Raul_Perez

That is really nice!! I really like the taxi cab theme!! Keep up the good work.

That settles it!! I'm going to build my Willys pickup next!! Great builds!! Thanks for the inspiration!!

Good job, Jerry!!! Keep up the good work!!

While I'm not very big on building resin kits, I must admit that the resin from Scale Modeling by Chris is excellent stuff. No cleanup or pinholes to deal with and the warpage was pretty minimal. In the kit, the resin body and interior pan were made from altered versions of the AMT 55 Nomad parts. The chassis, suspension, engine and drivetrain kit parts are resin casts from the recent Model King release of the old AMT Chevy II Rat Packer kit. Since the chassis floor pan was much smaller in length and width than the Nomad body, I had to spend a bit of time building filler panels to make the model suit my needs. I also added support rods from the firewall down to the front of the chassis that helped stiffen up the front end. I added the machined Moon tank, parachute pack and cabling, machined tachometer, hood pin kit, machined blower pulleys and blower belt. I didn't like the way the front suspension sat with the kit parts, so I built a new axle and leaf spring assembly from brass stock. All of the decals were from the kit. They were easy to apply, very thin with great color and registration. One coat of clear and a light color sanding covered the edges of the decals completely. I used an opaque white marker for the "A/FX" markings on the side windows and the time stamp in the windshield. It looks pretty good sitting next to my Daddy Warbucks A/FX Falcon...

Very nice!!! I just bought 2 more of the Stone, Woods, Cook Willys kits for $10 each. They are such great kits!!

I know what you mean!!! I've already built a similar car using an AMT 49 Ford coupe. Same engine, interior, wheels... The engine is way too cool to build and the interior fits well into many small coupes.

OK, I think that I figured out how to insert pictures that you don't have to click on to see the full sized image... So, here are a couple more pics of the engine detail. I finally painted the Cobra logo on the intake manifold to match the body color (Plum Crazy) and finished a few other small details that I needed to get to... Here you can see the idler arm that I added to the steering linkage. It's mounted to the frame, just below the red starter cable in the picture. This is the only part that Revell didn't include in the kit that they probably should have, since they did add the pitman arm... Once I finish the interior details I'll add those pics as well...(if this works right...)

Looks GREAT!! Now, how do you get the pics full size??? Everytime I post pics they show up as thumbnail sized images that you have to click on to see full sized... Thanks, Raul

Nice job!! That has got to be one of Revell's best kits!! They look great even box-stock with a few mods!!

GREAT WORK!!! I can't wait to see the finished model!!

Nice job!!! Very well done! Now that I'm retired from bodywork, I don't cringe when I see something like this!! Keep up the good work!!

John, I really like the styling, especially the springer front-end!! The seat springs are a nice touch. Can't wait to see the finished model!!

After looking at these pics you'll quickly realize that I didn't build this one "old-school" style. Here are a few pictures of the Revell 49 Merc that I'm building in a Semi-Pro-Touring theme. Most of the "extra" parts are from an AMT 1997 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra: Engine, tranny, headers, upper suspension cross-bar, radiator fan and overflow bottle assembly, relocated battery, full interior, mirrors and wheels. I'd have to call this one only "semi-Pro-Touring" because I didn't install the suspension from the SVT Cobra. The stock stuff just fit too well as it was to mess with it. The master brake cylinder is from the Revell 32 Ford 3 window coupe. The tires came out of the parts box. The body mods are pretty simple: front roll pan from the AMT 49 Merc, filled bumper mounting holes front & rear and a mild reshaping of the rear pan under the taillights. When I get time this weekend I'll polish the Testor's lacquer Plum Crazy paint, add the BMF, windows, taillight lenses... I'm pretty sure that I'm going to go with the Buick grill, but I really like the Pontiac one as well. I'll also try to use a bit better lighting for photographing the finished model.

Smooooooooooooooooooooooooooth!!! I like it!!

