Dave Van

Some of his builds.........cool stuff......

It's a double edge sword for sure. You get to see stuff early......but it comes with other 'duties' .........

These are builds from a number of years ago. I never took photos and when I moved I packed them and only now unpacked!! Both Tamiya 1/20 scale kits. The 99T has aftermarket decals for Senna. Box stock with Tamiya paint. Tamiya 1/20 Lotus 102 of Bailey. All box stock build. thanks for looking!!!!

LOVE Pegasus stuff.....I buy most of their stuff....Sci Fi, Gothic wheels.....but they are slower than molasses at the North Pole!!!!

When we got married my wife was driving a Red 77 Vega. I hated the car.....it was big car parts in a small body. The clutch had to be the stiffest I have ever driven. And the steering was recirculating ball rather than rack and pinion and was very HEAVY. But it served us in the hard times as I took care of it and we sold it to put a down payment on a house. Nice work on a kit not often seen. I have one in my stash to build her's one day.

VERY NICE WORK!!

Better than the box art!!! Like the rake!!!

I'd contact them....they may want it back to see why it happened. They should swap it out.

Make 'em!!! When I built Tom's Pro-Duce I needed all kinds of Veggies and fruit. I found it easy to make with epoxy putty and paint. I'd make a bunch of BB sized putty balls and cone shape them. Paint red with a dab of gren on top. Doll house stuff might be OK but at 1/12 scale they'd be BIG berries!!!

The movie?????

Lots of amazing things if you watch close. Automation we don't think about in the 1930's........but still lots of super boring manual labor done. Who here wants to lift the X member from the rack the the line about 1000 times every day!!!! I'd go crazy!!! It does show why were were the industrial giant of the world at one time. Only we did it that good in 1936.

Remember how hated the Revell Vette kit with multi piece body was???? Or the 59 Ford??? I can see the reaction if folks paid $40 and had to glue the body together!!!

Someone repro'd the tires in resin....I got 3 sets of them....but yet to use them. I want to build a Carroll tribute model some day.

Anyone know what year he was at Toledo????? I've only missed a few of them.....but do not remember him coming!!!!!

A while back over at Dave's Showrod BB one of the guys tracked him down and contacted him. IIRC he is not into model cars any longer. He was asked if he had the models still and he did.....stored in a box in the attic!! He was and still is a bit of a Lone Wolf. I have seen this personality in my other hobbies of 1/1 Pony cars and model railroading. Guys come into the hobby, do things no has done before, go to the top of the hobby and then stop totally and move on....not having any 'love' for the hobby they conquered. I do wish if he has no use for the models he'd donate them to the model car museum or some other place they could be seen and preserved. I think most of them are still ground breaking.

I have a number of 'helper' cats!!! Thanks for caring for these guys!!!

That is what my prototype and the Whistler version above is, Mustang chassis parts on a new chassis pan. Some modified roll cage. The body is a mix of street Cougar, IMSA Mustang and sheet stock. Not real hard ....I've done 3 so far. The 3rd was to be a master for a resin....but project fell through.

I know Art, AAM owner back in the day. The quality of the casting is very good. But Art did not do the master for the body and it was designed to fit the Mustang chassis unmodified. Because of that it is a little narrow, I can live with that, but too short too. This gives it a odd look that does not work for me. I have one that I keep telling myself to sell....but have not yet.

I have those Starter kits but yet to build one. On a side note.....we almost got a 1/25 scale plastic kit of the car. Back in 1989 I was given a early test shot of the Revell street Cougar and ask to kit bash a Roush IMSA Cougar model. The current product person at Revell wanted to do the Cougar and thought a prototype kit would help sell it. Needless to say the kit did not make it. The IMSA Mustang kits did OK but set no records and the Cougar would almost be a all new tool....so it was turned down. The prototype I built is around somewhere but I don't think I have a photo on the net. But I did build a 1990 version of the Roush car for myself. 1/25 scale curbside model. I had hoped their would be a GOOD resin kit of the car. (the AAM kit was WAY off) but maybe some day??????

Neil had left RAMOHC Racing by the time the kit came out. He had gone to a limited sched. The thing most folks forget is the #75 kit was announced at RCHTA as a Tim Richmond Old Milwaukee car!! But the anti beer PC folks killed that one and the Speed car was filled in. BTW....the kits are not well done. The Pontiac is salvageable but the TB is a mess. Body is all wrong. They have you cutting up the roll cage to make the body fit the chassis......just a mess.

Cost and flexibility are only two of MANY issue when making a clear body kit. Please note that none of the more recent kits are near the size of the Petty Charger, not near the age of the Petty mold......that has been modified a number of times. I have two friends in the industrial molding industry......both talk about how hard it would be to get a mold the size of the Petty kit to come out correct EVERY time.....which is what is required in mass production. Ten percent rejects would have raised the cost a bunch. I am thankful R2 spent the money to restore the kit......I'd take the kit in pink right now.......

Stock versions of the 32, any of them, I'd buy.....but might be a tough sell to the model co's......

The 1932 Ford has MANY models left before they 'have done them all'.......They still have 8-10 body styles to go!!! The few things I know are coming from different manufactures will make many a folk happy for sure.......

Contact me if you need info on Baker decals for the 1/16 kit.

Minicraft has very few molds of their own. They lease rent barrow molds from other manufactures. Thus the kits run from great to only fair.....all depends on the kit.