Peter Lombardo

Welcome aboard...we all seem to have the same plastic fixation affliction phobia...say that 3 times fast, why don'tya. I couldn't build my stash of kits in another 50 years...and I still buy more.

They are all very nice!! But I really like the Nova and the '62 Bel Air the most...bubble tops rule. Actully, that Goat ain't half bad either. All very "Foosy looking"! Nice collection.

Chevy, this Corvette is looking very nice. Very unique color scheme. Stick with it and finish it……that is the only way to improve your skills. Besides, you can never go wrong building a Corvette....never. You know, I think we should have a disclaimer that all guys must have to read and sign when they post projects for the first time. Something like, “Experience and modeling skills helpful but not necessary, entrant need only show a desire to build models, share their experience and strive to grow their skills, escape the pressures of the real world and enjoy themselves in the process.†It matters not to what level you build. The mere fact that we are here, building and sharing our experience and “the†experience is more then enough.

Dave, yellow you said....yellow you did....it looks great....a nice easy target for the radar gun! Be careful.

Very impressive hat trick. I love how all three elements of the build carry the theme and complete the package. The sum of the parts is certainly greater then the whole. Together they out the vision. I am reminded of the Mooneyes dragster and hauler. Back in the day, the truck, trailer and show car (or dragster) all complimented each other. Very period correct for the late 50’s / early 60’s. Very well done. It should be a big hit at the NNL West show.

Dave, very nice. The silver looks great on the car because it is not too flashy. The early GTO's, as I remember, were creating a whole new gender of American car...it wasn't until later, after others jumped in to the market that the cars got bright colors and stripes and scoops and such. Early on it was about the clean muscular look and this model captures that feeling. Very nice....well done.

If I didn't know any better, I would think you only like Ferrari Modena's. Nice collection, all done very clean and smooth.

John, very nice looking build, I have that kit, and one of these days it will be built. Keep the cars and posts coming, they all get easier with each one. Nice work under the hood of this one. Keep it up. And don't be afraid of Bare Metal Foil...it is your friend...it makes all the difference in the world.

She is complete, fully dressed and ready to meet her public. I just completed her, in fact the white glue is still wet in her headlights, but other than that she is ready for the streets. Just a short recap of what I did to the car. This started out as an AMT Mustang Shelby GT 500. I opened the doors and truck and hinged them. The front air dam is scratch built as are the front and rear wheel opening flairs. I added the ground effects to the lower rocker panel with the exhaust outlet just in front of the rear wheels. The hood bulge was scratch built and to some new Shelby que’s to the car I added the air outlets and grills to the bulge. On the front of the car, I added current Shelby parking lights. I cut a grove in the bumper, painted it white and later filled it with epoxy mixed with clear orange Tamiya paint and let it set up. The road lights in the grill came from the Revell Super Stallion Mustang kit. The smaller fog lights are MU lens for HO trains. I added the rear spoiler which is the type used on race cars where the height can be adjusted. I cut open the slot’s and used small ho nut and bolt’s. The interior has resin racing seats with photo etched seat belts. I lowered the stance and made the front wheels pose able. The wheels and tires came from the parts box and I really don’t remember where they are sourced from, but I like how they look on the car. The rear view mirrors came from the Dodge Cooperhead kit. The engine is from the revel parts packs, the Ford 427 unit. It was wired up with most of the plumbing and it really fills up the engine compartment. I added braided oil lines from the engine to the twin oil filters and down to the oil cooler in the front of the radiator. I added a photo etched electric fan to the radiators front. The hood pins are photo etched units and I made the grills from a photo etched screen cut to fit and painted black. The stripes are computer cut from vinyl and put on over the pearl white and then the car was painted Tamiya metallic blue and then clear coated. And of course, the chrome is all bare metal foil. Well that’s it I saved the $80 or $90 bucks for the resin transkit, added a few mod’s of my own and I now have a pretty blue Eleanor, now I just need to save some real money and get an Eleanor for real. Please excuse the cat hairs and I have no idea why, but my camera will add a strange yellow tint to some of the pictures for no apparent reason….drives me nuts….I have to get to the bottom of this one of these days. Anyway, here she is.

