Model T 1913 Speedster WIP ( Done 4/30/22)

Looks like fun.  I'm curious about the ICM auto kits so I'll be following along.  Did the kit come with decals or are you doing your own pinstriping?

keavdog

Looks like fun.  I'm curious about the ICM auto kits so I'll be following along.  Did the kit come with decals or are you doing your own pinstriping?

 

Hey John, thanks for following!

To answer your question, no, there are no decals. And THAT brings up a great point! For the pinstripes, ICM created raised relief. To be honest with you, I thought that this was an ICM thing to help with painting. But since you raised this question, I checked my photo library and I'll be danged, the original car had the same raised relief. You will see later how I dealt with this issue and at the time, I was wishing they did decals instead. To ICMs credit, they did it right!

Here is a photo of an actual car. Your can see relief on the fenders. It would have been nice though if ICM included decals for the chairs. Notice the pinstripe on the outer portion of seats. 

The engine color is a custom mix of Tamiya black and white.  Below is an image of an actual Model T engine. I wanted to loosely match that. Depending on what a person is trying to capture-- it varies tremendously from car to car. From a new car to restored.

The instructions call for rust on the manifold. SO...I did. The base color is Alclad aluminum, the rust is MM Burt Sienna that I dry brushed.

I chopped off the exhaust because I knew it would be tough to install later and installing it sooner would lead to it breaking off all the time.

The filler cap is Alclad brass.

The sparkplugs are Tamiya white.

The fan belt and radiator hose section were painted with an AK Brown of some sort. I grab what I have in the stash if it matches what I am looking for. I dry brushed a darker mix of it to knock down the newness. Basically-- I am looking for an engine that is somewhat used.

End of update

And here is an image with a rusty manifold.

Looks spot on according to your ref pics.  You have to do the plug wires :)

keavdog

Looks spot on according to your ref pics.  You have to do the plug wires :)

 

Installing wires will be the next update. 

Great. See Johnnyks 8c2300 build thread re vintage plug wires

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/t/189497.aspx

keavdog

Great. See Johnnyks 8c2300 build thread re vintage plug wires

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/t/189497.aspx 

Oh yeah. I was following that thread, even commented on it. Great build.  That being a 1/12 scale, my wiring will be a bit more crude. Lol.

Excellent job so far.  I am in the process of doing a 1/35 ICM 1917 T touring car for a diorama.  If you can, find a copy of the Jan./Feb. issue of Vintage Truck magazine at a bookstore or store.  It has an article of an unrestored original 1923 T which could be useful for you.

richs26

Excellent job so far.  I am in the process of doing a 1/35 ICM 1917 T touring car for a diorama.  If you can, find a copy of the Jan./Feb. issue of Vintage Truck magazine at a bookstore or store.  It has an article of an unrestored original 1923 T which could be useful for you.

 

Thanks for the tip about the vintage truck mag. I will look into it. And thanks for the comment too...

Is this the one you are building?

Hi;

 Aha! You get it! The raised relief was used as a stiffener near fender edges. Would've been nice if they had done that down the center-front to back- on Pinto Front fenders

Looks great!

I built that kit about a year ago, and was very satisfied.  I would recommend it to anyone other than a novice builder.  ICM kits remind me of Heller kits- never mold a piece in one piece when you can mold it in three or four.  Lots of parts, though their fit is excellent, as is detail.

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

 Aha! You get it! The raised relief was used as a stiffener near fender edges. Would've been nice if they had done that down the center-front to back- on Pinto Front fenders

 

Hey TB. I forgot that you were alive back then. Lol. Just kidding!!! Had to throw that in there based on our other conversation.

Hey thanks for that tidbit. I did not know that is why they did that! And I thought it was just for looks. When I get to posting about my wiring you might educate me further on that. You will know what I am talking about when I post it.

missileman2000

Looks great!

Thanks Don!

missileman2000

I built that kit about a year ago, and was very satisfied.

missileman2000

  never mold a piece in one piece when you can mold it in three or four. 

missileman2000

their fit is excellent, as is detail.

Good to see you back at it, Steve.

I seem to have become interested in vintage cars lately, so I'll look forward to watching your progress on this for sure.

I vaguely remember building a Model-T as a kid.

Greg

Good to see you back at it, Steve.

I seem to have become interested in vintage cars lately, so I'll look forward to watching your progress on this for sure.

I vaguely remember building a Model-T as a kid.

 

Thanks, Greg. It's good to be back. Nothing better to get a persons mind off trouble than to build a model.

I hope you enjoy the journey with me then.

