Peter Lombardo

Pretty neat....you don't see Rambler Americans much any more...even for real...and a model of one is rare too. Nice job...that would be a very quick car...especially in a straight line. Nice choice of additional equipment.

Hey, thanks guys....I really appreciate the kind words.....I am so glad that so many of you guys "Get it"...I mean you understand the excitement I am feeling over the new horizons that this opens up. Now i really wish I had more free time to spend on these projects. Ryan, thanks for your response and the BMW concept. I have never seen that one before, and yeah, I see a lot of similar design features in the two designs. It is good to know I am not crazy in my thinking. My two current long term projects have me all "Jazzed Up" now. This is so much fun!

This is looking really good.....the bar and wine bottles is a great touch. The roof looks great, I like the tee tops over the front and back too....this is coming along great...keep it up.

Very different....unique and interesting take on the trusty old Willy's. I like the side contour running down to the rear fender....neat little design queue. Well done!

Well, thanks again for the encouragement, not that I really needed it, because I am really enjoying the challenge of this build. I drew on the body with a pencil where I wanted the front windshield and the side windows/doors. I say windows/doors because the entire door is made out of a clear Plexiglas which will hinge up at the very front tip of the window. The door will be the window too. As a side note, I glued in styrene strips on the inside between the windshield and the side windows to add support to that area because it is rather delicate. I thought that driving the car (if it were real) the driver would have some difficulty seeing to the side if the doors were not clear, so I figured the doors would be unique and in keeping with the idea of a concept car looking to showcase technology that is not available on production vehicles yet. Remember this car will have “fly by wire†joystick controls and video cameras and monitors for rear view. I made a template of the first door/window and traced it on the opposite side so the doors would be the same shape. I took care, but still got it wrong so I had to perform a small surgery on the driver’s side to fix the shape of the contour….no big deal. Once I got the doors and windshield opened up, I cut the “glass†out of the body that I previously vacuum formed in clear styrene. Later, I cut out the opening on the rear deck over the engine that will show off the engine manifold and then cut a glass filler. Once that was done, I cut apart the bottom sections and attached them to the lower portion of the front, rear and sides. I have completed a rough sanding of the lower portions. Next I opened up the front wheel well areas and have drawn the line that will guide the cut for the rear deck cover which will tilt up to show off the engine and the rear suspension and transmission. I think this is coming along very well…I see my early drawings of the car in the 3D model of the body…so it is exactly what I envisioned the look to be.

Really nice...normally, those dark brownish/gray colors tend to look "dumpy", but one this car, that is not the case. The color looks great. Opening doors and trunk is also a nice touch. I really like the plaid trunk mat...very realistic. And just that simple red stripe on the seat lights up the interior very well. Overall, a very convincing replica.

Very slick! I really like the color combination you choose......hint, hint, (I did my real life MGB in that combo). The wheels look perfect on this one...glad to see that there is truly life after 24 inch rims. Fat white walls make it with those wheels....very impressive mix of mild customization and old school touches.....I guess that is why you are you and the rest of us are happy just to look on.

Ok, we finished up the Christmas lights, they came out very nice, but I could not wait to get in and fire up the vacuum machine and make a copy or two of the XP45C. I put the top and the bottom sections on the vacuum plate, heated up the plastic and ran off a copy. There are two imperfections on the car, the driver side front wheel face, that gets removed anyway, and a small glitch on the driver rear, but that is easy to correct. I had a difficult time getting the mold out of the body, but with a little cutting it popped out. So here is the body. It needs to have a few small imperfections fixed, all very easy and the lower body pans added, doors, truck lid and windows cut in, but all and all, this is going to be fun. The other day I made a quick vacuum body in clear, so I can cut the windows out of that body and use them in this one, as they have the proper curves in them. I think you guys are tired of this posting, so I will not return to it until I have the panels opened and ready for the chassis and interior work. Thanks for looking.

