LUKE'57

Glad to do it. It was in the Rod & Custom June '65 in the model section. I'll upload to Photobucket and put a link here on the board.

Ismael, Just found it for you. I'll copy it and send it to you. Any preference on the page size? Just remember that I'm on dial up. Maybe it would be better to post it on my Photobucket page and you can get it from there. That way if anyone else is interested they can get a copy also.

Go to the local "big box" hardware store and look in the department that has the foam insulation sheeting. At least 3/4" thick will work fine. Then check out the stacks and look for broken edges on the sheets. I got a 4X8 foot sheet of 2 inch for less than half price because the edge was broken. I only lost about six inches on one of the short sides when I trimmed the damaged part. Paint it with flat red primer, wet heavy coat for the groove and dry spray for the "marbles", and add some strips of corrugated cardboard for the railing with dowels for the posts and you're in business.

..........I'm not sure if they got through. I also had to keep downsizing them until they would go through without timing out and disconnecting. The one in front of the fence was originally 20 mg but had to get it down to around 4 mg before it would go though. If you get something worked out I could either get my brother to send it on a cable modum or just do a CD and mail it. I'm really looking forward to hearing from you about this, either way it works out.

I've got a 390 in my '76 1/2 ton pickup if any pics or info from it will help.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and especially Ed for the detailed advice. I've got a pretty good working relationship with the local paper through my stint as a track photographer and my son writing articles for their sports page. I knew all that freebie work we did for them would come in handy sooner or later. LOL I'm in the process of trying to get this computor to stay connected long enough to get a decent size file through to Gregg so wish me luck and I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for the encouragement.

........my photography isn't all that bad. How about letting me share some of what I know about that? It could also be of help to anyone who wanted to do an article because all good articles need photos. So would the editors be interested in a photo how-to article, one that shows, in addition to the basics, what can be done with a few extras like natural lighting and simple sets to enhance the realism? After all, isn't that one of the things that we're trying to achieve as modelers? Even show a little trickery, using simple, easily made bases, and even adding a little airbrushing, and maybe a little photoshopping to add a whole new dimension to the hobby. What do ya'll think?

Elmer's won't work because when it dries it's not sticky anymore. It needs to be like the adhesive on tape with a sticky feel after it dries. Maybe you could have more luck finding the MicroScale Micro Metal Foil Adhesive at some other outlets that handle train supplies and even on line. The first time I remember reading about using foil for chrome trim on models they were using rubber cement. I think you can find that, if they still make it, in an office supply store or maybe even Walmart back in the paper and school suppliles. KNOCK..TAP....TAP.......KNOCK.....is this thing on??

Hey Billy, I've only built two cars in the last ten years or so after building sometimes 100 in a racing season. But mine were, in the racing season days, one of a kind local dirt cars, highly modified and hand lettered, so burnout wasn't a problem. And, with all those big mean dirt track racers waiting on their cars, it wasn't an option either! LOL Knowing how much you like stock cars and knowing that even building a "Darkside" racer might have "guilt by association" in the burnout area, how about doing one that still has the stock car connection but not the stigma of building a race car? Let's get together on line and build us a "transporter" apiece together. I know you've got something in your stash that would be suitable and I've had one of the Monogram 1/12 '57 Chevys earmarked for a full tilt tanker super detail build to a long time now that I need to get cracking on. I've even come up with a backstory on how the builder got the car that'll make a good magazine article to go with it. How about we trade ideas and incouragement on a "runner" build? I can help with period correct details (sometimes being old is a plus) and you could give me some fresh viewpoints (and sometimes it ain't) on the build and we could incourage each other and come out of it with a fresh approach to the hobby, not to mention two killer builds that the "civilians" can marvel over. Whadda ya say? Is it a deal?

When I told ya'll that regular foil was a lot better than BareMetal and that the MicroScale Metal Foil Adhesive didn't have a shelf life like the BareMetal I got ignored or told that BareMetal was the best thing for models. Glad someone that you would listen to discovered the "secret" and shared it with ya'll.

