W Humble

Thx again! I like it, just the $60 set me back a bit -- too bad a commercial site won't trade a bit, as I have some rarer parts from early '60s. Oh well... I'll save up. I queried as to availability, also. Wick

Cool!! I have a '53 AMT kit I'm bashing to make a GT car; lots of stock parts to build a Conestoga!! Could you pls give an old feller (76) a web address for this one? Thx!!! Wick

Studebaker pickup would be great! I'd also like to see the later Champ, but include this bed option (rather than the surplus Dodge box, maybe?) and an R-3 V-8! I noticed that the cute Stude Conestoga wagon was among the six photos in Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbook for 1954. OC, they also said 'no new styling innovations' for 1953, completely missing the Starlight/Starliners. Brits!? Were there ever any resins out there?

I'm working on my first also; a '40 Ford roundy-round car c. 1955, set on a section of dirt track with a bill-board and track fence behind. 'SPEED ON, BROTHER; HELL AIN'T HALF FULL' sponsored by Wicks RAMBLER Motors, Alturas, CA; 'Built for the human race'. Also working on one with cars from Leave it To Beaver and Father Know's Best sitcoms, c. 1963, also lunar rover (hemi-powered) that has busted its oil pan on a lunar rock... ! Photos when I can do 'em.

Always wanted to build: 1955 Studebaker Conestoga 2-door wagon; very neat and cute! 1961-2 Pontiac Tempest coupe. NOVI Indy car; any! Also any Harry Miller special! 1964 Dodge Power-Wagon 4x4 to make USFS Class III fire tanker like I used to boss. A true 1951 Ford Club Coupe; not a converted '49! 1917 Scripps-Booth roadster, like dad drove to KSU! (Ha!) Wick

I have used one of these for decades, and never lost a drop; the knife and stainless-steel rule, now; too much multi-tasking! (I"m 76; really: decades!) I use mine very regularly; it does a great job on large pieces, and okay on ones so small they're hard to hold. Wouldn't be without it. You want to see scarey, when I was a fine-arts teaching specialist, we had a power bulk cutter; no chance of getting cut, as it had safeguards, but could crunch through about 1-inch of heavy card in one pass! Heads-up; I have a rebuildable guillotine cutter if someone wants it; free. Came from my fourth-grade teachers (my step aunt) classroom in N CA. Get in touch!

That's goo news! Thx! Wick

I'm using half a 'bomb' from an aircraft kit for a 1/25 headrest on my old T-bird 'roadster'. Not a big late-Bird fan, but the Sports Roadster is a wonderful adaptation of a convertible; impractical but so seldom seen in 1/1. Dental floss 'boxes' are always handy, as are some of the Rx inhaler containers, and White-Out dispensers. A hobby within a hobby! :-<)

Yeah! I have an AMT street rod I built about 1962 with pen coils... that I had to rebuild partially because I couldn't get 'em to work, tho the idea was a winner! I find stuff inside them for magnetos, F.I. fuel pumps, and lots more. I convert all my kits to wire axles partially because most of them tend toward the 'curbside' level, and partially because it seems like they don't get stuck up with CA or Testors (your brand here____), but I don't like the fronts on Detroit iron to have the old promo wire through the engine block, so I use aftermarket tubing with brad/nails shoved through from the inside and trimmed to the right length. The styrene tubing can be located in the old-style platform frame at about any level for getting the 'in the weeds' look, or even the 'jacked -up' super-stocker attitude of my era, the early 'sixties. Plus a dab of Vaseline on the axle keeps it reasonably mobile. I know the later plastic axle spindles look more realistic, but they are so fragile and the glue... ! An number of my kits are older than '61 or '62, and have to have the hood opened and a reasonable facsimile of the stock engine compartment created: firewall, suspension, and the usual accessories -- to say nothing of requiring an engine/transmission provided. It's just fun to plant a Tri-Power 389 in a '60 Pontiac coupe when it never had one in the beginning; most guys don't even realize the 'enhancement', but the engine/trans is the soul of the car, right? Whee!

My only modeling pal is a nephew 70-miles away, but we share stuff, paint, parts. I just found part of a plastic product box, a lid, that has possibilities for casting 1/25 tuck n' roll by the 7X5" sheet, which we think has possibilities. Also, I'm itching to try some panels from 3M N-95 masks which might simulate a square-tufted upholstery; have a radical '60 Impala (not my late, lamented year-of-issue one!) that might get this inside the stock seat/door inserts, IF it works. There is also a exhaust-flap guard that might work on some bizarre 1/18 creation. I too save micro-wires; I have used up a mile of the old phone 'spaghetti' colored wire; a bro-in-law does phone line contracting. :-<) O-rings are a natural, and Harbor sells them cheap -- but they are hard to glue in, unless stretched in tension. Those big diameter plastic clothing hangars have decent material, some nice curves, and I guess could be heat-bent? I also took the heat-shrink tubing idea to heart, but boy when it is hot enough to shrink -- styrene is read to melt! Good on solder exhausts, tho. Thanks for the feedback; lets keep this ball rolling, as I see ideas I can use popping up already! The old pros! Wick

Aaugh! I forgot to add: watch out for non-polystyrene bits in salvaged parts! Polyethylene doesn't glue very well with kit cement or CA; usually if I'm forced to employ it, I use two-part epoxy. The latter can usually be detected by it's greasy feel.

