Russell C

Almost begs for a build theme category, "what will be hauled in your convertible?"

'68 Saab Sonett II from this recent auction listing. I've always thought these were just a bit too stubby in the back, so I stretched it out and pasted the rear wheels further back.

Happy to pass the torch on that running joke to any who want to take it up. Keep in mind, however, that my gag was in the "Group" specialty category where the GSL people choose the kit for the contestants to build. In the upcoming GSL, it's the AMT 1969 Chevy Corvair. That's not to say a modeler couldn't apply the gag look to any car, of course. Coincidence it was mostly Fords chosen for the "Group" category, but one year they chose the AMT '53 Studebaker Starliner, which I made to look like a famous old Jim Keeler Charger model. One could have endless fun re-interpreting cars to be missing one wheel ....

First, glad to be of help here. Don't know how I missed this one a couple of years ago, must've been one of those days when I needed to get my eyes checked. But the reason I'm here now is because I'd surfed across a photo of a Lincoln Futura earlier this afternoon and had wondered to myself what it would look like with a regular roof and more factory stock-ish basic details, perhaps with '57 T-bird headlights and somewhat knocked over taillights & fins. But knowing that there is a better than average chance that someone has already done something similar, I dropped the Futura name into a search here, and whadayaknow - John has done basically the factory stock idea I had in mind. (btw, John's other custom mix 'n matches are right after my own heart as well)

This one, right? https://user.xmission.com/~msgsl/GSLhist/photos/1_75.JPG

Excellent news, looking forward to seeing your work again at both places.

Yep, it was the second one in this 2013 Hemmings online post: https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/27/short-hood-looooooong-deck-extreme-cab-forward-imaginings/

Count me in. I've retired from the yellow 3-wheeled running gag for the "Group" category since I snagged the Ed Roth award for my last '56 Victoria. I'm running behind on completing something else, of course. Meanwhile, will Randy D with his brass collection be attending?

Yes it is, and folks will suggest that I seek psychiatric help since recently I couldn't help acquiring one of these for cheap, to do just that.

A few years back for my own curiosity, I took a GM anniversary gallery photo of a Suburban and wacked out vertical slabs from the middle, to see what a phantom Blazer of that vintage would look like ....

There's more - these things have been featured on Jay Leno's Garage:

From the website, http://www.amalgamcollection.com/about/ It's the future of model making. Expensive at first, but pricing will come down, niche market sellers will spread.

When I search particular categories, some mass-sellers regularly use repeated words for their items. What I do is put a minus sign right in front of the repeated word, and that usually wipes out that seller. Say for example if some guy is selling hundreds of parts made of brass, which I currently have no need for, he gets screened out when I just have the word -brass in the Parts category search window.

Stay tuned for a small W.I.P. thread on it in the near future. I see the 'artistic goal' of what the original builder had in mind, it just begs for better craftsmanship and specific materials to carry it through to being a completed concept.

Rancheros are just so cute, ya can't let 'em go unloved. This one has been languishing in ebay's Automotive Vintage section for a month or two, and the latest price drop was too tempting to ignore. Entertaining concept going on with it, but it needs a bit of refinement and realistic color to the interior ....

Nicer weather in this area tends to mean folks bust out more convertibles...

Thanks for the kind words. Meanwhile .... The Tijuana Green Hornet Taxi Always laughed at that overall old Tom Daniel design, but never cared much for the front end treatment. If you swapped that part out for the Monogram Green Hornet, you could go with a somewhat de-tuned comic element with the Hornet rear wheels & tires, along with a bit of a chop to the roof and a green paint job. (image credits: Peter Hirschberg 3D Tijuana taxi rendering & Tom Geiger's image-reversed Green Hornet, mashed by me into what you see here)

I wouldn't sell one of my models, either, unless someone really made it worth my while, such that I could afford to take time off what I'm currently bogged down with, to remake what I just sold. But now let's examine the flip side here. Suppose I just won the lottery, and happened to see one of your models that I really want, which I don't otherwise feel like duplicating on my own. If you won't sell me the original, how much do you want for an exact duplicate? Assuming you have to take time off from work to work for me, what wage do you want, combined with all the parts, paint & extras that go into creating the duplicate? And what premium is it going to cost me for you to sign it as a "J Patton"? As I implied at a similar prior thread, put all that cost together for a model that ought to place no worse than 2nd or so in its category (other than a pure box-stock, perhaps) at a major national contest, and you are looking at a top-flight model costing a grand or two.

