Peter Lombardo

Looking really good. Nice job on the interior. That is such a great looking curvy fat fendered street rod. I am looking forward to this ones completion.

Nice Bug.......VW must have bought a ton of that color paint, 'cause most Bugs I remember were either that color or pale blue. Nice job.

Harry, that is very true, but only to a point. Rat Rods, Customs and Street Rods, by their nature allow for a lot of creativity, but Factory Stock and certainly Race Cars, of all types, require a fair amount of accurate casting and modeling. As was stated before, if we want more detailed offerings, then we will have to demand it by voting with our wallets. Don't buy the inferior offerings and remind the manufactures with e mail comments that you did not buy the current offering because it was not up to your expectations. They will cut corners and save money as long as we the modelers allow it. Buy an inferior model and you will continue to get inferior models. Tamiya routinely charges $50.00 to $60.00 (list price) for their newest offerings and they have much more crisply molded bodies, but the current crop of models tend to eliminate or use a "plate" for the motor casting. If you want the incredibly detailed 1/20 F1 kits you can look at the multi-media MFH or Studio 27 kits, but they will set you back between $200.00 and $350.00. There is a world wide market for these cars, but it is a much smaller market. Bottomline to me is, if it is not up to your standards, don't buy it.

Hey John, do you think you could be a little more "detail oriented"? No...? Ok, I guess we can live with the level of detail you are putting into this build. Seriously, this is really living up to my expectations of what I expected from you. First rate all the way, Great job.....Very impressive. The only problem I see with this is that you are setting the bar so high now, very little else can approach this level going forward..................there is always one in the crowd that "skews the curve".

Wow, and with over 32 thousand posts, I would have thought you had Carpal-tunnel syndrome too. ( ok, a feeble attempt at humor) I am not telling you anything you don't have first hand knowledge of, but back pain is the worst physical ailment there is. You just don't appreciate pain until your "back goes out". There just isn't any movement you can make with your body that doesn't affect your back. Sorry to hear that it is not getting better..........that just stinks. Hang in there.....like you have a choice not to.

They are all very nice, but the pale gold '62 Impala is the one that does it for me. It just sits well on it's tires. Nice group.

All of my builds are on my Flickr site as a photo record of each build............each build has its own file, with the exception of my earlier builds which are grouped together in the finished condition.

Very nice............the black and red Chevelle does it best for me though...the bike is very well done also...very good years worth of work.

Ed, if you are interested, here is a link to the Flickr page with the photos of the build. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpl3k/sets/72157625710752277/

The Bonneville, that's the one! I really love that car...I remember as a kid in High School see that car on the road for the first time, man it was just beautiful. You did a great job on all of the cars, but the Bonnie is my favorite....I really like the gold tint on the wheels, sets it off nicely.

All of these are really great, but the Green Firebird really does it for me....an old girl friend of mine had that exact car, Black vinyl roof and all, right down to the redline tires.....sure brings back memories. Sweet!

Amazing paint and decal work..wow are they shinny! Very nice work..I am very impressed.

Really nice, I especially like the "under hood" work, I have a feeling that this car is going to be difficult to customize, unlike the '49 Mercury. I have the kit and look at the body from time to time and just can't get a good feel for what to do to it. I really like what you did here, not overdone, very classy and tasteful. The two tone paint sets it off nicely. Another of your typical well done super clean mild customs that always seem very believable.

