Peter Lombardo

That's the SHORT version???!!! Harry, the first 4 lines are the short version, the next 200 lines are the long version. I thought it would be interesting to share the technology of the build. If you don't want to read it, pretend it is a Playboy and just look at the pictures.

Ready for the video??? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpl3k/3121314964/

Short version of construction Kit : AMT 1958 Chevrolet Impala Modifications: Poor quality resin Chezoom roof grafted on with a sun roof cut out of it. “Gull wing†fins extended outward with strip styrene. Trunk opened. Most design trim items removed, along with nose and tail markings and door handles. Pose able front steering. Lowered stance, Hoppin’ Hydro wheels. Electric remote control operating sun roof with motor, battery and control board in the truck. Custom computer designed scallops in pearl white and a pink to blue flip-flop pearl paint job. HO scale MV lenses for headlights and kit supplied taillights. Long version of construction: This is my latest, and one of my most ambitious undertakings to date. This started out life as an AMT 1958 Chevrolet Impala kit. The first modification was to remove the top and replace it with a very poor quality resin re-pop of the Chezoom roof. I have always loved the way that roof completely modernizes the look of a 50’s era car. Next, I added styrene (see picture) strips to the small “Gull wing “ fins of this car. This addition, I think, fits better between the 1957 upright fin and the larger lateral fins of 1959 and 1960 designs. I have always loved the 1958 Chevy and think it is the best looking design of the 1950 era Chevy’s and Ford’s, but that is just my view. Next I removed all of the unnecessary (my view) little design clutter items that obstruct the smooth flow of the cars design. The only design items I retained are the full length chrome side spear, as it makes the car look longer, but it almost fell to the Dremel sander drum, and the chrome rocker panel trim, which I think makes the car look lower. Next, I thought that if I were modernizing a real car like this, I would like the modern convenience of a sun roof, especially because there was a long enough roof to support one. So, I patterned an opening from a previously built car that had a sun roof scribed in it and cut into the very thin resin. This resin re pop was so thin that I had to add styrene sheets under the roof to support it. Once the roof was opened, I knew that I had to make it operate; you know, open and close, so I set out to build the tracks and guides for it to slide on. As I was working on the mechanism to guide the roof window, I could not shake the thought of motorizing the process to add that little extra something to the car. Now, I need to drop back a bit here to review a previous build. About 5 years ago I built a 1999 Ford F150 Lightning pickup as a roadster. I added a motorized top that retracted into the front of the pickup bed that had an opening cover, kinda’ like the Chevy SSR. I also had the hood and both doors open and close electrically and all of the lights, including the dashboard light up also. This was all very nice, but to accommodate the 5 motors and 2 battery systems necessary to power the truck, the truck was permanently mounted to a “box†(it was a very nice custom made box with a neat checkerboard pattern on the top). There were 5 switches mounted on the side and it was, I thought pretty cool. But it always bothered me that the unit was not self contained. Granted, with all of the operating systems, there was no way that would all fit within the vehicle. But, certainly, one motor should fit and that was sticking in the back of my head as I was progressing with the 1958 Chevy you see here. So, my goal for this build was to install a motor, remote control electronic board and a battery within the trunk of this car and have the sun roof open and close remotely. I dug out an old “zip zap†remote control car that my son had. It was a simple car that had a forward and reverse direction and used an electrically charged magnet to turn it left and right, which was unnecessary for this application. The main problem with these cars is that they are designed to go very fast, and I wanted a motorized system that moved relatively slowly to accurately portray the speed of a sun roof. I removed the motor and the electrical transmitter board from the car along with the 8 or 9 inch wire antenna but discarded the rechargeable battery ( it was old and incapable of holding a charge) that was replaced with a changeable battery. The next obstacle to be overcome was finding a suitable speed reduction gear system that would fit in the car, and reduce this high revving motor down to a manageable speed. The solution for me came, as usual, from an unexpected source. Back in October, while in Florida, I had to replace a battery powered clock in the den of our condo that is rented for the winter. My son took the motor mechanism out of the clock to see what made it tick and ended up bringing it back to NJ with him. I saw it on his workbench and the idea hit me that those gears might work for my current project car, so I commandeered it from him. I opened up the gear box and began removing all of the excess material to see if I could