Dr. Cranky

Great job . . . I love the way it sits . . . great little ride!

Oooh, I love the color . . . that's looking beautiful!

Here's a side view . . . I figure a little pastels and a bit of grease here and there and this baby will be ready to be dropped in . . . The big if is going to definitely be exhaust! It came a long way . . . hope it will look good . . .

Nothing about putting this engine together came easy and the wiring went wrong a couple of times, but patience paid off and so did waiting for the paint to dry but . . . here they are, pictures of Frankie's mill . . . I still have to tweak it and add a few details . . . . I gotta paint that brass black, otherwise it is going to drive me crazy . . . I will leave it brass between the two carbs . . . I still don't know why I painted the fan ultramarine blue, other than it must have been a good junkyard find! I can tell you right off the bat that lining up all four exhaust tubes on each side is not going to be fun.

Have you shown the original in public? I sort of remember seeing something like this in a catalogue . . . I am probably wrong. It looks great . . . the work that casters do really fills a void in the industry.

I am sure you have heard of it by now, but it still is one of the most beautiful magazines out there . . .

New Magazine Alert!!! Guys, you have to check out REBELRODZ if you are into everything rat rods . . . And the beauty of it is that these guys devote at least 2-3 pages to showcasing modelers who build rat rods . . . Check it out . . . great source of inspiration!

Thanks, guys, I feel like it's been a long, fun journey though it's only been a couple of weeks . . . and there's still more to come. I've got all the engine parts painted and I've started to assemble it . . . and soon I will have it ready for some pictures . . . . so stay tuned in . . . More heading your way, all before the Monster Mash begins on Holloween!!!

Ah, daughters . . . I've got two of my own and they are getting to be too grown up and less funny!

Is the silence an indication that you still don't think it is low enough? All right, my friends, I got all the interchangeable beds ready . . . next up is the engine, and then lots of weathering and detailing I have left . . . Why the interchangeable beds? Well, I don't know exactly, other than I always build with several elements in mind so that I don't get bored and also it allows me to play and take more photographs . . . afterall, it's the photographs I am after . . . the model well, it's just part of the fun . . . Okay, so you have seen the simple (this is what Jairus described sans the dirt, sand, etc . . . ) bed with the gas tank and not much else. I went with wood planks just to give it a certain texture to it . . . You've also already seen the "sensitive" Frankie cargo, i.e., on his way to the clubhouse to play his records and read his magazines, etc . . . (sometimes I am amazed by my own hot air!!! ) And lastly, Frankie, the naughty boy . . . this one, I must have been in a darker mood, reminds me of David Lynch's BLUE VELVET . . . gee, I think that axe and chains really put me over the edge . . . and what's the wine for? Oh, I have to get some rock salt to fill the bucket and keep the wine chilled . . . Here are the three beds . . . OH BOY!!!

Amen, that's the truth, but for someone who wants to flex their creativity and artistic instincts . . . nothing beats it . . . you know, my background is not art, but I sure as heck have an art tools and supply fetish . . . which is why I like my pastels, my graphites, colored pencils, etc . . . it makes me feel like I can put little scratches here and there without thinking I had to have special training . . . though I wish I'd had that . . . I don't know about you guys, but I remember being 13 or so and the first tip ever I used was the toothbrush loaded with paint to simulate mud and dirt on tires . . . and I knew I was hooked . . . Has anybody ever seen the work of Mig Jimenez--he's an amazing builder and he's got this compendium book (more like a catalogue) of amazing techniques . . . like how to get encrusted mud and dirt on fender wells . . . mind blowing stuff . . .

You know, I got this idea that one helpful thing we could all do, at least for those of us new to the world of rat rods, might be to discuss the best kits when it comes to parts like front and rear suspension, etc . . . I know that I have used that '29 Ford Pick Up truck kit from Lindberg, and I also love the Revell '32 Ford Highboy and the Coupe . . . but I'm always impressed when I see some new parts . . . I wonder if there's already a thread and/or site that discusses or lists these great parts . . . Just because when you are building one of these, everything comes in handy . . . just a thought.

I don't know what you and the other guys use for airbrushes, but I can't do it without my Iwata Microns . . . you can get hairlines all the way to nice stippling and fogging . . . and, of course, part of what makes me less stressed is the subject matter I like to model . . . don't get me wrong, I have nothing against shiny vehicles . . . but is working on stuff like this that gets me totally enthused about building models, maybe this is carried over from when I started building, which was 25 years ago and it was mostly planes and military . . .

Hum . . .interesting method . . . the more I use pinning the more I realize it's a great, secure system . . . anything to avoid headaches, you know. But I agree with you. I like gluing parts together, like engines, and then breaking out the airbrush . . . I had an epiphany about the way I started to build when I build this earlier this year . . . there's a level of fogging and blending that's possible with the airbrush . . . but of course, I still like to apply my washes with a brush . . . Even the undercarriage is easy to work on . . . I have to say before I started building "Frankie," this was the most fun I've ever had building a model . . .