Despite all the fine resin and printed parts now available, I still rely on salvaged/repurposed items for many of my builds. I've been saving packaging (especially clear plastic for windshields, etc.), removable parts, and even toothpaste-tube metal for my old-school kits. Another source, despite some drawbacks, are used-up toys; some very wild shapes and fitments are even available in the "Kids Meal' offerings at a local fast food, and the plastic is okay. I recently made a 'modern' engine top-cover for a scratch-built Diesel V-12 (okay, but it's a model!) from a ribbed section of 'nose-hair trimmer' from Harbor Freight! Some great small black 'wheels' (thinking wheelie-bars) from a vertical blind we replaced! Long, strong plastic 'wands' can be salvaged from window-blind controllers, and a really neat oval tube that works well from the stiffeners on some curtains. Small rattle-can tops -- like kitchen sprays -- cut down into great wheel tubs for big slicks. The 'click' style ball-point pens often yield really nice chromed metal rings and fairings -- I'm making a set of those torpedo-shaped headlights (L&G? L&?) from two tips and chrome cap rings with kit parking light lenses -- and the push-down tops can be sawed into very convincing 1930-40's air filters, esp. for side-draft carbs. I make distributors from a pop-rived (shaft and base), carefully cut section of chromed brass radio antenna (cut with roller tubing-cutter, which forms a nice even chamfer), and plug wire of choice. The olde-school antennas do very well as exhaust extensions, especially the typical 'pencil tip' so loved of used-car dealers. I haven't really put any time into making belled 'scavenger' tips from them, but I'll bet it's doable. Good collectors for solder headers, as well, and they don't need Molotow paint! My best repurpose so far was to graft a gen-II TransAm roof and windows from a broken plastic TOY onto a roofless JoHan '61 Chrysler (broken back in the 'sixties when stored when the Draft caught up with me!) which, with scale 6" extended fins and huge modern wheels/tires, looks really fine. Even the toy interior adapted very well! For the record, I also use Parks distributors, etc. and some resin rims, but not a lot. It's sort of a fun challenge to attempt to scratch up nice builds with modest resources. Find the old Spotlite books on car models from c. 1962-5 and see! Thx for all the parts help, forum cats, also!! Wick

Still working on my first diorama, the LITB/FKB sitcom one, but have two others in progress! Well, I saw what might be a solution for me in the new IPMS mag: in-scale photo 'figures' (fire-fighters) mounted to stand up by the scene. Not exactly scale authenticated figurines, but look okay for my purposes. TV images can be captured, I guess, then sized to scale, printed. An alternative: bent-wire body/limbs with a photo face attached; tongue in cheek, so to speak! For figures of sitcom actors (Wally, Eddie, Bud) that might be the most effective, anyhow. I think that I just didn't want to be stigmatized in exhibiting a diorama because of poor or even non-existant figure work! Thx everyone for the encouragement.

Obvious to anyone who 'knows' and well worth it, I'd say! Someday I'll learn this photo sharing thing... PS: I go by 'Wick' :-<)

Boy, Ace and Snake; I gotta' get a life! So: I'm building a version of the White 3000 tilt-cab truck that was a family heirloom (step-dad bought new in '52, kept fairly nice, but too big for us to hang onto, boo-hoo!) as a ramp-rod on a Ford C-series frame and flatbed. It was a resin copy of the die-cast seen in S___ A____ mag some years back (highly modified with sleeper and Diesel power -- wow!) I'm sure. I'm making a sleeper also, as ours had that feature, tho White Spitfire gas six powered (slow on long grades, boy!) but it's slow going, esp adapting the tilt feature, and doing the interior! Resin is okay, but... I have to learn it, tho. I guess a lot of bright guys have made resin molds from die casts? I'll try to add photos when I learn how... still trying to get typing down pat! Wick in N CA

The Burrago Z I did was missing parts, all the more reason to modify; the ten-bucks price still in the box! I hesitate to mod the Tamiya big-scale ZG, as my kids gave it to me over 30 years ago for Xmas. But, the ZG... exotic, but not much relation to our US reality. I made a tube frame for another 1/25 creation (2X Cad -16's for Bonneville, c. 1940!) and brazing wasn't the way to go; solder next time! Well, every material has it's issues. When I learn my TIG welder, now...! Wick

