curt raitz

"Suddenly it's 1960" was the ad slogan used to describe the new Plymouth for 1957. It was touted as being 3 years ahead of of their time. Wally Parks and Ray Brock from Hot Rod Magazine decided to enter a car in the the newly created Experimental catagory at the 8th Annual NASCAR International Safety and Performance Trials in Daytona Beach, Florida. They picked up a canary yellow '57 Plymouth Savoy two-door hardtop from Chrysler's East Los Angeles assembly plant and with two weeks until the event they began getting the car ready. They replaced the stock powerplant with a Chrysler Hemi from Harry Duncan. The engine sported Hiborn injectors and a Scintilla Vertex magneto. Running on straight alcohol the engine produced 448 hp on the dyno. On the "Two-Way Flying Mile" Wally Parks ran 153.153 mph on the south run and returned north at 166.898 mph establishing a track record for this class. After Daytona, they brought the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Ray Brock made a 178 mph pass qualifying for the D/Fuel Coupe and Sedan record. On the backup run Suddenly was up to 183 mph when the engine blew up. After Bonneville, Suddenly became a daily driver and it's whereabouts today is unknown. I modeled "Suddenly" as it appeared at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I used the the re-issued amt "Christine" 58 Plymouth Bevedere as the base kit. Ground/sanded the Belvedere trim off and added Savoy trim, '57 Plymouth front grill/bumpers and rear bumpers from "The Modelhaus". I also picked up the early Chrysler hemi engine and valve covers from "the parts box". The tires were pulled from the "parts bin". The wheel covers are printer plate super-glued to a wheel, spun in a dremel using a medium grit sanding stick to finish. Paint is Chrysler Canary Yellow from Scalefinishes. Decals were homemade. thanx for lookin'...

Kevin...you be on the forum! B) this model got "Best Drag" at Goodguys in Pleasanton thanx

Very, very, very nice model Art it was nice to see the real thing in progress at the NNL West boy, you've got big bricks in your driveway...

Thanx The flames came with the kit I was surprised on how they "laid-down" and were very receptive to microscale's decal setting solution Revell definitrey has improved their decals

Just picked up this model 2 weeks ago I thought it to be a good partner with "The Malco Gasser" to take to the "Crusin Nationals" Car and Model Contest in Santa Maria, CA this weekend. It was gonna be a challenge to get it done in time, finished it last night. I initially painted it MCW Lt. Blue Met #2631, but the '62 Vette just did not look right in that color, so I found an old rattle can of Kustom Kolor Candy Apple Red in the paint cabinet. I then shot the Candy Apple Red over the Lt. Blue Met, put the flame decals from the kit on the car and covered with MM UltraGloss Clearcoat. Came out like this: thanx for lookin'...

Been there, done that and I agree completely...there is no replacement for Tamiya's tape and most of their products!

Model came with the rear panel solid, took me awhile, but finally found the "cut-out" on the instruction sheet I had few photos of the rear of the car and used those as a guide for the "cut-out"

Heading to the Santa Maria Car/Model show this weekend, needed to bring an appropiate model car for the Model Car Show. So picked up the new/re-issue of the "The Malco Gasser". Scalefinishes carries a set of paint specifically for this car; a 2 oz bottle of '67 Malco Mustang Blue for the body and a 1 oz bottle of '67 Malco Mustang Trim Blue for the wheel arches. Model went together fairly easy, here it be: thanx for lookin'...

Peter, you were hiding this one, just happen to see your name pop up on the forum and had to check it out... very, very, very nice build my friend you do like to play around with doors don'tcha... I just glue those suckers shut! good to see you're still building c'ya

Hey John, another "Quarter Scale" project, heh! luv seein' you incorporate 3D pieces into your work What glue do you use on the 3D stuff? Also, what glue do you use on your Evergreen/Plastruct stuff. What you do with plastic strip and sheet amaze me...ya gotta use a fairly strong adhesive. One of the things about your work I enjoy is the minimal use of "photo-etch" parts...you are definitely not a "photo-etch junkie" The bike is coming along real nice, I gotta mention that even in my younger days...I didn't have big enough "cajonays" to even sit on a monster like this let alone ride the thing! c'ya

Love it... I didn't know you were building this model in "Quarter Scale"...hee-hee! c'ya

She's Done... thanx for lookin'...

Boy oh-h Boy...more F1 models, luv it! I had the pleasure to see Mr. Villineuve race in and win the Long Beach Grand Prix he became my favorite F1 driver that weekend and still is, sorry Jim Clark, closely followed by Senna, Michael, Mario and the new kid Vettel ain't bad either. The model is lookin' great, the Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red is the best color for the Ferrari's from this era keep on buildin'

I originated in Minnesota (Bemidji) in 1950, but I'm a Californian all the way...since 1963 Anyplace east of the Mississippi is too humid for me My buddy Raul Perez and I are planning on making an appearance @ the GSL next year It'll be the 1st appearance at the GSL for both of us.

For those interested... Just found out - Scale Finishes has paint for the Malco Express Mustang, both colors for $12.50 plus shipping

trunk finished, roll bar support bracket and fuel pumps in place...ready to be attached to the body: Trunk in place, roll bar support rod attached to bracket: The body is finished, all ready to be placed on the chassis: Headers attached to engine, exhaust waiting for the body to be set on chassis so they can be hung in place. I have run into a little problem with installing the exhaust pipes to the headers. With the body in place, the exhaust pipes come up about 1/8" - 3/16" short of mating up with the headers. So, I'll have to extend the pipes for fit Next should be the final chapter in this build, hope the Doc likes it! c'ya

thanx I guess I'll do the same

I just fell on this build John...I'm not a big Custom Car guy, but I like this one! Of course, you be doing your usual fantastic job on this car as well. It's nice to have full access to the real car when buildin' a model of it isn't it! Anyway, dude...where did you get the "megaphones" for your exhaust? These things are not easy to find... thanx

His is not a restoration of this chassis in any of its prior stages of creation...he just built his own version of an AC Cobra 427. His bank account is definitely at a different level than mine

I just picked up a re-issue of the MPC "The Malco Gasser" My question is: What color is the car? The Ditzler Color chart for a 1967 Ford Mustang list 4 blue colors B 12876 Frost Turquoise F 12854 Arcadian Blue Q 12843 Brittany Blue Poly W 13073 Clearwater Aqua Poly After looking at photos of the car, it could be any one of them... but I think it's either the Frost Turquoise or Arcadian Blue any thoughts on which one it can be Jameston at Scalefinishes has all of them available thanx

You're right about the color on AC Cobra's except for the Doc's...the letters on his Goodyear tires are definitely white

I thinned some Tamiya XF-2 (Flat White) down a little with Tamiya Thinner and hand painted the letters by letting the paint flow into the recessed areas of each letter. It's slow and tedious, but also the only way it can be done... There are not a lot of 1/16th tire decals out-there.

Got a little more done resin cast the fuel pumps, lights for the side roundels and the "quick-jack" brackets vacuum formed the racing style windscreen Trunk almost ready to be installed Dash is done... and a rolling chassis... on to finishing up the body, etc. more to come soon

Yes Bernard...I can punch a 1/2" hole with this "puppy", it's not cheap, though making slow but gradual progress on this car c'ya

Nice one buddy...