Peter Lombardo

Curt, great job so far...the paint and decals look perfect...I really love those 1970's F1 machines. Loads of wings and scoops and less sponsorship distraction. Plus, you could go racing, back then on a small budget and be competitive. Most guys were running the same Cosworth V8. At the rate you complete models, I am sure this is a whisper away from completion.

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of an F1 Modelers site. The other day, one of the members posted this video of former F1 driver Riccardo Patrese taking a spin around the track in a Honda Civic. Riccardo asked his wife to hop in and ride with him. Now, he never let on that there was a small camcorder on the corner of the dash to record her reactions to his rather “spirited†driving style. Both Riccardo, and his wife, are Italian, therefore she is only speaking Italian, which is a good thing as her language gets pretty excited.…..he is very calm behind the wheel, but she is having quite a difficult time with the “hot lapâ€. After you watch this video, you may want to click on one of the videos on the right side to see this same video with sub-titles. I highly recommend this as it brings a new dimension to the dialog. I hope you enjoy this video, I did.

I am sorry to hear of Eds passing. I didn't know him, but we all share the hobby and we are brothers in that. Best regards to his family....I guess Ed is off to that big hobby shop in the sky!

OOPS, I almost forgot, when the bodies are ready, I will post photos of it and you guys can just e mail me, I will give you my home e mail, with your mailing info. I will send them out and you guys can send the money once you recieve the body and you are happy with the quality and condition. This is not big money, besides we are all "brothers" on this forum. Have a good one.

Guys, I am overwhelmed by the response to the idea of having you guys build your version of the dual cowl roadster. I just got back from a few days of golf in sunny Florida....the weather was amazing 85 to 90 degrees every day....man, I just love Southwest Florida. Anyway, I am tightening-up the body a bit...I want it to be as close to perfectly symmetrical as possible. Also, I want to make a hardtop (like what the Blackhawk has) for it which will be included with the body just to give you guys some options. I will also try and create a soft "up" top too...we'll see about that. Also, a number of guys expressed concern that time was an issue. I fully understand that, so maybe the best thing to do is just have whoever wants to build it, build it at their own pace and not worry about a "build off" concept. Just have fun with it.....build it the way you want, when you want.

Just to be clear, I would want all to know that whatever you want to do is fine with me. The whole idea of this is to let it be a blank canvas for whatever you guys would like to do. My modeling world is big enough to let "any and all ideas" have their place. I don't care, give it tank treads and a turret, or a slick two tone paint job. And if there are enough guys we can have the forum members vote on the entries to pick a winner.....it is all good.

Ok, I am going to float an idea out here and see what you guys think about it. I realize that this is very risky and some of you may think I am crazy to even suggest it, but here goes. I think many of you know that I am rather bitten by the Art Deco Bug. I am not sure why, but the flowing curvaceous lines of objects designed in that era have always appealed to me. The other day I was skimming through ConceptCarz.com and I came across a car that I was aware of but had not seen in a while, the 1338 Buick “Y†Job. This car gets the credit of being the first concept car ever designed by a major automobile company. Harley Earl commissioned it and was often seen driving it in and around Detroit, back in the day. It is a rather large two seater, even by the standards of that era, but it has those beautiful flowing lines along with more than enough chrome and it incorporates an interesting boat-tail design in the rear very similar to the Auburn speedster. It sits a little “high†for my taste, but over all I love the look of it. Looking at it reminded me of the 2003 Buick Blackhawk which was a more current concept car that drew heavily on the “Y†Job for its inspiration. Besides a more modern powertrain, the Blackhawk sports room for four and a power retractable hardtop that folds into the trunk. Then, I remembered the Chrysler Newport Concept from 1941, and I looked it up. Notice how it has a similar body contour on the side that flows diagonally down from above the front wheel well to just before the rear wheel and then up and over it. And interesting, notice that it has a very distinctive dual cowl design that segregates the front seats from the rear. In the 1990’s (I forget which year exactly) Chrysler had a concept car that incorporated this dual cowl design into a more modern car. Anyway, this got me thinking. What if I took design elements from these three cars and combined them into one flowing Art Deco style vehicle? What would it look like? Would all of these elements work together or just clash with one another and look like a pot of stew? Well I drew out a few designs and when I was pretty happy, I committed the design to a block of sign foam. A word about this foam….it is great. I have used Basswood (too hard), Balsa Wood (too soft), Modeling clay (too messy), but this stuff is just perfect. It is easy to grind with my Dremel tool into a rough design, then easy to shape up with standard sand paper and then easy to fine tune with the usual wet-dry fine grit paper. Now the design shown here is not totally complete, but it is very close. As you can see, I have given it a version of the Buick grille. I have incorporated the diagonally running side contour like the Chrysler, but I have extended the front fender similar to the Buick design. I have the dual cowl of the Chrysler and have incorporated a contour line into the trunk to give a hint of the boat-tail. I am planning to form the front windshield, maybe the rear too, and a top to cover both seating areas. I like the look of it, but that is not the point of this post. Here is what I am thinking. Would any of you guys be interested in (dare I say it) a little build off? I was thinking that if there was some interest I would supply the vacuum formed bodies and top for a couple of dollars (to cover the plastic cost) and postage….it would cost somewhere around $9.00 to $10.00, mostly for the box and postage. You would have to provide the running gear of your choice….you know, pick a donor kit, or kits……you get to pick the engine, wheels and interior stuff and finish it with whatever chrome trim, headlights and colors you like. Give it some thought. I will be out of town until the middle of next week without the ability to look at the forum, so you can think about this for a while. Look, I am not looking to make a big deal out of this…I just thought maybe some of you guys would enjoy trying something different. You get to let your creative juices flow. Think about and if enough guys are interested it could be fun. And if just a few guys want a body, I can provide that and you can do your own thing. Next up could be something more modern……I am really liking the idea of a sleek sharp modern futuristic 2 door, 4 place coupe….maybe an update of the Chrysler 300 type of vehicle….we’ll see. Think about the idea of a friendly little build off….and think about it, there would be no confusion about what scale is acceptable or what kits are allowed. I wonder how this would look as a DONK or a Rat Rod?

