papajohn97

Thanks everyone for the compliments, so nice to share builds here and not just add them to the big plastic storage box in the top of my side of the bedroom closet to be forgotten! The injector velocity stacks and front leaf springs are from speedcityresin.com. The distributor, plug wires and looms are from Detail Master. The fuel lines are made from 0.5 mm solder and the fuel pump and fuel log junction is scratch built from styrene rod and sheet. I used a round piece of photo etch from my spares box for the front bulkhead detail on the fuel pump, this piece probably coming from an Eduard 1/32 aircraft PE set. I did replace the kit supplied straight axle with a scratch-built one I made from styrene rod that allowed me to lower the front of the car. I also had to incorporate scratch-built engine mount brackets from .04” sheet styrene onto the kit supplied tubular front clip to adjust the engine position relative to the front axle to support the final stance.

Gorgeous meticulous super-clean build Harry! Hard to believe this one is only your fifth effort, you obviously pick up skills and learn fast! I think the ability to research techniques and learn from each other over the web has made us all much better builders than we were as kids. I love the engine detail you achieveed on this fuelie. I built the Revell ‘57 Chev black window a few years ago and the 283 FI engine compartment didn’t come anywhere near as nice as yours. Your metalixing on the mechanicals is A+. And that interior is so realistic and sweet! I’ve been airbrushing cars/ planes/ ships for years but I still find “shiny” to be the most challenging and still use Tamiya Lacquer color and TS-13 Clear coat rattle cans for most of my car builds. Thanks for posting! Build & post more please!

Excellent clean stunning build Tony! (of what must be a relatively rare kit?) Is this 1/32? If so, I would love to have one this nice in the form of a Scalectrix or Revell slot car to race against my Chaparral! That spare tire on the dash of the actual 1:1 must have been a bear to extract if it was ever needed!

Fixed the decals on the left side to match the actual car (reversed the “Ford” and “Stark-Hickey”) and added ‘427’ emblems to front fender (from Revell ‘64 Ford Thunderbolt kit, love it when they give you extra decals!).

This was built from the less-than-stellar old AMT 1/25 Mustang “Funny Car” kit containing parts that don’t quite look like the actual Brannan car shown on the box: I attempted to build a Hilborn injected “match racer” version of this car (not complying with A/FX rules) and so I took a lots of liberties, particularly with the front end (solid axle with leaf springs) and omission of the radiator and belts (kind of an early pre-flipper funny car build). My goal was to try to approximate the stance shown on the box photo which I really liked. I thought about replacing the toy-like cammer SOHC kit engine with one of the new tooled engines out of the excellent Moebius ‘65 Comet A/FX kits but decided to try to make the best of it with the kit engine. The decal graphics supplied with the kit were quite inaccurate so Joe Curtis at Fremont Racing Specialties came to my rescue and made a fabulous set of replacements for me. Joe is incredibly talented and a great guy! This is not one of my better efforts, lots of errors and screw-ups, particularly on the paint and windows, but I’ve been bogged down for a few months on this and decided to wrap it up and move on. I didn’t list all the details above on changes/additions I did on this kit but shoot me any questions you might have and I’ll be happy to supply more details.Thanks for looking! John

Great job Curt! I love the subject. Your home-made decals are fabulous, wish I could buy a set to copy your build (highest form of complement, right?). There’s is an excellent 1:1 reproduction of this car at the NHRA museum in Pomona. CA which I happened to take a photo of during a visit last month:

Hey Mike, this kit is on my wish list so much thanks to you for posting your build. Engine looks great so far. I love these early to mid 60’s GM full size hard tops, they still look stunning to my eyes sixty years later. If you’re looking for factory original paints and if you have access to an airbrush, I highly recommend Scalefinishes.com flat base paints. Jameston offers all the original ‘62 Chevy colors and his paint is a joy to use. It does require a clearcoat (I use TS-13).

That’s coming out really nice John. Beautiful foil job and I like the black-out you did on the front grill. I love this Moebius kit and had fun building a white Hayden Proffitt version of it a few years ago before I was able to post on here. These ‘65 Comets look like they’re screaming down the strip when they’re standing still. And that 427 cammer is one of the coolest looking drag engines of all time. I bought a second one of these kits to build this same red Dyno Don version, an iconic car raced by a legend!

From my read of the MSDS’s for 2K two-part urethane clear coats, you need a “closed” ventilation system (essentially a breathing tube connected to outside air that is physically separated from the mixing/ spraying area). You also need to probably wear long sleeves, gloves and a face mask to prevent any skin or eye contact as well. I don’t believe anyone is safe using a cartridge type ventilator mask with any type of available filters, even outside. I don’t care how wonderful the final finish is on a car model, it’s just not worth the health risk for me. Be safe.

Beautiful job Brian! I have a 1/32 slot version of this same car and wish there was a 1/24 -1/25 kit for this car that you built. Despite the shorter nose, your build looks “right” to my eyes. With this year’s releases of the new tooled XKE kits, I’m hoping Revell has plans to issue a lightweight XKE racing coupe. It probably won’t happen but I also believe a new tooled D would sell like hot cakes.