get it down to a manageable size and gear speed reduction. What I eventually ended up with was a 5 gear reduction system that significantly slowed the motor down to an acceptable speed. I wish it was a little bit slower, but this was the most gears that I could fit into the space allowed. The next step was to permanently mount the motor to the gear drive train and fabricate some additional support pieces to hold the gears in place. I made a “swing†arm for the shaft of the last gear that would attach to the rod that would attach to the sun roof. The design was fairly simple, as the swing arm would move forward and back, the roof would move forward and back. I located the motor assembly on the truck floor in the center so that the rod and swing arm would be on the centerline of the car. To accommodate the gear train, I had to cut out a section of the truck floor so that the unit would sit low enough for the gears to fit in and the swing arm to clear the top of where the truck lid attached to the car. I glued the unit in place and fabricated a surround for the unit bottom that protruded a small and acceptable amount below the truck floor line. The control board was located under the rear seats and I fabricated a battery holder and extended the wires and included an “on†“off†switch in the spare tire wheel well so that I could shut down the system when necessary. I then ran the antenna wire under the chassis so that it looked like the fuel line and stripped off the insulation for the last inch or so of the wire where it came up out of the right fender to replicate the radio antenna of the car. I really like the fact that this antenna is real for the remote control and I used it to replicate the radio antenna on the model…I know, I am weird to find pleasure in that. As I look back on this process, it all moved along fairly easily until I encountered the two most difficult obstacles to success. The first problem was keeping the roof moving in a straight line, sounds easy but trust me, it was difficult and second, and more of a challenge, once the roof was moved into the shut position, having it move up at the rear to seat properly. I did not want a big gap at the rear as that is not very prototypical. The difficulty surrounds the fact that It needs a short up and down motion at the end of the run when I was only generating a forward and backward motion. After a lot of experimentation, I developed an diagonal shim on the inside of the sunroof that hits a bar suspended from the roof that forces the roof up into the opening as it shuts. The car was primed, sanded then painted white, block sanded again and then painted with Mopar Pearl white where the scallops were to be. Once dry, it was clear coated and once that was dry, computer cut painting masks were applied for the scallops. Then the car was painted with a Jacquard dry pigment of pink / blue flip flop pearl mixed with clear lacquer and thinner with my airbrush. After that just started to dry, the painting masks were removed. When that was dry, the whole car got a light sanding and then a rub out with Tamiya compound and later a rub out with finishing wax. Bare metal foil was applied where needed and the interior was made ready to install. The interior has gray flocking on the floor and dash top and rear package shelf. The seats were painted with Tamiya flat white and the inserts where painted a wild magenta pearl color from Jacquard that has a very “alive†vinyl look to it. I added speakers to each door and the package shelf. A slit was opened on the rear package shelf to accommodate the actuator that opens and closes the roof. The windshield is acetate sheet and the rear side windows and rear window are acetate sheets painted with Tamiya smoke tint through my air brush. The suspension was lowered and Hoppin’ Hydro wheels were installed with Pegasus drilled disc brake rotors. The headlights are HO scale MV jewel units and the kit supplied units, without the chrome ring are used for the taillights. The engine is the 348 block from the kit, with the dress up finned chrome head covers. In hindsight, I should painted the inside of the fins on the value cover with the body color, but I didn’t when I could and I can’t do it now so…..oh well. The tri carbs have a triangle air cleaner from a Corvette kit. The engine was plumbed with most of the wires and stuff. I added a brake bolster from a parts box unit and a battery from a Viper kit, I think. That is pretty much it. I love the color, I love the scallops, I love the body modifications and most of all, I love the remote opening sunroof. I just love this car and achieved everything I set out to do. It is far from perfect and I do not think I could produce a perfect model. I always find a way to get a blemish or two into the picture, this is no exception, but, yes, I love this car and am very happy with the outcome of my effort…now I have to top this at some point. Next up is a neat 34 Ford chopped 3 window coupe, I did from the standard 5 window car and I am working on a custom 62 Ford Thunderbird, but Chopper has stolen the thunder, get it thunder…thunderbird, anyway, I have a nice custom with a chopped t-bird hardtop roof grafted onto the convertible body, but it is more conventional then Choppers wild custom T Bird of two weeks ago.

