John Goschke

I'd like to see you use your recently acquired AMT kit to build the sectioned car you originally envisioned. It'll be way easier to modify than Revell's '59 Skyliner retractable! However, Revell's kit is a great sources of parts for the AMT kit; including the trim around the rear wheel well (to replace the mess you'll find when you pry the skirts off the AMT '59), nice correct '59 interior that's more detailed than AMT's, plus a decent engine and engine bay. Be sure to post pix of your progress, whatever you decide to do!

Amazing piece of work!

Excellent work! I've got the Flintstone '53 Ford sedan delivery and am looking forward to building it; hope it turns out as nice as your wagon.

Looks nice to me. I like to color and your engine compartment detailing looks great! Don't worry 'bout the steenkin' judges.

I'd rather have a new customizing kit of a real car. Like a '57 Buick Century two door hardtop! http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_pho...mes_1957_buick/

Looking at the photos again, I think you may be correct, since the other tires have no apparent damage. Also, as HotRodasaurus points out, the tires here are affected while the styrene appears undamaged. The typical case of tire damage, the vinyl causes the styrene to soften, while the tire remains sound. So, I have no idea what's going on with these dragsters but it's pretty strange!

Not sure it has anything to do with the packing peanuts. The real culprits are the chemicals in the vinyl (not true "rubber") model tires, which react with the styrene of the model (and the peanuts, if they're styrofoam). AMT tires of the mid-late '60s (those nice Firestone Supremes) are especially prone to causing damage to adjacent styrene parts. If you're lucky enough to find a mint, unopened... say, AMT '66 annual Impala hardtop kit, you have to worry that perhaps the tires loose in the box for 40 years have melted through the roof! Of course, we live with this problem anyway by building the model; inserting the styrene wheel into the vinyl tire. The models shown here are a pretty extreme case, but if you've bought an old builtup to restore, chances are you've dealt with this issue. Current kit tires are not immune from this problem. I used a set of those nice whitewalls from a Revell-Monogram '59 Impala hardtop customizing kit to mockup a '60 T-bird build, and after perhaps three months on the shelf the vinyl tires started to melt the styrene whitewall inserts. Glad it wasn't a finished model! If anyone has discovered a satisfactory barrier to prevent this problem I'd sure like to hear about it!

Awesome restoration work! Especially the repair work to the frame: a very fragile part of this kit that's almost always found broken. What kit is the front axle from? Looks like it's got a little more drop than the BW piece, giving your model a better rake than the original!

Beautiful! That color is great! Wonder what it'd look like with skirts?

Outstanding in every respect! The diorama shots really capture the feel of the place.

The '61 Ford promo and friction models were molded in acetate. DO NOT use Easy-Off Oven Cleaner to strip acetate; the results won't be pretty! Trust the voice of experience. I have successfully used lacquer thinner to strip WW2 aircraft recognition models and Frog Penguin aircraft models molded in acetate. Not sure how well it'd work on a car model, so I won't recommend it without urging you to TEST IT FIRST on a non-critical area of the body!

I've been building models since I was a kid in the early '60s, going back and forth between cars and aircraft at least twice. Cars from '60 to '65, then WW2 planes from '65 to '75. Built a bunch of cars in the mid-late '70s after discovering Duplicolor lacquer and Bare Metal foil and had a large collection of rare unbuilt kits and restorable builtups and had a subscription to the early issues of MCJ and SAE. Sold almost everything but the models I'd finished to go to art school in '83. I did a couple first-issue AMT '32 Fords in about '88, though I didn't build regularly until after getting married in '90, aircraft this time, for about fifteen years. About five years ago, Keith Jones, one of the car modelers in the IPMS club I belonged to brought a car body he'd painted with Tamiya lacquer. His results with that paint gave me the bug to try it. While procrastinating on an airplane build, I tried the Tamiya spray on a '57 Chevy I'd started about ten years earlier. It worked, and I was hooked on my favorite building subject, cars! After all those years, it felt like I was home again! You might've seen it before, but here's that '57, my first car after 15 years building aircraft...

Cragars get my vote! Nice paint and great engine choice.

Super nice!

Beautiful work! If you start building traditional rods and customs let me know so I can put my tools away!

It just gets better and better! The colors really have a natural (supernatural!) reptilian quality. The concept for the base sounds great! You're taking modeling into the realm of fine art, here! When you're done you need to post pics on Jalopy Journal H.A.M.B. forum on the Friday Art Show thread. There's some great stuff there, but you'll blow those guys off their chairs!

Thanks, George! They'll be available thru Ariel aka Al aka "Dr. Epstein." If you've seen his Merc wagon bodies, you know the castings'll be nice!

Thanks, Mike. The car is just intended to be a primed mockup to show what the top will look like. There's no engine, so that's why the gap. Otherwise, the body, etc. are in their out-of-the-box location and haven't been fine-tuned at all.

Just beautiful. The color is perfect for that car!

Oh man, Lyle, that is gorgeous! The chrome trim strip is the perfect touch!

This thing continues to amaze! The lettering on the rocker covers is great and I really like that green you're using on the engine and wheels! Jairus' idea for the '57 300C's pretty twisted, too! I do have the 300 kit and the Allison. Hmmm....

Here's the top with first coats of Tamiya white surface primer. Still needs cleanup in a few 'lil spots. The goal is to get it to Al Hernandez at Carbon Copy Resins by the end of the month. Let me know what you think!

This definitely has possibilities! Keep going!

DDUUUHHHH?????? I'm pretty much at a loss for words... this is one of the wildest, most twisted and creative, and beautifully executed builds I've ever seen! Can't wait to see more!

Wow! Outstanding in every respect. The scale program books are the perfect touch to really hook the viewer. Brilliant! ...and hey, could this be considered a Chrysler Imperial "Testa Rossa?"