That is very well done, Curt. The fine mesh screen is available in many hobby shops...especially ones that handle HO train stuff. They often sell it as chain link fencing material. Also, I have seen it in shops that specialize in radio control airplanes. I will retro fit some of my earlier Tamiya 1/20 F1 kits that don't have the intake screens as of yet. Thanks.

It makes me thirsty!! Very well done, I like it. The exterior color looks great with the interior color and the license plate looks neat on it too. Very nice.

Gentlemen, I am rather disappointed about the follow-up posts to this thread. Don’t misunderstand; I was not expecting anything more than “hey, that is pretty neat†or something to that affect. But unfortunately the bulk of the comments were directed to single question of “why do itâ€. Please, why should we do anything in life beyond surviving the day to day rat race? Some people in life enjoy creating, some people enjoy those creations and some will find fault in that creation. Some people, I am sure, think that I am a fool to waste my money and time building “lowly†model cars. “Isn’t that something you do as a kid?â€, they think. Yeah it is, but it is also something that I do to help me express my creativity. I also paint in oil and draw in pen and ink. I need to create and express myself in order to maintain my equilibrium. After a difficult day running my business, some would say “into the groundâ€, need to spend some time in my “happy place†which is either at my work bench or my easel. The gentleman who created this unique truck is being pushed by a higher power to create a living testament to us. He is constantly adding to this and finding a way to make a statement. The creators of many of the cartoon characters have added sign artwork which is in the truck bed. They seem to understand what this is all about. This is a tribute to the American culture. As kids we grew up with TV, Movies and our “Pop Cultureâ€. As you look at this creation, you keep finding new characters and insights. This man is a true patriot too. He has depicted the great……..“raising the flag at Iwo Jimaâ€, complete with actual sand from that beach at the Marines feet to the horrific, “The Twin Towers†on 9-11. You can purchase a signed photo card; I brought two, with all of the money going to the Wounded Warriors fund. The Presidents portraits are depicted and the Constitution, at least the beginning of it, is there too. This would not be complete without a depiction of the front of Mt. Rushmore. But one of my favorite depictions on this truck is the “back†of Mt. Rushmore…..see if you can find it, I did photograph it. All I ask is that you view this in the manor that it is intended. It is a creation intended to pay homage to our past, our culture and our potential and have some fun while doing it. You don’t need to question why, you just need to enjoy it.

Thank You Gregg, I really do appreciate your kind words. It means a lot to me. P.S. It was very nice to see you again.

Whoa.....this is way too much for me. I am a simple man with simple needs. I like "almost done" and "done" after that I am lost. But what ever you do, I will be fine with it.

Lyle, this is really well done. Right up there with your usual tight craftsmanship and attention to detail. I really like the engine and headers, but my favorite part of the entire build is the blue paint inside the carb. scoops. That looks so cool and "period". You brought more then a little life to that very old tooling.