Frank, I am holding my breath because those exhaust tubes are going to be riding right on the frame rails, which is why I went ahead and weathered some streaks on the chassis . . . I am hoping it will look all right . . . The lesson to be learned here--as I'm sure most of you guys have learned it and Jairus shows in his WIP pictures of his rat rod--is to mockup, and mockup some more until you have not doubt it's going to look fine. Speaking of which, Jairus . . . do you use white glue to hold parts together while you are mocking them up . . .? Just curious how you hold everything together while you are fiddling with a build . . . Thanks everyone . . . I am finalizing bed cargo #3 while the engine componets dry . . .

Since I have a feeling you might not take my word, I thought I'd show you . . . I brought out an old '50 Chevy junker I did many years ago for a side by side comparo . . . and though these are not the best pictures (I had using a gray sweep), they do show you some striking differences . . . I hope you enjoy . . . Here you see not only the height difference but the beautiful rake . . . Oh yeah, I definitely have to weather all that blue sea!!! This one is where you see the most difference in height . . . so though it could have gone slightly lower, it's pretty darn low . . .

This is one of my favorite shots so far, and yes, I have to weather these wheels and I should have worn them down smooth . . . but Frankie likes his fairly new shoes . . . Also, this angle shows, I hope, that this baby is riding low, oh yeah!!! Low, and I always dig the way the tiki head is always peeking over the top of the dash . . . nice touch, J!!!

I love these angles from above because I manage to get in lots of the details . . . man, I can't wait to get the engine in there . . . and wired . . . This angle also shows Jarius's original idea for the bed . . . just a simple bed with a moon style gas tank . . . I know what you guys are thinking: Sure, he keeps showing us angles from above because he is a wimp and didn't get this sucker low enough!!!

As you know, last night was a long night for me because I redid the frame and raised the back so that it would ride lower? Anyone confused? Well, I was and it took me a whole new frame and then reworked the original, then stripped it and this morning I repainted just to get it ready . . .I also weathered it a bit with my airbrush . . . in other words, the building muses were with me last night . . . in the old days this thing would have been in the trash faster than you can say--in French--le garba-ge! Now, I still have to finish the engine, the driveshaft and put it all togethet and then weather and detail it before I unveil it on Holloween, that is if something doesn't go wrong up at the last minute . . . I mean what could, right? The figure is used in this case for checking the level of the ride, how low it's come finally . . . though I would say, I could have infact done a much better job in chanelling the cab floor over the frame . . . but don't want to ruin a perfectly wonderful cab . . . you'll have to take my word that what the photographs don't show well is that this sucker is riding lower than I had it . . . It most definitely needs a few light washes and some pastels . . . but that's going to come later . . . This next one shows that the rake is still intact, though an 1/8th of an inch more and this puppy would have scraped the ground . . .

Man, that's what is all about . . . most of us can think back to 10 years ago when we only saw each others' work at the shows, that is if you went to the shows, and then mags . . . but now with the internet and the forums, yeah, contagious styrene disease runs rampant . . . I'd love to see what you cook up . . . which also brings me to another interesting point . . . for those of us with a few shelves of unbuilt kits . . . part of the fun is looking for all the parts you need . . . it's only plastic afterall . . . And isn't it ying-yangish that one of your illustrations would trigger this build and then this build would trigger a new model from you . . . That's the kind of stuff that's smile inducing!!!

Wow, those are great shots, J . . . and yeah, remembering all the parts to a build like this would be a headache, though it also helps to keep a list in a little "WIP" notebook . . . Do you remember how you and James built those gas tanks?

Man, that looks FABULOUS . . . great shots . . . Yeah, this refreshes my memory . . . I think I had seen this pair in SoCalCulture's site . . . These two just embody the spirit of rat rodding . . . at its best . . . cobbling together elements from the parts box, the way it's done in real life . . . SWEET!!! Yeah, keep the pictures comin'.

Are you kidding, me, J? I appreciate the input . . . and I thrive on it . . . I mean, how else is one to learn, right? Man, I love those in-progress pictures . . . please keep 'em coming . . . I'll keep checking in the UNDER GLASS thread for some more pictures . . . I agree with the way you build, and it is usually the way I build too, but you are right about getting anxious to get the paint on there . . . it's the cab that did me in . . . once I got it to where I thought it looked good, I just had to see it in all its glory . . . No more jumping the gun for me though . . . When you look at pictures like those two rats in progress, you know you can never get enough of rat rodding builds . . . in part because it is all fun, pure Doktor F type of fun!!!

You are doing a fabulous job with this one . . . I hope you'll keep posting progress pics . . .

Update on the frame . . . so I raised the back and cut down the front suspension risers . . . and now it rides as long as it can go . . . which is pretty LOW . . . Geez, this one should have been named: FRANKIE'S LIMBO!!! I will primer it if the weather helps it along, and then paint it so I should be ready to finish putting it all back together starting tomorrow . . . I am hoping though to have a few mock ups for you guys today . . . we'll see how it goes . . .