Terry Jessee

Modelhaus '92 Chevy Caprice wagon and '50 Cadillac Coupe DeVille (I must have 20-25 of Don's kits) Promolite '59 Oldsmobile 98 hardtop and '61 Plymouth Savoy (no longer available)--Quality here is at LEAST as good as Modelhaus Aardvark/Modelmartin--This is Andy's '25 T Speedster body. I've been an Andy fan for 25 years. Hendrix '56 Ford Mainline sedan. Ron does some really cool '50s stuff. Missing Link '78 Ford Custom 500 sedan. I have a half dozen of ML's kits and they're ALL good. Reliable Resin Mustang LX. Some really unique stuff, and wonderful drag racing parts. Jimmy Flintstone Animal House "Deathmobile" There are a bunch with whom I've had really good luck. Besides the ones above are: Bandit Resins '72 Ford Torino coupe (not the fastback) and a gorgeous '70 Mustang Grande Model Factory Hiro '55 Porsche 550 (James Dean's "Little Bastard") Profil 24 vintage Porsches Fisher Pattern & Model vintage race cars--Ferraris, Porsches, the Cunningham C4R Perry's Resin '80? Chevy Malibu wagon (really nice casting) Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland (LOTS of little detail and conversion parts, and excellent service) Model Car World resin conversions--more really unique conversion kits Lance Sellers does neat Indy race car kits These aren't in any particular order. They're all consistently good quality. Service varies but most are four to six weeks (most parts are cast to order). Some are quicker than that. I have some others but they appear to be out of business. It's one of those "if you like it, GET it now" situations. They come and go. Terry

Well, Lyle, if I could build like that I'd be plumb happy. Beautiful. My favorite is the '40 Ford. Reminds me of the box art for the original version of AMT's coupe. Terry

Wow! I am now officially a "lizzard" fan! What great old stuff! Thanks for showing it. Terry

That's one of my favorite Tom Daniel designs. I wish Revell/Monogram could find the tooling. Those kits are expen$ive! Beautiful job. Terry

Found this on the accident. I was surprised to see it still on the web. Guess nothing dies there. http://www.modelcarhub.com/feature-behindthescenes.htm I thought it was fun to see again. Terry

Now THAT is a hot rod! What a wonderfully imaginative project! Terry

I had an original AMT 1989 Batmobile kit that I never finished, so last summer I got it put together. I saw one of the car show cars with the gloss black paint scheme and liked that better than the semi-gloss black paint on the film car. So I did mine that way. The display car had black wheels, too, but they were awful plain so I drybrushed a little silver on the bat emblems at the center of the wheels. I had fun with the dash, but you can't see it once the car is buttoned up. I know it's in there, though. Just out of the box. This was a fun diversion. Terry

That has to be one of the coolest two-wheeled models EVER!! Thanks for showing us that one. Terry

No GM or Ford? I have two different '59 Oldsmobiles and know of '59 Buicks (several models), '59 Fords, a '60 Ford sedan, a '69? Cadillac, and a number of others. About the only Mopar stuff was the '61 Plymouth series. But you're right. Tom's kits are top of the heap. He really does special stuff. Terry

With all the interest that Revell's new Kurtis Midget is generating (I can't wait!), I thought I'd post this shot of the Etzel Speed Classics Kurtis Midget. This was a resin and white metal kit that Chris Etzel produced in the '90s. The body and wheels were resin, while the running gear was metal. The grill was nickel. This is a model of a car that ran out of Nashville, TN in 1955. It was an injected Offenhauser, so it had the injector stacks poking out the side of the hood opposite the exhaust. You had to fabricate some small parts--the injector stacks, some brackets, and the tailpipe. It's a neat little kit--expensive, but the Revell kits will assume its' place now. AND you get a trailer. Terry

A few days ago I showed off a "Li'l Deuce Coupe"-based fuel coupe that a friend of mine left for me to photograph in 1999 and never retrieved. Well, here's another. This is a Monogram ZZ Topp '34 Ford done as a Bonneville coupe. The name is Lo-Cal ("low cal") Special, done as a take-off on So Cal Special. Terry

Wow.

Friend of mine built this about twelve years ago. He left it with me to photograph when I was working on "Hot Rod Model Kits" and never came back for it. This originally was Revell's "Little Deuce Coupe" kit. The basic engine is from a '69 Roadrunner, and the grill is from a Monogram '34. Terry

Here's a couple more AMT '40 Fords. The first one is the sedan delivery. This was built pretty much out of the box. I used up a set of SATCO wide whites I had. Otherwise, it's outa the box. Didn't fit very well. This is the "good" side. This '40 showed up first in a story on flame jobs. When I was looking for something for the cover of "Hot Rod Model Kits" I dug this out. It showed up on the cover in unfinished form, and it sits that way in the case today. Here's the cover shot. Terry

This is the Modelhaus conversion for the Ayala Brothers '40 Merc. The actual car was black, but I liked this color better. Sold this awhile back. Wish I still had it. Terry

Holy cow! Is that the Lindberg kit? That's beautiful. What wheels are those? Terry

