MrObsessive

How'd I miss this one?? FANTASTIC Lookin' Car! Stance, paint, engine, interior------everything is perfect!!

I agree Gerry...........If I had the kit when I built my Italeri 250 back in '96-'97 I probably would have tried to kitbash the two since Italeri's kit is woefully lacking in good detail chassis/engine wise. And yes, nothing beats Norm's V-12 for detail.........I even think maybe a little more so than Model Factory Hiro's!

Beautiful Stude Harold! I LOOOOVE Studebakers! Especially the 1956-'61 finned Hawks and original Avantis! You can't go wrong with a subtlely customized Stude, and yours is right on the mark. Believe it or not I lived for 9 years above what used to be a Studebaker dealer and garage! The guy who owned the place in the last few years I lived there, still had some Stude's parked in the garage. IIRC, a couple Larks, 1961 and '62 Hawks------just sitting there collecting dust. I'll bet they're still there rotting away doing nothing.

Lookin' Good Jeff!! The doors open exactly how a '65 Mustang should open............and your trunk bracing and door jambs are extra well done! One question for ya though........Where'd you get the double redline tires?? I would LOVE to have a set of those!

I have the original of that kit (somewhere) and from what I remember, Protar based their kit on a restored 250 GTO. Apparently, it was a car that had been rebuilt after a wreck (common in those days) and the shop hadn't gotten the rear tail section quite like the original car. The Protar kit body to my eyes always seemed to have a bobtailed look to it. One commonality of the original 36 1st series GTO's was the tail sections were a certain length (1962 aerodynamics?)..............the differences were mostly in the light arrangement, door frame shape, spoiler shape, hood shape, and some interior differences. Also, most Ferrari's were 3 liter, while a couple were 4 liter V-12's. Figuring that all 39 GTO's (Series I and II) were handbuilt, there were bound to be some changes as the human hand can't repeat the same task multiple times............. but IMO the Protar body just misses the mark too much for me. It's no one's fault....................It is what it is.........

Definitely no criticism here Len! Those are coming out great! I especially like the Aerovette..............haven't seen too many of those built!

I for one would buy all that you mentioned Ariel! Especially a Type 3 Karmann Ghia!!

Beautiful work as always Bill!! I really wish Chrysler could have picked up more styling cues from this era for their current Charger than what it is now. Sad Charger story.................When I was in a senior in high school, I had a friend that had a '68 Charger that he absolutely cherished! One day coming home from school on the bus we had seen a car fire.............it was my friends Charger! He tried to throw a cigarette out of the window while driving (all of the windows were down) and the still lit cigarette ended up in the backseat eventually catching it ablaze! Needless to say, the car was history!

At first glance I thought this was a Pocher model............but WOW that's a sharp build! And of a subject matter not often seen! You could fool some folks into thinking this was an actual Rolls!

Beautiful! You can't go wrong with a '57 Chevy in Dusk Pearl! It's got a bit of that "Arter Rake" also!!

James, I'm not that familiar with Duplicolor since I've never used it for primer.......................But my motto when it comes to various paint brands and types is this-------"When in doubt, test it out"! Check it out on a scrap body of some sort and see if that cocktail has no bad reactions such as lifting, crazing, etc. At worst, you may want to strip the body and start anew to save any headache later since you ran out of the Duplicolor. Even though paints may be of the same type, that doesn't always mean they'll be compatible on top of one another.

Here is a nice place for buying models..............Great prices and fast service too!

AAAAHH! I LOVE old redlines Hot Wheels! I got a bunch of 'em myself Jackie------most of 'em in excellent shape! That AMX looks great! AMX's will always have a special place for me as I once owned a 1:1 with the 390/4spd from '87-'92. Mine was bright yellow though so you couldn't miss it!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Bill! I built this one too when these came out in '87(?)...............One thing I remember very distinctly is that the instructions want you to install the transaxle first in the floor pan, followed by the engine. What this yielded is a gap big enough to stuff a cat through! Better to assemble the engine/transaxle as a unit, then put it in the floorpan. I have mine laying around here somewhere..............it was wrecked once by my no longer living cat when he knocked it on the floor many years ago. If I can find the carcass, (The model NOT the cat ) maybe I'll post pics of it. Another thing that DID bug me about the kit, is the body----particularly the hood and trunk, are riddled with sink marks! I didn't know how to fill them then, but 20 years hence of building has taught me a lot!

