Skip

Nice job on that top chop! When I first saw this one it looked like you were going for the Mini "Sprint" chop and near equal body section. Now that would have made the V8 a little harder to drop in! Interesting ideas, I'm keeping an eye on this one. Incidentally someone did a Mini-Merc in "Actual Size" a few years ago, there are probably still pictures of it on the 'net. The rear looked like they used a Riley Elf to start with.

Looks really good, Y-block looks like it was made for it. Funny even before the release of the Revell 40, not many modelers kit bashed the Deluxe into the Standard, the work to do it right was always worth it. Well now you have the makings of a Deluxe Tudor to keep you busy after this one!

Kenneth Howard aka Von Dutch was a heavy duty alcoholic, chain smoker; take your pick of which led to his demise. Ed Roth on the other hand with the exception of his foray into the biker world was a pretty clean cut family man. He went off the deep end the last part of his life into mormonism, not drugs or drink. Neither Howard or Roth were huge druggies, both of their biographers are pretty clear on that point! There have been a few books written about both no one ever tries to hide the fact Kenneth Howard was a chain smoker and heavy beer drinker who drank from the time he woke up until he passed out. (He sounds like he had emphysema in the last few videos he allowed Ed Roth and a few of his other friends to film.). In my opinion Kenneth Von Dutch Howard died a pretty lonely old guy, really a sad story of someone who could have made money if alcohol hadn't claimed him or his talent. Ed Roth, was really an interesting schemer who knew just what people, read that teenagers thought was cool, if they didn't he let them know it was!

@lysleder, are you using any sort of filtration on the intake side? Intake should have more filter than the exhaust side, possibly one of the "Allergy" type furnace filters which are a little more expensive than the regular furnace filters. You could use a regular furnace filter ahead of the allergy to prefilter your incoming air supply. (Might keep cost down on the allergy furnace filter replacement.)

Good golly Tulio are you like a professional (model) replica builder or what? Every model I see you post just gets better, this one is just amazing! You are one of those guys who could really and truthfully put "Professionally Built" on an eBay auction and not have anyone here or anywhere else even snicker about it! So how long do you take to build a model like this, I don't think I've ever read how much time you invest into your truely beautiful models, no replicas. You could certainly teach most of us a thing or two about nice paint which is always just right for a stock paint job on your models. I just finished four of them for Christmas gifts, '53 F100 was my late uncles first vehicle. His was a Standard model too, it originally had a straight six, which he replaced with a flathead of the same year adding Evans heads, Edelbrock dual carb intake, cam and three into one tube headers into dual smitty type glass pack mufflers with chrome reverse wheels, the rest of the truck was pretty well stock. Except for two distinguishing features a "foot" gas pedal and a 2" ball bearing that he somehow managed to drill and tap for three on the tree shifter, both items made in high school metal shop. Calnaga Castings helped me out with the foot gas pedals, he threw them in for free with my order when he found out what my project was for. My Mom, aunt, uncle and my brother (who now owns the truck) were awestruck when they saw the four '53 F100's lined up on my mantel each sitting on a gift tag. I finished them late Christmas Eve morning! Incidentally I had one that had to have been cursed or something, the dark blue acrylic paint laid down perfectly smooth on the other three the fourth from the primer to the clear coat gave me fits!! Ended up stripping primer and color coat on the one before getting it to lay down I will agree with you on the windshield gasket, what a pain in the bunz! It was worth it though. I wood grained the bed natural ash color and bare metal foiled the strips for a chrome look, (departure from stock but looks so much better). Grill teeth are as bad as hens teeth, I ended up masking the headlight rings and V8 emblem to keep the chrome then used 1000 grit sandpaper to get most of the remaining chrome off, another pain times four but well worth the effort. (Actually made me wish I had one of those Paasche air erasers while doing that job.) In researching this subject I found out that there were more six cylinders sold than the V8's! That was sort of surprising. Of course like an idiot, I was so tired that I didn't even think to snap any pictures, will borrow my Mom's truck back to shoot some pictures so I can at least post one.

