RancheroSteve

Really gorgeous!

Mine arrived last Thursday in perfect shape. Excellent issue - I especially like the salt flats stuff!

You've done it again, Ira!

As promised, a shot of the Ranchero being used as a workhorse: I used it to pick up a couple of sheets of plywood and some trim today. I'm building my mom a new entertainment center (shhsh, surprise!). Wow, that paint job looks kinda tired in this light . . .

It's not so much about length - even most full size pickups have 6' long beds. If you have 4' (+ a little) in width, you can carry full sheets. They just hang out the back by a couple of feet. Tomorrow I will demonstrate this in my almost 50 year old Ranchero.

How many 4' x 8' sheets of plywood or drywall can you carry in a Corvette?

A friend of mine owns something we call the "Thunderchero": And I came across this the other day on the street:

Excellent job on that! I don't often browse this far down the board so I'm glad I saw this. Chalk me up as another kid who was a big fan of Fireball XL-5 and Supercar. I was even fortunate enough to have relatives in the UK that sent me related toys and stuff - all long gone, but I still have a Supercar drawing around somewhere that I did when I was about five years old.

Well said, Tom - I've long been an advocate of that approach. I think it's sometimes too easy to take an "all or nothing" attitude, which becomes counter-productive. I've found that it also helps me to have a specific plan or at least a good idea of exactly what I'm going to work on in that hour or two.

Excellent build of an unusual car - one that I wasn't familiar with. I just looked it up online and learned some history.

I can understand not wanting to pursue extensive legal action, but I think at the very least you could have a lawyer write a "cease & desist" letter, or even write them a letter yourself just stating the facts. It's not right for someone to be making money off your labors without your consent. Just my 2 cents . . .

No, the MicroMark kit is just a system for making your own photoetch parts - you have to design the parts yourself. If you search the board, there is a long thread discussing the use of this kit.

Another masterpiece!

Thanks (everybody). I don't know if any of these show the grille any better, but there are some more photos here: http://public.fotki.com/Roullier/model_cars-1/hot_rods/page2.html

Got it done finally! Not quite everything I wanted or hoped for, but a good opportunty to bring something back from the dead and try out a few new techniques. Under the hood: A little bit of history: I started off with this 1960 Falcon windowless $20 glue bomb a few years back. After getting the paint stripped off, I realized the roof was too warped to save. So I grafted another roof on and finally ended up dropping the whole thing over a lengthened Monogram '92 Mustang chassis. The '61 grille was made using the MicroMark photo-etch kit. (I'm saving the '60 grille for another Falcon project.) Paint is Tamiya clear red over a charcoal automotive laquer. Wheels & tires from the parts box. Thanks for looking - comments & questions welcome.

I learned that an Optivisor is a great help to middle-aged eyes. And I learned how to make photo-etched parts.

I've only built the Revell: It's a decent kit of the base Mini, nothing special, but it goes together fine. The toughest part as I recall is getting the black window surrounds to look right. I've got an unbuilt Fujimi Cooper S on the shelf, so I looked it over last night. The basic idea is the same as the Revell, but I'd agree the Fujimi is better - more detail, crisper engraving - but it's also at least twice the price, so I think it depends on your intentions and budget.

Beautiful work, as usual! It was great seeing these cars run. I believe Jim is correct - this car never ran at LeMans, only in the IMSA series.

Excellent! The best Futura build I've ever seen.

Not to toot my own horn, but I do have a degree in art, as well as many years of experience in making and looking at art. But I don't use that as a license to go around making pronouncements about what is or isn't art, or whether it's good or bad. Calling something "Art" is just a label, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If it moves you and excites you, it's doing something right as far as I'm concerned. As it so happens, I'm an admirer of Hollywood Jim's workmanship, creativity and ability to bring his vision into reality.

His Fotki albums are here: http://public.fotki.com/shrimpee/

Yes, truly remarkable! That was built by "Hollywood" Jim Fernandez a couple of years back. He posted extensive in-progress photos and info on "that other board".

Really well done. I built the Hasegawa curbside version many years ago.

Maybe the good news for us is that he builds ships, not cars?

Wow, this is coming out really nice, especially with all the extra details you're putting in. I think I ignored these kits when they came out, even though I love the subject. I guess I must have figured they were lo-fi snap kits. I've got a small collection of 1/32 scale kits now - mostly stuff that wasn't kitted in 1/24-25.