RancheroSteve

I'll be using the custom front end treatment (grille and headlights) from the 2 in 1 kit. The resin body also uses the kit hood. After some some sanding/filling/sanding, things are starting to fit reasonably well. The center nose piece is separate (just pushed into place here) and will be attached later.

Tamiya Putty.

Hey - nice to know, Kerry! The Ponchomino is a cool idea, especially as I've never been that crazy about the roof on the Catalina - a bit too clunky in my opinion. And of course I dig Rancheros, El Caminos, and utes in general. I had already cut down the wheel houses as you suggested. The bed floor is up against the top of the chassis pan - I don't think it can go any lower without some major surgery, so I'm going to work with it as is. Thanks.

Thanks Bill! Like I implied earlier, the Flintstone bodies I've seen aren't anything like Modlehaus quality, but they're very affordable and there are some very cool subjects available. Lots of interesting conversions for current kits if you want to do something a bit different. I've been using Zap a Gap (medium) to attach the brass - it seems to be doing the job. The great thing to me about brass is that it's hard enough to hold an edge, yet can be sanded when needed.

The brass I'm using for the bed and windshield trim is 1/64" x 1/32".

The resin body - like the kit body - has molded in wipers, which I'm not a fan of. Since this is going to be a mild custom (somewhat inspired by the box art), I've removed the wipers, added more brass for the windshield trim and filled the cowl vents.

After cutting off the top of the rear inner fenders and shortening the rear a little, the chassis pan looks like it fits pretty well: But it turns out the bed floor prevents the pan from sitting up high enough, especially at the rear. So that's part of the reason I skirted the lower edge of the body. Better, but there's another issue at the rear: the rear frame cross member sticks out too far. OK, I think I can deal with that without too much trouble. Onward . . .

I added some trim around the bed and the back window (to be foiled after paint): And some channel along the bottom edge of the body (for a couple of reasons - more about that later):

And at the back, the rear quarters are going to need some work, especially where they meet the bumper and taillights: I'll shoot a little primer on it and see what I've got so far.

Time for a new one! Here's what I'll be working with: http://jimmyflintstonestudios.com/?product=nb262-1962-el-ponchomino Not exactly shake & bake, but a decent place to start. Those window openings were a bit vague, so I bent some brass strip to give the openings more crispness and also simulate a drip rail. Stay tuned.

Harold is a great guy and makes fine products. The Replicas & Miniatures kit is very similar to the HRM kit pictured at the Fotki link, and of course excellent. Norm's delivery times are very fast, too. [Edit]: Oh, now that I look at my R&M Weber kit, I see that Harold worked on the master, so I suspect the two are practically identical.

Here's one from 1964.

Very clean bug (frog) eye Sprite:

I saw Jay Leno at least a couple of times at the old Autobooks. He'd drive up in some interesting ride, show it off, and browse the store for a while. He knew he was among car guys - not celebrity hounds - so he was pretty approachable and happy to chat.

House of Hobbies has a website that's updated daily and lists what they have in stock: http://www.houseofhobbies.com/ Also, the internet is your friend - if you do a Google search it will bring up photos of the store, inside & out. It's not necessarily a place I'd drive miles out of my way to go to, but I mention it because it is a well-stocked LHS. Kind of funny for me to hear Autobooks referred to as "huge", because I remember a few years ago when it was a couple of miles west on Magnolia and was about three times the current size, but it's still a good place.

Burbank's House of Hobbies and Kit Kraft are my go-to shops.

Jaguar F Type parked at a local diner:

Jere Kirkpatrick was one of the drivers and mechanics on the first (blue) Dragonsnake. He has a long and colorful history working with cars, bikes and all kinds of metal. He now lives in Northern California. http://www.jerekirkpatrick.com/

I built the 1/72 scale one - pretty tiny:

Instrument panel, I'd guess. To me, this is another one of those great iconic Revell kits from the sixties that were too tough for me to build when I was ten, but that I had a great time building as an adult. Just remember, the design and tooling on this kit is fifty years old. Good to see it on the shelves again.

That looks a lot like a kit I built as a kid - "The Lord Mayor's Coach" - except it didn't have the horses pulling it. I had relatives in the UK that sent it to me as a gift. My mom helped with with some of the detail painting and it turned out pretty good. I've got a photo somewhere, I think. Wish I still had it!

Then again, I just found a photo online that looks vintage and shows the engine block as RED.

You are correct about semi-gloss black being the correct color for a Ford block before 1966, so in the absence of any better info I'd go with that. There's usually a lot of hype that goes along with TV, movie, and show cars as well, so I'd be willing to bet that the only thing really "Cobra" about those engines was the valve covers and some dress-up bits. And I'm still unclear as to how they got ten carbs on that Koach engine . . . All that aside, I dug these cars as a kid, I have the kits and plan to build them (again) some day.

Excellent - really captures the look!

Good to meet you too, Danno. I really enjoyed hearing about Bob Peeples and his Cobras, and seeing some of his fine work up close. Very moving. Fabrizio - congratulations on your first GSL - you really made a splash! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with next. This was my fifth time at GSL, and for some reason it made me think of how far I've come: the first time around (2005) I didn't know anyone and felt kinda out of place - now it's an opportunity for me to reconnect with old friends and a chance to get to know folks better. I had a very hectic but enjoyable weekend, now I'm having GSL withdrawal. 2017 will be here sooner than we think - gotta get busy on finishing some builds.