mr moto

Whether or not Bondo #801 is discontinued (I think it is), I can't find it anywhere. Evercoat #105021 seems to be the nearest thing and it's available at my local Auto Zone, O'Reilly, etc. at a reasonable price for hobby use. It comes packaged with a small tube of blue hardener and works at least as well as the old two part Bondo. It's all I use now.

Thanks again to everybody! A double "thank you" to Claude T. I've always admired your work, Claude.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Your comments are very much appreciated. It was a long troublesome build but now I feel better. The comment about the ACD Museum is especially appreciated. I've been there and it contains enough inspiration for a lifetime. Don't miss it if you ever have a chance!

So the concept here is that this is a 1937 Cord with a "coach-built" custom body as might have been done for a well-heeled customer in 1937 - NOT any kind of a modern custom. In those days the wealthy often had the factory send their car or a bare chassis to a coach-building firm to fitted with a one-of-a-kind body built to the purchaser's liking. This one has been built to the liking of my imagination. It's a lot cheaper that way! The starter kit is the Monogram 1/24 Cord with a slightly chopped roof from the AMT 1940 Ford coupe grafted on. You can see that the door lines were re-cut to match the new roof and to give a new look. It also got some new rear fenders (that are actually front fenders from another Cord kit) just to give it a longer smoother look similar to the Cord sedans. That's the story on the overall look and here are a few in-progress shots and then a look at the final result. Notice that a "golf door" was added. Those were often seen on sporting cars (especially speedsters) that wealthy owners would take to Country Club on Saturdays. Paint is from MCW: 1937 Cord Palm Beach Tan (it's light but not nearly as white as looks in the photos) and Rich Maroon. Here's the final product. I just put in my slightly dirty spray booth for the photos since the lighting is pretty good. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks, Everybody! I'm happy that you got some enjoyment from my work. It was fun for me, too. Here's a little trivia quiz to lighten your day: What's the significance of the license plate in the photo below? I know some of you will get it!

Built this a few months ago but never got around to posting it before now. This is the first issue kit from 1962 that came with a ridiculous amount of custom parts and I tried to use as many as possible. Most of what you see here came in the box in one form or another - some parts were modified but the original instructions even encouraged you to do that! The wheel covers came in the first release (also 1962, I think) of the 1934 Ford pickup and the upholstery is courtesy of Hobby Lobby. Interior console is from the 1953 Studebaker kit. Enjoy!

I have and I find it's too hot to go over most paints including Duplicolor Perfect Match and HOK. Duplicolor Perfect Match clear has always been very well behaved for me but I've never had a good result from the acrylic.

I have that same kit made by a Czech company called Smer. That is probably who currently owns the molds but, of course, things change without keeping me in the loop!

I find that soap leaves its own film behind. To be safe, always use a good dishwashing detergent (or something like Super Clean) but never a soap.

Welcome back! I've been in the hobby long enough to have built those kits when your dad/uncle did and they are still among my very favorites. Good decision to hang on to them!

I would think twice before setting a styrene model out in the bright sun. Once I had one get a severely sagging roof from sun coming through a window. A UV lamp of some kind would be a good idea.

Tamiya clear acrylic works well for gage faces and it's also available in three different gloss levels.

How about DeSoto's cigarette dispenser built into the steering wheel? It was offered from around 1940 until sometime in the early 50's.

If you ever owned a turntable or record player that had a 16 rpm setting in addition to the usual 33 and 45 that was for compatibility with Highway Hi-Fi discs. The discs weren't 7" as you can clearly see in the photo. The problem was that Highway Hi-Fi could only play the special 16 rpm records made for it and the selection was very slim!

BUILD BETTER!

Green car with yellow fenders....might be multiple years!

Try naphtha (VM&P). Available at any hardware or home store. I've never had it harm any paint though I usually use lacquer. Guitar makers use it to clean the finishes on their work.

I wonder if anybody makes a 1/25 Bo Diddley figure?

Here's an update. Still needs a little cosmetic work and a paint job.

Thanks for the explanation of the header! Total surprise. Anyway, I'm already in the process of customizing that custom guitar. It's being converted into a Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird.

Looks like you nailed it! Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. There's probably no explanation for the exhaust system attached to the guitar.

I got this from Ebay in a batch of old doodads like AMT used to include in many old kits. It looks a lot like a Gibson or Gretsch thin hollow body except that there's something that looks like an exhaust pipe where the lower cutaway should be. It's definitely a styrene kit part but I don't think it's from the Monkeemobile or Raiders Coach (not sure). Anybody seen this before?

The classic luxury cars like Lincoln, Packard, Duesenberg and even Chrysler were immensely larger than Fords and other affordable cars of the time. Many of them almost seem to be locomotive size. I took these pictures at the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum (a bucket list scale "must see"). Some of them might be able to show how these cars compare in size to normal human beings (and people were smaller back then). The bodies were so well proportioned that it's hard to get a sense of their size without something to compare them to.

I don't know the problem but something is very wrong. That's been my main primer for many years and it dries in 15 minutes not using a dehydrator. It should also be 100% compatible with the sandable primer. All I can think of is that it's just defective - a bad can.

I wish I could find my source on that but I believe it was an article in MCM. It said that Palmer had carefully copied the AMT kit as best they could. I have no insight into any possible MPC connection.