FactoryStock54

Very nice indeed! Great job with the paint and trim. Which kit did you use?

Thanks Harry! Appreciate it! Vanagon; among the reasons current prices are so high on Ebay is that there's a lot of interest among 1/32 slot car people. One of the things that really got me excited about Pyro kits back in the late 60s was an article in an old model magazine about converting the Pyro Grand Prix racers (Aston Martin, Bently etc) to slot cars (I had a 1/32 figure-8 in my basement). Pyro was very aware of the slot-racing market and (IIRC) you could send away for instructions on how to convert the kits. The "regular" kits in the Table Top Classics series were marketed as stock cars and often came with decals for dirt track racers. The 30 Ford Woody and 52 Chevy Custom Wagon are especially popular nowadays as they are among the easiest to modify for slot car racing. It would be great to see some newly-tooled kits with one-piece bodies, crisper raised molding and a bit more add-on detail.

Hey thanks! Don't know which molds Lindberg still has in their vaults; I was rather disappointed by their choice of re-issues in 2006; seemed like they went with the most conventional subjects in the series, I suppose the ones they figured would be "safe" in today's market. (Unfortunately, these were also the ones that showed the major weaknesses in the old molds). Of course, as the owner of the molds, Lindberg is entitled to make those kinds of business decisions if they want to; all I know is I would've bought a half dozen each of the '52 Chevys and Plymouth sedans if they'd been bold enough to release those (and the prices on the original kits would have gone way down too!) I also wonder if there'd be a viable market for new-tool 1/32 cars today? With the kind of technology availale today, they could do some amazing stuff; but I seriously doubt anybody would have the cajones to release the kind of odd-ball subjects Pyro did with such "reckless abandon" back in the day! Again, thanks for your interest in these quirkly little cars!

Fantastic! (From another lover of all-things Stude)

Very cool! Great build!

A few more; First is the 1930 Ford Model A Woody, one of the best engineered kits in the series. It builds up quite easily into a half-way decent looking replica (definitely a lot easier than the Revell 1/25 kit!!!!!!!!!) Pyro would often design their molds in such a way as to get several versions of a subject out of one basic mold; along with the woody, they did a neat little pickup/roadster (which was the very first model car I ever built back around 1966!) The woody pictured here was done very quickly a month or so ago (I needed a fast and easy build to "come down" after working 3 months on my 1/24 factory stock '39 Chevy coupe project). Fenders and hood were airbrushed Tamiya TS 14 Gloss Black, the wood paneling was hand-brushed a combination of Polly Scale Sand and Reefer Yellow and the roof and tires were hand-brushed Polly Scale Engine Black. Bare Metal Foil was applied to the grill cover, head lamps and front bumper. The tires/wheels on this were something of a pain in the butt (as you can probably tell)! Next is the 52 Chevy Fas-Back, the elegant companion to the 52 Custom Wagon (which I posted separately on this forum) Exterior was airbrushed Polly Scale ATSF Yellow with a gray interior; I just like the look of these cars with lighter colored paint and using an airbrush makes doing lighter colors much more practical. I'd planned on doing another one of these in a period GM-dark gray equivalent, but don't know it I'll ever get to that now. BMF was used for the bumpers and trim, though I ended up painting the head lamp bezels and wheels Citadel Mithril Silver. This was a 70s-era Lindberg re-issue (still fairly plentiful on Ebay). And finally, one quick view of the '36 Ford Cabriolet (another Lindberg re-pop, this one from 2006 (!)) The proportions on this model seem "off" but it's almost impossible to do it with the top down as it has no dashboard! Pyro also did a coupe version of this kit which looks somewhat better (I remember building a couple Palmer re-pops of the coupe back in the 70s). The mold definition on the tires was surprisingly good on this one. That's about it for now. I have a few more of these to build and will share them when they're done. Remaining in the stash are the 30 Model A Pickup, the 32 Ford Roadster, another copy of the 37 Chevy Coupe and the 40 Ford convertible. I'd love to get ahold of several others including the 36 Ford Coupe, the 32 Plymouth Sedan and Roadster, maybe another 34 Plymouth sedan, the 32 Chevy Pickup and 37 Chevy Cabriolet and the 49 Ford Tudor. (I don't much care for the 57 Chevy kits). Thanks for looking, and for all your positive comments!

