Muncie

Love '34 Ford coupes with Chevy sixes. The slicker and more attitude, the better. Thank you for continuing the build and the posts - this thing is pretty darn cool!

Interesting what you can find on the web... There are a lot of messed up and twisted colors on the internet. The paint chip chart looks off on several colors. The lighting and photography play lots of games. Metallics also shift many colors in different light. Hope this helps Pretty sure this is a Rally Nova in Fathom green. Rallye green is much brighter and smaller (or no) metallic.

Very clean and well built. Love it! Right colors, right wheels - over the last several decades, there have been a couple of 1956 210 Chevrolets on the street around here with that combination. Brings back memories of seeing them on the road. Way too cool.

maybe rectangular tanks... rectangular tanks will give you more fuel capacity in short rail space. maybe remove the cab step and use a fuel tank with a step under the cab... will give you more rail space to work with and better weight distribution for a truck tractor. . Try to maintain maximum ground clearance. it gets critical at the center of the wheelbase going into steep parking lot driveways.

great subject, the model is spot on, (and yes, we sure did!)

We kind of tell them we want fewer colors in other ways by what we spend. More colors make every car cost more. This is much too simplified... Handling more colors mean more complications for production in the paint shop. More space, more people, more paint equipment, and some way to efficiently sequence cars with different colors thru the paint shop. it all costs money. It is simpler and less cost to manufacture more vehicles with fewer colors. While it is probably not going to create a price reduction to the customer to have fewer colors, lower cost can lessen the next price increase out the door and onto the dealer's lot. In the end, simplifying things with fewer colors keeps a manufacturer more price competitive. As I understand it, the paint shop is one of the larger expenses in producing vehicles. Beyond that, we know price is one of the factors that customers look at to choose a car. We still see some very low production colors on some models, but they are available at a very premium price.

Under the lights, Saturday night at P I R. The Pacific NW had several of the national hitters - you know the names. Ed the Ace McCulloch, Twig Ziegler Pizza haven, Jim Green the Green Elephant, Kenney Goodell... but there was plenty of funny cars that just ran locally as well in those days. The screamer ads on the radio didn't hurt the show. Wish I could dig some of those out of the memory banks and replay them as well. and you know why they call him 240 Gordy!

so many parts! lots of potential. thank you for a very thorough review - nice to get a look at what's in the box.

This is looking good. Very interesting to see the details of this car and it's been enjoyable to follow your progress.

My learning experience with fogging and polishing came a long, very long time ago. Painting outside late in the fall, in the evening. Not what the paint manufacturer recommended, and I knew better. Looked great until things cooled down, the humidity came in and the paint on the top surfaces fogged as it dried. The attempts that I made to polish it had no effect. However, it was one color again, so I drove it that way. Your mileage may vary and It may be different for other paints, but I have avoided painting in damp conditions when paint may fog or blush since then.

you may be able to find dimensioned or scalable drawings with a google search for "Peterbilt 353 body builder manual" or "Peterbilt 353 body builder drawing". it looks like there are some things out there, it's just a matter of sorting thru to find what's relevant. Truck manufacturers provide these to body builders to complete the truck.

Difficult to see in the pictures on this end, are you talking about a kind of "foggy" appearance? If so, that would probably be moisture in the air, (high humidity) when the paint is drying. My experience is that does not polish out.

I agree with these. Definitely too thin. May also need to shake the can a bit longer to get the paint and thinner well mixed. Basic rule is give it a minute after the agitator ball starts making noise. Seems like a long time, but that is usually what it takes. Spraying too close may also cause the same effect.

showing my age... FM wasn't really that big in the 60's. Radios were available but even big markets didn't have many stations broadcasting in FM. Those stations were usually reserved for classical music and the reception wasn't always that good in a car. FM kind of turned around when the "underground" rock stations started showing up with better programing format and better music. Until then, no need for FM radios in cars with nothing to listen to.

Yeah, it was a different time. A lot of drivers felt front brakes were unsafe because front brakes could lock up and the front axle would lose steering control. Just one reason... I lost my old desk ornament, but it looks like the Budd wheel nuts are 1-1/2" across the flats.

No front brakes. (I should probably say probably no front brakes because some trucks had them.) They would not be required until about 1971 when Federal stopping distance requirements for new trucks went into effect. Trucks just had a hub to attach the front wheel. "Service" brakes are the stopping brakes as distinguished from the "parking" brakes.

Well done. i like the color, too. I had a buddy that had one. I carpooled to school with him. The factories build a few lemons and a few on the other side of normal that are whatever this one was. It was fast!

This is probably and old trick, and I bet that I've seen it here... credit to those builders that shared it before. With a piece of.030x.060 or .040x.080 Evergreen Plastic rectangular stock, shape and drill the fitting in the end of the stock leaving the simplest cut to remove the part with a saw or file for last. That will give a good handle to hold onto.

just a heads-up. I was recently looking for half round to use for trim and was surprised to see that the available plastic half round is not a full semi-circle, and the edges were kind of tapered instead of perpendicular to the straight side that would go on the mounting surface. it may take one size larger and some sanding to make the shape.

I remember going to grandma's house when I was a kid. One of the treats was fresh biscuits for breakfast. One morning all the cousins were talking about how good it was to have "scratch" biscuits. Grandma was almost offended - to her "those aren't scratch biscuits" and corrected our terminology - the flour, milk, and butter came from the store. As I remember it, she did have her own biscuit starter in the fridge. Years later, I realized that she could go back to her times fixing breakfast for the harvest crew on the wheat ranch when she was a kid and helped till the soil, plant the seed, grow the wheat, harvest the grain, grind the wheat into flour, raise the cows, milk them, and churn the butter by hand. I think one of the few times the term "scratch" may be used or important around model cars is in contests. GSL had a definition in their rules.

Glad you are all OK, and thank you for the heads-up

Roll tape - with practice, this gives a little more control. Stick one side of the tape to the surface and roll the other side above the surface about a 1/4 or half an inch, whatever works and shoot over the back side of the raised edge of the tape. Works better with an air brush. Sorry, about as clear as mud, but best I can do this early. It will give blended or faded edge.

The top, the wheels the fenders and the stance are really going to make this one. Digging it! I'm picking up lots of ideas that I want to use. Thank you for posting.

Ace Decals (also available at Mikes Decals) makes a very nice decal sheet for Hershel McGriff's NASCAR and Winston West race cars. Although it does not include some of the Lemans numbers and logos, it has some useful decals. They also have some good Olympia decals in bright foil on their Ray Elder sheet.

Not saying things were great... Things did happen but drag racing was different in 1955. 100 miles per hour was a rare and an extremely fast car. There wasn't much to run into because most sanctioned local dragstrips were airport runways - there wasn't much to run into. (racing stopped so planes could land or take off)