Spex84

Cool start, good use of some odd old parts. And nicely done with the front of the transmission tunnel..That's an area I always hate trying to scratchbuild; yours looks great! I think Lindberg must have copied the body from AMT's Ala Kart kit...see the hump in the center of the cowl? A stock '29 doesn't have that, it's a feature specific to the Ala Kart; it faired into a recessed hood scoop on that car.

I have an AMT '53 F100 on the bench as a side-burner custom project. One of the first things I did was move the front wheel openings forward to get rid of the awful overhang the stock truck had. It kind of needs a hood section, but I don't have the heart to cut into the nice curves of the stock hood, worried I'd never get it smooth again. It drives me nuts when 1:1 builders do all the work to street-rod an F100, but leave the awkward stock wheel/arch position untouched. *facepalm* So a Ford f100 kit with pre-adjusted fender arches and sectioned hood?? Sign me UP! If the scale is right, it could be kitbashed with the old AMT F100 to create a very nice 50s/60s-style custom.

Lol. I like to draw, and Chip Foose is in the pantheon with guys like Thom Taylor, Steve Stanford, Dave Bell, Darell Mayabb, Ed Deal, Tom Daniels, Harry Bradley...the list goes on. The wheel line and reality TV stuff is just meat and potatoes for Foose. He's managed to go from marker-wielding design student to brand-name designer, and actual builder of high-quality cars. Many guys half-heartedly sand the paint off a Camaro and that's as far as they get. I may not agree with some of the design trends that Foose's shop embraces, but I absolutely don't begrudge his success. And if it brings us more model kits with cool parts?? That's awesome! The Roth and Tom Daniels kits are still in circulation. I've purchased some of them. If the Foose cars (say, the Cadillac) are sitting on Art Morrison frames, the parts are going to be great for high-tech customs and possibly kitbashed pro-touring builds. I wasn't a fan of the Rat Roaster, but there were a lot of good parts in that kit. Just because you buy a kit of a certain car...doesn't mean you have to follow the instructions!! Chip Foose wouldn't, that's for sure. And MAN...it's been so many years, and Cadzilla still looks fantastic.

I always liked this build of the roadster version: http://www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/surf_woody_roadster.html I thought the wheels would be polished slots. I guess the as-cast centers are period correct, but somehow they're not what i had in mind

I think this kit has a DOHC Frontenac head included...but that's a racing setup rather than a street engine. Maybe the Winfield head from the Revell '29 pickup, or the Riley conversion from the AMT '31 Ford?

"Who are the clowns who buy this stupid-money garbage and then post glowingly positive feedback?" Some of these people maintain multiple accounts, and cross-post positive feedback to themselves. I first noticed it when I found a seller who was selling kits for $3.99 with $35 shipping. Turned out most of the completed sales were to accounts that had been created in the same month as the seller's and they all spoke in a similar fashion. It bugs me when people buy brand new kits, open the box, and sell, say, the wheels for $15 and the exhaust pipes for $10 and so on. Ridiculous. The other thing is, I like to be able to search for kits by price--but that means there are dozens of pages of decals, instructions, and separated-out parts to wade through. If there WERE any kits for a decent deal, they'd be completely hidden amid the the chaff.

I was starting to check online auction sites to see if I could find one of these...and then a few months later, turns out it's being re-released! I'm still on the fence, considering that I'd be buying it for the wheels, tires, and blower setup rather than as a "builder". This is a great example of how packaging can grab attention almost as much as the kit itself. Neato.

This is insane, I love it!

Very cool weathering and detailing, I like the 40 Ford taillights! This one turned out great. I feel like the white highlights/dry-brush effect is maybe a little strong. It actually reminds me of screenshots of video game props, which is a neat effect!

Great design and killer execution. I'm in love with the exhaust/wastegate cutout on the fender, the color scheme, the bellypan, use of carbon fiber decals, and generally awesome stuff all 'round. All 3 of those cudas in the lineup shot are gorgeous. Yours and exesivefire's builds remind me of the work of Aaron Beck: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9mq1AYd1dE8/VSvAe3poIDI/AAAAAAAADRk/x9gKXlZyne0/s1600/hazchem_cuda_leftside_01.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a1/d7/83/a1d7832e83c3eb41ac43733fed5bf6d7.jpg

I like it so far! Looks like something Weesner would draw. I'm imagining it with a custom nose (Edsel, Ala Kart?) and some candy or flake paint...

Beautiful work, I love the weathering and added detail!

I didn't realize the proprietor of Early Years had passed away--that's sad. I had hoped to buy some parts but never got around to it. I guess I missed my chance :/ The La Salle transmissions and a couple other items caught my eye.

