Chuck Most

Getting into the home stretch now... I think I'm going to cut a windsheild from acetate- all of the kit glass I've been trying looks to thick an has a LOT of distortion. But anyway- headers are on, headlamps are on, drag link is on, and I should have the rad on pretty shortly, once I get the fan situation figured out.

A factory stock big-scale Maverick????!!!!! Did not even know of such a thing until just now, and I want one. You, sir, are a god among mortals.

All the Ertl IH kits had the V-800, but if you look closely you'll notice the Paystar kits have the IH logo engraved on the valve covers, which the Transtar (at least the most recent reissue) does not. Parts interchange between the Paystar and Transtar kit engines.

Front suspension is a done deal. I know there is no front spring perch- that area will be covered up by the grille, so I didn't bother. I'll have to touch up the radius arm pivots on the frame- the superglue fogged them up a bit. This is also the first good view of the seats- they're taken from an AMT '25 Model T kit. After wrestling a bit with how to install the alternator, I just thought 'why not have it mounted out of sight and spun by the driveshaft'?- so I just used a short belt/pulley casting to run only the water pump- still need to paint the inside of the water pump pulley. Oil pan sits a bit closer to the ground than I'd like- not sure I can fix that- everything is mounted up pretty securely, and I'm not sure I can take parts off without breaking anything at this point.

Only thing 100% set in stone for this one is... it will have yellow Accel plug wires with red boots. Sky is the limit other than that.

He passed away April 30, but just caught it in today's paper. Elon Jack 'E.J.' Potter Age 71, of Ithaca, MI passed away Monday, April 30, 2012 at Rosewood Adult Foster Care, Gratiot County, MI. Elon was born in Alma, Michigan on April 24, 1941, the son of Howard and Sheila (Huxley) Potter. E.J. graduated from Ithaca High School with the class of 1959. With his extremely vast knowledge and love of machinery, E.J. could be described as a self-made mechanical engineer. A true machine innovator, inventor, and racing legend, E.J. was probably best known, across this country and abroad, for his series of home made Chevy V-8 drag bikes. As an exhibitionist drag strip performer, he was commonly known as the "MICHIGAN MADMAN", during the rise of his career in the 1960's and into the early 1970's. It was at that time, he made several historic runs on his bikes, which he called "Widowmaker" and "Bloody Mary". E.J. became a record setter with his machines, including a 1973 entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Following his drag racing adventures, he then became involved in the tractor pulling arena. Here, he soon became a leader in the sport, with his talents and abilities and love for the Allison aircraft engine. Many others came to him for advice, maintenance, repairs and sales of their aircraft tractor engines and jet engines. He won countless awards for his successful runs, including "World Champion" title two years in a row. E.J. was self taught in all areas of interest, with a constant desire to learn more. His favorite way to learn was usually trial and error. In later years, he further developed and marketed his earlier creation, the snow melter machine, which he named "Michigan Melters". E.J. was inducted into the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, for holding his many racing and tractor pulling records. He is survived by son Jack and Deborah Potter of Howell, MI, daughter Alison (Potter) and David Tiihonen of Howell, MI, grandchildren; William, Jennifer, Jacob and Emily and 3 sisters.

That is SO cool... not just the model, but the story. Looks quite a bit the way my grandfather's '32 Chevy sedan looked when he found it many years ago.

Oh... no pastel, evocative-of-the-Miami-Vice-title-card graphics or lettering on the car either. At least that's the plan at this point.

I'm good for it, but I've got a couple of EJ Potter tribute builds I'll probably tackle first. Anyway, yeah, I'm in.

Ixnay the body-color bumpers and that's more or less the look I'm after.

He passed away April 30, but I just saw it today in the Gratiot County Herald. Yes, I'm aware of Mr. Shelby's passing, as well. I built this a couple of years back, it is an Allison W-24 powered pulling tractor, based very loosely on EJ's 'Double Ugly'. Though most people remember EJ's V8-powered drag bikes, he went on to become very successful in the tractor pulling arena in the '70's. This model was done as a tribute to him.

What about the Terrastar? The cab looks similar to the bigger trucks, but is it identical?

Threw the main ingredients together- now it's a matter of sorting out the front suspension.

Don't feel too bad- we're all entitled to a momentary lapse or two now and then.

I ordered this a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure what the situation is now.

There was a guy out in Colorado casting the GMC '47-53 style cabover, I'm not sure if it is still available now.

Looks like the one from the AMT '62 Corvette- I think I have one of those in my stash. Might need to set it up on the cowl and see how it looks.

Well, for power I believe there is only one correct choice for this car- an Olds V8 with a supercharger! I know a big block Chevy would probably be the easy way to go, but I just think an Olds pro street car needs Olds power.

I'm leaning toward Duplicolor School Bus Yellow, but nothing is set in stone at this point. I might look at available '66 442 colors and see if there's one I like. Fixed the front ride height issue- cut the axle stub off flush with the vertical surface of the spindle, then moved it up as high as it would go. Unmodified side on the left, dropped side on the right of the photo. Works out to a rough 3 scale inch drop. Now THAT'S more like it! Yes, I know the rear axle isn't centered, we'll worry about getting the rear suspension all sorted out later.

Well, this is what you might call a modified reissue of that kit. It's seen a few variations over the years.

Yes, yes, Pro Street is pretty much 'dead', but I don't care. The body is from the AMT kit, while the chassis is from the new reissue of the Revell '67 Chevelle pro street kit. Both the body and chassis needed some trimming to fit together, but wheelbase, track, and the general position and location of parts are perfect for the Olds... which they should be, as the 1:1 cars shared a basic platform. As it is now, the car sits a bit high for my tastes, so the nose will be going down a few scale inches at least. I've got a bit of room in the fenders to play around with, but the rear is another story- in this photo, the rear tires are touching the tops of the tubs. The Chevelle kit comes with modular wheels with Bow Tie patterns engraved on them, obviously not going to cut it on an Olds, so I got a spare set of wheels from a Monogram '37 Ford Tudor street rod kit. The front inner and outer wheel halves were filed down a bit to fit better in the wheels- the assembled wheel would have been a tick too wide for the Chevelle front tires had I not done that. Rear wheels were another story. For those, I cut the Chevelle rear wheels roughly 1/8" above where the wheel gets wider. I then filed the cut flat, painted the modified Chevelle wheel flat black, and glued the Monogram outer wheel to that. Here's a view of the modified wheel-

If its a cool model, or the thread containes useful information? I don't have a problem with it at all. 'Bumping' it might mean people who missed the first go-round will be able to see it.

The owner of Fireball Model Works posts here- his name is Joe Osborn and he goes by the handle 'Chief Joseph' here.

Yes- it's the old Monogram 'Little Deuce' with the Small Block Chevy engine and the framerails molded to the bottom of the fender unit.

Thought about using a piece of kit glass- if I can find one that's relatively thin and the right width I might go that route. As far as the grille I'm leaning toward a laid back '32 Chevy radiator shell.