MrObsessive

Whoa! VERY nice! That's some very impressive decal work, as that's never been a strong suit of mine!

Carl, that is some fabric that I got from Don Holthaus years ago (early '00's?) when I was trying to build the working top on my '64 Pontiac GTO convertible. Of course, I never got that to work right as the material was still a bit out of scale for 1/24th, and also, attaching the fabric to get it to look right would have been a nightmare. I still have a good bit of it, and in fact, this is the first I've used it since he sent it to me. I thought it would look good as a trunk mat as it's very tightly woven as you can see, and it's rubber backed so it's able to be superglued on a flat surface without much issue. What's neat about it also is that when cut, the fabric frays very little if at all------almost like the same material used for umbrellas or something. I'm not sure where he got it 'cept to say after all these years, it's come in handy. Thanks for asking!

John, those are some cute cats! I wish mine could sit still like that and just observe! The model room is off limits to both of mine, but especially the one year old I have now. He's particularly nosy, and all I need is for him to wreck the work I've done after all this time. He tries to butt in as soon as I open the door, but I pick him up by the scruff of the neck and pitch him out and shut the door!

BTW, I want to add that all of the pics that you all see were taken by my iPhone 6 Plus. I used this instead of my trusty 'ol Olympus D-540 Zoom because it seemed to give a better color balance as far as the Impala's Roman Red was concerned. So decent cell phone pics CAN be done if you take the time to get a good focus as well as reasonable lighting.

Thanks for the nice compliments everyone! Yeah, I need a breather from the super-detailed stuff for awhile. Look for my next WIP within the next few days maybe, and no this won't take years to do! No chrome, BMF, or other flashiness to deal with on this one--------mostly box stock 'cept for some minor items. As of now, I'm going over the body with a fine tooth comb as it does need a thorough block sanding. However................later this year, I am making plans to start a crazy build to head to GSL come 2019. At the encouragement of someone that's a good friend in the hobby, I want to do this one as it's a subject I've not seen anyone tackle as of yet. What is it you might ask?? Well, let's just say it's related to the '67 Mustang I did earlier, and is something I built once before about 20 years ago--------and it was a one of kind car to say the least. How's that for a teaser??

Thanks Steve! The Buick wasn't a total Modelhaus effort-----I had a junker '59 Chevy kit (busted body) and used its interior for the Buick. The resin repop had a convertible interior with those doglegs in in the rear seat, and I didn't want to use that. So the Chevy kit didn't go to waste as I used its seats, floor, and rear package shelf to make the Buick a bit more detailed.

I've only ever built two of their kits, but have gotten excellent parts from them over the years. In fact, I have a number of Don and Carol's items to keep me busy for awhile. Here's the two I've built within the last 10 years or so................ 1959 Buick Invicta 1961 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe

Steve, I've never seen that one before.................BEAUTIFUL! And yes, I'm going to miss their big selection in tires also!

The glass issue almost had me throwing in the towel.............that's when I decided to work on something else for awhile (the '67 Mustang), and then MicroMark came to the rescue with their vacuform machine. If there's ever again a difficulty with glass-----AMT's '57 Chrysler 300C comes to mind, I'll just make my own! One casualty of this whole build is that the passenger door wouldn't open without some severe binding. The original upper hinge had broken and I was able to solder another one. Of course the radius dimensions weren't quite the same, as well as the location, so I ended up epoxying the door into place. In the future, whenever I get around to building a car with gooseneck hinges again, it'll be back to the standard round brass rod. Much tougher to deal with as it's more sturdy. The flat style I used for this one while prototypical for this type of hinge, can only be bent so many times before it breaks.

Wow! One of my favorite Corvette concept cars! VERY nice and clean! And yes, it'll be a nice change for me to do something "outta the box" for once!

