Russell C

For those following along, I haven't forgotten about this project. What was stumping me were the wheels. As most car guys know, the wheels can sometimes make or break the look of the car. While the Aurora tires seem to be about the right height, the wheels were just nowhere close to looking like the 1:1 MG wheels, so I thought I might be able to find some toy in a similar scale which I could steal the wheels from. No luck, though. Another more laborious option would have been to lathe-turn some plastic into dome shapes and then index drill 15 holes into each. I was thinking that the Gowland & Gowland kit (a.k.a. Revell version) wheels / tires that were too tall, but I just got one really cheap from ebay today, and I think I can lathe-turn the inner part of the wheels smaller and into more of a correct dome shape. But at least all the holes are already in these, and the separate hubcaps look quite accurate. The other bonus here is now I have a left-hand drive dashboard and a windshield frame, which was missing from the Aurora glue bomb. The one reason why I still prefer to go ahead with using my cut-up Aurora body is the deep color of the plastic. It sure shines up nice, and it looks like super smooth glossy paint. I've gotten really lazy in my old age about paint, when old polished plastic is a viable option.

For the fenders, I wonder if the Tom Daniel armored truck show rod is something that might be usable? The hood doesn't look right, and the grill shell is way off, but the shape around the headlights resembles the Loadstar's. http://www.revell.com/model-kits/cars/85-6899.html#.WSeqp4UT6TU

Today we might need re-hydrators. My patio temp/humidity thing claims it's 2%, and the announcer on the Dbacks game said the same level a while ago, and a couple of the online weather sites put it at 7%. I'm thinking all the cracking noise going on outside is the wood and rubber and plants and animals drying out.

Paraphrasing from a classic '70s movie, "think ya used enough putty there, Butch?" I can see the direction of the '57 Chev front, but will be watching to see what can be done with the T-bird back.

And this one is still my favorite of Kurt's dioramas. Even better when seen in person, it just reeks of 'dry, neglected dusty vehicle.'

Go Greyhound.

One of my favorites of Kurt's dioramas.

WIP thread here, "Saving Rancho Gluebomb." A who-knows-how-old buildup from some earlier unknown builder gets a new lease on life.

Was skeptical how this particular save would work out or whether it would be worth the trouble, but it turned out quite fine after all. Good job!

Chris "cpspoogie" Price, from the post immediately above, happens to be the ebay seller I got this gluebomb from. I contacted him late last night through the ebay system (not knowing he was also here at MCM) to let him know where this estate sale/garage sale item ended up. Meanwhile, if I can get to it, I'll take some "under glass" photos tomorrow and post them in that section.

Congrats, and honored to meet you! Took these pics yesterday at the awards banquet (li'l blurry) and afterward when everyone was packing up. Honored to provide the inspiration for the build, and it sure had the look of a Klingon Kruiser to me!

For those who attended GSL 17, you saw 4 entries in the Small Scale class, including my gasser taxi, but only 3 awards were given out. What prevented me from achieving at least 4th place? My model was disqualified. I totally spaced out one of the cardinal GSL building rules: thou shalt not utilize a pre-painted body in any class except Box-Plus, where the specific build-out-of-the box effort involves using the pre-painted body which comes with some kits. It's a rule probably from the beginning of GSL, basically to reward building and finishing, with the original intent of preventing guys with lousy painting skills from hiring a skilled painter to finish the body. Parts/components/bodies (from whatever source) are collected, assembled and paint-finished by the builder, that is the whole idea. What I spaced out is that the Checker taxi in its "Sunshine Cab" livery is a pre-painted body. No worries, I was assuming the small scale class would have as many as 8 to 15 models, and my gasser taxi wouldn't be a contender no matter what. There's no harm or penalty for entering uncompetitive models. My objective, which I achieved via various compliments I got, is that it looked neat and was a fun idea which inspired others to look into doing small quick fun die cast conversions for themselves. Notice also that in the couple of posts above, I inadvertently prompted a couple of guys to get nostalgic about an old Checker dealership. What a fun hobby this is!

Well, these aren't lakes pipes on this one I built way back in the early 1990s, and it probably wouldn't fit the bill for at least one other reason .....

