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Very nice Surf Wagon! I like that overall look with those wheels and tires and color combo. Tinted windows and sharp detailing in the engine bay are great touches. Very nice job.

I just bought the '69 and '71 Ford Pickups and they both look excellent! Looking at the parts made me sure that these kits will look excellent even if built box stock without any added details. I can't wait to get started on them and I will definitely do some extra detailing on both. Only problem I really don't understand on this otherwise excellent kit is that why window chrome trim is molded to the windows?! I think that's a stupid idea, as one little slip with hobby knife when foiling ruins the whole window. If the same happens on car body where chrome trim usually is molded in, the flaw is not that visible and probably can't be seen at all. I hope I can buy extra sets of windows from Moebius when I get to the foiling as I might need a few sets of them... Looking forward for the other kits as well. I'll buy at least one of each.

Excellent job on the Mercury! That paint scheme looks very good on it and those colors fit well together. Engine detailing is done beautifully, too. Especially fuel lines on the Hilborns look very good. Only problem is that you will need to add a rear bumper (or a push bar) and lights for this one to make it Gas-legal. If I remember correctly, you'll need a radiator, too. But overall a very nice build.

I bought these while visiting in California. Those Moebius Ford Pickups will be built Factory Stock, '65 Satellite will be a modern day Stock Eliminator Drag Car (Just like the early '60s Mopars I saw racing Stock Eliminator at NHRA Finals), '29 Ford will be a Channeled Traditional Hot Rod with that Buick Nailhead and Sizzler/Slingster Dragster and that Midget will be built with box parts, but of course some extra detailing needs to be done on both.

On our way home I was reading an Auto Trader Magazine or something like that and I saw an ad of that place. According to the advertisement it looked like a good place, but I didn't know where it was. Well, I will have to put that on my list for next time...

Yep, it was a lot of fun. I will have to put that museum on my list so I can go there next time I'm visiting around there. There is still a lot of stuff to see for sure. This time definitely won't be the last. On the races it was very neat to see many cars as here in Europe the ladders are much smaller. Funny Car is not driven in here either (They drive a small series in UK but not on other countries as far as I know) so those were very interesting to see. After watching their first Qualifying Round on Friday, I had to say that FC is absolutely the best Pro-Category, followed by Pro Stocks. And of course it was nice to see the Swedish guy, Jonnie Lindberg, winning the Championship in TAFC. Hoover Dam and that bridge were good looking places as well. The view from that Dam was quite impressive. That 70s sounds good to me ! Right now here in Finland it's exactly 30 degrees. And yes, Tony's Hobbies was a great place. You're right that the amount of Model Car Kits was something you don't see every day and in addition to that there were lots of other models than cars, too. Looks like I forgot to mention them on my last post, but AutoBooks-AeroBooks was a great place as well. Large selection of books and magazines, movies etc. While we were there, we stopped by at Las Vegas Drag Strip and Irwindale Raceway even if there was no activity in them. But we thought why not to stop by since we're really close to them. Veteran's Day Car Show at Huntington Beach and Cruising Nights on Bob's Big Boy Burger in Downey were fun, too.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! It's sad to say it, but after an excellent trip I'm back in Finland. We had a great time in L.A. and especially those NHRA Finals were excellent. We visited in as many Hobby Shops as possible. Burbank's House Of Hobbies, Tony's Hobbies, Pegasus and Brookhurst Hobbies got my money this time. All of those shops were worth visiting with lots of Car Kits in them. The prices were cheaper than what they are here in Finland, too, so if I had more money and more space, I'd probably bought more stuff. Unfortunately there was no time to visit in other hobby shops, except the Hobby Lobby that was almost next to Pegasus. I came out empty handed though as there was no space for models anymore in my bags. The main thing on the whole trip was of course the NHRA Finals in Pomona. My only complaint after sitting four days in the grand stands from 8AM to 6PM was that the race was over after Sunday. It was very cool to walk around in the pits as well seeing what the "Big Guys" are doing between rounds. And on Sunday morning it was great to see AA/Altered Fiat Topolino and 1971 Top Fuel Dragster being fired up in the pits...That kind of cars can't be seen here in Finland. Other places we visited were for example So Cal Speed Shop, both, in LA and Las Vegas. Especially the Las Vegas shop was big with lots of cool stuff inside, but I didn't leave empty handed from LA's shop either. Mooneyes' Shop in Santa Fe Springs was another very cool place. After paying the parts I bought I was told to go look around in their garages and actual shop where they were building cars. It was great to have a close look on Mooneyes Dragster and their Bonneville Car for example. Las Vegas was a cool place too. Everyone should visit there even if it's not really a car related place. While driving from LA to Vegas, we spotted Peggy Sue's '50s Diner right next to Highway 15. That was a must visit and the place was very cool. On our way back to LA we visited in Hoover Dam and Route 66. Barris Custom Shop was a cool place too, even if George sadly passed away while back. It wasn't actually open, but next to the shop was a Tony's Deli where we bought a couple of sandwiches. On their wall I could see writings and autographs of many Customizers so I asked if they knew if Barris' shop is still sometimes open. They told me to go behind the building and knock on their rear door. I did that and a lady let me to come in and look around. There were some beautifully done and very famous cars inside, it was neat to see them up close. Service was really friendly and I was able to buy the Barris Custom jacket I had been drooling over on their webpage. NHRA Museum and Justice Brothers' museum were both very interesting places! Must Visit for everyone who's around there. And In-N-Out Burger offered the best burgers for sure! Thanks for the great tips, guys. It was great to be in sunny California. Now when I look out from the window I see it's snowing and if I go out, it's freezing cold...

