bonehead23

Well, what can I do with an old AMT '34 coupe body, and two Revell '29 frames? For one, make a pretty fine hawt rod.

I was totally amused today when a member of a certain Facebook model group complained long and heartily about the 1965 Lincoln kit, calling it bad and disappointing and totally negatory. "No detail underneath at all" I had to comment, it was hard to be nice and respectful, but simply said he must have either never seen a vintage 60's model kit before or is totally ignorant of the history of kits; this thing was made in 1965! I built a brand new one in Quang Tri, Viet Nam! All kits like that were state of the art then. Apparently he didn't know about constant reissues either. So I showed my JoHan 1963 Starfire, with a gasser engine and yes, (wait for it.....) no detail to speak of underneath . OMG!!! NO DETAIL! Must be a bad kit! Sorry, sometimes people can really make you wonder if they have a brain. Bad mouthing AMT makes my head burn.

I watched a video on the history of AMT, and there on a photo of a page in an old catalog, was the chopped '53 Stude body on a Piranha chassis. research turned up that it was a kit, but only produced once. So I did more research and found that the only parts not included in either the Studey or the Piranha was a simple hinge for the body. I made my own out of styrene tubing and the two little swivels that mount on the rear quarters from a Dyno Don AWB car. So now I have my very own Mr. Speed at about 1/3 the price of a mint kit.

When I saw the AMT 1925 T "Fruit Wagon" I had to have one. I love T's. But the regular long pickup bed looks absolutely stupid on the street rod chassis, and the fruit is rather lame, so I shortened the bed and tossed the fruit. It turned out nice, but I always wanted to try another one, only a mostly stock T this time. Both are painted Mythical maroon, and would look cool parked together at a show. The older stock T has the Frontenac engine with three carbs, distributor driven by the generator and the 3outlet water hose made from a Fenton flathead header. And the first time ever I painted 1/25 scale bananas and grapes.

I started with an assembled but unpainted AMT 1962 Valiant I got from a friend in 1972. It remained buried in storage for over 40 years and I never considered rebuilding it because it was old and a piece of history. But then I compared the body's wheelbase with a '66 Nova body, and it was right on. So I used the Nova chassis and it fit with only a little trim, and the engine from a Piranha mated to a 4 speed from a 440 and '67 Chevelle pro street wheels and tires...and there you have it, all AMT parts. The box also contains an SMP '61!!!

I just checked, and thank you, I do not have any points added!

I am not new here, but it has been a few years since I participated in the forum. I try to keep it clean, and I am not a grammar fanatic but I respect the language and try to obey the rules. In one of my posts, I noticed to my shame, that i had made some spelling and punctuation errors, as well as using a word that apparently is not allowed. I should have used "Junk" instead, someone added 'Blah>>Blah>>Blah> but when I tried to edit and correct, that was not allowed either. Just "Report" and "Share". So I will just let it go, live and learn. Hopefully you didn't add a point to my spotless forum record. I apologize if it violated the rules, but I tried to correct it. Cheers from your friendly neighborhood Bonehead.

I knew this one existed, it is a copy of the Street Freak AWB Nova, with a Tempest body. Just too cool. I searched for years to find one, and when i saw a photo of it on the side of a Model King box, I KNEW I would eventually get one. I found it on line and immediately replaced the big block Chevy with a Revell parts pack 421SD...I had the decals long before the car, you could say I built the car around the decals!!!

Hey fellow model freaques! I added some finished photos of both Valiants. Please check them out. The floor is littered with shreds of blue and white plastic, after getting the chassis, complete interior, firewall and fender wells from the Nova kit all fitting nicely. I didn't toss a coin to decide what stance to use, and even though some friends call Pro Street "rather dated" 90's look, a traditional gasser is 30 years older still! I do not like to cut up a good body unless I have to. Making it a gasser would mean no tubs and hogging out the wheel wells so the skinny slicks will stick out a mile, and some gasser models i have seen are just too high in front, and would be difficult to drive. You have to se the road in front of you!! So the nose comes down on the Nova suspension, and the tubs conceal the wide tires without hacking up the body. The Hemi from a Hurst Cuda better fit, but i don't know yet! A tranny from a Revell Superbird 440 was used because the Barracuda engine does not have one. Hope it fits in the hole; i may have to modify or remove the fender wells. The body is actually a '62 with the different taillights, and I used it because it was perfect. the '61 body in the box was butchered and I used parts from it. I might make a convertible out if the smoldering remains!

Tim Boyd wrote an article about this rig kit bash, in Model cars mag, using the LN car hauler bed on a C-600 body and chassis. I was surprised because I had already built this rig, complete with two matching gassers and a fully equipped rest room with toilets, sink and water heater with plumbing...a large tank on the front holds enough clean water to get clean and relieved after the drags. I sent him photos, just so he knew I did it first!

Inspired by a "T.V.Tommy" race car hauler with the windows, I made one out of a Pete cab and chassis, and a C-600 cargo box with large side windows. Inside the box is a ramp made from a section of MPC Great Dane extendable trailer. Once it is all the way out, and the dragster is done for the day, it gets pulled back into the box with a little drank on the side attached to a '34 pickup tow winch. just crank it back inside and hook up the trailer that also has a digger inside!

I built this in 1980, when I was renting a room that was basically an attic and I was bored...There was a huge department store in Tacoma called the B&I Circus, complete with a big ape in a cage. Their hobby shop was full of JoHan reissues and everything you could ever want. This old custom really takes me back to the attic!

