Bernard Kron

Nice set! All the best for 2019!

All 3 very nice indeed! The "Vette and Merc are quite unique in their way. Do you have links to more pictures of them? I don't recall seeing these posted on the forums. All the best for 2019!

Thanks every one, but... The paint went south on me with less than a week to go. I was laying down clear coats for a final polish when suddenly... it just started cracking. Too late for a redo. It's a resin body and the only approach I'm confident with is to send down past the decals and start all over again. Here's a photo: If the bodywork holds up I still intend to get it done! Well... We'll see if I can save it. And for sure it was slated for some TruWires! Thanks! I consider "evocative" to be quite a compliment, because that's what I strive for. I'm flattered!

Thanks to you both!

Thank you, Rooster!

Thanks to you all. I really took a chance with the stripes and scallops. This is maybe the third time I've ever attempted it, and it could just as easily stopped dead right there if things had gone wrong. I had less than a week until the contest deadline. Shear madness on my part, LOL! Your extremely kind comments are much appreciated.

Thank you all for the generous comments! They are very much appreciated. Is that the show associated with the Good Guys meet? If so, I haven't taken part because you have to park your models on Friday and leave them there all weekend. If it's a different show I've been thinking about participating shows up here in the PNW. I haven't in quite a few years.

Thank you everyone. This project was a total-focus thrash at the end of the year for the Autorama. It was done on pure instinct, but maybe sometimes that's the better way. It certainly seemed to "build itself" and I was surprised how few problems it gave me. Your comments are much appreciated!

1949 Ford Coupe Street Rod Built for the first annual TRaK Autorama contest, entries for which closed on December 31st. It’s my submission in the Street Rod class, the second of 3 entries in the 4 classes available. My inspiration was the slick “show ‘n’ go” hot rods as seen in the early 60’s car shows, machines designed both to impress at the drive-in and dominate at the stoplights. Hence the shiny paint, rolled pans and mild custom work and the ¾ race Caddy mill with the 6 Strombergs and the cheater slicks. Almost all of this can be found in the venerable and classic AMT kit that forms the basis for this project. It’s definitely the type of car that the guys at AMT hand in mind more than 50 years ago when this kit was first released, and hopefully Autorama-worthy… Thanx for lookin’, and best wished for a happy and fulfilling 2019, B. Base kit: AMT ’49 Ford Coupe AMT kit supplied rake Front & rear rolled pans from kit, grill from AMT ’19 Chevy custom accessory, cut to fit. Louvers from Revell ’32 Ford Roadster hood sides grafted into hood top. 3D Printed Stromberg 97 carbs with SP tops supplied by Maple Leaf Modelworks 6 Carb log manifold from Revell Parts Pak Caddy motor Whitewall cheater slicks supplied by Morgan Automotive Detail Front whitewalls from AMT Front wheels from AMT ’53 Ford F100 kit and rear wheels from AMT ’29 Ford kit, picked out in color chrome to match paint. Scratch built tuck and roll interior with rear seat deleted, tuck and roll bucket seats supplied by Drag City Casting. Duplicolor Dark Toreador Red Metallic paint over white primer with 4 coats of Duplicolor clear.

1957 Thunderbird Mild Custom Built for the first annual TRaK Autorama contest, entries for which closed on December 31st. It's a curbside because I had stolen the top side of the kit motor for an earlier build. Which was fortunate because I put the model together in less than 3 weeks as my third and final entry of the 4 classes available. Eliminating the chassis and drive train gave me the time to focus on the paint and accessory details, which has always been what these early 960's mild customs are all about. Below are the details. Thanx for lookin', B. Base kit: AMT ’57 Thunderbird Lowered 4 ½ scale inches all around. Scratch built hardtop padding from styrene stock. AMT '49 Ford cuttom accessories hood scoops added to hardtop and hood Frenched headlight rims Modelhaus 1962 Oldsmobile Fiesta hubcaps with center panels picked out in gold. AMT whitewalls. Drawer pull style grill panel from Aurora #592 1/25 Scale Customizing Parts Custom Grills & Trim set Nosed and decked Testors Lime Ice lacquer paint with Testors Pure Gold stripes and scallops. 3 Coats Testors Clear lacquer.