Very nice build of the "Original Mini Truck"! Like the subtle flailing of the bedsides, I assume to get the larger rubber under the wings without the use of larger arches.

Two things I saw in your first post that now I see the DuVal windshield frame might make an interesting tweak to the roadster shell. First, lose the ribbed upholstered look back. Second, the Vee between the two seats, might look interesting if it were carried through to the body itself. If it were Vee'd a raised bead could follow out of the Vee terminating somewhere before the radius where the back turns to the sides. Like a wing effect. If you were to use a top, it could run along the body line into the Vee cutout. I love what you've done so far, I always follow along with your stuff, your overall build quality is by far some of the most amazing that I've seen on this forum! Turning that nose upside down is pure genius, I've always hated that part of the Ala Kart. So much so that I've never even bought one in all the years I've been modeling, that might change though after seeing a few of its goodies. Just my two cents! Clarifying raised bead, (wasn't so wide awake this morning after working all night). Praised bead could be done with Evergreen half round stock, dipping into the Vee, flowing upward to create a winged Vee effect.

Stock Henry J Stock Willys Coupe 1939 thru 1941, 1951 thru 1953 Willys Aero - Ace, Eagle... Coupes 1939 - 1940 Chevrolet Coupe, Sedan DeLuxe, Master DeLuxe 1961 thru 1965 Pontiac Bonneville 1965 Pontiac GTO Hardtop or Post (both with fixed top, with correct front and rear clips from original AMT kit! Massaged to today's standards) 1965 - 1967 Oldsmobile 442 1964 thru 1968 Baracuda - Stock, fastback and coupe 1964 thru 1967 Mercury Comet 1964 thru 1970 Mercury Cyclone 1960 thru 1963 & 1964 / 1965 Falcon, Falcon Ranchero, Station Wagon 1960 thru 1965 Chevy II and Nova, Station Wagon Thin Bumper Vega and Pinto (Wagons too) 1963 Tempest and Wagon Ford Econoline Pickup Corvair Pickup 1957 thru 1961 Ford Pickups (1962 ?) Ford Unibody Pickup

Sorry to hear that news, saw it on another car related forum the other day. Met Mr. Meadors once in the car corral at the Puyallup Good Guys show probably ten years ago. I was just parking my lil' Red Mini, Gary introduced himself and asked why I didn't have it inside with the other cars, told him it wasn't a Hot Rod. He just looked at me and told me that it was interesting and cool enough to be in any Good Guys event. Then he surprised me with besides, "a Mini Cooper is the fastest Ten Feet money could buy!" An old quip that a lot of the Autocross Guys used to say, or maybe the higher horse powered car owners used to say about getting whooped by a LBC! Anybody who knew about more than American Hot Rods truly was a Real Car Guy, not just a Hot Rodder. I was impressed that he would take time from the Fairgrounds Show to go out to the "Parking Lot Show" to check out the other interesting cars and talk to and encourage their owners! I think he knew that many of the cars out there were works in progress that would be inside in the years to come.

Nice job, you nailed it!

So, is everyone looking for a '60 Ford Pick Up too? I've been looking for one for some time too! Looking for a SWB, I've found a few long bed's for reasonable prices, just didn't want to do the surgery to cut the bed down. I'm looking for one to replicate a buddy's first vehicle he drove to High School. For the prices I am seeing them go for I might just bite the bullet and find a resin copy, leave the originals to you guys who collect annual kits. No I really don't blame the sellers (for the most part) as I do the buyers with "I gotta win" mentality. We've almost all seen that one a time or two, "stupid is as stupid does"! Having been around the old car hobby nearly my whole life I've seen the same exact trends there as well. We saw it when all the Dot Commies made huge piles of money day trading buying up anything and everything for stupid prices, especially those who bought at the "televised entertainment auction services". In many ways those auction services have done more harm for the hobby than good. There is a direct correlation between the old car hobby to eBay auctions, both used to be traded for the most part either as casual sales or trades. Now, nearly everyone (myself included) has that out of control instant gratification gene where we need it right now. The only thing that's saved me a few times on eBay is the "proxy bid" where I bid on an "educated guess" standing firm at that price, going no higher. The one thing that you can't allow into the deal is emotions, if you do you're going to pay more than it's worth more often than not. It's a business deal after all, one where you're willing to pay for something. One where the seller is more than willing to take as much of your money as you're willing to part with for the privelage of winning the auction!