Tough choice...I like the Corvette GTP and the Caddy best, but went with the Caddy because of the clean look and an understanding of the conversion. The best thing to me is the fact that they are all different. They show a wide range of style and subject matter. All excellent as usual.

I remember that drawing....very nicely done, the pick up bed is just perfect....real wood with a nice varnish shine to it.

This is an excerpt from my “Revell dropping NASCAR post from Dec 8th… “Ok, it is not just the professional ball teams. Honda announced that they are dropping out of F1. Sure, F1 teams come and go as everyone wants a piece of that pie, but even Bernie said that if they don’t begin to lower the costs (they can’t and won’t) the sport is in major trouble. No kidding…all of the sports that rely on corporate sponsorship are going to get hurt. Look, Buick had to cut Tiger Woods loose for lack of capital. Cadillac will no longer sponsor the Masters Tournament, and if you are a golf fan, that is the Holy Grail. Golf in general is going to be hurt…they can not keep supporting the huge purses each week for the players if the corporations can’t pony up the cash and many can’t in this economic climate. Toyota said they are still in but, they will keep a careful eye on cost and if it continues to escalate, there will be cut backs. Ford, GM and Chrysler, with the government breathing down their necks, will have to watch every penny they spend on advertising…you know the cuts are coming. The major sponsors are all cutting back. Nascar will be hurt tremendously because there are so many teams and so many races. The cost to field a Nascar team is crazy…F1 is ten times as crazy. So in an effort to help the France family Great Great Great Grand Children’s trust funds, they slap a licensing fee on the plastic kit manufacturers because they use the “likeness†of their race cars. Give me a break!!!†Get used to this situation happening time and time again…..there is not money in the smashed advertising budgets for the frivolity of racing. Factory sponsored race teams will, I believe, be hurt the most. Advertising money not spent will go directly to the bottomline, if not gobbled up for officer compensation, but either way, the atmosphere in the business world will be to horde as much cash as possible as lines of credit continue to dry up.

Hey, I just got this same e mail today with the 12 months of Blondes, you left out the pictures that go with each month....oops, thats right, this is a family forum.

Ah, it's a winter wonderland!!!! I hate the snow.....its time to be moving south.

When I was eight, I was no where close to this kind of build...I would say this kid has plenty of ability. Glad to see him building a model then on the X Box all day. Nice job. The two tone is very catchy.

Bill, there is no way you can do this car; your fingers are just too big!!! Kidding, of course, it looks your usual “greatâ€. Making the window for this is very impressive. I did a similar molding process for a GT40 roadster (1/24th)I built, but I was very “crude†in the way I did it…I formed a buck out of bass wood and used a heat gun to soften the clear acetone and “darn†near melted my fingers off. But it worked. You are right, sometimes something completely different will act like Drano and clear out your blocked up pipes. I am sure it will be impressive when complete….looks great now.

