papajohn97

Sweet! A shiny red super stock Dodge! I’d love to see that little old lady from the famous song terrorize Colorado Blvd. (or Grand Ave in Chicago) in this beast. While I applaud their decal subjects and efforts, I’m not a big fan of SMP decal graphic quality (I believe they use course raster graphics vs crisp sharp vector graphics like Slixx) but I must say these decals look great on this old Lindberg kit (which I keep building too!). I have a set of Grand Spaulding decals for a ‘65 AWB A/FX Dodge (the lavender and blue one from Fremont Racing) that I’m looking forward to using on the upcoming Moebius kit when it’s released. Another beautiful classic SS’er Mike! Keep ‘em coming!

Oooh….a gaggle of Lotus 49’s…be still my beating heart! These Ebbro kits take some skill and finesse to pull off with all four wheels touching ground and aligned and body panels and nose fully installed, all of which you’ve mastered. Paint, decals, engine detail, velocity stack screens, everything really well done. Converting the 49(C) kit to a 49 is a brilliant way to avoid the current $$$ kit cost. Looking forward to more pics after you receive and apply the Team Lotus and Gold Leaf decals. Bravo!

Complex two-tone paint schemes like this are a lot of work (and tape!), yours came out great! Also really like the carbs, linkage, fuel lines + filters. Very nice!

Amazing engine detailing, paint and overall build quality. This genre of auto subjects is beyond my time and area of interest but I’m always amazed at the incredible builds and appreciate the talent that you FandF model builders are graced with, fine scale modeling at its best! Paul Walker was killed on the road just outside of my last place of employment. Driving in/ out of work everyday, I remember seeing hundreds (the Mon after the Sat he was killed maybe several thousand?) of young guys in cars like these who showed up and parked near the scene of the terrible accident. It was sad but also touching to see all these “young tough street racing dudes” grieving together. I’m sure PW and all his fans would love your tribute.

Nice job Michele and the TS-60 Pearl green is one of my favorites, particularly for 60’s American cars. I also really liked the Johnny Rivers soundtrack model on turntable video you included, it made me briefly fantasize driving a 1:1 version of your Pearl green Comet down Sunset Blvd on a Sat night in the Summer of ‘64 to see Johnny perform at the Whiskey A-Go-Go. Unfortunately I was only 11 at that time and had to settle for building car models in my bedroom and getting glue and paint on my little kid desk while Johnny sang “Memphis” on my AM transistor radio. Thanks for posting!

What a beautiful classy tastefully executed late 50’s/ early 60’s custom. None of the issues that you encountered appear visible to me in your photos. The stock lines and trim on these cars really supported two-tone paint schemes but I think the one color really compliments and differentiates the overall styling from a typical stock ‘56 Ford. The peak look-see view of a small portion of the custom interior makes me want to see more of it. Over-all very cool car, thank you for posting!

Michael, so nice to see you and a few other guys here building and posting all these cool classic super stockers lately! These two Z-11 kit bashed Platt Brother cars are really well done, very realistic recreations and you nailed the period correct lowered rear end/ raised front end stance on both cars. I tried modeling Dave Strickland’s “Old Dependable” Z-11 using this old AMT kit a few years ago and really struggled with it. Revell’s recently tooled ‘62 Impala SS 409 hardtop is so much better a kit, I had fun doing a yellow Dyno Don car I posted recently. I wish Revell would release a new-tooled ‘63 Z-11 Impala with decals for these historic drag cars (or even better yet, a Z-33 “mystery motor” 427 Biscayne).

This one is absolutely sweet! Amazing how well this came out from this ancient tooled (I assume) Revell Double Car Kit (Bantam Bomber and Scarlett Screamer?) the replacement tires and metallized wheels and other metallic parts look great against that red exterior/ black interior. This reflects my favorite vintage for altered’s before they went a little nuts with the hiked up front ends and towering superchargers (although I like those too ?). This one is my favorite model car of the day, thank you for sacrificing an $$$$ kit and building and posting it for us to enjoy. Did I read on here somewhere that Atlantis has the molds for these Revell double drag car kits and has plans to re-issue them???

