Straightliner59

Man, I operated a bunch of different forklifts, over the years. Always had a soft spot for Hyster 80s!

The rarest kits I have were all purchased with intent to build. Except for the Garlits kit, I borrowed these photos from the interwebs. Both my Aurora kits are sealed.

First of all, Snake and espo, thanks for your input regarding the stripes! Your thoughts led me to almost decide to go with no stripes, at all. However, my vision for the car, when I decided on green for the color was a single stripe of scales, although I was thinking more along the lines of snakeskin. It finally dawned on me--"Isn't the green mamba one of the deadliest?" I had my answer, although it also gave me a whole new line of thought to consider! So, as of now, I'm going with the darker set of scales, because I think they will show up better than the lighter ones, and I really don't expect them to be too obtrusive. I really appreciate your feedback!

Excellent piece!

As soon as the decals are dry, and the gauge is painted, this baby will be done. I used a 1/8" ball-ended mill bit to dish the bottom, since that will likely be visible when it's mounted.

A "little something" I'm working on. I didn't want to use the kit piece pictured (I'm pretty sure it's from a Johan Roadrunner), because I wanted a little more detail. I folded filed and sanded a piece of aluminum sheet to make the top handle, and flattened, and sanded to shape, the actuator handle. The valve body is a piece of 1/16" aluminum tubing, filed flat on two sides, and drilled for the hose nipple and on the near flat side for the gauge. I think I will also add a megaphone end to the hose, also. Still to come, the mounting bracket, once this is all put together, and it's decaled.

Again, just WOW! I do think one of the bolts on the rear blower plate may be cross-threaded, though! Hahaha! I kid! I kid!

I think of where I lived in the formative years of my love for cars, where the trends were about 5-7 years behind what they were, nationally. Yep! I grew up in the middle of nowhere!grin But, yes, I agree, those graphics were much more popular a few years prior, although they both hung on through the "van years" as HRM once called them. I still have the opportunity to make new graphics. I seriously considered doing a variation on the stripes from Chevy musclecars...something a little more plain, like Chevelle or Camaro SS stripes, or Z/28 stripes, like this:

Thank you, espo! Snake, you are correct, sir! I was attempting to do something that might have come from that period. I try to keep my models mostly anachronism free!

Thank you, Cody! Much appreciated! Greg, that was kind of what I was hoping for when I started those, but, once I tiled them, they looked more like lace, than webs. Thanks, Adam. I've always thought they were good looking cars, and, once pulled from their "economy" stock personae, they look pretty bad! Thank you for the kind words!

Snake, I can do that! It didn't start out to be lace, just a bunch of squiggly lines, but, by the time I made it seamless, it looked like lace. It might be kind of cool, in negative. I like the green, as well! Thanks, JC. I gave serious thought to some kind of spider theme, but couldn't find any artwork I really liked, or I would have. I've been really into this thing. So much so, in fact, that I feel like I'm in scale time, too!

Thank you, Rick. I printed them in clear film, because I want them to mostly blend in. That is a cool color!

In living color (but, not on NBC!). Without the interior, it sits too low in the rear. This green reminds me of the green on Al Segrini's Brut FC. Also, I've attached the set of decal stripes I printed (on clear film). I'd welcome your thoughts as to which you'd use, and why. I like all of them for different reasons. Maybe a poll would be in order! Something else new to me I used on this model was a light swabbing of silver Rub 'N' Buff on the wheels. I wanted it to be very subtle. I like what it did for them!

Very nice work, JC. You nailed that rear wing!

Looks nice! I especially love the way you did the brakes--looks great!

I went in to my local HL, this past Wednesday for a can of paint, and came out with all this for $36 and change. At $7.49 each, I didn't feel like I could afford NOT to buy them!

Here are a few parts and pieces I am currently working on. I am building a set of wipers. I hope I can make them small enough, the first time! I realized I hadn't installed a fire bottle in the interior, so, I turned one this morning. It's just a small one. I am working on the gauge/valve assembly. I'll also make a bracket to mount it to the crossbar on the roll bar. I also used some Squadron Thermoform to begin the front turn signal assembly. The Monza doesn't have amber plastic lenses, but merely an off-clear/milky white lens, with a yellow bulb inside. I'm going to attempt to open up (dish out) the center section of the kit signals, repaint the reflector pan silver and install an amber "bulb" from a truck kit. Finally, I will cover that with one of the heat formed bits, seen here.

Nice work, Joe! Love the concept. It's cool to see one of these without a scoop or a blower poking through the hood.

Excellent work, Andy! Very cool subject. There's just something about these old race cars...

Rick, if I find it, it's yours. I had a quick look, when I got home from work, this morning, and it's not in the box it was most likely to be in. But, that's not the only box it might have been in! Joe, thanks again for your kind words. The greatest compliment I could ever get is when someone says, "That $#*% looks real." Thanks, Andy. I'm hoping to get it in paint, this weekend. MPC did a great job with the body panel lines. They are beautiful on this thing; crisp and clean!

Thanks, again, Dan! I may have had my settings wrong. Please try messaging again.

Ah! Radiant Lime!

I like that Lime Ice. It reminds me of one of Pactra's old colors. I can't remember what it was called. The same line had lightning Purple and Blazing Red, too, as I recall. Nice, clean Deuce!

Thanks, Dan! I was hoping that trick would work! Here're a couple of shots with primer. I can't believe I got them to fit so nicely.

Speaking of marker lights...Here's what I did with them, and how I did it. I hope someone finds it useful! I began by measuring the recesses of the molded-in lights. In this case, they were 5/64" by a scant 1/4". Anyhoo... This first shot shows what I was hoping to accomplish, and the tools I used to do it. The files pictured are a square mini-file, a small square file and a small flat file. I also used a pin vise with a #72 bit and an X-Acto knife. I began by drilling a series of holes along the inner perimeter of the marker/turn signal, being careful to stay within the lines, to avoid having to perform extra bodywork. Now, using the knife, slowly and carefully begin to connect the holes, opening up the entire recess. It cannot be stressed enough to be deliberate and cautious and stay within the lines... Continue working the knife until the marker opening looks like this (except probably not so blurry!): Begin working with the files to fine tune the opening. Square the corners, and straighten the ends and sides of the opening, until you are satisfied with its shape. Next, cut two small sections of thin sheet, to back up the newly opened holes. Install them inside the body. It may be helpful to curve them, to improve their fit. The red arrow points to the backer installed on the far side of the body. Also visible here is the lens itself, being fitted. I used a tab I removed from an amber sprue. I then sanded the ID numbers off and polished it using those three-way polishing sticks. The reflective inner surface will be created using the foil from a cigarette hard pack. Next, I cut the amber "lens" to size and smoothed the edges, and tested the fit... After a bit more fine sanding, the lens fits the opening, almost perfectly! Finally, I popped them out, cut the foil to size, and dropped it in, behind the lens. It was a fair amount of work, but, I'm happy with its appearance. This effect could not be achieved using paint. Since this is a curbside build, I want to create as many interesting details that I can, in order to generate "interest" in the subject. I am considering ways I can do something similar with the head and taillights.