RancheroSteve

Thanks. Just some sheet plastic and woodgrain decal.

Here's what the restored Deora looks like, but keep in mind this is under a bunch of colored lights. I suspect metallics are especially sensitive to the type of light they're seen under: Mike Alexander himself told me that he thought the color on the Hot Wheels Deora was the closest he'd seen, so I tried to match that by experimenting and mixing several golds together until I got something I could live with. As I recall, this shot was taken outside on an overcast day.

Excellent! That's not an easy kit to build that well.

Only six years down the road, it's painted! Patiently putting it aside for a couple of weeks to harden.

Thanks - that earlier color was just a light guide/undercoat. On to BMF next.

A little update - paint is on: The roof isn't attached at this stage (for ease of painting and assembly). It should cinch down a little better when it's permanently attached.

The required suitcase is also the reason for those sharp edged corners on the trunk of an FIA 289 Cobra:

Yeah, I realize it been a while so I can't blame you if you've forgotten about this one, but I'm making progress! I taped the body parts together and got it painted: Onward!

Not a bad idea, but I'm trying to get it finished sometime this century!

Here's one I've had percolating on the bench for a little while; I'm finally close to getting some paint on it. The idea came from a friend's 1/1 vehicle, but I'm doing it my own way. I started with the AMT '62 T-Bird; the roof is taken from the Monogram '58 T-Bird (narrowed, shortened, and sectioned) and grafted on to the '62 windshield frame. Lots of scratchbuilding to resolve the bed and roof fit issues; the rest of the body is essentially stock. Thanks for looking - comments & questions welcome. Hope to have more to show soon.

You may recall from my last post that I thought the body was getting close to being ready for paint - well, one step forward, two steps back as they say (or is it the other way around?). In any case, I looked at the body one day and realized there wasn't enough height to the rocker panels below the trim. Considering how far I'd come with this, I thought about leaving it as it was, but then I knew it would only continue to bother me, so I added some material and re-shaped it (compare with earlier shots in this thread to see the difference). I also made badges from thin brass and added them to the hood and trunk - they'll get foiled and decaled. I also made some underhood bracing which you can't see here. Just a lightly sanded mist coat over primer here - hoping to have some real paint on soon!

Same here.

Yeah, I get all that - mentioning it in this thread in case anyone was wondering. I was just happy to see my LHS had them back in stock and I could get one.

I dropped into my LHS (Burbank's House of Hobbies) this afternoon to pick up some putty and had a pleasant surprise: the Sting Rays were back in stock! Picked one up, of course. Just FWIW, the addendum hasn't made it onto the instruction sheet yet.

Thanks for that shot, John - don't believe I've seen that one before. I haven't made a decision on the wheels yet, but this adds another choice to the mix.

Just finished this one. From the Hawk re-issue from a few years ago. Figures are painted with oil paint. I made a new wooden base and added a few touches to the figures, otherwise out of the box. Thanks for looking!

Nice work! I tried to get one today, but my LHS was sold out.

Thanks. Great photos by Howard there, but those are actually Muntz Jets, the "stretched" version of the Kurtis.

As promised, a little update: I shot some paint on the body so I could see what I've got. Still a few more things to fine tune, but it's getting closer. This is just a base coat; the final color will be some type of red.

Thanks for asking, guys. This one got shuffled to the back of the bench for a while for various reasons, but I'm still plugging away at it. I should have an update sometime soon.

Yep, the high cost of housing and homelessness are big issues here, but I've been here 46 years and have seen it all - the ups & downs, etc. I don't want to make this political or take this too far off-topic, so my final comment on that subject is just to express my frustration that our elected officials seemingly ignored what a lot of us could see right in front of us for far too long. Back on topic, I'll second Burbank's House of Hobbies (my regular shop) and the referencing of the other thread. Also, depending on your perspective, you may just enjoy seeing all the vintage cars and current exotic machinery that still inhabit the streets on Los Angeles on a fairly regular basis.

The Petersen isn't Downtown in any case, but having said that, Los Angeles is like any major city: good parts, bad parts and a lot of in between.

The lead in that film is played by Chris D., who fronted a band called The Flesh Eaters. Their "supergroup" line-up with John Doe and DJ Bonebrake from X, Dave Alvin and Bill Bateman from The Blasters, and Steve Berlin from Los Lobos reunited a few years ago for a series of shows. Those guys can still tear it up!

Vince can make just about anything look gorgeous.

There was a go kart at GSL that was built with a 3D printed Briggs & Stratton engine. I believe the builder designed and printed it himself.