[The Amber Queen]

Thanks for all the nice comments - your words are much appreciated.

What colors did you use on that?

The colour scheme was a bit of an evolution. I started with some copper acrylic lacquer. That looked a little boring so I tried some Tamiya clear orange over the top but it looked a bit brown. So then I used some leftover Testor's One Coat 'fiery orange'. That stuff has loads of flake in it and gives a nice custom look. Then I top coated that with Tamiya clear orange for a bit of a candy effect. It's still a bit brown for my taste, but I can live with it.

The cream colour is just an auto lacquer rattle can.

Thanks again to everyone for the nice comments.

[The Amber Queen]

This is the old AMT kit – nosed, decked, frenched and shaved. I added custom side trim, cruiser skirts, dummy spots, a tube grill and twin aerials out the back. I also did a bit of filling up around the front wheel arches just to keep the peak going around the corner past the headlights and to make the lines a bit more smooth and flowing. The wheels are from the ’57 T-bird kit but the rest is pretty much out of the kit.

[The Black Widow – ’58 Chevy Impala]

This is the best model, I have seen for a while! Very good job, paintjob is perfect it's so shiny and smooooth! Very great. Chrome reverse wheels are perfect choice to this and I'm very happy that some people build cars like this but they don't put too big wheels to them... Sorry all pling pling fans... Engine is nice like that 348'' and detailing looks great. Interior is very good too but any pics from the chassis...?

Thanks for the high praise! The chassis is pretty boring - just all semi-gloss black. That's why I didn't bother posting any pics. Is there something in particular you want to know or see?

[The Black Widow – ’58 Chevy Impala]

Thanks for the all the nice comments!

She's a beauty. Where'd you get the deep chrome reverse wheels from ?

Thanks Steve. I made the wheels by combining the chrome centres from an AMT '57 Thunderbird kit with the chrome rim from the custom wheels in a '70 Superbee kit.

The top is perfect. How did you do it? What color is that red, and I too love those wheels what kit are they from?

Thanks! I painted the whole car black first and then masked the scallops before painting the roof. The paint is Tamiya clear red over a base of 50% flat aluminium and 50% clear red. It goes on pink but provides a nice flakey base. and the tint means you don't have to use as much paint to get colour coverage.

[The Black Widow – ’58 Chevy Impala]

Just finished this up on the weekend. It's the old AMT kit built as a mild kustom inspired by Lee Pratt's car.

The body has been nosed, decked and partially shaved. I also frenched the stock taillights and painted the bumper insets black for a mild kustom touch. The interior and engine are box stock with some detailing.

Here’s some pics:

[Michelmore Brothers Shop Truck]

Thanks to everyone for the all the nice words.

is that Boyd's pearl type paint? I cannot think of the color but it looks close to a color by Boyd that I have at home.

No - it's just rattle can enamel from a hardware store. In Australia the brand is White Knights and the colour is called 'mid-green'.

['70 Cuda]

Beautiful. That’s really hot. I particularly like the ghost graphics and mesh grill. Great work!

[‘70 Dodge Super Bee]

Thanks for all the nice words guys.

Nice build all around. One coat testors ? Did you put a clear on afterwards ? Polish ? Looks great !!

Yep. Testors 'wet look' clear and polished out with cutters and Meguiar's Scratch-x. It's great stuff.

[50 FORD PICKUP]

Very cool. Your rust looks great and I love the crank and wheel in the bed.

[Michelmore Brothers Shop Truck]

This is my fictional shop truck created from the latest release of the Revell ’50 Ford F-1 truck. I never liked the stock front (looks too English for my liking) so created a custom one that’s a little more aggressive using ’49 Ford bumperettes. It’s also been lowered all round, sits on homemade steelies and painted wide whites and runs a blown big block up front to make sure the deliveries are on time! I made some decals to finish it off.

[‘70 Dodge Super Bee]

This is the latest re-release by Round 2. Gotta say, it is a nicely done kit. The chrome and decals are really good and the packaging was excellent.

I went with a retro-tech theme, hence the shaved door handles, drip rails and side marker lights. I also used the kit’s twin hood scoops to make the dummy rear brake vents functional and added a hood scoop. I also added a rear wing too. The colour is Testor’s One Coat Lime Ice with same brand clear – it went on a bit strange, but polishes up real nice.

The chassis has been mini-tubbed at the rear and runs a nine inch with coil overs. The wheels are from a Revell ‘California Wheels’ ’67 Chevelle with rear tyres from the AMT Wagon Rod kit and hand drilled rotors. The engine is the kit Hemi with common-rail fuel injection on a modified cross-ram manifold and the interior has a set of race seats with harnesses and a sports steering wheel.