Gentleman, we can talk about this situation until we are all blue in the face. The root causes of our economic meltdown have been peculating under the surface of our economy for at least 35 years now. We did not get here overnight and we will not get out of this quickly either. There is so much blame here that we can point fingers in every direction. Governments deregulation of banking and industry played a major role in allowing the ball to get rolling. The heavy dependence on foreign energy sources set us up for economic blackmail, as experienced in the 1970’s and speculation drove the cost of a gallon of gas to over $4.00 this summer. Our local jurisdictions making sweetheart deals for the foreign manufacturers to set up shop here in America so they can undercut our home grown businesses. The invasion of foreign made products (mainly auto’s) into our marketplace that were cheaper and perceived as better. In the 1970’s our slow but steady move away from a manufacturing economy to a “credit†or financial economy that stripped away our industry “core†profit and sent that overseas (electronic, auto and now just about everything). Think about it, the only products today that in inherently American and still “manufactured†here is the Cheeseburger and the credit card. We have allowed our workers salaries (union driven) to escalate to the point where we are not competitive. OK, STOP GRINDING YOUR TEETH AT ME FOR THAT COMMENT!!! I don’t have an issue with American workers earning a decent wage, in fact I wish they could earn more…I wish I could earn more, but lets get real here, if we keep increasing the wages, the product costs more, and we will spiral into out of control inflation. I, and many of the business people I know have all been saying this for years now….â€We are out of controlâ€â€¦Athletes and entertainers earn way too much for what they do (just look at the NASCAR situation on that other thread). The cost of everything is getting crazy…a serious adjustment was inevitable, it was just a matter of time. With every month the gap between the “haves†and the “have not’s†has been widening. We are destroying the middleclass. My wife and I purchased our current house in 1982. Sure, we have improved it with an addition 17 years ago, but we paid $89,000.00 back then and just prior to the meltdown, it was valued at just under $600,000.00. Don’t get me wrong, I liked having the increased value, even though it was just on paper, but that is crazy. How do young coupes buy a house at these insane prices?????….enter the ARM or Adjustable Rate Mortgage, and there are young couples and minorities in the inner cities, buying property that they truly could not afford (at the crazy inflated prices) and due to deregulation and a conscience change of policy by government to encourage these purchases, we now have huge numbers of defaults. The economy has been climbing higher and higher and as the stock market reached 14,000 many of my friends and business acquaintances were saying, hold on to your hat, the drop in coming…yes it is and it is here. I also watched the show last night on the History Channel about the parallels in the “Great Depression†of the 20’s and 30’s…very enlightening show, and yes, it was not a politically motivated look at the two situations. I want to believe that this time it will be different and the drop will not be as far and as long lasting, but I have my doubts that we can pull ourselves out of it. It took WWll to save us last time, I don’t think another world war will help us now. As I have stated many times before, I honestly believe America is “on the back nineâ€. That, if you don’t know is a reference to the point that I think we, as the former leading nation on earth, we are now in decline and will be surpassed by other nations that are on the rise. I am in the middle of a great book, which I recommend to all of you. It is entitled, “The Post-American World†and was written by Fareed Zakaria. DON’T LET HIS NAME THROW YOU. Fareed is an American, born in India; he is the Editor of Newsweek International and writes a column on international affairs. This man is very well versed in the international politics and business of the world today. He has no anti-American agenda. He calls it as he sees it and backs up every statement with facts…facts that point to the clear and unmistakable rise of Asia and South America and the slide of America as the pinnacle of world economics. I will not bore you with the details, suffice to say, this meltdown was predicable and expected by those in the know. I just finished a book entitled “Bad Money†by Kevin Phillips, a political and economic commentator and former White House strategist. This book was written in 2007 and he predicted everything (exactly) that we experienced this late summer. He saw it coming as did many others. Last weekend, my wife, daughter and son in law were in New York City to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then dinner in Little Italy. Everywhere we went in the city, in the museum, on the streets, in Little Italy, I was astounded by the huge number of foreigners. They were everywhere. Now, we are no strangers to NYC, living 30 minutes west of it, but this was unbelievable. In October, we were in Naples Florida for a week. Same was true there. We have a condo there, so we know the area, have been going there for many years now, and I have never seen so many foreign visitors as we saw this time…coincidence? Certainly not. America is now a destination for foreigners with stronger currency then the U.S. dollar. Our currency is under attack and if many in the world have their wish, the dollar will not be the standard of trade any more. The facts all point to the uncomfortable reality that America is in decline and other nations are on the rise and we have brought much of this on ourselves, which is why the central theme to most of my rants about the economy and business focus on a complete lack of leadership by our elected leaders and the American peoples who insist in keeping their collective heads in the sand. Our media lies to us every day, our “elected for life†Congress is in it for personal gain and the ones with the power to change it are too stupid to see it. We have been lulled into a state of complacency and apathy. Guys, we all need to begin paying attention to this problem…but in all honesty, it may be too late already.

Walt, why not scratch build the cab? It looks to me that it could be pretty easy to do. Start with a Jeep Wrangler kit, stretch out the chassis to the desired length and build the cab and bed from sheet plastic. After all, it is all flat sides. I honestly think it would not be that difficult, assuming that you can get the detail photos of the truck. Make up a quick set of working drawings from the pictures in the correct scale and start cutin’ and gluein’. Not that hard. Actually, I think the graphics would be the hardest part.

Dave, those are beautiful. Really smooth and fluid. I love the color combo on the coupe; the black and red/orange really work! I am very impressed with the detail and cleanliness of each car….no lose edges, like I said before they have a “fluid†look to them…..sweetness. P.S. Looks like we are both guilty of the same trick, cutting off the top portion of a wheel and tire to get the car down in the weeds where it belongs……I love big, absolutely huge, wheels on a car just off the ground…sick, I know, but looks great.