2018 was a year of progress in my building skills with (at last) some sort of consistency to my paint jobs. I also introduced more variety to my subject matters with, among other things, my first modern car, an Acura NSX done as a JDM. I also explored the classic 50’s American 2 seaters with a customized ’57 T-Bird and a “triple threat” ’57 Corvette, first done as a Cal Club racer, then as a mildly customized show car. The intention was to finish it up in Bonneville form but it’s still on the workbench waiting for me to finalize that version. So this means I either finished 7 2/3rds projects or 9 subjects. Here they are in chronological order. Thanx for lookin’ and a Happy New Year to you all B. Chopped ’32 Ford Race of Gentlemen Beach Racer Built for this year’s NNKL West Theme Table Acura RSX JDM Tuner ’57 Corvette, Versions 1 & 2 of 3 Cal Club road racer (top row) and Car Show versions ’36 Ford Stock Height Roof Resto-Rod ’32 Ford Tudor Sedan Resto-Rod Mild 2 ½” Chop Revellogram based Box Art build of AMT Trophy Series “The Deuce” Roadster Almost 100% Revell and Monogram parts. Entry for the Rod class in this year’s TRaK Autorama. ’49 Ford Coupe Street Rod Entry for the Street class in this year’s TRaK Autorama ’57 Thunderbird Mild Custom Entry for the Custom class in this year’s TRaK Autorama

There's nothing more impactful scale than good looking bare metal, IMHO. And so many of these cars debuted in bare metal before getting their final paint. I've done some rails in aluminum finish and have found that the effect I like most is when I combine in with some contrasting trim color and decals. I did a Junior Fueler last year with white and yellow accent panels and yellow chassis rails that I thought worked out especially well.

What a pleasure seeing you build in this vein once again. Those who aren't familiar with your work back in the Straight Line Modeler days are in for a real treat! And for me there's no moree legant and graceful a race car, straight line or otherwise, that a classic Junior Fueler. Can't wait to see more, more, more...

Thanx Dann! Well, it's done, and just in time, too! I'll be doing more formal photos for the Autorama and I'll post them as a completed build once I've finalized them. In the meantime here's a composite picture showing the car with and without the top and including the period accessories, such as the lakes pipes from Scale Repros, the spots, and the license plate surround, that I added at the end. Thanx for lookin', and Happy New year!, B.

Thanks Bob! This will be the final update (obviously) I think I'm gonna make it! Here's a composite after polishing the paint, which came out fine, so now it's just final assembly. Also this shows the stance. The car is lowered a good 4 1/2 scale inches. As I write this I've already got most of the foiling done and did some last minute Dremel work behind the grill to get it positioned right. Otherwise things look like they will go together OK. The interior in these shots is finished and glued in place. This last project has been run on pure adrenaline and instinct. I honestly had only the roughest idea about the result when I started it. Thanks for lookin', B.

Thanks Dann! In order to look like the period custom I had in mind, the TRaK Autorama T-Bird needed something more than the basic metallic paint job. After wasting a couple of days fooling around with some decal designs I decided to bite the bullet and bet the ranch on a masked scallop and stripe scheme. It either would work or the whole project would blow up. But with 96 hours left it seemed like nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I did it just like they did back in the day, masking the entire main body color except where the stripes and scallops would show. The color is Testors Pure Gold. With the exception of a few minor spots that need touching up I thing I got away with it! I also chose the rolling stock, some ’62 Olds hub caps courtesy of the late lamented Modelhaus and some AMT (?) white walls from my parts box. The ‘caps are highlighted in gold, as are the rims. Finally, the interior is done in white and gold. Still left to be done is detailing and cleanup on the paint job, clear coat and polish, and foiling and final assembly. Below is a status composite with the grill mocked up in place. 72 hours, tick, tock… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Many thanks to you both!

Thanks Ralph. I just realized your the guy building that awesome Battlebird I see on TRaK. Now that's an inspiration!