In my quest to be different...or weird...I concocted this monster from a '40 sedan, '57 convert, and a Willys for the chassis, and '32 Ford front fenders, Somehow it all seems to work.

In the pile of old kits and incomplete builds, I found a '50 Ford that told me it wanted to be lower...so I sectioned it and added the chopped windshield which just happened to accept a custom top from a '64 T-Bird! Another flathead powered sled, and it's green.

I knew this kit was just a rehash of an old one, but I was curious. Of course it is not very accurate for a gasser, having the stock exhaust and front suspension...so i tried to remedy that by using a Hurst Cuda front axle, jumbo M&H instead of those wimpy ones, and made it my own more or less. I decided to just slap the decals on the bare plastic and clear coat it...which by the way, is NOT a real good idea. I know it is ugly and funny looking, but I believe I may have improved on it a little.

I am always looking through boxes of junk to find a victim. In this case, a top from a '49 Merc, front end of a '50 Ford, and rear end of an original AMT screw bottom curbside that was pretty rough, not restorable, plus i dropped it on the concrete and it disintegrated...so i used the fins and hacked it all together. For over 60 years I have wanted to use the Styline front end on something. It packs a hopped up flathead and chassis from the Ford kit, and lots of parts from the junk box. No real reason why, but since it resembles some old '50's sled...I call it "Predictasaurus" because it was built before bubble tops in my fantasy world.

Perusing the pile of old kits, I found a '62 Tempest mint kit...and discovered that the AMT Nova, either stock or pro street, had the same wheelbase, so i figured it was a natural. It already had an opening hood, and I found a Revell 421SD engine...all set to go gasser. But then I had to stop and think about it. That Tempest is a mint, perfect kit. Yeah, I wimped out. But wait, there's more! Just below that Poncho kit was a 1961 SMP Valiant...and in the box was a horribly butchered body (I got it from a friend in 1974) that he had attempted to "Section" or lower it by cutting off a strip at the bottom of the body. The interior had the seats cut off and the chassis was modified to sit low. Nice concept, but not really usable. I tried gluing the cut off parts back on, but he had also removed the vent windows and rear window posts...luckily in the box was an unpainted but built 1962 complete....so I tore it apart, but sadly, while removing the window glass, the rear of the body broke. So I cut a piece out of the ruined body, and glued it in. Now the plan is t use the Nova pro street chassis under the Valiant, along with the hemi from the Hurst 'Cuda. I still have not decided whether to use a straight axle gasser, or just go with the rather dated pro street look!

Tim Boyd told me I should post this one here. Astute patina'd members will note it used to be a police wagon, but some time back in the 80's I decided it would make a good truck. After cutting off the top, I realized I had bit off more than I could chew, and put it back in the box for over 40 years. All my models were in a 10x10 storage room buried under tons of useless BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. Once I got a garage built, i started hauling model kits home. While sorting, I found a '71 Road Runner and this half done Plymouth...it proved to be the perfect chassis and engine. I scratch built the bed florr, used a '53 pickup rear window, and some Stripeman woodgrain vinyl. After over 40 years, the Plymmie sees the light of day.

Chopped, channelled,, lowered, widened rear wires and whitewalls, a blown Pontiac motor, cut down stakes, blazing black and that is all for now.

Because the Monogram '37 is 1/24 and the 36 is 1/25 it took a lot of trimming to make it work. The part of the grille that goes up into the '36 hood was cut off. It is a bit quirky as far as fitment goes but rats are like that.

A Flintstone body, combined with a mostly complete AMT '36, on a modified '40 frame and suspension, toss in a '49 flathead, Corvair 13" wheels in front, scratch built interior, '37 hood, opened hood side vents, then spray some gray and red primer, add some salt, flat black, rust and dust. There it is. At the time the photos were taken it did not have the rear bumper and some minor details left to do and the camera showed all the plastic particles from construction!!!

The Revell '30 coupe is a kit I will probably acquire at least two or three more! I had not done a "rat" for a while. I ran out of Rustall, so I sprayed one coat each of flat gray, flat red, and flat black but while the red paint was wet, I sprinkled some salt on the body, then after it dried sprayed the black. After a day of drying, i sanded the salt off as well as some of the black, and down to the gray in some areas. This was coated with some "dust", sanded lightly and sprayed with Dullcote. The engine is from a Mustang altered, and the Soapy Sales narrow quick change rear is on coils with tubbed wells, Soapy Sales wheels front and rear but old AMT pro-street treads in back. The front axle is lowered and most everything else is outof the box. Great kit...maybe Revell will do a tub or sedan??? Or a roadster pickup...or...or....

Realized I have many more than 39...I papered the wall near my workbench with about 15 more of them. One more use for these things.

Off to paint, soon...

Here's a '67 MPC GTO with a stretched chassis from a Mustang AWB, a blown 389 from a Monogram '64 GTO (1/24 makes it look bigger, and a flip front end using '62 Chrysler torsion bars, fabbed hinge plates and a couple injector stacks for pins holding it together. It works perfectly. I'd add more photos but I am at my "limit" and have to delete something old first. This was inspired by a similar Goat on the Lokar Car Show!!! I liked the flipnose and exhaust treatment, so I had to build one.Note the front tires...they are from the original '65-ish issue of the '58 Chevy; Firestone "gum-Dipped" intended for slot car use. After 50 years in the parts box, they are still soft and juicy.