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Just a thought...

I know there are those of you out there that have a vast knowledge of 1-1 automobiles. 

Even more here who know about kits produced over the years and their good or not so good attributes .

My overall question is this, 

In building whatever you are working on, are you replicating something you have dealt with first hand 1-1 ?

Something you have witnessed/worked on through life experiences ? Have you worked in the industry, 

carrying over that knowledge and interest to this hobby?

Or are you like me. Trying to make make things look like those pictures on the internet with no first hand knowledge.

(Wish I had hung around with more "car" people when younger.   Grew up as a "boat" kid. LOL)

I have a strange love of cars, although I don't always understand them. ?

Thanx to all you true "car" folks here on the board,  keep it rolling.

 

 

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I'm sorta a mix of all your suggestions. I've worked in a body shop when i was younger and can swap parts over but I'm not an expert by any means. Bodywork I can do but the mechanics may as well be hyroglyphics to me, though i understand the basic you'll always find bits of the mechanicals wrong but less then it used to be. I'd be more like the modern guys that have to plug in a computer to find out whats wrong, except i ask the old guys instead as they give tips computers dont and can help make the jobs simpler. And now I do the same with models on sites like this one. I'm not calling you guys old, experienced is probably a better description but it doesn't write as well, lol. When it comes to the actual building of the models sometimes I'll try to copy the pics and have a bit more detail than the previous build, but then sometimes I just want to build something custom with little detail, sort of like a way to get an idea out of my head to make way for the next idea. Also I'll sometimes go back and rebuild an older less detailed build with more detail, but i treat models like real cars, they're never really finished

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My case: in the late '70s I bought an unbuilt Revell '62 Imperial Crown and started building it. In late 1981 I moved to southern California and after the car I owned burned up, I spotted this ad in the L.A. Times:

my62imperialad2-18-82.jpg.c1c92603e4a90b0ceea7d847a16a7e35.jpg

Borrowed $500 and brought it home:

my62imperial5.thumb.jpg.7f6217732a6938cbebb238d940cdbd3f.jpg

my62imperialscan2.jpg.65ece11bcf7c9f8d3f5fbc824394dd83.jpg

Next time I went back to IL on vacation, I began working on the kit again to make it look like my car. A subsequent trip later, I had it nearly done, complete with dull white paint and a dent on the passenger door where the PO had scraped against her trailer:

62ic.thumb.JPG.df1aceba69d3e3af0ca1b9bfe1deed99.JPG

It's sort of loosely assembled there - need to do the interior in white with worn leather and put in one raised rear window (Despite a lot of parts scrounging, I could never get more than three to work at once).

The real thing got clobbered by a hit-and-run in October 1983 :(:angry:.

 

Edited by ChrisBcritter
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My Dad used to drag race '34 Plymouth Hemi coupe in the 60's and 70's. I got to hang around the pits when I was little. As a teen, my group of friends and I were all into Muscle cars. we helped each other work on them to keep them running on little to no money. I built model cars first then built semis when the "Movin' On" show was on TV. Over the years I have worked on my own cars and very rarely had a pro work on them. My working career has been mostly hands on mechanical/electrical/electronics industrial type work so I am pretty handy at troubleshooting and repair. Even so, I really don't get to caught up in the accuracy of my builds. I do it mostly for the aesthetics because I like Day Two versions of most cars. I modify stuff to make things work better so I can't leave much of anything "stock". Below is a link to recent build that is actually a representation of a real 1:1.

 

 

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Working knowledge of automobiles and engines in particular certainly helps but is not absolutely necessary IMHO. I have never assembled a 1:1 engine but have built some fairly accurate scale replicas.  Thankfully in model car world things only need to look the part.

There is a wealth of information now on the internet on just about any car you would care to build.  Some things I find useful:

  • plumbing and wiring diagrams
  • shop manuals
  • restoration photos and videos
  • automotive parts websites
  • car related forums

And when I really get stuck I turn to help form this forum, no shame in asking a question.