Wow! Fabulous execution and black over red really suits this classic Ford bubble-top. Fantastic engine bay detailing. The gold name emblems on front fenders and rear deck came out particularly nice, were these done with gold foil or were they masked and dry-brushed?

Ohhhh. Really like this one. Perfect stance and super neat overall job on build/ paint/ decals. I built and posted a Dyno Don yellow version of this Impala recently and found this Revell kit to be really well engineered and a joy to build. I’ve been building more than a few early sixties stockers over the last few years and wish I could add this one to my collection. Bravo!

Ohh, very pretty GT. Great job kit bashing with the Fairlane kit to pump up the detail. I particularly love the look of that gorgeous blue with the chrome wheels and thin whitewalls. Looks like one sitting on the showroom floor in 1964-1/2!

Really nice box art build! Impeccable paint and workmanship. My first car was a high mileage but clean turquoise & white ‘56 210 two-door sedan (is every “210” a “Del Rey”?). Bought it in 1972, a time when you could buy a nice tri-five for < $500. I picked this kit up at Michael’s last year with the aim to build a tribute to my first ride, hope I can do half as well as you’ve done on your build.

Altered Ego/ Scott8950/ M W Elky: Really loving all these AWB builds you guys are posting! These were the most interesting years of drag racing history IMO. The technology was advancing from weekend to weekend between ‘64 -‘66, NHRA be damned! I need to get to work and build something and join this posting party! Thanks for the inspiration guys!

Thanks guys for reviving an old A/FX build of mine from two years ago. I’ve been immersed in building planes, ships and tanks over these wet winter months and am ready for sunshine and spraying shiny lacquer paint again. This Mustang is one of around +25 1960’s super stock/ A/FX builds I’ve completed and am ready to build a few more. I’m really looking forward to that Moebius ‘65 AWB Dodge kit to hit the shelves and have several decal sheets ready to go. Altered Ego Jeff - I’ve had the same thoughts about the Round2 ‘66 fastback with the retooled body and was thinking maybe the Moebius A/FX SOHC ‘65 Comet kit (either Dyno Don or Arnie Beswick car) might be a suitable donor chassis for replacing the one-piece kit chassis in the Round2 kit? Both body and chassis would require a bunch of mods to fit together and to alter the front and rear wheel base but the Comet kit comes with a front suspension/chassis similar to the A/FX Mustang and no protruding shock towers within the engine bay. Wonder if someone here in this forum is already doing this?????

Very nice job Rich on one of Ebbro’s more difficult 1/20 F1 kits. I built this one in Fall ‘21 (posted on that British modeling site) and encountered the exact same issues that you ran into 1) poor fit of body cowling and engine cover (I replaced the molded-in pins with brass rods, kinda helped), 2) difficulties getting a clean bond joint between windscreen and cowling due to adhesive wicking between close fitting areas between both parts on the sides of the windscreens 3) funky exhaust extension angles because I pre-bonded the exhaust headers to the block per instructions (don’t!!!). I love this car so much I bought a second kit to do a do-over some day. I suspect a lot of the issues are due to Ebbro using a number of parts from the old tool Tamiya Lotus 25 with Ebbro new tooled Lotus 33 parts. The machined aluminum velocity stacks and exhaust extensions are my favorite parts of this kit, I wish Ebbro would market these parts separately for use on other classic 1/20 F1 models. I agree with Pierre regarding Jim Clark’s driving talents. Jimmy was one of my two childhood racing heros. Clark once said that the only driver he was afraid of (getting passed by) was Dan Gurney, my other childhood hero. Thanks for posting your beautiful golden age of F1 model builds!

Fabulous job Jason on this very rarely built and posted kit. This is the best one I’ve seen. I first saw the Ebbro DS19 kit on a trip to France a number of years ago that was about $40USD at the time, been kicking myself ever since for not buying and bringing it home. Your build is making me re-consider paying the current +$100 going price for one of these, look’s like an awesome kit.