Lookin' good! I like that air cleaner unit...it's unusual and provides some great color and shape contrast with the body.

Love Jimmy White's hemi. That video ("omfg this is great") is classic. Coupezilla is neat, but I'm turned off by how the owner seems to see his car as a youtube revenue generator: "1000 HP AMAZING HOT ROD BLOWN SO FAST OH MY GOD CLICK ON THIS RIGHT NOW SO I CAN GO VIRAL!" Man is proud of his car....I guess that's ok. Both cars are gnarly

Thanks for the photos, Tim. There are so many potential '30 coupes to build, it boggles the mind.

Ok, let's take this to the lab. Enhance. Enhance. Enhance. I need to get a life, hahaha.

That's awesome man. I don't read Roadkill mag, but I do watch the episodes on Youtube. I like that they started out doing unpretentious gearhead stuff on the show, and have tried to hang onto that as much as possible now that the Youtube channel has taken off, they have sponsors, and MotorTrend corp. is probably slobbering all over them. Looks like a sweet build of the Crusher, and what better than to share it with the people who built the 1:1 car!

"Is it a boat or a car"? Well, let's meet in the middle: It's a Boar. Oink! I love how there are people insane enough to want to do this kind of thing, and capable enough to make it real

High-that's how I spilled mine. I was one-handing it, the lid cross-threaded, and when it did, my fingers twitched, knocking the bottle over. Drat! Now I use two hands to open, but still sometimes use one to close the lid, so I'll be building a holder soon.

I am now VERY careful with my liquid glue (not Ambroid, but same shape bottle) after wrecking a couple parts by knocking the bottle over and melting them to goo about 2 years ago. It wasted almost half a bottle of the stuff. I try to be conscious of where my hands are at all times in relation to the glue. Still, this is not exactly a fool-proof recipe, so I think I'll find something stable to slide the glue into, as some of you have done already.

Weird. I like it!

What an interesting question...I never would have thought to ask it! But now that you have...some thoughts come to mind: -some kits have parts that lend themselves to swapping..it's easy and the parts mostly fit. Others do not, and it takes a lot of motivation and carving/sanding/filling to make the parts fit. -Generally in hot-rodding and car customization, newer engines, suspension, and wheels/tires are put on older cars. It's very rare to see a newer vehicle customized with parts older than its date of manufacture. -Generally in hot-rodding, engines are upgraded to be larger and more powerful. 4 cylinders upgraded to 6, upgraded to 8, then maybe a V10 or V12 (for instance, a Ferrari V12 in a '32 Ford) -Usually if it looks good, and flows nicely, it's an acceptable modification BUT there are all kinds of specific niches of modification: Rat rods, traditional rods, bellflower-style customs and early lowriders, lowriders, contemporary customs, pro-street, pro-touring...and those are just a few american trends. Foreign cars have a bunch of their own trends (and I'd list them but I'm not sure what they're called!) Usually people stick to a certain direction when modifying a car, and if they deviate, it's to make a point, or to create something unique that works well and looks good. -Often, especially with 60s muscle cars and some hot rods, builders prefer to keep the engine the same brand as the car. It's not a hard rule at all...but some people are bothered by mix-n-match brands. For instance, a Ford Gt500 Mustang engine in a Plymouth might raise some eyebrows...but there's nothing inherently wrong with it. So when I look at the kits you've picked up, the most obvious swap that comes to mind is putting the Ferrari engine into the Camaro. But the Ferrari is rear-engined, and such a swap would require both a knowledge of the mechanics of rear-engined transaxle setups, and a good bit of fabrication to make the swap work....because the engine would probably have to be flipped around and installed in the front of the Camaro rather than the back. A less intensive swap would be putting wheels from one car onto another--Ferrari wheels onto the Camaro, perhaps? Often when swapping fat tires onto a car that was originally designed for narrowtires, the fender wells will have to be widened ("tubbing") to accept the wider tires. The way I've learned to figure out what works and what looks good...is to observe other builder's projects in scale and 1:1, watch what decisions they've made and why, read car magazines and take note of the modifications that have been made to cars I happen to like, and then assess the kits I have on hand...and see if I can replicate some of those modifications! I think I made this all seem more complicated than it is...these are model kits, after all, you can do whatever you want with them, that's the whole point!!! Good luck

Thanks for those! Now I can see the wheels more clearly.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the final distributor is as Tim suggests....perfectly normal. That "spy shot" IS darned blurry. In other news, I totally took a photo of Bigfoot behind my house yesterday. If you squint just right, you can see that he almost looks like a rotten tree stump. If, in the end, the distributor or any other component is not Show Winning, I humbly request that you mail all the offending pieces to me