RestoModGuy

Thank you Rex for the shock tower braces for my two 71 Cougar tribute builds I have coming up. I have to say these parts are the most accurate I've seen. The MPC and AMT parts of these are no where close to accurate, I was planning on scratch fabricating these, you saved me a lot of time. I appreciate your generosity, you're another reason this hobby can be so fun and rewarding, thank you again

Rex, I'd like to get 2-sets of the tower braces... I'm not familiar with how to order from you

Well done, nice work on this build. I too had a 320i - Gold - I owned in the 80's I have this kit and now that I've seen yours, will probably dig it out and put in line for some bench time. Thanks for posting and welcome back to the hobby

Wow... a masterpiece, just beautiful

Wow, just awesome... enjoying this build a lot...

Wow! A masterpiece, work of art, excellent craftsmanship. Blown away...

Wow! looking just awesome! I like seeing your WIP builds, you do great work

Yes, blacking out the glass. I intended to have the 57 doors be the entry and exit of the van. I molded in the van van door lines for this reason. I decided this build was not going to be a full detail build, so opening the doors and a full interior are not part of the plan. This really started out as a "what-if" idea build. I finally have the final finish and BMF completed and next to assembly. I'll post more when I have it sitting on wheels

Good looking cutom Bird! Nice job with the mods

I've said it all along the work in progress you posted, this is truly a Masterpiece and work of art. Worthy of all the alcolades you have and will receive as a Master Craftsman

Wow, did not know this kit existed, thanks to post a pict of the box. The Iron Horse version is similar but also very different in the hood, side fillers. The Iron Horse I have has dual fillers molded into the trunk and flat hood. I admit I think I like the styling of the actual Mach1 you have, now I need to get lucky and find one to go with my Iron Horse kit

I posted elsewhere Eric, that this is an amazing Masterpiece created by a Mastercraftsman. It's truly the best work of art I've seen from this hobby, I would love to see it in person one day at a show. BTW, I just received a set of the headlights you designed and made available, those are a work of art by themselves.

Wow! That steering wheel... yeah....

I ordered one-time so far, had Joesph print some custom decals I created. Nicest guy I've dealt with buying model parts. Responsive, and high quality, the decals he did for me are beyond perfect and exceeded my expectations along with the tire decals hes makes are flawless and what he has created is a huge plus for builders looking for accuarte and detailed components. I will be buying again from him, no question..

Nice photoshop work... I like without the roof too... Thanks to do this... Yes, thought at first that was the way to go, then decided to fully capture the car / van concept. At first I thought about making this a full detail build with opening doors on the Belair and iinterior of the 57 and a van "cockpit" area. The more work I listed out I decided to make this a curbside no opening doors or details.

I like this! Very creative customization, well done!

Nice save and recreation. I have the AMT Ironhorse kit from the 70's that looks like it was cast to be similar model replication or tribute to this original Mach 1 Do you know if this started as the AMT Ironhorse?

Sparkly Blue for sure, matches the Magazine cover and it fits the time era plus I imagine likely what Pete Phillips may have chosen at the time to display like this.

Wow, looking awesome... Seen this car on Google images for awhile looking for a future build ideas, now I see yours, you nailed it.

Had a wild idea after looking for van build ideas and saw a car painted on the side of a van. That gave me the wild idea to play with plastic and blend the side of a car body on to it. It's only plastic right! Decided to us ethe front grill/bumper on the front but of course it is about .60" wider now, so I had to section and splice it to make it longer. Just threw on some color, kinda liking the high-contrast on this crazy concept so far.

No worries, I wasn't suggesting you spend money on hiring a Patent attorney and applying for a Design Patent, in my opinion they are not worth it because they are so easy to design around. The only value is if you want to protect yourself with a specific design from idiots like this guy on ebay. If you don't have IP (Intellectual Property) rights then you can't defend yourself from copycats like this guy or others. It's my suggestion to let this guy alone and focus your time and efforts casting what you claim is a superior cast. Let go of the idiots who want to mess with you, I learned that lesson finally after a copy-cat of one of my best selling products was copied by him. I was spending so much time trying to bad mouth him and down play his quality that I lost focus on making my own better product a best seller. Today several of my products sell on Amazon as Best Sellers in the Catagory and his, not even ranked in the top 50. Giving him your spotlight to others is sending someone to his shop to look around and see what he's offering, honestly I clicked on the link you posted and looked at his "store". Nothing excited me but I don't know him or you any different, other than you're on this forum and I would prefer to support members first as I always do and have ordered lots of cool products from people who post a link to their or someone elses from this site. Good luck Jeff, I'd like to see what other cool stuff you have, do you have a link to a site?

Jeff, First I just now came across your post, I have no reason to post anything in favor one way or the other, than to give another forum member a little advice based on my own experiences over the years with design and copy-infringement. I own a company that I design and market products. Two types of product Patents; Design and Utility, both very different, you would be looking at a Design Patent for your castings. You can apply for a design patent for your work, it's about $3500 through most IP attorney offices, they do the work, but you must be specific to your design and that its different than other design that exist. There is no "%" assignment, that's not truth at all to be awarded a Design patent. There is a huge difference between a Design and Utility Patent, this can only fall under Design with your application. If you are awarded a Design Patent you can defend your "design" against anyone trying to exactly copy your design. However, the only value of a design patent is the specific design you have. Anyone can change one part of your design and argue in a court that it's different than your design, a jury or judge would determine if an infringment exists based on what is a noticable difference in market perception. Lots of Cases around this stuff. Example, take a simple pencil... it has specific shape, with two ends, usually an eraser sticking out one end embeded in a metal type surround and painted with some type of colored paint, perhaps a specific color that you created and makes your pencil unique. Whatever components or "call-outs" you apply to your unique design is what you may be awarded with from the US Patent Office. I can take your design, change the shape, length and eraser just slightly, even change the color shade by a small difference and market safely around your Design Patent. Oh, you want International design protection, then belly up to another $10k for that. I've dealt with this for over 10 years with my products and designs, they are basically worthless unless you want your very specific design protected, but expect copy-cats, they are everywhere and nothing you can do about it. I'd be careful slamming anyone unless you have some design copyrighted property, you can be sued. I've had this happen both directions over the years. Do you have specific features/design elements with your casting that is yours and only yours? Have you advertised publically this design longer than a year? If so then the new US law doesn't permit filing a Patent. Now, he who files first wins the selection of award to a Patent, careful sharing any unique ideas with anyone. Please take my post as a helpful advice with wanting to help another business owner with navigating with this stuff, it can become time consuming and messy for everyone.

Wow... More than faithfully reproducing someone elses 50+ year old build. It's a work of art and top level craftsmanship to pull off what and especially how you building what appear an exact tribute to the original who used very different material than we use today. Hats off to you for this build

Fantastic builds. I enjoyed looking them over