Tommy Kortman

The body has been painted, polished, and BMF'ed. The paint was Tamiya. The white is the white primer, and the black is their semi-gloss black. (It's what I had in stock at the time. I actually prefer to shoot flat paint as opposed to gloss bacause ti doesn't have the same tendency to run as easily. I then cleared it with Testors Wet Look clear. It was polished with Maguire's Scratch X. I did not go for a perfect mirror finish. I purposely left a little orange peel in the paint, because these were factory paint jobs, not show finishes. Using photo refrence, I foiled as accurately as possible. The notch under the door is for the exhaust pipe.

I will be using wheels and tires from Plastic Performance Products. They are a huge improvement from the kit pieces as shown here. The kits wheels are to the outside. Rears to the left, and fronts on thr right. And note the difference in width too.

Since I've got a work bench again, I can get back to building. After starts and stops, I was able to make signifigant progress on Revell's 57 Chevy Black Widow. I am using Power Slide Decals to replicate Buck Baker's Championship winning car. Take a look. Using the 57 Chevy stock car guide as a refrence, I started by modifying the chassis. This included boxing in the lower control arms, and the upper frame in front of the upper control arms. I am adding dual shocks to the rear. Here it is almost finished. Still have to add some paint details and the shock mounts...and shocks.

Greg, That Willys was way clean. It was georgous!!!

Jim, I hope the pictures can help. There should be more of that car on the Fotki site. Just click the link.

Packing up my stuff now. I really don't have anything new for this year, but I want to support Central PA and the show, so I'm bringing some more recent "older stuff". Plus a peice that a buddy asked to see.

Went to the Hoedown today. It was a GREAT time. It is definitely NOT your normal car show. This is a Rat Rod, Rock-a-Billy, counter-culture extravaganza. The cars were cool, and the music was hot! Not a "belly button car" in sight. I dont think I saw one Camaro or Mustang. WooHoo!! Here's a sample. ...and here's a link to the "rest of the story" http://public.fotki.com/El-Tanque/car-shows/hot-rod-hoedown-2012/

Went down to the annual Riverside car show yesterday. I should call it Homecoming because I kept running into people I haven't seen in years. The weather was great, and I had a good time. Here's a couple of pics to whet your appitite. ...and here's a link to the rest. ENJOY! http://public.fotki.com/El-Tanque/car-shows/riverside-car-show-2012/

Very nice refrence pics. I think this is the first time I've seen a MkI. I know that the 68/69 car (same chassis won both years) is a MKII, and the car Foyt won LeMans with was a MKIV. You can really see the differences between a MKI and II. Here's a MKII

Impressive...most impressive!!!

Ok, it's been a little while, but I was finally able to make some progress. I retrieved the wall cabinet from storage and shanghied a buddy into helping me install them. (read that as I watched as my buddy Al installed these.) Now all I need to do is fill them again. There's a few more detail photos here: http://public.fotki.com/El-Tanque/models/work-shop/

My Buddy Uncle Bobby and I went out to the York US 30 Reunion yesterday at the York Co. Expo Center in Pa. We had a great time. He was cool enough to stop on the way out so I could take a couple of quick shots of the Harley Davidson plant there in York. They had a wonderful tribute to Da Grump. I was nice talking to some of his people and family. Anyway, here's a couple of photos to tease you. And here's the link to the rest of the pics. http://public.fotki....talgia-reunion/

Good Lord John, That's incredible! REAL NICE WORK!!!

Oh, shoot, i almost forgot. That's also where I tried Crawdads for the first time. Not them things were spicy!!!!! WOW!!

Up here in Philadelphia there is a place in the Reading Terminal Market called Becks Cajun Cafe. It was there that I tried Gator for the first time. It was incredible. It Does not taste like Chicken. It has a different texture. I am a fan of their Gato Gumbo now. As well as their "Train Wreck Po-Boy" sandwhich. Mmmm-Mmm, that's good eatin!!! BTW, I have been told by the chef at Becks that Chicken is a very neutral taste and actually picks up the flavor of what it's cooked with. I guess that explains why everything tastes like chicken. Except it's more correct to say that chicken tastes like everything else. LOL!!

