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Terry, Great story, being a prankster at heart I loved it! A spider nearly got me fired once! Long story but it involves several bored engineers, a six inch Hairy Plastic Halloween Spider complete with suction cup on it's bottom and fishing line strung through the dropped ceiling. We waited until the boss had her morning cup of joe, engrossed in email.... Spider drops from the ceiling... Boss Lady proves unassisted human levitation is possible while screaming loudly. Peeing her pants on the process then attempting to convince everyone said liquid was coffee!!! (At times the office coffee has been classified as swill but never that liquid!!!) Lucky it was April 1st, even better the Boss Lady went home early, claiming she had an errand to run.

Years ago I remember seeing an article in Fine Scale Modeler about polishing out future. I think they used a polishing kit, even burying the decals between coats. The article was on a P-51 Mustang Air Racer, they came out with a miles deep finish that looked like the finishes seen on aircraft.

Not yet, but I'm going over there next! Thanks. Those are probably the closest I've seen so far, they still represent what you would see just as the slick hooks up.

Not a big bag fan, I really like most of what you have going with this one!

I don't see Ed Roth's original Show Cars as rat rods as there was very little connection to Rat Fink. If there were any connection to the term rat rod and Ed Roth; Ed's widow who believes she is entitled to a dollar for everything he ever touched would have already tried to collect on that too! She wasn't even around for 99.9% of anything Ed did with his major custom cars, T shirts, monsters and Rat Fink, yet she holds the rights to them. She's even taken Ed's sons (who were around and even helped their Dad work on some of the cars) to court to cease and desist from using their own Dad's name in promoting their own products and or show cars. Sad situation, doubtful Ed would be too happy about it as it pretty much represents the kind of greed he denounced early in his life.

Yep, those are wrinkly wall slicks, they are all good examples of wrinkle wall slicks under power. At rest the bulge would only be in approximately the 4 to 8 position almost a line across the lower portion of the slick that doesn't meet in the middle. I believe you are thinking of Monogram in their Funny Car kits, maybe the Badman too. Casey, if memory serves me correct, I didn't think that pie crust slicks got wrinkle walled. I thought that most of the early slicks had their beginnings as recapped street or light duty truck tires, I could be wrong. It's happened before! Several times in fact!! I remember an old Model Car Science article where they heated the slick over a candle then pressed it down on the workbench to flatten the bottom. It didn't get the pooched bulge at the bottom though. Funny that no one has ever produced these.

Or scrape enough that the surface is broken, sort of like they do to remove wall paper. Then resume your soaking. Warm, but not hot water might help, next I'd try the isopropyl alcohol. I always try to start with the mildest and work up as necessary. Or scrape enough that the surface is broken, sort of like they do to remove wall paper. Then resume your soaking. Warm, but not hot water might help, next I'd try the isopropyl alcohol. I always try to start with the mildest and work up as necessary.

Does anyone make correct wrinkle wall slicks sitting at rest, not with the wrinkles up the sidewall under torque? What I'm looking for is wrinkle wall slicks with the pronounced "pooch" at the bottom portion, wrinkle below the bottom of the rim. If you look at wrinkle wall slicks at rest you will notice that they only wrinkle up the sidewall when hooked up under power. At rest they have a pooch resembling a slick that could use some more air.

Ed, question on thinning my Willys down through the interior "bucket" area. I was just figuring on using a Dremel sanding drum on lowest speed it will spin and still cut, working it down slowly until the interior slips in. Anything I should do to keep the body stable and keep it from warping over time. I for one hope you consider keeping the '33 Willys in your lineup, hopefully with the reissue of AMT's "Ohio George" kit increases demand for a super nice stock body. With all the seams, flash and sink marks in the last AMT '33 Willys it reminded me of a poor quality resin body!

Very Nice! That green is very close to the original too. I remember Jim Green's Green Elephant running frequently at his "Home Track" Seattle International Raceway where he was a frequent flyer!!!

Thanks Bernard, that's a nice start. Anyone else got a favorite front axle, let's hear about it.

