mr moto

That's the best treatment of that kit that I've ever seen. Great job!

That's actually the 1963 race.

There are several options that I use that haven't been mentioned. First is doll house carpet. It's similar to using felt but I think it looks better. It's available in a few colors at hobby lobby and many colors from on-line hobby stores. Another option is one of the many textured spray paints that are available. There's a Rust-Oleum truck bed paint, duplicolor trunk paint, krylon makes textured craft paints, etc. Don't worry about the color. Just spray it on and then paint over it with the color you really want.

If you can get Turner Classic Movies you'll be able to see a young Tommy Ivo in the movie "The Lost Volcano" this Saturday at 9:00 am Central time. I believe that's 10:00 Eastern - check local listing, as they say. No hot rods or dragsters involved - he'll be swinging through the trees with Bomba the Jungle Boy. Bomba was played by Johnny Sheffield who played "Boy" in the old Tarzan movies. There's a short clip from it on You Tube. It might save you from watching the whole movie but Tommy doesn't get to do any tree swinging in the clip:

Wow! Fabulous! I wouldn't know where to begin on a project like that.

My jaw just hit the floor! That is too cool and excellent work besides.

I just love this and thanks for giving full details.

That is one good looking build! Excellent work.

BTW, for $1.49 you got the instructions AND the '32 Ford kit.

Smitty's deuce pickup was in the Auto World catalog at least as early as 1961 - I checked my copy. The only suitable pickup kits in that catalog were the Black Widow and AMT's 1925 T. The Black Widow might be the ticket.

They lost me at $168.00. Never mind the shipping!

That is a good looking wheel and no two piece rim! Noted for the future.

Wow! I think that's the best build of that kit I've seen yet. It really captures the look of the Edsels that were on the street back in the day. I was there!

So here are the Nardi steering wheels from 3D Scale Parts that I got on eBay - 2 for $12.00 w/ free shipping. The two piece rim is kind of odd and I don't know why it's made that way. Gluing the two pieces together leaves a visible seam that needs to be filled and sanded for best appearance. Here's before and after filling. It would be better if it could be one piece but this turned out to be not much trouble. Anyway, here it is done and painted. So it comes out looking pretty good but there are probably better ones out there somewhere - including the one that Matt Bacon suggested with a real wood rim from France - but at least this one can be had on this side of the pond.

I have definitely had two of those sheets in the past and MIGHT still have at least one of them. The sheet with the "Air Lifts" , etc. is an old AMT sheet that was in use in 1959 for sure and maybe in '58 or '60 also. It may also have been in SMP kits also. The "skulls" and "dragons" sheet is a JoHan and it may still be in the box of a 1960 Chrysler kit that I'm the original owner of. I'll try to look for it tomorrow. BTW, I got the Chrysler kit around 1966-67 as a hobby shop clearance item for $1.00. I thought that was a little high for such an old kit but I got it anyway. They had a LOT of Johan's on closeout but I only got the one. If I had only known!

Thanks for those sources, guys. Actually, I found a source on eBay and just got in a pair of them. They're from 3D Scale Parts and look good. As soon as I paint one I'll post some photos.

I ordered a set of 1/25 and got a shipping notice literally minutes later. In 4 days they were in my hand and they are just as beautiful as expected. Can't beat that!!

I can't find an aftermarket source for a good Nardi steering wheel. Any ideas?

Looking at the way it blushes and then glosses and needs a special base coat I'm thinking it's a lot like Alclad.

What's a good aftermarket source for a Nardi wheel?

I've never experienced the thickening problem with naphtha but it might happen sometimes. Paints can be kind of a witch's brew! Just checked the bottle I mixed up over a month ago when I sprayed the interior of my 1932 Ford phaeton and it's still okay. It's ModelMaster Afrika grau, a military color. I've heard (on this board recently) about people having this problem when thinning Testors with mineral spirits. Results might vary with MM vs. square bottle vs. Testors round bottle, etc. It could also vary by color I suppose. Pigments are supposed to be "inert" but they're really not and can have an effect on the paint's characteristics. Always test!

Like everybody has said, lacquer thinner works great and is cheap. Also, a milder alternative that still dries very quickly is naphtha (also labeled as vm&p naphtha). It's also available at the hardware store and works great with enamel. It's mild enough that guitar techs will use it to clean lacquer finished guitars.

Thanks for the generous offer but I think all the parts are there. I am planning to use better wheels and tires but the original wheels don't look so bad to me. It's just that some of the new ones are such beauties!

I bought a number of those back in the day. Our house had a nice straight hallway with a smooth floor that was a great place to wind up the rubber band and let 'em go! Of course, they would always slam into the wall at the end of the hallway. By the end of the first day the teeth would be worn off of the thin plastic crown gear. Time to get a new one if I could come up with another $0.49!

Great job on that! The Aurora kits of that series are not well known and usually under-rated. Some are better than others. The Ford GT is obviously one of the best. I'm thinking of doing Aurora's Maserati 3500 for my next build.