Peter Lombardo

Hard to find fault with this one. All of the elements work together very well. Sweet ride!

Work has progressed on the chassis of the Timb’s Special to point where it is almost complete. Interestingly, more complete it is, the less there is visible, in fact, once it is complete, nearly the entire engine and chassis detail will be hidden by the body. It seems a shame to spend all this time and energy detailing the chassis which is not really easily seen, but I know it is all in there and it makes this a more complete and accurate model of the real car. Last night, I completed the throttle linkage, shift linkage, fuel lines and the fuel tank location. It is the fuel tank that hides much of the transmission and associated linkage the most. Since nearly all of the chassis components are black, they all get lost…..and now that the under engine splash pan is in place, which is also black, the detail is really obscured. Here is a shoot just prior to the bottom splash panel installation, but after the linkages were installed. Here it is with the lower panel in place (sorry about the fine dust on the components, I think I need to break out the “Pledge” and give it a good dusting) Next, the front of the body is on the chassis. The interior panels have been completed. As I mentioned in the last update, I glued half-round stock to the backing panel and then sanded them down to remove much of the roundness so that they have the more correct flatter appearance. On the real car, the leather interior pieces overlap onto the top of the body with piping, in two layers, surrounding the cockpit area, this is all in place now. This will all be taped off when the body is painted and then painted with a semi-gloss tan to replicate leather. Here is a look from the other side…. I have begun the dashboard and work on the gauges and their surrounds…there sure is a lot of gauges on this car ( 9 in total ) considering it is a rather simple vehicle in relation to the cars on the road today. Next the windshield stanchions will be fabricated and made ready for installation after the body is painted. I have ordered from Micro-Mark all of the supplies I will need to photo etch the grille, headlight surrounds and a few other pieces…I an planning on doing the windshield stanchions also, but I am not sure how that will work, so we will see having never even attempted photo etching before…..I know I can do the process, I am just not sure of the limitations of it, and therefore am afraid I may over-reach what is possible…we’ll see. Finally, here is one shot of the body over the chassis with the interior in place. It gives you a feel for the over-all length of the car and just how long the rear section of the body really is. The last two hurtles I have are the grille and bumperettes. The bumperettes must be hand formed, then soldered together and that is very a very tedious affair. I don’t know for sure, but I may attempt to photo etch the bumperettes too, just to see how they look…..I know the bumperettes are round, so we will see how that works, besides, once the plate is exposed, it matters not how much is on the thing. But all of this expands my abilities and allows me to take on more projects that I would never have dreamed of doing before.

Wow, that thing really pops!.....I doubt it would even need lights at night. Certainly an attention getter. I love the yellow exterior color it works really great on the car........My wife and I find that a Turkey Breast roasted in the oven is just right, we then have just the white meat leftover for sandwiches for a few days....but either, have a great Thanksgiving Jim.

Very nice....you nailed the 60's style alright. It looks great.

This looks great.....it is one of the very first kits I can remember as a kid. It is what it is..............and it is a classic.

Very hard to find fault with that build....just beautiful. Great color combo. I really like this one.

Great looking car...I built that kit years ago........something about the colors and decals on that kit that just make it pop real loud. Very nice job.

That is just beautiful.........that is a rare Ferrari that we don't see very much.....the very "tasteful" photos really make it pop with the sun highlights. Niiiice.

That is a great color combination. It really jumps. I love the wheels and tires on that kit, I also like how you detailed the wheels with the paint combination...great looking "snap" kit. You really did it justice. I always thought Chrysler should have built that car.....Vipers little brother. It would have been an affordable quick little sports roadster with a V6 and lightweight. Too bad.

Jim, that is really nice...I love the color-shift paint and the interior is really sharp looking (the seats look great). Looking good!

This is one beautiful and totally convincing '53 Ford. Just Incredible.....classy modifications and great technique. Sweet.

