Don Sikora II

Stunning! Beautiful job.

Mr Metal Color is great stuff, and I’ve been using it since the late 1980s or so. Not that easy to find in the US now, but I’d try it if you can source it easily.

Think Model Empire still has plenty of flocking is stock, at least they do in their West Allis, WI store.

It’s very hard to find and rarely shows up on eBay. Maybe 4 or 5 over the course of a year.

Awesome! One of my childhood favorites too.

Great build!

Bandai made a 1/24-scale Savanna RX-7 way back when. I don't have the box, or the tires, but the wheels scale out to about 14-inches in 1/24...so 13-inch tires.

I'm fairly sure this is an original-issue Tamiya RX-7, but I got it built and can't say it is with 100% certainty. That said, the wheels look really big. If I'm doing my math right, almost 17-inch diameter in 1/24....so 16-inch tires.

They used the Revell dragster tire on the front. Common kits that include that tire are Roth’s Outlaw and the Tony Nancy 22jr. Not sure about the rear tire, but I’d check with Norm at Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland...he might cast it in resin.

Yeah, those pics are rough. The Halibrands look like they might be the ones from the original annual-issue AMT ‘63 Impala SS kits.

I received my replacement parts today. ?

I recently filed a parts request (replacing two damaged parts in the new MPC Prudhomme front-engine dragster) via their online system that’s on the website. I uploaded pictures of my receipt and the UPC code as they requested. In a day or two received an email from them confirming they would fill my parts request. That was maybe a little more than a week ago, no parts yet but with the holidays I’m expecting they will take some time to get here.

That tree was in the AMT Customizing Series kits from the late 1980s. Think that series included the ‘49 Mercury, ‘50 Ford convertible, ‘66 Thunderbird, and ‘66 Buick Wildcat. Pretty sure the last reissue of the ‘66 T-Bird from about 12-15 years ago included the tree too.

MPC's Street Spyder was a childhood favorite of mine, but unfortunately that original one of mine is long gone. Built my second one a decade or so ago. Mostly kit parts, but wheels are from a MPC Barris T Buggy and the front spoiler is modified from the one in a different issue of MPC's Monza...pretty sure it's from the yellow "Pro Street" issue from the '80s. Last year a friend gave me an old survivor build of the Revell Super Spyder. I cleaned it up and got it back together. Pic shows it next to my Street Spyder.

The Lindberg “Charger” I had as a kid was as you describe, a Cuda with four headlights. Even in grade school I knew that kit was all kinds of wrong!

I’m pretty sure models by GT Spirit are cast resin. So be careful because it might be easy to break the castings. And parts might be assembled at the factory with superglue. If you are on Facebook I’d see if there are groups for GT Spirit collectors or people who modify them. If you’re lucky, might be a great place to find tips. Good luck!

Wow, don't ever remember seeing that kit before!

A friend's doctor told him to get a front-pocket wallet and to stop sitting on his wallet, with the reasoning being that sitting crooked because of a wallet under one side of his butt was doing his back no favors. I've had my share of back problems over the past 15 years or so, and I ended up following this advice too. Don't know how much credit the front-pocket wallet gets for my recent lack of back trouble, but I figure it can't hurt!

Survivor build I found a couple years back of the '78 annual done as the custom.

Think the red Corvette coupe in Tom's pictures is the Revell '69. I have a Lindberg Buick Skyhawk around here someplace.

Thanks for your response. There are so many cool hot rod parts in those old Revell kits, so always happy to learn about the ones I don’t know about.

Very cool project! Think in one post you said the transmission you used is an old Revell piece. Which kit or parts pack is it from?

The AMT kit was released in 1962. The article states the 1:1 car was customized in 1965/66, so maybe the kit actually inspired this car!

No, Casey. These Halibrands are the same style wheels but very different in size from what comes in the '31 Model A sedan kit. All four of the wheels in C1147 are much deeper and fit Revell's wide M&H Racemaster piecrust slick. I like these wheels a lot, and I'm pretty sure Revell only ever included them in C1147. The very original issue of Revell's everything-opens '56 Chevy included two of this basic style wheel too, but they are are much narrower and (from memory) fit the skinny M&H piecrust slicks (the ones on the back of the Beatnik Bandit). They aren't exactly the same as the wheels in the '31 kit, but are pretty close.

Haven’t seen that before!