Very impressive job Rich on the front end mechanicals, interior and all of the engine detailing. On the Webber carb inlet screens, are those decals or actual metal screen or PE? If $$$ was no object and I could have any 1:1 Cobra I wanted, it would be one of these earlier small block cars (without the wide flared fender 427 look).

I also like the look of the yellow steelies with the dull green, look’s like an authentic early 60’s gasser that was driven to the strip. I would add a few small sponser decals and a class decal to the right side of the windshield (A/GS?) to complete. Nice job!

Great job, especially on the paint. I’ve always found black shiny paint jobs to be the most difficult to pull off, your nephew nailed it! Careful uncle Fantom, a few more of these and he’ll be hooked and your best tools and supplies will start to mysteriously disappear!

Great job on a unusual drag car subject. Your engine detailing is really… detailed! This build inspires me want to find a 50’s subject kit and parts for a 6 cylinder stocker drag car. Would love to see some more images of the 1:1 engine you posted.

This build is amazing to watch. What you are doing sir is literally “advanced plastic surgery”! Thanks for doing these posts!

I feel your pain David. I have tried BMF on several projects and experienced what I like to call the “Ouija Board X-acto knife misfortune”, particularly around curved features. I’ve seen some amazing foil jobs on this board as well as on models at contests but even on areas where my knife doesn’t slip, my finished foil ends up with micro wrinkles or bumpy surface due to imperfect base paint. I only use foil now on interior features (door handles, dash, seat surrounds) or to repair kit chrome and have gone back to masking and airbrushing body trim and window frames with Alclad over black enamel. It’s much more time (and masking tape) consuming but much easier to control and I never get that wrinkled Hershey’s Kisses foil wrap look. Hoping you can master BMF but if you can’t, don’t feel bad, you’re not the only one!

Beautiful job Justin on this older Tamiya F1 kit. I’m particularly impressed with your decaling, those long narrow ones are really challenging to apply and align without tearing/ damaging them. Nice!

Theater = that. I hate software.

“She’s real fine, my 409....giddy-up giddy-up....” Love a ‘61 bubble top and this one is gorgeous. I like the stock wheel cover faux knock-offs that you used, very period correct for a 60’s southern CA cruiser. Theater Alclad Blue is a knock-out!

Beautiful job Keith on this T-Bolt. I’ve built two of these kits and could build a few more because they go together so well and look so good when finished. I also applaud you for cutting out the two vents on the teardrop hood. The silver Sharpie trim work looks great. I have given up on foil and mask and paint all my trim but the masking is very labor (and tape) intensive. What did you use to highlight the panel line grooves on your doors and trunk? Tamiya Panel Line stuff?

Thank you Justin for posting the WIP on this kit. So far you are doing a beautiful job on this one. I love 70’s F1 cars and have this kit in my stash to build someday so I will benefit much from your postings. I have also had to replace old Tamiya decals with Indycals on my WR1 and 312T3 kits and had mixed results with them. One set was incredibly fragile/brittle and tore on me during application but Indycals happily replaced them at no cost so I’ll still be using them for future projects. They are very thin which is nice but I do wish they would provide them pre-cut. I read Ebbro is coming out with new tooled Tyrrell 005 and Lotus 33 1/20 kits so my stash will continue to grow quicker than I can build (a good thing!).

Coming to this posting late; the ‘63 Nova wagon craftsman kit was recently released so I assume that’s the new kit? This one (Tempest wagon) would be #1 on my wish list but I don’t think it was ever tooled so probably never going to happen...(maybe do a resin one with Nova and Catalina parts?) The ‘62 Buick wagon would be a nice one to see re-popped. So glad Round 2 is still out there doing any of these old kits for us old guys ???

Hey Bob, I’m with you on the 409 love. One of my favorite kits is AMT’s ‘62 Bel Air, particularly the most recent SS “Northwind” SS drag version. Besides a nice 409 block, this kit includes additional carb, manifold and exhaust header options as well as other race parts. This is one of AMT’s better kits and I highly recommend it if you’re into 409’s. Ive always loved the lines of the 65 Impala, still looks futuristic to me 56 years later and is one of GM’s best looking cars IMO. I look forward to watching you have fun with this Foose kit. Cheers, John

Any word on if/when Ebbro will ever re-issue the original Lotus 49 kit? They have been going for $200-$300+ USD on eBay for some time now. Wonder what kind of minimum volume and kit cost they would consider worth doing to justify reissue of one of their original 1/20 F1 kits that are OOP? I have built four of their 1/20 F1 kits but have been afraid to start the 49, no chance of a do-over if I screw it up!

Thank you Steve for all the effort and details that you are putting into documenting this WIP, it’s fascinating (and educational) watching how you do your magic. This engine is almost too magnificent to install and risk hiding any of these incredible details. If I were a rich customer and you were building this Dodge for me as a commission project, I would order a second engine from you to be able to display next to the finished car!