W-409

Thanks very much for the kind comments, everyone! I appreciate them! James, I really like these X-Frame Chevrolets, and I agree, the '60 El Camino is my favorite too. Luckily I have one old SMP '60 Elco to build some day, which will also be a Traditional Custom.

Wow, that has survived through the years very well! The color is pretty rarely seen on these cars, but I like it. Also those steelies with the Dog Dish hubcaps are a perfect choice for it. You did a great job back then and it still looks like it could have been built yesterday...Nice work.

I built this for TRaK Autorama Contest on Traditional Rod and Kustom In Scale forum. Jerry Preston's '59 El Camino was the inspiration for this one, even though I was never going to build a replica of that one, but some of the styling ideas came from that car. The body mods are quite simple, I removed the "Eyebrows" (or whatever they're actually called) from front. It was a pretty easy modification, but some work was required to get the hood fitting properly. Otherwise, the body is pretty much stock, with only some chrome trim and emblems shaved off. However, the body required pretty much work before paint to smooth out all sink marks, panel lines etc. The color is Tamiya TS 95 Pure Metallic Red clear coated with Tamiya clear and polished. Chrome trim was done with BMF of course. Engine is a Chevy 409 from this kit (remember, 348 and 409 are pretty much similar looking, so it's possible to use the 348 and call it a 409) with vintage mechanical Fuel Injection setup. The intake is from AMT '63 Corvette that fits on place with a bit of modifying. It's originally meant to go with Webers, but it looks exactly like old Algon Fuel Injection manifolds. The injector tubes are made from electric components, and fuel lines are aftermarket items. Fuel line fittings, fuel block on center of the intake and the belt driven fuel pump are all scratchbuilt items. I made the new belt from water pump to the fuel pump, and with a bit of modifying, the stock generator belt fit on place as well. Generator bracket and fuel pump bracket are also scratchbuilt. When I thought that the engine was done, I found out that the kit supplied headers didn't fit on place, so I scratchbuilt a set of Fenderwell headers from plastic rod. Chassis is pretty much stock with only some additional detailing, like brake lines, handbrake cables and fuel line. Wheels and tires are made by Pegasus. I'm not a huge fan of those wheels (Chrome Reverses are very nice, but these are not the best scale versions out there), but the tires are very nice. Interior is quite basic as well. Only modification was to add a tachometer cable to the kit supplied Half Sweep tach. Otherwise it's just painted and chrome trim is done with BMF and Molotow. Final assembly went quite well. I had to modify the Mercury grill a little to make it fit properly, and all chrome parts had bunch of mold lines and other stuff that needed some cleanup. But luckily the Molotow Chrome Marker came to rescue. Overall this was a very fun build, and I'm glad I was able to finish it before the deadline. All kinds of comments, good or bad, are much appreciated.

This turned out very nice, but that's not a surprise to anyone that has seen your previous work. The modifications that you did really improve the look, and as always, a great paint job and very nice and clean overall look make it stand out from the other Corvettes that I've seen in a while. Excellent job.

I have always polished the body with polishing cloths. Then I finish it off with Micro Gloss Liquid Abrasive. Then I wax it with Auto Glym's Super Resin Polish. After this it's time to do chrome trim with BMF. Usually I've already done all paintings before polishing, but I've found out that at least Tamiya masking tape that I've been using, sticks very well to the paint job even after polishing and waxing with those products. Don't know how decal application might work after polishing and waxing, as I've always added decals before clear coats.

This looks like a very cool project. '55 Chevy is one of my all time favorite cars, especially as a Two Door Sedan. What engine are you going to go with? I'd be happy to see an "old school" Big Block or something like that, not any modern LS junk.

Very nicely done Monza! Always great to see another GM H-Body built in scale, and this one is definitely one of the better builds that I've seen done from this kit. I think you nailed the overall look with this one. Good looking paint work, clean BMF and sharp detail painting here and there make this one stand out. Nice work.

That's another option that I was thinking actually, something for the Small Tire "Street Car classes". But the Stock Eliminator car was a winner this time. At least it's easy to get reference material for those Stockers to get all details right...

I agree, we don't see these built too often! Nice work with converting the Rat Packer kit back into a stock-bodied Street Car. Also your interior work looks very nice so far. The color looks very good, and very close to the stock Artesian Turquoise. This will be a very nice build when it's done, so keep us posted.

