Peter Lombardo

Very well done....great color and the "split" looks like it belongs there. Very, very nice and subtle.

Surprisingly interesting. A doddle bug on steroids. It looks much better than I would have expected. I am not sure that Dr. Porsche would approve though. Certainly creative and well done.

You know, I almost think you mean that! nice build, I really am looking forward to doing mine....I will have Senna driving too.

I already have my “Dream Kitâ€, I just haven’t mustered the will to build it yet. I want it to be perfect when I finally do it, so the fears of not doing justice to the kits involved are holding me back. I purchased the Gunze Sangyo kit on line a few years ago with the plan to open the hood and install the 289 engine from the AMT Cobra in it. I figured I would have to scratch build the rest of the components. I got as far as cutting open the hood and setting the engine aside. Then I saw that Harold Bradford was offering his amazing version of this car with full engine and under hood details. I contacted Harold and explained what I had planned and he was gracious enough to offer to send me, at a fair price, just the parts I would need to complete the Gunze Sangyo kit as I had planned. The castings he supplied were amazing. The delegacy of the front inner fender panels is beyond description. ( the blue on my thumb is from the Ford GT GT2/3 I am building…sorry about that) I mean, he even hand labeled the parts so there is no confusing what everything is. Every so often I open up the boxes and just look at the parts….they are all that good. The only other car, short of the 1956 and 1957 Buick, Pontiac and Olds, that I want in 1/24-1/25 scale is the Ford GT40 Mark IV. If only Fujimi or Tamiya or some one like that would produce this car with full detail (engine and under hood stuff), I could die a happy death knowing that I have all the kits I want to build.

Whoooo...this is really different. I love the engine work and the chassis. This will get a lot of attention at a show, that is for sure. Looking forward to seeing the body, once painted.

Mike, very nice build. A number of years ago I built that car and used the exact same color.....the only difference was I did a black interior. I think I like your white interior better....great job on a fun kit to do.

You sure have a lot of nerve posting an F1 car here!! Actually, great job as usual. I have that kit too, but I got those nasty tobacco manufactures decals to go with it. It just isn't a 70's, 80's, or 90's red and white McLaren, in my eyes, without the Marlboro name on the side. I now have about 40 1/20 scale F1 cars that I have to build.....too many kits, not enough time. I need to get up to your speed of one new build every 11 days if I ever want to get through these builds. I still don't know how you do it. B)

Nice group.....my eye are getting old and I have a problem seeing these....seriously, very nice body of work this year.

Very funny!! B)

Curt, great job as usual. I have looked at that kit on line and pretty much figured that would be my next purchase. After seeing yours, I know it will be the next kit I get. It looks terrific. I was a little unsure of how the rear fenders would look with that crazy venting "step ladder" but it looks pretty good.

Great, hope you have a quick and "painless" recovery. Getting old does stink.

Just got a test shot of the new Hudson kit today. Here's the pics. The kit looks really nice. The tooling still needs some final engraving and adjusting, but it is very close to being ready. There are more pics at the link.More pics. While looking at the "More pictures" I found a great drawing of the Chrysler 300 as a mythical Touring Car. Great concept, I really like it. I may have to build something like that....just for jollies. Did you post that car on the artwork tab???....I don't recall seeing it.

OH Boy, I can hardly contain my excitement. I feel like a little kid again. This one and the Chrysler....can't wait. I may not get to build it until the year 2020, with the backlog I now have, but none the less, I want these kits.

Great job.....love the driver and the interior details. Man, this is good enough to drink on the rocks. Great idea, "Jack" is always a good choice....but coming from Austria, I would have expected Jagermeister or Schnapps or something like that.

Hey Ed, you old dog.......Happy Birthday....hope you have many, many more. Do something special today....you get extra "privileges" on this one day...so go have some fun.

Man you do nice work.....so smooth and clean. I love it!

Lyle, you flat out "own" that style of Hot Rod. Nobody does these builds better than you. You have all of the details perfect....the colors, the wheels and tires and the stance....you nail every one of these points. Beautiful....just beautiful.

Nice and clean championship car. One of these days I will it build too.

Most of you guys probably saw the Viper ACRX race car and the Audi R8 GT3 I just completed. I mentioned that I was planning to build both the Corvette ZR1 and the Ford GT into GT3 type race cars. I have begun the Ford GT so I thought I would post my progress report on it. This is the third Ford GT I have built. A few years ago I converted one into the aftermarket roadster variant of the car and did a straight up coupe build too. Both have opening doors, hoods and trunks. For this variation on the car, I also planed on opening up the areas of the car that would open on the real car, only this time I will only hinge the doors…..the hood and trunk will be made to lift off, as the real race cars do. I started with a pre painted version of the Polar Lights 2005 Food GT kit. This is the last one I have and the fact that it is pre painted is strictly coincidence. This is a pretty nice kit considering it is a snap together kit and the plastic body is rather thick, so opening up the panels is not an easy task. I took my time and got it all opened up, I am glad this is the last Ford GT kit that I have to cut apart. Here you can see the passenger side door cut away and the truck hood removed. Here you can see the front fender extensions being fit. I added a strip of styrene to the inside of the wheel wells which was glued into place. Next the fender extensions were glued on and then puttied in place. Next I added the lower rocker panel extensions which flow into the rear wheel well flares. I added a chin extension to the nose of the car which will be covered in carbon fiber decals and small struts will be added. The engine bay will be detailed as per the reference shots I have and I am building the fuel tank for under the front hood. Now the version I am building is a phantom version because I am adding the body modifications I like, which is a combination of a few different cars and the paint scheme will be unique to this Ford GT race car. There are a lot of great looking Ford GT race cars out there but I am going to do this one as a Red Bull sponsored team car. Red Bull is very protective of their markings and logo’s. They, I have been told, demand tremendous, yes even copious amounts of cash to use there logos for a commercial endeavor. I have never seen them available from even an aftermarket supplier. So I have challenged myself, and my brother, who has the hard and software to accomplish this, to the creation of Red Bull decals for this car. I am painting it Tamiya Dark Metallic Blue with the light blue and silver pointed striping and the red bulls with the large yellow sun. Red Bull sponsors two cars in NASCAR and a team in F1, along with a full variety of other types of racing, both on and above ground…..so why wouldn’t they sponsor a GT3 car too? They will soon! Stay tuned!