There is not a lot more to add to what has already been said, that is one hot paint job...very nice, tight flame pattern. Your best yet.

Very nice job...it reminds me of a Honda Civic. Sleek and nimble. Color seems a little dark for the car, but it is a beautiful conversion to a street machine. The last time I was in France, I was so impressed with the Peugeot's and Renault"s that I saw there. The American designers , in my opinion, should be looking there for some fresh (to our eye's) ideas.

You nailed it! I think Watson would have been proud to put his name on this paint job, in fact I think it is more tasteful then many of the Watson paint job I have seen. Very well done on a kit that is very difficult to build as stock, let alone customize. Beautiful work. I am really impressed.

I can also attest to the simple pleasure of applying future. Just last night I airbrushed a coat on to my 1960 Pontiac coupe and it looked just great this morning. Easy and self leveling so it drys nice and flat and shiny. If you have never tried it.....try it. You don't have to airbrush it on, you can either airbrush or just brush it.

Really nicely done. I also like how you used the metal details to make this build stand out. This car ran under so many different color and body and engine combo's, it is hard to pick a verson to build. I have an unbuilt original Revell kit which has the blown Oldsmobile engine and the wide grill opening plus the story on this car from Rodders Journal, so I will do this in light metallic blue. A tribute version was built a few years ago which has the opening like this Revell kit, plus a Chrysler Hemi and it is painted candy blue (I have a story from Hot Rod on that car too)...I have plans for that one, plus, I built the black version which also ran years ago. That is just a version of the same kit you did but with different decals and paint. If one wanted to, you could build like 6 different versions of this car at various points in its life. It has an amazing history. Slick decals makes a great sheet on this car and the many variations of markings. Again, nice clean build, very nice.

What a very nice build....clean and unblemished. I never really cared much for that car when it was out. I think the Mustangs, Camaro's, GTO's, Chevelle's and the offerings from Chrysler, et all, all over shadowed these, but having said that, you created a very nice looking example of this car. I have the kit and have opened it up many times and have yet to get the motivation to begin it. Yours makes we want to revisit it again....nice job.

Very nice, I find the Lexus autos rather "boring" in the styling department...don't get me wrong, they are wonderful automobiles but their styling just does not work for me, but that is of no matter here as you did a great job on the car and a fantastic job on the interior, The details are all first rate....too bad they are buried under the roof and glass. Next time try building a convertible to showcase your detail talent. Keep it up!

I am as far away from an expert on that movie and the related cars as one can be, but your build certainly looks like the car that I remember. I know there is a lot of different ideas as to the "right" body and proportions, but this what I remember. I remember seeing an article in Scale Model about 12 or 15 years ago where a modeler from Japan (I think), had built all of the cars (this coupe, 55 and 58 Chevy's and the Merc) along with the figures. I remember being more impressed with the figure modeling then the cars, although the cars were great looking, the figures were spot on. Anyway, your coupe looks really nice and certainly worth the time you spent on it.

Treasure that stuff...it will never be the 60's again. I wish I had hung on to my old magazines and "stuff" from that era. Looking at those photos told me one thing....it is official...I am now an old fart!

Nice job very clean looking build.....Have you ever heard the phrase..."Some people look better with their clothes on, then off"? Well, my personal opinion is the same with the Shelby. Maybe just because I am used to seeing them with stripes and spoilers....but I think they dress the car up where they truly stand out.....but having said that, you did a very nice job on a "stealth" Shelby.

No, this is not a replacement to the Fusion. This car is currently available as a Lincoln MKS, soon to be a Ford Taurus. It also shares the platform with the Jaguar S Type which is now sold (owned) by Tata, along with Land Rover. Fusion is getting a nose job this year and some performance upgrades. I have much of the tech. info on this new Taurus and it looks like it will be a great car if you can afford the $40,000 plus price tag for a loaded out model. The Lincoln is over $48,000 loaded.

Len, thanks, I am glad I went with the blue too....back when the Revell Parts Pak engines were available, I stocked up a few of each one, this is the 427 Ford engine. I dechromed the block and trans and sub'ed the air cleaner from the AMT "66 Fairlane 427 kit. The aircleaner from the parts pak (which is quite a bit taller) will go one the Fairlane which will also have a teardrop hood bulge grafted on to the hood.