Very cool builds as always from your bench. Looks like you had a good year! I like the variety of subjects, the Hot Rods and Customs are right up in my alley, but like Janne said above, I also like those Trucks and the Honda Garden Tiller, as I've probably never seen them done before. But all of them are very nice. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year, Cliff!

Looks like I need to buy one of these when I see one. Thanks for the great review Bill. This would make a great Stock Eliminator car that could be seen nowadays in any NHRA event. I'm also interested to see if we see some other versions based on this tooling.

Great looking Sedan Delivery! Who made the body? I think this looks really good as a Sedan Delivery. Very nicely done model overall. I think you nailed the stance and that paint job looks great, too. The Fenderwell Headers sticking out from the front wheel wells are a nice touch too. Great job.

Very nicely done Corvette as always from your bench! Nice paint and decal work as usual. The chute and tarp turned out very realistic, too. Definitely something that I could see while walking in the pits. Nicely done.

I certainly hope that the Chevy II kits will hit the stores at some time. As an owner of 1:1 scale '62 Chevy II Two Door Sedan, I've been waiting these kits with a great interest. Hopefully when they're out, I know I need to have several of each version that they plan on doing. Seeing the AMT Annual kit prices on eBay and how hard to find the Trumpeter kits are too, I think there is demand for these kits. Plus that the cars have a great potential for several different style builds...

Looks like they now have the rear differential fixed on the box. This is from the box of the previous Lowrider issue: Seriously speaking, I might have to buy one of these! I remember having a great time putting this kit together the previous time when it came out, so I'd like to do another.

Very nicely done Cadillac! Great work with the conversion, it looks like it came out of Jo-Han factory that way. Also the paint job looks really good, and I like all of the small details on the exterior. We don't see many of these '70s Cadillacs built, so it's refreshing to see one.

Here is the engine for my current project, a '59 El Camino. It's an Injected Chevy 409. The biggest modifications are the intake from AMT '63 Corvette, injector stacks are made from some electric component parts and headers were scratchbuilt from plastic rod. Also the belt driven fuel pump and bracket, plus that alternator bracket are scratchbuilt. And of course it has some added detailing.

Saw them performing live a bit over a month ago, and their records have been pretty often on my record player while building... Monkey And The Baboons from Poland. Here is one of their killer tracks, I Go Ape. This is a live version, but it's nearly identical to the studio version found in their EP.

But, a Gasser doesn't have this kind of nose-up stance. It is said in all of the old NHRA Rulebooks. This is a quote from 1968 Rulebook: "Engine may not be raised more than twenty-four (24) inches from the ground, measured from the centerline of the front crank pulley to the ground." And watching the old Gasser pictures, none of them had a stance like this one. Don't get me wrong guys, the Nomad is very nicely done. Great job with the paint and detailing. It's just not a Gasser.

Today my set of Peking to Paris decals arrived from Pete. They look excellent and there was also an useful instruction sheet how to use them the right way. I have to say a big Thank You to Pete J for this. Now it's good time to start building my '51. As soon as I finish my contest entry first on another forum. So should get the '51 going properly immediately after this year is over. Can't wait.

That turned out great! I also love seeing everything unusual so it's obvious that I like this one. Great work with the engine and that turbo setup. Don't know much about turbos, but to me it looks believable. The exterior looks great with that weathering, too. I'm not crazy about the big wheels and rubber band tires, but it's just a personal preference of course. Very nicely done Willys!

Looks like you did a great job with the conversion! I've always liked the original Corvette Nomad concept, and to be honest I've had plans of building one in scale, too. Maybe someday, but meanwhile I'll be watching how this goes together.

Wow, great looking Skyhawk! We don't see many of these built so glad to see one that's done as well as this. We had a '79 Skyhawk a few years ago and it was a neat little car. Anyway, your model looks great. Especially that interior is very nicely done, but I think the exterior looks good too. Very nice and clean build.

I'd have to buy a couple of those Mavericks and Vegas for sure! Both of those have a great potential for different kinds of builds... And I've been watching the old Jo-Han Mavericks on eBay often, but unfortunately they're too expensive. Same thing with the old Vega promos, they're not cheap either. I certainly hope that Moebius would release both of them, but as someone said earlier, I'm not holding my breath. The Power Wagon is on the edge... The car itself is not so interesting to me, but if there was a Moebius-quality kit of one, I would consider it at least.

Wow, that's very beautiful conversion. It looks like something that the factory could have done back then. And the model is built very nicely, too. Excellent job.