Misha

What a neat ride Pat and an inventive assortment of parts! Followed your build with great interest as I’m working on a tall T coupe on the fenders and chassis of the Ala Kart v2 with the V8-60 from the midget kit. Wishing you a happy New Year, cheers Misha

Always enjoy your amazing work Pat! Your dioramas and settings are remarkable for bringing the scenes to life. The fleet of engines are unique and your transformation of the transparent trailer into an engine hauler and display platform was one of the more interesting WIPs. Thanks for your work! Cheers and best wishes for the New Year, Misha

Lovely work on all of them Bernard! I enjoyed following along on all of your builds through the WIP threads, always a favourite way to join in on a build. Cheers and wishing you & yours the best in the new year, Misha

I really like your concept Ray, of turning it into a curbside/slammer with a kit that was so-so; I have a few of them. By providing a partial engine underneath a shut hood revitalizes many of the odd ball curbsides I have. Great looking build. Cheers Misha

The sunken antenna passing thru the horizontal fin is very kool, great ? look. Be following your build Gary. Cheers Misha

That’s great info, thanks for the detailed description. I really favour that look and would like to try it out. Take care and cheers, Misha

Good looking rod Bernard, captures the look perfectly. The quilted spare, steering cover and running boards really do set it off as a typical show rod of the time. Curious about your source for the pattern, as the closest Evergreen sheets I’m familiar with are the sharp edged tile surfaces which don’t have the quilted, pillowy look of yours. Cheers Misha

? thanx Tom, that’s the word I was searching for, consider me un-stumped now. Thanks for looking, Cheers Misha

Great progress Tom, always enjoy seeing another shoebox come to life! Cheers Misha

Thanks everyone for the good & informative comments! That’s not a problem at all John, it makes the threads much more informative. I especially enjoyed seeing your interior colour combo and use of the P/E, great work. The final two tone is very striking. I checked this morning the fit of the rear bumper and the fender and it doesn’t look as extreme as hours. We are both using the same recent issue of this 20 year old kit. Wonder how wide spread (pardon the pun) this problem may be? I’d encourage you to add this version to your collection, it’s an enjoyable build overall. It looks like I’ll have three builds for this year, with two of them being curbsides. The second one is the old Monogram Scarab racer from the early sixties. Thanks Ray and Kurt for following along. I’m missing not being down there with the Sunshine, up here it remains warm wet and overcast right through the holidays. The story goes that Fred, a Korea vet, bought the heavily optioned Belair brand new and now fourteen years later he decided to spruce up his ride with new paint, wheels and to make it more unique, add a vinyl roof! So that is how it originated. The model will be presented as it was in 1971. I air brushed the Vallejo shades of steel and aluminum onto the exhaust pipes and mufflers followed by an application of Tamiya weathering pastels and X23 Clear Blue for the heat marks. Having removed the masking, the shocks and front suspension will receive additional paint details. To replace the kit wheels I decided on the stock Chevy wheels from the R/M 67 Vette coupe and further detailed them with aluminium tone on the steel portion of the wheel and hitting the dustcaps with the Clear Blue.I air brushed the Vallejo shades of steel and aluminum onto the exhaust pipes and mufflers followed by an application of Tamiya weathering pastels and X23 Clear Blue for the heat marks. Having removed the masking, the shocks and front suspension will receive additional paint details. To replace the kit wheels I decided on the stock Chevy wheels from the R/M 67 Vette coupe and further detailed them with aluminium tone on the steel portion of the wheel and hitting the dustcaps with the Clear Blue. Thanks again for following and checking the updates. Looking forward to your replies... Cheers Misha

