Chuck Most

I agree- it's tough to get this kit much lower than a 2wd 3/4 ton pickup, which is understandable given it's gasser roots. I do like the stance you ended up with on yours!

Here are some shots of the AMT Blueprinter edition: http://public.fotki.com/ChuckMost/kit-contents/amt-blueprinter-sun/

Scale of 1 to 10... I'd say about a 6. The fact I changed quite a few parts aside, some stuff was a bit more fiddly than it needed to be. All in all, though, not to terrible! On my kit-ranking list, it's well above the "I'd rather have an explosive case of the squirts than build this kit" ranking!

This should be interesting...

It was molded like that. This isn't the same version, but this hotel taxi and the Waterman van kit share just about all the parts except the rear side panels. And of course, the "Waterman" version also lacks the seats the Hotel Taxi comes with. The Hotel Taxi box art is similar, but the truck is red.

You know.... global warming can kick in any old time, now!

The cute little redhead USPS girl sent me this today, courtesy of Scale Central... Very nice kit, by my initial observations. Too bad I'll end up doing something very untoward with it!

Here's a styrene soldier who fell along the way... A Citroen Hotel Taxi rat rod that was damaged in a shelf-shuffling incident. It's still in pieces in a box as I write this, and may well be for a very long time to come. On the plus side, this '29 A Ratbed suffered more or less the same fate, and came back better than before: Before: And after: So maybe all hope is not lost!

Well, I can finally cross the Fiat from the Double Dragster kit off my bucket list... Since it's mostly box stock, I'll just focus on the mods: The engine is the blown Pontiac 421 from the AMT Parts Pack, installed with the Fiat kit's engine plates. The wheels also came from an AMT parts pack. The scoop is from a '64 Impala. I didn't like how the grille just was supposed to be 'slapped on' over the grille shell, so I cut an opening for it to fit into. I sprayed the whole mess in Chrysler Industrial Red engine enamel. Now that I've got a feel for the kit, I've got a few more ideas in mind- including a more detailed altered coupe, and a street-rod version! I love this kit! And I've still got enough stuff left over to build a couple of early style rails!

The old AMT '28 Tudor is one of my 'bucket list' kits. Seeing one built this beautifully both makes me giddy as a school girl and depressed as a grunge rocker at the same time!

Haven't gotten hit too hard up here in Michigan (yet), but the downtime has given me chances to get crackin on that Fiat from the Double Dragster reissue! See- There's always a silver lining!

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!