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Grandparents (Mom) Small Farm / Ship Yard worker, A Gaggle of Model "T's" & "A's" '29 Ford Pickup (bought well used) '34 Chevy Master Delux Coupe (new) '37 Chevy Pickup (used) '38 Plymouth Pickup (only Mopar on the list) (Used) '50 Ford F1 Pickup (Used) '53 Ford F100 (flathead V8) (Used) '55 Chev Handyman Wagon (New) '56 Ford F100 (Y Block) (used) '57 Ford (2 door) Ranch Wagon (Used) '63 Chevy II Wagon 283 V8 (New) '65 Elcamino 327 V8 (well used) '66 Chevy II Wagon 283 V8 (new) '74 Chevy Heavy Half Ton Pickup (454 Used) Then a bunch of lame '80s stuff Grandparents (Dad) Owned Water Well Business & worked oilfields in Texas and California '34 Ford Victoria '40 Ford Delux Tudor Dodge Power Wagons (Several) War Surplus Deuce and A Half (Multiple) War Surplus flat fender Jeeps (WWII vintage) '59 Chevy Sedan Delivery Wagon '50's Vintage Ford and Chevy Pickups (all used) Well Drilling Rigs Mounted on 2 ton Truck Chassis '57 Olds 88 My Mom & Dad Shipyard NDT inspector, Mom stay at home mom like everyone else's mom. '34 Ford Coupe, full fendered & Hot Rodded! my nearly deaf Grandfather told me it had a really loud set of pipes (Dad's High School car) '56 Ford (Big Back Window) Pickup (used) '50 Olds Coupe (used) '55, '61, '63 VW Bugs (all well used!) '62 Impalla (bubble top with 6 cylinder!) (Used) '67 Olds Vista Cruiser '70 Chev 4Half Ton '74 Chev 4X4, Camper Special 90's T-Bird (new) Ford Taurus SHO (new) He got a couple of speeding tickets in that one! Then traded it for something a little more sedate.

Learned a couple of things this year. First I discovered this forum and instead of lurking got on it and after years of lone wolf uninvolvement have enjoyed talking to fellow modelers on here. Second, I learned to use superglue. (Didn't do this modeling but it involves a Dremel and the round slit saw blade.) While cutting aluminum bar stock with the Dremmel sawblade that if it can kick back. It will. When it does kick back make sure your finger is not in the way of the blade which will be spinning at just under the speed of light. If the blade does contact your finger there may be what looked like at the time, sort of a reddish spray that may be comprimised of skin, fingernail and possibly bone. That wife knows immediately not to look at the gore when you have red sprayed on your white tee shirt (especially when preceded by colorful adjectives resembeling the ones used by the dad in "A Christmas Story" . When I got to the ER there were several Doc's who found great humor in my finger's split open state. Each one asking for a detailed account of how it got that way! That nurses absolutely love to scrub a cut out with what feels like a wire brush forever. I also learned that in some cases they don't stitch up the end of a split finger, they superglue it back together!! They used regular old Krazyglue superglue!! I immediately thought to myself I could have spared my self a most embarrassing afternoon, if I'd only known I could glue myself back together! I also wondered why they didn't use the zap kicker for quicker results Maybe they could toss in a little baking soda to fill up the divot for immediate like healed results!!!

Nice, looks right at home with that '49.

Wow! Dig it!! That came out really nice. Actually looks quite similar to the 40 my uncle drove to high school in 61 his was deep maroon (painted in H.S. Auto Shop class). Followed your build up cataloging ideas in the back of my head for future use. Thanks for an awesome well detailed build up thread. Didn't the AMT 40 Coupe come with the second set of exhaust pipes for dual exhaust? Makes me want to pull out one of my AMT 40's and put it in the lineup awaiting build. Deep blue or the deep (forest) green both stock(ish) colors. Always liked the 40's with the flathead motor although a 392 hemi with the sleeper look would be cool as well.

Not 100% sure if you are referring to it, but many cars used Morse cable, it was cheaper than a hydraulc throttle. This could be duplicated in scale by telephone wire or similar single wire and thin insulation, the wire would terminate at either end with a barrel fitting. Much simpler system clamps to route the cable could be fab'ed from really thin aluminum sheet, (like maybe your favorite beverage can).

