gowjobs

I like it, but I'm not sure about the rear door line - makes it look a little overweight somehow. Have you considered taking about 3/32" - 1/8" off the bottom edge of the rockers? That and getting it up to ride height might help alleviate the "just had a huge pasta dinner" look it seems to have right now. That doesn't mean I don't dig the car - just going a little Gustavson on you.

I heard Coperstate went away. I believe the Desert Scale Classic and one other show (CRS sydrome is taking my memory) have stepped up to fill the void, however.

Well, all SBC's from 1970 look the same. '55-'56 SBC's have no oil filters and an oil filler tube, and only have motor mounts off the front of the timing cover, instead of the saddle mounts on later engines. The valve cover bolt patterns have also changed several times throughout the years, and the shape of the bumps on the ends of the head castings designate the valve and port sizes inside them. I don't remember what shape was cast into the ends of the small-valve 307 heads in '70, but it would be a cool detail to replicate.

Wow - most FUN build? I think it'd probably have to be the BattleBuggy. It just kinda fell together (well, with the help of a pair of diagonal cutters, razor saws, X-ACTO knife, some sheet styrene and a bunch of ZAP-filler) over a period of less than two weeks. My most recent fun build was just a couple of weeks back. I built this old Lindberg "Drag Queen" 1/32 mid-engined T-bucket straight from the box, with the exception of a little front end lowering and some snaps as wheel discs... build time? 25 hrs.

I re-shaped the fenders, nose and hood a little on mine to give it a softer, more Roth-like feel. Not pictured here is the "grille" opening at the bottom of the hood (also not pictured, sorry) that was made from the rear of a Beatnik Bandit II. The Barris T-Buggy isn't much of an off-road chassis - the front is based on a '60s-era dragster suspension. It'd make a decent sand dragster or street buggy, though.

Pretty easy, actually. Put medical tape across the backside of those openings between the spokes, then fill the backside of the wheel with oil-based modeling clay. in the box in which you plan to cast, set this wheel clay-side down on a short pillar of clay, and trim it all to the outer diameter of that lip, pehaps tapering outward a bit. Use an acid brush to put an even coat of vaseline (or use spray silicon mold release) over the outside of the wheel, and the inside of your mold box. Pour your rubber in and let it set. When it's all solidified, pop it out, flip it over and remove the clay, then add mold release to the backside and put it and the first half of the mold back in the box with the open side facing up. Fill this second side up, and when it's solid, you should be able to pop the unit out of the box, split the mold, and remove the wheel from the two-part mold. If you find that a certain area of the casting is prone to pinholes (bubbles in the resin), you can put a vent into the mold by pushing a piece of aluminum tubing through the rubber into that location of the casting, locating it on the backside or someplace it's easily cleaned up.

[HIJACK] The Pierpont is still there, but now has gone a bit "upscale", as has Carpinteria (I work in Carp - the Spot is STILL the place for a killer burger). Thanks for the kind words on my old Revell horseless carriage (T-Bone Stake) build - I swapped over to VW power and went fenderless, just like I would if I ever built it in 1:1. Like you, I'm a VW guy: [/HIJACK]

How about these: '70-'73 (small bumper) Opel Manta A '68 Barracuda Coupe Jocko Johnson Streamliner Miller Golden Submarine (Barney Oldsfield car) X-Sonic ('57 Vette Custom/Lowrider) How about two versions: before and after the bubbletop and sloping nose?

I think I have two: The Monogram "Rattler" showrod A 1/24 Opel Manta resin kit/conversion I've heard was made in Europe several years ago.

Very nice build! I wish I could get past the 'Cuda proportions of the roof though... you really went a long way toward making a silk purse out of this kit!

Yeah - this car is probably my favorite build in the last year, and that includes Steve Boutte's customs. I actually went out and scounged up a Callaway Speedster just so I would have it available when I found something to which I could give a similar treatment without biting off your build too closely. I'm thinking that when those '71 T-Birds come out...