Thanks for all the compliments, guys! For those of you who are too young to remember Pyro, or who may have forgotten about them, I'm including a couple shots of an un-built kit so you can see what is (or, more like "what isn't") involved! First, three views of a completed 37 Chevy Coupe, done up with Polly Scale Conrail Blue and Bare Metal Foil. This one has always been among my sentimental favorites! (The "glass" in this kit had some serious bubbling and grain-ing issues) Now here's what the same kit looks like right out of the box! And here's a look at part of my vintage kit box collection (a few of these are still unbuilt): More later!

Nicely done! Especially like the good clean finish you achieved. It looks great!

Ask and ye shall receive! A couple 34 Fords this time. Pyro really got these right, with fairly accurate dimensions and contours. The interiors are especially good (considering how spartan most Pyro kits were) with very fine, authentic-looking dashboards and seats. The 34 Victoria Tudor is probably my all-time favorite of the series. I got this on Ebay for about $70 a few years ago; it had been started (or, at least, some kid had tried to glue the body together and abandoned the project decades ago). Fortunately it wasn't too far gone; I had to do some sanding and filling to repair the glue spots, but after that it went quite smoothly. Painted this one Polly Scale B&O Royal Blue with a gray interior. Polly Scale Reefer White for the sidewalls and my own custom cream mix for the wheels. As always, Bare Metal Foil was used for the grill and bumpers. I added side windows using clear plastic sheet. The '34 3-window coupe is actually a 70s-era Lindberg re-issue of the Pyro kit. Pretty much the same techniques as with the Victoria. I foiled the grill and used The Detailer Black to highlight it. Paint is Polly Scale Chicago and Northwestern Green. The molds had definitely begun to deteriorate by this point, the sidewalls had lost a lot of definition and the wheels were kind of "mushy." (Lindberg re-issued this kit as late as 2006, but the molds are in even worse shape now; I'd recommend seeking out original Pyro issues or the late 70s/early 80s Lindberg re-pops. Other companies have also re-issued Pyro kits over the decades (Palmer, Life-like) and these may be of interest to builders, though more so to collectors). Enjoy!

Thanks for your compliments! I also plan to build the 59 Seville HT at some point. (Visualizing a metallic red car with red and white interior). These are such great kits! I'd really like to find a resin body for one of the more "common" 59s or 60s (especially a '60 convertible)with the more understated trim. The Biaritz is stunning, but I really like the more "plebian" look of the series 62 cars; saw a real-live restored one at a museum in Hempsted TX a few years back and was very impressed (they also had a couple Roll Royces which weren't nearly as interesting!)

I'll be adding photos to this thread ever so often, so if you enjoy these, check back from time to time. Two builds this evening; first is the 32 Chevy Cabriolet (3 views), the beautiful and aptly named "Baby Cadillac." This was among the earliest in the 1/32 Pyro Table Top Classics series (IIRC about 1962) and this kit was apparently from one of the first runs. The front suspension was broken and the poor little thing looked like it had a charly horse when built up, so I constructed a little scenic base for it out of styrofoam depicting an uneven roadside. Bare Metal Foil was used for the trim (a little tricky on the Landau irons and hood side vents!) I painted this Polly Scale ATSF (Santa Fe) Yellow with Steam Power Black fenders and Reefer White top and side walls. ATSF Silver was used for the wheels and rims. Used MicroMesh to polish the paint to a reasonably high sheen. Next up is the so-called '34 Plymouth four-door sedan. The body is the same as Pyro's '32 Plymouth sedan with a '34 grill and clip added on almost as an after thought. The suspension height is wrong (way too low--this could actually be the basis for a pretty nifty little street rod), the bumpers are cartoonishly large, and the one-piece wheels/tires are abysmal. I decided to do this with black-walls as they seem to lend a more formal (or maybe "sinister") look to the car, and it's virtually impossible to paint the sidewalls by themselves. The Plymouth sedans are unusual for Pyro's 1/32 cars in that they include engines and removable hoods. I did a bit of detailing in the engine compartment, adding a fuel line (right side view), spark plugs, a scratch-built coil (from aluminum tube) and some rudimentary wiring along with a steering column. The kit was molded all in black, but I primed it and painted it Polly Scale Steam Power Black (since the original plastic was somewhat scuffed up and definitely showed its age). The engine block was painted Tamiya Flat Aluminum with Gunze Steel manifolds. Bare Metal Foil was used for the very-minimal trim. Anyway, hope you like these. There's more where these came from, and I will post them depending on responses. Enjoy!

Beautiful, ultra-clean build (as always), and the subject is one of my all-time favorites. I've got two of those in my stash but have been afraid to start them. . . don't know if I ever will. Your build is fantastic (though I don't know if it inspires me or makes me even more afraid)!

