Jantrix

Very cool subject. I'll play along. My model club meets at a local Hobby Town USA. And yes it is rather like having the AA meeting at Joe's Pub. But it's given me a lot of time to talk to customers in the aisles, which I have always enjoyed where ever I shopped for kits. I have found that 80% of fringe buyers are age 40+ that built as kids and have had some sort of life change (health issue, divorce, unemployed, retired, empty nester, etc.) that are now looking to fill the time with something that brought them happiness in the past. If you seem to be involved in the hobby, they usually have lots of questions. I enjoy this part. They usually remember the good kits and the garbage kits, so they might pass on a Revell kit if they built a Revel tri-five as a kid. So they are usually looking for opinions on the kits they are interested in. They aren't all that concerrned with a $30 price tag. They buy the cars they remember from the past in 1:1 or 1/24 form. They want dads old daily driver or their first ride. I haven't seen very many parents trying to get their kid involved. If they are, it isn't car models. If you're wondering if I'm that chatty guy from your hobby store, yeah, I probably am. ?

Very impressive.

Very impressive.

Very nice work. The oil rubber bronze is a very cool color isn't it? I've used it before.

Very interesting work. I'll be looking into the Doozy Modelworks.

Considering the wheelbase, I'm imagining something from the 30's.

For this 1/24 application I think the IFS from the Monogram '37's (where those wheels came from) would be a better option.

Nice job cutting apart the big glass bubble top. It looks much more realistic like this.

I wish I'd copied that story before SA shut down.

I see the bug survived the trip through the Mohave National Preserve. ???

Thanks Mike. This coming spring fencing is the big chore. We are fencing in the south pasture with woven wire and barbed wire so that the goats have the same grazing/browsing as the heifers. It will drastically change the farm, as the animals are in pens right now.

Hmm................ lets see. I've done a few. 1953 Chevy. 1965 Lincoln MPC Datsun 1950 Ford Rat Rod 1929 Model A AMT 1934 Ford

Back atacha Bernard. By the way, I finally tracked down the owner of the real vehicle via instagram. He was really surprised by my efforts. Real nice guy.

It really stinks when you have no inspiration for a build off until after it's over. I saw Disney's Onward last night. Gwenivere was practically a character in the film. It was very cool. That would have been a fun build.

Stop, I'm blushing. ? But seriously folks, I do love the design phase of these racers. The deep dive into parts kits and the parts drawers, the aftermarket parts searches. I remove parts from sprues and bag by location, inspecting each part for the need of replacement or repair. The masking tape mock up to check out ride height and planning for the alterations. The paint planning for every single part. It's a wonder I even get to sleep some nights. In 13 years of this CBP, I've only finished four racers. Granted, I haven't entered every year. All the rest never got past the pile of parts stage. I really hope to make it five, this year. I hope to take advantage of the lousy winter weather and get it at least 80% done before spring. See you in the pits.

Okay. I'm officially in. I'll be working with this Matador. I'm going to eliminate anything race car-ish. No scoops, flares, spoilers or wings. But I still want it to look bad ass. I'm going to stay away from weathering this time. Thinking a cool satin paint job. Power plant is the big question. I have lots of options. Ready to get busy.

Now you're just being mean. ?

Man, if this was easy, everyone would do it. Trust me when I say every manufacturer has some real stinkers from "back in the day". What we do as modelers, is make it work. If, put tab A into slot B, is more your speed, perhaps snap kits would be better for you. If you came here with that chip on your shoulder looking for commiseration, you thought wrong.

Super clean build. Good detailing. I look forward to seeing more from you.

Dude, you make the sickest (in a good way) hot rods. I miss seeing them at MAGs. Terrific work.

I'll follow along, this looks fun. I'm not a fan of beige, but it's your model. I really the like the engine choice as unlike a lot of modern engines, the LT5 is still visually interesting. Yeah an LS is a great engine but it's just so "meh" to look at. Keep it going.

Yeah, this one. It sure made an impression. I made sure to include key details that really jumped out at me. Thanks for the ataboys guys.

Thanks guys. The windows were done in the fall, we'd just gotten some early snow.

And this is everything I accomplished outside of the hobby room. First I repurposed an old delapidated deck into a shade shelter for the dogs. In the summer they have a pretty long stretch with no shade, so this was a good addition and use for that old deck. That's Gomez on the left and Tish on the right. I installed a gate into the south pasture. I built a goat pen and cattle stalls into the barm. I engineered a sliding door for the goats from scrap aluminum rails from work. My wife and I did a solid garden this year and installed new windows in the house. We added two galloway/angus heifers to the farm, raised and harvested three turkeys, six chickens and two geese.This place is a whole lot of work that really cuts into the hobby room time, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Like last year, I accomplished one model. And like I did last year, I'm going to include photos of everything I accomplished on the homestead, as you guys seemed to enjoy it. AMT Chevy 3100 pickup. Lots of modifications and scratch built parts. Inspired by a real vehicle. Engine is the 409 from the AMT '57 Chevy. I hope you like it.