Chuck Most

Almost kinda/sorta looks like a '70's Aussie muscle car. Very nice build of this one, Mark!

Interior color will probably match the exterior, I'm thinking of robbing the paint scheme off a Hot Wheels Buick (saw this one on Billy Kingsley's Fotki) I might use more blue, and have the silver under the spears, but I'm basically shooting for this color combo, so the interior will probably be silver/blue or white/blue. Just need to find some late '40's early '50's Buick-looking interior stuff!

It's better when you peel off the shrink wrap right there in front of him!

This started about a year and a half ago, with a Jimmy Flintstone "Chopperhead" body, some Replicas and Miniatures '53 Buick headlamps and side trim, a Modelhaus '50 grille/bumper, and an AMT '51 Chevy. This was the starting point- the '51 Buick Chopperhead body, which as far as I can tell was meant to be a slammer. I worked on it for a few months, and ended up at this stage- That's where it sat for about a year, until I was digging through some of my unfinished projects, and thought I'd post some of them up with a poll to see who wanted to see which model done first. The Buick got nearly 90% of the vote, so here's the WIP! The body is really rough inside, and varies quite a bit in thickness. I also added drip rails and scribed in front and rear window trim, as the body as-cast has no such detail. I also reworked the shape of the door lines, and filled in the fender skirt cutouts and taillamp indentations. the AMT '51 Chevy is listed as the donor kit, but the wheelbase is a good 3/4" or so too short, so it and the floor were lengthened. I also cobbled up the underhood parts from the '51 Chevy, and reworked them to fit the Buick, I did the same to the cowl/lower windsheild frame. The Fireball eight is from Kitchen Table Resins. So far I've roughed in the engine bay and I've gotten the hood to fit over the new inner fenders and cowl, though a little bit of work is still in order. The engine was slung down as low in the chassis as possible, and the exhaust pipe is 3/32" solid core solder. I plan to weather the engine and its surroundings a bit, but the car will wear a glossy paint job.You can also see in the pic where I had add a longer piece from a second floorboard (white plastic) to compensate for the Buick's longer body. Despite the thick and rough casting, I did manage to get the hood to close over the engine and cowl,though I might need to grind out a bit more material from the underside of the hood to clear an air cleaner! ANd... that's where things stand now. I'm currently looking for a '49-'51 Buick dash. I know Modelhaus does a '49 kit, but I do not see the dash listed separately in their parts department. I built one of these a few years ago with a modified '66 Riv interior, but for this one I'd like to go with an interior a bit closer to the vintage of the body. The interior looks like it will be largely scratchbuilt on this one.

Weeeeeeeeeelll.... suppose you are reincarnated as a modeler, and you want all your stuff back? Then you're going to have to pay 'collector value'! Or something!

Local shops are always my first stop- I'm fortunate enough to live within a few miles of two fairly well stocked hobby shops, and a few 'five and dime' type stores that sell models. I can usually save quite a bit that way- the kit may be the same or a couple bucks more in price, but I'm not paying shipping (though I am paying sales tax) and the amount of fuel burned to get to the closest shop (which usually has what I want anyway) is negligible. So, I'm an 'occasional' online buyer.

Harry- you do realize that I would consider the "Doesn't matter, I'll go anywhere" choice to include online vendors, right? Not sure if Darin would agree, but that's how I feel!

I went with doesn't matter. Mostly because "In your living room" was not one of the choices.

For me, that's exactly why I liked the Jo-Han stuff. Sure, the interior tubs were only 3/8" deep and the engine/chassis detail was laughable, but the bodies looked good, and they covered subjects that the 'big' model companies never did, or the Jo-Han versions were easier to find or depicted another body style than the AMT/MPC/Revell/whathaveyou kits did.

I'd be happy if they just reissued some of their existing big scale stuff more often. I'm starting to get into 1:12 and 1:16, and I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one of these, but I'd love to see some more big scale kits from Revell (and MPC/AMT and Lindberg, for that matter) put back into circulation.

Wow, Just that ladder rack is a work of art! The total build should be sweet indeed!

Very nice! Love the '66/'67 Toros.

Cool! This will be interesting, to say the least. Are you going to use the Nailhead Buick V8 with the Toro transaxle? That would push it over the top.

I'm still thinking about it. Trouble is with me, entering in a community build or build-off is pretty much a guarantee the project will never, ever get finished!

Especially now, when all you have to do to reply is put the cursor in the box at the bottom of the last post and hit 'post'!

Lovely ol' Binder!

You know? Didn't even know I wanted a kit of a Rampvan until you brought it up just now. Thanks. Thanks a LOT!!!!

The car in the e Model Cars logo- one of Jairus' creations?

This has me thinking- maybe if this one is a sucess, that '54 Kaiser Manhattan kit I've always wanted might be a possibility. Yeah, sounds like a long shot, but who expected THIS kit?

Mace is actually the smoking man from X-Files. Dealing with him can be a bit iffy at times.

I've seen guys build trucks with killer lifts, heavy axles, and huge tires.... and never, ever take them off road for fear of scratching the paint. I've never been able to nab one of those trucks for a song myself, so I'd have to say epic score on this one!

Those big-diameter plated steelies? Those would look killer!

Not sure if the licencencing thing was true, but I had one of those McDonald's kits (ex-Monogram Deuce Roadster), and I think the diorama pieces ended up getting crushed.

Plymouth, not Dodge. I own a 1:1 '67 Fury four-door, and I have to tell you, this has me contemplating a roof swap!

Looking cool so far, and with the bed still the stock length, might still be useful as a pickup for chasing parts.