The Modeling Hermit

I love 72 Fords, and you've done an excellent job with this one.

That is clean and smooth.

Last years show was much better than the previous years. They took out most of the "human drama" and replaced it with more of the "this is how the job gets done" drama. What I liked about Lisa, is the fact that she didn't feel that she was there to be eye candy. She took/takes her job seriously, and she's there to do a job, and that job is to drive a truck. I did feel one bit of "drama" with her, and that's when she went out on the ice for the first time. It reminded me of the first time that I drove stock car. You suddenly realize the seriousness of your situation. For her it was nothing but water under a thin layer of ice, and for me it was being surrounded by drivers that actually knew what they were doing, and could "eat me alive". There is a natural tendency to play for the camera, but I think that Lisa came off as the most "real" driver on the show. I hope they handle the show in much the same way as they did last year. We have Carlisle trucking her on the island, and I've met some of the drivers that have driven that road. They say that the biggest danger doesn't come so much from the newer drivers, but from the veterans. The new ones are on their guard, and just intimidated enough to watch what they're doing. Those that are at the most risk are the vets who know the road like the back of their hands and have made so many runs that some things drop into a routine. They get tired and let their guard done just for an instant, and that's when they get snagged.

It's looking great so far. That would be impressive with a box drom body and a moving van trailer. I might even have to try that myself.

What's going on with you sounds like a lot. I know what you're talking about with the waiting. It seems like I've always got several stalled projects that are waiting on some item.

This is a 1849 Dodge water truck that I built for a dirt race track. Most tracks run on limited budgets, but this truck is as a former fire truck that has been offered a second life on a better funded dirt track.

Welcome to the forum James. This is a nice place to come and talk shop. I generally build big rig trucks, but I've built a tidy sum of cars in my life. I hope to see some of your work.

Model Masters (Testors) has some water based paints, as well as most, if not all of the major paint manufacturers. A good hobby store will be able to aim you in the right direction.

Mine probably are not as good as others can make, but after I've wrapped the hose with silver tape, I epoxy a small piece of very fine solder on the join. A company called Crartpak (spelling) makes the tape, and the solder can be obtained from a good electronics store or possibly from a hardware store.

Dave When you build yours, take the time to detail the grill. Every time I look at this picture, that undetailed grill just screams at me. I just use water based flat black craft paint. Paint the grill with it, and when it's dry, take a soft rag and gently wipe over the raised areas. That will leave the flat black in the recesses, and make the grill look much more realistic. Compare it to the one I have pictured here, and you'll see what I mean. Others may have a better suggestions, but that's a cheap and easy one that I now use.

Welcome to the forum. I like the chopped Ford and the GTX. You do good work.

You've done an excellent job on this truck.

I always thought it was a shame to see those old customs discarded. I hope that somebody does restore it. I remember years ago that there was an effort to find old Barris customs and restore them.

Here's one that I built several years ago. It's what a common high schooler's street custom might have looked like in 1959. Sorry about the lady, but I couldn't get her to look at the camera.

I'm sad to see this, but not surprised. We've had too many years where parent companies have essentially just rebadged the same model. In this case the Mercury was just a rebadged and minor cosmetic chamges, and then had a higher pricetag added to it over the Ford varient. The thing is basically a Ford, so why would people pay more for it. Companies could get by with this practice back in the 50s and 60s, where there were major styling differences, and a car name had a status to it, but that's all chanfed now.

James The bike I've pictured only set me back around a thousand U.S. dollars with all of the goodies on it. I'm weight challenged also, and live on a mountain island, and I'm at 85 feet above sea level, and just a few hundred feet from the ocean, so everything is uphill from here. With 24 gears, it cuts those hills down to size. There is a huge difference between the quality and attributes of a bike shop bike and a department store bike. I've seen many people turned off from biking because of department store bikes, but turned back on when they went to a bike shop, and got a bike that was properly designed and sized to their needs. Give it another try. Try and find something like the one I'm showing because it's a good commuting bike as well as some off road use.

Here's what i use most of the time. It's a Specialized Globe, set up for commuting. I only drive when I have to.

Steve I have one son in Washington state, and another around Chicago taking some sort of medical training.

I think it has much to do with who's selling and buying. Most people will be able to buy cheap and sell high. I seem to have the opposite actions. It seems that when I want to buy something, I pay through the nose, but when I want to sell something, the bottom drops out.

That's a very impressive build.

Those are both nice trucks.

Steve, welcome to the forum. I have two sons who are in active duty in the Navy, so as one Navy father to another, tell your son thanks for his service. This is a fun forum with talent spread over a wide area of interests. I primarily build big rigs, and I can tell you that I've learned a lot from this forum and another one devoted to big rigs. These people are quick to lend suggestions, ideas, and whatever help that they can. Someday I hope to be as good as most of the rest of these builders.

Before this kit was introduced, we were stuck with warping promos. We begged the model companies for a kit for a long time. They finally responded with this very fine kit, as well as the Chrysler 300 hardtop. This was followed with a flood of complaints about accuracy issues. I've built several kits of both subjects, and can tell you that they are very nice representatives of their subject. I had the chance to compare both with 1:1 versions at a Goodguys car show in Iowa before moving here. When placed next to the real car, you could find inaccuracies, but one had to actually be looking for them. If you demand absolute perfection, than this is not a kit for you, as would be probably every kit out there. There are those who will find fault with any kit, no matter what level of perfection it has obtained. I'm thankful that I'm not one of them, or I'd be missing out on the fun of building a very good kit. I've found no fit issues with the kits that I've built so far. I did have one where the body was warped just slightly, and wasn't noticeable until I attempted to mate the chassis to it. I got the two attached, but I never was sure just exactly what I did to accomplish that endeavor. If you have a kit, build it and enjoy it. Other than a promo, that's hard to find, it's the only game in town. I've got several unbuilts of both kits, but as others have already stated about theirs, I'm not parting with mine.

One of these days I'm going to get a Duesenberg to build a wrecker from.

This brings back lots of memories. I've owned both a 72 Galaxie 3 door hardtop and station wagon, and I loved them both. Yours is looking great.