Bernard Kron

Glad to see this one moving along! The shortened side trim along the hood really sets off the pie section on the hood. The 5 spokes look great and the opened up side windows are killer. More. more, more...

Gorgeous and oh so tasteful! This was beutifully mastered by Rik Hoving. George, I have to agree, it's so elegant and exquisitely proiportioned it is almost invisible. There are many other changes Rik did that make this look so sweet. Here's a link to his Fotki where he spells it all out: http://public.fotki...._chopped_coupe/

Both very nice indeed. The stance, proportion and details of the '50 are particularly effective. The chop and lowering really are succesful customizing.

Thanx guys! Those decals are a high-risk proposition. Hopefully they'll fit properly and not contrast too greatly with the unpolished paint. But I had to do something to give it some punch. You can only go so far with Old Skool funk... The mailbox scoop is certainly the signature piece of this kit. The one thing I did do to it is thin the front edges. The original kit version is at least 1 scale inch thick! B.

More progress has been made, sort of jumping around from one part of the build to another. Most all parts are painted including the body. The body color is DupliColor Crème. The paint went down smoothly enough so I'm leaving it unpolished as you see it for that Early Era drag car finish. This is another fantasy build so the entrants/sponsor are fictitious. I designed decals for the doors and grill area. The grill decal was made by tracing the back of the kit grill on to paper, scanning the shape into the computer and then using Photoshop to generate the grill-shaped stripe and the lettering, which was carried over from the door decals which I did first. The car is the "famous" Henderson Bros. & Jack's car from 1961. The back story is the Henderson Brothers built the car with both of them trading off on the driving chores. Jack's Automotive (now a giant national parts chain) was just getting started and they built the Chrysler hemi. The paint scheme for the engine is1957 Chrysler stock factory colors: Aluminum paint on the block, pan and heads with gold valve covers. The pictures below are all mocked up with very few parts glued together. The graphics on the front ¾ view were laid in using Photoshop. The kit's red-tinted glass has been cut up so that the area aft of the door windows isn't covered in red plastic allowing me to leave the roof panel removable for an interior view. Next up is detailing and finishing up the engine and completion of the front suspension and steering. Then print and apply the decals and she'll be done. Thanx for lookin', B.

Thanx Neal. Looks like they might have the right megaphones, too!

OK. Here's mine... Very cool. Amazingly I was intending to build something like this later this year (hood off, contrasting firewall, etc.) As Dave said in his PM to me, "right up my alley". Jairus, any tips on this one? Is it sectioned as well as chopped or is that just a question of perspective (firewall says no, side trim towards the rear says maybe...)? Are the flame patterns based on anything? And the exhaust megaphones? Also, what did you intend under the hood? If nothing in particular then I'll put something BIG there! The hardest thing to source may be those two little rear view mirrors, of all things! Time to get out the Sawzall! B.

Yeah, but do you remember Crusader Rabbit? Now that's old!

Thanx John! Unfortunately I don't have a rule book. I've had to trust to AMT to keep me on the straight and narrow! The Tin Box re-issue comes with a reproduction of the original NHRA pamplet that came with the first release, 8 pages with section titles like "Ingenuity In Action", "A Typical Day at The Dragstrip", History Of The Altered/Coupe/Sedan and includes a summary version of the basic rules shared by the two cars in the kit. I notice that my build violates the "Seats" section in that my seat is not upholstered and that I have seat belts but no harness. This is my bad since I didn't use the kit seats and they do include a harness. Oh well... On the othe hand AMT violates the "Flash Shields" rule if you build the Hemi with the 8-carb option since the kit doesn't include them (the carbs are open topped).

Bummer! Now you have two different thoroughly Old School AMT kits to deal with!!!! "Sherman, set the WABAC machine to 1961!"...

Thanx Bob. I had selected a bright "sea breeze blue", kind of like the blue seen on 50's two tone paint jobs on the Packard Caribbean or some Fords, but it was way too bright and too 90's Smooth Billet Rod looking. I'm thinking some sort of subdued color, perhaps even something as toned down as pale dove gray. The frame rails and roll cage will be finished in a contrasting color, perhaps a bright yellow. The decals will follow from the body color,of course. Sponsorship I'm thinking will be from a speed shop of some sort, the guys who built the hemi. The hemi itself has been stripped of all chrome and the block and heads finished in stock Chrysler factory colors for the period (aluminum paint on the block, heads and pan and gold paint on the valve covers). Obviously the speed shop is just getting on its feet and the guys are concentrating on power and winning... I'm going cruising for paint this afternoon and hope to have the body and frame in color late this weekend. Decals will take a little longer. Glad you like it so far, B.