Nice! I just finished a 1/24 Burrago 'Tom Daniel design 280Z' (really a 240, thank gooness!) with a lot of aero doo-dads as a drag car, and it came out well. Very few changes to metal parts attempted, but lots of mods, esp to engine compartment (a total 'toy') and drive train/wheels-tires. It got a 'Nissan' injected big-block, huge slicks in wheel tubs (there went the stock suspension, oc!) full scratched roll cage, NOS, and the complete paint scheme and decals from the Revell Pete Brock/John Morton champion I 1970-71 SCCA racer, #46 -- except I reversed it to race #64. Very HRM 'Drag Week'! Boy, those old decals are delicate!! I have a Road ---- die-cast 1/18 early Z-car that I've painted to look like my 1/1 '71, and it is autographed by Brock and Morton; and I may add my own- I wrote the book! Also, 6-7 early 240Z kits, including the Tamaiya huge-scale ZG one, which I may convert to North America standard, and paint like my '70 bought 7-'70 in Texas when a G.I. Wick Photos as soon as I learn how...

Another model mag, S___ A____ often had die-casts modified using brass and solder, so it can def be done. Don't think I'll try it, with the modeling time I have left at 76. The only problem, possibly, using resin stuff like JB Weld or epoxy is the differential in heat/shrink time vs. metal in such dissimilar materials; eg. don't let your finished product get extremes of heat or cold! Like all the 1/1 guys in the 'sixties who tried to graft fiberglass hood scoops onto their cars using epoxy and/or bondo, you will eventually see cracking -- tho possibly it will be very minor. Just sayin'... I'm glad my Maisto '53 Studebaker Starlite coupe with the very poor roof line accuracy at the drip molding has a plastic roof panel! That I can do with a little brass strip and JB or similar; it should be very compatible. But, I love your intentions to getting a sweet level of accuracy on a die-cast -- too many 'toy-like' features on them, we know! -- and the pride in craftsmanship it evokes. What the heck, if it bombs, buy another one and retrench! You can make a roadster rat-rod 4X4 out of the flop! Wick

I joined IPMS a few years back, and finally (Covid curse) got to attend our 'local' chaptrer, DragonLady (Yuba City CA) show; I fudged and took a 1/18 diecast '59 Caddie that I'd re-done twenty years ago in the Larry Watson scalloped style for the 1/16 scale category, and possibly be default (not many entries) they sportingly gave me a second place! Despite being pot-metal, the judges weren't persnickity about the 'plastic model' aspect, which was encouraging. For several reasons, I at age 76, find the big die-cast stuff attractive: 1.) it's durable, if a bit hard to modify, vs. styrene. Aging hands appreciate this, along with 2.) it's available in larger scale -- also a help! 3.) Though pricey, a number of interesting offerings are out there, some either unavailable in plastic (at anything like an affordable cost for a retired guy, modeling since 1953, on fixed income -- teacher's retirement, and not fixed very high! I put an Elvis figure (cardstock) in gold lame (accent mark over the 'me') with it, which is fun. A Road Signature '58 Eldorado ragtop is in progress with 'Stray Cats' logos, all in Ditzler Hot Rod subdued black, with red/white interior, a Gretch electric guitar in the back seat, ala Brian Setzer. Lately, I bought the green Maisto 1/18 '53 Studebaker Starliner, and I'm revamping it with a more attractive red (ivory roof) paint, and after building the V-8 as a more realistic engine, adding a scratch-built McCulloch blower. This 'model' has a seriously inaccurate roof line at the drip-rail, but at least that part is plastic, and amenable to modification without resort to solder! I have a ICVOSHO (?) 1/18 that I've repainted to represent my 1/1 '71 car, but this model has autographs from Pete Brock and John Morton; the dominant Z-racers from the 'seventies; I'm going to add my own, too!* At the IPMS show, I bought an incomplete Burrago "280Z" (wasn't; a 240, which is better!) with aero doo-dads "by Tom Daniel" which to salvage I converted into a drag car: injected big-block 'Nissan V-8', huge slicks, NOS, full cage, and the decals from the Revell Brock/Morton race #46 Z (though I reversed them for #64) and it seems a success. It had a minimally-representative engine compartment, nothing salvageable, the 'toy' aspect I find in many die-casts. Now: I have an original issue Hubley Duesenberg SJ Towncar which I will probably never build, but might part with IF I knew it's value; box opened but seems perfect and complete. Most of my 'stash' is fronm 1959-65, and still plastic; I'm trying to restore/complete most while I still can. I will try to put some photos of my die-casts on the MC site, as soon as I master that part of electronic communications! Wick *PS/ I wrote HOW TO RESTORE YOUR DATSUN Z-CAR, CA Bill's Automotive Handbooks, 1991 -- a revised edition coming out in 2022, we hope!

