alan barton

Thanks everyone for all your support - it really helped me keep going when things went a bit south there for a while. One of the things I continue to be impressed with is the amount of parts I used that otherwise would never have been used if it wasn't for this car. I love recycling! Cheers Alan

Nice job Gareth. This is probably the first time I have ever commented on a police car build, probably because I have only just finished my first ( probably last!) build. After all, not many hot rodders are particularly fond of police cars, eh? All jokes aside, this is a really crisp build. Isn't it fun masking off the black and white separation? And it sits nice - it looks planted to the ground as a police car should. Cheers Alan

Hi Grezgorz, that is an amazing build and I am sure it would be very popular amongst American model builders. When you say you mastered your own body, did you modify existing kits to make the Lincoln or did you carve a wooden mould or something similar? Either way, your skills are incredible, absolutely world class! Cheers Alan

Thanks David and Pappy, Yeah, I did a lot of soul searching on the grille. It does look better in the flesh - the camera does seem to exaggerate the angle a bit. At the end of the day, it was the best option I could find but I will let you in on a little secret - it's not glued in place so if I find something more pleasing, i will be trying it out! Cheers Alan

This has been finished for a little while now but my thrash to get other projects finished for our NNL prevented me getting some photos posted. The build photos are over in the WIP section. I used very few parts from other kits - the front seat is from a 53 Studebaker, the grille is from a 51 Chevy kit and the wheels are from the 59 Sunliner kit. Rear bumper is from an AMT parts pack. I may still lower it a smidge but this will require cutting off the bottom edge of the interior tub so I'm still thinking about that. It is the right height for a high school car but would look slicker if it was a little closer to the ground. Paint is Tamiya light pearl green over Tamiya white primer. I believe I achieved my goal of taking the stodge out of the Dodge (yeah, yeah, it's a Plymouth, but what rhymes with Plymouth?) Cheers Alan

Easily the toughest conversion I have ever tackled, this police car from the famous scene in American Graffiti was resurrected from a nearly destroyed 63 Galaxie convertible that had every single detail except the wipers and cowl vents filed from its body - it truly was a blob! It has taken over twelve months on and off to get it finished for a club diorama at last weekend's Model Car Spectacular here in Perth Western Australia. I'm very happy with the final proportions - it looks like the car it was intended to replicate. I did however have a lot of problems with bodywork, not helped by painting it on very cold and wet days but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! And the masking is never as sharp as I would like. It has no door handles - 61s have door handles installed through the fins and I have no idea how you could accomplish that cleanly so I simply left them out. The amazingly generous donation of a grille, front and rear bumpers, taillight panel and windows from Tarheel Rick was the finishing touch - I can't begin to express my gratitude, but thanks Rick, for your wonderful gesture. I would also like to thank Steve Guthmiller for all his inspiration from every showroom stocker he builds - I am a hot rodder first and foremost so trying to make something stock as the factory intended was a new challenge to me. The recipe goes like this. Body, badly hacked 63 Galaxie convertible, with tailfins, all new wheel arch mouldings and headlight housings reconstructed to replicate 61 contours. New door lines scribed. Roof - completely scratchbuilt from the waistline up Chassis, new unused 63 Galaxie hardtop Engine and firewall - 63 Mercury Marauder ( I think) Exhausts - rusty wire and parts box mufflers. Interior 63 convertible extensively modified into 61 four door sedan Dashboard - 63 converted to 61 Front seat - unknown rear seat from an interior tub, significantly modified! Occupants - 2 Monogram sprintcar drivers, Revel Germany fire chief heads, scratchbuilt collars, epaulettes and pockets. Every square inch cut and reshaped! Paint - Tamiya Pure White and Gloss Black Decals - Revell 57 Ford Ranchwagon, LAPD Camaro Pro Mod and letraset ( remember that?) Siren Johan Mopar wagon Roof lights - Revell 57 Ranchwagon Hope you like it. Build photos are in the W.I.P, section. Cheers Alan

Looking good Bernard. I can see this combo working out just fine! Cheers Alan

You can just see how cool this thing is going to look already and we haven't even begun to speak about colour, paint style etc! I will be interested to see the effect of raising the front end but right now it looks pretty close to perfect! Cheers Alan