That echo chamber you call a roof didn't get finished until the late fifties. It was there in '67 when I went to the Southern 500 and if you held your radio up to your ear (no Walkman back then) the noise from those Hemis and Side oilers would vibrate the speaker cone and it sounded like URN was broadcasting from under the hood in Petty's Plymouth! LOL When I first built it I had plans to, and still may, build some sockets that would accept the round roof supports and make the later tin roof as a removable piece so I could use it for '60's through '80's models. I just got sidetracked a Sigma guitar, Kay bass and a former short track trophy queen. I've still got the guitar and the bass and they don't take up as much time as the full set did so I may get around to that roof this summer and maybe the museum too. Unless some other complication comes along. The track surface is just that styrofoam with a coat of grey primer dusted on. I'm working on laying down a new track surface that looks like the shiny ol' sealer Bob Colvin came up with that they used to call "bear grease" that everybody (in the stands. that is) just LOVED.

Some styrofoam, screen wire and paint. I cut the styofoam into long strips and laid it up like stair steps and glued them and a couple of large pieces for the retaing wall on another sheet of styrofoam. I added some plastic rod fence posts and some fibreglas screen for the tire fence and there it is.

I built several cars (from a '55 Chevy to a '68 Camaro) for one of the men associated with Ralph's racing efforts many years ago and they weren't white and neither were the real cars. It was a beige color called Almond and he sometimes painted the roofs with the fake vinyl and some times just flat paint that was black. I don't know what "National Series" you are talking about because Ralph always liked to race on the dirt tracks close to home. He did run a few Nascar Grand National races But there were none through the '65 season with him driving a car #8. Here's the list as best I can compile it. Aug. 11, 1956 at Hickory NC finishing 2nd in a #22 Pete DePaolo '56 Ford. Dec. 2, 1956 at Concord NC finishing 12 in the same '56 Ford. March 31, 1957 at Asheville-Weaverville NC finishing 14th in a #188 Petty '57 Olds April 7, 1957 at North Wilkesboro NC finishing 19th in the same Olds. April 14, 1957 at Langhorne PA finishing 14th again in the Petty Olds. April 28, 1957 at Greemsboro NC finishing 10th in the Petty Olds. May 5, 1957 at Richmond NC finishing 9th in the Petty Olds. May 19, 1957 at Martinsville NC finishing 13th in the Petty Olds. March 26, 1961 at Atlanta GA finishing 3rd in a #6 Cotton Owens '61 Pontiac. May 6, 1961 at Darlington SC finishing 7th in the Owens Pontiac. May 21, 1961 at Charlotte NC finishing 2nd in the Owens Pontiac. May 28, 1961 at Charlotte NC finishing 11th in the Owens Pontiac. July 4, 1961 at Daytona FL finishing 10th in the Owens Pontiac. July 9, 1961 at Atlanta GA finishing 11th in the Owens Pontiac. Sept 4, 1961 at Darlington SC finishing 9th in the Owens Pontiac. Sept 17, 1961 at Atlanta GA finishing 35th in the #5 Leroy Faucet '60 Pontiac. Feb 16, 1962 at Daytona FL finishing 11th in the #75 Robert Smith '61 Pontiac. Feb 18, 1962 at Daytona FL finishing 36th in the Smith '61 Pontiac. Feb 23, 1962 at Concord NC finishing 3rd in the Smith Pontiac, March 4, 1962 at Asheville Weaverville NC finishing 6th in the Smith Pontiac. March 18, 1962 at Hillsborough NC finishing 7th in the Smith Pontiac. April 13, 1962 at Columbia SC finishing 9th in the Smith Pontiac. April 22, 1962 at Martinsville VA finishing 30th in the Smith Pontiac. April 29, 1962 at Bristol TN finishing 33rd in the #75 '62 Robert Smith Pontiac. May 5, 1962 at Hickory NC finishing 5th in the Smith '61 Pontiac. May 6, 1962 at Concord NC finishing 12th in the Smith '61 Pontiac. May 12, 1962 at Darlington SC finishing 25th in the Smith '61 Pontiac. May 27, 1962 at Charlotte NC finishing 45th in the #16 Happy Steigel '61 Pontiac. June 10, 1962 at Atlanta GA finishing 36th in the #16 Happy Steigel '62 Pontiac. July 4, 1962 at Daytona FL finishing 17th in the #16 Happy Steigil '62 Chevrolet. Oct 14, 1962 at CharlotteNC finishing 8th in the #91 Bob Osieki '62 Dodge. Oct 28, 1962 at Atlanta GA finishing 14th in the Osieki Dodge. Feb 22, 1963 at Dayona FL finishing 24th in the #73 Acey Taylor '62 Pontiac. Feb 24, 1863 at Daytona FL finishing 47th in the Taylor Pontiac. Feb 17, 1963 at Atlanta GA finishing 18th in the Taylor Pontiac. June 2, 1963 at Charlotte NC finishing 39th in the #54 Paul Stewart '63 Ford. Sept 2, 1963 at Darlington SC finishing 25th in the #17 Fred Harb '62 Pontiac. Feb 21. 1964 at Daytona FL finishing 14th in the #31 Tom Spell '63 Ford. Feb 23. 1964 at Daytona FL finishing 19th in the Tom Spell Ford. March 10, 1964 at Richmond VA finishing 22nd in the Spell Ford' March 22, 1964 at Bristo TN finishing 23rd in the Spell Ford. March 28, 1964 at Greenville-Pickens SC finishing 18th in the Spell Ford. April 12, 1964 at Hillsborough NC finishing 4th in the Spell Ford. April 14, 1964, at Spartanburg SC finishing 16th in the Spell Ford. April 16, 1964 at Columbia SC finishing 11th in the Spell Ford. May 24, 1964 at Charlotte NC finishing 37th in an unnamede #70 '62 Pontiac. May 30, 1964 at Greenville-Pickens SC finishing 18th in the Spell Ford. June 11, 1964 at Concord NC finishing 13th in the Spell Ford.