[Ferrari 360 Modena]

This is a Tamiya kit built straight out of the box. I painted it ‘windsor’ blue auto lacquer from a rattle can. I wasn’t a big fan of the body colour headlight buckets, so gave them a lick of Alclad over flat black for a brushed metal look.

My only major gripe with this kit was the lack of seat backs. I was also a little disappointed with the limited amount of travel in the engine cover hinge. Makes it very difficult to get a look at the engine in the finished model. I probably would have ditched the hinges or made some new ones if I’d known beforehand. I also reckon it wouldn’t be too much to ask for some chrome plated headlight and taillight buckets. I backed mine with kitchen foil in order to get some kind of reflection – they would be pretty dull with nothing behind them. They didn’t supply any number plate decals either – rather annoying!

[AMT 1966 Mercury Cyclone GT...restomod of a 44 yr old kit]

That is awesome - I love everything about it.

[The European Wasp]

Thanks for the nice words guys.

With the panel lines, I always scribe them out with the back of #11 blade before I paint. I like to put my paint on pretty heavy, so this is a necessary step for me, however it also creates a deep enough crevice to obtain a realistic shadow and normal painting does the rest of the work. Usually it takes about 20 passes per line. Like everything else in this hobby, the more you do of it, the easier it gets.

[The European Wasp]

This is a typical Tamiya kit – brilliantly engineered and very easy to build. The colour is Ford ‘yellow glow’. I added some offset racing stripes from my spares box (Z28 Camaro cut down – the side stripes are Shelby Mustang) and blacked out the wheel centres. Otherwise it’s pretty much out of the box.

[My builds for 2009]

Thanks for all the nice words guys. Some of the names on these posts are childhood heroes from when I used to read SAE as a teenager twenty-odd years ago, so your praise means a lot to me.

I managed to scrape in another build before the end of the year. This is the old AMT kit built mainly from the box and painted candy red and white. She’s been shaved, nosed, decked, lowered and rolls on painted wide whites mounted on chromed reverse with baby moons from the AMT ’29 roadster kit.

[My builds for 2009]

I don’t post here much, but I enjoy looking at everyone else’s stuff – particularly these year-in-review posts. I was trying for one a month this year but didn't quite get there. Here’s what I got done though.

[’68 Hemi Roadrunner]

Hate to be a nitpicker, but Holley carbs won't fit crossways on a street Hemi manifold.

Gary

Lucky it's a model then...I'd hate to turn the key and find out it didn't run.

Thanks to everyone else for the nice words.

[’68 Hemi Roadrunner]

AMT kit built from the box with a wheel change, lowered suspension and different carbies.

Here’s some pics:

[48 Woodie is DONE!!!]

Your woodie looks real nice - great job on the paint and I love those wheels. I too have an unfinished one of these. Mine is channelled about four scale inches.

[The velvet authority…]

Thanks guys – really appreciate all the nice comments.

I would have to agree that ’65 was definitely the best looking year for the Galaxie. When I saw the picture in the book I just knew I had to build a model of it. Took me a few years to track down a kit and it was a less than a perfect base to build on, but I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

Yes Dave – I build plenty of muscle cars too! They are the hot rods of my generation. Mopars are my favourite. Working on a ’68 Roadrunner at the moment.

Thanks for noticing the armrests Curt – this car must have the longest armrests ever made I reckon! I was tossing up painting the interior white, but decided on red purely because I liked the contrast of the red armrests against the brushed aluminium door inserts…

Lee – the tyres are plain old AMT Firestones. I added the narrow whitewall using a gel pen and circle template.

[The velvet authority…]

…or so the advertising said at the time!

This one was inspired by a photo in a book. It’s the AMT kit built factory stock from the bastardised “RIDES†version. I spent a lot of time sweating the small stuff on this build to try and get “the look†I had in mind. The convertible interior tub has been modified into a correct hardtop version and the body has been “channelled†over the frame to get the right ride height. I also raided a ’66 kit for its separate exhaust chassis and merged it with the ’65 poseable front end.

Here’s some pics:

And here’s a link to a WIP in case you would like a bit more detail:

http://amcc.forum-motion.com/the-workshop-...00-xl-t1250.htm

[1934 Ford 5 window]

Beautiful - great job!

[1964 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible]

Nice job - interior looks great. So who's your boss at home?

[Lil' Viky]

Cool - great replica Bob!