Construction and fabrication is continuing on the Timbs Special Streamliner. I have completed the front suspension. The “coke” can springs and articulated shocks that I made actually allow the wheels to travel up and down. You will not see much of this after the car is complete, but it was just as easy to make them move as not move so they work. The wheels turn and the brake lines are in….they don’t go anywhere, but you really will not see them, so it is fine the way it is. I completed the front chassis extensions and mounted the radiator. I fabricated the coolant lines from solder and made the hose clap sections from tape. I have drilled out the areas on the carbs where the throttle linkage will go, but have not installed that part of the engine detailing yet. I have installed the absolutely beautiful wheels and hubcaps that I ordered for the Modelhaus. The tires are item #T-170 with option C, which is the one white and one black sidewall. The hubcaps are Cadillac Sombrero’s with a touch of Tamiya clear red in the center. The spare tire is a leftover from a diecast Chrysler woody convertible that I had laying around. The spare is very slightly larger, but the great thing is that it has the 5 lug pattern which I drilled out so the spare sits nicely on the holder in the chassis and it does not have the full hubcap, as many of my reference photos show it that way. It was a very tedious job to get all four wheels the exact same height; especially on a completely scratch built chassis….there is a lot of room for error….so great care was needed. Actually, the chassis came out perfectly straight, so even as difficult as it was, it could have been much worse. I completed the internal bracing under the rear body section and painted it all with Tamiya Matt Black. The ribs are all fabricated from plastic rod with steel rod centers. The stuff is great, you can bend and shape it; it holds its shape and even lets you use styrene glue to attach other styrene parts to it. Also, these ribs function exactly like the real ribs do, they hold the body in place….especially around the area of the rear wheels where the unsupported styrene would have the tendency to want to pinch in and distort the shape….the ridged ribs prevent that from occurring. The rear wheel mud guards are in, before and aft the rear wheel areas. The center hinge is in place and it allows the back end to lift up, just as the rear car does. On the front section, I have opened up the interior area (man, is this a tight cockpit area) There is no room to spread out….not a good car to go on a date with for a little “Submarine Race “ watching with a girlfriend… (Just showing my age here). The seat material is half round styrene stock, glued side by side, and then sanded down to give it a more flattened look….the half round stock is just too round. Obviously, there is much to be done to the interior section to complete it. Some additional photos…since we are limited to only 5 per posting. After these areas are completed, it is on to the bumpers which will be fabricated from brass rod, the windshield supports and the photoetched grille….which should be interesting since I have never attempted photo-etching before…..I’ve gotta’ keep moving my boundaries.

It looks great....it is one of my "cups of tea". I have this one and the Mercedes "brother" to it. Neither one started, but both on the schedule. You did a great job on it. I will be very happy if mine looks as good.

Hey, what took you so long? Seriously, it looks great...love the color choice. I think you need to speed up the process though.

Nice job....interesting color choice............I have this kit and have yet to settle on a color for it.....the line green actually looks good.....I will have to go a different direction now so as to not copy yours. Very nicely done so far...the paint is nice and smooth.

Look, if you have a spare $85K and a desire for 650HP, then go for it........sure it is impractical and overkill, but to some it is just what they want.....remember, one mans ceiling is another mans floor, for me, I'm down about 10 floors below this. The marketing of this car I find interesting here.......... and don't anyone dare call me a sexist , because I'm not one. Look at the second picture...the only picture of the car moving....actually on a banked race track, has a reasonably attractive blond woman driving. Is she the target market, or are they trying to tell me I need this car to keep up with her? You know what they say about guys needing a fast car to supplement for anatomical shortcomings. Anyway, these cars really do look great.....if I bought one, I would drain the fluids and park it in my living room for the next 20 or 30 years and then take it to auction with 10 miles on the odometer and the window sticker still in place. Actually, I should have done that in 1967 with a Shelby GT500.....it would certainly help supplement my up coming retirement now.

Wow, that is just stunning. You never disappoint. I have never been interested in building a bike, but seeing this one may just push me over the edge....why should you have all the fun? I am looking forward to seeing the graphics finished....that will look amazing! Just Beautiful! I am completely impressed.