When I first read your response to Jairus’s posting, I thought you over reacted a bit. I am very impressed with your apology here as I think it shows that you are able to admit to a moment of poor judgment. Nicely done. I think all of us on this forum know that we can disagree without jumping ugly. Our every day jobs and daily life pressures are the real world, we should be able to relax and enjoy this “fantasy†world of our hobby.

If you have ever built a customized model car, then you know how difficult it is to combine parts from different cars and still maintain a cohesive design. This car is able to do that and still keep the style, balance and grace of the car that it was meant to have. I realize that the front and back came from the stylists at AMT back in the 60’s, but with the addition of the top, the stance and an intriguing paint job, this is a beautiful build, first rate all the way….stunning, simple stunning.

Jairus, I don’t think I was referring to a mk 1, I was referring to the Fujimi mk ll kits ( the newer ones and older ones) and the Revell version of it and even the Thunder Valley resin Gulf GT 40. There are resin engines and rear tub detail available from Racing miniatures ( I have one in a box somewhere at home)(I think that is the name, I am not home, so I can’t check the name) and there is even an earlier Revell kit (I have on the shelf somewhere) with full engine detail. My only point is that 1/12th scale is soooo big and expensive. Besides, most modelers like to build in one scale, as all of the detail items work for all cars (you know, wires, hoses, photo etched stuff and other aftermarket parts). I know guys who would not build a great 1/20th scale Tamiya F1 kit because it is not 1/24th scale just for that reason. Hey look, I hope it is a very successful kit, I want Trumpeter to be successful…the more kit manufacturers there are, the better our chances of getting kits of different cars are……I am begging them, give us some 56, 57, 58 Pontiac, Buicks, Oldsmobile’s and Chryslers….please, I will buy my share of them…all of them…there are so many automobile subjects un modeled out there, that a re-scale of existing models makes little sense to me…but that is just me.

I realize that I may sound like I am in outer space, but I do not understand the logic of this kit. With the economy in the dumper, the cost of a 1/12 scale kit of this detail and quality will be way over $100.00. That severely limits the sales potential. There are so many great 1/24th scale kits of this car, why a big scale one, and besides, 1/12th scale kits take up so much room to display. Sure it will build up into a great looking kit, but to do it right, there will be photo etched aftermarket kits out there that will drive the cost of this kit to around $300.00 (My guess). I think, a well designed kit in 1/24th of the Ford GT40 mk 4, that is not easily available, and very desirable, would have a much wider audience and at a cost of around $50.00 to $60.00 it would be more attainable by the masses, besides, most of us who build race cars need that mk 4 to round out the collection of GT40’s. Ok, go ahead take your shots at my logic…I’m a big boy.

That is great...who'da thunkit? Clever idea.

Computers, software and a crazy mind....you gotta' love it. This made the rounds with all of my e mail buddies a few weeks ago...short and to the point.

Nice take on a car that we don't see very often anymore. I always thought the second generation Covair was one of the best looking cars to come out of an American design studio in the 60's. You gave it a nice update with a sharp attention getting color. Very nice and welcome aboard.

A few years ago I was at the NNL East and saw a magnificent build of a stock Shelby Series One Roadster by, I think, A Philadelphia modeler named Andy Such ( I could be wrong, but I think that was the guy). I thought, wow, what a great looking car. I took some photos of it and went into the vender section and brought one because I wanted to build one as good as that one on the table. Wrong. What I found was a beautifully designed kit but boy is it a difficult kit to get right. The sub assembles look great until you try and combine them…man is it fiddly to fit together. I, just to be different, added a C5 Corvette hardtop to the car (that worked out great), but the hood would not work or fit properly, the front and rear lower roll pans were extremely difficult to fit without gaps, the interior did not want to fit properly into the body and the wheels were way too far below the proper location (car sat way too high). Now the car sits, in a few strategic pieces on a shelf in my workroom as a reminder to me every time I think I am getting too good at this.

As I often do, after I posted the comment, I went back and looked at the car again and I realized I forgot to mention something...this is missing on item to make it completely correct....it needs a suicide knob on the steering wheel...thats all it needs.

Nice....very period correct, right down to the red wheels. One question, i am curious about the scallops. Are they computer cut vinyl stencils or something else. Nice job. very subtle yet eye catching as well.