Jantrix

This is low grit woodworking sandpaper, painted flat black and then distressed with a rag before the paint dried. My first try at something like this, but I think it turned out well. These are WIP shots of the dio-base for my Stephen King Cougar.

Hmm. Now that you mention it, I didn't take any head-on shots after it was done. Here is a WIP shot in primer to give you an idea of what I did. The headlights are just 4 rectangle headlights that were glued directly to the back of the screen. Which I then covered with a piece of sytrene from the radiator support to the grill, so you can't see how cheesy it is. It looks great tho. I'll take a head on shot soon.

Thanks for the kind words. I had a good time with this build. Theme builds are what I enjoy best. Right now I'm working on a Cannonball Run racer called the Captain Chaos Special. Check out the pics in my Photobucket link below, if you're interested.

Stephen King's "the Gunslinger" starts off- "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed." So I wondered what would the man in black be driving? Easy, a bad @$$ 429 powered Cougar. SK's works so often involve wicked cars that I couldn't resist designing my own. I was looking for a aggressive and predatory look to the car. Something you wouldn't want to see cruising around your neighborhood. I think I nailed it. This is the AMT 73 "Black Cat" Cougar kit. The grill has been ground out from behind and rebuilt with rod stock and sculptors active wire mesh. The intake was modified for dual carbs and a tall plenum to push the v-stacks dead even with the hood. The suspension was modified a bit for ride height and stance. Some parts box wheels/tires and bucket seats. The rear view mirrors are from the parts box, but drilled out and a disc of aluminum tape added for the mirror. The exhaust is from a Nascar kit but modified with aluminum and brass tubing. The color is Krylon semi-gloss black. The rear brake lights were backed with BMF so that they stand out against the black paint. This was entered in an online competition on another forum and won second place in the "Open" catagory. I'm pretty pleased with that. I hope you like it. I'm currently building a spooky dio-base for the car. I'll post it up when it's finished. There are more finished pics here- http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Jantrix/ And my WIP's here- http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Jant...0King%20Cougar/

Pardon me while I butt my big nose in here and suggest a peaceful solution? How about we can the whole notion of the "challenge" and we just call it a "community build project- subject- Lowriders"? No trash talk no competition, no voting just everyone learning from everyone. The custom auto has evolved with leaps and bounds since the first guy with a torch and a wrench figured his Model T would look better without those pesky fenders. What I considered cool at age 17 my Dad hated with a purple passion. Now that I'm near 40, I can see clearer what he hated so much. But you sure couldn't convince me then. As for evilone's IM speak, if he would tone it down a bit for the comfort of the rest of us, I'm sure we'd appreciate it. If he doesn't I'm free to ignore his posts. Seems simple to me. Compromise is the key folks. I'm a father of teenagers and everytime I've put my foot down and dander up on my boys, we got further from any sort of peace. What do you say folks? Shall we meet in the middle and build some in-the-weeds models, and have a good time discussing it or are we gonna continue with the drama? Nuff said.

If you are just needing a flat piece, try using plastic shim stock. It's used by machinists and engineers and it comes in a wide variety of colors (each color designating a size) and some are transparent. This was done with it. I have also seen transparent green and yellow. I've no idea where you would go for this, I pulled mine from the trash at work. Good luck.

Good idea. Thanks, I was needing this info for a diorama base for my latest build.

Do you mean to insert a brass rod into a styrene tube to get good bends without kinks at the bend? I've started using electrical wire for the same use recently.

As it's a hood your casting, I'd sand the edges down to the base plastic, so that the length/width is not altered by the primer.

Okay just to throw this up before a rat-rod "purist" gets on a soapbox, rat rods are generally thought of as "low-buck" hot rods, so a hemi might be out of place in that idea. Having said that, I'll further add, WHO BLOODY CARES, BUILD IT! A 392 hemi would be more "period" than a 426, but by all means if you wanna do it, than get crackin and if someone busts yer chops about it, just let him know that the hemi cost less than $12, so it IS low-buck.

I've heard they are a nice build up, but are just a curbside. It has an interior but no engine and the chassis is very basic. This is third hand info and I could be wrong. Good luck with it tho.

