Bernard Kron

Looks great. Interesting that you raised the fenders. I thought about the opposite, namely sectioning the hood and upper body so that the top of the hood and slightly below the tops of the fenders, But your choice of windshield is inspired (what is it?) and this approach will conserve more of the original Willys look. More, more, more...

Classic ’29 Ford A-V8 Highboy Roadster done up circa 1949. More pictures below. Based on the Replica’s & Miniatures Company of Maryland (RMCM) resin kit, I built this to represent the classic A-V8 roadster of the period a few years after WWII, around 1949 or 1950. The motor is the finely detailed 21 stud flathead from the AMT ‘34 Ford Five Window, including the kit’s twin-carb manifold and hop-up finned heads along with headers from the Revell ’32 Ford Sedan Flathead. The rear axle and springs are from the Revell ’29 Ford Pickup kit. I converted the rear of the RMCM supplied chassis, which is based on the Revell ’32 Ford chassis, to take the transverse leaf spring. The rear radius rods are adapted from the Revell ’32 Ford kit and the front hairpins are scratch built. The front suspension is from the Revell ’32 Ford series as are the headlights and taillights. The wheels are from an AMT ’40 Ford and the tires are from RMCM. The grill is a p/e piece from Model Car Garage, along with the tail light trim and the Dzuz fasteners on the hood. The instrument cluster is from RMCM along with the door handles. The steering wheel is from an AMT ’40 Ford and the steering column is scratch built. Pretty much everything else you see is either scratch built or included in the RMCM transkit. The paint is Duplicolor Dark Toreador Red metallic. Started last fall, you can find the W.I.P. here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...696&hl=RMCM Thanx for lookin’!

At last! Beautiful. Can't wait to see it next weekend (!) in all it's glory. Anyone who missed the WIP on this should check it out. The details hiding under that sanitary bodywork are stunning. There were several over the many months that this model was being constructed but the last workbench thread had some great chassis and engine pics. Here's the link: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...mp;#entry157087

What a gorgeous silhouette. Can't wait to see it down on all fours with the glass in.

Beautiful. Nicely posed, looks very realistic. Great paint scheme and wheels.

This is a great thread. I think, in one form or another, just about everything has been covered, so here's my sort of sum up of the highlights. If you look carefully through all this you'll see a picture of a small industry struggling to find its footing. The hobby has shrunk over the years, outlets for the manufacturer's products have become more limited, and costs of production have been rising for a very long time (not just during the recent commodities bubble, but in the form of a steady generalized price inflation in everything from real estate to food to health costs, etc.). Manufacturers have tried everything to work their way through this, whether through mergers, outsourcing to developing world labor pools, or mass retailer distribution (a ploy which almost never results in increased profits for the manufacturer, but which was very fashionable during the boom years). The recent increase in price points of model kits and supplies has indeed been sudden and large, but it is, more than anything, a "contrast effect" with consumers (us) probably forgetting all the discounted and clearanced items that characterized recent times. I am amazed at the number of "limited production" kits still in the pipeline many years after their initial release, whether at hobby shows, through e-bay, even on the shelves of my LHS. I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that these new prices, not just for kits, but for paint, filler, tools, etc. when they are "hobby" items really make me mad. But I find that I have alternatives and I exploit them wherever I can. I only hope we find some sort of equilibrium point that will result in more companies than just Revell mass producing new creations at a price point that we will eventually find acceptable. Right now those price points are definitely not acceptable, but what we are experiencing is just another manifestation of a more general increase in prices. Eventually these are offset by increases in money wages as well, but getting there is never, ever, less that a terrible, unpleasant process. In the meantime, one choice is to boycott purchasing at these prices, look for alternatives through trading, auctioning, buying supplies outside the hobby outlets, etc. , hoping that prices eventually adjust downwards. Another is to accept them as "reality" and try to spend at least some money at the LHS hoping the hobby will continue in some form resembling what we have had. The balance between these two will define our hobby as we move forward. I have two worries. The first is the potential demise of new tooling. The other is that modelers will not be able to afford this great hobby. Not only the experienced and talented builders who find they have been priced out of the hobby they love, but most particularly those who are new to the hobby (especially the young) or returning to it as I am. These builders simply don't have the huge stashes of kits that will carry them during this adjustment. The loss of either new toolings and creations, or new builders would indeed be a tragedy. Just my opinion...

Oh yeah....!

What a great concept. I'm definitely gonna challenge myself with this approach! But I guess it does violate (and I use the word advisedly) the spirit of OOBS, particular the S part!

Vewwy vewwy twicky , but ... Ooohhhh so goood!!!

Nice treat to see your builds. Love those Japanese sports racers!

Hey gunpilotvet, I really dig your avatar. Did you draw it? And speedwagen, love that Watson nose. It's gonna look real good. Just wanna chime in and say Here, Here, 2 thumbs up for TRaK!!! And H.A.M.B. is a way cool board as well...

