40, 41, 48, and 49 either done or nearly done. Some are spread to the winds, most were constructed prior to the advent of the digital photo storage system so it will take time to post pictures of them all. But... here is the first!

The 1941 Wagon began as an article I wrote for Model Cars Magazine back in 1999 explaining how to build a real wood woody using the then new AMT model kit as a basis. All the plastic cast wood has been replaced with real model rail road basswood strip including the roof slats. The bits never got finished initially because they were only for explanation of the process for the article, so in 2005 I finally finished the model kit and built what I call "Driftwood". A semi drag, semi surf/rat rod along the lines of the '33 wagon featured in the movie "That Darned Cat".



All the wood you see in this build is real wood.... albit slightly weathered.
Not all the Woodies I build are like this. Most have shiny coats of paint/varnish, but all are built in very different ways and all to date use real wood for the box.







Unclear here is the engine, but what is installed is a late 50's Desoto Hemi running eight single barrel carbs.





The model currently resides in the collection of Virgil 'Dr. Cranky' Suårez, a noted author and model car builder.



And an illustration of the model done in '02 or '03 which inspired me to build a model of it.

 

Very creative! You're very talented. Post more when you get a chance.:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Thank you guys. I will indeed post more. But first I have to compile more pictures of the built models and will eventually post them all.

But... till then I found this little tidbit.

It is an 1957 Revell Ford Country Squire.
Back in 1989 or so I purchased this unbuilt kit for a cool "C" note, and was happy to get it. You see... Revell issued the kit back in '59 and it has never re-released! The molds were modified in 1960 to replicate a '57 Rancharo. Since then the roof was chopped and the stock wheels, air cleaner and a few other details changed... and has been re-released like that ever since. Unfortunately the molds are incorrect as the doors are too short for a correct Rancharo! You see, Revell erased all the Station wagon lines, molds and parts to make the Rancharo... but, the Country Squire was based on a 4 door wagon. All Rancharo cars are based on the 2 door wagon, and yet Revell never bothered to correct the door length.

So.... even today you can pick up the now chopped-top Street Rod kit. But those with careful eyes can see where in the molds lines were ground off and details changed - so poorly are the changes made.

At any rate, instead of building my rare kit, I decided to purchase a resin version produced by the now defunct "All American Models" and build that.
(Sorry about the dust... not sure why I left it before taking the picture.)

I still have both models so if persuaded, I might be able to pull them from storage and post more pics.

Tomorrow... 1936!

 

Great work Jairus!

I remember seeing that Revell '57 Country Squire kit on the shelves back when I was a kid just starting my model building -around 1961 or so.... I didn't go after it though because I was kind of scared of building it. Friend had an older brother who built it. Man was it complicated - multi-piece body (not like the AMT 1-piece bodys I was used to....)

As to the Basswood you are using - it's a bit hard for me to tell in the photos - how accurate does the 'scale' woodgrain appear, and were there an tricks you used to get the woodgrain to look 'to scale'?

 

Good question!
Scale is realitive and detail in-scale is limited to what you see from a realistic distance. Example: from the curb sometime, look at a wood chair sitting inside the garage (with the light on of course).
Can you see woodgrain? If it is a good oak chair, no! The grain and colors even out into smooth warm brown color and then you start to notice the wood changes slightly from top to bottom and you seen the lighter armrests where the sun has bleached it and the feet are getting darker from dirt and moisture. What I am saying is that in-scale you mostlikely won't see wood grain. Of course that depends largely on what type of wood was used in the construction of the the 1:1 vehicle.
Basswood is a soft wood with long grains which make it easy to work with and much stronger than Balsa (which is more like cork IMO). Sometimes I do lightly brush in extra grain if needed. But like the car posted today the subject was built at Iron Mountan in 1936 out of hard rock maple. Almost no grain shows on the outside. But inside the original car had zebrawood interior panels, which I had to hand paint the grain.

Anyway, here is the 1936 Ford wagon built in 1985. It was also my very first all-wood woodie.