Ira, Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks... Every one of your Car-Toons looks better (if that's possible) than the last. You're building one impressive resume! That color looks great on a Baja Bug, maybe the next should be a Meyer's Manx all glittered up to go with this one. They would look pretty cool on a sand dune base... then again anything you've shown us on here looks cool!! You're not holding back the duds are you? lol!!

Considering that it is a Pyro it looks great! Built a few Pyro kits as a kid, back when they were .49 cents they had some pretty interesting shapes so the slight flatting here and there is nothing. Don't remember ever seeing the Pyro VW on the shelves. I think building it a little "distressed" was the way to go with this kit as it somewhat hides most of it's faults. The stance is just right, one or two splines in the rear and a good twist down on the front beam, sits about as low as many of us ran them in the early 70's. (We never thought about narrowing the front axle beam to get it lower.)

When I saw this I Thought "Vee Rod". You could run a torsion bar front end, most any of the front engined dragsters used them. Full Model T hood and radiator shell. Spindle mount front wheels something like Halibrand 12 spokes, rear no more than an 8 - 10 inch wide tire/wheel. Fuel tank in the front like most of the Vee Rods used, presumably to keep the front end somewhat on the ground.

Interesting, the stuff that i have like that was intended to be a mold for copying and casting parts. I never considered using it in a permanent installation as it reminds me of milk jug plastic. When it's heated in hot water it turns from the white-ish color to a clear at around or about boiling point. The figure model folks use it to squish cast small parts, I've used it as a mold where the resin material is poured into it then cured and the part removed, then you can rewarm the mold and reuse it again and again.

Actually, what you are referring to as external steer didn't come from the Ford factory at all. It was a racing modification that made it's way to the street. Not absolutely sure but I believe they made their way to the early Fords by way of the oval tracks, the center steered dirt modifieds and board track cars. From there to the dry lakes in the lakes modifieds both center steer and left hand drive position. The hot rodders seized the idea because it made the steering setups easier when theyswapped out the fourbanger for the flathead V8's. If you can get your hands on the book, "The Birth of Hot Rodding - The story of the dry lakes era" Robert Genat - Motorbooks Classics. This book shows many of the lakes era cars with the cowl mounted steering. A quick flip through the book didn't show any Deuces with that type of steering setup. Though if you check out the early Hot Rod and Rod & Custom magazines you will find that there were more than a few Deuces running cowl steering though it's more common on the narrowed lakes cars. Either way you go about it, it's your car do it the way you like best.

FYI - The Empi Inch Pincher and the other drag bugs were classed into the Gas Class I think H/Gas and I/Gas depending on the pounds to cubic inch formula used. For the most part they never did heads up with the larger cars, when they did it was lame, more like bracket racing than heads up. Darrel Vitone had more than a few Inch Pinchers the last being a Fiat Spyder with flat four. Gene (and Doug) Berg also ran the same classes, as did the Iguana, Lloyd Mosiers (sp?) "Little Giant Killer" Fiat 600 at the high point of the Gas class there were only a handful of really competitive Gas Class VW's. Most were in southern California, with the exception of Gene Berg who was at the time up here in Kent, Washington (I made my self a pest at his shop on more than a few occasions). There were more than a few oddballs running slightly more than warmed over stock turning 16's to 18's in the quarter mile then driving them home if they didn't break. Empi mainly made bolt on parts for those guys not the gassers, those guys were making and developing their own. Empi was like the "Cal Custom" of the VW world. Most if not all of their parts make didn't your bug go any faster! During that time I was one of those oddballs running a mid-sixteen with a '57 oval window daily driver and I got towed home more than once after I broke. The only time that they would pair you up against anything bigger was a six cylinder Chevy II or Falcon, which usually ran against Corvairs. Either you have a selective memory or were not around the VW scene in the '60's and early '70's, when VW's got even less respect from the boys running Detroit iron than they do today. Back then a bug was a girl's car! Empi was also involved in the off road racing scene, go back and look at the early Baja 500 & 1000 VW entrys they ran sponser decals and or empi products. Inch Pincher was synonymous with Empi at the time, so you may just have seen a stock bodied or bobbed fendered bug runnnig "Inch Pincher" decals. So Ira's Inch Pincher decals are appropriate in every sense of the word. Not to mention as very eloquently did himself; "This is a Car-Toon Car, Remember...You can do anything you want with a Car-Toon... " I had that model when it was on the shelf, Revell never did put out a good VW engine. The engine from either the AMT Myer's Manx or Tow'd or the shortened "gasser bug" even though the engine was great the rest of the AMT VW's were extremely minimalistic. So it was a natural to combine the Revell or IMC body and AMT engine/transaxle.