First of all, “thank you” very much to all the guys who made very nice comments about this build, I really do appreciate it. And yes Curt, I almost always have either paint or putty, or both on my hands) Next, a number of guys have asked for copies of the body for this project. Sure, I will be happy to pop a few off to any one who wants one. ( I am planning on doing a Salt flat streamliner with one body, so I know there could be a few uses for the thing). I can’t guarantee how quickly I can get them done with the Holiday season upon us, but if anyone wants one, we’ll do it the same was as last time. Just e mail me your address and I will send it out. The cost will also be the same as last time, that is $10.00 per body which includes shipping (I will not be retiring on this income stream, I can tell you that…..but no problem). One more thing, we are all adults here, so if you request a body, and you receive it and it is what you expected it to be, just please send me a paypal payment or a check…..I am most concerned about covering my postal and material costs so please don’t stick me. My e mail is aegisgolf@optonline.net so if you are interested send me an e mail. I was out of town for the better part of last week, but I was able to get a little work done on the chassis. I figured I would post a few more shots of the progress and use the posting as an excuse to post the offer for the bodies. First, here is a shot of the real chassis (complete of course, where mine is still having details added) for comparison purposes I apologize for the poor lighting and the darkness of the shots….I had a limited space and light to photograph the chassis, but I figured poor light is better that no light. In this shot you can see the exhaust system attached to the engine. It is made from .50 mm Solder. The system crosses over under the spare tire holder and has extended tips that exit just under the rear bumperette which is not fabricated yet. Here is a shot from the bottom. Here you can see the mufflers which are made from two pieces of aluminum tubing, one inside of the other. The mufflers are painted with a custom mix of very pale light metallic blue paint (like the real car). At either end of the mufflers the pipes are wrapped with heat wrap to insulate the frame, I simulated it with off-white seatbelt material. Here is a shot of the chassis with the spare tire mounted on the holder with the three screws (really just very thin rods running up through three lug nut holes) holding it in place. Also, the gas tank in resting in place…..it is not completed yet (you can see the putty still on it) but you get the idea. And all the way up front you can just make out the front axle in place attached to the springs, but it needs a lot of work yet to make the wheels turn and for the car to sit on all fours. Here is a look from the other angle……… I will finish the front suspension in few more days and then on to more body work. I am getting ready to open up the interior on the body , build the seats and dash area. Then it is on to begin work on the photoetched grill and the two bumperettes which will made of brass and soldered together…what fun.

Right now the Timbs Special Streamliner is getting the bulk of my attention….but for the past few months I have also been working on 3 additional cars. Please don’t mind the mess on my work bench…..well actually, I kinda’ cleaned it up for these shots…so go figure……….anyway, first up is what I call my ’32 Widebody. This is a Revell ’32 Ford roadster body, widened especially in the rear to fit on a modified AMT Prowler chassis. It has a blown Chrysler Hemi up front with the trans set in the back and I opened the doors…suicide style. There is a resin ’32 Ford grille up front and it will have the cycle fenders up front with traditional “bigs and littles” with wide whitewalls and baby moons. Next up is the 1934 Ford Sedan. This is a Jimmy Flintstone resin body on the AMT coupe chassis and running board fenders. This has the kit ohv V8 in it and is painted a pale Green on the bottom and pearl white on top and then a top coat of clear with a green metalflake over the car followed by plain clear gloss over that ….the doors were cut open (especially difficult with a resin body) also suicide style. And lastly, this is also an AMT 1934 Ford 5 window coupe only the top was removed. I opened the doors, normal style here and grafted on a windshield and front cowl from the Testers Coupester. This is for the Smoothster, but they include the part in the Coupester kit. The top is from a mid 1960’s Corvette. This will also have period style bigs and smalls with wide whitehalls and most likely baby moons…..I think anyway. If I don’t have a messy work bench and a number of projects going…something just doesn’t feel right.

After about an hour of screwing around with the posting, I finally got it to post (missing some info) but at least it is posted. The program, literally "ate" some of the text and picture coding transferring from "Word" to the forum. I ended up having to rebuild much of it.............this is just plain silly.