Not a paint expert but, normally a manufacturer's higher end paint product has more and better pigment in it than it's lower end product. Could mean superior coverage, sheen, flatness, deeper or richer colors. That's the big difference between those lower priced acrylic paints in the squirt bottle and the higher priced ones in the same sized bottle. Most paint manufacturers have multiple lines of product which though they look similar do not produce exactly the same results as the other. In today's world of "environmentally friendly" paint formulas it's difficult to know which one to choose, when the lead got taken out of enamels (model paints had lead too) some of the richness and coverage went away with it.

The only thing that you really need to worry about with acrylics is that they are completely dry before you clear coat. A half hour through the dehydrator or a hair dryer will solve that issue. I've shot and or brushed acrylic and clear coated within an hour or so and never had issues. With the paint at least!

I for one am hoping the "True Rat Rod" craze, fad or whatever you want to call it is over soon. I am talking the "cars" that look like they were built out of a dumpster using stuff no early Hot Rodder would have looked at. Seriously, tractor seats, toilet seats, buckets and milk crates (plastic) made to resemble seats, oil cans riveted together to make a floorboard... When I think of Rat Rod the first thing that comes to mind is unsafe, everything from tires with rotten sidewalls, no floorboards to absolutely rotten welds and just plain old poorly engineered stuff. Sure it might be a form of creativity, but at sixty or seventy miles an hour it fails to be creative in my book. Truthfully it concerns me to see some of these things driven. Sure there are some that might be safe, it's just the whole bunch that aren't that have created a bad name for the rest as well as some traditional and safe Hot Rods.

What's the best Ford based dropped front I-Beam Front Axle does it come in a currently available kit or from one of the resin casters current offerings? What's the best round tube dropped axle available? How about straight axles for Street Rods or Gassers? Oppinions and experiences appreciated.

I just got one from Ed a month or so ago along with the stock front clip, fits the AMT body quite nicely as does the AMT clip on Ed's Willys. The interior side panels do fit just a tad tight as the resin body is a bit thicker than the AMT body, nothing an experienced modeler won't be able to deal with.

This kit has peaked my interest a time or two. The only slight change I think I'd make to the bodywork would be to lose the side pipes. To my eye they have always looked like an afterthought, albeit a well blended and executed afterthought, losing them would tighten up and smooth the flow of the lower body. Doing so might make routing an exhaust system somewhat of a pain in the end it might be worth the work to the eye, bring the retro-mod look a little ,ore up to date. Impressed with what you are doing with this build, looks great in the weeds with a pro-touring stance.

Yes

Bill, i think you captured the look, looks like metal! Now you need to build an out of the box Challenger to sit side by side for comparison. Great job!

Six years old, Dad took my brother and I to Century Twenty-One in big ol' Seattle. We rode over on the then "futuristic" Art Deco ferry Kalakala from Bremerton. Mom and little brother were in the hospital, he was just hatched, must have been why we went. Still have a sterling silver "Century Twenty-One" silver dollar sized coin. Didn't get to see Elvis, they were still there filming when we went. Don't remember seeing the AMT exhibit, just lots and lots of people!

Nice one Rich, you almost made a Ford nut outa me with this one!

Wow, Bill that's a huge difference, watching this one for sure.

Ha, Ha! That's great. Even better the ad that came up when I looked at it is for "Waste Management, Easy Trash & Recycling Pickup"!!! OK, maybe it's because I'm working nightshift and my brain isn't functioning normally, but that's pretty funny. You couldn't set that up better. (Hopefully the same ad comes out for everyone.)

The filler thickness issue was going to be my next comment/question, was wondering just how you were going to stabilize all that weight on the existing plastic. Please,show your progress and technique when you get to constructing the plug and the "new" body. Very impressed with the way that this one is going, can already see that it's going to be a beauty when it's finally finished.

BTW - Thom signs his name Thom Daniel, no "s" but there's an "h". check his books, Street Rodder articles and illustrations.