That's perfectly understandable Dave. The camera angle switches quite a few times prior to the drive-by. And yeah, considering the dozens of times I have watched the movie ( I'm certain it is over fifty times!) I still find new things to see. For example, how many people know there is a full-fendered 32 roadster in the movie? I didn't, until I freeze framed the police car scene to be able to copy the signwriting for Jerry's Cherries. on the far right hand side of the used car lot, on the front row, there is a very traditionally styled full fendered 32 roadster. When you consider all the internet and Facebook discussions of the cars of American Graffiti, I had never heard of this one before. Only yesterday I read that there is a fleeting glimpse of a '70 Olds Cutlass in there! I will have to go and look for that one! (" Where were you in 62?" Still in the ground as iron ore, I reckon!) Cheers Alan

Thanks Dave, yep, lighting would be great and I will try to organise it after the show. I thought exactly the same thing when I took the photos! But we might have to agree to disagree on the direction of the Merc. I freeze- framed the movie a hundred times or more to capture reference material for this project and in the shot looking at the police car on the far left of the Jerry's Cherries lot, the Mercury absolutely appears from the right of screen and exits on the left. Cheers Alan

That is looking great so far, John. Before you go to much further, test fit the windshield frame. I got mine to our NNL today, 95% finished, but it is very tricky to get the windshield frame fitting nicely. My process was to first use Mod Plodge to to glue the quarter window frames to the glass, leaving it to dry overnight. I then slide the frame over the glass, the quarter window frames helping to locate it correctly in the frame. It is very challenging to do cleanly, especially with high gloss paint finished on both side of the windshield frame and no positive locating points. Your work is very high quality so far and I know you can do but forewarned is forearmed! Cheers Alan

Thanks Bob! I am very pleased to report to everyone on the forum that I made my deadline - woohoo!. I finished it at 8.30 pm Friday night, arriving at the show at 6.00am Saturday so less than twelve hours to spare. The reception to the display has been excellent so far amongst the modellers and tomorrow the NNL style show is open to the public. I really haven't had time to take any quality pictures yet for Under Glass but to whet your appetite, here is how it looks at the show. Cheers Alan,

O.K., here's a sneak peak with five days to go and it is looking like a police car! Still got to fit windows, a bit of foil work, install mirrors, lights and siren and finish the paint on the two occupants. My favourite photo spot in the garden was hampered by the low winter sun today but I will get some better piks as the weekend draws close. Also got my 59 Edsel finished and still hoping to finish a 59 Sunliner as well. We'll see! Cheers Alan

Very smooth! Another colour that I have in my stash but am yet to use. Bare metal is challenging but at the risk of sounding glib, just show it you're boss. Pick up that brand new Xacto blade and cut it in one steady go along the gutter for example. He who hesitates is lost! Cheers Alan

what a great buggy! I've got a soft spot for them and did my best to scratchbuilt some when I was a kid, starting with a cheap toy that in hindsight was probably cloned off the AMT kit. Your attention to detail has really brought this little bug to life. The engine and the dash detail are magic! Cheers Alan

Just a quick update tonight. I got white paint on the body yesterday and hope to do the black tomorrow. Terrible weather for painting but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! The show is next weekend so the clock's a tickin"! Did some more smoothing and sanding on Holstein and his partner tonight. I also built the rear end that gets yanked out. Like most of the rest of this build, it is largely built from the scrapbox - the only unused parts in this assembly were the hubcaps. I separated the front half of the front yoke and added a bit of aluminium tube to represent the end that goes into the transmission. I also repaired and lengthened the springs with thin styrene plus some aluminium tube for the eyes. Cheers Alan

Yep, my first thought was Volkswagen Topolino! Love the proportions - you really have an eye for picking potential! Cheers Alan

I'm doing the red black and white as per stock and will be doing the same on the door panels. I would definitely be using the seat colours on the doors if I was you. Wasn't that fun masking up the seats. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the white strip went all the way around the panel so I might be re-doing mine - your layout definitely looks better than my efforts! Cheers Alan

