Jairus

This project is gone as far as I can take it. My friend in Texas will be painting and detailing the rest of the way. Here is the stance front and rear. Inserts for the wheels by BWA. I also hinged the hood and installed some magnets to keep it in the open and closed position. While the above looks kind of bulky.... most of the underside of Ferrari 250 GTO's were painted flat black. Once all that is shot black (very slimming) it will completely disappear. The NEO magnets are very strong and will keep the hood from fluttering when driven around the track. Easily hold the hood in open position even after paint. Motor plate almost totally covers the TSR Falcon motor. Just a bit sticking out behind and once the bundle of wires duel distributors are installed, will be nearly invisible. Guess that's all folks. When Chris posts final pics in a month or so, I will try to get them posted here.

I would like to see more pictures!

Hey... it came with the car dude!

Here is a better look at the drivers side. Passengers side. And the firewall, all same as the Edsel.

I had forgotten about these till you asked. I was mostly concerned with the details regarding the door jambs at the time. Something to make note of is that the fender well liner runs from the core support to just behind the wheel. This is not replicated correctly in the kits. I know... because I have a 1958 Ford! The engine compartment goes clear to the fender sheet-metal behind the wheel arch! Great place for dump pipes huh? More pics here.

Well, now that the holidays are done and I got a few other projects out of the way, the Ferrari is back on the bench. Hoping to get the motor plate done enough to send it onto the painter.

Niko, All very easy questions… and all very hard… 45 years ago I could have pointed you to the local slot car track because there were two or three in each city and one in any town with 5000 population. But by 1970 eighty percent of them closed. I always suggest you go to your local hobby shop and support them if possible. But there are so few tracks now that really the only place to buy stuff is ON-LINE! Where did all the unsold parts go when 10,000 tracks closed? Into storage mostly and that is what has been selling on ebay for the last 12-15 years steady. You want an NOS in the package set of freewheeling Buzco front wheels? Ebay has them and usually cheap. You want a Pittman ‘padlock’ style motor? Ebay has at least two closing each week. So if you want to build your slot cars with vintage parts… ebay is the best place to search for frames, motors, wheels, guides and the like. But if you want inexpensive, modern motors and parts, then Parma still manufacturers and sells them. Professor Motor sells lots of stuff including Parma. Electric Dreams too sell lots of other manufacturers items, including a few they manufacture. Other sites on-line are: NCP, Alpha, JK, EJ’s…. and the list can go on and on. As for chassis… most builders scratch build their own with brass plate or brass rod! That is unless you are planning on a theme of Monogram, Russkit, Riggen, Buzco or whatever. Then it might be necessary to buy an unbuilt slot car kit on eBay which might run you a couple hundred. Niko, the reason I have not answered your questions specifically is because the answers would take me a week to write and fill a small book. You see, it takes years to know what is what in the Slotcar hobby and not something I can tell you in one post only, mostly because of your last line: “What do I need to build fast and working Slot Car?” Besides frankly... I am still learning myself. You have to learn to walk before you can run; so three easy steps can get you started. #1 Buy yourself this Parma chassis and fit it to a nicely built body of your choice. It's plenty fast! #2 Join Slotblog.net and take a few days reading about some of the builds and what goes into them. (This member of Slotblog is the very best. Read about a few of his builds and what goes into them.) #3 Then with a little experience and knowledge you can try something different next and then you can ask more specific questions. Hope that helps.

I sort of wondered about that. The bonnet was different too. Oh well, not a total loss as I made a great connection with the owner Josh and looks like I will now be designing and printing t-shirts for "Coffee In Motion". MORE WORK! There is another bus here in Salem. It was used by Eldred Reality for a time and then donated to Salem Academy School about 10 years ago. I talked to the administrator of Salem Academy who said I was welcome to come and take pictures of their 'London Bus', which is a running example used for school functions and parades. More pictures next week... but I gotta get busy drawing!!!

Hey, check this out! I found a good subject to model along the lines of some of the cool stuff Ken Hamilton does. A quick stop coffee shop! Couldn't get a good pic of the other side as it was in total shadow with the winter sun so low on the horizon. But there is a front door and no step platform at the back. My friend Steve Kempson says that this feature makes this bus an old residential model. It also means quite a bit modification to the kit as the stair case is at the front, not to mention the length is shorter. But Josh, the owner of the coffee shop lifted the hood for me. More pics will be put up here.

Good to know, thanks!

Gets my vote for the coolest John!

First off, all I can say is this is probably the biggest model kit I have ever taken on! The box is huge! I have built diesel trucks back when I was a kid. Three tractors and one trailer to be exact, the trailer was an auto carrier of course! I thought the parts number seemed daunting back then... but now... wow! Two engine options are available. Not yet sure which I will choose but I am leaning toward the Leyland diesel as I want to shorten the body of the bus slightly. (More on that later) The directions are wonderful and chock full of information, running 28 pages long! While they don't name all the parts... paint colors are called out in a coded fashion so as to make the explanation equally difficult regardless of your chosen language. Three trees of clear parts are required to glaze the entire machine. Much of it should/could be replaced with thinner sheet plastic hand cut.... but that task seems pretty overwhelming so I'll have to think some on it. The balance of the clear are light lenses, some of which need tinting. Decal sheet is bigger than most model car boxes! On the sheet are all the advertising these busses usually carry plus route lines and seat patterns. I plan to do my own advertising just to be different... Here is just one example found on the web. Most of these busses have been prowling the streets for years so they do NOT look factory fresh. Therefore I plan to do a lot of careful weathering on mine. Note the wheels. Now... count the windows on this one compared to the one above! Notice that the kit has the 2 foot window in the middle and the lower example is shorter, more balanced. That is why I mention shortening the body and taking out a row of seats top and bottom. Okay... further pics will be in their own thread as I get stuff built and painted.

That is a nice one Steve! Having seen the real one in the flesh I think you got it spot on! Here was my build from last year replicating the Hot Wheels car...

Yeah, but the entirety of page 2 is doubling the bandwidth Dr.

Wow, I am impressed (and inspired) with the quality of those builds. IPMS meet? Cool idea V, got the juices flowing...

Nice piece Chuck! Looks like SOMEONE was reading one of my How-To articles...

Dan is correct!

Tire tread can be as detailed as body script and yet it is not replicated very well. Nor is the flat spot on the bottom of the tire... which can be seen on the street by looking at just ONE car. Military modelers have it figured out. Military after-market offers lots of correctly molded aircraft tires with this "Flatspot" detail, why cannot the Automotive after-market follow suit? As for photoetched tire tread... why not a photoetched tire tread that is simply wrapped around the tire and painted black? It could feature uniform depth and a perfectly shaped tread pattern with the seam at the top under the fender line where nobody can see it. At any rate, I agree with Frank. The model manufacturers in the US have been dropping the ball when it comes to the tires in these kits.

Tires on most all model kits are pretty bad in my opinion. Vinyl doesn't look realistic and won't take paint. Real rubber tires are better but only slightly so and few makers use it. I would almost rather kit manufacturers go the way of the military modelers and mold the tires in styrene with a separate photoetched tread pattern.

Whoe, hold the horses! Found this while flipping through the pages this morning. Not a "Combine" but was the one I had in mind.

Like this? I am still working on my "Berry Mini-T" with the Corvair engine replica like what Pappy built.

While looking through some of my past issues of CARtoons magazine I ran across a couple covers featuring the Meyers Manx. Some here might enjoy.... the first from Aug '70. The second from April '70.

I dug through my "CARtoon's mags that I have here. The rest are in storage (1964 to 1968) so I don't have the first appearance of Rudy at my fingertips. But I found a nice cross section of some of his inventions. Once again Rudy was the brain child of Jerry Barnett and appeared in almost every issue from 1968 to 1974, when CARtoons changed over to the new format. Here is one rear view of the combine you mention. Not the front image I remember and next trip to storage I will pull out those issues. The Hay Bailer. Inside the barn... A experimental lawn mower. A few misc inventions.... ... and a tractor.

Rudy Hogg was his name and I have all those issues. But dinner is calling and I am beat from working all day and planned on watching Steve McQueen in "LeMans" tonight. Tell you what, if I remember before bed I'll pull some of the images out and post them (Art by Jerry Barnett) here.

Well, there is one on it's way to the Watson Studio! I'll do a kit review and take pictures once it arrives in about a weeks time.