alan barton

Mike, I personally don't believe that a collector would hunt you down for that body. They want mint, unmolested. Yours has already had one or two lifetimes, you are simply going to give it a third! Or, on a more mercenary angle, if you were to die tomorrow, that body will get thrown out by your family. Guaranteed. On the other hand, if you had done a nice upgrade, it would be displayed in your memory and may last many more decades. See, you saved it! Now stop wasting time and start building! Cheers Alan

I'm not sure if this is the type of info you are looking for but here are some of my general opinions about radiator detailing. First, radiator tanks are almost always stamped in one piece so carefully sanding off the mould line that generally runs across the centre goes a long way here. It also pays to add some small round stubs of styrene rod or tube for the radiator hose inlets and the filler neck. In my opinion, most model companies do a great job of moulding radiator fins and I am not sure why anyone would want to use mesh to replace it. Some are better than others so it doesn't hurt to search through your stash because you can always cut something down if necessary. AMT 1/25th scale truck radiators are a great source for this. You can only see through a radiator if you are sitting exactly at eye height to the radiator and with a strong light behind it, maybe with the hood up on a sunny day. The rest of the time, the radiator looks solid. I recall seeing models in magazines where the modeller had proudly detailed his radiator core by making it from layers of fly screen - and that's what it looked like! Most modellers, me included, paint their radiators flat black but lately I have been trying semi gloss black. Most radiator shops paint the radiator a fairly high gloss black when you get it back from them but this never looks right in 1/25th scale. Finally, many modellers paint the top tank in a copper or brass colour. I have never worked out why! Having been attending car shows in four countries for nearly 50 years, it is extremely unusual for someone to do that, (ie, polish the top tank) except of course on a brass era car. And for good reason - black works better! In modern times, aluminium radiators have become popular in performance applications so you do see some silver ones - Tamiya Polished aluminium spray is a good match here. Hope that helps a little Cheers Alan

Wow, that is slick. That has to be one of the best "through the scale window" shots I have ever seen - your interior work is phenomenal. I have used that Champagne Gold metallic before and it can be challenging! Wouldn't have thought of it for a 40 but seeing yours has me thinking abut putting it on a 48 coupe. Cheers Alan

Some awesome photos in this post - thanks for starting it Snake. Like you, I can't say I have ever heard of anyone referring to this design. Slingshot would have been perfect if it hadn't continued on to cover the evolution of all front engined dragsters from that time forward. Dog sled is growing on me! Cheers Alan

Love the small headlights. I like big headlights as well but it seems like for the past decade or say every nostalgia build has had the big ones - these suit the build perfectly! I also enjoyed your grey and white colour scheme for the interior. That is a nice bunch of parts you used in there to bring it to life! Cheers Alan

Roger, I know I reckoned you should give it a rebuild but that is very, very nice. A beautifully sensitive restoration. Cheers Alan

When they say, "And now, for your viewing pleasure," this is what the mean. When you can look at a custom that someone else built and think "wouldn't change a thing", that just says how beautifully balanced this custom is. A real credit to you Steve. Perfect chop, luscious fade-away, impressive engine detailing, beautiful taillight , pure eye candy! Cheers Alan

You used to see displays like this in Model Car Science all the time! This one looks fabulous and is a perfect enhancement to the model on display. Era perfect too! Some years ago my club did a display at our NNL on a 4x8 sheet of ply. There were over forty cars on display in a modular show setting and it looked stupendous. I tried to float the idea of an international modular show display, like the N scale railroaders do, when I used to post on the other Forum but the idea sunk without a trace. Maybe it's time to get it going again? I'll see if I can find some photos to show what we did. Great work Rodney, inspiration galore right here! Cheers Alan

Wow, I had no idea this thread would attract so many high quality and interesting builds. I've still got a few left in my stash, might have to get onto them also. Bill, love your Kiwi Kars! I have been psyching myself up to do a grey paint job for a while - your coupe might just put me over the edge! Cheers Alan

The colour really suits your build and the lowering paid off in spades! Cheers Alan

Did this one start as the ZZ Top kit? I have a mate who drives a very similar one, just with a flathead instead of a hemi head! Cheers Alan

