W-409

What, me? No Way! Just kidding, thanks Ray! I think it's coming along pretty good. That Classic Chevy rear end seems to be a decent fit into a Cortina.

That's a good idea Charlie, thanks! It lowers the risk of ruining the glass for sure. Even if I don't like that chrome trim being molded to windows, I think this will be a great kit. I see at least one coming to my way that would be built as a Super Stock car.

Thank You! I've been trying to do as good job as I can on these things, but I got to say that I'm miles behind some of you guys. Especially it's great to see many of you working with metal on your models. It often looks very good so maybe some day I might do the same on my builds. But so far I'll stick with plastic and resin... I get to do enough metal work with those 1:1 cars (And I just bought a new project car for myself). Here are two more pics of the rear axle. After a couple of rounds of putty and sanding it's starting to look smooth. Still a few spots are in need of filler, but otherwise it's really close to Primer. Now I can also start searching for correct leaf springs for this and mock them up into the chassis...Stay tuned.

Thanks Brad! Great to hear you enjoy the progress on my builds. I'm having a lot of fun with this project too as these Altereds are very interesting and this Fiat is probably one of the most legendary bodies for that use. My next step will be installing the rear axle to frame and then I can put wheels and tires on when a couple of parts come from chrome stripping. Hopefully I'll have an update soon.

Even though I'm not a Mercedes Benz guy, I have to admit that I've always liked this body style. And WOW, this build is excellent! If you didn't say it, I would have never ever guessed that it's 1/32 scale model, to me it looks just like a well detailed 1/25 kit looks. Very nice work all over on it. Nice and smooth paint job with sharp details. Looks very realistic to me. Maybe this is the best 1/32 scale build I've ever seen. Congrats.

It's true that these kits require some extra work to get them look right, but they are fun to build and look good when completed (Even if built box stock). I've been wanting to get me one of these AWB kits and build it "full detail"... Your Mustang looks very good so far. Nice paint job on the body and good work with the decals. It's interesting to see how this turns out so keep the pics coming.

Wow! That came out fantastic. Your Alclad work is the best I've ever seen and this is yet another proof for that. Excellent detailing all over, I thought it was real at first.

Excellent work John as usual. Excellent paint and decal work on the body and nice work on the chassis too. Especially engine detailing looks great and all of the color choices on that engine are just right. It looks like it is metal and not plastic.

Nice work, these kits are not the easiest ones to build and they require some extra work for sure. Especially lifting the front end a little has to be done and your stance is just right! Excellent job overall. Paint and decals are not an easy part to get right as you said too. Your result with them is one of the best I've seen. Great looking build.

This is a very cool build! If you kept the hood shut it could very well be presented as a Factory Stock model. Good work making that Mustang engine fit under the hood so that everything still looks stock from outside. Little amount of rust on rear quarter panel is a nice touch. Seeing so many of these excellent Sleepers makes me feel a bit sad that I didn't finish my Single Turbo 383 SBC Trabant... Well maybe next year then.

Excellent job on this! It's great to see a bit different Pontiac than the '62 Catalina we usually see (Nothing wrong with that either, it's a beautiful car too). Very nice paint work and sharp BMF. Black wash on that grille looks extremely realistic, too. When I saw the first picture I thought it was a Photo Etch part, but then I realized that probably no one has done a PE set for this kit... Excellent work!

Very nice build on a good looking car! That vinyl top looks very good on it and I like how that red color fits to that body. Wheel and tire choice is just about perfect for a car like this. This is one of those kits I'd like to build too. Maybe some day I'll have one of them.

Here's a little update on the rear axle. It had a huge hole on upside of the axle that needed to be filled. Well it might be that no one could have seen that hole on finished build, but as I can't be sure I decided to cover it with pieces of sheet styrene. After some rough shaping with a file, I started to smooth it out with putty. First two pics show the axle with first round of putty sanded smooth and the third picture shows I still had to put some more putty to that area before it's completely smooth.

Yesterday I was working with the rear axle again and it's starting to take shape now, but while it was drying I decided to restore another rear tire using the same methods I did on the first one. Those tires are far from perfect, but "Good enough for the girls I go with" as they say. Honestly I think I just have to live with them as I believe I'm not going to find another set of them anyway. Of course a closeup shot like that shows all those little flaws much better than you see them in person. But even though they look better in person, they're not perfect.

You did an excellent job with this one. When you started this a while ago, I was wondering if anyone could build a model like this in so little time. Looks like you did it and the end result couldn't be much better either. Nice job on that Wagon conversion and your weathering looks excellent as well. Those different color body parts are a nice touch and interior looks excellent...Just like a real dirty interior looks! Even if I don't like seeing a modern engine in an old car, I'm happy to have another look on this one!

Very nice job on this Custom. Body styling looks great, especially that front end is just perfect! Smooth looking paint job and great color choices too. I've always liked Watson's paint jobs a lot and this definitely has the correct look and feel. Very nice work overall.