Thanks to you both. I've been going to the NNL West down in your neighborhood for the past decade or nearly so, and there's a style of model that the best builders from the Bay Area do. They're shiny, well detailed, and precisely turned out with striking paint jobs and contrasting chrome. I've been striving to build to that level ever since I returned to the hobby at about the time my friend Raul Perez first invited me down to my first NNL visit. We still laugh about how gobsmacked I was that first time seeing models of that quality! This model is my most recent humble effort to approach something in that style...

Color, stance and concept all reveal the true potential of this period piece. I'm certain this is what the guys at GM had in mind. Really nice build, Dan.

Thanks David! I got this Autorama entry completed without the usual end-of-build melodrama. The paint’s still shiny, nothing major failed to fit or fell off and disappeared, and all 4 wheels are firmly planted on the ground. Whew! And it came out much as I had imagined it in mind’s eye, a real California-style early 60’s triple threat, designed to garner attention at the drive-in, and competitive at the stoplight Grand Prix, and (hopefully) at the Autorama! Below is a teaser composite of the result. I’ll reserve a formal presentation until after the TRaK Autorama deadline on the 31st! In the meantime, Thanx! to all who followed along and Happy New Year! B.

Thanks everyone for all the interest. The ridiculously tight timeline for this project precludes anything really ambitious like grafting the Flintstone Edsel tailights. But it's gtrreat to know they'rte out there. The do look fabulous on these early T-Birds and I'll be thinking about using them in the future. If I’m going to get this T-Bird done in time for the Autorama deadline on the 31st I’d better keep it simple. We’ll see if I can! I got the color down including the white tuck and roll panels on the hardtop. A few days to cure and it will be time for clear coats and polish. Meanwhile, next up will be stance and wheel and tire choice. The interior will be stock, probably done in gold and white. Back in the day these early T-Birds rarely had the interiors redone because they were so tightly integrated into the body work and were pretty flashy in their own right. An elaborate re-do wouldn’t yield much. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it! LOL Stay tuned for another update real soon… Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks! This is a project I haven’t touched for nearly 3 months, which for me is very unusual since I’m pretty much a one-project-at-a-time kind of guy and rarely jump between multiple builds. But with the TRaK 2018 Autorama contest deadline looming less than 10 days away and 3 projects penciled in for completion by then I’ve been jumping between builds like crazy. The Fiat went on hold while I had custom decals printed for it, and by the time they landed on my bench I was juggling 4 other projects and it had to wait in line. The good news is that with the decals finally applied most of what’s left is simple final assembly work and I’ve got a chance at finishing it in time. Below are pictures of the gold decals I had made as they appear on the car at last. Now they’ll get cleared and it will be time to assemble the completed car. Thanx for lookin’, B.

Thanks Curt! Of the 3 TRaK Autorama projects I’m trying to complete by the end of the year (the contest deadline) the ’49 Ford Street Rod project seems to be the one which is commanding most of my attention. At this point it’s very near completed with the interior and bodywork in final presentation form and only the final chassis and motor assemblies to complete, and even these are virtually done. Below are final photos of the interior, which, as is the case with most scale models, has since disappeared into the body. Also presented is the completed body and interior assembly, including lights and bumperettes. As I said, all that’s needed now is to complete the engine detailing and engine compartment, mount the wheels and do some final chassis detailing and then glue it all together. This one will make the deadline almost certainly. The other two projects, a Fiat Competition Coupe started last summer, and a ’57 T-Bird started barely more than a week ago will need all my attention in the 9 days remaining. At least it’s the holidays and there’s time available for modeling work. But…yikes! Thanx for lookin’, B.

When you said backdate I assumed you were going to convert it to a traditional Old School Kustom, as has been done by others. But I never new that Foose's recent Revell project was itself an updating of work he had done for Boyd. And i agree with others commenting here, the Boyd version is simpler, purer and more to the point that the contemporary pseudo-retro variant that Foose has given us. You're doing beautiful work and the result should be every bit as impressive as the 1998 original.