Ryan S.

Well, sometimes you get a vision and you just gotta roll with it. I've given the Merc my full attention right now and am making some progress slowly. I got the suspension worked out, lowered the front and am set up for the rear with the stance I want. I'm doing all body and undercarriage work right now. I'll probably get to the engine next week. Here's some pix: I found a set of headlights from a 37 ford that I'm going to use so I have to modify the headlight openings for the tear drop shape. I'm going to use parts of the back half of a stock car to keep parts from dragging. I might try to fashion some air bags for it. So here's the 37 head light buckets. I had to shoot some primer to get a better feel for where to take the body. I closed the trunk and have to fill the gap, I'm going to smooth the rear pan and maybe mold a bumper in. And here's what she looks like right now. I can't wait to get back to work on her, but might have to wait until after the long weekend. Thanks for looking all!

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I ordered some Tamiya tape on-line so I'll be able to give that a go. I'm definatly going to be more careful and accurate this time, measuring and laying one piece of tape across the length of the body. I've got enamel paint on order for this job but I will keep laquers in mind for the future. I'm going to try spraying the silver first and then blocking out where I want the stripes and laying the purple. This is also the way that stripes were done in the online, april issue of the Mag, so I'm using that as a guide as well. Thanks again everyone, I'll have some results soon.

Hi all. This maybe old news to some of you but I thought that I would share a web site that has a "license plate generator". You can basically create custom license plates from a variety of years as well as states. Here's the link Acme License Plate Generator Here's what I did to make a custom plate: Generate the plate and save the picture to your computer Open the picture in a program that will let you manipulate the size of the picture, while maintaining the aspect ratio. I used MS word and adjusted the plate to the exact in/mm size that I needed. Then set your printer settings to best possible COLOR settings and print the plate(s) out. I chose to use a bit heavier card stock for a thicker look. After printing, cut it off the page and trim up the round corners. From there I just glued it to the spot on the car using Testors liquid glue and brushed over the top of it to kind of seal it. I suppose you could clear or matte coat over it for the look you want. It's that simple. You could always dress it up with some screw heads or a frame, I left it bare this time. Here's my results: I hope this helps!

This is a very cool build, I can't wait to see it finished! Looking good so far.

You know, when I was first browsing last week, prior to signing up, I was reading a post from Tommy and damned if I didn't try to get that bug off my screen for a good minute or so! Fooled me good, but I decided that it's a nice touch to the signature.

The black one is the '49 Mercury Coupe. I've got my hands full with these 5 for now, but I'm sure that there's many more to come. Space is an issue so I can only do so much at once.

So here's everything that I'm working on. A few new builds and a couple to finish and/or re-do. Talk about diving head first back in to the hobby! The closest 62 Bel air is getting purple pearl paint, the next one is getting metallic blue and silver two-tone. For the '49 Merc, I'm thinking yellow with white scallops. The '56 Nomad is getting lime green pearl and white. '68 Firebird getting grape pearl and silver ralley stripes. I'll keep you all posted as things develop! Thanks for looking.

Ok, I decided on these 'steelie' style wheels. The spokes I'm going to use on a '56 Nomad.

Fantastic build so far, I'll be following along like the others. Thanks for posting. That flatty is amazing!

I'm not entirely convinced on either wheel/ tire combo and have to do a little more digging. Here's the other set mocked up: I had to prop it up so I envision the front even lower. The rims don't quite fit the tires right, but I like the low profile tire look so I mights just sand the rim down a touch for a better fit.

I've got this stock '49 Merc that I built for a class project in high school....(15 years ago! wow) that I've got sitting in a box. I was thinking about just cleaning it up and calling it good, but then I found a Ford 429(?) SOHC that I had kept in the parts box and now, I'm thinking custom! I found some wheel/ tires that I like and it's off to the races. Here's the mock up...more to come in time! Amazingly, the motor fits and the hood will close.

uugh, sometimes just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. Wow.

Yes, my dad is still alive. He knew I was going to finish it for him, but didn't know I would do so so quickly. I've given it to him already (on my birthday ironically). He loves is and has it displayed on a shelf in his office with the picture of his. Thanks for the comments!

It was a Revell kit. 1/16th scale (I was right) Heres one I found on ebay, auction closed however. It was a great kit, the big scale made everything that much easier. I built it box stock, with some plug wires as the only detailing. Has a small block Chevy 35o as the motor with Webber Carbs. After sitting for so long, the frame was a little tweaked, but it still went together pretty easily. Good luck finding one, I hope you can! Revell '34 1/16

Hi all. This is the first build that I completed a few weeks back, after being away from the hobby for more than 15 years. This 34 was started probably 15-17 years ago, for my dad who had one when he was younger. I found my model stuff still stashed at my parents house when visiting and decided it was time to get back to building, and I really wanted to finish this one for my dad. So here it is. It's 1:16 scale, I think and was a lot of fun to finally get done. Enjoy. Dad's was primer Grey and so too is this one. ~Ryan

Great, thank you so much. I'll get the Tamiya tape and see what I can to. Hopefully I'll have some pic of the new paint soon!

Hi everyone. I came across this forum last week and signed up. I'm just getting back into building after maybe 15 years away from the hobby. My first full project is the 68 Firebird seen above. My question is in regards to trying to paint the rally stripes you see. The pic is my first attempt and it looks like it's got a date with some stripper to start over. So, I have a couple of ideas and am not sure what the best course of action is. I'm using Testors Boyd Grape Pearl with Silver for the stripes. I used regular blue painters tape to mask, and it was too thick and allowed too much running under the tape, what is a good masking tape for model use? Something thinner I imagine. The order I painted before was the purple, masking, then the silver over the top. Would it be a better idea to spray the silver first, then block off where I want the striping and paint the purple? Is there any kind of silver sticker material, latex? like they use on 1:1 vehicles for striping that I could use and just worry about the single color paint? I thought about using BMF but I don't necessarily want a reflective stripe. Any help or suggestion is appreciated greatly! Thanks in advance. Ryan