alan barton

That's working really well so far - plenty of realism happening with clever use of paint, plus you got four on the floor! Cheers Alan

A fishing sinker in the back corner will take care of that!

That's funny! You could hope that the frame is twisted with the left hand frame horn pointing up - then slightly twist the front spindles to the left so that it looks like it's hiking the left front as it turns into Turn 1! Cheers Alan

Good progress there Bill. I am just getting back to things after life and work got in the way over the last month or so. I have decided not to leave the doors operational. When I got my parts out last night one door frame had spontaneously broken - how I hate the brittleness of early Revell parts! I want to keep enjoying this build so they are getting glued shut! Cheers Alan

Wow, Bob, those headers look terrific. This is certainly the the trick to improving your skill set in model building - add a new trick to every kit and you'll be playing with the big dogs in no time! The wheels are fantastic too - I built earlier versions of these kits that did not benefit from the printed tyres. I've done white painted driveshafts before but hadn't seen the barber pole stripes before - must be a local rule. I did see a clever rule in Canada once - you could bolt weights onto your chassis to improve weight distribution but they had to be painted white and they had to have your racing number painted on them - if they fell off your car they knew who to fine! Keep up the great work! Cheers Alan

Absolutely! We had a U.S. base in the far northwest of the state, known as Exmouth. A lot of the Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes that appeared around Perth, Western Australia in the mid seventies were purchased from servicemen in Exmouth. About a two day drive to get them home but considering their rarity back in the day, well worth it! Cheers Alan

Sorry for the really late reply, Doug, but the engine you are referring to is in the Revell ASA series Thunderbird race car. For reasons unknown, it comes with not one but two pairs of those rocker covers! Some of the Camaros in that series come with a nicely detailed V6 Chevy but for both the Ford and Chevy engines, you will need to fabricate headers/manifolds as they have race car specific up and over headers that really wont fit any other application. I have used both of them in street rods and they look great! While I'm here, did anyone mention the transverse V6 in the Monogram Chevy Citation? Cheers Alan

Hi Bob, here's an example with with a modified Poison Pinto body where I painted the pipe. On the 34 I did it as a fairly showy contemporary asphalt modified so I polished the aluminium to look like chrome and used a tubing bender to put a slight curve on the end of the tip. Those old MPC headers were so flimsy at the collector end that it is hard to make them look good working with plastic. I can't tell you the exact size or part number for the K&S tubing but by measuring it is 5mm or about 3/16inch. I remember when you first started posting that you said you were just starting in model building and so far you have been building very clean basically box stock models. If you want to start looking at ways at improving or modifying your models, can I suggest that on your next trip to the local hobby shop you buy one length of each of the sizes of K&S aluminium tubing that they offer. My guess is that in the USA that would probably run to less than $25 for the lot. Trust me, it will last a lifetime and you will use it for everything. Exhausts, axles, drive shafts, steering columns, chassis cross members, custom bumpers, intakes, the sky is the limit. It dramatically improves your models without having to do massive "cut and shuts". Because each size perfectly telescopes inside the next size, you will find endless ways of using it. It is great fun! Cheers Alan

James, I love the colour! It is a typical "had a can of paint in the shed so we used it" type of colour that backyard racers of the era would have used. If you have a stash of tyres to choose from, just about anything will look better than the massive steamroller rubber that comes with the Modified Stocker series. The treaded Goodyears from the MPC Slammer kits or the old Monogram sprintcar tyres ( or resin copies) will add the finishing touch to your creation. Cheers Alan

Hi Bob, you've made a great start already. The wheel colour is very convincing for a racecar. For what it is worth, I would touch the nuts and dust cap with flat black as it would not be common to see these parts chromed on a racecar. Also, you can really improve the look of those headers without a lot of work. Buy a length of K&S aluminium tubing and saw it to about an inch long, sand the saw cuts smooth and maybe even run a knife blade around the insides to thin the edge, then cut off the plastic bits and superglue the aluminium to the headers. This will improve the look of the collectors/side pipes immeasurably with barely ten minutes work. For a baloney slice tip, just cut them at an angle. You can paint them with the headers or polish them up like chrome with a bit of Tamiya polish on a rag. I have about four or five of these slammer kits and did it to all of them. Cheers Alan

Unreal! In recent months I have been hand fabricating in fibreglass a pair of panels to go alongside the rear seat of my full size 35 Phaeton, with armrests and the like. I have designed a cupholder into them but every bone in my body is saying "Why do I want someone with a drink back there?" Glad to know it's not just me! Cheers Alan

That is looking magic! Great to see a shiny one, I'm a bit over rust! You got a beautiful fade away on those flames. I have a gloss black one on the bench as a Pro Street version with an alloy BBC but will probably buy another two of the new release. Cheers Alan