Those additional touches make it perfect now! Cheers Alan

I don't know where to start with this one! You took a bunch of parts and proportions that on paper would sound OMG to the max but it looks like it should have been that way all along. I'd love to see a shiny version, just for a contrast. One thing that tripped my eye up just slightly in its journey from front to rear was the rusty side pipes. I wonder if a set of covers made from a really fine mesh would smooth out the journey? Anyhow, that's just my opinion. I think it is a wildly creative model and a really fresh look at some old parts. Who knew Centrelines from the seventies could look so appropriate in the 2020s? Cheers Alan

Yeah, that works! I get that you wanted to keep it simple and I think you did that exceptionally well but boy, I would love to see it with a chopped carson top. Then it would go from being great to stellar, at least in my eyes. Your bodywork on all those louvred panels is exceptional. Cheers Alan

Wow, I love what you did here, not just because it is a beautiful model with a unique character like everyone else has said, but also because I have already severed the front off a woodie to tackle the same conversion. In contrast to yours, mine will be a taildragger custom but your execution and your tips will be a great help when I start mine. Thanks for that! Cheers Alan

That works so well. A very believable conversion and the colour is a natural for it. Cheers Alan

That's pretty cool. It reminds me of the box art on the original Aurora 34 Five window kit. Cheers Alan

Just working on these models myself so it is good to see how another modeller interprets them. I particularly like your blue altered dragster. In the rear shot, I notice you have your rear fenders at two different heights. Trying two different looks or did one slip/ Don't worry, I only noticed it because it ahppened to me once! Cheers Alan

If Doyle Gammel had built a 5 window instead of a three window ............... this would have been it! Beautiful work Dennis, everything just flows with no one feature overshadowing any other feature. A great rod. Cheers Alan

It is models like these that make this such a great site to visit. Thank you for sharing your amazing workmanship with us all, Mike, and thank you for building such a cool subject! Both of them actually! We had an FED here in Australia that ran an injected Hemi and driven by John Maher.back in the early seventies and this model sure brings back memories. Cheers Alan

Just to be the devil's advocate, while this is a reasonable build, it is not an exciting build. It's a typical paint and glue job from a careful builder back in the day but doesn't tell you anything about the builder. If it had been a radical custom or a nice shop truck with a trailer hitched up or a rear engined funnycar with a forward tilting body (hey, it could have happened!) then I might leave it alone. But as a basic, kinda funky looking old red Ranchero, and considering your desire to have one in your collection, I would call it a ripe candidate for rebuilding. But like Snake said, if you are as busy with other projects as most of us are, why not leave it to smell the roses for six months or so and then have another look at it. Either way, it is great that you finally found one. I have one of each, chopped and stock, but have begun unchopping the chopped one because it just isn't pretty. It uses an unstretched roof "lid" the same as the stock one so the rest of the chop really suffers as a result. The unchopped version you have is definitely the one to chase! Cheers Alan

Firstly, thanks to everyone, JC and Mike in particular, for some great ideas here. I build a lot of racecars and scratchbuilt rollcages just go with the territory. One idea I gleaned from another site many years ago was to determine where the cage is going to touch the floor of your car and then drill four holes at those locations to match the size of the Evergreen 222 ( my favourite as well!). You then start construction by first inserting oversize lengths of styrene through those holes. As you cage takes shape, you can pop the body onto the chassis and push the cage structure up as tight as it will go into the roof, then put drops of glue at the floor junction. When it's all nice and dry, snip off the excess lengths below the floor, sand and paint! This technique gives you a solid foundation to work - it is as if the floor is your jig! It also guarantees that you won't finish up with the dreaded "rollcage half way through the driver's window" look. It makes me groan every time I see a model where this has happened.

I am a big fan of K&S aluminium tubing and especially the fact that it telescopes inside each successive size. Driveshafts, exhaust systems and mufflers, fully detailed steering columns are a doddle with K&S. And then, to hang say a steering column or exhaust, you just use a small bit of styrene with a hole drilled through it to attach the aluminium to the plastic model. I couldn't scratchbuild without this stuff. As for issues, trying to hold tiny parts is my biggest issue - oh yeah, and seeing them in the first place! Cheers Alan

Thanks David, good to know someone from the Pontiac camp is OK with it. Cheers Alan

To cut a classic 40 coupe up that much and still retain eye-pleasing proportions takes some serious talent! The white firewall works well with the whitewall tyres and I am in awe of how cleanly you painted them! Cheers Alan