A little background first....
Gowland & Gowland (England) was one of the early plastic scale modeling companies. Gowland & Gowland designed 30 kits which Revell issued as the Highway Pioneers series from 1951 thru 1953.
Highway Pioneers Series Two, 1/32 scale, featured these five cars molded in ( ):
1908 Buick "10" Rumble (red)
1914 Stutz Bearcat (yellow)
1915 Model "T" Ford Sedan (black)
1910 Studebaker Electric Coupe (green)
1910 Cadillac Limousine (light blue)- 2 copies
These models had been built in the late 50s and put away in the hot attic in 1961. They remained there until 2007. All those years(46!) in the attic had totally warped and disfigured the models. The Studebaker's smaller parts had literally crumbled into powder, and its mangled body shed countless slivers of decayed plastic. The Studebaker's so-called "body" might be a subject of a future diorama as it is absolute junk, with no possibility of ever restoring.
After completing the redo of one of the two 1910 Cadillac Limousines, the 1915 Ford Model "T" Center Door Sedan and the 1914 Stutz Bearcat, I began working on the 1908 Buick Model 10 Rumble.
"The 1908 Buick Model 10 Rumble was a two-seater up front with an additional back single seat or "rumble" seat in the rear. This back seat was popularly called the “mother-in-law” seat. The Buick's four-cylinder (cast in pairs) engine produced 18 horsepower. It had a 92 inch wheelbase and a planetary transmission."
This model was warped and disfigured, but not as badly as the previous ones. It was on the workbench a goodly amount of time because of its warped nature, missing parts and my inability to determine what particular parts were on the original 1:1 Buick Model 10 and what parts were or were not included in the original model kit as the kit's instruction sheet was unavailable. Specifically I struggled with the question of the windshield, its support brackets and the top- how they were configured on the 1:1 car. As per the internet, there are photos of multiple variations. I opted to scratch build a windshield and brackets for the top as a complete unit that is removable, thereby leaving the "hot rod" runabout version topless and with no windscreen. However, due to space necessary for measuring and positioning the windshield brackets, the two "running lanterns" located on the cowl will now not fit, so they are absent on the top up version although they could be mounted on the "hot rod" version permanently. This would then nix ever using the top, though.
One headlight, a running lantern and the gear shift mechanism were all cast in water putty from an original part. The front axle is plastic sprue and the lower springs are strips of aluminum as all these critical pieces were missing. The original rumble seat was missing, too, so a scrap piece of plastic had cut straight pins applied to the seating area to mimic a slight tuck and roll look similar to the front seats. Black elecrical tape serves as a mat on the running boards. Fine copper wire and craft wire serve as brackets and supports for the top. The only disappointment is that the top cannot fit if the running lanterns are mounted to the cowl. Otherwise, the entire lengthy and tedious process was an enjoyable project.
Suppose the final decision is: top up without running lanterns in formal mode OR top down with running lanterns affixed in hot rod mode?
Thanks for looking....
Hot Rod without running lanterns:
Hot Rod with running lanterns:
