Custom Mike

Casey, you're gone buddy, but you already know this, right? Incredible detail work, this is going to be one beautiful Dart when it's finished! Now onto my part, AMT's '50 Chevy Pickup. First up is replacing the plastic bed with one made of Basswood! I started out by cutting a piece of basswood out to match the kit piece, tabs and all... Then I cut the piece of plastic that goes at the tailgate end off the kit piece and mocked it up with the wooden floor... I decided to drill out the "rolled" edges of the bed sides while I was at it, looks much better than a flat piece of plastic, doesn't it? The bed floor mocked-up with the rest of the bed, so far, so good... Next, more Basswood was cut into strips for the top half of the bed, along with some straps from some c-channel plastic I got from somewhere years ago.

Here we go with the latest "quick" build for me, AMT's nicely done 1950 Chevy Pickup. This one is supposed to be a street machine, but it comes with a straight 6... So it's being shown here and on the Straight Six Community build, go check that one out for some really cool work on other 6-banger builds, you'll be impressed with 'em! http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59517 After gawking at the kit for a while, I decided I wanted to build the straight six, it's a really nicely done engine, and I've never built one either. I bought this one at a contest for $5 because it was a "bagged" kit, so no box pics. I got it last August with the intention of having it done for last year's contest in Fayetteville...yeah, sure that was gonna happen, right? I started out wanting simple, and went downhill from there, I may get it done in time for this years contest in November! Where do we start....by the way, simple went out the window real quick-like. Now, the plan is to load it up with details, which does not mean I'll be 100% accurate or better than the next guy's detailing. I just think this kit begs for some added stuff, and I'm gonna cram as much as I can into it for fun! I started with the bed, I decided that I didn't like the kit's plastic "wood" bed, and decided to make my own "real" wood bed, something I've never done, but always wanted to try! I started out by cutting a piece of basswood out to match the kit piece, tabs and all... Then I cut the piece of plastic that goes at the tailgate end off the kit piece and mocked it up with the wooden floor... I decided to drill out the "rolled" edges of the bed sides while I was at it, looks much better than a flat piece of plastic, doesn't it? The bed floor mocked-up with the rest of the bed, so far, so good... Next, more Basswood was cut into strips for the top half of the bed, along with some straps from some c-channel plastic I got from somewhere years ago.

So far I've only done one replica, for a friend of mine, but plan on replicating my '72 Charger and '80 Capri sometime soon. Here's mine, a '68 Plymouth Satellite, 318, vinyl top, added the side trim, and painted in a color that was as close of a match as I could get with a faded picture from 1974! Jay was extremely happy when he got his hands on this baby, he even shrunk himself and his son so they could get in the picture!

I'd love to join in Doc, but I've got too many going on at once as it is. But I'll sure watch! You mean like this Joe? One of the old Monogram "Metal Glow" kits, no swirls at all in this one, so I just polished it up and added the foil!

Nice opening shot Eric, the Gremlins on the road back in the day wish they looked this good!

Wow, I never expected this kind of response to a Matador, thanks a ton guys, now I've gotta go deflate my head a bit.... I rarely give up, I may set a build aside for a while, but I always come back and finish 'em off sooner or later!

Great color Alyn, I love using nail polishes just because of colors like this! Now shoot some more silver on this baby!

I've got a few for ya... Revell's 2004 Corvette LS-6 in a Ferrari Scaglietti... AMT's 1967 Impala SS427... And a couple of shots of Revell's 1967 Corvette 427...

Thanks guys, it is a different car for sure. The paint fought me, but I finally won, so much for a quick and easy build, huh?

AMT's 1975 Matador, built curbside. It was a glue-bomb I picked up for $22, and it went through 4 or 5 paint jobs before I ended up with this one. I added the ground effects with sheet styrene, made new tail lights from aluminum tubing and clear styrene rod, added the funky Pegasus 3-spokes and aluminum sleeves, and a custom license plate from Best Model Cars. It's not perfect, but, it's done, and I'm off to my '50 Chebby Pickemup for the Straight Six Community Build now, so enjoy the pics!

Alright guys, get back to work on your AMC's, I've got mine finished and it'll be over in Under Glass in a few. But I don't wanna be one of the only ones finished, so get back to the benches and finish 'em off!

