blunc

This '71 TA has been on my workbench for a while but all the great work I've seen in this forum has given me the urge to make a run to finish it... the current "on hold" status will be going forward from what you see next: the kit: doors opened, hinges made. I wanted the doors to move like the real ones so I made hinges from brass U-channel and square evergreen stock, the front edge of the door will open inward just like "real" cars do. The brass U-channel "tension-fits" into H-shaped Evergreen stock so that I can just slip the doors on when they are finished. a shot of a door skin on the hinges hand-stitched leather seats, yup...thats glove leather. the engine bay, molded on hoses and wire have been removed to be replaced with better looking detail, the engine will look a bit small till the rest of the detailing is done. a 1/24 scale Pontiac motor (slated for a Judge after I get a few more 1/32 scale projects done) posed to give size reference. I still have some door gap fixes to make but they open and close well at this time. The trunk will get opened/hinged after I get the rest of the door/body work done because I feel it will lose too much structural integrity without the strength the trunk lid gives the body at this time. The red "snowflake" wheels will get Alclad (most likely), the kit supplied honeycomb wheels look too small IMHO and the kit tires look too skinny and lame so I took eight of the "one-sided" snaptogether tires, cut them in half and made four two-sided tires. I am still waffling on whether I will add LED head/tail lights, powering them without looking kludgy is currently my sticking point. Thanks for looking.

nice work, well executed for a rat rod. will you be adding radiator hoses or will it just be air-cooled?

That thing below the front bumper-grille holds the little "seeing-eye" cars that come out and help guide around obstacles... like trees, other cars and hot chicks.

Call me pessimistic but I doubt anyone will be seeing any judging sheets. Having been part of judging teams at local contests hosted by Moonlight Modelers club, the late-nite judging which lasts till 3am usually doesn't leave time to do judging sheets properly and the sheets would be considered club records anyway. I'm fairly certain that a club local to you will give a fair critique if asked.

thanx for the comments and the tip.

Thank you all for the compliments. > Mark, that motor came from the 1/32 Monogram Nova kit, that kit also gave up the back half of it's chassis, plus front and rear suspension for this bash. ( we may be related but I haven't heard of any close family in Texas) I have been hoping some resin caster might start casting a few 1/32 scale motors but haven't seen any yet. If any "caster" feels like exploring that niche market I'm sure I can come up with: a caddy V16, Hemi, small block Chevy, Y-block Ford, funny-car Hemi, Pontiac V8 and Corvette ZR1 engines that can be prepped for casting, it's just possible that the 1/32 scale builders would buy them instead of having to scratchbuild their engines... And now for some more photos... for this photo I placed a wheel/tire from an AMT 1/25 scale GTO as a scale reference. a nice shot of the engine bay. The back end, notice the 1/25 scale Mustang tail lights that have had one lens removed. 3/4 front view, I think it's great that Testors rattle can paint looks this good after twenty years. 3/4 top view gives a decent shot of the rumble seat, I created that by cutting the original bench seat down to fit, then sewed some cloth to it. A shot of the "narrowed" dash from the Monogram Charger kit ( I have some interesting plans for the Hemi in that kit ) and finally, the chassis, I must have done a real good job because I can't spot where I grafted the Nova chassis so that I could have real rear suspension, the "cherry-bombs" came from a Corvair kit.

thanx, I can post more pix if anyone is interested.

This kitbash started out as a Lindberg '34 Ford coupe with parts from Monogram Nova and Charger kits with some parts box mixed in. The seats are drilled and hand sewn, the firewall fabricated from evergreen sheet plastic, and BMF (my first application of that product) for the radiator grill. The headlights came from one of the Pyro "Brass" kits.