LUKE'57

Sorry Harry, I guess you're talking about me. When I post in Nascar I hardly ever get a response or many hits but when I put it in General I get way more. Don't know whether my stuff fits Nascar, General, Photo Manipulation or what but I do know I enjoy getting on here and visiting with you guys. Not sure exactly what to do now. I don't do all those color and parts changes that marks a lot of the Photo Manipulation catagory and I don't really fit in with the "jelly bean" Nascars either. I thought "general" was a sort of anything goes kind of catagory. Again, sorry for overstepped the bounds.

Dodge on asphalt, you say? Sorry. it looks like that won't come up until December. Here's a little something to tide you over until then though.

Thanks Jim, I've got'em ready all the way through December so stay tuned.

Guys, at the risk of breaking the illusion, I have to say that the most difficult part of this "build" wss making sure that I disturbed as little as possible when opening the packaging on the die cast car. Sorry if I mislead anyone.

..........but, with all the real race car stuff this week, I just now got around to getting a shot of her ready to post. If anything, she is even more stunning than her blue topped "tin" sister. I've got a bunch of pics done, even a few "family portraits" but it'll be after the dust settles on today's real racing program at I-77 Speedway before I can get them posted. Thanks again to Crazyray78 for hooking me up with the Merc.

Yeah, anybody but ol' Pops would. But he's not anywhere near close enough to sideways to need corrective action. LOL They didn't call it the "hair rasin' powerslide" in the race ads for nothing.

Sorry ya'll, but I've been at the real race shops all this week after work lettering and shooting cars and I just finished up the lettering (still got pics to shoot tomorrow before the races) and the calendar page for this month would have gotten by me except for a friendly reminder. :oops: Here's the preview .................................. .........and the link for the printable version for May. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/mitchum/april/MAY.jpg

OOPS, I forgot my old buddy Smokey's 427. I did this last year and just missed it when I did the collage. Hey, I bet that's the first time THAT word's been used on here. LOL

Here's probably the only "co-ed" day we'll have for engines with a couple of Bow Ties hiding out in the FoMoCos. Some more of my "ol redneck race cars" models.

Not sure about Buick but Lincoln did and a few found their way into some pretty potent '59 T-Birds that Holman Moody built and raced. I may just have one.

No Harry, I think tomorrow they'll probably do 427's.

I've got of few of those HemiHummers in my "ol' redneck race cars models" stash. Can I play too?

That other B-29 was Bock's Car. Would you believe that my half century of model building was started by the B-29 and I have yet to finish one? I saw one of the old (new then LOL) Revell B-29s hanging up at the local hardware store back around '57 or so and asked my Dad for one to try to build. He was a great dad but a good ol' boy who knew more about Hudson Hornets than Hudson bombers and brought home an Aurora B-26 instead for my first try at modeling. In all those years and all those hundreds of models I have still not finished a B-29. The closest I've come is beginnig the basic foiling of one of the Monogram 1/48 kits several years ago. I'd still like to do one someday but the closest I've been to a real one is the one that was in pieces at the Florence Air Museum in SC. Even the pieces were impressive!

Steve, are you looking for a particular car or just general info? Looks like most of the stuff I have seems to suggest that most of the FoMoCo and Lincoln-Mercury racers (in Nascar's early years) ran Lincolns or the lighter Fords instead of the Mercs. Also, the pics I've seen of Mercs seem to be of the shoe polish numbered bone stock Merc with just the wheel covers taken off. Sorry to not have been more help or had better news about the Mercs.

Hey Brent, here's where to find pretty much everything you wanted to know, thought you wanted to know or could imagine to know about vintage stock car modeling with some really good info on the winged cars. http://www.randyayersmodeling.com/modelingforum/viewforum.php?f=15 Great bunch of guys, tell'em LUKE'57 sent'cha.

Well..........yeah. What are you doing, just trying to make me feel old? I don't need any help with that. LOL Thanks Sam, glad you liked it.

That's one of the Georgia Marketing and Promotions die cast Cyclones that a friend brought to me last night at my track's season opener that I do the victory lane interviews at. It was shot on my "photo set", not detailed enough to be considered a diarama but it works well enough for me to use for a photo background for my old stuff. I built three "Days of Thunder" RC cars for Tom back when they were shoooting the movie. I got very politely "un-invited" to post on that "real or model" topic so I stay away from over there. Made to feel very umwelcome and I took the hint. It's a private show and they don't need any help from me.

We had our first race of the season yesterday so I didn't get to go to CMS for the AutoFair. But I really didn't mind because I wound up with this little gem that CrazyRay78 brought me. After I got it unloaded I gave it a good cleaning and checked all the fluids so she'd be ready to cruise today. It fits me like a tailored suit and is the first Cyclone in my yard since I got rid of my '66 thirty years ago. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for those "messengers of VROOM" and a place in my driveway. I had to use flill flash to even out the exposure and balance the gleam coming off briar eatin' grin but it made for a pretty neat shot after all. Anybody up forl a cruise?

Billy, my ol' buddy Soap's got about a half dozen or so models that I either built for him or refurbished ones he already had and I think he would be proud to put that one right up alongside them. I know I would be proud to have it alongside the ones I did for him. Great job, and I still haven't forgotten those DVD's and picture CDs for you.

Glad you liked it Ricky. My son's had some very serious medical problems lately and I've sort of been off my game but I'll try to get the next one in on time.

Have had a lot going on and the month change just slipped past me. Here's the page and I'll try to be a little more on top of things for next month's page. Here's the link for the full size printable version. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/mitchum/april/APRIL.jpg

Hot Rod Deluxe's April special faux edition features the Dark Side. The guys came down with their cameras and pads and hung out for quite a while, checking out the Ol' Redneck Race Cars and learning that stock car racing didn't really begin in 1991 after all. It looks like the old guys haven't been forgotten after all. As usual, this issue is availible by subscription only in very limited areas and by prearrangement only. Your mileage may vary, produced by Smoke Screen LTD Productions only on April 1st

Cool, the original is on the way, check your e-mail. I'm on dial up so it may take a while.

Sorry it took so long but I was getting ready for our speedway's open house this weekend and a concert for the local nursing home. Don't know if this is what you had in mind but hey, it's free. LOL If you like it I can send you the big file that should give you a pretty good print. The bottom can be cropped to give you the right size and you can put a white panel there to print the model details when you display it. Well, what do you think?

The polishing grits with be to fine. I'm talking some pretty coarse stuff for initial shaping then you can go back to the finer stuff for final shaping and finishing. Think of that first grit as the torch and the finer stuff as the grinder on a real car.