John Goschke

Just incredible. Beautiful, beautiful work...

Another impressive build! Lot of cool little details and I love the way it started out with those really scary looking cuts on the body and how you've brought it this far so quickly! W9sh I could work so quickly and cleanly. I would like to suggest reconsidering your tire choice. The lettering on those sidewalls seems out of scale and the painted whitewalls may be accentuating that aspect.

All the Johan promos, frictions, and kits from 1960 onward had interiors. The dashes and steering wheels on models from the early '60s were usually quite nicely done but the rest of the interior was usually very shallow with no separation between the side panels and the end of the seats. I'm pretty sure the first Johan promos to have interiors were the '57 Oldsmobiles and friction '57 Oldsmobiles sold in stores did not have interiors. '58 Cadillacs and '58 Oldsmobiles were similarly available with and without interiors. The X-el re-issues of these models all had interiors, though they leave a lot to be desired compared to the bodies of these models, particularly in the case of the '58 Olds, which has a dash that looks more like a '57. None of the friction or promo '59 Mopars from Johan had interiors. The Dodge and Plymouth were available in kit form in '59, which did have interiors, and unlike the warp prone acetate promo/friction models, were molded in styrene. When X-el reissued the '59 Mopars the Dodge and Plymouth did not have the interiors that were available in the original annual kits (which is why the original Johan kits for these cars are so sought after.)

Thanks for the question, Steve! It's great to see some positive movement on reviving the Johan line. I'm assuming from the way you worded the question that our choices would likely be limited to the Johan models that were re-issued by X-el, so in order of preference, here's my list based on the X-el reissues I can remember and would want to see available again... 1. '61 Dodge Dart Phoenix 2dht 2. '59 Desoto Fireflite 4dht (w/interior please!) 3. '59 Chrysler New Yorker 4dht (w/interior please!) 4. '59 Plymouth Sport Fury 2dht (w/interior please!) 5. '57 Olds 98 Sport Sedan (aka 4dht) 6. '58 Cadillac Fleetwood 4dht 7. '56 Desoto Fireflite 4dsdn (w/interior please!) 8. '56 Olds 98 4dht (w/interior please!) 9. '58 Olds 98 Sport Sedan (w/better interior please) 10. '56 Plymouth Belvedere 4dsdn(w/interior please!) 11. '59 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer 2dht (w/interior please!) Of the models that X-el never re-issued (and am assuming the tools are likely long gone), the two I'd most like to see would be the '60 Plymouth Sport Fury 2dht and '60 Olds 98 Scenicoupe (aka 2dht). The latter is still the best rendition of the '59-'60 GM two door hardtop roof ever made! For the ones for which the tooling might be lost, I wonder if they could be reverse-engineered from existing examples of the kits (in the case of the '60 Plymouth and Olds) and parts (interiors for '59 Plymouth and Dodge) in the way that Model King did for the lost elements of the SMP '59 Imperial and '64 Comet? Of course models molded in acetate could not reverse-engineered from existing examples due to the shrinkage and distortion inherent in that material. Long live Johan!...

The Revell Parts-Pack is indeed a first-gen Caddy OHV V-8. Should be more or less correct for the '59 Cad ambulance, but it can't be built stock (but then neither can the G'buster's kit!) Correct stock '59 Cad engine is in the Revell/Monogram '59 Eldorado kits, but my guess is most ambulances didn't come with the 3-2v carburation like the Eldo.

Outstanding builds and beautiful photography!

OK, I swear, I really was getting pumped up about this kit, looking at scans of the box art, and (heaven help me) something about this photo of the model looked off to me. Look how high the cowl is versus the window sill on the door... So, trolling Rik Hoving's Custom Car Archive, I couldn't find one single photo where the cowl and bottom of the windshield looked as high in relation to the side window sill as it does on the model. Here's an example. I really want to love this kit, but now I don't know...

Nice work and great subject!

The Johan '59 Rambler wagon is 1/25. It's inaccurate in that it is a trimmed as a cheaper "Classic" series model on the longer "Ambassador" wheelbase. As on the 1/1s, all the added length is in front of the firewall. Starting in '62 Johan Ramblers, including the Classic four-door sedans through '66 (and '65-'66 Marlin) and the compact American appear oversized for 1/25th and are likely closer to 1/24, but are otherwise nice models. Like many Johan kits, though, they suffer from a ridiculously narrow track width and a slightly short wheelbase (particularly apparent in their '61-'64 Oldsmobiles.) All Johan Studebaker Larks were also on the large side and had additional proportion problems that make them perhaps the least accurate Johan models. Additional Johan trivia... '60 and '61 Chrysler New Yorkers are inaccurate in that they are trimmed as New Yorkers but they are on the shorter Chrysler Windsor/Desoto wheelbase. To correct it one would have to add length in front of the firewall. Johan's '59-'62 Cadillac Fleetwood sedans all appear to be 1/25 but suffer from a too-short rear deck. Unfortunately I don't own any of the Caddys anymore or I'd take the time to scale them out.