This project is moving right along. Making your own chassis almost inevitably means the car will start to drift away from an out-of-the-box build. In addition I've set myself the goal of seeing if I can get 4 cars out of the tin box, taking advantage of the extra chrome tree. Of course this means things like sourcing extra engines, bodies and even chassis. In any case I decided to use a non standard front axle and chose the dropped axle from the AMT '32 Phaeton. I also changed out the kit front tires for a slimmer and slightly smaller set of Gooyears from the Revell Beatnik Bandit kit. The standard tires have always looked too tall and fat to my eyes. The result is a significantly different stance than the kit chassis would give it. It sits somewhat lower overall and is more raked, emphasizing the stretched nose from Walt's Puffer. Tomorrow I'll build the kit Chrysler up and see what mods need to be made to fit it to the new frame. Otherwise most parts are painted except for the main body parts. Here are pics of a rough mockup showing the raked stance. I can't decide if I should remove the front apron below and on either side of the grill area (I don't think I'll run the chrome grill). What do you guys think? Thanx for lookin', B.

Well, this kit is definitely Old School, an instant way-back machine. Any attempt to build anything newer than 1962 will look silly. Very restrictive in a way, but great fun if you can get into it!

Dont' tempt me!!! - Building frames is probably my favorite part of any build.

Having expropriated virtually the entire chassis, except for the roll cage and steering rack, from the AMT Double Dragster Fiat Altered for my recently completed AMT Parts Pack T-Bucket Altered, I had to scratch together a new chassis to build the Fiat. It's made from 1/8" Evergreen tubing (3 1/8" scale OD) which closely matches the kit roll cage diameter. I used the kit roll cage and steering rack and matched the bracket positions, wheelbase, width and overall length dimensions from the Fiat's kit frame. Front suspension will be from the dragster setup from the extra chrome tree in the Round2 tin and the rear axle is from a Revell '32, narrowed and "welded" directly to mounting brackets in the same position as the kit frame. Not sure about paint except that it'll be fairly plain and purposeful to sit alonsgide the T-Bucket Altered and be from roughly the same period. No whitewalls on this one. The engine will be the kit blown Chrysler. Thanx for lookin', B.

Thanx Raul. Hope you and yours had a good vaca... This thing is done now. It can be found here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29668

Thanx Mike! Pretty simple, actually. I took the "body off" pics before gluing the body in place. If you look carefully you'll notice that the tie rod is simply tacked in place in the body-off pics. After putting the body into position I fed the tie rod in the hole in the body and installed the tie rod end. In the 1:1 world the tie rod end would be removable with a set screw. The ends are from the Double Dragster kit Fiat with some styrene rod for the link itself, a longer rod being needed since the Parts Pack roll cage sets the steering further back than on the Fiat. I was going to leave the body removable but decided it would invite too much much fiddling with the model in the future. With the removable tonneau cover you can see just about anything worth looking at on the chassis.

Thanx Sam. I guess there's no escaping that basic old time AMT DNA!

Thanx for the generous props from three of my favorite modelers! For sure I stole a page from your "texture and realism" book on this one Dave! I even resisted polishing out the paint to hang on to that race car look. Actually I've been around but I was kinda busy building, I guess.. Since the NNL I got a '49 Merc and this Altered done! Busy enough so I missed out telling you how much I dug the NNL diorama (which I just spied out of the corner of my eye when you were handing it off to the "officials" that AM - had to wait for your post it to really get a gander at it) and the Lauda F1 Ferrari. Nose to the workbench, don'tcha know... Thanx! I kinda hafta agree. I was definitely "in the zone" on this one. Although it was a lot closer to a simple assembly build than the '29 A drag roadster, it was a similar experience. I guess these pseudo-historical early era race cars have a way of making it easier for me. Probably because the exterior finish work is less demanding and there's no upholstery to worry about! But every completion seems to have a way of moving one along the way to some undefined goal...