You have a variety of issues going on here. First, as mentioned is the distance of the brush to the model's surface. Second, it appears that you may have a under thinned paint, with nearly any paint the rule of thumb is consistency of milk. Third, air pressure may be too high, start at 20 PSI work up or down until you get the desired coverage. Four, I've used nail polish for a variety of projects, crafts, signs models..., they don't have any problem thinning with even cheap lacquer thinner. (lacquer thinner has acetone in it.). Thinning enamels with lacquer thinner is no problem, many sign painters, pinstripers, custom painters and modelers have been doing it for years, like back to the '50's and earlier. With lacquer the last coat should be the only wet coat, the rest should flash quickly. This will help prevent "burning" or "crazing" the plastic under the primer.

That's great that there are dull points available that the hobby user can get. For all the control on hypodermic needles intended to curb I.V. Drug use, it hasn't stopped or even slowed the tweekers a bit! A year or so ago I asked nearly the same question, looking for just the needle portion to use on a liquid cement bottle. I was met with a couple of really snide, uncalled for remarks questioning my legitimate use for the needles. There are often too many comedians on here, and other sites, it's easy to hide behind a keyboard and make cutting remarks at people you don't even know! I was able to find someone who was trusting enough to give me a pack of syringes and really small needles, I would have gladly paid for them. They work great for applying liquid cement, my intended use. Though the sharp point was a pain to use, so I filed it off blunt it works even better that way. if you look on eBay, I know you can get old glass bodied syringes and needles which are sold as medical antiques or collectors items. The glass syringe would work great with liquid cements, but they're somewhat pricey for us hobbiests to find and use.

Yes, but the ridiculous part about this is that law abiding citizens are made to feel like carp if we even ask about getting a few hypodermic needles for hobby use. Yet tweekers get handfuls of the things, no questions asked,, just for the asking, then toss their used ones everywhere! Used to be we hardly ever found sharps on job sites, now nearly every D.O.T. contract carries a Bid Item for "Biohazard Cleanup", yes your tax dollars pay someone a lot of money to pick up and clean up those used needles! But no way can you get even a couple to build models with. Makes a whole lot of sense doesn't it, lawbreakers have more rights than you do!

You guys have some great input on this, let's keep it going, I mean not letting it denigrate into a bashing match that's not what I intended. Really it's almost a which came first chicken or egg question; who feeds, fuels who? Is it really as simplistic as, there is a sucker born every minute? Or Asking what ever the market will bear? Nor is it a swipe at those whom sell kits, parts and pieces on eBay, we hear griping about high eBay pricing on vintage stuff all the time let's use this to help get an understanding of why it is acceptable or not to ask these kind of prices. Regarding the earlier brittle plastic question/statement, I have purchased a couple of kits which were stripped with who knows what, a Garlits Wynns Jammer with major brittle frame rails, a Model A which I bought specifically for its tires and wheels to use on a Model T Speedster, with spokes so brittle I had to use wheels from another kit. It happens, granted these weren't virgin styrene but they had issues. I learned my lesson and don't buy stuff that the seller or someone else has stripped.

Could be when the spray cap is placed onto the can during assembly that there is some expectation of pressure build up underneath the cap which could cause it to pop off. The possibility of the presence of liquid paint under the cap could cause enough hydraulic pressure to pop off the spray cap. Good question, but you can guess that either some mechanical engineer, manufacturing tooling person had it placed there for a reason. It costs money for the tooling to place that hole there so the manufacturer of the cap isn't going to just put a hole in the cap without a good reason. Something like, indexing the cap so that the small round spray nozzle can be pressed in. Even for a pin to eject the spray cap from the injection mold. You could probably think up a bazillion such scenarios, until you break down the steps of the manufacturing process from beginning to end all it would be is a guess.