If you buy the Fujimi kit, get set to spend a LOT of time building it! It's not a super difficult kit, but one that requires a LOT of patience to see it through. I swear it seems Fujimi included every nut and bolt with that kit...................some of the things you'll put together won't even be seen once it's all done. I built the Daytona Spyder back around '87 or '88 (Don't know what happened to it) and it was definitely considered state of the art back when it was new. Even more fiddly are their Porsche 356 kits! If patience is not a virtue with you...................I say go for the Testors/Italeri kit.

Nice catch Ismael! I have the more fiddly Fujimi multi part kit. And I too like the coupe a little better than the Spyder. Come to think of it..............it's been YEARS since the last time I built a Ferrari..............

Hey Cruz, if you can find one, ERTL did make a "Pro Shop" series that had the PE included in the kit. Unfortunately, it was only offered in one run and wasn't reissued------but it did have the fin trim you're trying to use. I have both kits with/without the PE, but I want to build the PE one.......................someday!

Really nice custom there! The Savoy/Plaza trim looks great too! I bet the trim WAS hard to sand off of that one! That kit's on my to do list for next year..............grind off all the trim, and replace it with something a little more correct.

Nice work so far Phil! I wish someone would reissue that kit! Isn't it amazing how accurate they got the body lines right on those old kits once upon a time, compared to some of the wholly inaccurate stuff we've gotten today? Computers and CAD nothwithstanding.

I keep puttin' it off, but it's time to get started on the body.................I got out my trusty Dynatron Putty and mixed it up accordingly, to tackle some of those nasty sink marks I see in different spots. I applied this last night and let it sit--------it really bites into the plastic, especially if you scuff it up a bit. I started to smooth things out on the "D" pillar------I applied tape to where I don't want my mini sanding block to distort some of the contours of the bodywork. Nice and smooth! I've taken a sanding block to the roof and went around the sunroof, and the area where the roof was notched for the original tailgate hinge. When it comes time for paint, I'll airbrush the body first with Future Floor Wax............this body like the '06 Mustang and '05 'Vette are notoriously prone to crazing with automotive paints! One of the biggest things that drive this modeler crazy is the horribly distorted glass that comes from the manufacturers! That's one of the reasons I acetate my windows on a lot of my models. I thought I'd try something different this time-----sand the outside of the glass with the foam block and the polishing cloths. As you can see in the pic below, this is the drivers side quarter windows that I polished out. A little more buffing will be needed to get rid of the scratches made. I've also taken a file to the perimeter of the glass so it fits more flush to the Magnum's bodywork. Looking at the box art car, it's rear glass sits in a little too far, and 1:1 Magnum's rear glass sits flush with the body. This is the untouched passenger side and you can see the difference by how the light reflects! I'm gonna try this on the windshield...........otherwise I'll make one from acetate. Hopefully, I can get 'er primered and painted this week........Don't know if I'll have it done in time for the September Showdown......................Maybe...... Thanks for lookin!

It's been a while since I posted an update! Here's some of the slow but sure progress on the Magnum................ Here's the completed dash.................not any trouble at all. I did add punched out lenses for the gauge faces. The top of the dash is painted Engine Black from Polly Scale. This has a nice sheen to it................not too glossy but just right for vinyl surfaces. A couple shots of the nearly finished interior. I still want to make "B" pillar structures to get rid of the empty look of the model's interior when it's all done. I'm going to try and make seat belts also. This interior is nice in that it almost snaps together in place. I have yet to add any epoxy to keep it together. Perhaps this was intended to be a snap kit in the beginning? Please pardon the dust! Stay tuned for more!

Nice Conversion! That's something not seen on the show tables!

Looks great Cruz!! I take it you'll have that at the meeting today??

Ismael, when I was at the last MAMA meeting a couple weeks ago, Harold was still in the "in progress" stages of the transkit. I don't remember when he said that the kit would be available...............but I'd imagine fairly soon.