This looks like a great kit. As someone who spent a fair amount of time complaining about the clumsy chop on the Revell Merc, I have to say this chop looks pretty good.

Great work here, Glenn and your Coronet is stunning! Better watch it though, having a 1/1 in your driveway is bound to lead to a serious case of AMS (Advanced Modeling Syndrome!) The '59 Dodge, along with their brethren from '57-'58 are among my favorite cars and I've got two of the original Johan annual kits one of which I started working on a long time ago. To fender6575's comment about the rear wheel opening, he is correct, and since it's really the only place where Johan's body seems obviously wrong, it's well worth fixing. As far as the difference in length between warped acetate promo and frictions versus the styrene original kit and X-el reissues, that is due to the fact that acetate shrinks. The warpage is caused by the variation in shrinkage over the differing thicknesses and curves of the body. Styrene and acetate bodies were produced using the same mold. Keep it going! I'm looking forward to seeing more.

All those builds look terrific as does the kit itself. I really like that the model's ride height looks good compared to photos of the real car. Also all the builds, even though built by different modelers, look consistent and each model looks "solid"; a pretty good sign that the kit goes together well. Look forward to picking up at least one!

Beautiful work, Darin, on this challenging paint job. Hope you can get back to it soon. What did you use as a pattern for the flames to insure symmetry?

Nice work so far! The pins for the windscreen are an excellent idea. Looking forward to seeing how this one progresses.

Wonderful build of a great car! hope he's still building models no matter what subject matter!

Stunning in every respect.

Flames look great!

Finally, more work on the 'Bird! Shift and turn signal levers. Hole in console repaired using similar section from Monogram '58 T-bird kit. Scratch windshield wipers added... Interior door handles courtesy of Revell '59 Ford Skyliner...

Two-door hardtop roof stampings for Chevelle, Tempest Lemans (including GTO), Olds F-85 Cutlass, and Buick Skylark were the same. The Chevelle two-door sedan used the roof stamping from the the Chevelle four-door sedans. The two-door pillared coupes from Buick, Olds and Pontiac used the two-door hardtop roof stamping. B.O.P. four door sedans had a concave rear window that the Chevelle didn't have.

Wow, Bill, I love that H-channel brass for the vent window frames! Gotta get me some of that. Terrific work on the window patterns as well.

It's expensive, overly-complicated, poorly engineered and wildly inaccurate in some respects, and mildly inaccurate in others. If I wanted to build a '60 Bonneville I'd find a nice restorable built-up AMT kit and have way more modeling fun. Not as big a disappointment as AMT's '58 Plymouth Belvedere, since there ain't no readily available alternative for that one.

Great work, Bill! The engine looks terrific, but I particularly like your commitment to details like the windshield header, correcting the vent windows, and getting the right reveal on the chassis. That's real modeling!

Very nice!

Yes, DoubleD, I agree. Something about the proportions of the windshield posts, vent windows, and curve of the upper corners of the windshield opening is off. The vent window areas are also somewhat different from side to side. I did a '55 hardtop shortly before Revell released this kit using the Revell'ogram convertible body and an "old tool" AMT '57. Was a little annoyed that they decided to announce just weeks after I finished the build, but when I saw the their hardtop body, I was glad I'd done it my way. I also hate that glue-in chrome molding but dealt with it by stripping it, gluing it in, then BMFing after final paint 'n polish. Lobbs, if it's any consolation, the great virtue of the Monogram/Revell 1/25 tri-five Chevy series is interchangeability from kit to kit since they're based off each other. They also are quite compatible with AMT's old '57, '55 Nomad and BelAir two door sedan. The "new tool" AMT '57 is a nice kit, particularly the engine (which I used in my '55), but the body seems oversized compared to the Revell kit series, and as a result seems the "odd kit out" among tri-five kits. Revell's '57 BelAir hardtop snap kit is also pretty good, but I've never had the opportunity to do a wheel to wheel comparison. Here are a couple shots of the '55 hardtop conversion...

Opened up the hood scoop using a Dremel with a small round cutting burr, working from both sides. Cleaned up the opening with knife, file, 400 and 600 grit. Then made new mesh for it using a piece out of the grill from a Monogram '58 T-bird. Came out pretty good...