Terry Jessee

I WANT it!!! That is just fabulous. Like the weathering, the wood, the whole concept. And that chain work really is special. What a cool model. Terry

Thunk! (Sound of jaw bouncing off desk....) Cool. Terry

Very sharp.

I was having fun taking pictures tonight and dug out some more Model T stuff. People don't usually associate me with this kind of stuff, but I had a lot of fun building all of these (with one exception). I've shown the stock 1925 pickup and the yellow T-bucket before, but thought I'd include them again here. The red T coupe was built for Hot Rod Model Kits. The blue one is a clone of a model I built back in 5th grade (about 1962). I had fun building it like I wish I could have then. I didn't do any wires or anything--just out of the box. But it's cool to have it just this way because this is how I built the first one back then. The red '23 roadster is the "Street Rods" series kit. After AMT brought out the Double T (again, about the time I was in fourth or fifth grade), I liked drawing hot rods and drew this (I thought) very cool full-fendered hot rod based on the Double T kit. I always wanted a model of it, but didn't have the skills to do what I wanted then. That '23 is a garage sale refugee (you'll see) that I rebuilt, and I built it to look like the drawing I remember The '27 Touring was built for a story I did for SAE in 2000. It was about T kits, and used the same title as this post. I tried to do it like the '68 edition box art of that kit (the first non XR-6 release). The metallic brown T bucket is Lindberg's "Tee Wagon" from about 1970. That was for HRMK, but got cut because of space limitations. The Wild Willie T is not mine. Wish it was--it's pretty nice. I bought it built from a guy when I was working on HRMK with the idea of using it for the book, but then Bill Coulter sent me some slides of a gorgeous model that Barry Payne did, so I used Barry's car instead. I think that wound up in the SAE story, too. I've kept this model because it was cool, and I liked it. And of course, there's Norm Grabowski's "Kookie T." That's the Danbury Mint model. It's just gorgeous. I got it because I like movie and TV models, too, and that was "Kookie's Car" in 77 Sunset Strip (remember that one???). So here's a little T time. Terry

I'm a "thingie" fan, too. Always was a fan of Tom's designs. I've got a bunch of these. They're plain fun. And THAT one is nice work. Wow. Terry

1/24. The '55 Kurtis Midget is from Chris Etzel, and the 1929 Irving-Napier Special is from Scalekraft. Terry

Could be, I guess. Overall, though, the box size was the reason why MPC brand was discontinued at the time. My sources were Karen Sands and Tom Haverland, who were working in Ertl marketing at the time, and from John Mueller, who was a designer. I did about 40 interviews with marketing and engineering people from the companies when I did Hot Rod Model Kits. They always had fun kinds of inside information. I wish we could have used all of the stories, but there wasn't room. Terry

Well, lemme see. I've got about a half dozen Hendricks kits and have been very happy with what I got. I think his work is better than R&R, at least in the conversions and parts I've bought. Everything I got was clean and well-cast, with no pinholes or other flaws. And things FIT like they were supposed to. I don't think you should have any problems you can't handle. Terry

That is a HOOT! I love it.

Early '70s. Originally it started showing up on model aircraft. Then Wayne Moyer used it on a 1/43 scale car model in a story for, I think, Scale Modeler. I first saw it in 1975 in Car Classics in a story that Dennis Doty did on building a '65 Rambler Marlin (that model is at the Model Car Museum in Salt Lake and still looks good almost 40 years later). Eldred Mason really hasn't had a monopoly. He just put out the best stuff. Other people have released similar products but the foil is always too thick and doesn't work as well. The foil that Baremetal uses is micro-thin. I still use the original. Even Baremetal's Ultrachrome is too thick for my tastes, so I've never used any of the other products--just the original. And thank you. Terry

In the 1950s, communities could buy Civil Defense vehicles like this Jeep for minimal cost. All they had to do was keep it supplied and ready to respond if needed. This is a Liberty diecast Pepsi Cola promotional. It's a diecast. I stripped it and repainted it, then added all the little details. It's a fun little model. I noticed when I was taking these photos that the some of the paint is starting to crack. I guess it's seen a little action.... Terry

I like plain-Jane sorts of projects. This little GMC is just for that. This is built out of the box, mostly, but does have Modelhaus hubcaps. Fun little kit. Terry

I built this old warrior in 1984. It showed up in a story in Scale Modeler in the spring of '85. I did a lot of work on the light bar, adding lenses and doing all kinds of extras on the lights. This is an original, metal axle kit from about 1980. Terry

Here's a couple more--Etzel's 1928 Stutz Blackhawk and Scalekraft's 1929 Irving-Napier Special ("the Golden Arrow"). There are TONS of others. A lot of the resin casters have gone out of business for the reasons stated. When I was doing "Light Commercial" and "Resin Kits & Parts" for SAE, I said repeatedly, "Buy it now if you want it." Even some of the casters I reviewed for Model Cars as late as four years ago are gone now. And not only them--people who did photoetch, decals, even reboxed import kits. So--buy it now if you want it. Don't wait. Terry

That is a fabulous job. I've never seen one that nice. Beautiful work.

The Suburban is from Modelhaus. That one has a modified chassis from the MPC/AMT Chevy 4X4 kit series--the Fall Guy, Hardcastle, those kits. Wheels and hubcaps on the '78 Chevy are both from the AMT Chevy van.

Beautiful work. Just beautiful....

We moved about three months ago and I've been unpacking since. I had a lot of projects I was just goofing with, but they're cool and I need to get back to them. Here's some of the light truck projects. Terry

Holy COW!! A-MAY-zing! Really enjoyed all those in-progress shots. That's going to be a lot of fun to watch. Thanks.

I tried doing some airbrushed flame jobs in the mid-90s. I did about four or five, mostly for stories or book segments. This is an AMT/MPC '91 Chevy C1500 promo. I added a GMC grill from the custom Dooley snap kit, lowered it, and installed some Pegasus wheels. Mirrors are from the 454SS kit. The interior for this truck was featured in a story on detailing dashboards and interiors so the dash is the most detailed part of the model. Everything else is just out of the box. I used Baremetal foil to mask the flames, and did the pinstriping with a hawk quill pen and acrylic drawing ink. Once that dried, I could overcoat the paint with some lacquer clear. The tailgate is my favorite part. Terry

Hey, that highboy is really well done. Actually, the primered Deuce started life as a highboy, too, but I went back to fenders for some reason I don't remember. Cool paint. Terry

That is beautifully done. The engine detail work is especially impressive. Gorgeous. And thanks for sharing those old photos. Terry

Here's a couple variations on Monogram's '32 Ford roadster. The primered Deuce was featured on the cover of "Build and Detail Model Cars Like a Pro" from Motorbooks a while back. Terry

Nice, Chris. Mine actually started with that box, but I decided I wanted more of a base truck look so I went with the wide box. Like that color.

Exactly. That's a cool variation. And that original '62 looks sharp. I like the shape of those a lot better than the new Revell kit. Nice work.