W-409

It's always great to see these old Super Stock cars, especially when done this well! So don't feel bad about finishing only one, it's one of the best looking Galaxies that I've seen built. Interesting to see what you'll be building next year.

You always manage to build some impressive models even though the starting points are not the easiest ones to work with. I haven't seen those Trucks before either, and to be honest I don't even know what make are they? They both look excellent though. If I had to pick my favorite, I'd probably go with that '57 Chevy too. Excellent work, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Great to see your builds posted in here, those are very inspiring! I especially like the red Digger, Belly Tanker and that '55 Gasser. All of them are very nicely done though. Happy New Year and can't wait to see your finished builds in 2018!

I'll post this now since I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to finish anything else this year... The year started out strong as I finally finished my '55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser in March. It was built from Revell's reissue of the old Monogram "BadMan" kit with lots of modifications here and there. I started it already in 2014 so it was about time to have it completed. ...And just like last year (And the year before), that's it! I'd liked to finish more than one, but 1:1 cars took so much time that I got very little bench time after the spring. I've been making a good progress with my '62 Chevy II that I converted from 4D Sedan into a 2D Sedan, and then we built a new tow vehicle for our Stock Eliminator Malibu, and of course spent the summer Drag Racing with that! Anyway, it looks like I'll be finishing more than one in 2018 as I have a couple projects now that are getting pretty close of being done, plus then I really need to finish one Contest entry on another forum.... So hopefully next year I can post some more builds on here too.

Now I'm just wondering who is going to build a diorama of Vanishing Point I end scene since we'll get a reissue on those Bulldozers?

This is very interesting! Funny Cars are challenging to build as they require bunch of scratchbuilt details under the body to make them accurate...But that's also why they are so fun to build, so I'll definitely be buying one of these when they are out. This 1st Gen Cougar has always been one of the best looking bodies from that era.

That's a really cool '57 Chevy! That Miss Deal chassis is a great donor for many different bodies, I used it on a 1959 Simca resin body a few years ago and I'm planning to do some more conversions with those in the future. This '57 looks excellent just like it is. Those red windows make it stand out in my opinion!

Thanks Randy! I'm happy to say that I got the paint job fixed. After it was completely dry, I sanded it with 1,000 grit hoping that I won't go through the paint as then I would have to start all over again. Luckily that didn't happen so when the paint job looked smoother, I went back to the garage and sprayed another light coat of gold on the body. This time the result looks much better, so now I'll let it dry and then I'll shoot some clear on it...

This looks like an interesting project! In real life I'm not so interested in four door models (Just turned 1:1 '62 Chevy II from 4D into 2D Sedan ), but these are very interesting as scale models! So I'll be watching this one. For the panel lines I've found out that "Dymo Tape" is excellent stuff. It's so strong that you can easily push your scriber against the tape and it will not fail. As a result it gives you a perfectly straight line, or of course you can cut the tape in whatever shape you want... If there's a curve in the panel line, cut a similar curve into the tape before applying it to the model and then just scribe the new panel line using the tape as a "quide". That way I redid panel lines for Monogram's "BadMan" kit where the original ones were competely disappeared in some spots... I used Trumpeter's Panel Line Scriber for that job but I bet there are other good tools for the scribing itself too.

Great job saving an old kit! I think these old and rare kits should always be restored even though they were in poor condition...Just like you did in here. Great to see a flawless black paint job, especially with that sharp BMF work. I wish I found one of these kits too, but usually they cost too much...

Wow, a big bunch of excellent quality builds. Just like always from your bench! Every time I'm impressed by the quality of your paint jobs, they are simply flawless. All of them are very nice, but if I had to pick a favorite I'd probably go with that black '56 Ford.

Yep there have been some kits around back then, but nowadays those are way too expensive for my budget!