If you will permit a sleight of hand here, I built this Mooneyes dragster very many years ago with a combination of an original Mooneyes frame kit, an Attempt 1 kit and a Revell Chevy parts pack. The only issue I recall, apart from typical Revell fiddliness, was that the blower was not a very god fit in the frame - the injectors wanted to push the left hand frame rail out a bit. Anyhow, you should be able to produce something similar from the new kit, i suspect. Cheers Alan

This is like a university course on how to detail with modelling challenges! My hat is off to you, Roger, this is an amazing build. My face just twisted up when you said you were going to trim the side trim down to a narrower width. If I had attempted that it would have looked like it was done with a chainsaw! The stance is awesome and the turned front wheels are a favourite pose of mine. I will continue watching for sure. FWIW< the pearl white, maybe with a touch of blue in the chrome trim, sounds like the ticket! Cheers Alan

Hi Bill and Kit, great to hear you are progressing. I have taken a few small steps lately but nothing worth photographing. Got sidetracked this week on some ancient 1/32nd scale builds and it has been a pleasant break from the intensity of getting the Boyd P.U. just right. Should be back on the horse shortly! Cheers Alan

Chris, I would have to support you on everything you say! A friend and I bought a bunch of stuff from Ed earlier this year. There were some holdups as we ordered in the middle of a rush period for him but Ed kept us informed all the way down the line. The packaging was excellent and he neatly divided the orders up into mine and Jackson's with neat little labels so we could divvy up the order easily. For fellow international modellers, I can thoroughly recommend Ed and his products. In Aussie terms, he's fair dinkum, mate! Cheers Alan

I can hear the doof-doof from here, Dennis! many many years ago, I was displaying a large model diorama at a big custom car show. A young teenager came to talk to me about my models for a while and then walked on. About three hours later, he returned with his father to show me some of the models he had built. The thing I never forgot, and promised to do myself "one day", was that he cut pictures out of a sound components catalogue and glued them in his trunk for speakers. That might sound fairly cheesy without seeing it, but believe me, the effect was totally convincing. I asked him where he got them from, thinking they were actual painted and detailed model parts and he replied, "Nah, they are just pieces of paper I cut out!." Loving this wagon and getting lots of ideas for a 64 Chevelle long roof I have waiting patiently in the wings. Cheers Alan

Car/boats are the coolest! I have my '57 Bel Aqua in Tim Boyd's Chrysler Vee thread somewhere on here and have had this '57 Thunderboat on the back burner since earlier this year. I combined a pullback toy T bird, about 1/28th scale, with a toy cabin cruiser hull that was narrowed significantly. There is a shipload of bodywork still to be done but I hope it might help you with your ideas. I will look forward to your version as I have followed your work for a long time and am expecting something very cool! Cheers Alan

Dan, just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed your progress so far. I too am a big fan of the Monogram Edmunds supermod and while I have extensively modified two versions so far, I haven't gone close to achieving the amazing detailing you are crafting here for us all to see. Great to see this level of dedication. Cheers Alan

An absolutely beautiful rendition of a very radical design. I'm now trying to visualise this colour scheme on a 59 El Camino. Could be another new project on the bench for me - thanks for the inspiration, David! Cheers Alan

Having destroyed one f these in my youth, I obtained a re-issue several years ago but have yet to crack the cellophane! every time I see someone build one of these I home in on the details. I really like where you are going with this. You are correcting the proportional details that many leave box stock and I think you will have a much more believable wagon as a result. Mine is destined to tow a front engined rail so I love the roof rack on yours - just the spot for spare slicks! Cheers Alan

Nice to see such a refreshing colour scheme on an old truck! The '34 is probably my favourite old AMT kit with 2 build and another three on the bench. You certianly did a top class job on this one! Cheers Alan

Stunning - like every one else, I love the colour combo and the cleanliness of assembly is beautiful to behold! Cheers Alan

When I bought the Model King version of the Cougar Country funnycar, there was a totally unexpected jerrycan and a nicely rendered Model A grille shell on the chrome sprue. I vaguely remember discovering later that this was also because the Logghe frame had been converted to a sand dragster/dune buggy. Would that be one of the examples in Tim's box stash photo? Cheers Alan

Thanks, Greg, I got another millimetre out of it over the weekend and in primer it is looking pretty good! Looking good Bill! I love the fact that everyone in this post is using a different colour scheme! ( Even if I am using the most obvious one!) A big cross-Tasman shout out to you for alerting me to the fact that I handed filled the fuel cap hole - I would have been really annoyed if I had it in colour before I noticed - seems to happen a lot lately. Also thanks for the idea of using the T seat risers - so obvious and yet I just hadn't thought of it! When we are all finished with our projects, there are going to be a bunch of Model A pickups with a bunch of similarities and a bunch of differences! Hey Kit, what went wrong? The photos show a smooth, deep, glossy paint job that I would be more than happy with. Dust? Runs? Bubbles on the bottom edge? Enquiring minds want to know! Cheers Alan