AMC Pacer, a co-worker's door fell off his Pacer in the parking lot at work, when he opened it as he was runnig out for lunch. He never did live that one down, we all laughed ourselves silly over it. Read something later about the Pacer's doors being a little on the heavy side for the hinges, well duh! Who ever said anything Mopar, never owned or knew anyone who owned one powered by a slant 6. A buddy's mom somehow punctured the oil pan of her slant 6 powered Dart. By his guess-timate of her remembering getting a little "high centered" she drove it around without a drop of oil for more than a week. After getting the hole in the oil pan really clean we slathered it up good with JB Weld let it set up and tossed oil in it. The "repair" didn't leak and she drove the Dart around for another 5 or 6 years without a hic-up.

Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for, would have replied earlier but have been busy droolin'. Thanks Joe and Bernard

Thomas, You didn't mention whether you planned on painting your Nova or not. Let's assume that you are. Start off familiarizing yourself with the kit's instruction sheet, read through the assembly stages. Sometimes there are specific sequences that need to be followed to allow assembly to go together smoothly. OK, you've read through the inistruction sheets including the "biography" on the car's background and the designer's intended theme. It is at this point that you make the decision whether you are going to build your model: Box stock? Replica Stock or Hot Rodded? Upgrade details? Slightly Customized? Your Own Theme? The list goes on as far as you want to take it... One of the ways that you can do this is find the real car (1/1 scale) in a magazine, websites etc. At this point you can compare the 1/1 with the 1/25th (or your model's scale), how do things compare? Are there any details that might require correction to make it look right? Most of the time you probably won't have to make any corrections but get in the habit of checking this step you may run across one that you do someday. Get organized, find a safe well lit, comfortable place to build your kit, where you can have all your tools in one spot. I've built models on everything from the kitchen table to scraps of plywood. A table or workbench works best for my style, I build in a spare bedroom on an arts and crafts table (not fancy but it works). Next decide what the paint color(s) are going to be, choose something easy for your first attempts at painting. A decent paint job begins with the foundation which would be the body work itself. Are there sink marks anywhere? Round injector pin marks? How about flash? Sadly most models have some defects no matter how slight. Round up some abraisives, sand paper 400 - 600 grit is where I like to start if sanding on plastic itself. Sanding sticks will do the same thing try to get sanding sticks in the same grits that you would sandpaper. If there is any body work which you will be filling defects depending on the filler you use you may want to drop down to a coarser grit, start with the next step down 320 if hat works then work up to the finer grits until you have it the best you can do. Take your time, it's not a race to get to the next kit. There are a couple dozen or more schools of thought on filling defects; under primer or over primer boils most of them down to their essence, depends on the filler used. Fillers, Putty... There are many choices here here's a few. 1. Tester's model putty (white). 2. Automotive fillers from single stage spot or glaze putty, two part glaze putty (Bondo #801 is one), Some people swear by regular Bondo. 3. CA glue, Super glue, thin or thick, use an accelerator if using super glue to speed things up, you can even use superglue and sprinkle baking soda or talc to add additional body to the superglue. Superglue is one of the harder fillers requiring a coarser sandpaper grit to work, use one that inflicts the least damage to the kit's plastic but works the superglue. I like superglue for that reason, it's hard enough that you can take a file to work it. Each type of filler has it's uses, strengths and shortcomings find one that suits your building style. Primer, I think that Plasticoat is the one most people on this forum seem to like the best, comes in white, grey, red oxide, Hot Rod Black and maybe others. Match your primer color to the paint color. White Primer - White, Yellow, Light colored Topcoat to dark topcoats with dark primers. Through experimentation you might find that certain primers make certain topcoats look better, something like white primer with like Porsche Gards Red topcoat really makes it pop! Paints, Find a paint system that works for you. You can use anything from a canned spray paint to thinned automotive type paint shot through an airbrush. Start with something simple and work your way up. Larger parts tend to come out better wither spraycanned or airbrushed, like engine blocks, rear end, transmissions, chassis, interior items. Small parts can be brush painted sometimes it's quicker to do it that way. Glues, You can use the red tube model glue, liquid model cements, superglue thick or thin, epoxy 5 minute or epoxy, white glue for clear parts, watch crystal cement. The list of glues that many builders use is lengthy some swear by a certain glue while others swear at it! Find what fits your style. Build and Paint in sub-assemblies, test fit before you glue the parts and or assemblies together. Bill's advice on practicing painting spoons is great, it helps you get comfortable with whatever paint system you end up using. Even if you get good painting the spoons, and models there will be that one model that gives you fits. If this happens there is the purple pond and other stripping methods. Knowing about stripping model paint off of models opens up an whole world of cheap(er) kits bought at garage sales and swap meets. Keep the models that you build, you will be surprised when you look back at them you can follow the improvement with each model that follows. You could go on and on analyzing how to make your kit and techniques better, that's part of what makes this hobby tick. Notice how many times "fits your style" is used, it's all about what works for you, just because a method works for and is someone else's favorite doesn't always mean you will like using it. Don't be afraid to experiment. Have fun building your models to the best of your ability which is what really makes this hobby worthwhile.

