LUKE'57

Thanks Tony, be sure to check out the cover.

Here's the link to the big file for printing. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/mitchum/janpost/JAN.jpg

You are more than welcome my friend. I'll post the link to the large file a little later in case you want to print it.

A little something for all my friends here. Here's the first page of my new calendar I did for everyone here. I've also got it in a larger file in case anyone wants to print one for their workbench. Thanks for letting me hang out with ya'll this past year.

No, it's one of the many vacuformed model bodies Gator does. He's got'em from '49 Fords all the way to these latemodels with a bunch in between. He makes the mold masters and even built his own two stage vacuform machine to do the bodies.

Gator dropped by Christmas afternoon with my present but with the board changes and the cloudy weather I haven't been able to shoot good pics of what he dropped off. I finally just decided to try a flash shot in my den so here goes. Another fine GatorBuilt ride from the old days of stock car racing.

..........or I'll not be able to wish all my new and old friends here a Merry Christmas.

Brian, that is just sick, and WAY too funny!! And right back at'cha old friend.

Nope, take a closer look. It's a resin replacement in red primer. The original got bent up during an outdoor display at Lowes Motor Speedway a few years back. It was a replica of a friend's hauler truck that had two wide flat black stripes on the hood. Remember fifth period science class and the story about dark colors, especially black, absorbing heat and the light colors reflecting it? Well, they weren't kidding!

Easiest decaling I've ever done. When I think back to those race car decals that just weren't quite the right size or color or broke apart when they hit the water, I like this way even more. The "cyber modeling" is still kinda hard to enter in a contest or put on the "bragging rights" table though. LOL In the Nascar tradition of wretched excess I present my "company's" parts chaser truck with some suble advertising.

Here's the (uncut and highly collectible) sheet with the entire grouping of first run (again, highly collectible LOL) contigency decals. It's kinda hard to see any details so I did another (also HIGHLY collectible) short sheet with the different styles on it. How do you thing one of these will look on the front fender of a vintage stock car?

Man, I know exactly what you mean. Back in the day, I lettered a friend's '68 Camaro late model sportsman dirt car and someone had swiped the big Hooker Header "heart" decals and I wound up having to paint those suckers on both sides! And all the time knowing what a rough driver he was and that the sheet metal wouldn't last a handful of races.

Hey Ed, check the vintage of the cars. I was grown when I saw the real ones run! Welcome to the over the hill gang, I'd much rather be an old f#@t than a young whipper snapper. LOL

How about this contingency decal? I promise you that I'm through with it this time because I just took the CD with the file on it to Gator and it's now an official Jackie Sims Race Cars logo. Now I know how the racing mechanics feel. You're never reallly finished with a car, the driver just takes it away from you when it's time to race. LOL I decided to change the white to lite blue in case the Alps went south. With the new background and the little red surround it almost looks official, don't it? It makes a pretty neat front fender decal on a Darkside racer. Even ol' Buck's Chevelle looks better with something on the quarters. One of the very hard to find limited edition large decals just sets it off I think. I can't believe how much easier it is to letter a model with PaintShop than iwith a brush. LOL

Thanks Mark, now if I can just remember where I stashed the "edit-able" version so I can enlarge the "by Jackie Sims Racecar Models" lettering I'll be in business.

All those little bitty engines sound pretty good I guess but you ain't lived until you hear twenty some odd 427 Hi-Riser Fords and 426 Hemi Mopars on a half mile dirt track surrounded by a tall tin fence echoing that rolling thunder back over the grandstands on a cloudy night. The only music sweeter than Emmy Lou Harris on a good night, and her's are all good.

Well, almost. So, what do you think, better? I changed the name, the font and pretty much everything but the alligator and here it is. Still need to smooth up the edges on the white some. Spent most of my first day off this week but I didn't let it or the programs I was using to get it done whip me. Now it's time to do one for me- Echoes of Thunder Photography.

Being a race fan and not a stick and ball one, I have no idea what that had to do with my post but congratulations , you seem pretty happy it turned out that way. My brother's nickname comes from Gator McCluskey, the Burt Reynolds character in "White Lightning".

I've been wanting to do this for a while and finally got around to it today. It's still not what I really want but maybe it'll pass until I can get something else worked out. So what do you think of Gator's new logo?

Here's the biggest color shot I've found. It was on a cover shot closeup of Petty's pit stop and looks like you could get away with just using the right amount of letters with the first in each group capitalized. Don't think anyone would be able to tell the difference in 1/25 scale.

Haven't located a large enough picture to see what the small writing is but there's two of the decals on Slixx's decal sheet for Richard Petty's '67 Plymouth without the small print on it.

The only demo derby car I've built is the 1/32 '56 Ford kit that was all banged up a very long time ago. I have been known to build a few race cars and take pics of them in my time though. Here's the link to my albums if you'd like to take a look. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v69/mitchum/

Ed, I am SO glad you said something. I went back and compared those darn plastic panels and they aren't the same size! The pieces for the side are about 1/4 shorter than the piece I'm gonna use for the front. I might have gotten way far along before I noticed that and would have had a time getting it straightened out, if even I could have. That will indirectly solve another problem I was having with the bottom of the walls though. I'll just measure down to where the taper begins on the bottom of the short sides and cut both them and the long side off the same length and cap the ends with a balsa strip so they will match and have a better transition from the ridges to the foundation. Thanks ol' buddy. You know if it don't have roll bars and numbers that I'm just a chuckle headed rookie at this stuff.

Hey Ed, if you mean that it's leaning then well....uhh......no. That's just an optical delusion, yeah that's what it is, yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL Actually, I just double side taped the sheets on to the original structure and with part of it turning loose and some other parts unsupported where I cut some of the back structure out when I removed the original door/lobby area it just looks like that. The finished product will be much better aligned and squared up. At least I ferverntly hope it will be.

Can we have a Do-over? Thanks Lee, glad you liked it. But even with MicroMetal Foil Adhesive and aluminum foil (hate that fragile and fiddlely Bare Metal stuff) that side trim is a pain. The earlier stuff kept the trim and while I buckle down and do it, it don't mean I enjoy it. Don't know which is harder though, foiling the trim or having to sand it off and not lose the character lines on the body. LOL