Chuck Most

I think the Baywatch truck was a 1:20 Lindberg, but it was a Toyota, not a Ford. LIndberg did an Explorer Sport in 1:20, maybe they did issue it as a Baywatch version, but I'm not sure. The AMT and Polar Lights Ecto kits are different tools, or HEAVILY modified versions of the same tool- the PL is more of a snap kit, while the AMT kit is kind of reminiscent of a Jo-Han promo, detail and breakdown wise.

I'll say this about the casting quality... you'll think you're looking at cream-colored injected styrene, not resin, when you look at these parts. Not a pinhole or run in sight, just small scale car part goodness through and through! Here we have the bolt nut/stud set, which gives you 208 very cool fastener detail bits in sizes ranging from 072" to .028"' Next up we've got this cool Keystone wheel which, again, is beatifully cast and even includes an AMT style metal axle boss on the back side.... these would look great on a muscle car or early street machine! Or, if you're more into early '60's street rods or even Indy cars, these Halibrand 5-holers are just what the doctor ordered... Speaking of mucscle cars, who could use a Hurst Dual Gate shifter for an automatic? This one's very nice -though you'll need to clean up the handle a little, and the 'Hurst' and 'PRND' jibber-jabber is not only present, but legible! (Though this lousy picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice! But, I'm saving the best for last. Need those very cool Dick Cepek paddle tires for that 1:25 sled puller you KNOW you want to build, but can't find the Orange Blossom kit, or don't want to raid one for parts? Well, Ma's gotcha covered there too... The tires are molded in a soft rubber which is way more pliable than the original AMT vinyl, and the wheels are cleanly cast. As with the resin stuff, the tires are well shaped and blemish-free. Now I just need to get meeself one o' them Amphicar kits!

One of 'em came with the wrong grille, I suppose?

And people think I'M lazy! Well, I am, but still...

Do it! And we'd better see it! The old center door T was an oddball, but I think the much more common 'one door' roadsters were even stranger. Why would you put only one door on a car... OPPOSITE the side the driver sits? My grandfather has a '25 T roadster with only the passenger door- he says he thinks the door was on the passenger side so that if you parked parallel to a curb, you wouldn't need to step out into the street to enter/exit the car. Anywho- I have made some progress... I made up a front 'subframe' using the drilled bumpers from an AMT '53 Ford F-100, and various scraps of Plastruct and spare parts. I also made up some carb stacks from 5/32" aluminum tube, slash cut and getting taller from front to back. In the side profile, they look about the same height, but in the front and rear views it looks like I made them stepped, so that's the look I went with. The pipes look wicked (you should've heard them belt out "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" ), can't wait until I figure out something for the headers! I decided against the mesh for the radiator shell, but instead added a 'slatted' piece of plastic, which was painted with a sludgy wash of red and black. I also cobbled up a radiator from scrap Plastruct... Then, I managed to hook everything up to my front 'sub frame', the rest of the frame will start being mapped out once I get the body (early next week if all goes to plan).

This thing is going to be killer!

And people think Car and Driver's John Phillips was the car mag industry's first devastatingly opinionated writer!

Don't drop it next time, and you'll do just fine! Can't tell you how many times I've rubbed through regular paint- maybe I'll have to give nail polish a shot one of these days.

There goes Harry again, making my photos look way better! I am considering the mesh in the grille, perhaps to match the pattern in the rear windows, or something that looks like a radiator. This might end up with a rear-mounted radiator, but that doesn't kill the possibility of a mesh insert for the grille.

These things are worth their weight in gold, just for Tom McCahill's reviews on the cars. (If you don't know who he is, check this out- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McCahill) The rest of the magazine is cool too, full of all sorts of nutty DIY projects and such, but it's always the McCahill stuff that grabs me, and whenever I see an old copy of MI for sale somewhere, I jump at it! Yeah- I've got the AMT Tiger kit (not an Alpine, but close), and I think that Crosley bodied hunting rig and Mini Moke would make great modeling subjects!

Just a question, is there really any advantage to using nail polish instead of your tradtional hobby and automotive paints, other than perhaps cost (I've never seen a six dollar bottle of the stuff personally, but I see them all the time for one or two bucks) and quick drying time?