Guys, thank you very much, I really appreciate the kind words. As for the body modifications, I have the link right here to the first posting... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17200. So to answer the question, yes I did the body mods. They were all pretty easy to do..I began with AMT kit #38492, 1967 Shelby GT 350. You know Len, it was a posting on our forum that led to a kit review on the Automotive Forums (maybe it was your posting, I don't remember) that convinced me to do the conversion. I think the resin transkit was $85 or $90 dollars. I figured that I could replicate the mods, add a few ideas of my own and save a few bucks. I was just not sure what color to paint it. I almost did it in charcoal (like your beautiful build...that is the resin kit, right?) but I would have used the pearl white stripes instead of black, just to be different. Right up to the last minute, I almost grabbed the charcoal paint bottle, but the Shelby blue was calling to me and I am so glad I went with the blue. As a little side note, it took two paint jobs to get it right. First, as I was removing the stripe masking, chunks of the pearl white under came up which made me see red. Then I cleared the hood (which looked great, no missing stripes) with the clear lauquer I always use and it reacted very strange to the Tamiya blue. It made the blue paint seperate and the silver component was showing through the blue...it was so strange. I had my hands full just fixing all of the paint issues...so this time, after the paint looked right, I cleared with Tamiya clear so I would not have the same issues with compatability. My son wanted me to paint it burnt orange pearl with white, but I just couldn't do that. Anyway, thats for the nice comments and I will post the completed car in a few weeks after the foil and final assembly.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I was also surprised with how well the proportions worked. The roof does in deed flow right into the back of the 60 Ford at a perfect angle. I have the doors out now and have bondo'ed the joints. I can start sanding pretty soon. In looking at the car, I think the bumpers will go on, but will be incorporated into the car body (not chrome) and I will be filling the entire back panel where the taillights go with one full length taillight rather then the two half moon lights from the stock version. This one will get done pretty soon....I am excited about it now. Actually, I think the windshield may be not that difficult because I am using acetate for the glass and it seems to work out pretty well....we'll see when I get to that bridge.

I need this like I need another hole in my head. I have a 1967 Mustang Modified “Eleanor†, a 1962 Thunderbird custom, a 1960 Pontiac Bonneville, I just started a Porsche slant nose and now I find myself screwing around with a 1960 Ford Fastback. Today I ran to the hobby shop to pick up some Tenax r7 glue. While there I saw the AMT 1969 Ford Torino Cobra kit. Now this kit has been on the shelf at the shop for at least 7 years. I have never really looked at the kit, mainly because I think the box art looks so terrible. But for some reason it caught my eye today. As I was looking at it, the roof line got my attention. I have a coupe of 1960 Ford kits, which I love the body lines, but I am not crazy about the roofline and the thought popped into my head. Why not combine the body of the 1960 Ford with the roof of the 1969 Torino Cobra. I got home and with in an hour I had the roofs off the cars and the Torino roof glued to the 1960 Ford body. I have the doors cut open about 90% of the way which I will finish later. I started the bulk of the cutting of the doors before the new top was on so I could “manhandle†the body and not worry about the glue joints. I have the top epoxyed to the body and once that is cured, I will start the putty work while the paint is drying on the previously started cars. I have to tell you, I love the way this roof looks on the body….and while I was working on it, I looked at this roof next to the Thunderbird and I see that this roof (the Torino roof) will look perfectly great on the ’62 T bird. I think I will have to find another Torino to do another transplant as I have a couple more T bird kits laying around. I think right now I will use a hood scoop, rubber band tires with big wheels, drop this puppy down as low as I can and then I have a new trick that I am working on for the door hinges…can’t say just what yet (need to be sure I can do it…don’t want to make a promise that my butt can’t keep) but if it works, it will be one of a kind and very different….we’ll all just have to wait and see.

Well, actually yes. The last car I clear coated with Tamiya clear sat for about 5 days before I applied BMF and I almost destroyed the paint with fingerprints that got etched into the paint. Because I applied the clear rather thick, I think it is best to wait rather then get myself upset...besides I have plenty of other cars in the works to keep me busy. Thanks.