Picking up where the last left off, this is………… 6. This is a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air Resto-Mod coupe powered by a Corvette V8. The doors were opened and hinged and the body rides on a stretched Corvette chassis. The interior is a modified and elongated Corvette unit with an old Firebird rear seat. The engine includes the addition of twin inter-cooled turbos made from solder and attached to all the necessary plumbing. The car is a two tone of Prowler silver over a custom mix of Jacquard pearl powders of light greens, blue pearl with clear to make a pale turquoise. The striping is done with vinyl cut into very thin strips. 7. This started life as a 1936 Ford 5 window coupe kit. This was completely modified into a roadster. The doors, trunk and hood are all opened and hinged. The hood opens side to side with the hinge down the middle. The interior is finished with real leather and cloth. The top is from the Testers Coupster kit. The headlights are obviously Prowler units grafted on to the hood. The wheels and tires came form a snap kit of the Dodge Copperhead painted to match the car. The paint is a two tone of GM Beige and Mopar Chargold topped with clear. Under the hood is a Ford small block 289 with 6 deuces all plumbed up. 8. Back to a couple of race cars. This is the Fujimi Porsche 911GT3R Hatsune MIKU. This is basically box stock except for the seat belts inside. I loved the livery on this car when I first saw it and had to build one for my collection. No joke, the decals were a bear to do, but I love the colors……I have on order the companion BMW Z4 race car in a similar scheme due this spring. 9. Last of this years race cars, this is the Sting Ray Grand Sport from Accurate Miniatures. This is the third one I have completed; I did a coupe and a roadster version prior to this one. As you can see much of the inspiration to do this cam from the magazine story below the model. I opened the doors and trunk on this one and added the hoses and as much detail as I could see from the photos. The paint is Model Master Acryl Artic Blue that I lightened up with some additional silver over Pure White lacquer. I did not use the kit supplied decals for the red pin stripe between the colors, but opted to cut very thin strips of red vinyl and lay that over the paint break. 10. And finally, this is a Revell 1956 Chevrolet Nomad wagon. I gave the top a mild chop and repositioned the front windshield to have lower rake and more angle. I opened the doors and hinged them. The interior and motor were updated and I added a set of late model Corvette wheels and tires. The car is painted Model Master Napoleonic Violet over Camouflage Grey (off white, really), bare metal foil and clear top coat. That is it, with the exception of 8 tenths of the Timbs Streamliner. Thanks for looking, and remember comments, up or down, are always welcome, some more than others, but welcome just the same.

When I thought about my completed cars for 2011, I figured that I didn’t complete that many…..at least that was the way the year seemed to me. The summer was all screwed up this year because my wife broke her right leg on July 1st, and that meant that I spent a lot of time looking after her needs. But after looking back over my builds I found that I completed more than I thought. In total I completed 10.8 cars………..I count my Norman E. Timbs Streamliner as a .8 completion because basically it is done, just waiting for the photo etch parts for final assembly. So here are the first 5, totally completed cars. 1. First up is my Chrysler 300EX Concept. This was a vacuum formed body that I designed. The driver single door has a lambo style hinge and the passenger double door is a gullwing. The rear seat is a curved couch and the front passenger seat swivels around to face the rear area compartment. The vehicle is electric for its main power and has a 4 cylinder gasoline backup motor to run a generator for extended range, ala Chevy Volt. On the roof there are solar panels to run fans and help recharge the batteries when parked. 2. Next up is a whimsical (fantasy racer) GT3 Ford GT in Red Bull livery. I modified the street Ford GT (rough kit) and opened up the front and rear hoods and doors. Made the body modifications for the wheel bulges and spoilers. The decals are custom made on the computer and printed onto decal paper. 3. This is also a fantasy GT3 race car. This started life as a street Corvette ZR1. The body was modified with wheel bulges and lower body spoilers and a rear wing. The doors were opened and the decals on this one were also custom made on the computer and printed on decal paper. This is done in Monster Energy drink colors with Mopar black over House of Kolor Lime Green Pearl. 4. Continuing with race cars, this is a Ferrari 312T from 1975 (if I remember correctly)…back in the late 1970’s I built this car in 1/12 scale but gave it away. This is the new(ish) Hasegawa 1/20 scale kit with a Tamiya driver figure, in this case done up as Niki Lauda behind the wheel. I also used the photo etch detail kit for this car. 5. Making it’s forum début, this is the Tamiya Ferrari F40 Competizione 1993 Monte Shell…..The only modifications here are I opened and hinged the doors and added hoses and wires. The kit comes with a fret of photo etched parts which I installed. It is painted Viper yellow on the bottom and appliance white on top with the red done in really nice Cartograf decals that came with the kit. Every now and again, I like a Ferrari that is not all red….you know?