I started working on the engine and transmission for the XP45C. I removed the drive shaft and mounted the transmission directly to the engine. It was fine, but I realized that because the driveshafts mount at the very rear of the trans, I needed to “rearrange†the transmission a bit. I took a little engineering “license†and set the driveshaft mounting piece of the trans more in the middle so that the engine could be moved back a little (don’t need the engine in with the passengers). I am approaching this build as if I were designing a real car. Obviously, I am no aerodynamic engineer, so all of my ideas are based upon what I have seen and read over the years of following street and race car design. I think it is important to try and make this as realistic as possible. I built the engine with the intake manifold on backwards because the air intake will be coming in from the rear. You will notice a large air intake just in front of the rear wheel well. On the model, that air intake will have a splitter in the center of it. The top half of each intake will feed the intake manifold of the engine. The bottom half of each will feed a radiator. The driver side will cool engine oil and the passenger side will cool the transmission oil. I also rearranged the air scoops and the air outlets. I really liked the idea of using the C1 side scallop as a “throw back†design queue, but on the 3D model, it just didn’t work. Like I said earlier, you need to see it in 3D to really get a feel for how something works or not. I filled in the scallop and replaced it with air outlets that are much more similar to the C5 and C6 ones. Because of the air intake by the rear wheel having this style of design, the front air outlet needed to have more symmetry with it, so I made the change. Then I added air outlets behind the rear wheel that are angled along the same line as the air intake at the front of the rear wheel well, again, to keep the look the same. This would release excess air and heat from the rear brakes I have recessed both the front and rear grill areas so hopefully when the vacuum forming happens, I can just cut out the area that needs the mesh grill. The air outlet is opened in the front where the water radiator will be so that hot air will ventilate up and over the body. The vents behind the front wheels are there to allow excess heat from the front brakes and air out from under the car, at speed, so as to help keep the front end down, plus the shape of the nose and the front cowling would act as an air spoiler (wing) and help apply down force to the nose of the car. I incorporated a spoiler in the rear deck area to help add some down force to the rear of the car. If a racing version were built, I think it would have conventional steering and foot petals, (I think I want to do one just for a laugh) I think a “largish†wing would be added to the rear and a more dramatic front air dam would be needed…but that is a whole other story. I am expecting to crank up the vacuum form machine later today…..first I have to go hang the Christmas Decorations and bring in some “summer only†items from the deck. I can’t wait to see if this body design will “form up†ok. I opened the major orifices so hopefully the styrene will get drawn in and hold my body corrections to a minimum. We’ll see.

A couple of guys asked to see the vacuum form machine, and how it works, so I thought I would put together a post that shows the process. My son is into “Sci Fi†modeling. He has been scratch building a model of a the LAPD “Spinner†from the movie “Blade Runner†on and off now for about 6 months now. The top is a modified clear plastic “dome†from the old Pontiac Banshee kit. Since I had one original top, he wanted to make some copies of it for the Spinner, and future Sci Fi builds. The best way to make copies of a clear dome is vacuum forming. He went on-line a few months ago and found a guy who makes and sells these little vacuum machines. This sold for about $65.00 if I am not mistaken. The machine was sitting around doing nothing for months when I hatched the idea to attempt the vacuum form body of the Aero Coupe a few weeks ago. Yesterday, he wanted to vacuum form the Spinner top and since it was rather small, I threw in the twin bubble top from the 58 Thunderbird kit, to take up space and see how it would look. The vacuum machine holds a sheet of styrene that is 12 inches by 12 inches in an aluminum frame clamped down with office clamps. The unit is fairly small and can easily sit on the kitchen counter. It has an opening where it is connected to a shop vac and that opening is “piped†up to a chamber under the top plate. The top plate has many little holes that allow the vacuum suction to pull the hot plastic down over the item being molded. As you can see, the two bubble tops are placed on the top of the face plate. As a precaution, I sprayed the tops with some silicone spray to aid in the removal and help protect the plastic bubble tops from any excess heat that might transfer at the moment of contact. The sheet of styrene was clamped down and placed in our oven set to 400 degrees. The frame rested on a roasting pan while in the oven. At first the heat causes the styrene to get real wavy and a few seconds later it snaps back to perfectly straight and tight. The molecules are reacting to the heat and getting all rearranged. About 20 or 25 seconds later, you can actually see the plastic sheet begin to “sag†downward in the middle. A few seconds later and the entire sheet is beginning to sag. At that point the shop vac is switched on and with oven mitts, the plastic is removed from the oven and quickly placed over the items to be molded on he machine. The machine has two little angle brackets that help guide the frame into the proper position as it fits over the machine. I a split second of placing the frame with the hot plastic on the machine the styrene is rapidly pulled down over the molds. In that second, it is done. “Bamâ€, as that cook on TV used to say, it is sucked down and the form is complete. The frame is removed and, in this case, the forms (molds) being so light, they were attached momentarily to the newly formed copies, but no worry, they released easily when tapped from above. Here the originals are still in the newly formed copies, but being that both are clear, it is difficult to see that. That’s it, the entire process takes about 45 seconds to complete and so far, I have seen no reason to doubt that I will be able to mold the body for my Corvette XP45C. As a side note, I have made a few modifications to the sides of the XP45C. As much as I liked the “throwback C1†side scallops, They just were not working for me, so I filled them in and replaced them with air scoop recesses that are more reminiscent of the C5 and C6 Vettes. All and all, a major improvement. I also re-did the back end design, back to the way the drawing showed and it is also a major improvement…but more on that later.