I completely understand not wanting to sell that one. I have a couple of models in my collection that I put just as much work into, and could not ever get back in $$$ the time and energy that went into making them. One in particular is the 57 Chevy Pro-Touring pickup that I built for the '07 Santa Clara NNL. It's the one I currently use as my avatar. 6 different kits and several hours went into building it. Then there are the others that I purposely build to sell in order to support my styrene habit. I am curious, what was your reserve for the '34? Raul

Jim, Great work and thanks for sharing the pics!! As I mentioned earlier in this post, I also want to do a salt flat version after I finish the Pro-Touring version that I'm currently working on. As I'm sure you've seen, this is a great kit with a lot of potential to do all kinds of versions...maybe even a Pro-Street one with monster tubs and tires to match...hmmmm...

John, Great looking model!! I remember seeing this one for sale on eBay several months ago, but I don't remember if anyone hit your reserve price. Did you ever sell it?

The best website I've seen for stock and custom car pictures is www.carnut.com They have an index that breaks the pictures down by make and year. Once you make that selection, then they're listed by model and special features. If you can't find a picture of a particular year or model there, then it probably isn't available... Good luck, Raul

That is way too cool!! The Potvin blower is a great touch!! You don't see it used very often. I'm almost finished with my first iteration of the Revell 49 Merc. It's done in a Pro-Touring theme with a late-model Cobra SVT engine, tranny, wheels, mirrors and the full interior, including the dash and center console. The body mods are pretty minimal, mostly removal of the bumpers and addition of a roll pan in the front from the AMT Merc. I'll post some pictures when it's done. It'll be interesting to see how it's received, since almost all of the ones on the board have been done in an "old-school" theme. I'm planning on my next 49 Merc also being a salt flat racer. I still haven't decided how to deal with the large grill opening, but I do like the way that you did yours. The third, and probably last one will be done it a Pro-Street theme. Anyway, keep up the good work!! Your Frankenstein truck was GREAT!!

Which version of the 409 did you build? I like the look of the Z-11 engine the best...

Great build of a great kit!! I like the look of the car without the skirts, especially with the Torque Thrust wheels...

Sign me up for at least 3 of them...just to get started... Oh...thanks for the great pics, Gregg!!!

Agreed!! I bought two more of the Stone, Woods & Cook Willys yesterday at a swap meet just for the parts!! At $10 each, I couldn't pass them up... If all kits were at least as good as the new Revell Willys or Merc we could probably get rid of the "Rants and Raves" board...

For me, I never built a Tamiya kit, (except for their military figures), that didn't go together well and look good when it was finished, but then I may have skipped over building a few that others have mentioned. With that in mind, I never shy away from buying and building one of their kits if I’m interested in the subject. While I do appreciate all of the custom options and goodies available in the old AMT kits, I either find myself bashing them together with a combination of other brands, photo-etched parts and such to get a finished product that I want to keep because of their poor engineering, molding and finish quality. While this is not a bad thing, in the end I spend more $$ making one of their subjects look as good as a Tamiya kit built straight from the box. The only time I’ve built and kept an AMT kit with just what came in the box was when I would use some of the older, pre-1960 model cars for derelict dioramas. I have been reasonably-to-thoroughly impressed with the newer offerings from Revell, namely the new Willys kits, the 3 versions of the ’32 Ford, the ’56 Chevys and the ’49 Merc. The level of detail and fit is great. The “assemble-ability†can only be described as “shake and bakeâ€. Open the box, put in the glue and paint, close the lid and shake, open the box and smile!! Add some aftermarket detail and smile more!! I do like what Tamiya is doing with the photo-etch upgrade options that are now available for many of their kits. By making this an option, they keep the initial cost of a pretty nice model down to a reasonable level that most modelers can afford, much like the automobile manufacturers do with the 1:1 cars. If you want the extra goodies, just open your wallet a little wider. I also agree with many of the other guys on the issue of “subject matterâ€. If it’s not something I’m interested in, I won’t buy it no matter how well it’s engineered or how many different ways you can build it. Which brings me to the question “who at AMT thought that the general public wanted a model of the International Scout II?†It must have been the same guy that thought it was a good idea to reissue it…