Yeah as a kid I built a model T or maybe it was a model A. I remember the fenders were more rounded. I was playing with it in my parents car and left it on the dash. Came back later and the model was somewhat melted. I thought it looked cool.

Here is the next step in my wiring consideration. And this is where some of you might educate me. Below is an image of what is probably a very early model firewall. Wiring goes from the plugs to what appears to be insulated connection points mounted directly on the firewall. Any knowledge on how that system worked would be interesting to me. There must be a coil in there somewhere, perhaps on the passenger side of the firewall. And how was timing accompolished? In some other images I found they have a more modern distributor at the front of the engine. Perhaps a later adaption? Wires are then routed to the distributor. 

In any event, I am going with the firewall version. 

With distributor.

Below is how I am doing it. I cut and glued short pieces of Evergreen styrene rod. I will attach my wires to those as in the first image above.

Looking great !

I built my first T when I was about 10yo,don't know the brand or scale but it was bigger than the 1/32 kits I had been building. That would have been 1960 or so. I also built a couple AMT T's, the pickup that was out back then around 1960ish, I may have been 11 so 1961. Then a roadster same brand. None of those got paint lol. But I built a couple T buckets that did. And finally my last T was the Monogram Big T in 1/8 scale. Thats it for Ts in my life, except one HO scale cab over truck I did 30 or so years ago.

With all the exotic cars out and old kits of the big classic cars of the 30's and all, there still is the little T that is aluring to this day.

You are doing it correctly as that photo shows an aftermarket distributor added later as a hop-up part.  The other side of the firewall has the coil box next to the steering wheel.  The T used a wooden-boxed coil for each cylinder.

And, that is the T I am doing.  Have to move the steering wheel to the proper side, and will be farmerizing the rear by adding a truck box with cutting off the rear doors.

Nice find!  Not only is it accurate according to rich but it's way way more interesting. 

keavdog

 it's way way more interesting. 

richs26

You are doing it correctly as that photo shows an aftermarket distributor added later as a hop-up part.  The other side of the firewall has the coil box next to the steering wheel.  The T used a wooden-boxed coil for each cylinder.

And, that is the T I am doing.  Have to move the steering wheel to the proper side, and will be farmerizing the rear by adding a truck box with cutting off the rear doors.

 

Thanks for explaining that. I suspected one of the boxes might hold a coil and you are saying there is one for each cylinder! Very interesting. Do you have any thoughts on how spark timing was controlled? I am probably missing something very basic. I am a curious sort. 

Your project sounds awesome. How far along are you?

oldermodelguy

Looking great ! 

oldermodelguy

And finally my last T was the Monogram Big T in 1/8 scale.  

oldermodelguy

 With all the exotic cars out and old kits of the big classic cars of the 30's and all, there still is the little T that is aluring to this day. 

The points were on top of each coil shown here in this repair manual:

http://www.cimorelli.com/mtdl/servicemanual/1925smcolor.pdf

https://www.mtfca.com/books/1926Inst.htm

https://www.mtfca.com/books/1911Inst.htm

 Edit: it did have a very rudimentary distributor called a timer which broke the spark like a more modern distributor:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/app.php/gallery/album/9

richs26

The points were on top of each coil shown here in this repair manual:

http://www.cimorelli.com/mtdl/servicemanual/1925smcolor.pdf

https://www.mtfca.com/books/1926Inst.htm

https://www.mtfca.com/books/1911Inst.htm

 Edit: it did have a very rudimentary distributor called a timer which broke the spark like a more modern distributor:

https://www.mtfca.com/phpBB3/app.php/gallery/album/9

 

Say Rich, this is an awesome find. I never thought a manual would exist. You have advanced my understanding by leaps and bounds of how these early cars worked. That is awesome. You get a gold star for the day!

I mentioned simplicity, but in reading the manual, running the car maybe not so simple. Lol. Still, what fun.

Bakster

 

I mentioned simplicity, but in reading the manual, running the car maybe not so simple. Lol. Still, what fun.

 

Back in the day you stepped miles ahead in going from a T to an A or even more so a B ( 1932 especially so with the Flathead V8). The T was labor intensive to keep running, from filing babbit bearings mid trip to even re pouring your own Babbit bearings at home. Not to mention in the early ones you could break your arm or rip tendons( literally) if you forgot to move the timing lever before hand cranking the engine to start it.

Bakster

I was playing with it in my parents car and left it on the dash. Came back later and the model was somewhat melted. I thought it looked cool.

Ha!

Imagine your average driver today being responsible for adjusting their timing in the cockpit of their car