Welcome aboard Mike....you certainly picked a great subject to start your "posting" experience here. And any tips that Bill gives you are worth gold, especially on the Daytona. I noticed that you have been bitten by the same bug that got Dave Susan.....I call it "Clean Workbenchitis". I was wondering, are all your paints in number order? just kidding. I don't feel comfortable unless I have to forage for 5 minutes to find something on my desk. Anyway, welcome...enjoy!

Terry, very nice build...I have never been impressed with that kit, in any of its three hundred variations, but you sure made it sing. By the way, this is a great way to rekindle a few sales of your book.

You scratch built that in just 3 weeks? Do you have a job....do you sleep....do you have a life???? I am very impressed with the workmanship that I can see from the rather small pictures, but putting that aside, it is very impressive. Great job.....I love it, if you can't buy, build it yourself...great modelers attitude! Keep it up!

The only word I can think of is AMAZING! What a great save. Impressive work...I will never look at the garage sale junker the same way any more. You must be proud of this one considering where it came from and where you took it.

Barbo, thanks, and the same to you and your family......how are you doing? Are you still working hard and making headway? I think I know the answer to that question, I am sure you are, but I have to ask. I hope we can all enjoy the day with our families and friends.......don't eat too much!!

There are two pictures with the spats on. And I agree that it does look somewhat like the 300SL in the back, but I assure you, that was not my intention. As I was carving the back end in the wood buck, it just looked good like this.....all too often the front and backs of cars look like two different people designed them...my goal was to make this look like a complete design. I wanted the front and the back to work together...so as I worked on the back, I kept thinking how it would look with the front and sides. There are chrome moldings along the bottom of the sides and each spat has a little "art deco style" stylized "wing" design on them....if you look carefully you can see the un-chromed strips. As for the engine, it is the Viper V10....and yes it does look mighty small in that huge hood (put that same engine in a Viper body and it fills every square inch of the engine bay) , but that is the look I am going for. I intentionally made this too long and extreme. The car is long...it is just about the same scale length as a 1965 Bonneville, so yes it is long....but that is the look I want. Thanks, everyone for the kind words of encouragement, I really appreciate it. Now that I have been bitten by the "design and build my own" bug, there may be no going back for me. Obviously, I am working on the Corvette XP45C now, I also have a Ferrari roadster concept I designed which will be more conventional using a 612 engine and chassis, a Mini-minivanvan concept drawn out and one more that is going to be very different, but I will keep that one still under wraps for now.....mainly because I am not sure I can do it as I want....we'll see. Thanks again.

Very nice....I like how you did the top, it is "spaced out" just right. Being on it's own wheels makes a big difference. You would never know, from looking at the pictures that the frame was extended so far...that looks great. Nice job on this one. This is looking great.

I don’t want anyone to think that my Aero Coupe has been left behind. I have been working on it too. I have been working on the interior panels, door panels and getting the “spats†wheel covers positioned properly. The engine and chassis are all set and the grill is nearly completed. I have opened up the two exhaust port openings in the center of the rear end. I love how they will look as the design of the openings mirrors the headlights and taillight openings. I have to file the tips of the exhaust to flow with the contours of the body, but that will come later. The dashboard and behind the seat areas are next. I can begin to get the body ready for paint soon and build the hood and gull wing door struts. I am planning a small twist to the paint job. It is two tone, as I originally envisioned, but to keep the grill area in one color, as I want to do, I will incorporate some computer designed and cut scallops for the hood area….I think that will look really sharp that way. I really enjoy the Corvette XP45C I am working on, but this Aero Coupe is a joy to work on too.

