Jairus

Looking great there James!

I do have an 8-track and that was funny! Actually, you may need a new hard drive. Happened to me and I managed to store critical files on a mess o'discs before it would no longer fire up the computer. Once the new HD was installed, it took a long time to load all the neat programs I originally had.

I did a how to on this very subject and it was printed in an issue of MCM in 2007. (I think... just which issue escapes me) Check it out and you will find out how easy is really is to kit-bash!

This IS a 1/24th scale slot car! And, yes they do still build 1/24th scale slot cars. I do and many other builders still build and race 1/24th scale slot cars. 1/32 is more popular because a home set track can be built up in a spare bedroom with scenery and stuff much like the railroad hobby. In fact, I believe 1/32 guys spend more time building their track than they spend fussing with the cars. But 1/24th scale is still very popular with groups specializing in vintage cars, scale cars and wild machines called "Thingies". At any rate, this car was built starting with a Revell 1931 Ford model car kit. I simply replaced the chassis with a scratch-built brass chassis, so if you think of it as a curb side model car kit, one would think this forum would easily accept it... however that does not seem to be the case. Instead.... most of the members of this forum have snubbed the tips and tricks shown here just because it was listed in a seemingly "unfriendly" section of the forum. Their loss I suppose, and thank you for looking! Hoping to begin progress again soon....

Harry, if that is the case... can I buy your name? Give you $20 bucks for it?

Alex... I just have to ask. Do you build anything... ANYTHING besides Ferrari's?

I would not do a painted body for less than $100. Just too much work involved, not to mention responsibility to get it RIGHT!

Scale Motorsports sells a Faux leather paint in a rattle can. What it does is create a textured finish that is the color of the paint. Great stuff by the way! But you can do it yourself by spraying from a distance. The more you increase the distance of the nozzle (be it rattle can or airbrush) the "dryer" the paint lays down. As far as wood grain, I have used real wood and decals and hand painted the grain using a dry-brushing effect. All work well depending on the application. You mentioned a dashboard so I would go with the decals in that application. Scale Equipment can set you up with a bunch of different colors.

I am not able to attend in persone either.... but, do you have a secret project that you will be sending?

Not all detailing need be present on all model projects. You only need enough to create an illusion that all is present and that includes opening panels. I opened doors on my models in the beginning just to show off the interior. Later, as I perfected this trick I realized that a convertible.... dosn't really need opening doors so I concentrated on other details. Once you can figure out what should be done and what can be left to the imagination... you will attained a level of building only a few modelers manage to accomplish. Bill is not there yet but he is very close. Augie got sooooo close. John MacGowan figured it out early and so did Steve Catron. Randy moved up to larger scale and is still searching for it as did Dave. But then Mr. Cummins he is in a class all by himself. Russ found it but dropped out too early. (Where is Russ by the way?) If you are wondering what I am talking about... take a trip to GSL in a couple weeks and you will see what I mean. \ (Bill, I predict it is YOUR year BTW, so Good luck!)

Nice piece Ken! Make a cool Rat Rod motor....

Finished up the wheels. Rear rubber is glued and trued. Wheels in the front were treated to some maroon paint and beauty rings... while the rears were cleaned and received a set of 5-spoke inserts. Now, if anyone is going to jump all over my incongruity of using two different sets of wheels... just consider that most rodders ran steel wheels all around. But when they wanted to take a spin down the drag-strip a set of cheater skins were needed. However slicks would not fit on the skinny steelies. Therefore a set of custom rims were needed and only used when the drag tires were installed. It was actually a pretty common thing on rods during that era to have two different sets front and rear. I do have a set of Cox freewheeling 5 spoke mags that I am still considering using for the front however and it could be a fairly easy swap.

I would ply your trade on a few slot car web sites such as: Slot Forum Slot Blog Old Weird Harolds Slot Car Forum Slot Car Illustrated Join all of them and start posting what you have built. You will generate more interest in 1/32 scale so be forwarned. Good luck! Jairus

Yup! Not touched since that picture was taken. Had a death in the family, so I pushed it aside for a time. Now Arrow Marketing has me busy most of the time these days building brochures so... maybe I can get back to the woody soon. When the figures arrive from Jimmy Flintstone... that will inspire me!