Thanks Ray and Darren! Darren, do you have a picture of that Pro Mod? It would be very interesting to see how it looks, Pro Mods are very neat cars to follow. Well now it's going to be about two weeks break on this build as our flight to Pomona is taking off tomorrow morning. But when we come back I guess it's time to continue this one...

Well today I was able to snitch a bit of bench time to work on this. Those rear slicks looked kind of sad since they were pretty rough so I thought I should try to restore them a bit. I wasn't quite sure if it was possible to rescue them or not, but I started with a fine file to get rid of the biggest scratches and other problems. Then I continued by sanding with 600 and 1000 grit sandpapers and actually the tire started to look much better. Then I painted Firestone textes with Revell Flat White and a toothpick. Looks like I can use these tires under the Cortina anyway, but I still need to restore that other tire. It is in better condition than this one I just restored, though so it should be a bit easier. Unrestored tire is on the left and restored one on right. It's not perfect, but I think I can live with it.

Thanks Jason and Gene, I appreciate the kind words! I haven't been able to get any bench time. I'm coming to watch the NHRA Finals in Pomona with my dad and our flight is leaving on Tuesday. That is keeping me busy right now with packing & finding some places to visit in California (Mostly Speed Shops, Cruise Nights, Hobby Shops etc ). That combined with other stuff (1:1 cars) takes basically all of my time right now. Hopefully I can do something to the Cortina though before the trip... Otherwise I'll be back on the bench after that and I sure don't want to wait that long before I can get back to the bench...

Wow - that's truly impressive! Glad to see you finished it finally, those body mods are done very nicely and I like the styling. I can believe that the body mods required lots of work but you did a very good job. Paint scheme looks excellent, too. Excellent work.

Some of my recent ones. '50 Oldsmobile. '69 Charger Daytona. '62 Impala Super Stock. '61 Oldsmobile STW.

Very nice build of a great car. That movie is one of my favorites and I've wanted to build that Roadster ever since I saw that movie for the first time. Great work with it all over, I really can't say anything negative about it other than the rear tire issue that was already discussed. Excellent work, very beautiful Roadster that has the right look. How did you do that spade on steering wheel? Is it decal and made by who...?

Hey you're not supposed to tease us like that, I already got very interested when reading the topic title as I'm building Don's Super Stocker too. But actually that looks very good like that as well! Color fits surprisingly well to this body and I like your panel paint job too. Plus that it's always nice to see a 409 Big Block under the hood. Great work Jim.