I have made some headway on the body of my fantasy Corvette XP45C. Sunday afternoon I “baked†it in the oven at the lowest setting for a few hours and it dried most of the moisture out of the clay. I have been using my Dremel with a sanding drum and a few of the grinding bits to get most of the big contours in the body. I have also been sanding the clay to get the imperfections out of the surface. I still have a long way to go, and this is the most tedious part of the process, but it must be done. I will then mold the bottom portion of the body once the upper section is set. When both components are molded, I will then combine the two sections to make the body. This top section needs about an actual ½ inch below the section you see here. A few guys asked about the process of getting the body symmetrical. This is done first by “eyeâ€, but then I employ a contour gauge. I thought I would show how it works. You can see that the gauge is pressed over the body and a visual mold is made of the section. You can then compare the two sides and any variances are easily identified. I also use it on the two sides. I take a contour of the left side and then place the gauge over the right side to insure that the two side contours are the same. It is a very simple process, but it is priceless in insuring the same dimensions are uniform throughout the design. I still have a few adjustments to make, and I will have to use some small portions of auto body putty to correct a few “low†spots…but overall, the bulk of the contours are correct as they are. At first, I was getting concerned using the clay method rather than the wood sculpting method as the Areo Coupe employed, but seeing the results that the clay is producing, I am glad I tried it. I just love this build….this will be a challenge all the way through, but controlling the process and the design is a gas.

I would think that if 10 people were to build a 59 El Camino, this would be the only one that took this direction....very interesting and unique build. I like the combination of the reset wheelbase, set back engine and tubbed rear wheel wells. All and all, a very nice model. It is one of those cars that on first blush, doesn't hit you as something special, but as you look deeper in to it, the more you see.....you know, it's "snicky" detailed. Very nice.

What just happened here? Gasman posts an innocent posting asking the question, "what is your favorite kit of the last ten years", granted, he didn't ask the question with those exact words, but that was the substance of the question. In reviewing the postings, there was far more controversy of the dates than the kits. Have we all become so "Politically Correct" that we can't just accept the point of the post and state our favorite kit or kits? Maybe it's me...I am willing to accept that, but I think this has been blown out of proportion here. Anyway, the post made me think about the fact that not too many kits jump out at me as to being special. Sure, I like the Revell 49 Mercury, I picked up 3 of them, but have yet to do more than open the doors on one of them. I have all of the variations of the 32 Ford family by Revell, but none, for all intents and purposes built. I like the Revell 58 Chevy coupe or the 69 Nova, bought one each, but no burning desire to start them. It is interesting to me that these are all "retreads" in one form or another of kits that have gone before. Sure I have the Tamiya Enzo, and just about all of the Ferrari kits they make, along with the Porsche kits Tamiya makes and yes, the quality is spectacular...clearly a cut above all others. I recently picked up the Hasagawa and Fujimi 1/20 scale F1 kits and they are as good as the Tamiya offerings of the recent past. I think most have been disappointed with the Trumpeter GT40 (I haven't seen it, and stated long ago that I would not spend that kind of money on it). But judging from the comments and articles I have seen, this may be the "flop" of the year. So what is my point? I realize that this is clearly the "Second Golden Age" of modeling. We have more choices and more detail items available than ever before. Why do I not get excited over the kits that are coming out? Why can't I point to one kit and say....Yeah, that's it!!! I think that is because we always get the same "safe" thing. Rehash's of the same cars. Re tooling of the same kits. It's like TV. One network has success with a type of show, and the others copy it. It has always been like this. Someone started the "reality craze" (P.S., there is nothing "Real" about any of those shows) and everyone copies it...."American Idol", "America's got talent", "Dancing with the stars", "So you think you can dance"...."Survivor", "The great race", "The biggest loser" (P.S. I think our own Bill Geary could be on that show)...you get my point, I think, I hope,..... it is the same old, same old. I think it is high time that we started getting some of the more obscure kits......before you jump at me, yes, I understand the financial situation we are in, I have said, right here in this forum, that I understand how it works. Manufacturers need to make a profit...yes, yes, I get it, but in looking back over the past 10 years, whether we think it is 9 years, or 9.90 years or a full 10 years, looking back over this time, I realize that I was not overly impressed with the crop of kits we were given. Man, I want to see some of those old 50's Buick's, Pontiac's, Oldsmobile's and Caddies. I want to see the 50's Chrysler's, Dodge's and Plymouth's. Some of those 50's Lincoln's were fabulous...where are they? What is wrong with the early 60's Chrysler vehicles? Come on...think about what a great lowrider a 1994 Chrysler LHS would make? Why and Tamiya not produced a kit of the Cobra Daytona with an engine at a respectable price. Where is the kit of the Ford GT Mark IV by Fujimi or Tamiya? Where is the complete kit of the Chaparral 2? Where is a quality kit of the 289 Cobra without the huge fenders? Really, there are so many great racing sports cars of the past 50 or so years that a manufacturer could go for years and never run out of subjects. There are so many subjects out there and seem to just get the same old, safe out retreads. Believe it or not, I am not really complaining...I just want to see one of these guys take a chance or two on a unique subject.....I know my timing on this stinks, but I want some different subjects....you know, an Olds Toronado with modern tooling might be interesting. Am I crazy?