Thanks, Kurt! This is one of those models where it was almost impossible to take a bad picture! Of course, that's because of the car itself; the camera loves those beautiful land-cruisers of the 50s; they look like they're flying standing still! Glad you liked it!

Thanks guys! It sure was fun building this one as a grown-up; patience is definitely a plus, not to mention all the way-better tools I have at my disposal now! Doing a half-way decent job now after screwing up the ones I tried to build as kid feels like a successful "do over," a chance to redeem myself (too bad I can't go back and live parts of my life over as easily)! Harry, I have a few more of the Table Top Classics "under glass" and will post a few of them in the near future. In addition to the 52 Chevy wagon and fas-back, my other favorites in the series were the '34 Ford Victoria, the Model A Woody and the "not-really-a-'34" Plymouth four-door. The '32 Chevy cabriolet wasn't bad either, and the '37 Chevy coupe was always a sentimental favorite. When I was growing up you could get these for 60 cents a pop, but on Ebay over the past several years I've paid as much as $75 for one (the "34" Plymouth) and sometimes the rarer issues sell for well over $100! (I may be sentimental but my mom didn't raise a fool!) Probably the biggest difficulty in the painting and detailing of these kits is the soft, indefinite molding of raised detail, especially on the one-piece wheels/tires. The toughest operation on this one was foiling the grill and headlight bezels. A lot of the plastic from kits of this era has become quite brittle over time and breakage can be a serious issue. Some scratch-building skill definitely helps. Thanks again for your positive comments! Always appreciated!

By today's standards these old 1/32 Pyro kits were quite crude, with sectional bodies and minimal interior or engine compartment detail. But some of the subjects they released were definitely interesting and unusual, like the '32 and '34 (sic) Plymouth four-door sedans and this one, which was always among my favorites as a kid. In recent years I've acquired a few original unbuilt copies through auctions on Ebay. I like the challenge of taking these old kits and using modern methods and materials to do them up. Bare Metal Foil was used for the trim (the kit is completely monochromatic with no chrome parts). I airbrushed Polly Scale DRGW (Denver and Rio Grande Western) Cream for the exterior and Polly Scale Steam Power Black for the interior and underframe. Used MicroMesh to shine up the paint and painstakingly hand-brushed the wide white sidewalls (no easy feat given how soft some of the moldings were). Hope you like it!

I LOVE IT!!!! Wonderful, "off-the-beaten-track" subject; great paint work and lettering. Very clean! It would be great to see more late-40s/early 50s hearses and ambulances.

I always liked the box art for Monogram's 1/72 aircraft back in the 60s; the P-36 and F8F Bearcat were masterpieces of understatement and very effective. As far as cars go? Jo-Han's classic cars had some very beautiful art; the 35 Mercedes and the 31 Cadillacs were gorgeous. Modern kits; my favorite recent work (auto) would be Jairus Watson's box art for the Galaxie '46-'48 Chevy Aerosedans. The box art for Tamiya's 1/48 WWII aircraft are also quite beautiful--I've cut them out and display them on my hobby room wall!

Looks like a real interesting start. Should be quite something when complete!

Pretty much straight out of the box except for the tires. Used Tamiya TS (?) Light Metallic Blue straight from the rattle can for the exterior, hand-brushed Polly Scale RAF Azure Blue and Reefer White for interior with Gunze Silver and Bare Metal Foil highlights. BMF exterior trim (as opposed to the crinkly "stickers" that came with the kit).

I'm turning 50 on August 9. Hardly seems possible!

Beautiful, clean build! I love the color. Those '40s always look better with white walls!

Hey! Thanks for the tip! I'll try that soon! And thanks again for all the good words; nothing like positive feedback to get the ol' model-building juices flowing!

I had my choice of colors and I got a black one--somehow more business-like and serious! Glad you like the build! Here are links to 3 more images on Photobucket including one of the R&R resin 39 Chevy Sedan; built as a curbside, it was sort of a dry-run for the coupe. http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/Iola...ChevyCoupe3.jpg http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/Iola...ChevyCoupe9.jpg http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g31/Iola...ChevySedan1.jpg

Beautiful! The XK-120 is one of my all-time favorite cars!

Hey, thanks guys! Appreciate your kind words! Forgot to mention that I had to scratch-build new engine mounts to receive the Monogram Stovebolt Six. Sourced a gas tank from the Monogram 37 Ford Sedan (the street rod and low-rider 39 Chevy kits have the gas tank and filler cap mid-frame, but for the factory stock model the tank was at the back and the filler cap was on the right rear fender). I seem to have maxed out my available band-width on pix. . .will see if I can post some more later.