curt raitz

Hey Peter...I concur with Scott I love the decal art...you are an inspiration thanx got started on "Marilyn Monroe" theme based 56 Thunderbird, but messed up the paint job...so back into the purple pond

Was packing up models to sell at NNL West, when I came across this model, part of the AMT Indy 500 3-pack released many years ago. Was ready to throw it in with the kits to be sold, but I came across 4 Firestone tires (Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland I believe) and decals (IndyCal) for this model. I had never built this model...so threw it on the workbench and started doing a little research on the car. It was a prelude of things to come and the demise of the roadsters at Indy This be a picture of the car with Jimmy, Colin and the chaps: found a really nice cutaway of the experimental car: decided to vacuum form the windscreen...big difference between kit and vacuum formed windscreen: Indycal decals, gonna have to get a 2nd set...not enough yellow stripe to finish model: includes decals for Dan Gurney's car Here are all the parts pre-painted and awaiting assembly, decals forthcoming... Modifications: scratchbuilt shock absorbers...the ones in the kit are just a couple hunks of plastic front fuel cell and radiator w/struts mounted to chassis...not to the upper cowling per kit instructions I want to be able to display model with the cowling removed or in place new steering wheel, brake lines, foot pedals, ignition wires, coolant tubes/hoses, gear shift and linkage and assorted wires and tubes as needed the tires have a really nice raised letter detail, so I sprayed a small sheet of glass with white primer and pressed each tire to the painted surface...wella white Firestones ! It does take a little trial and error to get it right more to come, thanx for lookin'

Let's see...Raul Perez + resin, this should be fun underneath all that good guy stuff...Bernard is really evil ya know

thanx nope that be the Pontiac 4 cyl Tempest motor w/blower from the Mickey Thompson Attempt II model...they threw in an extra engine thought it would work quite nicely in a 32 Ford

paint is Scalefinishes Gulf Blue for either Ford or Porsche

I had not built a 32 Ford w/fenders - so got exited and built one...finished in time for the NNL West used the small block Ford with 4 Weber carbs/manifold from Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland here's a group photo of a bunch of 32's built o'er the past year or so...I think I be done with them for awhile thanx for lookin'

dang, I've been building and selling model cars for "umpteen years" and never thought about "tagging" them gonna have to look into this on future builds, initials, month/year in some obscure location sounds like a good idea thanx

Art I enjoyed meeting you on Saturday, now we have a face with a name... glad you enjoyed the show

Yeah Peter...that's the same answer I got from John yesterday at the NNL West, when ya come to think of it...makes perfect sense doesn't it fantastic display John, you're an inspiration to all of us modelers that play with cars... plus photographs cannot describe the level of detail and finish work that goes into your models

DANG..THAT'S A BIG DIME! It's amazing the amount of detail one can squeeze into a 1/43rd scale kit been awhile since I tackled one of those look's like your having fun... will be watching this one come together - lookin' good

any after market decal would be better than the kit decal...

Decals can be fussy...especially if they have been around for awhile, decals need to be stored in a cool, dark and dry place most will respond well to using a hot damp towel to press them into place solvents such as Micro Sol, Micro Set, Solvaset, Decal Fit and others will help "suck" the decal down should test these on a portion of decal sheet ya won't need The decals from Revell used to be the worst, nothing would get these things to stick! In the past couple of years they have gotten much better. Decals overall are getting much better and a lot of aftermarket decals are available i.e. Slixx, IndyCals, Studio27, etc. A clearcoat can be sprayed o'er them for further protection, opening a discussion about "shiny race cars"

Should be fun, as always...lookin' forward to seein' y'all stop by and say Hi to Raul Perez, Bernard Kron, Steve Allemand, Larry Henley, Jerry Cardinal (maybe) and myself at our table c'ya

Okay...where did you get the nose cone or do I really wanna know? I enjoy following your work...this looks like fun c'ya

Oh-h Yaaaah!!! (as Randy Savage would say) I dig the pipes...all 64 of 'em

Golly that's a lot of exhaust pipes and velocity stacks..."hard to see the forest for the trees" fantastic build John are we gonna be blessed with its presence at NNL West later this month?

Will be there...sharing a table with Raul Perez, Steve Allemand, Bernard Kron and Gerry Cardinal (if he's done being sick) Have not missed an NNL West since 1987...

yep, this one had been close to being done a couple of weeks ago I was also working on a Brabham BT50 (1/20 Tamiya) and a 56 Tbird, but messed up the paint jobs on both...bad karma so, I just got away from the bench for a couple of weeks

thanx no, I did not have any issues with the kit...Tamiya at it's best!

Yes it will be there...lookin' forward to seein' your stuff again...

Yes...you are quite correct, he did race the 312 T4 in 1979 I attended the races there from 1978 thru 1981, got my years mixed up it's an adventure getting old...

I've only had this model in my collection for the past 10 - 15 years It's one of the builds I had to do...cuz I was at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1979 Gilles Villeneuve became my favorite driver that weekend of course it's the Tamiya kit in 1/12th scale... toodles thanx for lookin'

Very, very nice Peter let's see - that's 2 models in 2011 and it's still January...

stradasports can be found @ http://www.stradasports.com

Shabo used to have a dry transfer sheet of "B.F. Goodrich - Radial T/A" don't know if they be still around or where ya can get'em good luck