Very interesting build you have there. 2 years ago, while in Southwest Florida I saw, and photographed a VW Bug Limo. It belongs to an exterminator named Truly Noland. Interesting guy, his company is huge and he has classic and antique cars parked all around Naples, Florida with his name on the side....interesting way to advertise his business....anyway, his VW limo had his signature mouse ears on the roof. Pretty neat...so when I got back home I picked up a Revell beetle for a some day conversion. Well, anyway, I am following your build and conversion because I am looking for any hints and tips I can pick up from your build. So far I am impressed....your very long Vette is looking great.

Very, very nice job. I think that is one of the very best kits AMT has made. Your attention to detail is excellent. The under hood work is superb. As for posting photo's, I find 9 is the limit to each post, but you technically can post as many as you like. Just cap the first post at 9, and quickly open a reply to that post and go on posting pictures. Anyway, nice work, so let's see what else you've got to show us. I have always found that other mag's forum to be very user "unfriendly".

I had a little free time this afternoon, so I thought I would get started with the clay model of the XP45C. I haven’t used or modeled anything in clay since high school, let’s just say, it was a very long time ago. So a traced the outline of the bottom of the car onto tracing paper and secured that to the desk. I then took out the clay, which was pretty hard. I broke off a few smaller pieces and started kneading them to loosen it up a little. You don’t realize it at first but, it sure makes your fingers tired working this stuff, if you are not used to it. So, not really knowing where to start, I just began laying down lumps of softened clay over the outline drawn on the tracing paper. Little by little I began building up the clay into the basic shape of the car. I have to tell you here that I was very unhappy at first as I began laying down the clay. I almost stopped and put the clay away. I was thinking that I would have to go back to the wood carving again. But I continued on with the clay, and before long, it actual began to look like the car. I wanted to take some early pictures of the process, but my hands were just so full of clay and I may have damaged the camera, so I waited until I was at a place where I could stop, wash my hands a shoot a few shots. I am a long way from done with the clay form, and I have yet to begin the lower portion of the car which will be a separate clay piece. I want to use two molds for the vacuum forming because there are reverse and compound curve which would make for a very difficult molding process I am sure, so I chose to mold in two pieces and attach everything later. So far I am very pleased with the way the mold is coming out. It needs a lot more smoothing which will come later, but over all, I am very happy with the look of the mold. I followed my design very closely with only minor deviations. I added air vents behind the rear wheels, which I did not have on the drawing and I “squared off†the back end a little more than the drawing showed. I fully expected a few changes because as you go to 3D, from the 2D drawing, I find that I see things a little differently and changes to the design are the norm. I like the squared off back better, and as a bonus, it is a design queue from the current Corvette, so it makes perfect sense. I was not planning to use the tail lights from the C4 Vette, but now I will because they will look just fine on this backend now. Like I said before, I am all jazzed up about this build now. I can’t wait to vacuum form this body and begin the process of actually building the car.

Now, that is perfect! And yes, Congratulations to the 27 time, World Champions....the best team money can buy.