Seeing a kit of any Dodge Dart (or Valiant) up to 1966 would be great news. Even though I'm a Chevy guy, I'd need a couple of those... Anyway they are a fairly common sight here in Finland at different car events. When I visited in SoCal I was surprised by how few Valiants or Darts were there, here on a regular Cruise Night you'll see at least 5 to 10 Darts and Valiants each time.

I've ordered parts from Ted's Modeling Marketplace several times. I also live outside the USA but shipping has never been a problem when dealing with Ted. The service is fast and shipping charges are fair, which is often not the case when watching the eBay... Plus that he has lots of good parts and accessories in stock. I have only good things to say about that place, highly recommended.

That first chapter sounds just like me! Most of my friends are into those new cars that have nothing cool in them, plus that they all look pretty much the same. Then there's me who has zero interest in those, I rather stick with old US Iron... Anyway, to me that Chevy looks like a great starting point for a restoration project! And with your buiding skills I'm sure you could do it.

Congrats to Bruce! This year I didn't finish my Chrysler "Turbine" Car as I just didn't have time to build anything during the summer months... Well, let's see what happens next year. I already have a few ideas, but I'm not sure yet which one I'll enter with...

I'm not a Lowrider guy, but as I have a '92 S10 as my daily driver, it's nice to see one of these built! Nice job with the paint job and BMF. Overall a very nice and clean build so I like it too.

Thanks Gents! The first attempt at painting the body didn't turn out quite as good as I hoped. It's not a disaster, but I guess somehow the paint reacted with the primer creating a horrible looking finish. I'm hoping that once I let it dry for a few days, light sanding and repainting would fix it... The body looks better in the pictures than it really is, if it was that good I wouldn't have to repaint it.

Yep I guess I should do that! I have two '75 Malibu Stock Car kits on the stash, the other one of them will be modified into our Stock Eliminator car. There are just some little details like the grille that need to be figured out before starting.... As for the wheels/hubcaps, both of them look really good. But maybe I'd end up with the hubcaps myself?

Yep those tires don't quite hook up. But that '78 Malibu isn't very light car and with the original 350 SBC you'd probably catch me in the top end... Or then I could take out the '74 Malibu...?

Thanks Dan! I haven't seen any of these built either, so I have no clue either how this kit looks when it's done. After a bit of sanding and scribing the panel lines a bit deeper the body was ready to be shot with Primer. But before that I had to mask off the molded in grille and tail lights, as otherwise some of the molded in details could be hidden under paint. My plan is to BMF those when the body is painted, clear coated and polished... After the first coat of Primer the body looked surprisingly good. Usually at this point I find a couple of small errors that need to be fixed before painting, but it looks like this time I can spray some color on it next. And last here's a picture of the interior tub that got some color on it as well. The floor is Revell's Flat Black and backseat and door panels are painted with the same stuff as I used with the front seat. Of course I need to add some details to the door panels before I can install anything on place...

Yep, I was struggling with the same issue for a few days, but yesterday I figured it out... The new adress is forum.FCMA.fi. Great job on the front seat and paint!

Dang.... I hate that Photobucket. To me they showed up just fine though... Well, luckily we have Fotki.

I agree with Bill that I prefer the earlier '73-'77 Malibu body style (Not only because I race a '74 Malibu in Stock Eliminator). But I've always liked that later body style too. I think it would make a great daily driver for myself, but they're not easy to find in good condition anymore around here. And most importantly, if I find one in good condition, the price tag is a bit too high... Well, luckily I don't need to change my daily driver as the '92 Chevy S10 is working great all year round.

Wow that is an impressive build as always from your bench! I just went through the whole WIP-thread and again, words aren't enough to describe how beautiful this bike is. Old Drag Bikes are seen way too rarely, and even though I'm not exactly a bike guy myself (Even though I like old Drag Bikes and old school style Bobbers), I'd like to build one of these too. It's just too bad that these kits are so hard to find... Anyway, fantastic work! That Alclad on the engine looks very realistic, and it even has fuel inside the transparent fuel line!!