This looks like a really nice kit with very fine detailing and the subject is very interesting too. I will have to get me a couple of these for sure. But... There is one huge problem with this kit and I can't understand why as this kit is otherwise so good and looks like the guys at Moebius have actually planned how to make it easy to build...Other than this spot. The windows. Why oh why they have that chrome trim molded in them?! Same thing is wrong with the Ford Pickups, but these windows are even harder to BMF as the window has some more shapes on it. One little slip while you're foiling those windows will ruin them and then you have to buy new windows, or a completely new kit. That is a mile-long minus in my eyes on an otherwise super fine kit... Why it is done this way? I will be buying at least one of them, but I just hope I don't have to order replacement windows more than once.

That looks great! Personally I don't like it when people spray a gloss clear over rust on those 1:1 scale cars, but it's nice to see one done as a model anyway. You did an excellent job with that body, it looks very good! It's true that some of the Pro Mods have a few rust spots in them... Mats Eriksson's '56 Ford Crown Victoria. Rust was done on it a few years ago, but that crash damage on front fender is not fake as he hit the wall in Santa Pod a couple of years ago, but looks like they didn't want to fix it completely. http://fiaedc.edrspro.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LMP_6998_PM-Mats-Eriksson_LP540.jpg "Fast Freddy" Fagerström's Chevy Pickup has some rust as well. He must be a regular customer in a tire shop, too. Fast Freddy At Nitro Nationals 2012

Oh yeah, I should have paid more attention when I made that post... It was Chevelle I was going to write in there, but looks like I was thinking too much about Malibus when I posted that. I'm still a bit mad that I missed American Graffiti Drive In Movie here in Finland last summer. If it wasn't at the same time as the Drag Race event where I was racing, I would have definitely been there with my '60 Impala. Maybe it would have been possible to get one or two friends there with me to watch it.

Wow! I've visited on MCW website for many, many times and I've found tons of resin kits / bodies and parts that I need. But somehow I have missed that Malibu every time. Looks like I need to place an order to them while they have the correct 2D Sedan I'm looking for. The reason for that is that my dad bought a 4D Sedan '64 Malibu here in Finland in the '80s. Then American Cars were not very common in here and most of the US cars were the poorest versions (which often meant 4D Sedans with straight six and manual trans). His car was quite rusty, but he was going to turn it into a 2D Sedan with a powerful 327 SBC and 4 Speed. It never got finished, though, as rules for importing old cars changed critically and all the sudden it was cheaper to import old cars from the States as it was before. Soon there started to be some good looking '50s cars with lots of chrome, Hardtops, Convertibles etc. Then my dad imported a '60 Impala 2D HT from Texas in '88 and the car is still in our family. Malibu project had to be sold to get the money for that Impala, but I'd like to build a model that looked like his Malibu when done. Cool story on the Dirt Track cars! Creativity is always a good thing!

Oh yeah I know that one. Too bad it's so hard to find. Well, hopefully we will see a new kit of one someday. I just got afraid that there was a newer kit too that I didn't know about.

Yep! That would be a very cool one. Or even better... A '56 Packard would be another one.

Thanks! It feels good to be back building this. The trip was a lot of fun, too. Lots of cool places to see and no need to go in those massive shopping centers as it was just me and my dad there. Instead we were shopping in places like Classic Industries, So Cal Speed Shop, Mooneyes, Barris' Shop etc...And of course in many Hobby Shops, too ! Cruising Nights, Drag Racing etc...Couldn't get much better! Today I started filling the hole that '56 Chevy rear axle has on its upper side. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get that thing done so I might post a couple of pics then.

Sorry guys I'm a "little" late with the thanks, but better late than never I guess? Thank You Gene! Just as you said it's starting to take form the progress stalled for some reason. Just kidding, but for some reason this project got stalled back in January. I'm happy to be back with it though. Thanks Carl! I like how they look, too. And when I get those valve stems added, I guess they'll look a bit better. So I'm happy to say it... I'm back building this Fiat. I got inspired after seeing Ratican - Jackson - Stearns' Nitro Burning Fiat Topolino at NHRA Finals pit area. They fired it up and gave some RPMs to the engine. It looked and sounded fantastic, plus that Ron Stearns, the guy who had been driving it back in the day was a real nice guy. I have to disagree with him a bit though as he said that the car is a little beat up and needs some work... I couldn't see a single spot that needed work in it, that car was very nicely done and very close to what it was in the '50s when they built it. This is a tiny update, but you get the idea that it's back on the bench. Today while waiting for my gluings on my Street Altered Cortina I decided to do a little work on this. I got rear axle assembled together. Center piece is painted with "Chrome" spray paint, otherwise it's just Humbrol Metallic #56. Bolts and nuts are painted with Revell #90 silver that's a bit brighter than that Humbrol paint and I added minor black wash with The Detailer on where those bolts are to bring them out a bit better.

I was already hoping there would be a full detail kit on one of these. I've had one of those Jo-Hans in progress for a long time and I've done lots of modifications to the engine, interior and chassis. Inner fenders in front are a bit of a trouble for me as they're very different from anything I've seen in 1/25 scale. Oh well, maybe I just need to continue banging my head to the wall with that one.