Billy Kingsley

I've got a new search for information, for a friend who doesn't own a computer...He wants to build a Penske Trans Am car, but I am not sure if he wants to be building a Camaro or a Corvette. I know he's looking for some Sunoco Blue paint if that helps. He wants to know if there are any better decals then Fred Cady's... Thanks!!

Hi Dave, the theme for this year is "Beaters and Dailey Drivers"....I'm not sure if there is a sub-theme. Hope that helps!

You can't fight it. Speaking for myself, here....If I force myself to build when I really don't want to, then the build is of lesser quality AND I'm more prone to make major mistakes. I can go months without building, if the spark is not there, although, I have to say, the spark IS usually there. For me, usually, it's the other way around....I WANT to build, but can't...I have a very small house so when I want to do something else...anything else...I have to take down my modeling stuff. Sometimes I want to do models at the same time. (Working on a fold up card table-not ideal, but all I've got!) Also, when it's hot out, and humid, I can't work. I cannot stand heat...so I just sit in my room with the AC on, checking the board or playing Xbox or reading DC comics. Right now, it's 83 degrees out, with 52% humidity and 64 Dew Point...so it's pretty dang hot! Going to get even hotter...SO...I can't work right now, even though I just got my first Model King Torino last night and am itching to do some work on it ALSO...nothing is better for making me want to build then going to a TNMCC meeting or a model show!

Thank you for the comments, guys! Jairus, without your help I wouldn't have been able to take those pictures at that time! I really should put that one under my photo set up Rick Hanmore gave me and see how it comes out, I havn't done that yet

That's pretty cool, Gil! I won one of those from Hobby Heaven some years back, and havn't started on it yet. I want to represent a actual car that is local to here, which will take more work then I am ready to perform.

Chalk up another plus for Chrome Tech. I had never had anything chromed until last year, when I brought some stuff to him in Toledo. I didn't start out small, no, I had two full bodies and a set of wheels done. Toledo, of cource, is October, and I had my bodies by the end of November. There was a problem (caused by me, that made them not plate well) so he had to run them again...It took only a little more then a month, AND he called me to let me know that there would be a wait. A VERY happy customer here, and I will probably leave some more stuff with him this year in Toledo. (This read reminds me, I need to give him a call and find out some stuff first!) Use Chrome Tech USA with confidence!

Way cool, Ken! I love vehicles from that era.

Southern Motorsports Hobbies: http://smhracing.com/ BSR Replicas http://www.bsrrep.com./ Hope that helps!

I hope eModelCars comes back, I was just getting ready to sell some stuff, and it looks like it's not available at the time! (I sure hope I can remember my password/username!)

Too cool, Dave! That's one of the relativley few Slixx decals I'm missing. How's the BP tribute car coming?

The hobby is not ending, Tom isn't really even going out of buisness...just changing his buisness. Seriously, is anyone going to stop building models because Tom is not going to sell the new stuff? I highly doubt it. I sure won't. Although, I do have to say...I was considering selling off some of my street car kits, and just concentrating on NASCAR building. Now, I've re-thought that, and will put them in storage instead. I rarely ordered from Tom, in fact, I don't think I've ordered anything from him in a year and a half (Pretty sure the last order I got from HH was January 06) but now the opportunity to get whatever I should decide to sell at cheap prices is slightly less. Enough to, if nothing else...forestall my plans. The majority of my purchases came, and still do come from, one of the guys in my club who sells everything for on average $5 less then Tom, with no shipping. And the majority of my purchases will continue to come from him as long as he sells kits.

Oh yeah. Both great guys. Ronnie at SMH's is the first model car related site I EVER went to back in 1999... I've talked to both Ronnie and William on the phone, and spent many $$ with both of them. You won't be dissapointed!!