I like it, is this a "driving" thing or a "flying" thing,???? cause it looks like it could go either way! Pretty smooth looking. OOPS, I missed that "floating" thing in the display case comment...so my question was answered before I asked it....sorry

This being my first visit to this thread, I feel like I got here a little late, but as they say....better late than never. First I want to thank everyone who has made me feel great over the years with the kind and thoughtful comments on my work. I know I always say that this hobby and my builds are for myself, and they are, but I really appreciate it when you guys respond to what I post here. I love it when you guys "get" what I attempt to do with my builds. I know I get long winded with my posts and may come across like I am over doing it, but honestly, I enjoy this hobby so much that I make every effort to share my love of building and creating with my hands with others. I want anyone who sees my work to understand that to me it is more than a pile of styrene and lacquer. And that this is not just "kids" stuff. We all take this much more seriously than that. When I show my work to people outside of our community, they usually smile and say nice things, but it is clear that they just don't get it........I mean, that is fine, they certainly don't have to understand because they don't enjoy the hobby that we love. It is funny sometimes, I may be at a client...and most all of my clients I would categorize as friends too, and if I have something "different" posted here on the forum I may have them log onto the site and take a look at the post. Without an exception they respond that I have way too much free time on my hands and that they could never ever get into something like this, and then they usually throw in the comment that I am crazy to do this. I'll ask them, ok, so what do you do at night when you are home? They usually respond that they watch TV or something like that. Well, I tell them I would rather exercise my mind and creative side than watch some mindless dribble on TV. Modeling relaxes me after a stressful day in the office or on the road going from client to client. I need the release. The point of that is that most people out there don't understand or appreciate what we love to do. But not so in here. The great thing about this forum is that it brings together so many talented modelers who all share the same passion and commitment to this hobby. It is wonderful to have so many talented modelers around us to serve as an inspiration, a sounding board and an affirmation of what WE love to do. No matter how accomplished or inexperienced any of us are, it is comforting to know that we are a group of guys who all enjoy, and sometimes hate (but for not very long) this hobby. We serve to support each other and inspire each other to reach higher and grow our skills. There is an old saying, "It is impossible to sore like an Eagle when you are surrounded by Turkeys"....well none of us here can say that about this forum. We are all surrounded by world-class builders who gladly share their talents and skills with any of us....it is all here, just for the asking. I am sure, that most all of us have posted a build at sometime or another and it didn't get the response we hoped for. That is always going to happen, from time to time. But the bottom line is that if any of us make the effort to stretch out and push ourselves and grow as a builder, we will be rewarded with the adoration and praise of our peers, and to me, nothing in this hobby is more important than that. When a peer, a fellow modeler, finds my work as worthy of a positive comment I know I got it right. So having said all of that, all I really wanted to say with this post is that we are all fortunate and blessed to have a great forum like this to share our hobby, our creations and our thoughts with some of the best in the business. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza and Happy New Year.......enjoy!

