highway

My entry will be, for the Bonneville part anyway, is going to be a wild 34 Ford. I'll be using a Jimmy Flintstone's 34 Ford Roadster body and some parts from two of the AMT 70 Coronet Super Bee pro street kits. Here's the body, and the kits for parts.

Cool! I'll be waiting to see the updated pics!

Marc, in my present situation, I might buy a new issue kit maybe once or twice a month, if that. Of course, I think I see my biggest difference between both you and Mark. Even though I have a few rebuilders sitting around the house, I'm not a real big fan of rebuilders or built ups. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them, because in fact, the AMT Kenworth I've been referring to, I have both a restorer that I was lucky enough to trade for here and also an "Alaskan Hauler" version of the same kit that came with the option to build as a regular version as well. The rebuilder is in decent shape, maybe a part broken here or there, but the parts that are broken are clean breaks that are easliy fixable. As for the complete kit, I was lucky enough to find it in my LHS a couple years back, when money was not as tight, from some kits they found at an estate sale, and it was still factory sealed inside. That kit I did pay $60 for, but I was also able to look through it before buying it, too.

I missed that part, but what about all the craziness in the pits during the safety car? Cars hitting each other in the pit stalls and a tire flying off as another was leaving the pit stall and bouncing through the air! That was some of the craziest stuff I've seen yet during the about year and a half I've been following F1.

Even though you got rid of the Vette rear, are you still keeping it rear engined?

Mike, thanks for posting that pic, I loved that episode of "Overhaulin'"! Roush powered, you can't beat it! Just one small note, though, Chip Foose actually had the design ideas he wanted to do with that truck, but had nothing to do with the build. His dad and the "Overhaulin'" TV crew built it as a surprise to Chip and unveiled it to him at Roush's SEMA booth.

The major factor, in my opinion, is not if they are out there or not, but the price! The Kenworth W900 truck kit I referred to earlier I have seen on Ebay numerous times, but normally kits in any worthwhile condition, in my opinion a factory sealed or at least sealed inside kit, usually sell in the $50-$75 price range, with some going well over $100. That is not an option for me at this time, but if the molds were still usable, such as many other AMT truck kits currently being reissued, I could afford to spend the $25-$30 the new reissues are retailing for, and I would also be guaranteed the kit would be complete!

Since there seems to be much debate still on the modified/scratchbuilt/kitbashed terms, I found this on the IPMS website. It is the offical IPMS competition handbook. http://www.ipmsusa.org/competition_handbook/CH_index.html This is the main areas of discussion here, copied from the handbook: "SCRATCH-BUILT models may incorporate parts from other kits, but these should be generally unrelated to their original identity, except for minor parts such as wheels, guns, etc. Models determined to be scratch-built must be entered in the proper scratch-built category. CONVERSION category entries must represent a version different from that provided by the basic kit. The conversion must contain significant structural modifications to the basic kit involving extensive changes in contour or configuration. These changes must be the work of the entrant. In addition to the normal judging criteria common to the entire contest, judges of the Conversion Category will give special consideration to the complexity of the conversion. A conversion accomplished with primarily commercial aftermarket parts will be at a disadvantage, therefore, against a conversion accomplished primarily by the builder's craftsmanship--assuming both are finished to similar standards. Simple conversions may be entered in regular categories. More extensive conversions, however, must be entered in the appropriate conversion category. The builder must detail the conversion changes made to the base kit on the entry sheet or accompanying documentation. Judges have the ultimate authority to determine a model's category placement, and such decisions by judges will be final."

You're welcome. You might have to do some digging around in the "Workbench" section, but I think there are a few of the builds in their own separate WIP threads as well.

I now see what you mean, too, Mark. In fact, I understand completely what you mean with your comparison to Dale Sr.'s crash. I remember that still as if it was yesterday, and I watched the race to the finish, and just after the race ended, I turned the TV off and went to hang out with some friends of mine. I figured the race was over, and as for Dale, I had seen him in much worse wrecks than that, so I didn't even know about the severity of the crash until I got back home and heard the tragic news. Also, after reading your explaination of what your thoughts about Sadler's wreck yesterday, the safety improvements proved themselves quite well. The reduction of the impact, as slight as it was, was helped by the factors you brought up, and I also noticed from the only camera angle ESPN had of his car actually hitting the wall, the explosion of dirt from behind the gaurdrails also helped. If that would have been a concrete wall instead of the guardrail and dirt, the crash just may have been worse than it was, because the slight impact absorption from the metal guardrail and the dirt giving would not have been there.

