Wild Child

Thanks Michael. I will get the two Birds I have done posted perhaps next week. I have plans to do five '68-69 Firebird Funnys for my Firebird group, but the paint schemes and decals are really tuff on the 3 I have not done yet. I think you will get a kick out of the two I did do though. Thanks again.

Thanks everyone, glad to see a lot of Funny Car enthusiasts out there. Steve, typically I mask and paint the silver or black moldings, first taping the top and bottom, then later the sides. I then use an opened up small size paper clip end, dab in a paint cap, then dab on the moldings to get precise results (most of the time). Practice first.

Thanks Scott. I do plan on doing the Larson USA-1 '68 Camaro and Jungle Jim's '70. I was going to do Chadwick's red '69 as part of my '69 Winter Nats display, but I love Harrell's '69 so much, and Chadwick's was too similar in visual appeal. I try to build a variety of cars with different looks and colors. I will post the other 2 cars when done. As a side note, if you like f-body GM cars a little bit, I do have a couple really cool late sixties Firebirds I will post someday I think you will love.

These are two of my favorite Funny Cars from my collection, the Dick Harrell '69 and Malcolm Durhams '70/71. Both cars have high luster bodies that have been modified to fit the slightly shortened Polar Lights chassis. Dick's '69 used a 427 while Malcolm's blue car ran a 454. Both motors are highly detailed and some modifications had to be made to these also. A lot of time was put into making these bodies and interior tin work look as correct as possible using box kit bodies, including making spoilers, molding hoods and opening the windshields and wheel wells. The Slixx decals even had to be modified as they were made for the Comp Resins bodies. I love the 'pop' of these cars! The 1960's and 1970's Funny Cars and Dragsters were awesome.

Very cool dragster. I love seeing some of the lesser known cars vs the same box stock cars. Always makes for a cool collection in my book!

Thank you very much guys. This one was quite a challenge. Alan, thanks for the comments, and thank you for your service.

Love the older cars! Nice build on this one, and the 6 car set together is awesome. I am really into groups or sets for display. While more of my builds these days are Funny Cars, Dragsters and Customs, groups of similar cars on display looks fantastic on the shelf. Good job.

Love the Funny Cars, especially the Firebird.

Very nice Chevy. Color combination works very well with this car.

Thanks guys. Lee, I did finally got around to posting the other three 1/28 scale custom builds. The 2 seat Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter was by far the hardest, but I like this Neuiport the most because it is very visual with the pale silver, and really stands out in my display cabinet. Thanks again guys!

I have previously posted 3 of my custom built large 1/28 scale WW1 planes (the Nieuport 16, Fokker D2 and Hanriot fighters). These were built by combining multiple existing planes and doing a lot of custom fabrication. But after doing these, I was dying for a larger 2 seater, so I decided to build the cool Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter, a 2 seat plane used for recon, strafing and light hand held bombing. This was by far the tuffest build. Starting with 2 Sopwith Camels, and a lot of determination, I first cut, sectioned and remolded the longer fuselage. The cockpits required a bit of re-forming to get the right look, and the gun was scratch built. The cowl had to be completely remade to accommodate the single forward machine gun . 2 sets of wings had to be cut, sectioned and lengthened for close to proper proportions. Tail and landing gear were slightly modified and wing struts remade. Complete rigging and aluminum exhaust pipes were then added . This one was a beast, but with it's unique two tone paint scheme, it came out pretty nice. Kind of a Franken-Sopwith!

Thanks guys. Mike, there are no plans to my knowledge to make any new planes in this 1/28 scale. If they did, they probably would not be large bombers due to size. These fighters have a good 10-11 inch wingspan, just imagine a large bomber's size. Several of these plane molds go back to the late fifties. That is why I built a few of my own which Revell did not make. There may be some smaller 1/72 scale ones available. As a side note, I do have my 4th custom built plane to share sometime which I believe you may really like! Combination Fighter, Bomber, Recon plane.

Thanks Larry. And thanks for following so many of the guys posts and commenting...I know everyone appreciates it even if it is not always said.

Thanks Les, sorry for my confusion. I had made a post or two a while back, and they never changed so I was not sure if it would.

I recently joined, and had a basic posting question that I could not find the answer to. Not being on any other forums, I may just not be up on the proper way of doing things. When I post a new topic, my title text is not bold, and there is a star next to it vs a bold dot. Does this change at some point, or am I not doing something correctly when I post? I see you can do things with the actual text (like bold it), but I do not see the same feature for the title (unless I am just missing it). Thank you.