Just finished up tonight. Would have been done a lot sooner but took 4 hours out to go see the Simpsons movie at Midnight and then go out for dinner afterwords. All I had left to do was the driver name, wheel decals and hood pins. This one was sure an adventure. A combination of decals from three diffrent manufacturers, the majority of which coming from JNJ...and you all know how I feel about them! They are 21 years old and some of them didn't want to work well, in particular the doors. The Kingsport Glass on the right side shattered as soon as it hit the water, too. Actually, I expected a lot worse, but they overall were not too bad. The majority of the contingencys came from the Wetworks 86-87 Dale Earnhardt sheet (I built the 1987 car in 2005) but some of them were from the JNJ sheet. Tire decals from Mike @ PowerSlide. The strip on the nose is silver Sharpie. I thought about foiling it but the photo in the Yearbook showed that it was not very shiny...so it got Sharpied. The headlights were the hardest part of the kit, and they are far from accurate, however, they are more accurate for the 1986 car then the headlights provided which didn't come into use until 1987. I made them by cutting down 1983-86 Ford headlights, and I actually went through 6 of them before I got it right. Luckily, I have almost 3 dozen extras because I have more then 30 89-93 Fords, which kept them on the chrome tree I got the right side headlight to look better then the left side one. I don't know why, but the driver's side one gave me some issues. In fact I ripped out the first one I had made and created a new one, which fit better. Enjoy the pictures! Here's some shots of it with the 1987 Rick Wilson car I completed some time ago. A shot showing the diffrences in the noses. Thanks for looking!

Hi Ken, I'm not sure how many there were, but I believe Gambler is the chassis company, likely the chassis design in the kit, like the NASCAR kits refrence Laughlin Chassis..it's the design style of it. Hope that helps!

I don't think so, but contact Steve "Zman" Zimmerman for more info...

Those are really neat! I didn't know there were going to be two versions. I've got some Monster Trucks I want to build that I may end up buying several of these for donors...

Thanks Ben and Tom! Not much in the way of updates for a while, I got it primed last night, but need to put another coat, and I'm out of it...Won't be able to get any until the end of next month...and I'm also out of Tamiya gray for the interior, but I can get that this week, I think. Thanks! Tom, you are right...Anything they have in the lineup is well made and could easily be turned into a cool build!

Thanks for the comments on both NASCAR builds, guys! There's plenty more coming! (102 in progress!) Ken, I do plan to do both the red and red/white Richmond Buicks...and if I get adventurous, maybe even the Olds...

Thanks for the comments guys! R&R kits are an adventure, that's for sure!! I actually have an equal number of R&R kits and RMR kits to lead my resin stash. I have 6 more to go before I build them all, and I still plan to buy more. Must be the lacquer fumes Ken, I am doing good. Summer is my down time for modeling, usually, but sometimes the building bug just strikes and I gotta' build! This is one of those times. When I am not modeling, I spend less time on the boards...

Here's an on-again/off-again project that I am really starting to get into. I'm taking an RMR (Race Motor Replicas) resin kit and a Revell kit, putting them togther to get a phantom "What If" build in the end. Way back when the SSR was new, I painted one the funky teal color that you see on the hood, cowl and side view mirrors. I was in a rush, didn't properly attach it to the rack, and into the wet grass it went. I lost interest in the project and didn't go back to it. When I met Ron Andrews at RMR some time later, I bought this resin kit from him instantly. I knew I was going to combine the botched Revell kit with the resin kit but I didn't really work on it until tonight. I have to say, in my limited experience with resin...that this is one of the best fitting conversions imaginable! Ron and Steve did a great job on this! The resin kit was done with a custom in mind...it came with what I believe is an "outlaw" cowl hood, and a smooth cowl. That just didn't fit my vision for this build, and it was time to get out the razor saw! The hood was a simple swap, the kit hood fit PERFECTLY with no modifications to resin or plastic needed. The cowl, on the other hand, needed a bit more work. I cut down directly at the bottom of the windsheild frame, and there is a ridge in the other half, which I cut at the lowest point. Some super glue, and it was done...it was just that simple! Now it's starting to look like a factory stock vehichle, if that could happen. Underneath the body, some minimal work was also nessicary. The interior tub fits the Revell chassis without any modification needed, but to get the underhood details there was more diffacult. Some of the parts are molded into the interior pan, which I had to cut off. I had to cut off some more plastic but that was also pretty simple. I then glued them onto the inside of the fenders. That's about it! It's going to be a little diffacult to get the headlight buckets in, but I don't think it'll be impossible. The plan is to make it as factory stock as possible, and when done it'll wear a coat of bright yellow paint. I plan to prime it tomorrow. The current plan is to paint the interior the simple color of Tamiya Gray primer! My other kit, which will be built box-stock, will be a matching kit, but in bright red. Once I find it in the stash! I put the chrome bit in the grill just for the photos...it's not ready to be installed yet but it makes it look better! Thanks for looking!