These pictures are scanned slides. No interior photos exist sadly. I have a few black&white slides in storage taken during construction. Might try to find those later. So the pictures were taken on the hood of my '69 Mustang in the bright sunlight with an old SLR with a set of Macro lenses. Which meant that I can only get so close to the subject due to the tiny focal length.




After these were shot I cleaned up the kit rear bumper and had it re-chromed and mounted. The kit part had bumper guards and most of you wagon guys know... you can't have guards if the tailgate is to fully open... So currently the car has it's rear bumper proudly displayed sans guards.



This car was my third build to feature working lights. Head lights, taillight and dash lights all glow when the car is placed on it's display stand. There are small contacts in the rear tires which close the circuit when placed on the like-contacts on the stand. I do this when there is no room for batteries in the vehicle.



The model is based on AMT's 1936 coupe kit built and displayed as a 3 to 5 year old car. So the running boards feature some dirt and the chassis is lightly weathered and the exhaust has some rust.
Chassis, fenders, cowel and running gear are straight out of the box with addition of brake rods, fuel line and basic engine wiring. All the side window glass on the 1:1 car are canvas and plastic curtains which snap into place. I wanted my car to look realistic so I added same with sandwich wrap and paper curtains. The rear panel is actually folded and stored under the roof just as it would on the real car so I could open the tailgate. I wish you could see the roof slats... but the roof is built up with ribs and slats covered with tissue paper and model aircraft dope.
All four doors, tailgate and hood open with home made hinges, with nothing but friction holding them closed unfortunately. I experimented with latches later.



The car is currently residing in the Salt Lake City, Utah Model Car Museum. Been there for more than 25 years now... I think.

Tomorrow... a 1930 Hot Rod slot car Woodie.

 

This forum's members are amazing. There is so much talent amongst all the contributors here that it never ceases to blow me away. These models are nothing short of incredible, Jairus. Hugely impressive work. I can only imagine how much time these must have taken.
Keep the pictures coming.

I used to build models when I was a young teen, mostly AMT's. My taste, thankfully has matured somewhat, as I have a 1966 Lincoln that I painted yellow with a top and purple, yes purple, interior. Don't know what I was thinking other than that the purple must've been the only color I had on hand!

 

Quick trip to storage only managed to score two of the many missing pictures. I know there are more somewhere.
Anyway, here is a poor picture of the roof slats and stored rear 'canvas' panel.


And here is a shot of the underside. The model also features position-able steering and the addition of runningboard braces.
Sharp eyes will note that I failed to change the floor pan from that of a Sedan to the correct stepped Stationwagon. Oh well....

 

-----------Those are great models. I still can't put full sixed photos up on posts. Try as I might.

 

Model Cars

Jairus, those are super great models. Thanks for showing us.

 

About a year ago I built another woodie, making it the most recent. But instead of fully detailing the chassis I went another route and built one from this old magazine.

Incidentally, yesterday I said it was a '30.... well, now that I look again it's actually a '31. (oops)


Don Emmons is still around and I met him at a model car show a while back. His articles always inspired me and this article about building a "Tooling Woodie" got me going. I won't go into the full construction thing because that was posted on Model Cars Mag forum and if anyone is interested, click on the link.

Here are the wood panels being constructed into a box. The sides start out as thin model aircraft plywood with various sizes of model railroad basswood attached using 5 min., epoxy one piece at a time.


The roof is built up same as the original 1:1 car with cross ribs and wood slats, incidentally also made with basswood. That means the 1:1 car utilized Basswood for the slats... check it out!


The chassis is a scratchbuilt brass rod and plate space frame. No great tricks. The motor an unmodified 'padlock' style Kemtron.
The car was not fast but fairly easy to drive around the track.


The finished roof was fiberglass instead of just tissue and dope this time with the plan to go for greater strength. Not to mention a smoother look.




The surf boards are nine foot vintage style long boards that I carved from balsa with mahogany spars. They were coated with fiberglass resin and painted.


The whole assembly also has a nice display stand and now resides in the collection of a noted East Coast Architect and slot car nut.