Edited by afx
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Same here. I was a backyard mechanic, with enough knowledge to take stuff apart and put it back together but less so in the trouble shooting department. I read car books all my life so I have a fair to good knowledge of the history, development and changes that occured over the years but there are some gray areas. When I restored my '34 Chevy, I was on the Chevrolet Club forum all the time. There is a gentleman there who is well into his eighties and who worked at a dealership for 50 years whose hobby is answering our questions. His help was invaluable. Same with another one of my hobbies, woodworking. I'm on a forum there too and the variety and amount of knowlerge there is mindboggling. So here, it is the same, there are guys who have benn there, done it in most aspects of the hobby and in the real world. For example, I built the Chrysler A-925 but couldn"t find much info other that it was more or less experimental and never passed the project stage. Well, there is a member here who was there and worked on it. Same for the modelling, we all have seen those mind blowing paint jobs, or incredibly accurate weathering or detailing. As in real life there are all levels of every skill. And that is what makes forums like this so enjoyable. And yes I have tried to build some of the cars I owned. I attach  before & after shots of my '34 as well as one of the model I built of it. Have a nice Christmas all.

Après.jpg

Avant.jpg

DSC_0214.JPG

Edited by landman
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I grew up with uncles who were constantly fiddling with real cars.   And one that built models.   And I played with Hot Wheels.  Not sure I really try to replicate a particular car.  Mostly, I get an idea for a car and try to build it.   I usually do scour the internet for other models and real cars for details.   And mostly use what's in the box.  I have scratchbuilt in the past and tried to superdetail, but it just isn't as much fun (to me) as just painting whats in the box to the best of my ability and assembling it in the colors I like.  

I do have previous mechanical experience of the backyard sort.  That helps recognize the parts and kinda know what they really look like and maybe how they should be mounted.  And how suspensions work and such.   Seems silly to build a model that would have no room for the wheels to actually steer the car.  But I'm sure I have.

I have painted my 1:1 motorcycles using spray cans from what I learned with models.  Have also done all the prep work for resprays on cars and bikes and let a real body shop spray them.  

I love looking at real cars - not sure I would really want to own a real project car at this point in my life.   I do like buying and building replicas though.  I just like "toy cars"...

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I've built a couple of my family's real cars.  Did two of mine, a 1972 Buick Skylark Custom and a 1978 Monte Carlo.  I've also built one of my brother's old cars, a 1971 Dodge Charger.  Tried to do the interiors, wheels and engines as close as I could to what we had.  Even bought a set of Cragar SS wheels for the charger.  The front of my Buick even ended up off kilter a little like the real one.  :)  Found the charger.  :)

IMG_00811.jpg.39ee5fd49dcac7258c3a74640864735a.jpg

Edited by Deathgoblin
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As a child my family thought of me as an odd child because of my fixation with the automobile. At first just an observer of the cars around me and somehow developed the ability to identify different makes and model lines and even the year model. I read every automotive centered magazine I could get my hands on even in grade school. While I had the "book learning" it was an Automotive Class in High School and being of an age that I could own a car that really got me into it. I got part time jobs at gas stations back when they still did automotive repairs as well as service. This was a time when a guy could actually make a living as a mechanic. I got involved with building a couple of race cars for both Drag Racing and NASCAR's Winston West division.  I to work for Good Year in their retail stores in Southern California but had moved into the sales end as it paid a little better. I got transferred to Central California as a store manager. I was buying a new C-10 pickup from the local Chevrolet dealer and he hired me as a salesmen. I worked for him for several years and became his Finance Manager. All this time I was working on and modifying my own cars and help many friends with their projects as well. Kept the tool box pretty busy. I went on to do many other things in the management of dealerships for the next 30 years. The point is I had a very good working knowledge of what was stock, lightly modified, and what type of finishes and colors were used on the mechanical part, and with the first hand knowledge of what the new vehicles were like since I also ordered new car and truck inventories thru the years. I build very few showroom stock models, but when I due I have a lot of memories to draw from. A word of caution to those that rely heavily on the internet for images, many of the restored vehicles shown are not necessarily correct as to both paint and interior finishes as well as the mechanical aspects. Usually the very small touches as to the two tone paint treatments and the placement of trim parts. I usually build a model as if it was my 1:1 car with some modifications. I have built models of many of personal cars and trucks I have owned. My Avatar is model of a '67 El Camino I owned years ago. The advise I would offer is to build what you like and the way you want it to look. Should you want to build a model of a showroom stock car or truck try finding any original sales literature that you can find. This will offer far better advice in that area.      

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My favorite projects are replicas of real cars- that is, cars that exist or existed in 1:1, as they existed. Movie cars, friends' cars, cars from my neighborhood growing up.

One thing I want to get built soon is a '74 Road Runner that I went to look at many years ago but did not buy. It was a 318 / TF (yes, the 318 was standard that year!) with a bench seat, column shift, oxidized red paint, no stripes, Rallye wheels with no trim rings, A/C, and manual steering. An undercover Hot (warm) Rod. I decided that the manual steering would have been too much (driving a 4,000 lb car with manual steering, with fat tires up front was no fun at all, it turns out!). I should have bought it, sucked it up, and converted it to power steering.    