When I was working on "Hot Rod Model Kits," one of the categories that kept popping up was all the show rod kits that were produced in the '60s and early '70s. I built a few things for the book (most of which were not included), but I think they're fun. And they seem to be getting a kind of revival. So here's a few. MPC's "Jolly Rodger." This was designed by Bill Depuy, then sent to Harry Bradley for a little more flash. The story of the development is detailed in the book. The Jolly Rodger was an offspring of the "Beverly Hillbillies TV Truck." This photo was supposed to accompany the story, but didn't make the cut. AMT's "Li'l Stogie." When I was working on the book, I really wanted one of these for some reason but the originals were just too expensive. When Round2 re-released it, I grabbed one and built it. This one and the Jolly Rodger were a lot of fun because of all the textures--cloth, wood, leather, and rusty metal. These are silly, but they're also a lot of fun. Tom Daniel's "Red Baron." This is probably Monogram's top-selling kit of all time. Some estimates put sales at seven million. The original version of the "Fast Buck" was this "Jinx Express." I think the friendly folks at Brinks didn't like this because it got changed pretty quickly. Tom Daniel's "T'rantula." When asked where this idea came from, he said, "I just like spiders." Funny story about this model. I was trying to make the little spider (originally it was designed to be a pin) a little better looking, so I wound up using black flocking to make the body hairy. One night I was up working at the computer when I heard this "thump!" on my hobby bench. When I got down there, I found my wife standing next to the bench with a slipper in her hand. There were a number of little bright green pieces scattered on the bench, including the hairy little body. She looked at me and said, "I think I just broke one of your toys." This guy is the second version. Terry

This the AMT "Fireball 500" kit. The car was actually called the "XSSR," which stood for Experimental Super Stock Roadster (or something like that). This was a '66 Barracuda when George Barris started with it. It wound up essentially as a prop for the movie. I lowered the front a bit. The model is just built out of the box. Photos don't show it very well but there is a fade from the white to the red--white, yellow, orange, red. The windshields are tinted with Tamiya Clear Yellow. Terry

This is the Daisy Duke CJ-5 built to look like a '60s Isreali Defense Force Jeep from the Six Days War in 1966. The top is from the old MPC Korean War Staff Car. Here you can see the radio mount and tailgate I fabricated. Military siped tires and the wheels are from Hendrix Manufacturing. The radio is a tool box from somewhere with photoetch and plastic bits for knobs and switches. The phone came from an MPC Dukes Dodge. This paint scheme depicts an IDF Jeep with recognition stripes painted on the hood so Isreali Air Force planes could recognize it as a friendly. Terry

That sounds like an interesting build-off. I should get back to this. That's an old MPC whitewall in front of it. It's I/25 scale, solid resin. In the meantime, here's a couple of LSRs I've already built. Terry

I don't know--I kind of like that '56 I have. Terry

Since the topic of four door kits came up, here are a few projects-to-be or projects in the works. All are resin kits. Modelhaus 1960 Plymouth Savoy--complete kit Promolite 1961 Plymouth Savoy--beautiful, but unfortunately, this is no longer available. Modelhaus 1962 Chrysler Newport R%R Vacuumcraft 1966-ish Checker Marathon--This is a tough kit to put together, with LOTS of fitting and filing, but it's the only one out there. This will be a beater Checker taxi. Modelhaus 1975 Chevrolet Impala R&R Vacuumcraft 1969 Plymouth Belvedere (conversion for AMT's '68 Roadrunner) Revell '94 Chevy Impala SS--so far, I've cut the trunk out of a '91 Caprice and installed it. This will eventually be a 1996 Chevy Caprice. Lots of little changes--mirrors have to be pillar mounted, and there are others. You can also modify the Impala SS trunk by filling in the spoiler "trough" with superglue and microballoons, as shown here. This will be a 1994 Caprice police cruiser. This is an upgraded CMW/Testors 2001 Crown Victoria. Note that the trim has been removed from the front door. This has the light bar mounting holes filled, holes drilled for the pillar mounted spotlights, modified wheels, and other changes. That oughta get you started. Terry

Here are a few more door sedans. For more four-door projects, check the "On the Bench" section. Cavalier (Australia) 1974 Holden Torana done as a Main Force Patrol Interceptor from Mad Max. MPC/AMT 1978 Dodge Monaco Modelhaus/Revell 1981 Chevrolet Impala Revell 1991 Chevrolet Caprice (rear suspension has been lowered slightly) Brookfield Collectors Guild 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora as a DARE car Classic Metalworks/Testors 2001 Ford Crown Victoria (diecast kit) Terry

This is kind of duplication for some people, but the topic of four doors has come up, so here's a few. Monogram 1934 Duesenberg-Weymann Torpedo Phaeton Revell 1991 Chevrolet Caprice Revell 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS Lindberg 1996 Ford Crown Victoria (done as a Men In Black "update") Wave "Nemo's Car" Modelhaus '48 Tucker "Gotham City Police" (patterned after NYPD in the late '40s) All-American Models/AMT 1955 Chevy Johan 1962 Rambler (LAPD didn't use these, but it was a fun idea) Johan 1968 Plymouth Fury AMT/Hobby Heaven 1970 Ford Galaxie backdated to a '69 Custom 500 More to come.... Terry