TonyW

That's one tough looking Mopar. Hard as nails, and period perfect.

That color is just perfect for the car, they were made for each other.

That is just outstanding! The overhead shot would make a good poster. Tony.

A superb model. The engine compartment is just about perfect. That air cleaner had my eyes open a bit wider when I saw it!

I'm unsure how I feel about the whole 3D printing thing as it applies to modelling. We seem to be at the point that computer skills are overtaking what's possible for a modeller to replicate. That's both good and bad. Check out some of the available shipbuilding 3D parts as an example. 1.700 scale multiple anti aircraft gun platforms with scale ring sights, ammo feeds and deck grids and so on. You might be able to build one yourself if you have quite amazing skills but a dozen for an aircraft carrier would take some doing. I would class this sort of thing as part assembly though, no different to opening a kit box and working with what's in there. The idea of defining what constitutes scratch building is an interesting one. Sit at your bench with a pile of plastic card, wood or metal along with the tools to shape the material and then proceeed to make a complete model with what's sat there. Scratch built right? You didnt make the plastic, or grow the wood though. No personal mining or smelting to get the brass sheet or ally strut. Those tools needed making by someone as well. Take things right back and we can argue about the creation of the universe and work forwards from there. Good luck with that one! Life is constant change and there's not a lot to be done about that. CAD and 3D printing are here now and they compliment etch and resin to help us make of them what we will. It's the builders choice as to how much or how little of the available tech he or she uses. Having another choice added to the list is a good thing if it pleases the modeller and adds to the enjoyment of the hobby. Contest judges are in for a hard time though! Tony.

I like to display old boxes alongside built kits. Old paints and glue get a look in as well. Box tops can make nice looking backdrops for built models as well

A beautiful car. Well done with the award. The perfect fit of the tire bead to the wheel rims is my favourite detail.

A friend of mine once told me " To make something beautiful, you have to take away all the ugly" That one works really well for workspaces. All the empty sprues, W+D paper, dirty thinners, half filled paint jars, tins and so on are the ugly on the way to what will hopefully be the beautiful. It's part of the proccess. I try to work tidy and store stuff in an orderly fashion but once construction starts things go south really quickly. By the end of a decent modelling session the bench is covered in paint tins, brushes, tools, glues, upended boxes, reference books and magazines and a whole lot of general untidy. Sat in the middle of it all is maybe a wired engine or a body ready for primer. I've given up trying to stay tidy while working, it is what it is. Here's my bench/shed on a good day. This is a long way from how it usually looks! This was after a full on revamp. It's had a bit of fine tuning since but it's never going to be finished. There's a constant search for the ideal workspace. I doubt I'll ever find it. About normal... Once the ugly is gone, if I'm lucky I end up with something like this... Tony.

A beautiful build of one of my favourite muscle cars. The stripe package really pops agains the base color.

The first picture of the box top got me excited to see the model. The following pictures didn't disappoint one bit, a very clean build indeed. There's something about a red car with redline tires that just looks so cool.

Killer stance! You really nailed that one.

That is a stunning model. A first class build. The photography and overall presentation are also top notch. Tony.

That's a hot 'steppin Hemi with a four on the floor. The Springsteen link ends at that point. What a cool build!

Excellent work. Thanks for talking us through the building stages, I've picked up a ton of good info from reading the thread. Tony.

That's a first class backdrop, it's framed the car perfectly.

That's one good looking truck! Beautiful paintwork, and I really like the wheel and tire combo. The wheels remind me of a '34 I had a while back...

That's a nice looking build. It's not a car I'm familiar with, it could pass as a Batmobile! I've used Tamiya clear over Zero paints base coat and got good results from it. I'm with you on the nightmare of fitting Fujimi bodies over their chassis, they do like a tight fit! I'm building a couple of Fujimi GT40s at the moment and the only way I can get the bodies to fit is to remove the rear panel frame and luggage bins before easing the bodies into place. The removed parts take away a lot of the stress and heave ho'ing involved in the task. Refitting is a simple enough task.

One of the most kitted planes out there, along with the Spitfire and Bf109. The choice is vast. If price is a decider, and you want a 1.48 Mustang shape without the current levels of detailing, go for an earlier kit. Just about all the kit companies have done a 1.48 kit at some point. Other scales too. Search on line, lowest price first. For me in the UK that brings up a fair selection at under £10. The US should be similar. The current Airfix 1.48 scale kit is very good indeed and quite a bit cheaper than the also excellent Tamiya offerings. As a rough guide, the newer the kit, the more detailed and accurate it is. The downside of that is the price rises accordingly. Good luck!

I think we have found the reason for the worldwide masking tape shortage! That roof panel on its own must have taken a roll or two. Congratulations on a unique and very well detailed model.

Beautiful work. The color really sets the stripes off to perfection.

That truck is putting up a fight for sure. Looking at the last pictures, it seems to me that the decal is maybe a bit too thin, and not having much mechanical strength to it. I've had that with the decals on Revells Hertz Mustang, the decals bind up and wrinkle all too easily. I got around that by paint spraying the gold stripes in the end but that won't work for your decals. What might work is to add a bit of strength to the decals with a clear coat over them before use. I usually do that with any old decals I use, as you never know how they are going to perform. The clear helps a lot in keeping the decals together, and it adds a bit of body to the things. You need to trim clear coated decals before soaking them. Good luck. Tony.

Very clean builds, spot on stance and superb photography. Harbs card is the perfect finishing touch. Tony.

The whitewalls on this MPC Corvette were done by thinning Tamiya white acrylic with Tamiya thinner, about 50/50. The mixed color needs to be like water. Using a small, pointed brush I touched the tip against the groove in the tire. The thinned paint runs around the groove like a slot racer. Let it dry, then do it again until you are happy with the look. Two coats got the Corvette done.

So very sad. I first started reading Pats articles way back in the seventies. He was one of the most dedicated and informed Hot Rod and Custom writers out there. He will be very much missed. Condolences to his wife and son. Tony.

That's a very clean looking build. Leaving the body in bare plastic is a good idea, A real buggy would have been gell coat fiberglass finished I think, so your method replicates real life practice.