All though it really doesn’t appear like it, I have gotten some more work done on the Timbs Special. My Brother and I completed the base work on the photo etch artwork that I will need for the grille, headlight surrounds, step plates and bumpers on the car. My original plan was to fabricate the bumpers out of brass rod and solder them together and paint them with Alclad chrome. But after laying out the artwork on the computer over photos of the real car it became obvious that I will achieve a much high degree of accuracy doing them this way. They will be etched on stainless steel and look much better…..especially the round area around the headlights…having a perfect 360 degree circle with no variation is worth the price of admission itself. While we were laying out the pieces for the Timbs Special photo etch parts we included a bunch of ’32 and ’34 Ford grille inserts. Once you do one, you can copy it a million times so if there is room on the sheet, there will be something to etch. We have the space and why not, it doesn’t cost any more to add them….I even have a ’41 Willys grille insert too, so I guess I will add that to the sheet. Of course, this is all assuming it will work properly…we have a few doubts in the ability of the printer, even though it is a professional system we are using, we need to get past a few hurtles first. The stainless must first be laminated with the photo sensitive layer and we are not totally convinced that that process will work properly…we’ll see. My back up plan may be better than the first plan. If this doesn’t work to our satisfaction, I will seek out a laser engraver, the guys who make trophies and such……..we think that will make for a more crisp etch…..we’ll see. I will go with the system that works best. Anyway, the reason for this post is the paint is down on the car and I thought I would share the results of this facet of the build. The actual color of the real car is unknown to me. As you can see from the pictures of it, it is a deep burgundy and according to the article in the “Hot Rodders Journal” it has a fine gold metal flake in it. To replicate the color for this model I chose to use a custom blended GM paint called Merlot Jewel, which is what I had my 1977 MGB painted a few years ago. I am using it mainly because it looks just about right and I have a can of it and I love the look of it. The only problem with it is that it is a shade or two to light (red) in my opinion. In order to give the color a little more depth, I laid down a pre-base layer of Mopar Deep Amethyst Pearl Coat over the primer coat that was sanded smooth with a number of finer and finer sanding sheets. Here you can see the deep purple layer. Once that was dry, I also sanded that down with a number of fine sanding sheets to where I was happy with the surface smoothness. Then I put down a number of fine layers of the Merlot Jewel color coat. Putting the Merlot down on top of the deep purple made the Merlot deeper and richer bringing it much closer to what I think is a great match to the real car. Here is the back end….. And here is the front Once that was dry, I did not sand that as I wanted it to have all of the metallic it was meant to have. I then mixed up a batch of clear lacquer with a bit of Ultra Mini Fine House of Kolor Gold Metal flake and sprayed that down over the Merlot. Once that was dry, I started putting down a number of clear lacquer top coats. These shots are after the top coats are completely dry, they need a few more days, and before the final sanding and buffing with wax. Obviously, these were taken in not the greatest light, but you can see that once this is completely dry and buffed out, it will be pretty smooth and shiny with a deep pearl and fine top metal flake. I am loving this paint job. Thanks for looking and following along.

That is funny....I was looking at the '64 Impala and wondering why it was naked......no BMF, now I see what happened. All very, very nice and clean but the Impala and Chevelle are especially sweet. Great set of work.

Well it is for sure no one can pin you down to one specific style of build.....you run the whole gambit, but having said that, It is obvious that you really love those down and dirty rust buckets...I guess I can't hold that against you. In the hundreds of cars I have built over the many years I have yet to visit the dark side of the hobby that you live in. One of these days I just may have to try it........you certainly enjoy that style so there has to be something to it. Anyway, Virgil, you sure have an impressive collection from last year. Great job........I guess I don't have to encourage you to keep it up, do I?

I am getting this feeling that you have a thing for Mopar Drag cars....I don't know, maybe its me............anyway, they are all really well done. I think the Injected Ramcharger is my favorite. Great job.

Great looking builds.........you could easily do a "which doesn't belong and why" Imus style bit with the cars posted here.......that Moonscope thing sure looks out of place with the rest, but all are really well done.

Great job......I built that kit back in the 60's and remember it as a real "bear"....maybe it was my skills that were the issue then, but either way, you did a great job on it. Like others have said................shiny!

Hey, that thing is a mess! Oh, sorry, that was the intention...I see, very well done, I don't build in this style, but I can appreciate it when you guys execute a "run down" hot rod like this. Nicely done.

Virgil, I am a little surprised with you here............you of all people should know that anything goes in this hobby. Ask 5 guys and you will get 5 different ways to do something...and all 5 ways work fine. There is no right or wrong way to do anything if it makes you happy. Have you forgotten, this is a hobby, this is for fun....this isn't real life. I rarely use decals (unless I am building a race car) so I have a large stack that every now and again gives up one piece that I need.