If I'm building something as a 'hypothetical" car, that is, something as I want to build it, but not using a 1:1 car as a pattern, then I do try to research them as much as I can. I go to as many car shows as I can, & take pictures of cars on the street. I tend to build them in colors that I have seen them in, or that a particular car is often seen in.

I can admire and appreciate wild customs, made up and fanciful things, but I tend to like to build things I have seen or experienced.

I want to try my hand at building a garage diorama, complete with spare parts on the shelves. Hemi & Six Pack intakes & carb assemblies, lying there, slightly grungy. Wheels and tires here and there. A short block under a bench. Weird speed parts that have no business in anybody's garage (everybody has at least one orphan part in their garage). None of it pristine. That's how I have seen things like that in other peoples' garages. Or maybe build a scene that shows a small corner of a swap meet.       

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I've been an airplane nut since a very early age, but my dad got me started on cars when he bought a '71 MGB GT back in the mid-'70s. That car, which I started driving when I got my license, plus a TR-7 and an MGB, taught me a lot about cars. When I left the aviation world, I rediscovered cars and then soon after discovered racing (sadly, just watching). I do most of my own work on my current cars. Other than a Miata and a TR-7, my model car builds all fall into the categories of "Cool Race Cars" or "Cars Ben Lusts After but will Probably Never Own." To that end, I've built models of a couple of the planes I've flown, but most are just types that interest me.

Ben

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I've attempted this once many years ago in the early 2000's. I had a 1993 Ford Ranger Super Cab at the time. AMT made a Splash with a stepside bed and a short fleetside bed. Both had standard cabs. I created my own Super Cab from two standard cabs and documented on the other model car magazine forum. It no longer has pictures due to Photobucket, but here is the result and you can look at my Fotki to see the other picture if you care.

ranger4-vi.jpg

Not my truck, this is like mine, but has a grey interior. I can't fins any pictures of my truck before my son wrecked it.

P3020042-vi.jpg

Edited by THarrison351
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On 12/9/2019 at 8:36 PM, STYRENE-SURFER said:

Or are you like me. Trying to make make things look like those pictures on the internet with no first hand knowledge.

Wish I had hung around with more "car" people when younger.  

Oh yes this is me. My dad raised me with a deep love of automobiles from his youth, and he knew enough to do basic auto repairs and taught me the same. But that's about it. The first hemi I wired, I put the spark plugs where they go on all other engines, in the side of the head. Pretty much everything I know about cars has come from research into the models I'm planning and television.

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19 hours ago, CapSat 6 said:

Quite forgivable! How many of us have been able allowed to work on a Gen 2 Hemi??? :)

True, and there was no internet at the time. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ? I was about 17 when I did this and had just picked up my first copy of SAE. I was totally inspired. Someone had done a 68/69 Chevelle up as a street freak and I loved it. Did the same with this Charger. My first scratch building too. 

 

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1 hour ago, Jantrix said:

True, and there was no internet at the time. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ? I was about 17 when I did this and had just picked up my first copy of SAE. I was totally inspired. Someone had done a 68/69 Chevelle up as a street freak and I loved it. Did the same with this Charger. My first scratch building too. 

 

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That is a really cool "Time Capsule" build! Never change a thing on that one!!! 

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Hello All, I have been into automotive body shops since I was a teen.(1969). I like all cars , drag, road race. Factory stock , hot Rods, nascar you name it. Still a auto body tech with all the welding and certifications needed for ford, Chevy, Toyota , BMW, Ferrari. Aluminum repair and paint certified also.  PPG, Sherwin Williams, Spice. Had my own shop for 15 years. Restored Ferrari’s, Maseratis, cobras, Shelby mustangs, corvettes, and even a 32 Rolls. Raced several cars. Vintage raced my Shelby Mustang. So I guess I’m a real car freak. But I really like modeling. I try to hold it back a bit so I can complete a model. One can get carried away with detail if you know how it’s supposed to be. Sometimes I do not model for awhile because I work on the real thing and need to relax and not think about cars. But I still like it. I’m restoring a 65 mustang and have several cars. A 1985 crx si and a c6 corvette. And a few SUV’s . I have had the great opportunity to meet the automotive greats. Mario Andretti, Don Garlits, Al Teague ( he had a streamliner that did 409 mph at the salt flats). AJ Foyt. Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby  and many other great car people. Modeling is fun and I like the IPMS contests. The NNL events are a blast. Have great friends that I have met in modeling. Hard to beat. Real cars do help with modeling. I really like aircraft but do not know a lot about it. Built a real Pitts biplane. But that’s it. Trying to build more aircraft , so I know how you feel about cars. Just build and have fun! That’s what it’s all about. Here are some  pics of the most detailed car I have done. A Ferrari P4  