Yes, this is a nice kit even if it's a bit simple compared to the Revell kit. But it can be built very nice, just like this one is turning out. Good looking paint job and great color choice, too. Keep it coming. I think those chrome headlights are not a problem. There is a good trick I got from a fellow modeler a few years ago. Just paint the chrome headlights with gloss white and while the paint is still a bit wet, start removing it carefully from the center so that a little of the chrome plating can be seen under that white paint. It's actually very simple and makes a big difference. I used that technique on my '70 Dodge Super Bee a while back and I think it looks pretty good:

Yeah, if there was a test on '50s British cars, I bet I'd be in trouble! Can't see much of them around here (I see lots of American Classics, but British cars are not that common in here) so it would be hard. Plus that as I'm born in the '90s, many of them would probably be something I've never seen before. But seeing those cars in person helps a lot. Even if I wasn't born when those cars were new, I could do 100% on both tests since I've seen most of those cars here in person.

I have always liked the Full Size cars from the late '50s to early '60s the most. It's very hard to pick one favorite year as I think '59-'63 are the years when best looking cars were made. But if I had to pick one year it would be either 1960 or 1963. I can't say for sure why, except that the best looking cars were simply done on those years, and especially GM cars are my favorites.

I saw this yesterday on a parking lot when I was parking my Pickup in there as well. You don't see many of these around here, but it sure looks good so I had to take out my phone and snap a picture:

I got 100%, too. Only ones I had to guess were a couple of Mopars and I wasn't sure on those two Mopar hood ornaments either. This time my guesses on those two were correct though and other questions were fairly easy. Looks like I got 100% on that tail fin test too. It was actually quite easy, even if I had to do some serious thinking on a couple of Mopars. I got them figured out though and actually I didn't have to guess any of those.

Good post, Rob. Those are all very good points and I haven't even thought about some of them even if I've been in many contests and I've won surprisingly many times, too. Especially placing the models was a new thing to me, I just usually put them to whatever place they fit in. I don't like to put them to front row as then someone might hit them by an accident, but otherwise I haven't paid much attention to that thing. But I have to say that even if I often participate in contests, I don't stress about winning or losing. I either win or lose, it makes no difference to me. Or I mean that it feels great when you win, but losing doesn't matter me at all. I enjoy seeing other people's builds in person and often I get good tips, tricks or ideas from other modelers or from their models. And of course meeting friends is another important thing just as well as looking through the Swap Meet area... Plus that I never enter the same model in the same contest twice. I don't get it why some people do it, and that's why I don't.

Thanks for the information! 30 Bucks doesn't sound too bad, so hopefully I can find one. Unfortunately buying it from eBay is often not a good idea, as the shipping costs are sometimes way too high compared to what it really costs to ship a model kit to Finland or sometimes sellers don't want to ship them here at all...

Brad: Thanks! It's great that there are guys who like to follow my projects. I sure hope I can find all parts, too, because right now I really feel like I want to work on this and get some more work done. It's funny how sometimes you can't find correct parts even if you had many parts boxes with lots of parts. That's what happens to me too often, but hopefully not this time. Joe: Thank You! Yes it's true that it's impossible to stop building models completely. That's just what happened with my dad who hadn't been building models for a couple of decades until I got started when I saw one of his old builds. Since then he has been slicing plastic constantly too, even though he is a super slow builder. It's sad that 1:1 cars take so much time from these smaller scale cars, but it is very nice to work on both. Plus, with 1:1 cars it's possible to enjoy the ride once they're done. Fredrik: Thanks for the tip! I will have to check how those Vega's tires look on this body. I actually have one of those Vegas sitting on my stash so it should be an easy check. However, I believe that the scale difference between 1:24 and 1:25 is so small that it doesn't matter. At least I have always mixed both scale parts together in my builds. And not having the Good Year logo doesn't really matter, I think most of these cars had somekind of regular front tires without fancy white letters or anything. But that's a very good tip, I'm gonna check it out very soon...Thanks! I did some minor work today on this. Hopefully I can continue the rear axle business tomorrow so I could post an update. Stay tuned.

This is definitely a very cool '55. Excellent overall look, it has that Old School vibe in it as others have said. Your detailing is very sharp too, especially I like that opened grille. Very good work.

Is the box art the same on both of these versions ('66 and '68)? I'm asking because I've been drooling over one of these kits for a while and when I see one with reasonable price tag, I gotta pick it up. But I want to have a '66 body too. The project looks very interesting. I can't wait to see it when you get started.

This might be an easy one...? Well, Jack and Jill went uptown Jill come back with the others, jumpin' around Say ooh, he-he-hey, he-he-hey Rock woodpecker, let's rock