Oooohh!! Headlights and bumpers and stuff! Looks great! Any way to hide the hinge doohicky for the rear hatch?

This is the 2007 Price List and the updates from September and May 2007. Missing are the product descriptions prior to those two updates and the September 2008 update which includes the two '32 Ford transkits (Sedan Delivery and Pickup Body) and the '49 Mercury Convertible which Lyle mastered for Norm. Also on this update is an EFI Fuel Injection and Smoothed Valve Covers conversion for the Revell small block Ford engine that comes in their '32 Ford variants and new '70's style Good Year Bluestreak Dragway Specials slicks. The prices on the 2009 list appear to be largely the same and there are only a few minor deletions. However, in addition to the items I just mentioned there are several important additions including a '32 Sedan with a 3 1/4" chop which has TBA as the price so it's probably in the works at this time. It seems to have replaced the old '32 Ford Tudor 6" chop transkit which has been deleted. I also noticed that Norm has added the "Bob Dudek Line" although there's just one item, a '40 Ford steering wheel. Most of the additions under small parts are in the 2007 updates but there are a few new items which are only on the price list including Ansen valve covers for the Revell small block Ford, '36 Ford wheels, Halibrand 5-slot wheels and Buick valve covers with breather caps. I'll see if I can find time to at least scan the updates and 2009 price list and get them to Bob to add to his listings.

Nice chassis. very finely done. I like the steering arm, too. Are you scratch building this?

Yeah, thanx Lyle! And the other stuff on his site is a trip! Here's his home page: http://www.moyermade.com/index.html Someday we'll each have our own copies of a Challenger V8!

I just got some parts from Norm the other week and he has an updated catalog. Norm always includes the latest updates to the catalog with your order, and when there's a new compilation he sends you one with your next order. The descriptions of the parts are excellent and there are pictures of larger parts or those that need illustration. Otherwise, you have to crawl around the web to various sites to see some examples, but it's always only the tiniest tip of the iceberg. In fact, even Norm's own listing omits some parts which are "discontinued" but which apparently can be gotten if you inquire. He's very good about answering e-mails and is quite willing to discuss things on the phone. His stuff is so nice that most of his customers, like me, have learned to work with it. It's definitely worth the 4 bucks to get the catalog. Do it! I would post the latest catalog but it goes 51 pages long including the price lists which include significant additional items not described in the main pages.

Very impressive! One thing I wonder about is the displacement, given as 18 cc. The bore and stroke of a Chevy 327 appears to be 4.000" x 3.25. This works out to a total displacement in of 326.7256 cu. in. or 5.354 cc. 1/6 scale bore and stroke works out to .6666 x .5417. Doing the math this works out to 1.5126 cu. in. or 24.7873 cc. The bore and stroke he gives are each smaller at .600 x .487. I guess there must have been some physical limitations such as to the wall thickness of the cylinders, casting thicknesses, or some such which resulted in a significantly smaller displacement. He did get the bore x stroke ratio virtually spot on to the thousandth so it's obvious that even within the limitations of the engineering he tried to keep things accurate. Like I said, very impressive! BTW the videos work fine for me too. Brmmmm, Brmmmmmm! (Or is it Buzzzzz, Buzzzzzz!?)

Thanx Brian! It'll be there and so will I. Can't wait to see all the coool builds!

Really nice piece of work. Came out great. Love the color and all the details.

The lines and flow of your conversion are spot on. The shiny new paint really shows it off. Can't wait to see it with the bumpers, headlights and trim.

Beautiful work. Looks like a 1:1. I had a blue Si. I only sold it when we needed more than a 2 seater. Great driver!

Thanx for Salt Shaker pic. I've seen it before but it's been a while. In the back of my mind I think I must have had that image which made me consider a Salt Flats car. If I build a Bonneville car I would leave the front fenders on, sit it lower than that, and generally go for a more streamlined look. I would also use skinnier salt flats tires. I wonder if the blanked out grill didn't orginate with the Salt Shaker and then migrate over to the gasser version? It would make more sense since gassers generally don't emphasize the aerodynamics much. Blanking the side panels would be no big deal. The other item that may be missing from the gasser version is the dropped front axle which gives the Shaker it's sexy rake.

Hmmm.... verrrry interesting. The board's software seems to scrunch everything down to a 640x 480 on my widescreen monitor. The big picture at the top (the 1024 image) is just a little bigger than one screen width on my non-widescreen 19" monitor, however. The 800 image I posted got scrunched down to the 640 size exactly. Sort of makes everything into a large clickable thumbnail! I've noticed this before but never was able to quantify it. It doesn't do it right away. Yesterday the 800 image I posted was full size. Hmmmm.....

I'm really enjoying the detail of your posts and process you are following. I had a question about the pictures. One reason they work so well is the different colors of key parts. Are they really a different color in each case or do you color them so we can see them better?

So cool that you're getting this wrapped up. Can't wait to see the completed model - both Under Glass and hopefully at the NNL West.