I'd buy several, makes me all nostalgic. Totally disappointed with the latest AMT reissue, I never had the original issue so I thought it was as bad as the later reissue. Please someone we'd love to see a proper '65 Goat! This would be a great multiple use tooling expenditure as well, the '65 Chevelle, Skylark, Olds used the same platform and basic interior bucket. @ 70JudgeMan - Andy, That's probably the closest to the color I've ever seen, could have been a special order coded GTO. Pretty much anything was possible with the right dealer back then.

Replying to my own question here. In many hobbies, models included some of the ridiculous prices seem to be driven by people with no patience to hunt down what they want. Used to collect and trade Redline Hot Wheels so I've seen the "it's old it's worth more mentality", there too! We see it in the Old Car market as well, the rise of the "designer" Telivised Auctions proves that one, prices have risen astronomically since the Auction "Services" got involved. I've bought a few old kits that haven't been available in eons and had issues with warped, brittle plastic, even tire burn. Then there are parts, you are almost gauranteed you'll be doing some restoration. Sometimes you get lucky and get unused pieces, which unfortunately end up brittle that you have to be super careful with. For me there are times when it's difficult to justify this kind of pricing with the extra care to make the part(s) work.

Perusing through Evilbay window shopping some of the old styrene for sale, I started wondering just who is to blame for some of the stupidly high asking prices for old/vintage kits, parts, build ups, boxes...? Is it the seller? Is it the buyer? Is it someone lacking patience to hunt the old kit(s) down? Maybe even nostalgia, "I built this as a kid"? Is it just because it's old? Finally are some of these kits really worth a huge asking price when the builder may have to exercise extreme care with old brittle styrene? What do you guys (and gals) think about it, would you even rather bother with the old styrene? (Lots of questions, trying to generate some civil discussion). What do you think?

They're called "Post GTO's because they have a "B" Pillar behind the door with fixed glass, a door which is also framed around the door glass. Versus a true hard top car which has roll up windows in the door and behind the door as well, the chrome strip on the behind door glass gives the illusion of a narrow pillar which also seals the door glass. If I remember correctly there were more Hard Tops built than Posts, but not so few that they are rare just not as common. Think Hard top Nova Versus mainline Chevy II which has that same type of B pillar arrangement. On the Post GTO it is probably a carryover from the Tempest and done at the factory as a True GTO build.

First car was a '65 GTO, the '65 was more Chevelle like than the later Goats. Having had a '65 myself I've always liked that year better than the larger later GTO's. They were plenty fast for their day, in retrospect the handling wasn't quite on par with the Horsepower, but it sure was fun! Mine was a Copper color, I've looked in paint books but have never found that color in any paint book. I bought the car from the original owner who told me that it had never been repainted. When I touched some minor road rash the color had to be hand mixed to match the Metalic Copper color on the car combined with a black interior it was a really sweet looking car. Something else that I just found out just recently is that the '65 GTO was built both as a Hardtop and a Post. I was looking at a "Post" Goat for sale in California, thinking it was a Tempest Clone. I looked it up on the Pontiac Registry only to find it to be a true GTO to my surprise there really were Post Goats. (Should have looked for that mystery color while I was there.)

Looks great, similar to one Hot Rod magazine did back in the '80's or so.

Very nice, Old English and Black top is a cool combo! The Classic Mini club that I belong to has a few Mini's that same color. You nailed it!! Now you need a Red SAAB 96 to go with it!!!

I've used Silly Putty for masking odd shaped objects for a long time, saw it in SAE tips section and another time in an article. First I was concerned about using Silly Putty because of the silicone in the putty, I was afraid of fish eye, but it's never happened. Now that I've switched to mainly acrylic paints that's not an issue either. I get my Silly Putty at the Dollar store for a buck or less, last I looked it sells for $2 - 3 everywhere else.