The gluebomb in its original form was a slammer, with a non-opening hood, no engine and half a chassis with an early Ford transverse spring & axle glued directly to the bottom of the bed. From the Ranchero parts pile I got later, I used its full chassis, and ground off the rear axle & exhaust and more or less filled in the holes. This is still a slammer, so don't look closely at the fill-in work. Being jacked up that far, and sporting the original issue AMT '40 Ford number/class decals for what I'm guessing is the old NHRA Altered Gas category, my reading of the rules for 1962-ish indicated this car needed at least some kind of quick change rear axle and suspension, and some kind of exhaust. Now it has that, via various scrap parts I had. (It still may not meet A/G rules, but the decals weren't my choice, I'm just going with the original builder's likely intent.) Two more finishing touches, the NHRA decal from the same 1962-era AMT decal sheet which provided the flames, in the corner of the windshield. Plus, the 1962-tagged California license plates I photo-altered and printed on photo paper, and double-side taped in place. Bonus points to any of you who get what the visual pun is with the plates. Now, I'm basically done with the restoration, but the "under glass" photos will have to wait until I get back from the Salt Lake City contest, where this one will be on the display table. I'm flying up tomorrow morning.

Very cool, and I'll additionally confirm that in person when I see it tomorrow after I arrive there.

Arriving late morning tomorrow 4/28 in case some folks wonder why I'm not there yet today.

I cheated quite a bit, since my running gag 3-wheel entries over the years were put in the non-judged people's choice "Group" category. But that didn't stop judge Randy Derr from picking up my '56 Victoria Ed Roth tribute to see what was underneath. If it works right, the Youtube link I have here will start the video at the 10:22 point, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJqqHSmMo7c#t=622 where right afterward is Randy's reaction. While I had a usable chassis at the back, the front had minimal prong-looking suspension for the wheel and otherwise very unrealistic plastic scrap holding the structure together. What I wrote in marker pen on the floorplan was "Nothing to see under here."

Nope, keeping the collection by preference to what might be a typical NYC standard body quad headlight taxi. But I have seen some company's Aerobus collectibles on ebay, usually quite pricey. Managed to snag the 24th scale Franklin Mint one for just $30, missing a few parts.

Photo below of my previously mentioned idea of tying in the tonneau graphics to the bonfire-looking pinstripes on the tailgate. The devil guy, which resembles the ones seen on other vintage AMT decal sheets, is actually from the recent Revell Ford '32 5 window kit, along with the white pinstripe decals, but the "Infernal" word is from the same 1962-era AMT decal sheet which provided the flames. Verrry fragile, and I lost part of the right side quotation marks, which can be fixed with a dot of white paint. My first attempt at using the other "Infernal" word off that old sheet cracked to bits. Glad there was a matched pair on the sheet!

Fabulous! The Earl Scheib in Albuquerque used to freshen up ex-Forest Service pickups, but the giveaway of what they were was the overspray in the door jambs, and how you could still read the decals on the doors under the new paint.

Thanks, gents. Yep, my late father considered buying a 'civilian' one, I still have the dealer brochure. Not especially valuable as a mint collector item since it was heavily folded over, but still entertaining to look at.

I figured my Checker Cab diecast collection (1/64, 1/43, 1/32, 1/24, 1/18) could use just a little more zip, so I combined the slotted wheels/tires, chassis, engine & interior out of a Hot Wheels '55 Chevy gasser* with the body of a Hot Wheels Sunshine Cab to get the result below. Overdetailed the replacement moon tank, I suppose, and couldn't resist adding a shift lever to the lackluster interior, but it otherwise looks like the somewhat clunky appearance of what Hot Wheels itself would put out as a gasser taxi. *(not to worry, collectors, I didn't wreck a rare Treasure Hunt blue body version, it was an ebay seller's cheap ordinary '55 gasser with swapped-in slotted wheels)

Can't help with the info myself, but one possible photo and/or info source -- if you use Facebook -- is the official Tyrone Malone FB page, which has been featuring a few models there lately: https://www.facebook.com/Tyrone-Malone-and-the-Bandag-diesel-racing-team-189062841121878/

One person accumulated all of this over that span of time?