Custom Mike

Now this will be different! A monster '57 Chevy has never entered my sick little mind, I'm gonna enjoy this one Nick!

Waiting patiently as directed, bring on the eye candy!

Casey, if you need another one of those tires, I may have ;em for ya! I'll dig through my tire boxes to make sure...

Absolutely beautiful work so far Steve, it looks great as it sits! And the colors you want to use on it sound perfect, I'll definitely be watching!

Beautiful color Gary, what is it? I like the rubber seal on the windshield trim, that's a nice touch!

Every update makes this build that much cooler. The wood on the bed sides is a great touch, I love seeing an over the top style build like this once in a while!

Great work so far Jared, I wish i could have used the SSR rims on mine, but since I didn't plan ahead, they wouldn't fit the suspension that comes with the kit. Should be a great color on this one too, keep it going!

Alyn, that may explain why I couldn't find any reference pics with the master cylinder on the firewall, now to see if I can get it under the cab somewhere.... Mike, I tried getting the tie rod installed in front of the axle, but the drag link wouldn't quite meet the tie rod, and the tie rod itself was buried in the axle's I-beam. I'll tinker with it some and see if I can't stretch a few pieces out to make it fit, it really looks strange without some way of steering! I also just noticed I don't have any shocks up front, gotta find a pair because they weren't in the bag I bought the kit in apparently!

Sean, that Fury is just beautiful, the Regal El Camino is too cool, the Caddy is just unreal, and the Hudson Ragtop looks like a real car, They all look stunning, give yourself a pat on the back!

Just too cool Chuck, the Sublime Green really makes the primered body stand out!

Alyn, you sure you don't want some fabric over those bows? It really would set it off....nudge nudge!

John, that dash is simply a work of art! I envy your painting skills, you have mastered the art of the fade!

Richard, John, Kirk, thanks for the compliments, they are appreciated. Kirk, drop me a PM when there's a contest coming up in SC, I missed the Sumter contest the last few years because they never notify me when it's happening! It's time to post more pics! I have the bed and all four wheels in place, so we're nearing the finish line. I did discover a few things tonight though. I got both fender wells in place, and mocked up the cab on the chassis...man, it looks great...but there's a slight problem. Now I know why there's no master cylinder in this kit...there's no room for it, especially if you want to add brake lines! So my parts box master cylinder will be glued to the firewall, but no lines connecting to anything, unless someone has a way to make me even smaller. I also discovered that when I modified the front axle, I eliminated the possibility of using the tie rod, it's got nowhere to go now with the lowered axle, unless I cut a groove in the oil pan, which ain't happening! So all my grand plans for the brake lines are dead and gone, but it still will look cool, just forget I ever planned on doing them! I've got to do a bit of touch-up on the hole I drilled in the tailgate, there's nothing but primer in that hole! Thank God for pictures, otherwise I wouldn't have spotted that!

Todd, I had planned on the 327 out of the Revell '64 Impala, but once I saw how nice this engine was, I had to build it. Alyn, if you can find the keys for this baby, it's yours!

This should be a cool one Bruce! Are you gonna detail it up, or just make it look really good?

Thanks guys, it's nearing completeion now, so I'm being careful as I can be, this is where stuff always goes wrong! OK, here's where it gets put up on some wheels. Now after all that voting and picking and whatnot, it didn't matter, neither the first or second place rims and tires would fit, they were too freaking wide. So onto plan B, a set of five spokes that would fit! I found a set, I don't have a clue what they're from, but they look good, so they win! Here's the pics of the mods to get the Pegasus disc brakes to fit, and make the rims fit the hubs from the kit. I started by sanding down the inside of the disc brakes so the kit hubs would fit, then drilled a hole all the way through them, since they'll be mounted backwards! Once the kit hub was in place, it was glued down, then sanded until it met the edge of the disc brake, this was to make sure the rims don't stick out too far. Once it was all sanded and test fit to death, the disc were sprayed with Metalizer Aluminum Plate and buffed out, then glued to the rims. A small piece of 26 gauge wire was also added to each caliper to attach to the flexible portion of the brake lines. Yes, I know the rears have no flexible line at the calipers, but I haven't figured out how to do the hard lines all the way yet, so sue me! And a shot from the front side, the discs fill these rims completely! And the chassis mocked up with all four rims to make sure it sits nice and level! And the final pics for the night, a couple of mock-ups with the rims on... One side of the rear brakes is in place and connected to it's brake caliper! And the passenger side wheel well is in place, and the wiring from the firewall has been run down to the quasi-voltage regulator at the bottom. that's all for tonight, see ya tomorrow!

Offended? Nah! Laughing my butt off? YUP!!!!

Beautiful work Andy, a nice clean job!

Here's the best reference pic I could find when I did mine, it should help.

I found pictures of it both ways (Stopping at the base of the back window and stopping a few inches off of the back window) on the '68 Satellites and GTX's when I was researching for my '68 Satellite build. At least I had a pic of the 1:1 car I was replicating, because I was very confused by what I was finding, Ma Mopar wasn't too consistent back then it seems!

I did a simple mini-tub on a '69 Talledega a while back, I just cut the rear wheel well down the middle, then cut it lose and moved it in to the edge of the frame rail. Onceit was glued down in it's new location, I filled in the gap, cleaned it up a bit and painted it. There should be enough room between the inside edge of the wheel well and frame to make for a few extra scale inches without major modification. I used Aoshima rims, and they fit fine with this minor modification!

That dash looks great Troy! If you've gone this far with something inside the car, the rest should look incredible!

Chuck, I'd take one of them as they are now, I could add the bolt-head detail myself, they look great! The Flathead Six looks like a great casting, I've never seen one of those in a real car, but I've led a sheltered life...I was only allowed to look at V-8's as a child! LOL

Go Chuck go! Any progress on getting that finned valve cover cast, I know a couple of people who would sure love one! OK, I forgot about this one, so slap me around a bit. I got the engine done for the '50 Chevy, so I'll post the results finally. The rest isn't done yet, but hopefully soon it'll get it's rims and be finished off! I painted the engine with some Valspar Bright Gold, got out my distributor from Scale Repro's Plus, and hacked up a four barrel intake so I could use it on this one (I couldn't get the Paxton blower that Sean Stacy made for me to work, the pully setup was killing me!). Valve cover was de-chromed and painted with some Metalizer Aluminum, plug wires and boots in place, fuel line ran, and a wire from the starter that will go to a quasi-voltage regulator on the firewall, along with the positive battery cable. Fuel line up to the carb, carb was painted with Metalizer Brass, oil filter was installed along with the fan/pulley assembly I still need to paint a section of the fuel line from the frame Black to simulate a piece of rubber line, I always forget that part! And a completed shot with the radiator in place. The radiator hoses are made from 18 gauge wire, and the olil filter was re-glued to straighten it out, it had a bit of a sag in this picture. That's it for my first Straight Six, I love the way it came out so much I want to build another one of these kits soon!

You've only been building for a year? Don't take this the wrong way, but I hate you! My first year builds (Back in the Stone Age when you had to keep dinosaurs from stomping on your kits) were true glue-bombs, yours look incredible! Great work, I can't wait to see what your second year builds look like!