Terry Jessee

What a lot of people don't know is that I'm a real fan of Porsche and Porsche models. This one is from Profil24. It's actually a Volkswagen, Type 60K10, built in 1939 and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Three of these cars were built for a cross-country road race that was supposed to be run between Rome and Berlin. Obviously, that never happened. Only one car has survived. You can see the developing lines of the later 356 coupes here, and many consider this to be the original Porsche sports car, although it was never called that. Interestingly, this car was first designed with tandem seating like an old biplane. After the war it was converted to side-by-side seating, which is the configuration the kit provides. It's a neat little curbside. I've got most of it painted now, and just need to put it together. Terry

The Modelhaus makes a nice conversion kit for the AMT '49 Mercury. Terry

A while back when I posted the photos of the Golden Arrow and Goldenrod models, I mentioned that I also had a 1/25 scale 1963 Spirit of America jet car model in resin, too. Someone asked about it, but I never got back to the subject. Here are some shots of the model. The first are raw castings. I have a couple finished photos, too, but I didn't build that model. It was built by Dave--and Dave, I lost your last name. If you see this, please let me know so I can give you credit for this gorgeous work. In any case, this was cast by Tory Mucaro at Scaleworks Models. The original master is a model built by Art Russell. Art was a pattern maker for Revell, and a friend of Craig Breedlove. When Breedlove was trying to obtain sponsorship for his run at Bonneville, Art built a master and duplicated it in fiberlas and resin (remember, this was 1963, nearly 20 years before resin casting was well-known in the hobby) so Breedlove could show the concept to sponsors. Tory was able to obtain one of Art's originals and cast this model from it. Tory tells me that my raw casting is the last one because he ran out of decals. He no longer has the master, and his molds are getting pretty torn up. My example has some "issues," but nothing I can't clean up. This is very accurate, and is about 18.5 " long (the real car was 37 feet long). I gotta fire this up and get it painted. It's mostly just a paint job because it's a one-piece SOLID casting that weighs about three pounds! So, there's your information. And Dave, let me know who you are. I apologize for losing your name. Terry

That is a gorgeous car. Now if I can just figure out a way to convince my wife to let me have one..... Terry

Yes, it does. Seagrave ran it at Daytona Beach in, I think, August of 1929. The day after he set his record an American driver named Lee Bible was killed trying to beat it. Seagrave decided that trying to push the record would be insensitive, so they loaded up and headed home to England. The car and Seagrave were toured all over England and Europe, then the car was put into storage. In 1958, it was donated to the English National Motor Museum at Beaulieu where it has been displayed since. For all intents, it never ran again. They say it has less than 30 miles on it. The engine was the same Napier Lion used in the Supermarine S-4 air racer. Malcolm Campbell also used the Lion in a couple of his Bluebird cars. Here's a link: http://jalopnik.com/photogallery/irvingnapier/1000556781 Terry

Here's a shot of the completed Scalekraft "Golden Arrow." This car ran at Daytona Beach in 1929 with Henry Seagrave at the wheel and set the land speed record at 231 mph. The kit is from a now-defunct South African company called Scalekraft. It's a real challenge. This is a nice four-foot model. Get any closer and you'll see lots of flaws. But it's done. I figure I filled more than 200 pinholes in the resin, and some of them came back! Oh, well.... Here's a shot with a contemporary. The little car is the Etzel Speed Classics 1928 Stutz Blackhawk. I've always thought it was one of the prettiest cars ever designed. Driver Frank Lockhart was killed attempting to set the land speed record at Daytona in 1928. Now to get to work on the '63 Spirit of America..... Terry

Well, we're coming along here. Got it up on its' wheels. I'll let this dry overnight, then add the radiators. Have a few small parts to finish, but it's coming along. Terry

This is my current thrash. I'm trying to get this done for GSL in a couple weeks. It's a very rare Scalekraft resin kit (they're out of business) of the 1929 Irving-Napier Special, popularly known as the "Golden Arrow." This car set the land speed record at Ormond Beach (now Daytona Beach) in 1929. Speed was 231 mph. In this shot the model is just set together. Up on its wheels. The body work was essentially "draped" around the engine, which was a 23 liter (1400 cubic inch!) Napier Lion aircraft engine as used in the Supermarine S.4 plane that Supermarine built for air racing in the late '20s. Horsepower was listed as 930+. The driver, Henry Seagrave, set the LSR at 3,250 rpm. Designers felt the car could go easily to 4,000 rpm, but Seagrave chose to leave things as they were after an American driver was killed trying to break his record that same day. The car has fewer than 30 miles on it. Here it is with paint on it. The name Golden Arrow came from the color, obviously, and from the arrow shape of the engine cover. The '64 Impala gives you an idea of relative size. This is a simple curbside, but you have to fabricate about 30 parts from plastic tube, rod, and sheet stock (included in the kit), along with brass wire and aluminum tubing in several sizes. The structure in front of the model is the chassis plate with the interior bucket assembled. There are templates for the interior bulkheads, but they didn't fit as drawn so I used a contour gauge to get a more accurate shape. The little halfmoon piece is the dashboard. Got a ways to go, but I'm hoping to have it done for Salt Lake. This thing was riddled with pinholes, especially in the big radiators on both sides. I bet I've filled about 300 of them. And I keep finding others. I like LSR cars, and have tried to collect all the 1/24 and 1/25 examples I can find. This is the Etzel Speed Classics 1928 Stutz Blackhawk. This is the 1965 Summers Brothers Goldenrod from Jimmy Flintstone. Terry Terry