Love love love this one Mike. I envy you for keeping and restoring a model from your childhood, for sentimental reasons even more than for building a model car collection. I wish I still had some of the models that my older brothers helped me build back in the 60’s, glue finger-prints and all! Something about a ‘64 super-stocker with front white-walls and white fender well headers that just exudes shoe-string low-buck blue-collar good old boy drag racing before big $$$ spoiled it all. Would love to browse through your magazine collection, must be awesome. Thanks for another wonderful BTC post!

I’ve read that these Gunze kits are not easy to assemble well (lots of flashy & rubber parts?). Your TR2 came out so nice now I want to find one of these kits to try. Beautiful job! My brother had a beater TR3 back in the 70’s, it was an absolute blast to drive (on over-inflated worn tires!).

This is among the best of the ‘41 Willys gasser builds I’ve seen on here. Paint, decals, BMF trim, every aspect so well done. I would love to steal this one from you and add it to my 60’s drag cars! Bravo Tony! Question on the wheels and other kit chromed parts: how did you tone the chrome down? Did you strip and metallize them? Spray them with Dullcote? Spray them with Tamiya Smoke? I’d like to use whatever method you used on this one the next time I use kit-supplied chrome parts, the wheels look so real.

Glad to hear your cataract surgery went well. I’m going on four years with my implants and the only minor issue has been normal scar tissue build-up after one to two years which resulted in a slight amount of fuzzy vision. My doc fixed this in each eye with a quick painless YAG laser shot, took less than a minute and no prep or pain. I’m approaching 70 and while my vision is wonderful the remainder of my body is aging as expected. This is encouraging me to not waste any time and to build the better kits in my stash sooner than later. Enjoy your new eyes!

What a fascinating creation Claude! This beautifully concept model cause the following thoughts for me: 1) if Bill Mitchell had commissioned his design crew to build him a lead sled to cruise the Dairy Queen’s of suburban Detroit in the evenings when he wasn’t out street racing his Mako Shark, this would be the car, 2) I love the open roof but my mind kept filling it in with a smoked glass roof - did you happen to consider this option when you were building this Riviera ? 3) This model made me flashback on a distant childhood memory, the “Fisher Body Craftsman Guild” car styling competitions when school age kids (mostly boys if I recall) were encouraged to submit a 1/12 scale clay model of a futuristic design for a crack at a GM scholarship to become an auto stylist. Anyone else remember those presentations at high school assemblies???? Another fantastic model Claude! You are one of the most artistic creative model builders posting on this forum. Bravo!

Very cool race car Gary, love all model subjects related to Briggs C. Hoping Revell releases a variation of their new-tool 1/24 of this car (or even better yet the lightweight coupe and a holy grail new-tooled Type D?). Also seems like the new 1/24 XKE kits are fertile ground for all kinds of AM resin parts?

Thank you Mike for building and posting yet another classic legendary SS’er, beautiful job as always and my favorite genre of drag cars. Also great job mounting those (I assume old) Fred Cady deck-alls! Amazing how well his decals hold up with age.

PS - just saw your “Class of 2022 Finally”, this finished ‘65 Ply along with your other builds are really nice! That Firebird is also very sweet. .Love your taste in auto subjects!

Nice job so far David on this “box art” Moebius ‘65 Ply. I particularly like how you’ve masked and painted the seat inserts slightly darker so that they appear like woven cloth inserts with the surrounding outer upholstery. Little things like that can really punch up the realism on a car model build. Like most othe builders here, I always appreciated detailed feedback on specific kits and your comments reflect my experiences with these Moebius Plymouths (which I happen to LOVE and have built four so far, I can’t wait for the upcoming Dodge releases!). While the axle/ wheel design on these kits are less than perfect, I think they are still much better than the old small diameter molded plastic boss axles that are on the AMT/Round 2 (former Lindberg) ‘64 Plymouth and Dodges. On the last few AMT/Round 2/ Lindberg kits I’ve built, I’ve just assumed that at least one of the plastic axles will eventually break and have resorted to drilling them out and replacing the plastic pin axles with 1/16” brass rod/ tubing which is pretty easy to do and makes for a much more robust finished model IMO. Looking forward to seeing this beautiful black max wedge sleeper come together.