I know that Replicas & Miniatures doesn't have a website. Is there anywhere on the web that has pictures of most if not all of Norm's parts? The catalog has some pretty extensive parts descriptions, a few more pic's might be helpful. Getting ready to order some parts and want to make sure I'm on the same wavelength as R & M is. Thanks

Wow Rich, sorry to hear about this, has to be frustrating to say the least. What a crappy deal! (Sorry couldn't let that one get by.) Call me wierd but the first deranged thought that came to my head was; "Wow this must be the house that they were going to dig up to find Jimmy Hoffa". On the bright side, they didn't find him under your house!

I was forced to stop looking at the issue with the Bently cover, I drooled so much I had chapped chin!! Who is selling the cards for John's Fan Club? Love his work! Makes my best ever look like a 10 year olds glue bomb!

According to the Rod & Custom article, it's an Austin 850 cc engine sitting in Mark I Mini subframes that Ed Roth welded together to become the frame for the Surfite. The suspension uses the standard rubber cone "springs" which is another give away that it came out of a plain Jane Mini. Had it have been out of a Mini Cooper "S" it would have been "wet" hydrolastic suspension and the 948, 1098, or 1275 cc engine. The Mark I Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor Minis came standard with 850 cc engines.

Civil Engineer with the DOT, "Making sure you are slowed down all summer with construction back ups!" Before that sign painter until I had my ulnar nerve (funny bone) cut almost in two by a cleat playing softball, (wasn't too funny). Went back to college for Engineering degree, learned to use that math (and more) we swore we'd never use after high school. Still a Pinstriper and Signwriter.

Both are at my Mom's displayed in her china hutch. A Monogram '40 Ford pickup the turquoise one, built it with my uncle before he was drafted '66 or '67 I think. The other is an IMC VW Bug built as the gasser of course, one of the first unassisted spray jobs, took about 50 million coats of pale yellow to cover the red plastic body. ( "Primer what's that?") Also have a Fiat Topolino body minus hood from the original issue of the double dragster kit, brittle! Most everything else didn't escape the frequent car fires and "mob" bombings (firecrackers). Still have a very serious burn scar between the web of my little and ring fingers from a Monogram Little T, does that count?

Nice traditional build, like the cowl vent.

Excellent build. Would fit into almost any pre or just post WW II scene.

Nice build. I love Gassers from the begining to the end of the class. Yours has just the right late 60's to early 70's look, just when they were going to larger softer rubber, dropping the front ends a tad and a few teams hanging on to the older body styles in leiu of the Opel GT's. Looks ready for the Gas Class'es last hoorah. The other thing that makes it look good is that it is more of a period correct Gasser, than a Newstalgia Gasser. The roll cage even fits the era in which there was more interest in safety sort of an evolution from the single hoop bar to the cage. Did I say I liked it...

They don't call Lord Lucas the Prince of Darkness for nothin' !!! I think I've about bled all the OEM smoke out of my wiring harness, looks like it gave up smoking some time ago! It definitely stopped it's wheezing when I put the high lift cam and roller rockers in it, people say that it goes like stink now. Have never followed myself so I really couldn't comment on that one...

I like the tampo method Garry demonstrated on the tires. Try using a 3M wet sanding (sponge) block they are like a 3 X 5 block of fairly dense foam (this is a "harder" foam than shown in the demo), you can cut a whole lot of little blocks from it too. The smoother the finish if the foam, the smoother the transfer and paint laydown onto the painted surface. I would also use enamel paint to spray or tampo the raised letters.