Wild Child

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 There were only 4 planes originally made by Revel in this scale long ago, and once each was built, I decided I still needed more.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.

Nice 109. I love the WW2 fighters, and the WW1 biplanes. Always good to see them on here.

Beautiful car Jeff. I have the Hardees Raineer Racing Salvinos car I hope to do some day....after I get all my Funny Car projects done. Sharp!

Beautiful build, really has 'the look'. Out of curiousity, are the pinstripes from the actual kit, or did you use pinstriping on it? If so, what striping did you use? I have not found anything I like that is readily available.

Great looking car Scott. Love the look.

Hi Todd. I primarily use rattle cans, and over the years I have learned a lot of techniques to achieve different results. I also have old bodies I often use as test mules. In the case of this car, I first applied a coat of pearl white (for base effect). I then used Tamiya transparent orange. This stuff is really watery, and first comes out very yellowish looking. After several coats to build up the color I wanted, I finally got the right shade. The real car is a bit like creamsicle orange, so the yellowish orange worked out great. Then a coat of Pearl clear, followed by decals, then lots of clear. Cool result.

Mike, I never knew the car moved on to John Force. I do know a lot of these cars were reused by other teams often, but that is great historical info. Thanks for the input.

One of my favorite Funny Cars in my Charger group is the Beaver Brothers cool LA Charger. Originally owned by Nelson Carter, this car was featured at the '69 Winter Nationals as the Super Chief. Not long after, it was sold to the Beaver Brothers and turned into the LA Hooker. A little known fact is that the brothers were professional competitive fisherman, hence the Hooker terminology on their cars. This car is based off of the Polar Lights Hawaiian Charger. It features a nicely detailed 426 Hemi and a high gloss finish over the Slixx decals and pearl paint. I always liked this cool creamsicle type pearl orange color. The LA Hooker and Chi Town Hustler Chargers were said to have done the loudest and smokiest burnouts of the day.

Nice car Grant. I have one of the Rainier Racing Yarborough '83 Pontiac Hardee's cars I have been itching to do. I like the orange and white.

Thank you for your comments. I have been asked a few times about the hood/deck pattern. Initially I laid down a couple light coats of gold, then masked off the lines and shot a couple more heavier coats so I could get the ghost line pattern. I then did the red pattern by hand. As a side note, I have found a lot of gold pattern box decals are a bit transparent and do not show well.

Cool Digger, love the nostalgic dragsters. Great vintage look.

Sharp Vette, love the overall look. Is the chrome on the blower stock from the kit, or is it spray chrome? I only ask because I have never used the spray chrome, and often wonder how it looks.

You have some cool drag cars. I am new to this site, and I love the whole Building the Covers theme.

Thank you for the kind words. It is fun to see what other folks think of all these various cars fellow builders do. Variety is what makes our hobby cool. Thanks again.

Hello, I am new to this forum and just tried to post a topic under Drag cars. Everything went well, and I hit submit, but topic did not show up under Drag cars. Pics are in my attachment area though, but no post. Do the posts go up immediately, do they take time to appear, or is there a problem? Just curious, 1st post.

Hello All, I am new to this forum, but after seeing all the cool builds, I decided to join. While I had mostly built Muscle Cars and Customs in my younger years, I have more recently rekindled my love for building and have been doing a lot of Funny Cars and Dragsters. I focus on groups of cars that can be displayed together, such as in dioramas. Below are two Cougars I did for my 1969 Winter Nationals diorama. The Dyno Don car was built as box stock and won that class at the Detroit Motor City NNL event a few years ago. The high gloss paint features a hand applied paint pattern which really accents the Candy Red. Schartman's '69 started off as another Dyno Don car, but I modified the nose and tail, then fabricated a spoiler, scoop and fuel tank. The SOHC motor has been nicely detailed, and the paint finish has been buffed to a nice luster. The figures I custom made, including the ABC remote camera, and are also part of my '69 Winter Nationals diorama.