David G.

I was kind of thinking of the aircraft modelers who build the airframe without the skin. They put so much detail into the airframe, that to cover it would be silly. I envisioned the same for a car chassis, a model in its own right. I've thought of doing that, but I lack the fabrication tools skills at this point.

A very cool model, I enjoy seeing unusual subjects like this modeled, and yours came out nicely. Daaang! I was gonna make that joke. The "Retro Metro" I figured I had the right because the vanity plate on my 1:1 '71 Olds is RETRO 1 How appropriate to have a bread truck shaped like a loaf of bread?

A most impressive ammount of work! Have you thought about fabricating a complete metal frame? That would be a model in it's own right. A complete and detailed "rolling chassis"

Excellent paint work on your Merc. Is the image one of Boris Vallejo's?

Excellent work, you're really developing a good eye for detail. In my opinion, a big part of building is learning how to "see" in the artistic sense. Seeing things more for what they are, than what we expect them to be. Seeing the planes, angles curves and colors as well as the subject as a whole. Some people excell at this naturally, but most can learn it through practice. Catching the two-tone paint on the van, while others missed it, is a good example of seeing something more for what it is than what's expected. Keep up the good work! David G.

From where I'm sitting, it looks great! Well worth the effort.

Looks great! I love those old "land yachts"

Oh, I got it. It took me a couple seconds ti visualize it in my mind. The hole is drilled in the center and the nail head acts as the wire keeper on the top of the dist. Pretty clever, I'll have to keep that one in mind. Thanks, David G.

Christino ! !

Thanks for the info, Art. I thought the front bumper might be a reflection, but it's unusual that it came up like that in every shot. I've got to get some of that Alclad to work with. I wish you luck finding one of these gems for your son. I've been a VW fan for about thirty years, and my wife and I looked for one of these twenty years ago. They were very hard to find, and the ones that we did find weren't cheap. We finally settled on a '71 Bus for her. She enjoyed it, but it was S..L..O..W. It had a 0-to-60 time of 4.6 days. That's if you could get to 60 in the first place. In NE Ohio (not the world's hilliest place) we frequently found ourselves using the slow vehicle lane on the few freeways that had grades that steep. But my wife loved it, it was all a part of the charm, she would say. Thanks again for the feedback, David G.

my condolences

What was the name of that Eddie Murphy character, Mr. Robinson?

Most impressive! Your paint came out great. Your chrome seems to have the proper sheen, not too bright and kind of satiny, like VW chrome should be. Did you use "metalizer" paint or foil? I'm also curious about the front bumper. It seems to be "two-tone" with chrome on top and white paint on the bottom. I don't recall seeing a bumper painted like that before. I'm envious of all those who have been able to paint the window gaskets black, as they should be. After three attempts, and one roof repaint, I was unable to accomplish this task on my Bus. I also couldn't get the decal for the slots around the radio in the dash to come away from the paper in one piece; it pretty much disintegrated. Yours turned out great in spite of the difficulties!

Talk about "taking one for the team" eh?

When photos of an unusual or unique vehicle are featured on this forum, there's almost always an immediately expressed desire to model it. But not with this one? I have to admit, I find the thought of modeling this engineer's nightmare-mixture of domestic and automotive tech-knowledge-y rather intimidating. At the same time, that thought is more than a little intriguing. Is this Caddy just a little "too out there" even for our group? It's not a challenge, just an observation. I wouldn't challenge anybody to do something I didn't think I, myself could do.

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy building it, and be sure to post lots of pictures for the rest of us!

Holy Moly! That definitely makes a statement. Excellent paintwork.

I envy you this opportunity. Good luck with it.

Wow, you really put these out quick! It seems that just the other day you posted shots of the "Ragtop". I take months to complete a build. I think this one looks great too. I can almost hear some 26 year old maniac gearhead saying, "Yea, I'm gonna restore her one of these days. My great granddad bought her new in 1958, ya know." Excellent distressing work!

From what I can see, it looks really good. Though it's just hard for me to tell just what scale it's in.

Much better than I could have done at that age! I love the use of all the different colors.

That's a cool print, the scary thing is that I can completely visualize the process that you describe. I ran printing presses in 1984 and knew of one shop that had a Linotype machine that they still used! With the lead used in those old typecasting machines, I'm sure they've been banned by now. I used to run hairline registration on an AB Dick 360 with only about 12% loss. Using an AM 1250 only cut that down to about 8%.

You're right! A-1 paint job, and the rest of it looks really good too!

Congratulations Brian! Have a nice trip.

Great weathering and I love the mix-n-match style. Here in Phoenix, we see a fair number of old trucks from the 60's and 70's driving around, and that's how many of them look. You really nailed it!