Guys, I don't expect anyone to believe me, they never do, but Ralph's cars were not white. You've seen how the pics fade and the colors shift. I built several for one of the guys that worked for the sponsor may years ago and Ralph's "55, Chevelle and Camaro was a light cream color called Almond. And Dale's Ford was not a Victoria, the Victoria was a pillarless hardtop and Dale's pink Ford was a post sedan.

Thanks everybody, but it was for real. You only saw what the final product looked like, but I saw what the journey to get there was. I have, back in my "prime" built as many as 6 and hand lettered four of them from the time I got up on a Saturday until it was time to pack them to get to the track at six o'clock Saturday afternoon. And those were local late models that I had to shorten the chassis and narrow and rearrange the roll cage on the original MPC Nascar kits on. This one took a lot longer than that and some pretty fancy "clip on eyesight" to get it done. As Darren McGavin, playing a post Daytona crash Lee Petty in "The Petty Story" said, "The sad truth is that none of us are what we once were. " I just hope to get a few more cranked out before I have to hang up the welder and goggles for good.

Thanks guys. Maybe I'll rethink it and cut some new brushes and give it another shot. I've got a Tiger Tom Pistone '64 Galaxie about ready to letter for me. Now where did I put that picture of the Shoney's Big Boy?

After having not built anything in a very long time and not lettering anything in over ten years, I decided to finish the Tiny Lund Chevelle I started about the time the new Revell kit was released. I was building it for my son for Christmas and decided that this would be the year. While I was having problems with the paint and the brushes (may try to cut some new ones), it's a poor workman that blames his tools so I gotta admit that it just doesn't seem to be there anymore. I've got some more projects that I think I will try to do just to see if I'm just very rusty, and I hope that's what it is,so wish me luck. In the meantime, as you look at my latest build, please remember two very important things-one, I'm an old man and two= old men carry grudges and guns. LOL

Sign said "World's Only Flying Car", didn't any of the Pintos survive?

