DoctorLarry

Stunning work. How did you create the decals?

I have ordered about five sets of wheels from him. Great quality and detail. Not really that slow, considering distance. Kind of like Australia.

To paraphrase Robert DuVall in Apocalypse Now, "I love the smell of bondo in the morning."

My latest two projects are Collonade Buicks: 73 Gran Sport and a 76 Century Indy pace Car. The 73 just needs final touches: grille, marker lights, locks and bumpers and it is pretty well done . The 76 is a work in progress. The Pace Car version had the formal roof with the V shaped rear window so I started with a glue bomb 75 JoHan Cutlass for the correct body scale and the roof of a 77 Revell Monte Carlo that I had chopped up for something else. Strip styrene to get the correct shape as well as grinding off the "pontoons" on the side of the Cutlass. Glued on the front end of a 77 Cutlass resin Nascar body and got out the Dremel and Squadron and Tamiya putty. Just like bodywork on a car to get the lines right.

I can still do the Can Ams. Right now I am almost done with the 73 Gran Sport prototype. I am also working on a 76 Century Pace Car prototype as well as a 74 GTO. Thanks!

You could take a 74 Grand Am body and the 73 LeMans/GTO front end and kit bash one. You would have to change the grilles and tail lights but that would not be too hard to do.

My Collonade go-to, Jo-Han 75 Cutlass. This is actually a project started by Ron Lambert. He got stalled and handed it off to me so I took what he had started and am trying to finish it up. The Cutlass has the correct wheelbase and a basic interior tub so with a little work you can transform it into other Collonade coupes.

New project to work on: 73 Buick Gran Sport. This continues my pursuit of GM Collonades-my favorite cars. Left side mostly done-I have to put in marker lights and fenderwell and rocker moldings. Then on to passenger side and front and rear. Then interior-dash, console, door panels, seats. Now that it is getting cold, I need an inside project.

I make both, as well as 73 GTO, 76 Grand Prix, 77 Can Am and 77 LeMans sedan.

I still do them occasionally as work schedule permits. My next two projects are the 73 Gran Sport and 76 Regal Indy Pace Car. I also have done a 76 Hurst T Top Grand Prix in addition to the Grand Am projects. The Cutlass chassis will work with mods. Th picture is one of my bodies done by someone on the board.

Got both of them. I have a scan of the Grand Am one because I used it when I built mine. The other I have somewhere but I just moved so who knows where it is! I'll post it when I find it.

There was an old Model Cars magazine article about transforming the Nascar Laguna into a street car using mods from a Jo Han 75 Cutlass. If I can find it I will post it.

Did that one too. This was a build of my 77 Can Am resin that someone else did:

More fun here. My semi-completed 75 Grand Am Pro Touring car, my 73 GTO kit, and HB Bailey's Nascar Grand Am with my resin body, courtesy of YellowSportWagon:

This was a model of my car.

I did a copy of my street car. I'll post the picture when I find it.

I have seen people use an ultra fine point illustrator's refillable pen for these fine lines.

I used the Jo Han Cutlass as the basis for my Grand Ams. I sculpted the body with plastic and Squadron putty with Tamiya White putty and finally lacquer based automotive spot putty. I then shot with Dupli Color filler primer and repeatedly sanded to sharpen all of the body lines. I have three notebooks full of pictures of cars and Hemmings Muscle Machines had features on both the 73 Cutlass and 73 GTO. They do a line drawing of those in the features so I copied those and scaled them down then made tracings of the GTO and overlaid them on the Cutlass drawing. This allowed me to modify the body lines. Then I made templates of the body lines and put them on the body to mark it where the lines should be. I then sculpted the lines with putty just like a real car. I scratch built the nose, hood and rear deck. When I thought I had it right I made a rubber mold. I actually owned a 73 2 door Grand Am which I sold to buy a 73 Grand Am sedan, which I still have. I then went to the 74/75 Grand Ams, then the 77 Can Am, and then stretched the Can Am into the sedan. I filled the shaker hole in on the Smokey car. I built the Grand Prix from a Revell 77 Monte Carlo snap kit. Same technique although I also went to a junk yard and took photos and measured a real car. Bottom line, it took the better part of a year to do each car.

Dwayne, it did not take me quite as long to do mine. I did a 73 Grand Am, 73 GTO, then a 74/75 Grand Am and then did a 77 Can Am after that. I just took the Can Am and turned it into the LeMans Enforcer. Like you, I have limited time so I still have not built a 77 LeMans yet. I am finishing a Pro Touring 74/75 Grand Am and am almost done. I also did a 76 Hurst Grand Prix.

This is a fun one to do. I have already done it and it was a great project. Still need to do the interior, though.

belcherl@uindy.edu

I do the kits to order so an email to me will work. Larry

73 GTO is done 76 Grand Prix Hurst is done 73 Gran Sport is in the works

He did a large scale email notifying folks that his remailer was sending stuff. Got mine Saturday. They look good.

What do you use as clamps to hold the lines down and how are they attached- Glue? Thanks!