John Goschke

Beautiful build! Well photographed, too!

Beautiful paint work!

Nice work on this one, Steve! Black really suits the design of this car and your paint work is outstanding. The '63s are probably my favorite Wide-Track era Pontiacs (on other days it's the '61s!) and AMT's rendition of the Bonneville really captures the look, especially the hardtop.

Outstanding work on this project, especially the hood and headers!

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen! Didn't get much done on the Impala over the weekend – had to catch up on "real life" stuff that got delayed during the taping and masking process. Steve, you're right on the virtues of the "mild" and "semi" customs that refine, simplify and enhance the original designs. Those are my favorites as well. However there are many great "full" or "radical" customs that use a good factory design as a starting point to develop something new and brilliant.

Beautiful!

Thanks for the comments, guys! Sharp Impalas, Ron! Here she is for a roll-out with the gold outlining done and all the freakin' tape removed!

I've got the Flintstone '53 Ford Courier (sedan delivery) body so will be following this with interest!

Textbook lesson on building this kit! Looking forward to seeing the body in color! Regarding the 300C convertible and '58 300D and '59 300E coupes and convertibles – Their most important difference from the '57 300 hardtop is a compound curved windshield that eliminated the overhang at the top.

Thanks, guys! Bill, I'll actually be masking the areas within the black tape to create a classic Watson-style outline paint job in gold. This model was inspired by three 58 Impalas Larry painted, the green/gold Jim Doss semi-custom, Dennis Morgan's green/gold hardtop, and a red/gold semi-custom Impala convertible (can't find photos of that one anymore.) Anybody know how to do a 1/8" pinstripe in 1/25th scale?

Very nice!

Well, if you need a rationale other than being afraid of scribing... I was thinking that retaining the original door configuration helps to subtly reveal this coachbuilt beauty's humble Model A roadster origins.

The fun continues... to avoid creating just another Watson-style outline job, I decided to try adding some tendril ( aka "seaweed") flames, another technique that Larry employed more than once. Originally was going to do only the lower body between the wheel wells but took it a bit further. I drew the design on masking tape on another Impala body, then scanned that design to use as a template to refine and redraw in Adobe Illustrator as vector-based art that could be copied as a mirror-image for the other side of the car. These patterns were printed out and laid on top of Tamiya tape to cut masks to apply to the body. The real challenge came in trying to lay the ones on the hood and decklid symmetrically. We'll see how well I did when the tape comes off! These were airbrushed with thin coats of Tamiya's Metallic Orange, which is nearly the same value as the red for a somewhat subtle effect. I'll just need to knock down the little bit of edge buildup. Then... MORE tape!

Great job, Rich! A real departure doing this car in white and I really like it! Been thinking about doing several cars in white, but can't decide which one. Now I know I've got to do it!

This is very cool! Very clean build! This model is the best looking in the series, I think.

Love it! The weathered paint is very well done. Great stance, too, and the Porsche wheels really fit the look, along with the stinger exhaust.

Nice job! Don't remember ever seeing one built. Would love to see more photos.

Very clean build!

That thing is brutal.

Probably near the top of the list would be my '66 Buick Wildcat coupe, red, black vinyl top with white bucket seat interior and factory wire wheel covers. Gorgeous looking and great highway cruiser. Traded for a '61 Catalina bubbletop, which I also miss. There are others but the one I miss the most was a '59 Pontiac Star Chief Vista purchased in 1980 for $1,100. No rust, 21,000 original miles. Sold in 1988 with 43,000 miles for $3,500.

How is the body in this reissue? I have the last reissue that had the '70s era "Street Rod" series art on the box and there was a lot of flash and also a nasty flowmark and shrink distortion in the driver's door and rocker panel.

Thanks, James! Got some work to before foil, but I'm getting psyched to finish this one up! Thanks, Bill! Most photos I looked at show a sharp corner to the quarter glass and some old photos showed what I'm guessing were original tops that had a sharp corner. As the tops got old this stretched a bit resulting in a softer corner. Replacement top profiles could show curved corners. I love ragtops with the tops up – every one has a distinctive look that's often better than with the top down. Thanks, Cabbie!

Thanks, James! Here she is with Tamiya Mica Red applied over the gold. The wheels have been painted gold with the center of the Lancer caps picked out in Mica Red.

Great job on the conversion and weathered finish!

Thanks, Dave! Thanks, Nick!