Maybe you should go look for the comments before you make another one here. It wasn't just one person, it was more like piling on and was totally unfair and compairing apples to oranges. I stand by my comments and still would rather have a kit that was buildable that looked like the real car than one that has so many fiddledy parts that you are discouraged from building it by simply opening the box. In my opinion, the succesful kits are the ones that look like the real subject when, and not if, they get finished. And don't say that I'm not a real modeler because I've built models for people ranging from David Pearson to Tom Cruise and used to build dirt models for the local racers that took two or three kits just to get the correct body style for their cars. This ain't my first rodeo but I still don't want to pay to get in to one I won't enjoy. I've got a job, this is supposed to be fun.

Art said it best regarding re-issues, "you don't just go pumping plastic into those old tools." I was working pretty closely with ERTL when they first decided to do their Modeler's Choice reissue program and I was overjoyed that the '64 Merc Marauder was gonna be one of the first four kits done. I knew that it had all the stock car racing parts that the '64 Ford had and I could hardly wait to get some Bud Moore stock cars started. They sent me a test shot, one of the ones they did to make sure the tool was complete, and it was just like going back thirty years. Well, except for the major rust induced imperfections on the kit. The tool was complete but it would need some extensive polishing and refinishing before any consumer worthy kits could even hope to come out of it. Add to this the fact that some parts of the tools could be missing or beyond refinished, requiring the cutting of new metal to replace the missing parts and you get the idea. As long as I have wanted a '58 Ford and '59 Thunderbirds to do some of the original Holman Moody cars, the chance at a $15 to $20 dollar modified reissue or repop in plastic versus a $70 aftermarket kit in resin, with all the associated problems that come with it, looks better and better.

I look forward to Christmas now at least as much as I did when I was little because the Jackie Sims Race Car's truck comes rolling in with a surprise on the back. With a brother like Gator you never can tell what will be chained down on that trailer. It could be anything from a '39 Ford coupe to a current Monte Carlo, a local dirt track legend to a convertible division stocker. I'd been thinking about building a G.C. Spencer '64 Chevy to have one of the "orphan" bowties but hadn't gotten around to. Frankly, the plain white wrapper and stick thin numbers really didn't do that much for me. When Gator rolled up today he had a very colorful '64 strapped down on the trailer, he knew how much I liked yellow race cars. I couldn't wait for sunshine to share this one so I did a little availible light photography so I could do a little bragging on my brother's skills and generousity. Here is Mr. Frank Warren's entry into the 1964 Nascar Grand National season, lost amid all those hemis and high risers, compliments of Gator.

They looked like the real cars but.............. They captured the essence of the real thing but.............. .....axles through the engine.......... .......molded in chassis parts.......... .........no opening panels......... .........no working suspensions....... ........no steering front ends.......... Don't confuse accuracy with intricacy. Just because there isn't a large list of "working features" doesn't mean that the kit isn't accurate. As a modeler you should be able to decide just how much or how little detail you want but if all that added detail prices the kits out of reach or makes them too "fiddley" to ever finish then you've shot yourself and your hobby in the foot. I've been modeling longer than a lot of you have been breathing and I have yet to see a 1/25 ultra tricked out, photo etched, resin detailed, fully wired and plumbed engine crank up and run. So relax and enjoy the ride and build for yourself but don't begrudge the other guy who wants one on the shelf, in less than 400 hours of building time, a chance to enjoy the hobby also.

...............tolerating me for another year. Hope Christmas is good for you and that you get everything you want and want everything you get. Now you'll have to excuse me because I've got to start on a very special Christmas present and find out it I can still hand letter these little buggers after all these years. HO HO HOly smoke, those are gonna be some tiny letters

Where do you think I learned it?

No, I build curbsides, though of a somewhat earlier vintage. But to call those beautiful models you posted "curbside" is like refering to Bill Gates as a somewhat successful businessman.