One other option, if you rather not do all that scratchbuilding & kit piece gathering, is to find one of the Memory Lane toy versions. Steeply priced on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Santa-Claus-Comin-Town-Vehicle/dp/B0001WUZM0 , but I got mine several years ago via an ebay sale for around $30. If I was to guess, it looks like maybe 1:12 scale. It's now part of my Christmas decorations every year, I loved that show when I was a kid.

Well, got a quick response to my email from Mark Gustavson, which he asked me to repeat verbatim below while he is in the process of getting his old login info in order to respond directly: Hi Jack! Wow, I can't believe you're on the Forum. Please note that I did NOT receive your e-mail note about your great vintage model! Please e-mail me directly at the addy below. The Museum's Clone the Past program is alive and well -- we are cloning the most important models in the history of our hobby. Noted builder John Teresi did an incredible job replicating the "Herndon Special": it was presented at the Museum seminar at GSL-XXVI in 2015 (go here for details on GSL: http://www.gslchampionship.org/ ). Here's a link to the Clone the Past Museum program (a new website is pending so forgive the dated one still online): http://themodelcarmuseum.org/Programs/Clone/clone.html I'm presently writing the 2016 Museum newsletter (go here to see older issues: http://themodelcarmuseum.org/information/Publications/publications.html I would like to interview you and get photos of your models. Please e--mail at the addy below, and we'll talk. Sorry again that your earlier attempts to contact me/the Museum didn't work out for you. Welcome to the Forum! Wow -- it's great that you're still into building. Thanks for your enormous contributions to the model car hobby! Cheers, Mark S. Gustavson Founder, International Model Car Builders Museum msgsl@xmission.com

Been able to exchange a few emails with the main guy at the Museum, so I gave it a shot at alerting him to this thread. Might do the trick for getting some communication going. Welcome back to this part of the hobby. Hope you can find a way to attend the next GSL contest, which features visits for attendees to the Museum. Part of that attraction will be (if I have it right) the public re-introduction of one of the co-winning models from the '64 Revell-Pactra contest. The other co-winning model is already on display there.

You could section it in a big way, fill out the back of the roof and flatten it a bit, and then call it a Chrysler Thunderbird.

I wire-peg mirrors and other small items when I attach 'em to my models. Much more resistant to falling off, then. I've not gone to this length yet, but a person could construct some kind of protective 'box-shape surrounding' thing out of corrugated cardboard that could have post-it note material glued to the underside perimeter of such structures, so that they could be safely temporarily stuck to the model. But what has worked for me is miles of toilet tissue wrapped around the model like what Wayne Swayze suggests, within a box surrounded by packing material that is inside of another box. One more thing, make sure the inner box at least is crush-resistant. One can do that even with a regular model kit box, just take a large corrugated cardboard sheet and cut two layers of rectangles matching the insides of the kit box -- the key is is that one layer has the corrugations going in one direction, and the second layer is going 90° to the first layer. Cut a cardboard paper towel dowel down to the inner height of the box, and you now have an additional piece preventing the top from caving in. You probably can't park a car on such a reinforced box, but it might stand a far better chance of surviving whatever football practice it gets used for at the delivery facility.

Something "retro" as in these '70s GMC stripe designs out of the paint scheme thread?

Usually I can find photos of what I'm thinking in Google image searches, but it seems to let me down this time, so I just made my own - take Rob Shmit's mild custom seen in the Favorite Caddy thread and lose a good chunk of the middle. But in order to make it look right, instead of moving the rear wheels forward along with the body, they'd look more factory-ish if they ended up centered within the 'moved-forward' section.