Wow, my mistake. I did some research. Mark is correct. Here is a link to the school that built this car. Amazing talent. http://www.lazzemetalshaping.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/Category_ID=19/home_id=-1/mode=cat/cat19.htm

Man, whoever built the 1:1 has got an excellent body man. That is some fantastic steel work on that body. "Impressive...Most impressive!"

Ok, so the epoxy has finally dried, and I have placed the risers under the benches. The table top height has gone from 30" to 36", and is much more comfortable. Especially during those long, marathon, days at the bench just before an upcoming contest. Dont you just love deadlines? I have also moved a bookshelf in. This will be my refrence "section". And I have started to put a few kits on the "staging" shelves. I guess the next step will be to install the cabinets on the wall over the main bench. I have to getthem from storage. More to follow. Stay tuned...same Bat Time...same Bat Channel..

The Simeone Foundation Museum here in South Philadelphia has got a display of American Muscle Cars going on until July 15th. They have some fine examples of the most iconic muscle cars from the era. Here's a few pics: And a link to the rest of the photos. http://public.fotki.com/El-Tanque/simeone-foundation-/muscle-car-display-/

Great build. I really like this one.

Smokey always said that you had to "race by what the rule book doesn't say. If the rule book doesn't specifically say that something is illegal, than I have to assume that it's legal." As a racer...those are words to live by. Smokey should be in the NASCAR HoF!

Ok, as promised, I have a few more photos to post tonight. When we last left off, I Showed you the surface plate. Since I have used this bench before, I know that I need to raise the work surface height. I was experiencing some iritation in my shoulders and upper back that was coming from leaning down to the work surface. I did not want to go with a shorter chair, so I went in the opposite direction and raised the table height. In order to do that I built risers. These risers are made from a 4" x 4" x 4" cube of pressure treated pine (it's what the store had when I built them) that is attached to a 6" x 6" x 1" pine base plate. The upper corners have all had a radius routed onto them. This shot shows a little more detail of one of the risers. The pocket in the top was made with a paddle drill bit. The diameter is just a little larger than the diameter of the table leg. I did this so that the table could not slip off of the risers. Since these risers were made for a different house, and that floor was not exactly level, 2 of the pockets were drilled a little deeper to compensate for the previous floor. I will adjust this depth by filling the pocket with some 2-part 5 minute epoxy. These particular risers are for the side table. This riser shown sitting on top of the main work bench is for the main bench itself. The notch in the back was so I could clear a previous radiator pipe. I am filling the risers with epoxy now, so hopefully I will have some photos later of them installed. Thanks for watching.

Now that the "site" has been prepped, I brought in some of the proposed furniture for a "Dry-fit" as it were. First up is the Main Work Bench. The Main Work Bench is a 30" x 6' Samsonite plastic topped table.(from Lowes) I have added a pine wood top to it. The top was added because I hated the sound of a hobby knife rolling across the table. Plus it's a bit more functional. I was going to seal the wood top with urethane, but I liked the unfinished wood much better. It just says "work bench" instead of furniture. I also routed the top edge to make leaning against the edge while working a bit more comfortable. Here you can see the routed edge a bit better. While I had the router out, I carved out a pocket in the top to accept a 12" x 18" marble cutting board. The board sits flush with the wood top and I use it as a surface plate during construction. It has made it a little easier to get the chassis square. In the future I plan to replace the marble with granite, because I have been told that it is more durable. The marble will scratch quite easily with an X-acto. I have sealed the edges with white tub and tile caulk to prevent tiny peices from disappearing into the seem. On the right side of the main bench is a plastic set of shelves. (also from Lowes) It can hold std Revell boxes 2 deep front to back. It will be the "Staging Lanes" for future builds. On the left is another Samsonite table. This one is 24" x 48". It will be used for that extra space that you always seem to need. I am not adding the extra wood top to this unit. OK, that's it for tonight. Hopefully more tomorrow.

I hope this is in the correct section. For this "On the Workbench" thread is actually about...the Workbench. I have recently decided to convert a spare bedroom into a new work shop, so I though I'd document the process with some Photos. I hope you will enjoy the ride. First up is site prep. I cleaned an vacumed the new work site.

Hey Andy, how have you been?