The Modeling Hermit

I can't add much more in the line of exclamations than what's already done. You have captured the late fifties custom era quite elegantly.

Try Plastruct. They carry a full line of scratchbuilding plastic items.

You've got a nice attention to detail. I really like that Pontiac 4 door hardtop.

Dioramas are a lot more fun when you bring personalities to the figures. I already enjoy checking in to see what they're up to.

You did good. Enjoy the sandwich, and give John a broom. LOL

Are there any resin casters that make a Peterbilt 320 cab. I'm going to be building a Waste Management tandem axle refuse truck, so what chassis would be appropriate for it?

I do still have it, but it's packed away in a storage unit with most of my unbuilt kits. Someday I need to get in there and get it out.

When I lived in Iowa, I resided on a farm. There had been a chicken coop there many years before, and the 40' X 30' foundation was still in evidence. I got the idea to build a garage there, and my wife suggested that I do a mock-up to see whether it would fill my needs. What was supposed to be just some walls and a base, got out of hand, and became a full fledged diorama. The base is 1/4" plywood attached to 2" X 2" boards for a sub base. The walls are Tupelo that I ran through the bandsaw so that I could get the thinness that I wanted. I used Tupelo because it's strong and has an almost unrecognizable grain. I mixed Silica sand with house paint for the stucco affect. The models are painted trophies from the AMT Trophy Series kits. My wife did the magazines and the kitty litter bags. I'm sorry about the quality of the first few pictures, but they were taken about 12 years ago with a basic camera. The last few were shot more recently. first set second set

There is just something that kind of gets to a person about seeing these once mighty race cars rusting away. When new they were somebody's "pride". Then they were turned into racecars, and people cheered for them, and then they get tucked away and abandoned into a junkyard to quietly just rust way. You did a nice job on these dioramas.

Who's the Guy chowing down while everybody else is working? Give that man a broom and tell him to get busy. I really like your work.

I'm quite impressed with both of them. They're better than most of my kit builds. Welcome to the club.

This whole scene tells a story. John looks all excited about the new project. Ken looks like he's thinking that maybe today would be a good time to start a vacation, and Dave is thinking, "John, why didn't you leave this thing where you found it?" Roger this one is fun.

Overall, I like it. The colors are very much what one might find on a "beach rod". I'm not sure about the dual headlights, but their the only thing that detract from the car. I do think that you were wise in using two different sizes of lights.

You do some great work. The car looks so peaceful and calm. It's hard to imagine what that car was capable of.

Roger, would you please tell John that it's bad manners to point? LOL This is another fine build of one of Mopars most beautiful cars. When I was in school, my Dad had one something like this, only it was a tan color. Guys used to tease me when I drove the "Granny Wagon". I came back with a reply of having two backseats for the price of one, and the next thing I knew, wagons started popping up everywhere. Word soon spread though, and if we showed up with a station wagon to pick up our dates, their parents wouldn't let them go.

WOW!!! That's a whole page full of class. Those are excellent builds, and a credit to your talent.

Thanks for the pictures and suggestions. I already have the excellent book that was mentioned, and would recommend it for everybody that loved to visit those old dealers. I'm in possession of several of Robert's books and they're all well done. I was hoping to be able to find some more pictures to draw inspiration on, but my wife actually came up with a better suggestion. She was on a vacation awhile back, and got to visit a classic car dealership in Seattle, and now she wants to do a diorama based on classic cars. That works for me. I get to build the models, and she'll do the diorama. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get back to you, but I had a rather unpleasant viral bug yesterday. I really appreciate the effort that you fine people put into answering my question.

My favorite is big rigs, but I also build factory stocks, an occasional custom, and dirt track stock cars.

This is a nice selection of equipment and colors. It just all blends together quite well.

Didn't John's mother ever tell him that it's not polite to point? LOL I do love these Mopars, as well as almost all cars from '57-'61, and this one is a very nice representation.

That's a beautiful job on one of my favorite cars.

You were really close until the nice bright engine compartment. It's a great first try, so keep them coming.

This diorama really takes me back to my youth. Newton Iowa used to have an old 1/4 mile dirt track that resembled this.

I've scoured the internet and the books on dealerships that I have, but mostly all that I can come up with are external pictures. I need some good interior pictures of car dealerships from the latter fifties to the early sixties. I'm hoping to find posters and promotional literature in the background so that I can see how it's displayed. I'm sure that the internet is loaded with this, and I've just been looking in the wrong place, so if anybody could reset my GPS, and steer me in the right direction, I sure would appreciate it. If you could post pictures that would also be infinitely helpful also. Thanks.

I like the 210 impression that you've given it, and the stance. You've captured the era quite well.