The Modeling Hermit

I guess that would make me Stitch. LOL

I would really like to see four door versions of just about any car from the 40s through the early 70s. I really would like to see the suicide door offerings of the 49-51 Mercury, 39/40 Ford on up through the 48 Ford.

That's a nice dedication Jerry. I guess that a proper toast to those pioneer drivers would be to tip a bottle in their honor. The question is, which method is preferred; jar or jug over the shoulder. I'll go for the jar. I never could get the positioning right for that jug. I got more down my shirt than in me. Happy Father's Day

That is cool.

I'm not entirely sure of what you're asking, but that could be just because I've got a mild cold. This is a 70 1/2 Camaro from AMT that I converted to replicate a car that I drove in the mid-seventies. This is what was raced on the dirt tracks of Iowa at that time. I used a combination of parts box roll bars and plastruct dowels for the roll cage assembly. On all of the subjects, I cheated with the decals, and simply used what was available. These two pictures are representative of what was driven in the same area in the sixties. The roll cages in them are simple plastic sprue. All of these cars started as stock AMT kits. My knowledge came from first hand experience of almost living around race cars in my earlier years. The more research you can do, the easier your project will be. I hope this helps, and good luck.

My wife has been trying to get me to build one of these for years. Yours might be just the inspiration to get me to do it.

I do love sci-fi, and these would fit right into dome books I've read. Cool builds.

Sometime back I went to a yardsale just as it was being closed, and the people there had a box full of junk models and parts. It was a very large box; about 3 feet square, and because of my timing, I got the whole box for $5.00. In my diffing through it I found this 59 Edsel parts car in an original box. I should have left it there, but I couldn't resist seeing what was under all of the "custom" parts that were glued on it. The poor thing didn't turn out very good, but here's what I ended up with. I grew tired of working on it, but mavbe someday I'll get renewed energy, and work on the tires, wheeels, and bumpers...or not.

That's a nice save of am old truck. That grill style was used on the 78-79 models, and I always thought that it gave them a "tuff" look. I have one in my driveway that I just gave to my daughter. I now get the fun of "playing" withit while she spends her money on it. LOL

In the late 60s and early 70s, I listened to WHO radio out of DesMoines Iowa. At 10:00 PM the would have 15 minutes of news and would follow that with a 15 minute program called Lum & Abner. That was followed by several hours of country music aimed at the truckers. Lum & Abner was originally from the WWII era, and were often heard promoting war bonds. KIOA radio, also out of DesMoines, had a series called Chicken Man, which ran during the mid to latter part of the 60s. I've never been able to find either Lum & Abner nor Chicken Man since.

That's beautifully detailed.

Billy, go into the slot car section of the hobby shop, and check out their selection of tires and wheels.

This is what happens when one gives up on a Freightshaker. Could you live with yourself after doing such a dastardly deed? LOL

Jim, you just made my day. Racing water trucks is a race I want to see. LOL Seriously, the midwest has a lot of oval dirt tracks. I grew up in Oskaloosa Iowa, and my family was involved racing. Our town had a half mile dirt track, as did a town that was south of Ottumwa, called Eldon. I raced stock cars at both of these tracks, back in the seventies. Knoxville was 25 miles to the west of Oskaloosa, and it's half mile track is famous for sprint car racing. Before races could be run, the tracks had to have water sprayed on them, and then vehicles would drive around on them for awhile to pack them down. This then is the purpose for the water truck. Many were decommissioned fire trucks and some were strange homemade rigs. The reason that I mentioned the different towns, is that funding to the track would determine the quality of the rig. In the 60s and 70s, Oskaloosa and Knoxville were said to be the best dirt tracks in the state of Iowa, some said they were the best in the world. I don't know about that because I didn't get to race on all of the world's tracks, but I do know that they were good, and their communities took pride in them. Image was important, right down to the water truck, and they were kept in nice condition. Eldon was a small town, and it's more modestly funded track's rig fit more of what one would expect to see a water truck look like. Most tracks were low funded operations, many simply cut into an unused pasture by a farmer, and their water trucks were vehicles that were on their last legs. The rig that I have pictured represents a fire truck that after being replaced by a newer, and hopefully, much larger unit, would have been passed down to the community's race track.

How about one more picture of this little Dodge? This one was taken outside.

Thanks for bringing this back around again. It pays to do some serious digging.

The problem is that we rebuild them too. I went through my stash, but I've rebuilt all of my old clunkers. Sorry I couldn't be of help, but good luck to you.

Those are some nice builds. I find it quite satisfying to save an old beater. They may be much more work, but they're worth it.

I don't think there is such a thing as "the best". No matter how good one gets at anything, there will always be that time when they look at somebody's work in awe and say, "How did you do that?" I think the phrase you were actually wanting was, "Who do we find most inspiring?"

Blues, Gospel, Bluegrass

Yes it is a resin cab, but I'm not sure of who makes it. I heard that it was made by a company called Frontier, but I've never checked it out. I purchased it on ebay, and it shows up quite often.

I generally build trucks, but I also build cars when I'm in the mood. I don't have a well stocked hobby shop locally, so I have to order almost everything. For cars that adds about $10.00, and for trucks $12-15.00 for shipping. I prefer to choose my own detail items, so that can add another $25-100.00, and sometimes more for trucks. I'm seeing improved quality across the line, as the companies are finding that more adults are purchasing. I do wonder about the future of the hobby for our youth builders and those on limited incomes.

Jon My search was probably too limited. I searched for 56/57 Chevies from the Navy. Art I actually happen to have some Gull gray sitting around from when I did a ship model for my son. What's funny is that he asked around and was told that they were "battle ship gray"; like that's helpful. Thanks to both of you for your help and time. What engine and transmission would have been used?

I have some Revell 56 Delrays and now some 57 150s around. I'd like to turn one of them into a 4 door, and decorate it as a Navy car from that era. Does anybody have any pictures of such items; color would be best, but B/W would also be helpful. TIA

This is an excellent build, with great attention to detail.