I like the longish trunk and the big wheels- If I'd built it I think I'd have lowered the stance a bit more, but what do I know, I'm nuts!

A couple of years back, Terry did a write-up about the Aardvark Center door model T in the Resin Talk column. The moment I saw it, I pretty much KNEW I'd eventually rat one out. I even worked up a rough little sketch to map everything out- Fast forward almost two years, and I'm finally getting around to starting on it! Strange thing- Andy Martin (owner of Aardvark and Modelmartin) told me I might be happier using the Jimmy Flintstone version of his body- as it is already chopped and costs a bit less. Kind of like a GM rep recommending a Dodge! At this point, I'm not sure which body I'll use, but in any case, this model is all somehow the fault of Gregg and Harry (for running the story), Terry (for writing it), Andy (for casting the body), and me (for having a twisted, some might say psychotic, imagination). This would be the first time I've ever used a drawing (one of mine or anyone else's) to map out a build, so that should be interesting! Maybe it'll help with the process, as I'm one of those guys who never takes measurements or notes during a project unless I'm modeling a specific 1:1 subject. (And even then I don't always do it!) I started out with the grille shell, which is a modified piece from an AMT '29 Model A (Woody/Pickup)- I scratchbuilt the Lincoln star badge for the opening, used some old kit radiator hoses for the bull horns, an old big rig cab light lens for the crank cover, and a Ford decal from a Revell '29 Model A pickup kit. For the front rollers, I pirated those straight from an AMT '34 Ford 5-window kit. The engine is 'supposed' to be a Lincoln MEL, but I actually made it from various spare Ford FE parts- mainly from the '66 Fairlane kits. I also reworked the 6-carb 'log' manifold and used the '25 T Double Kit's valve covers, as shown in the drawing. The carb stacks and headers will come later. I also moved some stuff around to help make the engine look a bit more like an MEL and less like an FE, though there's only so much you can do in that regard. And I wrapped up the initial flurry of activity with the construction of the front end- consisting of the '34 rollers, and an AMT '50 Chevy pickup street machine front axle with a scratchbuilt tie rod. That is all for now, next project will probably be starting on the front half the frame (using a '25 T coupe body to get the basic measurements), hunting up the various little detail bits, and, yeah, ordering a body!

Pure insanity, man! And of course, I mean that in a GOOD way!

I probably have more R&R stuff than any other resin product, and I can tell you R&R's casting quality seems to vary quite wildly- I'd say it averages somewhere between 'poor' and 'partly cloudy'. I've built three of the '57 IH pickup kits- the first two were horrible, while the third was actually pretty good- way fewer huge pinholes and thin spots, and much less distortion in the castings. But yeah- I'd avoid an R&R piece for a first-time resin project!

Oh, yes! I STILL do that on occasion!

I think my next 'Bumpside' build will be loosely based of the AMT/Model King '79 kit, with a reworked bed and sheetmetal skin. Fortunately, I have acess to a '67 and a '72 1:1, so reference should be a cakewalk.

It's been said already, but yeah= the original should've sported the stock GTO top! A marked improvement over the original, sir!

I've heard of the project- but I haven't been able to access the Blue Oval Resin website the last couple of days.

Even if you never finish it, this will be cool! Those tracks look awesome.

Yeah, that did suck. Kind of made John Delorean look eligible for sainthood. At least we still have the glory days to look back on!

On the plus side... Purple Power IS a degreaser, when you actually do fill your container with it stripping the paint AND oil shouldn't be a problem! Not nearly as bad as the time I started pouring oil into my car engine... then realizing I had not reinstalled the oil drain plug!

Not bad- I was thinking of making a lip inside to fit the glass to- scribing the line and blacking it out would hide the lip.

Well, summer is officially over, looks like it's time to park the old Mobile Pork Incinerator for the winter. But not before I can get some better images of it! To jog your memory (or if this is the first time you've seen it) the basics- scratcbuilt frame, chopped and sectioned '53 F-100 cab, scratchbuilt pig roaster with real charcoal, annoying roof mounted PA system,"H1 N1" vanity plates no one will 'get' in ten years, and lots of rust and crust. The pig on the roof was an original idea at the time, but in hindsight I think I subconsciously stole it from ###### Cranky. The first in what will be a whole series of "Scary Jerry" inspired madness.