Ok, since the last update was such a big hit………… its ok, I don’t need encouragement, here is another “ho-hum” up date to go along with that one. The chassis has received some additional detailing…the parking brake line is in and the rear brake lines are set. Much of the engine detailing is completed too. Here is the left side of the motor….which is a resin casting by Ken Kitchen….Kitchen Table Resins…..it really is very nice and accurate casting of the Buick Straight 8. Here I attached the oil filter up high and painted it like the one on the Timbs Special. I added a distributor and cap from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland….I think the ones that Norm offers are hands down the best available. I realize the distributor cap on the real car is black, but I could not bring myself to paint over the beautiful tan molding by Norm….so it stays tan….besides, it would not even be visible if I painted it black and to not see this beautiful casting would be a crime. To the basic engine block I added the oil dipstick , the vacuum advance, bare metal foil to the valve cover and you can see the fuel lines added to the carbs. Interestingly, I have photos of the real car, obviously from different times in the restoration where the fuel lines show up on the inboard side on one and mounted to the outboard side in another. I went with the outboard side just because………Here the engine is mounted on the chassis as it will be after the front suspension is completed. Also, you can see that the body has now been cut. The front section has the bulkhead in place and will have the cockpit opened next and that section will be eventually mounted to the chassis. The rear section will be hinged at the top of the front so it will open, as it does on the real car. Thinking ahead to the display of the car, I am toying with the idea of semi-permanently mounting it to a finished wooded base….and below the base mounting a motor with a slow moving rod that will open and close the back of the car. ( the real car has a hydraulic ram that opens and closes the rear deck so a powered rod would be true to the prototype) It looks so good with the body down showing the long swoopy sleek lines, but there is so much under the back end with the engine, gas tank and spare tire along with the delicate frame that it would be a shame to miss that. So maybe a switch that will allow the back to open and close for viewing would work out best…..and I guess, I could add working head and tail lights along with an “under hood” light to illuminate the engine compartment and maybe even dashboard lights……we’ll see about that later.

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it...I use Flickr and never have had any issues in the past. Normally, I write my post in word, I insert (copy and paste) the picture code for each picture from Flickr with the appropriate "image coding before and after the string, where I want it and then cop[y the entire text message, picture code and all into the "forum". Like I said before, this always worked with out any issues. But now, half of the pictures refuse to appear more often then not, the "code string" appears but not the picture. I review the picture code and there are no issues with it, but the forum just does not want to display the image. Like I said, I will stop posting pictures if this continues........I guess I am being too vain, but I like my posts to look like I actually thought about it before posting it. I will try again in a few minutes.

I am about ready to give up posting to the forum....lately half the time I post to it, the post will not display properly...even limiting myself to 5 pictures....it acts like it has a mind of its own and I will not deal with this non-sense much longer......either a post works or it doesn't..and if it doesn't I will not play. It used to be great...all my posts worked..........now not so much and I don't like this. Am I the only one to experience these problems?????????? Please......am I?????????

Well, I have to also take issue with any series of kitted cars making or breaking the hobby…….quite frankly the hobby exists only because of US. Without us, the builders, the buyers the lovers of building model cars, the manufactures would never make a model car kit…period. Without a market, a product does not exist. As to the most important or best series, I think that will always depend on the modeler. If you like F1, clearly the Tamiya 1/12 and more importantly the 1/20 scale kits are the most important. If it is sports cars, the Fujimi Enthusiast kits are hard to beat. American Iron, hands down it is AMT. Specialty Hot Rods and Race cars based on the actual cars; well that is the Revell series from the 60’s. But my number one, most important series of cars manufactured is the Revell ’32 Ford series……….3 window, 5 window and sedan, I bet every one of us has multiple kits from this series on the shelf. They appeal to all of us, can be built in a variety of configurations and have many aftermarket add ons to really individualize each build. The fit and finish on each kit is superb and they set a very high standard in the marketplace. But you know, I could just be full of it.

Ken, this is just insane....what a great scratch-building project. Very impressive...that is all I can say, I am just so impressed by your boldness to even attempt a project this demanding. Enjoy it, I know we are.