All that's left now is cleaning out the panel lines, and getting a coat of wax on her, then I'll get some outside pics and put her up in the Under Glass section!

OK, she's done! The rims were epoxied in place, the interior and body are now one, and the chassis and body are glued together. Here's the last progress pics, the rims with their brake rotors in place, and a pic of the front and rear, along with two completed shots, enjoy!

My "bench" is an old computer armoire, I picked it up for about $150, It's now set up with lights, a removable photo booth area, and lots of space for storage! An overall shot... The removable photo booth... And the photo booth removed, giving me more work area...

I did a replica of a buddy's '68 Satellite recently, and had to add a vinyl top to it. Having never done it before, I searched out all the methods available, and finally settled on using masking tape. I laid down some styrene strips for the seams, then polished the area the top would be on with 4,000 grit sandpaper to make sure the tape would stick well over a long period of time. I bought a roll of 4 inch wide 3-M Blue Painter's Tape, because the texture is a nice match for a vinyl top, but Tamiya tape will do well also, the 3-M is just cheaper cost-wise. I laid down the tape, burnished it down along the seams and window trip, then trimmed the excess off. Then I sprayed it with some Dupli-Color White Primer, and added my foil. It came out really nicely, I'm surprised I haven't tried this before! Here's a link to the WIP here so you can see how I did it, the vinyl top work is on pages 1 and 3... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46717&st=0

I picked up a pair of these beauties yesterday. I'm not much of a NASCAR builder, but the price was right, and they'll make great sale/trade kits!

I've got 6 of AMT's awesome '71 Charger here, another 5 of their '66 Fairlane, and 3 of their '67 Impalas. I've got 3 Revell '32 Fords waiting their turn at the bench too. Funny, for someone who was never a fan of '32 Fords, once I built one, I was hooked!

OK, I'll jump in here...first pic is me and Jason Newsted of Metallica, man, I had some hair... Next, a normal pic of me, they're few and far between... And finally, a pic the way most people get to see me, totally insane and loving it!

Alberto, I'm in. You guys keep sucking me in with builds I'm already started on or planning, so why not this one too. I did one a few years back using Revell's horrible Uptown Charger kit, based on the Carolina Panthers. The one I'll do for this build will also be Panthers based, but this one should be a better kit, it's Tamiya's Lamborghini Countach, I picked it up on clearance at Michaels a while back. I had the idea when I got it to build it as a "Camborghini" in honor of the best QB we've ever had, Cam Newton! I already have a custom-made license plate for it, all I need to do now is finish off my Matador and I can get started! Here's some pics of the Panthers Charger, it came out looking great even though the kit is horrible!

Don, I had no problem with getting parts from him, I just hated the '68 Satellite hood, everything else was great. The parts arrived in less than two weeks, which is great for just about any resin caster out there!

I started doing this a few years back on side mirrors and exhaust systems, but I use a piece of 30 gauge wire, works fine for me!

I'm close Casey, still trying to settle on a set of rims and then I can say she's done. Bob, that Metropolitan should be one of the coolest ones ever made, I'm gonna enjoy watching that come together!

Mark, I've got to agree on the AMT Supra, I built one of the F&F ones years ago. It came out well enough, but the ride height could have been lowered a bit (My fault, I didn't lower it), the body doesn't sit down over the chassis well, the hood sticks up a bit, and the targa top doesn't fit well at all. The interior detail is sparse, the engine is so-so, but the decals were really nice! With a bit of massaging it could look really nice, but if you have the choice of either AMT or Tamiya, you'd be much happier with the Tamiya for sure!

Alberto, I build to my tastes, not for anyone else or a contest. Start out with box-stock, get the basics nailed down, then stretch out a bit. The tallest building can only stand on a solid foundation, and that what box-stock will give you, a good, solid foundation. Once you've got the skills built, then stretch out a bit. We all go beyond our skill levels at some point, that's when I box the model back up and grab another. Until I feel my skills have improved to the point where I can finish off the one I boxed up, I'll let it sit. I've got quite a few that have been boxed for well over 5 years, I'll finish 'em off when I feel I can do it without screwing the model up completely.

OK, we're nearing the finish line on the body, the foil work is all done, and all the windows are in place. No pics of the windshield yet, the glue is still drying, so these will have to do for now, enjoy!