19A7ACF2-A5AB-47FB-8E87-F5DD01D1E6B4.jpeg

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6EE44087-879F-447F-9FDA-C9EC5A59C6EA.jpeg

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I grew up in a body shop, and the drag racing scene. 

I started doing bodywork really young, and painted my first 1:1 before I was a teenager.

However I was always into engines... how they worked, and what makes them different from each other.

So I started building engines at around 15... 

Now I just build models cause it's less expensive in every single way...

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9 hours ago, Brudda said:

Hello All, I have been into automotive body shops since I was a teen.(1969). I like all cars , drag, road race. Factory stock , hot Rods, nascar you name it. Still a auto body tech with all the welding and certifications needed for ford, Chevy, Toyota , BMW, Ferrari. Aluminum repair and paint certified also.  PPG, Sherwin Williams, Spice. Had my own shop for 15 years. Restored Ferrari’s, Maseratis, cobras, Shelby mustangs, corvettes, and even a 32 Rolls. Raced several cars. Vintage raced my Shelby Mustang. So I guess I’m a real car freak. But I really like modeling. I try to hold it back a bit so I can complete a model. One can get carried away with detail if you know how it’s supposed to be. Sometimes I do not model for awhile because I work on the real thing and need to relax and not think about cars. But I still like it. I’m restoring a 65 mustang and have several cars. A 1985 crx si and a c6 corvette. And a few SUV’s . I have had the great opportunity to meet the automotive greats. Mario Andretti, Don Garlits, Al Teague ( he had a streamliner that did 409 mph at the salt flats). AJ Foyt. Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby  and many other great car people. Modeling is fun and I like the IPMS contests. The NNL events are a blast. Have great friends that I have met in modeling. Hard to beat. Real cars do help with modeling. I really like aircraft but do not know a lot about it. Built a real Pitts biplane. But that’s it. Trying to build more aircraft , so I know how you feel about cars. Just build and have fun! That’s what it’s all about. Here are some  pics of the most detailed car I have done. A Ferrari P4  

19A7ACF2-A5AB-47FB-8E87-F5DD01D1E6B4.jpeg

 

?

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12 hours ago, Brudda said:

Hello All, I have been into automotive body shops since I was a teen.(1969). I like all cars , drag, road race. Factory stock , hot Rods, nascar you name it. Still a auto body tech with all the welding and certifications needed for ford, Chevy, Toyota , BMW, Ferrari. Aluminum repair and paint certified also.  PPG, Sherwin Williams, Spice. Had my own shop for 15 years. Restored Ferrari’s, Maseratis, cobras, Shelby mustangs, corvettes, and even a 32 Rolls. Raced several cars. Vintage raced my Shelby Mustang. So I guess I’m a real car freak. But I really like modeling. I try to hold it back a bit so I can complete a model. One can get carried away with detail if you know how it’s supposed to be. Sometimes I do not model for awhile because I work on the real thing and need to relax and not think about cars. But I still like it. I’m restoring a 65 mustang and have several cars. A 1985 crx si and a c6 corvette. And a few SUV’s . I have had the great opportunity to meet the automotive greats. Mario Andretti, Don Garlits, Al Teague ( he had a streamliner that did 409 mph at the salt flats). AJ Foyt. Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby  and many other great car people. Modeling is fun and I like the IPMS contests. The NNL events are a blast. Have great friends that I have met in modeling. Hard to beat. Real cars do help with modeling. I really like aircraft but do not know a lot about it. Built a real Pitts biplane. But that’s it. Trying to build more aircraft , so I know how you feel about cars. Just build and have fun! That’s what it’s all about. Here are some  pics of the most detailed car I have done. A Ferrari P4  

19A7ACF2-A5AB-47FB-8E87-F5DD01D1E6B4.jpeg

 

A2C923D1-0863-4402-A534-2A4819C84B94.jpeg

 

 

4D4178ED-F96D-4580-9C28-7FCE9B18DDCD.jpeg

 

 

 

THAT. IS. GORGEOUS.

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