Revell

1/24 1936 Ford 2 'n 1 Convertible/Coupe

Kit Number: : 85-4227

Reviewed by  Steve Jahnke, IPMS# 34991

MSRP: $22.95 Website: www.revell.com/model-kits/cars/85-4227.html Ford Motor Company turned out quite a few noteworthy and strikingly beautiful automobiles during the pre-World War II years of 1932-1939. Speaking from a twenty-first century prospective, some of the most beautiful Fords of the period were the '32 and '34 Fords. My personal favorites are the '36 and '37 models. Revell understands the timelessness of these great Fords by continuing to bring forth new additions and upgrades to these favorites. The Kit This kit is a re-release of the 1936 coupe/cabriolet model that dates back to the late 80's, and that doesn't make it all that bad. As the kit name implies, it can be built as a coupe or convertible. With either body style you get (or are stuck with) an operating rumble seat. The rumble seat was something our parents or grandparents thought were the bees-knees to be in with their sweetheart. It is nostalgic in concept, but somewhat rudimentary in execution. On the very bright side, Revell has added a number of new parts that make this kit worth adding to your collection for a number of reasons. The silver and purple coupe illustrated on the cover is rather striking and foretells of new and interesting nostalgic speed and styling parts in the box. A large part of my pre-build process is to scour the internet for pictures of the car I am modeling to get color and design ideas. These old cars offer a terrific pallet as a starting point. Part of my research uncovered Jack Calori's customized 1936 Ford coupe. Sure enough Revell included some of the styling cues and parts of the Calori car in this kit! Newly tooled parts to this kit include: a 1939 LaSalle 'Horse Collar" grille and surround, Buick tear-drop fender skirts, 1941 Hudson taillights, and 1940 Chevrolet headlights. These were all hot customizing items in 1948 when this car was done. As a side bar, the real restored Calori 36 Ford won best in class at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance. The Build I enjoy the classy look of the cabriolet, so that part of the build was a proverbial no-brainer. I wanted to build this little beauty as it might be built today as in a late 40's early 50's style. That meant not using the large 20" wheels and rubber band tires that are also included in the kit. So we are in the game with the small wide whitewall tires and steel wheels. In the late 50's and 60's there was a popular hot rod saying "that if it didn't go, chrome it" and that was cool with me. That became my mantra as I started picking parts off of the parts trees to "chrome" plate with Alclad II Chrome lacquer, see my 'chroming' before and after pictures. That meant chroming the steely wheel fronts and rears, the front 'dropped' and rear axles, dash, steering column and the radiator expansion tank for starters. As mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of time looking for a cool color combination for my 36, finally deciding on a primary color of GM Bright Turquoise over Testors White Lightning Pearl lacquer over Testors Ford Wimbledon White lacquer for the interior.

The engineering of the kit shows its age by the parts count and its ease of assembly. For the most part, the kit goes together quite well with only a few very minor hitches. The body to fender to chassis fit could have been engineered better. (Currently friction fit holds everything together.) The rumble-seat area inside the body could be improved upon as well. I was quite pleased with how Henry's flathead V8 came out; at first I was a little confused with origin of the newly tooled chrome plated heads included in the kit. I am quite familiar with Ardun OHV and Edelbrock finned heads of the era, but not these until I found the Calori car as mentioned earlier. The kit heads turned out to look a lot like those on the car and manufactured by Eddie Meyer. How is that for fun facts about this kit? Conclusion Overall I am very happy with the look of this car, ease of building and the amount of parts available in the kit to build additional variants. I congratulate Revell for bringing back this classic kit with additional and newly tooled period-authentic speed and customizing parts. It was a lot of fun and looks sharp in my collection. Thank you to Revell and IPMS/USA for the review kit.