Thanx James. I got a new camera for Xmas amd I finally got the hang of how to get the most out of it. Getting in sharp and close like that sure makes you wanna build clean! Glad you like the altered. B.

The Drag Racing Models section doesn't get as many visits as the Under Glass forum, but this is most definitely a Drag Racing model! More pics and a full description can be found here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29668 Thanx for lookin', B.

Here are some additional body-off shots:

Early-Era T-Bucket Altered circa 1960-61 (More pictures below) This is a T-bucket blown altered based on the AMT Competition Parts Pack released a couple of years back by Stephens International by way of mrknowetall who generously sent me a copy. The kit includes several engines and a Cal Automotive style fiberglass T Altered body with some of the interior bits needed to build one. But the T-Altered parts pack (these are all old AMT Parts Packs compiled into one fabulous collection) doesn't include a chassis. However the instructions do show one as an example and it's the Fiat Altered chassis included in the AMT Double Dragster kit just recently re-issued by Round 2. With the Double Dragster re-issue it was obvious that the time had come to build the Parts Pack T-Altered! If memory serves me all these Parts Packs and the Double Dragster kit itself date from around 1961-1962. One look at the Fiat's chassis and it's pretty obvious that it represents a typical Altered from the transitional period around 60-61 when the engines were getting increasingly powerful but the chassis still left something to be desired. As a result the "back story" on this build would be to represent a period-typical Midwestern altered run by a lo-mid buck operation primarily at local tracks with the occasional road trip to the NHRA Nationals where they would surprise the Left Coasters with their competitiveness. In this case the engine is the 421 cu. In. blown Pontiac from the Competition Parts Pack. The scattershield is from the Tommy Ivo Showboat kit and the 2-port Hilborn injectors and scoop are from the Chrysler Hemi in the Competition Parts Pack. The in-out box is from the AMT Double Dragster Fiat as is the entire chassis and suspension with the exception of the roll cage which is part of the Competition Parts Packs T-Altered kit. The parachute, steering gear, steering wheel and clutch pedal are from the Competition Parts Pack T-Altered as well. The rest of the interior details and the moon tank are from the Fiat Altered. Tires are from Modelhaus and the wheels are AMT '40 Ford steelies. The fabulous little bucket seat was scratch built and given to me by Dave Nelson (racer13). Most other details such as the floor and steering column braces, parachute stuff, etc., are either scratch built or from the parts box. Paints are Duplicolor Yellow and Torch Red with Tamiya Bright Blue for the block and various Testors Metallizers throughout. The NorthState Tire Sales decal is home made and is a fictitious owner/sponsor. Most other trade decals are from Slixx including the very cool Dragway 42 and Kil-Kare Speedway and Dragway stickers on the turtle deck. These are the team's home tracks in Northern Ohio. The phone number is a Dayton exchange (DRake…). This was a blast to build. Thanx for lookin'! B.