Yesterday, I heard about a car show that was in the local area. Not knowing what to expect I drove over to it. It was full of antique, muscle cars and vintage street cars. I will have to post the pictures from it later when I have some more time but in the mean time I saw a Ford pickup truck that I thought you guys would enjoy. Maybe some of you have seen it, maybe not, but it was the first time for me. I took 189 photos of it and I still think I missed a few areas of it. This truck has hand painted (airbrushed) cartoons, every major cartoon character is included, and artist renderings of major events in our history. I urge you to take a few minutes and look through the photos…this thing is amazing. Normally, I tend to avoid these kinds of “gimmicks†at shows, but this truck was quite something to see. Just click on the link below and click on the photo set for the cartoon truck. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpl3k/sets/72157623977384344/

Thanks Curt....I have their link because I have used their decals before. I just received, from them, the full decal set including those evil tobacco company logos for the Williams FW 16 I will begin in the near future. I will do it as it looked on the starting grid in May 1994 with Ayrton Senna getting ready for his last ride into the history books.

Curt....very nice job! I built that kit in 1991 and it has been sitting on my shelf waiting for the 312T and 312T2 to join it. Finally they will all be reunited on my shelf in a few months. I really like the mesh intake screens you made...see, you were forced to make one to replace the missing one from the Hasegawa kit and now you have another skill. Anyway, great job as usual. I like the how the Indycals decals cover. I have another one of these kits.....I think I will get those decals too.

It doesn't matter to me who posts the pictures.....the important thing is that they get posted. Nice looking Riv....I think the early Riveria's are one of the best American designed cars ever. Great build, but that is to be expected from Ted.

I built a replica of my MGB by converting that kit into a 1977 (rubber bumper car) that was converted into an earlier chrome bumper car. Very confusing. And yes, the ride height is 1.5 inches lower on a pre 1974 1/2 car. All because of the US rules about 5 mph bumper requirements put into place back then. First posting: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21921&st=0&p=197460&fromsearch=1&#entry197460 Second posting: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24041&st=0&p=220385&fromsearch=1&#entry220385 Third posting model completed: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24307&st=0&p=223273&fromsearch=1&#entry223273

Really nice work Ed. Your chosen subjects are not an item that I would think to model, but you sure are good at it. I am just old enough to remember seeing a few of those around in my youth. The upside down vase is a pretty slick idea as a cover for them. Great job as usual...good luck with the fund raise.

Great job....I really like the photography you did with it. I like the shoot with the real car in the background....well done.

Back in the day, right around 1976 to 1979 I had a CB in my car, as was the "thing" to do. For the first few months, I didn't have a handle. I was listening more than talking....I just couldn't get into the "lingo". I mean, it always seemed to be a "southern" thing, more than a "Jersey" thing. Then one day, while talking to a few co-workers the subject of CB's and handles came up. Some one asked me what my handle was and I replied that I didn't have one....at that very second, without missing a beat, my bosses secretary turned to me and said, "yes you do, its right on your front". At that moment, I knew I needed to come up with something......my new handle "Big Petey" was born.

Yes, it was built by Morgan. I had a great time talking with Morgan and Bill Stillwagon at the show...they are so talented and such classy gentleman. They had some beautiful builds on display.

I am sorry to report this, but I think we, the serious modelers, are just going have to contend with this kind of juvenile behavior from time to time. We are participating in a hobby forum. This is not a forum where heart or brain surgeons share their latest techniques in medical breakthroughs. This is a forum where adults and young adults share their love of a hobby that can attract some less then desirable individuals. I believe that some of the “children†here are lacking in the social skills. I think that maybe they feel intimidated by their lack of these skills and feel the need to disrupt the rest of us. I don’t pay them any attention. I know who the serious modelers are and who the mischief makers are. Unfortunately, this is one of the draw backs of the internet. Insincere and often malicious individuals hide behind the cloak of a false name and real intention just to masquerade as something that they are not. In the end, the truth always comes out as these frauds usually expose themselves for the juvenile miscreant they are. I have a simple rule, actions speak louder then words…….show me your builds, I will know if you are the real deal or not.

Antonio, nice job on a snap kit. It looks really good, and the "hockey stick" stripe looks great on it. As a side note, I am looking forward to three weeks from now....a few friends and I are coming down to Naples to play golf for 5 days. I love Naples and all of the great golf in the area. 2 of the guys have never been to Naples before, so I really enjoy showing off the area, the golf and the great dining. It will be fun. I am jealous of anyone who lives in paradise full time.

Marcos, I could not care any less about the issues with the kits problems, the workmanship on the build is top notch. Great job...to the "untrained eye", the car looks perfect. Very impressive. I expect to see this tomorrow at the show.