Thanks, MeatMan, Casey, et al! A long fascination with IRS cars, and domestically, the PMD Tempest has inflicted me for a long time; my fave is the Datsun 240Z, which I have owned since July 1970 (various ones) has a nice design. OC the swing-axle derived from the gen 1 Corvair wasn't quite 'it', but for the money, DeLorean did his best. In 1976, I wrote the history of the Tempest first iteration, and I now have a restored '62 ragtop. I also wrote HOW TO RESTORE YOUR DATSUN Z-CAR (CA Bill's Automotive Handbooks, 1991 -- and we hope the revised edtion in '22!) NISSAN USA bought back my '70 in '95 for a display car. When I switched to writing, most of my art skills declined, but in '70 I was a SP5 in the US Army stationed at Ft. Sam Houston TX as an illustrator for the Medical Corps at the Medical Field Service School; got a MA in '73 on the GI Bill, later taught. The Tempest was/is a sorta quirky little ride, and the dune buggy I proposed might well have worked recreationally, for good weight distribution and suspension (the V-W front assy isn't noted in the pic) plus very good power; 166-bhp with the 4-bbl option in '63. The '63, btw, had a much improved suspension. I have an AMT '63 LeMans convert kit that I built 'back when' as a 421-cid 'Powershift' or 'Super-Duty' factory race car (about 12-13 built by PMD before GM decreed no factory racing support!) with the Royal Pontiac decals -- and engine -- from the 62-3 Bonneville kit. and a '61 AMT 4-dr sedan kit converted into the shortened 'Monte Carlo' roadster show car -- my version, anyway. I'd like to have a kit to build a replica of my '62 convert, but prices...!!! 'Little Indians' chapter of POCI is a source for all Tempest research; they have my articles on archive files, and a lot more published stuff. Wick This is my first try to contribute pics, I have a lot more that might be of interest, some scanned. Should I?

Fascinating topic! Most of my hinge efforts are on cars that I saved from my car modeling days (1967-65) many of which were curbside/promo types, never having an engine. Nice strong ivory-like plastic, but tricky. I'm glad my proto is basically the same as y'alls; but I stick with aluminum jewelery wire and plastic tubing mostly. For every '60 Bonneville hood I open, I need to source not only the engine/trans, but radiator/bulkhead, firewall, etc. pluse mock up some kind of front suspension. Still, my old kits aren't fun unless I include these, and solve the hood hing problem over and over again. Wick, made my first kit in 1953 (Auroroa Famous Fighters planes) and still trying to complete/restore my collection at age 76. Thanks, Jairus, for the good styling studies; always interesting, even if too new age for old me. :-<)

I'm converting my son's old MPC Dodge Charger (Gen Lee) to a Bonneville/lakes type racer, but the 'wide oval' or whatever they are tires with the kit don't look right at all. (Westen Mags wheels either, but I hope to make Moon discs!" Does anyone have a source for something that would look okay in this size?* I was going to do a conversion to double-turbo (Accel basics from AMT 1/16 '55 Nomad kits) Hemi originally, but it's just too much trouble to scratch up something that looks reasonable; I'm at square one on the induction. I have the front group unitized to 'lift off' , racing solo-seat, and a ersatz 'Super-Charger' wing (made from a bashed Boeing 747 kit!) all done. Wish me luck! Wick Modelhaus* is gone, right?

jps2pfd; let's see if it worked!?

Mike, Thanks; my laptop hides photo files from me; I hope I can find 'default viewing program' in W -10. I scanned the artwork in, but moving it from the 'downloads' bin is always a merry chase. OC, I'm 76 years old and would rather spend my time working on my 1960-65 stash of kits!

Back in the days of 'water-pumper' dune racers, I drew up this idea for one based on the early Tempest drive train, minus the 'rope shaft' driveshaft, which allowed it to place the engine really close to the transaxle for traction, etc. I did this while a GI artist at Ft. Sam Houston TX, when the duty sgt. wasn't looking. Not detailed, just a concept. Try and find a Tempest four (much less transaxle) in any scale! I made a version of the '61 Tempest Monte Carlo roadster (shortened wheelbase, GMC blown four, etc.) like PMD sent out on the show circuit, also revamped in '62. It apparently was in a museum in San Antone later, and if you google for it, you get something that has a convertible top, which the original did not, I think. Anyhow, I was impressed. Wick Humble MA, Art 1974 CSU Chico CA Oh never mind: it's PDF, I guess! HELP?