RancheroSteve

Well, I've got about three partials, and I'm still in the middle of restoring a glue bomb XR-6, so I can't say I need another one. I wouldn't mind seeing it back, although from what's been said before, the tool is long lost so it would have to be reverse engineered. Don't hold your breath.

Excellent so far!

First coat of paint is on the body: Paint is a very dark gray metallic lacquer, from a quart can of paint without any identifying marks that I found somewhere years ago. The hood is a very thin casting - quite nice actually - but I noticed that I'm getting some ghosting of the underhood bracing, and also there was a pair of sink marks where the hood hinges attach, so I've sanded the hood down again, applied a thin coat of putty and will have to re-prime.

A small update - I rewired the coil after Mike's suggestion. Not going to go crazy here adding every wire, but wanted it to look close enough: Based on this reference photo I found: Also realized I hadn't put the trans mount on: So I think I can now turn my attention to painting the body and maybe one day finishing this up. Just gotta say, one great thing about a forum like this is people that care enough to point these things out in a helpful way - much better than finding out way down the road.

No worries, Mike - and thanks again for the info. I generally try to do my research and get things close to right, so I'll figure out a way to fix this!

Thanks for the info, Mike. I looked a photos of 5.0 Mustang to try to figure out where the coil went - found a lot of shots where it was mounted on the inner fender, so I fabricated a modern type coil and put it there. But now that I'm looking at that square thing on top of the P.S bracket, I can see what you mean. Maybe I'll have to change it, arggh.

I haven't given up! Finally some progress to show. An early incarnation of the engine, before I went with a more modern front dress: And a few shots of the engine installed. I added the serpentine belt and accessories from a 5.0 Mustang, then couldn't get the engine as low as it should be (header clearance issues), so I had make a new cowl to shock tower brace to clear the intake plenum. All not too unlike the real world! Undercarriage is done, too: Thanks for looking.

No news or info to add, but very sorry to hear. Even though I wasn't a small scale/diecast guy I always enjoyed his columns. Years ago when I was getting back into the hobby I bought a bunch of Scale Auto Enthusiast back issues from him - great guy to deal with. Rest in peace.

That came out great, JC! Really enjoyed following along on this one.

Wow, I had those on my Ranchero when I bought it in '81. After I had my next engine built, I think I put them on our '65 Comet because they wouldn't fit over the roller rocker arms - need a tall cover for that.

Cool, that's the one I modeled: Lots of good reference at the Hemmings and the auction house links! Wish I'd had some of that when I was building, but looks like I got most of it reasonably close.

Slightly off-topic maybe, but I happened across one in the wild a few days ago:

Mine arrived in the mail today. A fine issue with a bunch of varied stuff, plus it's always exciting to see one of my own models in print!

I snagged two copies of the last issue of the Tiger Shark, then was fortunate enough to get a partial Dream Rod with all the specific parts and an original box. Hope to build both someday!

Thanks, Casey. The full story is even cooler in a way: I spent an hour or so with Tom - loading up his donation (mostly a lot of vintage literature) - along with him telling me various stories about some of the items. I was almost ready to take off, and I was walking out through his garage when I saw the Attempt 1 buck on a shelf. It caught my eye as I had not too long ago built the model. I stopped and asked, "Is that what I think it is?". He pulled it off the shelf, handed it to me and said, "Well, I think the Museum should have this too". So I got to hang out with the hand-made buck for the Revell Attempt 1 model - I could barely let it out of my sight for the few days it took me to box it up and ship it off the the Museum.

Good start! I believe the Smer kits are themselves copies of the Merit kits from the 50s, so you're working with 60 year old model kit tooling there.

Very sorry to hear this - my condolences to his family. I only met Tom once a few years back when I was enlisted to pick up a large donation he was making to the Model Car Museum. He was a generous and modest gentleman, and I had only an inkling of his contributions to the hobby at the time, which was probably just as well because I would have been awe-struck otherwise. Edit: I dug up this photo of Tom with his donation loaded into the back of my Ranchero. You can see the original wooden buck for the Attempt 1 model sitting on top of a "Revell, Venice California" box.

There's a good thread here about doing it yourself using the MicroMark kit:

So there is! I never thought of the resemblance between the Stude and the Anglia before, but I do now.

Really fine job on the Superbird, Tim! That one's on my "to do" list.

Don't see too many of these around - Nissan Figaro. Right hand drive, of course.

Yes, I started (and still haven't finished, arghh) this Muntz to Kurtis conversion using an R & R resin kit that I found on EBay:

Yes, a whole album here: https://public.fotki.com/Roullier/model_cars-1/gurneys_cars/ I think they've all been seen on this forum before, but here some selected shots in no particular order:

One of the all-time greats in his field and a real gentleman. I was fortunate enough to see him race both as a driver and then years later as a team boss, and even get a tour of AAR. The game has changed and we won't see the likes of him any time soon. (photo by my Dad - Bridgehampton 1966)

Like I said, it's been a while since I built that, so maybe I did use that supplied piece of plastic and cover it with BMF? Anyway, it would be cool to see someone build the flathead version! Have you checked with R&M for the original style tires?