Finished this one up along with the two NASCAR builds. The time to complete was less then a half hour, I was just slacking on it! It's an R&R Vacuum Craft(!) kit, which I've had for years. One of the first resins I bought, actually. The build isn't great but it's not the worst thing I've ever done, either. I had to modify every, single part to get it done though... The side windows are scratchbuilt, and may I reiterate, again, that I HATE vacu-formed clear parts! I also super-glued the hood shut. I combined the resin with parts from the Model King issue 63 Chevy, from 1994. It didn't really photograph well, it looks better in person. The photos seem to add texture in odd places.. Thanks for looking!

This is not a good one. Actually, this is one of those "dead" projects I talked about, resurrected and finished. Simple curbside, the chassis detail is all topside, I didn't even paint the bottom of the chassis. I tossed it into the box sometime around March of 2005, and hadn't touched it until yesterday! When I decaled this I really didn't know what I was doing, so it's not very good in that area, either. With the Cherry Run decals now coming back, I may just do a whole second, detailed car! (I've got plenty of Buicks!) The decals got a little banged up in the box the past two years, too. To add insult to injury, when I was out painting the chassis yesterday, it fell off the rack and into the grass! Luckily, it landed right side up and there is no grass damage visible from above. There is part of a leaf stuck in the paint, but it's not visible and I didn't even TRY to remove it...LOL! Thanks for looking!

Finished this one up two nights ago. I hadn't worked on anything for a while but did quite a bit of work over the last 4 days and finished up 3 (one is a street car) and have several more long-term projects getting closer then they've ever been to completion. Anyway, this is the best of the finished three! I had originally planned to make it the 1983 Benny Parsons car, but I misplaced the decals. When I was going through the entire decal stash (about 1700) I came across these decals and decided I would rather build this car instead. It ended up being my first time using Powerslide decals on an entire body...and they worked very well! I had my Slixx set for the same car handy but I only had to cut into it once, to rob the headlight number which I accidentally destroyed. I'll use the white panels Mike provided with the Slixx decals and get another Richmond car out of it I had originally painted the chassis intending it to be the BP car, but the Richmond car had a white window net...I simply removed it, there is none in this car. The only other diffrence in the chassis is that the wheels are red on the Richmond car and gold on the Parsons car. I've had the wheels painted more then a year, in gold, but they won't be languishing long...they will appear on my next build, another 1981 car. I'm not sure what the red thing on the roof is. I'm thinking a camera of some sort. It was in the photos, so I duplicated it. I used a roof camera from the Monogram 96-97 Ford, which was modified slightly. Does anyone know if there should be a yellow rookie stripe on the bumper? I believe there should be but I'm unsure of it's size or location, but one could be added easily if I can find solid proof of it. Enjoy the photos! Ref. Pic: Build: I could see in the photo that something was on there, so I used a little creative liscence and put the extra black bordered Uno on there. The other one, which would not be used in the red and white car, is on the bottom of the hood. Thanks for looking!