Hans, you cannot ask Chris anything about vintage American stuff. He knows not if the car he is working on is original issue or recent... only that he likes it! Chris is one of the best painters I know of. And his photography is pretty darned good too! (Might even be better than Gregg!) He just buys them off eBay and does his magic! Most Slot cars from Monogram were molded in white and judging from the quality of the decals I would have to assume this was from the early 60's. That and the fact that the vintage Monogram chassis dates about 1964.

"Tubular" works as a surfing term. "Fast times at Ridgemont High" made it a common phrase in our lexicon after 1982. Not sure if it was something used in 1964... Got the roof sanded smooth and painted last night. Wish I could spend more time on it but can only find a couple of hours a day free time unfortunately.

I spent most of last night shaping a couple of surf boards. Tried to get them like the famous "Dewey Weber" long boards. One with a standard skeg and the other a custom "Hatchet" for better control. Both boards have received a coating of fiberglass which will be wet sanded and then clearcoated. One will remain wood and the other gets a period coat of graphics before the clear. Also applied some fiberglass to the roof of the woody. I didn't have any glass cloth and wanted to keep this in-scale so went and applied tissue paper. (The wraping kind, not the nose blowing kind) The roof is very stiff and quite strong now! It will be block sanded smooth and texture painted flat black this evening after work. A little surf cartoon by Bruce Steffenhagen from SURFtoons #2.

Cool! Too bad about that fingerprint on the windshield....

Here's a thought... suppose one kit becomes raw material for a completely different car? Say building a 1935 Ford truck from the frame and body pieces found in a Monogram Duesenberg! The Monogram plastic pieces become the raw material and are changed in nearly every way, such that nothing is recognizable as Duesy but 1935 Truck. I figure that at some point Kit-Bashing becomes Scratch-Building no matter where you get the raw materials. BTW, the slot car site has elected to keep the term "Scratchbuilding" as a catch all for anyone Modifying an existing slot car purchased from a manufacturer. The debate has raged since 2006 and the thread, which was once pinned, has been unpinned in the hopes that it will eventually float away under a mountain of "repainted" and "redecaled" slot car threads! But what else would I expect from a bunch of Europeans...

Yeah, and build two ad's, answer 2 questions, feed the cat, wash dishes....

Don't have to wait long Erik! Picked up some balsa wood from the hobby shop today and laminated that with thin strips of Honduran Mahogany. The goal is sanding and forming a set of "Dewey Weber" long boards, the best of the best in 1964! Going to take a long time to carefully form them as I don't want to take off too much material. Both will be fiberglassed but only one will be painted, the other hopefully to remain wood with nothing more than a hand painted decal. P.S. In order to get into the mood... I decided to re-visit a couple of old friends: Hang Ten!

Nobody says that paint in the bottle has to stay the same way it came from the manufacturer. When I buy paint I usually get two bottles because most of my paint is sprayed anyway. Having extra on hand is great for mixing and thinning down for shooting through the airbrush. Likewise I mix nearly everything I shoot by adding a touch of black, white, silver or whatever. Nearly every bottle of paint in my "arsenal" has been mixed in some way changing the content to what I want to see. So I take a sample and paint a stroke on the cap for quick identification.

Hey, I have no problem with any of your suggestions so far! Being a modeler I have grown up with the acceptance of the Wiki and Webster definition of "Scratch building" and believe we here do too! On another forum (Slot cars unfortunately), the moderators have a section of the forum labeled just "Scratch building" and it is chock full of ready to run cars which were taken apart and re-painted. They accept that as scratch building and I find that sad. I was told that I should accept the "changing of the language" and the fact that the forum is open to worldwide that it is an accepted label. I disagree with them by the way.... and suggested the header changed to read "Scratch building and Kit bashing".