Here are my two bits worth. Super glues (CA) dry relatively fast, dry clear, can be precisely applied, can be made to set instantly using an accelerator, and come in a large variety of thicknesses and strength. And of course, most importantly, bond anything to anything, so are the key to successful multimedia modeling (for example metal to styrene, resin to styrene, resin to metal, etc.). So CA is pretty much the weapon of choice for detailed building, especially if using aftermarket parts or doing very fine work. Unfortunately some people (like me for instance) react very badly to CA which can create flu-like or allergy-like symptoms such as respiratory problems, irritated eyes and severe nasal congestion. But from what I can tell it's very rare so I would probably go to CA first as your best all-around bet. Since I now have to build totally without CA here's my list of glues I find useful. Styrene to styrene and other plastic to plastic applications: 1) Liquid cement - Tenax 7R, Testors liquid cement, Tamiya Extra Thin Cement, Plastruct Bondene, Plastruct Plastic Weld, etc. These vary in thickness. bonding ability and speed at which they dry. They all dry very quickly. Tenax 7R, which is very aggressive, bonds quite well dries very quickly indeed and so can be troublesome if you need time to position parts. But it's great for small, fine work such as frame building, etc. My current all-around favorite is Tamiya Extra Thin for it's overall balance between these issues. Plus it comes in this nice low, tip-proof bottle with an applicator brush. Some of these come in taller bottles which can (will!) tip over on the workbench. Also, an in-bottle applicator brush is very handy. 2) Tube glue - Looked down upon by many, I actually swear by this stuff. It's slightly sticky and thick and so is great for positioning and setting parts. I use a pin as an applicator which helps keep my bonds precise and small in area. The key I have found is to use the smallest amount appropriate for the job and to give the bond 3-5 minutes of unmolested setting time. I use Testors in the red tube (the kid-friendly stuff in the blue tube is too weak for me). Where it makes sense, such as flat mating surfaces or pinned parts, I prefer to use liquid cement because it's so clean. Also you can further strengthen the bond by flowing in additional cement at the joint via capillary action, such as when cementing small pinned parts or constructing chassis. But I use the thick stuff a lot. Just squeeze some out on a piece of scrap paper or masking tape and apply is sparingly with a toothpick or pin and the glue bomb monster which stay away from your door! Non-plastic to plastic and non-plastic to non-plastic. This is where CA is king IMHO. But here are some alternatives: 1) Contact cement - The cheap stuff you can get at the hardware store (I use DAP Weldwood Contact Cement), Walters Goo, etc. The way this stuff works is to bond separately to each surface and then to bond to itself after it has set up and dried somewhat. The thinner the better as far as I'm concerned. I started with Walters Goo but it is just too stringy and hard to handle. The cheap thin stuff I use now is nearly perfect. It's thin enough to apply with a toothpick or pin, not stringy, and can be precisely applied so it doesn't show. The resulting bond is very strong and slightly flexible. Because of the slight flexibility it cannot be used for rigid stressed joints such as those found in frames. Also, for extra small mating surfaces such as gluing aluminum tubes together it will not bond sufficiently. You must let the two surfaces dry for a minute or so to get the full effect. I'm currently experimenting with increasingly small parts and mating surfaces in the hopes this will substitute for much of what I used to do with CA. Dries with an amber color so it cannot be used where the glue might show. 2) Two part epoxy cement - Very strong bond, glues anything to anything, can be used in very small amounts. However, it must be mixed each time, is stinky, and becomes useless to use after just a few minutes. Also dries with an amber color in most cases. I have stayed away from this stuff since my reaction to CA for fear of a similar allergic response. However, many modelers use epoxy where they might use CA, expecially for final assembly work and where the strength of the bond is critical. 2) Testors Metal and Wood Cement (Green tube) - Somewhat thick and sticky but can be applied in very small amounts. Dries clear and can be picked away after it dries. Fairly friendly to plastic. However it will mar painted surfaces. I currently use this where I would use CA, especially for very small joints like wiring and plumbing engines, etc. Unfortunately this stuff takes a few minutes to dry and set up and the bond is not as strong as CA. But because it's clear and will mate dissimilar materials it has been a life saver. Again, less is more - apply sparingly and it will take less time to set up and bond stronger. Gluing where the bond might show. This is a special category, such as headlight lenses, windows and other clear parts, parts that must be glued to painted surfaces such as bodywork, etc. This is another place where CA can be useful, especially the thicker stuff which won't run. But for me the weapon of choice in most cases is white glue. This stuff comes in a bewildering variety of strengths, thickness, and tackiness. Examples include Microscale Micro Kristal Klear, Elmer's Glu-All, Elmer's Carpenter's Cement, Aleene's Original Tacky Glue, Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue, Crafter's Pick The Ultimate, etc. This stuff will almost never harm the underlying surface and can be cleaned off with water. The bond is never very strong so it can't be used where the joint will be stressed. I use several different ones depending on application. Aleene's Fast Grab is very useful for test fitting and mockup but is hard to remove without actually soaking the part in water.

Thanx for the kind words. I'm glad you like it. I'm about done with this one. I just have some gauges to install and to fasten the body to the frame and she'll be ready to go Under Glass. In the meantime here are some shots of the decals and the interior. I simplified the "NorthState Tire Sales" logo in keeping with the low bucks theme of the build. The interior actually took quite a bit of fabrication. The Parts Pack doesn't come with any bracing for the steering column and there's no floor for the T-bucket. Also, the Parts Pack Pontiac doesn't come with a fuel pump, an odd omission, so I landed up pinching one from a Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit. Thanx for lookin', B.