Terry Jessee

Many of the cars you're referring to are already done. Model Car World offers a '63 Pontiac Tempest wagon (and a coupe). http://mcwautomotivefinishes.com/resin/grocerygetter.jpg Terry

Mine had vacuformed windows. That was it. Terry

The Modelhaus does a number of really nice four-door conversions and full (curbside kits). I have quite a few: '60 Plymouth Savoy '57 Chevy 150 '65 Ford Custom 500 '70 Dodge Coronet '67 Chevy Impala wagon '73 Chevy Caprice wagon '93 Chevy Caprice wagon '93? Buick wagon '72 Ford Custom 500 '81 Chevy Impala They also have several vintage Mopar wagons. Tom Coolidge at Promolite 2000 does '59 Buick and Oldsmobile sedans, a '57 Buick sedan, and did offer a '61 Plymouth Savoy sedan but that is now sold out. And of course, R&R offers a bunch of stuff including a Checker cab. I prefer the Modelhaus and Promolite kits, though. They require much less cleanup and fitting. Terry

Yeah--just like that. TJ

That wood effect is fabulous. Outstanding work.... T

If I didn't need the body, would it be possible to order just the chrome parts--grill, headlights, bumper?? Thanks. Terry

Wow--what gorgeous work. That is how that is supposed to look. Terry

I showed some finished Caprice projects in "Under Glass." Here are some "in the works" projects. This is an Alaska State Police Caprice. This is built from the Impala with Modelhaus wheels. The light bar is from Ken Gipson, while the Lo-Pro siren is from Glenn Sokolofsky. Neither is available today. This hasn't changed much since 1998 (ouch!!) Here's a rear view. You can see the Impala spoiler. I liked the look of it, so I left it. On this Impala, I've grafted in the truck from a Caprice and added a small chrome strip from Evergreen plastic strip. This will be a '96 Caprice. I have different mirrors and other small parts to update it. Here's another method for filling the big trough in the Impala trunk (for fitting the spoiler). This was done with superglue and microballoons. Then the trunk was shaped and the bottom lip carved to match the earlier Caprice shape. Note that the rear quarter windows are opened up to reflect the appearance of a Caprice rather than an Impala. This will be a '94 in Wyoming Highway Patrol markings. Here's a '92 Modelhaus Caprice wagon. Wheels are Modelhaus, too. Another shot of the Modelhaus wagon. This is a neat kit--one of those I really need to get back to. Terry

I can't remember if I've shown these or not. There is some discussion of "jellybean" cars in the commentary on the new Moebius Hudson (can't wait!!), so I thought I'd show off a few examples of one of my favorite kits. We started "Project Caprice" as a letter-writing campaign in that other magazine in 1989. At the time, I was trying to convince Bob Johnson to produce the "brick" Caprice/Impala. Monogram did release the kit, but it was the '91--the "killer whale" version instead. Still, I was pretty tickled with it, and have built a number of Caprice models over the last 18 or so years. Here's a few. This was the first one. This was built for a "first look" story in Car Modeler in 1992. This model was built from an orange test shot. There were no plated parts, so the grill and hubcaps had to be done with Baremetal foil. Florida decals were from Fred Cady. I got the colors right, but the yellow should come down further on the rear fenders. This is a Montana Highway Patrol cruiser. Decals are from Chimneyville. The light bar was (I think) from the AMT/Ertl Taurus police car kit. This is a '91 Vermont State Police Caprice. This one featured a lowered rear suspension. Decals were from Chimneyville. The light bar came from Dave Panek. He made each light bar by hand. This Delaware cruiser was built for Kalmbach's "Build & Detail Scale Model Trucks & Emergency Vehicles." It's truly out of the box, except for Fred Cady decals. This is a '93 Caprice built from the '91. Before Revell released their '94 Impala SS, I had started this conversion. I opened up the rear fenders (smaller than most people at the time) and had most of the work done just as Revell released the Impala. So I grabbed a set of taillights to finish it. Decals are bits and pieces from Chimneyville and other sources; color and markings are my own just for fun. As it turned out, the fender openings on this were much closer to Revell's version, so I was happy with that. "Your Mom's Car" is a plain Jane Caprice sedan modeled after the car that was featured in the introductory brochure from Chevrolet in '91. Wheel covers are resin pieces from All-American Models. I added a little pinstripe at the beltline using some model railroad striping decals. The toughest part was filling in the mounting holes for the cop car parts, especially on the left A-pillar. That required resculpting the chrome trim around the window. And of course, here's an Impala SS. I finally did get a "flying brick," but it came from the Modelhaus as a fairly heavy conversion for the Revell Caprice. Here's my version, an '81. For some more Caprice projects, check the "On the Bench" section. Terry

