Dr. Cranky

Thanks, Gray--yeah, the one who turned me on to the Warhammer stuff is my buddy from Utah, Hollywood Jim Fernandez, who got me into the skeletons . . . but then there is so much great stuff that can be used, so yeah, I have a few boxes of neat Warhammer stuff in my spares collection . . . It's turning out to be a good day for shooting paint afterall, so I might get both chassis and wheels ready for priming . . . Stay tuned in for more progress, and again, thanks for the interest in how these will turn out . . . Oh, and by the way, I think this one is going to be called the WAR HOG! I have no name for the other, or even a paint scheme yet . . .

It's cold and rainy down here so all painting is going to have to wait. Also, I still need to work on a few more details, so stay tuned in for more pictures . . . and thank you for the kind comments.

I have to say I myself I'm surprised by how the paint job turned out .. . I was actually ready to have to repaint, but the Tamiya acrylics worked well (normally I use Floquil and or House of Kolors), and the templates for nail art also come in an animal pattern version . . . you just have to look around for it . . . I really appreciate everyone's comments. Thank you.

Okay, here are some pictures of the 32 Coupe . . . both of these have no names yet, and I am sure so far on how to get them painted, though they will absolutely be rat rods . . . I am thinking of maybe doing one in rust/orange, and the coupe doing it in light green with lots of rust showing through, but I am not convinced this will be the way to go yet. Enjoy . . . I chopped the grill and radiator to lower it on the chassis . . . Then I got to thinking, hum . . . what the heck do I crown that grill with . . . and so I found the perfect element in my Warhammer spares box!!! And I'm actually thinking of doing this rat rod in animal skins . . . to make it beasty and call it the WARTHOG or something like that . . . see why? I chopped the top, welded the seams, and made sure it will ride as lot to the gound as it is humanly possible and still be able to roll . . . The engine exhaust, as you can see, are going to shoot straight up and ride high . . . like some mean horns of a beast being disturbed from slumber . . . I also scratchbuilt a pair of bomber seats and used epoxy to make the paddings . . . Oh, and the driver seat swivels . . . in case of a romantic interlude with lady Warthog!!!

I think J keeps inspiring people like you and me to keep building these . . . and you have to just plunge in, spend a weekend gathering some neat parts, and then just have fun . . . that's all I've been doing for the last few weeks . . . besides it's also the perfect build to do over the Holidays--no stress whatsoever!!! Build it and show us some pictures . . . keep on sharing!

Ha!!! I am human, these are not moving fast at all because it's taken me a while to hunt down all the right parts though the 39 Chev. Woody has coughed up a whole bunch of them. Stay tuned in for pictures of the companion Coupe!

Ah, you guys are too kind. I'm just trying to have fun with all these kits . . . and I've been salivating watching all the great Mercs being build around here, and I thought, how the heck am I gonna make mine different . . . we'll see how it will turn out . . . stay tuned in . . . The paintjob, by the way, is not hard at all . . . Tamiya acrylics, in this case, fit the bill perfectly because I was going after a suede look on the paint . . . and the graphics were made with nail art stencils I picked up from an outfit in Puerto Rico through Ebay . . . they are neat little templates you can use over and over again . . .

Hey, J--this one was done using your frame method . . . so many thanks . . . also, I used one of Andy Johnson's method of "cheesing" a vehicle . . . for a great build, check out Andy Johnson site: Ragtop63 in Photobucket!!! I will try to take pictures of the coupe early tomorrow morning before I head in to campus to teach. Stay tuned in.

So I started these two rat rods in order to give my freshly painted Merc body a few days to dry, except I really got excited about these two that are almost ready to be primered . . . I took pictures of the first one today, and I will shoot the second one tomorrow: the coupe . . . Again, I was trying to do something completely different, if not downright strange . . . but I guess that's just my middle name Cranky "Strange" Shwartz! Enjoy, there will be more pictures soon . . .

Okay, so this won't be ready before the turkey is served but I thought I'd share it with you in this early a stage. Just the body and chassis have been painted. Everything else still needs to be painted and put together. I wanted to build a Merc, a mystical creature that would be found say in Baja California, and as you know Baja in Spanish means "low," which I liked because I thought this could easily be named "low loco," for the way it's put together, a mixture of cultures, flavors, influences . . . etc . . . I got all sorts of neat stuff for the interior of this one . . . though it is basically built box stock . . . I took the body and went over the edge by cutting out a tear-shaped wedge out of the roof . . . hey, you'd want a sunroof too in a place with 122 degrees in the shade--actually, there is NO shade in baja. I also drilled some cooling vents too . . . a whacky stylistic twist, I guess. The paint is Tamiya acrylic and I was going for the satin look . . . on this one because I wanted to convey the feeling that perhaps this was even painted in a low budget place . . . I hope it looks like the kookie, kitschy, stand-out vehicle one would find a tourist trap!!! You be the judge . . . thanks for looking.

Marvelous, always raising the bar!!!

I think J must have gone out for more beer and cigarettes and forgot to come back!!! The beauty of these projects is that often they just sit there and glow!!!

Does anyone know where I can buy one? Thanks in advance.

I love it . . . simple and out of the box and it looks fabulous . . .

There must be a lot of good going on in Oregon . . . I can feel it . . . the man is possessed . . . between working on his other duties, and the Truckster, Mr. J is keeping himself entertained with lots of music, beer, and the smell of styrene . . . Go J, Go!!! Go J, Go!!!

Kool plus . . . lots of class too!!!

Wicked!!! Simply wicked!!! I love it . . . now, the question is, is it sitting low enough? You are making great progress, J . . . keep it going . . . can't wait to see more this weekend.

These are some great pix, Mikelo . . . thanks for sharing them with us . . .

The weekend is here and I hope Mr. J. will make some progress . . . it's been rather quiet from those Oregon woods . . .

Interesting for sure, it'd look great on an ultra modern rat rod--is there such a thing?

Ah, yeah, that's gonna be a nice one!!!

I like the way this is coming along. Very nice.

Man, that sucker has some big lights . . . the more I look at it the more I like it . . . but I like it better without the engine cover panels . . .

I love it. Very cool.

More pictures is good . . . I have been doing a little reading into Rod & Customs from the 60s and it seems it was rather populer to put a VW engine in the back of some of these hot rods . . . but it's hard to tell if it was only an "after" idea behind the dunne buggies of the period . . .