I recently posted my custom made Nieuport 16 that was made using a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker Dr1 in the large 1/28 scale. There were only 4 planes originally made by Revel in this scale long ago, and once each was built, I decided I still needed more. The only solution...make your own! Below are the next 2 custom made planes I did after the Nieuport. The tan plane is an early Fokker D2 with Mediterranean region graphics. I used the Dr1 Triplane to start, but had to do a lot of fabricating. The front area of the fuselage had to be completely rebuilt to get rid of the middle wing and to accommodate the single machine gun. Next I had to redo the nose cone, modify the headrest, then cut and re-contour the rear of the fuselage as the D2 was a bit thinner than the Triplane. The two wings had to be cut and modified, along with the struts. After a few small modes, full rigging, and period correct paint...it was completed. The second plane is a French built Hanriot HD-24. These planes were built for the Belgian Air Force, and this particular plane belonged to Belgian ace Willy Coppens. I used a Sopwith Camel for this plane as the Hanriot was originally a similar copy of the Camel. Some work was done on the wing center and edges, along with the tail, nose and machine gun area. Full rigging, aluminum exhaust tips, and hand painted 'thistle' graphics on the sides was applied (Willy's personal logo). I have only one left to post eventually, and it was by far the hardest of the bunch and quite unique. Stay tuned.

Sharp cars. I especially like the Motown car. I like the gold wheels, what paint is that shade?

Thank you guys. As a realitive newbe here, it is great to hear comments from other folks who also enjoy the hobby. Over the last few years, I have become excited over doing the Funny Cars and Dragsters, where as in the older days it was always customs and muscle cars. Love em all !

Thank you guys. I am glad there are still some die-hards out there that enjoy the really old planes. Doing the larger scale planes is a bit harder than smaller scales because you can see everything much better, especially on custom builds. Mike, I do not believe there are any large style bombers coming in the future. I have 2 more custom made fighters I will post in a few days, and the final of the 4 custom builds later. I think you will really like the final plane as it is kind of a bomber at times, just not a large multiple engine plane. Stay tuned.

Thanks guys. Bruce, if I had planes dangling from my ceiling when I was a kid.... I would have been next!!!!

Please note... I incorrectly stated I started with the Sopwith Camel body. I actually started with the Fokker Dr1 fuselage, and Camel wings. Sorry.

While I mostly build automotive models, I have this weird love of the old large scale Revel 1/28 scale WW1 planes. Unfortunately, they only produced 4 planes. The Fokker Dr1 is still made, but the Fokker D7, Sopwith Camel and the Spad have not been made in decades. I love this larger scale when on display, so once these 4 were built, what does a poor guy do then? The answer...MAKE YOUR OWN! When these planes were less expensive on E-Bay years ago, I purchased a few extra Dr1's and Camels with the intent to try to use multiple planes, along with a LOT of work, and build a few more planes not made by Revel. Over the last few years, I have built 4 new planes never made in the 1/28 scale. This is the first I will show, a French Neuiport 16. To achieve this build, I cut up one Sopwith Camel, used a couple parts from other kits, and had to make some things. Right off the bat, the wings had to be filled and completely re-contoured. Struts had to be made, and the headrest had to be modified. The fuselage, nose shell, wheel gear and tail had to be reworked. The whole forward cowl had to be remade/molded. The machine gun was scratch built. The pilot was even modified from a Dr1 standing pilot. This Neuiport has full rigging and aluminum exhaust tips. It was finished in the original aluminum looking shade of paint with weathering. The markings are of French ace Georges Guynemer. This plane was a tuff project, but fun to do. If everyone enjoys this build, I may post the other 3 planes I built when I can get some more pics. Remember, this plane is the large scale. The wingspan is a good 11 inches wide.

Thanks Bob. Always liked these cool kits back in the day too!

Well. every once in a while we all get the urge to build something a bit out of our normal wheelhouse. A couple years ago I decided to build the Tom Daniels Garbage Truck. I used my own paint scheme with a Mopar-ish blacked out hood (along with a pearl white box with a bit of weathering) and removed the back door for effect. I also painted a woodgrain bed floor in the truck using an old technique I use on airplane props and added a rear cover inside the box. Easy project, and fun to build.

Nice build on the Vega. I love the Durham cars and recently finished the '71 Camaro funnycar (hope to post someday). I have done a lot of funny cars, and several with Slixx decals. I believe some decals which get old dry out. If you get them direct from Slixx, they will usually work with you, or suggest what you should do. I had this happen a couple times, usually just on the larger wide stripes like the Candies and Hughes Cuda. Warm water, and a lot of patience sometimes.