Having stalled on my current WIPs of the Tall T Coupe for the BOYD build, and the somewhat current build thread of the Corvair exhibition car, I decided to start anew with the Revell 57 Belair snap kit. Having read on the forum that the body had very accurate proportions was a major factor for choosing this snapper. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of detail such as the separate interior door panels and the in the one piece chassis. The one major complaint throughout the early massaging of the body has been a misalignment of the dies in the molding of the driver side of the body. Perhaps it was just my example, yet the work required on the driver’s side was extensive to achieve a smooth transition to the body panels. I haven’t been able to build a kit SOB for many decades now, and this has proved to be the case again; so much for the idea of a straight forward cub-side build! With the wide expanse of the two door hardtop interior it was difficult to ignore the detail that was missing. Following the great examples of Steven G.’s work, I detailed the interior roof by adding the extensive chrome trim around the side window trim to provide the prototypical window moldings into which the trimmed kit glass will fit. I then added the headliner bows. Upon considering what the final colour combination would be I settled upon a solid, deeper red for the exterior with a black vinyl roof, a seldom seen addition to a 57 Chev. Following the forum discussion on vinyl roof execution I laid down two strips of Evergreen strips following chartpack guides and sanded the sharp edges off the interior side of the strips to represent the folded trim edges of the centre vinyl portion. While subtle it does offer a much better representation of the prototype. The body was further massaged in preparation for the initial grey primer to cover the black and red plastic of the interior. The chassis received a base coat of Tamiya semi gloss black. After wet sanding the body with 4,000 grit and correcting some of the inaccuracies with Valejo plastic putty the body was ready to receive the Tamiya red primer undercoat. This revealed the remaining areas requiring further attention, especially the front fender eyebrows. Before laying another primer layer I masked the side spear with Tamiya tape to preserve the detail for the metallic finish. Happy with the progress I masked the roof in preparation for the body colour finish. With two coats of TS 8 Italian Red the body was ready, waiting for the vinyl roof and chrome to be applied. While the paint finished drying I moved on to the interior and chassis painting. Once primed the interior received a coat of Vallejo Red with the instrument panel and upper door edges receiving the body colour. The contrasting colour will be black. The chassis was primed in semi gloss black and the certain details have been picked out with Vallejo metallic applied by brush. The next step was to mask the chassis with Silly Putty for the metallic finish to be airbrushed. This has been a interesting build as I have moved along at a brisk pace without too much extras being added to the basic kit. A real plus is the quality designed into the kit. The molding is sharp, there is excellent detail provided and fit is very good; overall a big improvement in recent snap kits. Cheers Misha

Congrats Miroslav on constructing such a great replica! Couple of years ago the local track had an open house with this 1:1 rendition. Cheers Misha

Thanks for the correction on the roof, I see the error of my ways.... Cheers Misha

The 68 Petty RR was quite a creation! The vinyl roof helped camouflage the alterations, yet it did lead to it’s own trouble when it began peeling off...

Very nicely done Roman. The paint scheme works well in giving the Corvair a more contemporary look. Also good to see the spare tire placement next to the engine, a detail often overlooked on these models. Congrats on your build, cheers Misha

Thank you Matthias for the information, it helps to know the background to fully appreciate the photos. Cheers Misha

Open house at our local track in the Cowichan Valley from 2018.

I’ll chime in to say Curt’s wheels are top notch. Picked up a couple of different sizes at the DSC in Phoenix from him, still trying to drcide which build to use them on. John “Nacho Z” your Dragula looks great with them. Cheers Misha

That colour combo is a stunner! Back in late fifties suburbia there was a 55 in those factory colours, boy did it get my attention! Thanks for showing your magnificent build(s) Randy, great reminisces for me. Cheers Misha PS Thanx also as I know now which colours to order ?

I heartily agree with Rusty above, having the wiring have the right look goes a long way in offering an accurate rendering. It often is a deciding factor between amazing scale engine bays. Great job John, congrats on your build! Cheers Misha

Great find Kurt! Always had a soft spot for Mercedes, have a 300 roadster in the stash, green plastic, a bit of damage with the windshield, aside from the body the rest resembles a friction toy! Plan on a tonneau equipped track version. Would the rims from the AMT 300 SL, Rudge style work? Cheers to you and yours, Misha

That’s a great looking Cuda Michael.I followed your WIP thread with interest with the changes and details you added. Love the colour. Cheers Misha

Your wiring and engine detailing is coming along very nicely! Cheers Misha

Great weathering detail on the engine Mike! Also like the Rudge style steel wheels rather than the laces. Any car that can wear a number is a thoroughbred, which your build of this classic promises to be. Cheers Misha

Love the coil spring perch on the front! Cheers Misha