Ryan S.

Very cool inspiration, Clay. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

On my "to build" shelf I've got: '41 Chevy P/U '55 Ford F100 '60 Starliner '32 Ford 5 window all in addition to finishing up my 3 WIP's. If I can get everything finished by the end of 2011 I'll be very happy.

So I needed a little something different to occupy my time for a while. Something fun and with out rules, and I've been really impressed with this theme of builds as well as wanting to try some of the weathering techniques that are discussed here. So with that in mind, I decided to raid the parts bins and throw something together and what I've come up with is a zombie hunting post apocalyptic hod rod, of sorts. Maybe I'll write a little story to go with it eventually, but for now it's been all building. With out further ado, here's some eye candy for ya. Conceptually, I wanted it to be on the low side. Above is the first mock up. The rims are pretty big for a 1:25 scale car, but with a little work, they fit in this set of small monster truck style tires I've had for a while. Coupled with a monster truck frame and suspension I got from one of our forum members, a '34 Ford p/u grill, some cake decorations and a bunch of random parts, we're on our way! Working up the suspension made it quickly appearant that getting it low wasn't going to work, but with some fiddling around, it's lower than "stock". I left the rear suspension in it's kit location, but moved the front susp. forward about an inch and raised the mounting location to drop the front end down to give it a mean rake. The motor and radiator will be moved to the front while the fuel cell (if I use it) will be moved to the back. It will still be four wheel drive, but I've got to figure out how to link the tranny to the front axel. Started working on some armor for it. Using the trunk cover from the '33 Willys kit for the back. It's also going to have a narrow pick up bed between the frame that might house some weaponry Thanks for looking. More to come soon I hope!

Sweet 'lil truck! Looks great wrapped in green.

Beautiful truck. What color did you paint it. I like it.

I went with real for this one.

If I ever have kids, I'm going to name one Local-Charity...

Question, would this hairspray technique as well as the salt technique work well enough with spray cans rather than an airbrush? I've got something in the works that I'd like to employ some of these tricks on but I'm using strictly spray cans at this point, no funds for an airbrush set up. Thanks. Edit to add: Cranky, this truck looks awesome. Fantastic job. That pic of the dirty bed looks real. Great job.

Thanks for posting. There's some great looking cars in that set! Looks like it was a great show.

I don't think those are NHRA approved roll cages...

Looks real enough to me to get a "real" vote.

I have no idea about finding the "square" but that's a great story non the less. I can really picture that in my mind. It's perfect diorama material.

Some interesting rides from a recent local car show: It's a car and a boat! I'll never understand how this didn't catch on. Kit car. Nothing like a blown and tubbed Caddy with flames down the side. This truck was pretty sweet too. Bare metal body might present some rust issues being by the bay here.

Here's some cars I've seen around recently. This weekend; $180,000 Austin Martin DB9, with a parking ticket ( ) and what I'm sure is illegal tint. 'lil red Corvette Plymouth Satellite, turning the corner. Couldn't get the camera out fast enough to get it at the light. Mustang in a state of confusion.

In San Francisco, the Liberty ship S.S. JEREMIAH O'BRIEN is docked permanently as a floating museum. It's been restored to look like it did during it's WWII days. In the front cargo hold, they have a diorama of post D-Day Normandy (@ Omaha beach) where the O'Brien was part of the supply effort. I took a bunch of pictures and since some of you seem to be into the military stuff, I thought that I would share. Below are a few and a link to my photobucket album if you'd like to check out more. I didn't build any of this, just wanted to share. I wasn't sure quite where to put this, so Mod's feel free to move this to Diorama's if you feel necessary. There was no scale posted and some of the vehicles might vary. The trucks to me look smaller than 1/25 but not quite 1/32 I don't think. This was a large set up though for sure. A lot of great detail. Sorry my pictures arn't any better; it's hard to photo through glass. Enjoy folks. Link to album

I'm going to throw a vote in with the "real" crowd.

Felix, that's a great looking Camaro. Can't go wrong with red. How do you crank these builds out so fast?

I've been digging everything about this build. You did great. Color, stance, wheel and tire combo all go together really well. I've got to get me one of these kits.

That's one sweet Merc! The purple looks better on this car than I would have thought. Looks great with that background too.

Surf's up brah! Nicely done. Looks perfect.

Thanks for the comments guys! The pictures with the flash and the way the light is coming in from outside gives the paint a little more shine than in "real life". It's definitely softer and not as glossy in person. As I was picking up a little this afternoon, after shooting the pictures I realized that I left the lake pipes off oops. I'll be installing them soon. Not that it makes that much of a difference, but I like the look of the lake pipes so I'll be adding them. Thanks again for looking!

This seems to be a popular kit to post this week so I'll add to the fun and hope no one is burnt out on Mercs . I wrapped up Mr. Smoothie this morning and was able to snap some photos. What a fun build this was. Really went together smoothly (no pun intended). Workbench post here:On the bench Here's what all I did to make it my own: Krylon Satin paint: Exterior- Pistachio, Interior and accents- Jade and Ivory white Carpet flocked with black and white embossing powder Steering wheel from R/M '55 Ford F100 Scratched 8 ball shifter Swapped in the Revell parts pak Caddy 354 (decided on doing this before learning it was a Caddy motor in the kit in the first place, but I think this one looks good) Tires from the '60 Starliner Parts box steelie wheels M.A.D. Distributor Aluminum tube used to make the drive shaft. Kit one was a little too long with the motor swap. Lowered the front end by cutting the springs some. "Merc Parking Only" sign made using decal from AMT '49 Merc, sheet plastic and aluminum tube. Thanks for looking everyone. I feel like this is one of my best builds yet and am really happy with how it turned out. Cheers.

Please delete for double post. Sorry.

None that I can recall. This kit basically built itself and everything went together really easily with nice tight fits. The body I have had a lot of mold likes and pin marks that needed smoothing out but other than that it was pretty clean too. The only issue that I had was self induced; I put the parts pak Caddy motor in with the manual transmission which caused some issues getting it to fit in the trans crossmember straight but I got it worked out. Enjoy building yours, it's a fun kit- lots of options!

Well here's where she's at: Basically just doing final touches and then onto assembly. I almost didn't foil the windshield and rear window, but boy am I glad I broke down and decided to. It looks a lot better. You can't really tell in the photos but the glass is dirty and needs a thorough cleaning and shining. Once the glue dries the body is done. Detail painting under the hood. Rolling stock all done. Needs a little touch up paint here and there when assembled. Jantrix had a thread recently about making an 8-ball shifter and I thought one would look good so, I dug through old decals and found a tiny 8. I really like how it turned out. So I should be wrapping Mr. Smoothie up tomorrow so keep an eye out for an under glass post. Thanks for looking!