Chuck Most

I dug up a couple of drawings I did a year or so ago, and thought I'd post them- When I saw the Aardvark Center Door T body in Resin Talk, I thought it might make a sweet rat rod. So, here's what I had in mind- The chopped body sits on a scratchbuilt chassis, held up with '34 Ford wires up front and '41 Lincoln steelies in back. The engine is a 6-carb Lincoln 430 from the AMT '25 Model T kit. A grenade shifter- taken from a '28 Lincoln gangbusters kit and adorned with a PE pin from a Detail Master hood pin- juts out of the open roof. The driver and passenger sit waaaaaaay back in the body, and some mesh screen in the window openings protects against flying tire shrapnel. Next up, we've got this- I've taken the old Ertl Scout II kit, whacked off the roof, replaced it with a scratchbuilt pickup cab cap, and stretched the wheelbase 18 scale inches in order to create the Terra pickup. The entire body is shaved, and a flush tonneau cover was created. I shaved the front bumper, as well, but extended the splash apron, retaining it's stock motif, and added driving lamps. I also fixed the shape of the grille- long a sore point with me on this particular kit- and made a cowl induction scoop for the hood. The wheels are from an AMT Rides Magazine issue kit. You could do this one as a slammer, but I'm thinking more along the lines of sliding a stretched AWD chassis from a GMC Syclone underneath it, turbocharged 4.3 V6 and all. A modern, mini-truck style interior would finish it off nicely. The Scout II's clean, simplistic lines lend themselves well to customization- why not try it? Yesterday, after finding these, I whipped up a couple of other ideas... Here we've got an AMT '29 Model A Roadster, done up as an Indy-flavored hot rod. Really, probably the only thing you'll use from the kit is the body! I kicked up the area behind the driver, and added a full-width bench seat- an appropriate set of buckets would probably work equally well. Everything forward the cowl is either raided from '60's Indy kits or scratchbuilt. I'd leave the stock buggy-spring suspension, but Z the frame to get it nice and low. The wheels are solid Halibrands, like the ones in AMT's '65 Pontiac 2+2 kit. For power, I'd go with a souped-up Model A 4-banger with side exit exhaust, linked to a modern 5-speed stick. The radius rods and steering are tucked within the bodywork for a clean look. And finally... ALLEGEDLY... Moebius will bless us with a '53 Hudson Hornet kit late this year. I'll believe it when I see it, but if it does in fact become a reality, here's what I had in mind for it... Lose the "Bulletproof Pillbox" windsheild and turret top, and replace it with a massaged chopped '50 Ford windscreen and a Carson-style top. Shave all the factory chrome and add a custom-fabbed trim piece along the body line and some cleaned up chrome rocker trim. Ribbed bumpers and taillamps from a Lindberg '34 Ford pickup are other touches. Seems what ever I tried on the grille, it made the Hud look like a Merc or a Buick- so I decided to modify the stock Hudson grille. I removed the oval-shaped bar in the middle, and replaced it with square drawer-pulls on expanded metal. The headlamps are resin from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. I also kept the somewhat trianglular stock Hudson bumper guard. Wheels and tires can be pirated straight from Revell's '49 Merc. Now, here's hoping the Moebius Hornet doesn't end up a "ghost kit"! There was a 4-door '51 available in resin by a firm called Miller about 20 years ago- and I think Hendrix makes something similar, but wouldn't a styrene Hudson be cool?

A Ford 2.3 turbo! You know, the one that came in the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, Mustang SVO, and over on your side of the Pond, the Scorpio (if I recall).

Dunno... I'm likin' this 'Cuda better than anything Foose ever screwed together!

If anybody's still awake- I remembered I had a photo of a photo from a magazine of the Scale Squads grilles- Yep- that's straight from Mr. Jessee's old Light Commercial column. In, you know, that OTHER model car magazine. (The one that doesn't have 'Model(s)' or 'Car(s)' in the title.) Man, I'd love to come across a couple of these grilles in a long-forgotten junk box. Better still, I'd like to see them back!

I'll wait until all the guys who bought casefuls of them get a bad case of buyer's remorse and unload 'em all on feebay for $10.00 a pop!

Why not? They can be stewardesses...ah...stewards! They did a 'Pink Ribbon' Mustang a few years back. It was silver though, the only pink on it were the ribbons on the fenders. Ford made a donation towards breast cancer research for every Pink Ribbon adorned Mustang it sold. I have yet to see one of them on the street, however. Maybe if they'd actually painted the car pink...

I'd have to agree with the "it may be beneficial to the resin casters" camp. Sure, parts made from rapid prototyping are available as we speak, but those same parts could be used as masters for resin casting. I don't see the 3D printed material taking the place of the venerable resin caster. Not just yet, anyway.

I love seeing old kits built up! Especially to this level! Sheez- the body looks better than the mid '90's era AMT '67 Comet! They knew what they were doing back then.

Nutty, man! Just nutty. Love it!

I just chopped it with some sprue cutters. The clear styrene seems to snap pretty cleanly, and gives a somewhat smooth cut edge.

I've noticed that too- If I recall, this kit was originally based on a Maclaren Mustang, and they just kind of bumblefooted it into a Capri. I do like the flares, even though they aren't stock, but sounds like making the kit more accurate isn't to difficult!

I once saw an early '60's JoHan Olds kit with missing and broken parts listed at just a tick under $300. I don't remember if it sold or not, but whoa! Really!?

Few cars can pull off pink and still look good. I'll get back with you on this one... still not too sure!

Trans tunnell? ! I say go with an open floor!

Looks alright to me- I like seeing the more obscure Capri to the way common Mustang any ol' day of the week! Those wheels look killer on the 'Pri!

I've always wanted this kit- I wonder if the tooling still exists? Never knew the doors opened!

I only clear over decals meant to represent painted on graphics. If it's a decal meant to represent a contingency sticker or a factory style vinyl graphic, I leave it off until after the clear, and trim the carrier as close as I possibly can. I'll sometimes clear the "supposed to be vinyl" type of decal with a semigloss clear while they're still on the sheet if I think they look too shiny, or if it's an old sheet and they appear a bit brittle. A lot of people seem to think decals MUST HAVEa clearcoat over them, or they'll shatter into a million pieces or something if you touch them. From what I've seen, clearcoat over decals isn't necessary for protection- they seem to hold up as well with or without a clear coat. Seriously, what does a decal need to be protected from? On a few memorable occasions, I've had bad things happen when I've tried to clear over decals (peeling, lifting,cracking, the decal itself melting), so I try to avoid it in most cases, and make mental notes to NOT do whatever I'd done THAT time to avoid that little pitfall in the future.

I've wanted to build one of these since I was a kit- doubt mine would be this nice!

Precisely what I was thinking, Dave! May not be good enough for a rep-stocker, but this is a perfect application for this kit! This one's looking killer!

I wasn't aware that this was a snap kit, but that Pete kit is a snapper as well, and I think it's better than the old AMT Full glue kit!

Project X!? Why, God, Why!?

Wow- sounds like Pocher kits are actually pretty poor, quality-wise! No wonder that Wingrove dude rolls his own!

Whale's right... the 'painting suggestions' on most instruction sheets are based on half-educated guesses!

Aren't they basically the same kit, aside from the PE parts and the manufacturer's logo on the box?