Is that molded as one piece (with grill and headlights molded in) or is it the body with separate grill and headlights? T

Look what I just found. Terry

I thought his kits were pretty interesting. At times, the quality was iffy but the models were worth the effort. At one time I had the Abarth, a Cord sedan, the Ferrari Lusso, and this monster. The Golden Arrow is the only one I built. I've sold off the rest. Here's the Golden Arrow with another rare resin kit--the Etzel 1928 Stutz Blackhawk. These were contemporaries so it's fun to show them together. The Arrow was a real bear to put together--lots of pinholes in the radiator screens, and you had to scratchbuild a lot of parts including most of the interior. I bought this from Ed Cervo at Island Collectibles (always great service, by the way). When I sent him photos, he told me that he had never seen another built example. I'm told that there were only about 25 of these kits produced before Guido crashed on the mountain. Rare and unusual, and I don't know that I'd ever want to tackle another one. It was a trial. Terry

THAT is the working definition of "drop dead gorgeous!" It's stunning. Terry

Here's another one. Terry

I have two. This one: And this one: Terry

This is part of a goofy idea I had. The concept is that this is actually a movie prop that depicts an Isreali Defense Force (IDF) Jeep M38A1 during the 1967 Six Days War between Isreal and Syria. This started out as an MPC/AMT "Daisy's Jeep" CJ-5 kit. The top and top bows were part of an early release of this kit in about 1972--the Korean War Staff Car kit. These were a gift from my friend and Jeep model collector Walt Tuss. Seats and steering wheel are from the MPC MB43 WWII Jeep kit (also known as the "Hogan's Heroes Jeep.") Wheels and tires are from Hendrix Manufacturing. One of the major issues with building an accurate early Jeep from the MPC kit is that the kit has always contained the wrong tires--mud and snow tires rather than this military style tire. This conversion kit also includes narrowed wheels, but you will still have to massage them a bit to make them fit the tire. The stripe on the hood is a recognition stripe so Isreali aircraft wouldn't strafe their own vehicles. Decals are from a 1/35 Isreali tank set produced by Verlinden products. Here are a few in-progress shots. I hadn't built a CJ-style Jeep in about 25 years, so when Walt gave me the top, this was just a natural. Terry

I picked up an AAM '56 Chrysler at SLC last spring. Interesting kit.... Terry

I wonder, too. I didn't really have any problems with mine. I don't recall any real issues with the body. Terry

Wow! What gorgeous work. No apologies necessary for that hood. That's amazing. Terry

I'm so sorry. That's a huge loss. You're in my thoughts. Terry

This, by the way, is probably one of the oldest 1/24 car kits of one of the oldest examples of automobile. This is Mod-Ac's model of the 1877 Selden Patent Wagon (patented in 1977, but not actually built until about 1911). The Mod-Ac model dates back to about 1946. This one appears to be factory-built. And here's another sort-of oldie but goodie. This is the Minichamps 1/24 1885 Benz Patent Motor Wagen. It's kind of a promo. Terry

If you're interested, I did a story for Car Modeler's 2002 annual called "The Veteran Motorcar." It includes a pretty comprehensive listing of kits (done by Kirk Bell), and discussion of some pretty unusual antique and classic car kits. Terry

You mean like this one? Actually, you could do this. Terry

Funny story about this. At one point, I decided that I didn't need this nearly ONE-OF-A-KIND CONVERSION (!!!!!!!!) so I sold it on eBay. At the time, the Dukes kit was out of production and I got this nasty note from some kit collector who told me I had no business cutting up such a valuable vintage kit, and what did I think I was doing, anyway? In relative terms, if this Plymouth conversion is still out there I'd bet it's worth a lot more than the Dukes kit these days. Terry

Bandit Resins has that wheel set. http://www.banditresins.com/resin_parts.html It's nicely done. Terry