FINALLY after nearly FOUR years, she's all done! Just a couple small trunk details, which I may or may not add before NNL East, but for all intents and purposes, it's done! I had a few nits with the overall build-----I had to REALLY fight with the hood to get it to sit right. This was probably due to the roof/cowl change and I believe the hood was slightly warped as well. That's sorta to be expected as I've had this kit long before I started to build it, and it was in various temp conditions over the years ranging from extremely hot (third floor) to very cold in the same place. Speaking of the cowl, I had to take some artistic license as it's slightly different between the two model years. The '60 roof I used I wanted to maintain as much strength as possible with those windshield pillars, so instead of cutting the A pillars at the base, I left them on the entire cowl so there'd be less chance for breakage as this model had a LOT of handling over the years. Just the same, I'm not fretting over it-------the end result to me was a much more accurate shaped roofline........something I wish Monogram had gotten right when they intro'd this back in '96. Nevertheless, I don't intend for this to be a world beater as far as contests-----that wasn't my intent for wanting to build this. Just something different for my collection, and to fix something that's been bugging me for years ever since this kit came out. Is the model dead on accurate for a '59 Chevy? Of course not, and my big thing in building this is I got to learn some new things, as this represented some "firsts" for me as far as building. Number 1, this was my first successful attempt at doing an entire roof transplant from one body to another. I have done this before ('55 Ford Victoria) and while that first attempt was not a total bust, I learned something from that project which helped in doing this one. Another one is molding clear glass for the first time. I did do this before in 1/43 scale, but this was a first with a vacuform machine, and I learned a trick or two in doing this. The next WIP will not be so crazy making and much more modern (BMW)-----I'll need to get away from fins and chrome for awhile! OK, on to the pics! ................................And this is where she'll be 99.9% of the time after the show. On a shelf in a case away from the dust and nosy cats! Thanks for following along with me folks through the time of building this! I really, really appreciate all the encouragement and helpful tips I've gotten on and offline. In another week or so, you'll see the beginnings of another WIP, and believe it or not, it'll be mostly box stock. Something I haven't done--------I don't think ever!

FInally! I'm about 99% done with this Impala, and there's just a few minor details to get done before I put 'er into the "Under Glass" section. I took this pic last weekend, and I'd thought I'd post it now as a "teaser" to what you can look forward to later on. As of now, I'm getting the tiny stuff done such as emblems, doing some touch up work, and getting a suitable background ready to take final pics. Yes, since this was taken I did put on the wipers (Harry!), and roof vent, and all the other doodads that'll make this model complete as far as I can see. OK............here's the teaser......... Stay tuned for more..............later..........

VERY nice and clean Tomas! Leave it to Johan to make the best bodies of that car! Monogram's version never looked right to me. I have one in my stash to rebuilt someday------I've got a Daytona too that could use some company!

Jim! Beautiful car! You beat me to it as this is the very color I want to do mine in when its turn comes up! I have all the pics I need saved and perhaps later this year I'll get started on it. The wheels look great and it's got that right "stance" for a '61. Very nice interior as well, and it certainly suits the car!

You got it! Especially those water based Tamiya (and others) acrylics! I know if I clear something with Tamiya's X-22 acrylic paint, I can count on it to not be thoroughly dry for a week or longer. If I put it in the dehydrator overnight for instance, the next day it's hard as a rock and can be rubbed out and polished with no problem. Some enamel paints can be notoriously slow drying------Testors comes to mind. The dehydrator is excellent for curing those somewhat troublesome paints too.

Happy Birthday Rich! I take it you'll be heading to NNL East? Hope to see ya there that Friday evening at The Tilted Kilt.

I use Meguiar's Car Cleaner Wax and a chamois cloth to polish things up.........been using it for years, and yes, you never want to leave wax on for long periods without rubbing it out. Now personally, I wouldn't recommend the automotive waxes for anything other than automotive paints-------namely Lacquers, Acrylic Enamels, Urethanes, etc. Hobby paints such as regular enamels are a bit too weak to take the harshness of the waxes and can simply make a mess of things.