Tonight I am working on Holstein and his partner getting a seat in the car. I thought Holstein was finished but somewhere along the way his right arm has squeezed in so there is some more surgery to be done. I started with a pair of Monogram sprintcar drivers. The heads are from the Revell Germany firefighters set - you only get one in the box so a friend of mine , Tony from AAA resin casting, made me two copies. There is not a lot you can photograph when doing figure conversions. You just cut shape, glue sand, cut off the part and position it again until finally everything looks right. I use Testor's tube glue to give me some time to push things around and then when I am happy, I lock it up with superglue. Cheers Alan

I might try that Bob! Thanks to Tom and Henry for the support. I am working at home at the moment because our employee feels it is easier for us to work from home rather than come to work and wear masks inside all day SO - I got some primer on at lunchtime, dodging the winter rains we have been experiencing all week. I'm too scared to say that this is the last coat of primer because if I read back through this I think it would be the fourth of fifth time I have said that! So here is how it looked this afternoon. Hopefully white primer and white Tamiya acrylic tomorrow - fingers crossed!

Yeah guys, I have had the big ads all over the place for the last week or so and you know what - I don't care. I have no intention of buying their junk so I just scroll past. It really doesn't cause me anything more than a minor irritation and I think that is a small price to pay to give the moderators some peace - they have much better things to do, including building models! Thank you moderators, you do a job that I will never have the skill set to do but this place runs so well, I have nothing but respect and admiration for you giving us such a great place to hang out. Cheers Alan

Hi John, I too am building this car over the last two weeks, after hiding in it's box for at least twenty years. My front section ahd a massive twist in it which hot water would not remove so I persevered and will be using the chassis to align everything during final construction. If I can give you a couple of heads ups before you get into paint. The hood hinges are a very tight fit so I scalloped out the outside edge of the hinge mount to thin the thickness and it worked fine. Also, watch the fit of the deck into the body at the rear edge. Cheers Alan

O.K., I'm going to go right out on a limb here with something completely opposite to all the excellent suggestions here. Years ago I accumulated a bunch of foam vegetable boxes. Maybe 400mm long, 200 mm wide, about 100 tall. It just happens that they interlock, probably makes the trucker's life easier. I can fit about six of them in the rumble seat of my Modal A roadster and they hold six - eight cars each. I been using these boxes for around 30 years now (same ones) and I don't wrap my models at all. Seems like when I do, I'm the one that causes the most damage! Wrapping and unwrapping models just about guarantees damage. Some years ago I helped the widow of a very dear friend dispose of his collection of some 180 built models. During a home renovation, he had wrapped them all in cheesecloth, yes, cheesecloth, and the damage that caused was heartbreaking - we had hours of repairs to do. For over thirty years I have been transporting my models to shows and displays, longest drive maybe 100 miles each way and the models do just fine. Very few of my models have rolling wheels so that probably helps. The foam provides another friction to stop them rolling around and we have survived some panic stops without damage. If I am really worried about something with fragile suspension ( think Revell Ed Roth show cars) I might place them on top of one layer of bubble wrap. Seriously, I think you can overthink this stuff. For those semi trailers, I would just place them inside some foam boxes and have them sideways to the direction of travel of your car. 400 miles later they will be just fine. For overseas air travel, I have carried several models from Australia to the USA and if they have to go in my suitcases, then the toliet roll wrap works a treat, then inside a stiff box like promo boxes. I hope your move goes smoothly! Cheers Alan

I am thoroughly enjoying your attention to detail, Jason, it is a real education. Your first diorama was pretty special and I can see this one exceeding your first effort. We see a lot of old buildings with what we called weatherboards in the country areas of Australia so your photos showing how to recreate this look are going to be very educational for me. Very, very cool! Cheers Alan

That will make a great gasser! I have no problems with the resto - while the original builder did a fine job on a sometimes challenging kit, it was built box stock so he hasn't added any of his own personality other than choosing paint colours. Sitting on your shelf it would have looked dull and unloved. Now it's going to look cool. Great that you are keeping the side trim. I built two of these as a kid. My teenage exuberance means that they have now been rebuilt as a battered speedway car and a backdated 55 Chevy post sedan from the American Graffiti rollover scene - they were simply too far gone to justify the work necessary to make them a "nice" model. I will look forward to progress on your version. Cheers Alan