I'm using JASC Paint Shop Pro 7. I realize it's probably a dated program but I'm not making animations here, I just want something shrunk, while maintaining clarity. Can someone explain to me (in the simplest terms possible) how to resize a licence plate from the Acme License plate maker, to a correct level from the orininal (an 80% reduction) and maintain clarity. I've used the resize feature and then used the sharpen function. However it still looks bad on the screen and worse when printed. I've seen people photo-reduce magazines and posters and whatnot so I know this can be done. I'm just not good enough with these computers yet. Can anyone help me? Also do the settings for the printer need to be changed?

I think Hot Wheels is more-or-less responsible for my love of custom cars. I didn't have hot rods or race cars around me to inspire as a kid, but I sure had gobs of Hot Wheels. My Dad would take us out to car shows and I'd walk around pointing to the ones I had Hot Wheels of. When I got into models as a teen, I stopped collecting HW because I no longer played with them as I had a kid, but I did then as I sure do now, always stop by the HW rack in any store and just check out the awesome designs. They still inspire to this day. I've always thought of HW's as being built by guys who REALLY love cars and designing toys of them, and getting to make money doing it is just about the coolest thing in the world.

Your friend does great work. I have a saltie plan in the works also, I'd really love to a brief expanation of how he did the aluminum discs. His photos tell a lot, but I've a few questions. Is it glued to the styrene rim? Is is burnished and shaped by pressing against the wood and then filed down against sandpaper to a perfect round? Please! More info!

I put one in a gallon ziplock and filled it half full of water and froze the whole build in a solid block of ice. The expansion of the water during the freeze did great on most parts. However the builder used so much glue on the engine block, that the glue was stronger than the styrene. So you can imagine what happened when the water in the engine block expanded. Afterward I just set the block in my wifes pasta strainer and set the block outside in the sun.

That's a great looking build and the color is perfect! The foil work looks excellent. I've also built this one. It's a great kit. The graphics are kit supplied decals and look fantastic. My only gripe with the kit is that the rear of the body, is so tight that it pulls the chassis further into the body and it's a pain in the neck. I used a piece of cardboard folded accordian style in the trunk area, to maintain the correct fit. I won't step on your post with pics of mine, but here are a few URL's if your interested. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Jantrix/000_0165.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Jantrix/000_0092.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Jantrix/000_0093.jpg

Yeesh! Challenges he says! Man, it's ###### tough when you have orange peel BEFORE you paint. I grew up in a Studebaker family. Everyone on my Dad's side had one. I was the only kid in my graduating class of 1986 that drove a '65 Stude Commander Wagonaire to school everyday. Unfortunately the Studes are all gone now, my Dad and Uncle sold them off years ago. But I know my Dad would really dig more Studebaker models. The '53 and the Avanti are great but a 1959 Silver Hawk would put my Dad in tears. I know he'd like to build a decent version of this as well.

I think it's options. The kits I looked for as a kid, and even today are the 2n1's and 3n1's. Stock, custom or drag! That way the subject appeals to nearly all modellers as long as they like that particular car. Fit, detail, crisp molding are great but that's not what is going to sell models, it's an interesting subject that can be built in different ways.

Well that certainly is an eye-searing paint job! My glasses have the auto-tint on them and the room suddenly got darker! Althought the paint combo doesn't grab me, the clean workmanship is undeniable. You do fine work sir.

Ah, Englishmen everywhere are crying in their afternnon tea. I love it! Nice to see something COMPLETELY different.

ACK! Geez warn a guy before ya go and do something like that. Sheesh.

The models look great but all the pics have made me wonder - it's not really normal for a grown man to be playing with dolls? Makes me wonder if there isn't a dollhouse to go with the garage.

Um...............well.......although I have worked on several, I'm coming up witha big fat goose egg for 2007. I do have one VERY close though, and it's possible to finish it before 2008, so finger crossed. However I would like to send a big old to the thread originator who made me realize this this shameful fact.

I saw a set of templates in the model section of WalMart near the HoK paints (bought em). I also saw a Model Master set in my local Michaels craft store.

Whoa. Um...........yeah about about covers it. Whoa.