I know there are a few here that are older than 66, but I'll let them make themselves known if they'd like.

Ooooh! I can't wait!!

Here's the video that you're talking about. I saw this when it was first shown, and I still cringe looking at it! On an article on the 'net about the X-Frame here, someone comments that they knew personally the owner of the '59, and was horrified when they knew that was the car they sold to someone on the east coast------only to see it totally destroyed to "prove" a point. I do like the newer cars as far as safety and some of the features that weren't dreamed of even 20 years ago, I just wish a lot of the "sameness" would go away. But on the other hand, maybe we've reached a point at the moment where designers will only go so far lest the buying public get totally turned off by an offensive design. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder however, so what may look fantastic to one, can be totally disgusting to another.

I got that one too... https://public.fotki.com/MrObsessive/diecast-corner/1954-cadillac-eldorado/

I was talking about this very thing to a young coworker the other day. How cars once upon a time did not have to bow down to the aerodynamic gods that cause their shapes to be so similar. Especially the windshields. Unfortunately, I don't know how or if we can put that Genie back in the bottle. I see a lot of designs out there as a symptom of society-------we've become too politically correct, and car designs reflect that IMO. We can't be too "offensive" lest we hurt someone's feelings............same goes for the way too many vanilla shapes plaguing the roads today.

I DO remember that one Harry! I thought about getting that one but passed on it, and now its price is probably in the stratosphere now. Is that the one where there were customer complaints about the tires or whitewalls disintegrating or something on some of them??

Harry, that is one GORGEOUS '56 Buick!! I have a number of Danburys myself, and I'm a fan of diecast if they're not clunky and the shape is right. One of my faves that I've had since it was new is they're 1/12 scale '57 Chevy Convertible, which just about does everything except start up and run. I also once had their '56 Corvette in that scale, and the '65 Mustang convertible. A few years ago, I sold the 'Vette on eBay to a fellow in Great Britain who paid nearly twice what I bought it for (around $500)! I had also sold the Mustang, and regretted getting rid of it not long after. Well, after the first of this year, to give myself a nice present because things have gone so well on the job, I bought another 1/12 Mustang which was in near excellent shape for it's age now. Sure I paid more than I originally bought it for, but there's no way I'll ever part with with this one now! Especially with Danbury being out of the diecast model biz. For those interested, here's a video I made of the original 1/12 Mustang I had when I was selling it on eBay. Forgive my rather rough sounding voice as I was getting over a nasty cold at the time I shot this. The only drawbacks to these large scale models with their myriads of working features.........things can break on 'em, and if you're just the average Joe with no modeling skills, you'd have no idea how to fix it. I've already had one of the top bows on the Chevy convertible break as one of the rivets came out. I made another one though and the top folds up and down just fine. I'd sure like to see someone else get the tooling for those terrific models they did, but being that aspect of Danbury's was owned by the Chinese government, that looks to be just a pipe dream. I'm soon on the search for the 1/12 '56-'57 Corvette as I'd like to have that one again. I'm watching a couple on eBay which have been on there for quite some time (Buy It Now). I'm just waiting for the prices to come down (hopefully alot!), or one will turn up on a regular auction sometime down the road.

I snagged a nice clean one of these too on eBay recently for a very decent price! And yes, I was fortunate in that the roof was intact with no breaks in the pillars (especially the rear ones!) at all. Those C pillars though are oooh sooo thin! This is just me, but I might have used part of the beltline and the tulip panel off of the '62 Chevy to eliminate any bending of those pillars. 1961-62 GM B-body bubbletops are almost identical from the tops of the doors upwards, although using the cowl would have been tricky as the Chevy has parallel wipers while the Buicks are the "clap hands" type. A slight difference in the cowl pattern too as well. Looks good to me from this view though and I'll definitely be watching! You don't see many of these turn up as WIP's these days.