Nice theme car for NNL West, Steve.

Is that going to be the original, blue Inch Pincher? I know the guy that purports to own it now. Funny story about it - was sold with altered VIN #'s to one of Dean's buddies after he left EMPI, because though he did all the work on it and raced it, EMPI held the title on the car. It's still blue, still has all the reinforcements in the pan, and still has a bunch of the cad-plated brackets and components, even though it's been a street/drag car since the seventies.

I've got a few thoughts on the subject, and since you asked: The VW "The Thing" (the aticle "The" is actually a formal part of the name) or Type 181 was an amalgamation (sp?) of pieces from pre-existing vehicles. The US version, sold only in '73 and '74, was based on a Karmann Ghia chassis pan with a balljoint front suspension (the spindles reworked to allow the lower balljoints to be mounted ABOVE the lower bosses on the spindles, giving a couple extra inches of lift), and the IRS rear suspension. IIRC, they used the heavier-duty Bus (Type 2) transaxle, but slightly wider drums than either the early bug or bus, both of which it shared it's 5-on-205mm bolt circle. Wheels were 14"x5" and were only slightly more offset than those used on the "bay window" buses. European and South American Type 181's began production in 1969, and featured the earlier bus transaxle, "swing axle" rear suspension and gear reduction boxes. These earlier non-US spec cars had no heater ducts, and any interior heat was provided by an optional gasoline-burning heater mounted ahead of the dashboard. Taillights on these Non-US 181's were flat, bus-style lenses mounted on the vertical panel above the rear bumper, and not the late-bug lenses mounted high on the rear quarter panels like on the later US cars. Front and rear doors on either side are interchangeable, and so both feature a cut-off corner at the lower rear to clear the rear fender opening. Unlike the Kubel, the body sides on a The Thing are parallel from the windshield back to the leading edge of the rear quarters, and the nose and tail both taper slightly inward toward the ends.

"Boy, that's got a purdy mouth..." NICE!

The wing and spoiler are stock on the Jota, but not on the "base" Muira, upon which it is based. I understand the recent Muira version of the kit retains some of the Jota's extra vents, but deletes the wing and chin spoiler.

Wow - that's just out of proportion enough to look bad (IMHO), but not out of proportion enough to look like a cartoon. I like Jada diecast just fine - to strip for parts.

I don't, but it swept up at the Copper State Classic a couple of years back... you might check some of the AZ area moelbuilders' photo folders...

Will ZAP de-bonder react adversely with the resin? I would guess that it'd be your best bet. Cyanoacrylates don't seem to like freezing either... you might try putting the parts in a bag with a splash of water and freezing them overnight... if any of the water can get between the parts, it should expand as it freezes, hopefully popping the bond loose, or at least causing fractures in the glue.

Nope - this is a 166-based DTM car... probably about 2000 or so. The flares are larger, and all the aero stuff looks more pronounced. A couple years after this car, they outlawed AWD in German touring car racing, and the Audis and Alfas stopped winning so regularly. Some people feel that Mercedes paid to have AWD outlawed, but who knows?...

That's cool! I like that undertra and the more pronounced flares. I kinda wish I'd had one of these as a donor for my GTV instead of a 155-based DTM car.

Ron's Maz Vette, which was a faithful recreation, required that he make them himself to get them right. No kit header is going to do the job. He actually bent styrene rod, but solder is probably the best bet.

Put different decals on 'em - nobody will able to tell the difference.

Think of this as a GT version of the 1996-ish 155 DTM car. Tamiya Alfa GTV, Tamiya Alfa 155 Touring Car, and a couple of parts from the Tamiya WRC Focus The wipers and decals on the wheels have yet to be installed, but it's so close to finished that I took advantage of the last rays of sunlight to snap these.

That resin V-12 looks NICE! Does it have the exhaust manifolds cast in like the Monogram block?