So... what to show next?

 

The first and the last Ford woodie!
Today I will post a model of what was Henry's first woodie station wagon.
Up to 1928 prior to the introduction of the Model A, all wagon models were known as "Depoe Hacks", i.e. a commercial transport vehicle employed by hotels to move customers to and from the local train station. That is because trains back in the turn of the century were noisy affairs with soot, smells and busy activity. So proper Hotels were usually a distance away so the guests could enjoy a quiet rest.
At any rate... early station wagons were mostly hand built all over the country by various artisans who also constructed.... furniture! Bare chassis were delivered by train to the furniture builder and bodies were constructed and sold by the individual builders. Henry felt he could do a better more consistent job, so starting in 1928 with the intro of the Model A, Ford also released the first Station Wagon! (who coined the name is unknown, but 1928 marks the first advertisment by Ford where the name is in print) All wagon bodies were built, starting in 1928 at Iron Mountain Michigan using nothing but Ford grown and harvested lumber. This would be the standard practice for the next 20 years and Henry could maintain supply and quality control.
You see, prior to 1928 All the Ford cars utilized quite a bit of wood in the body and roof bow construction. Henry had purchased huge tracks of land and established the Iron Mountain facility years previous in order to control supply costs and maintain quality control. As Ford slowly weeded out wood as a structural component in body construction the need arose to keep the industry employed during the mid 20's. So... it was a natural fit.
The last Ford automobile to have any wood used structurally was 1948.
The last Ford wagon to have any wood on the outside was 1951 and then it was only decoration.
The last structural woodie built by a major manufacturer was a 1953 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon.


I built this car as a replica of that first heady year based on a Revell model kit. The original kit was a Pickup truck so everything from the firewall back was left off and like the 1936 wagon... scratchbuilt from basswood and plywood right up to the wood strip and tissue paper'n dope roof.





Like the '36 all doors and hood open with nothing but friction to keep them latched. This car was built in about 1987 and was my second woodie. But no working lights included with this one....



Even the tailgate drops on this one and the restraining straps are scale chain wrapped, just like the 1:1 car! (I used tissue paper where the real wagon used leather). To complete the Depoehack/Stationwagon look, I also originally built a nice steamer truck for the back... but unfortunately when I sent this car to a contest.... it came back with a broken front axle and lost steamer truck. (Damn baggage handlers!)

Next post I will show the "Last true Ford built all wood woodie, the 1948"!

 

Great looking models Jairus.

 

Well, here is a 1/25th scale model of FoMoCo's last all wood structured Woodie. Only 20 years passed with 5 models set aside for WW2, meaning that there were only 15 years of wagons produced at Iron Mountain.



This model was built in 1988 and the theme was an early 60's surf wagon. As you can see, some of the dull coat on the roof has rubbed off from handling. Always a concern...
Revell released a brand new kit of this car in the late 90's and the detailing is one of the best on the market. Just wish they had done it earlier... would have saved me a lot of work. At any rate, this model is based on the very difficult to build IMC 1948 Ford convertible kit. Again, everything from the windshield back was cleared off the chassis except the rear fenders. The rear fenders by the way were re-shaped to remove the taper that normally happens on a Sedan/Convertible rear.



Since this was to be constructed replicating an 14 year old used vehicle, there are layers of grease on the old flatty, dirt on the running gear, oil leaks and bailing wire holding up the exhaust pipe in the back. I didn't rip the seats but they are dirty and there is a little trash on the floors not to mention a couple towels over the seatbacks. I wish I could remember how the hood opens. Was experimenting with latches and for the life of me couldn't get it open for a picture! But... everything opens on this one.



The inner door panels are plywood again and detailed with scratchbuilt arm rests, handles and cranks.









I experimented on this one with wood grain staining which takes place around the steel body assembly bolts...


Anyway... I liked building this one the best of all the wagons I have constructed and it remains in my collection because of that reason.

 

Wow that's some really good work.
Are those kitty pawprints on the engine hood? How 'bout a close-up!