You may remember that I took a “long†version of my Dual Cowl Roadster body and shortened it up to make a 2 seat run-about roadster version of the car. I have made some more progress on it and I thought I would post an up date on it and get your feedback on an idea I have for it. First, to the car. I cut out about ¾ of an inch out of the middle of the long 4 seat body and spliced it together right about where the doors are. Here you can see the “short†version next to the long 4 door raw body. I took a Corvette (C5 version) chassis, running gear, engine and seats and stretched it out to fit under the body. I debated with myself over the wheels and tires to use on this one. Part of me wanted the thin but big soft bias ply tires with big fat white walls and part of me wanted the smaller wider radial tires of the modern era. As you can see, the modern wheels and tires won out because I figured if someone were building this car today using the modern Corvette chassis, suspension and engine power, he would want the modern tires to get the power properly down to the street…..remember, all of the power and torque put out by a modern auto is still transmitted down to the black-top only in those 4 rather small “tire patchesâ€. The better the tires, the better the handling…and I think this little sport roadster would be driven in a very spirited style….assuming it were a real car, that is. Anyway, starting at the front of the car, I gave this version two standard style exposed headlights protruding from the front fenders ala XK 120/150. I, more or less, gave this the same shape grille as my 4 door version, but rather than a one piece opening with vertical slots, this is a four piece affair that will have a cross-hatched mess grille behind the openings. I plan on two small exposed round turn signal lights like the MGA has below and inboard of the headlight position. On the four door version, the hood opens, hinged at the front, on this version, it opens to the rear. There will be two small struts installed later to help hold the hood in the open position. Under the hood you can see the Corvette motor, missing the head cover shields which will go on later. Also, you may have noticed the small magnet, which matches up with a magnet on the inside of the hood to hold the hood in place when in the closed position. On the firewall will sit the heater, battery and the master cylinder for the brakes. On the hood of the 4 door version I have 50+ louvers so I wanted something different here, so I cut in little S shaped openings on either side mainly to break up the long expanse of the hood and to provide some visual interest to the “Plain Jane†look of the long nose. They would provide some cooling air to the engine compartment, but the engine air intake is up front on the Corvette engine, so these provide nothing for the engine breathing. The windshield is a modified unit from a Prowler promotional snap fit model. I, as you can see, grinded away part of the bottom of the windshield to have it fit the contour of the cowl area. I have not built the dashboard yet, but it will sit right behind the cowl, also ala Jaguar 120/150 and MGA. I opened up the doors and hinged them and fit the two Corvette seats, cut down in the middle to the interior where it would be a rather “cozy†fit for two adults. Both the front and rear wheel well openings have been cut out with a similar shape as the fender top lines and both have been flared. The fronts only mildly but the rears got the full treatment. On the rear deck, I cut out the license plate opening like the 4 door has, except on this version, I angled the sides to flare out the bottom edge and to mimic the rear inner fender lines on the rear deck. The Corvette has four exhaust outlets so I gave this car four too. There will be four polished tips sticking out with beveled tips. As you can see, I cut down the soft top from the 4 door version to sit on the shorted version here. I really like the look it gives the car and I think it looks very appropriate to the style of the body lines. The chassis is painted in a Mopar color called Shale Green. It is kind of a smoky grayish green. The body will be painted two-tone with the top center section in a cream vanilla color and the lower outer area will be in the shale green. I currently plan on top coating both with a layer of clear lacquer mixed with tiny green pearl flakes to give it a high light and sparkle. The interior will also be in a two-tone combination of pale green and cream leather and flocking…..should be neat. Now, on to the idea I am kicking around. If there is enough interest, I will run off a final run of the 4 door versions bodies, just to have a few and then modify the mold to produce a run of the 2 door version. Once I do that, there is no going back for the mold though…it will have to remain the 2 door version. Personally, I can’t decide which one I like best…I really do like them both, but if you guys want a 2 door version to go along with the 4 door version, or did not really like the 4 door one, but like this version, I will modify the mold and do a run of “shortiesâ€. It is up to you guys. I have both, so I don’t care. Let me know and we will take it from there.

I would really like to see three cars done......the Bentley Continental GT......the Bentley Continental GT .....followed by the Bentley Continental GT. I think the prettiest "large car" ever designed.....period!

That is easy, I am thankful for a wonderful family that is all healthy, two great children, the best wife that anyone could possible wish for and last but certainly not least, a beautiful happy and healthy new grandson. I can't wait to start teaching him golf....modeling would be nice too, but I want to get him into golf, since I couldn't get my son into it.

Hey Bill, glad to see that you didn't fall completely into that great big abyss out there. Life's tough.....that's why we need our "happy place" to go and hide in. That's what I do....I work because I have to.....I build because I want to. Take your time and ease back into the water slowly if you must....but you are too talented a builder to stay out of the water completely. And besides, your work is "inspirational" to any of us who has seen it. Good to hear from you again.

I don't frequent strip clubs but I have been dragged into a few over the years. In the few times though, I have never seen or heard any reference to peanut butter.....you really have me wondering now.

Beautiful job and a true classic. What a historic race car.....I would love to see Tamiya or Fujimi do a detail version of this car in 1/24 scale.