I just took a look at your "Painkiller." THAT'S amazing! (The rest of you'd best go to the link) http://public.fotki.com/vsuarez666/voodoo-...er/dsc0017.html Terry

And a few more.... These are all done with washes, dry brushing, and carefully applied pastels. Much of it is airbrushed because that gives you much better control, and allows you to spray coats of paint on in a more subtle fashion. Terry

Here's some ideas.... Weathering should be a subtle process, applied in layers just as nature would do it. The rear apron on this '32 Ford was treated with a base coat of red primer and light dusting of black primer. Then I dabbed some rubber cement on it randomly. Once that was done, I painted over it with a light pea green. Let that dry and peel up the rubber cement to reveal the rusty primer look underneath. I also gave this a wash with Rustall (model railroad product) rust and black, then scrubbed some dirt into it with my fingers. Similar finish on the hood and radiator, just painted over with black (to give the look of a car cobbled together with parts from several cars). The body is left rusty. Again, I rubbed some finely sifted dirt into the surface. See the rust stains down the sides? That's pastel chalk. You have to be careful with chalks and clear flat coats because the chalk can disappear. You may have to apply more color than you think to get the final finish you want. It's all experimentation. Drybrushing brings up the edges and other surface features on this Jeep. Here's an AMT '50 Chevy snap kit. Same model--this was painted with red oxide primer, then sanded until the molded color showed through. It provides the effect of badly faded paint. This is airbrushed with a little Floquil "Dirt" and brushed with pastels to get a dusty, lightly muddy look. This Dodge Ram is the molded color--no paint. Just some paint details and some subtle airbrushing. I also "spit" a little paint on forward surfaces to simulate mud splatter. That's done by dipping the bristles of a toothbrush into some paint, then running your finger through the bristles, which causes the paint to splatter the surface. Rustall, mud splatter, washes, and dry brushing..... Terry

I want one of those Harleys.... Terry

I've got a '62 Corvair Styline kit that has those same parts for the nose. Chassis looks much the same, too. I suspect it's one of those. Terry

http://www.banditresins.com/70mustang.html Taillight panel is the separate unit in the Revell '70 Mach I kit. This is the body and interior bucket. Everything else comes from the Mach I. Terry

This is new from Bandit Resins. I'm impressed with it. Watch "Resin Talk" for more. Terry

Nope--it's 1/24. I don't build or collect 1/43. They tell me only 120 built examples were done. Terry

This is a LeMans Miniatures 1970 Porsche 917 LH, but it's built by a company called Spark Models. Beautifully done. Kind of a Christmas present to myself. Terry

http://public.fotki.com/TerryJessee/little-motorcycles/ If you like looking at motorcycles, I've got a small collection of 1/24 scale bikes, mostly diecast and plastic models, factory-assembled. There are Franklin Mint, Brookfield Collectors' Guild, Maisto, Ixo, and even a Hallmark Christmas tree ornament. Here's one of my favorites--1966 Triumph Bonneville T-120. Terry

It's my art form. Someone discovered that I had some artistic talent when I was a kid, so my folks rushed me into all kinds of programs to learn to be a commercial artist. Probably should have followed through, but it took all the fun out of it. So I just shut down. In later years, as I was starting to develop a reputation for unusual finishes (?), my mother commented that building models was probably my way of expressing that same creativity. So it's my art form. And one of the ways I relax.... Terry

Here's another one. Terry

"You can't drive on ice." Since when? Come to Montana for a winter. If you survive, you'll be an expert.... Terry

Brookfield was purchased by Action Racing Collectibles for the NASCAR diecasts they were doing. Essentially the plastic stuff was ignored. If it's not dismantled or scrapped, it's probably sitting in the corner of some warehouse somewhere. Brookfield did some neat stuff. Here's another one--Brookfield '97 Monte Carlo. This originally was a Brickyard 400 pace car promotional. Terry Jessee

These are shots of an Aardvark Models 1/24 (1/25) Maserati Tipo 61. This is I guess a "factory-built" model (built by Andy Martin of Aardvark Models and Model Martin). It depicts a Type 61 as driven by Jim Hall (later of Chaparral fame) at Sebring. Andy did gorgeous work on these, and they were also available as kits. They're kind of a companion to the '57 Corvette SS, like the one that Ismael Gonzales has shown here. They were among the earliest offerings from Aardvark, and unfortunately, are not available. Andy has been selling off the last of his built Maseratis, and I was lucky enough to get this one. I wanted a Corvette, too, but couldn't afford both. Yes, it was expensive, and yes, it's worth it. According to Ed Cervo at Island Collectibles, Andy has talked some about doing some other versions of these kits. We'll have to see.... Tiny and fascinating. Terry Jessee

"Herbie" never did have VW identification in the original or subsequent films. It was not referred to as a VW, Volkswagen, Beetle, or anything else except "Herbie" or "the little car." That was some decision on the part of Buena Vista Films. I'm not sure of the reason. But "Herbie" has never carried VW markings. Even the hubcaps on the film car are just baby moons. Terry

So, do you have to be an aspiring author who wants to get published? Or can you be an old, jaded hack?