Oh, now I got to answer the tough questions! I really haven't planned much out, with the exception I have a Fujimi gararge and tool kit and another Fujimi garage kit to go with it. Other than that, it really hasn't gone into the planning stage, yet.

Thanks, Manny, I thought it looked familiar! I'm glad you like my idea too, I figured what better to do with a kit with no glass I already have two more of than build it to where it didn't need glass. I hope to actually start it one of these years!

I believe this is what you're looking for. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29522 It is pinned at the top of the "On the Workbench" section.

Thank you, Art. Your comment I highlighted really best describes the possible overuse or misuse of the term today, and some of the confusion as well. I'm 34, so I fall directly in that category!

I'm in! I already have the ideas flowing! By the way, that is actually over on Sept 22, but I'd figure most would be done before that, anyway!

It's about time you came over here to play, buddy! I'm very happy to see you bring this over, now I don't have to go over there just to see how this is going.

Thanks, Jim. I had one of those back in the day!

Yep, he's already fooled me twice!

Very impressive, Manny! I have thought of doing something similar for a long time with a 69 Charger I'm missing glass to, making it look as if it's undergoing restoration. Also, is the car lift from the Fujimi garage and tools kit or did you make that as well.

Oh, I see! I also noticed that, while I had the first vote, George beat me to the first post! Well, anyway, I think it's real, even though it really won't surprise me if you fooled me again with one of your real (expensive) diecasts!

We can't say what we think it is or what we voted anymore? Oh well, at least I was the first vote!

One that I can think of right offhand is AMTs Kenworth W900 truck. According to everything I've heard on the subject, AMT ruined the mold for that trucks cab to make the modern T600A version in the early 90s. The kit was still based and still included the frame and engine from the 70s era W900 kit, but they modified the cab molds to produce the 90s era T600 aerodynamic cab.

Thanks for the opinion, David, and that's exactly the reason I asked Harry my question on the subject. My definitions have always been, in my opinion, like this: Kitbashed: Using parts from more than one kit to produce one subject, such as the 34 Ford I later posted. Scratchbuilt: Building something from sheet plastic, etc. You can see by my definitions why I was confused by the modifications I've done to the sleeper as being kitbashed, mainly because I have been using only that kit's parts in the build, with the execption of the front bumper. I think Jeff said it best, though, with his term of "scratchbashed". That is what I now consider the work I've done with the sleeper and frame.

Mark, I did not mean to offend you, and I'm sorry I did. I don't have all the right answers (check my reply to Mark M. above!) and there really are no right answers to this subject. In the COT era, this has been the only crash I remember seeing the engine come out of the car and one of the worst. I was just shocked that no one seems to remember that there were many worse wrecks like Michael Waltrip's crash I posted the pictures of way before the COT was even thought about. I've seen many a torn up race car in my days of following NASCAR when you could barely tell whose car it was, because quite a few were a bare roll cage after the crash, and in the case of Waltrip's crash, it is hard to even think that was a car with a driver in it!

OOPS, you got me one that one! I found this on Wikipedia: 1999-2003 Sadler moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 1999, driving the #21 Citgo Ford Taurus for Wood Brothers Racing. His best finish that year was tenth at Texas Motor Speedway, and he finished 24th in points, runner-up to Tony Stewart for Rookie of the Year honors. He also returned to the Nationwide Series on a part-time basis, filling in for the injured Andy Santerre for Innovative Motorsports, his best finish fifth at California Speedway. He also drove a handful of races for Lyndon Amick. Sadler's only top-ten finish in 2000 was tenth at Bristol, after failing to qualify at Talladega Superspeedway, and he dropped to twenty-ninth in points. He also had a wild flip at Michigan Speedway after cutting a tire in practice. In 2001, Motorcraft became Sadler's new sponsor and he won his first career Cup race at Bristol. He had another top-ten run and finished 20th in points. After seven top-tens and a drop to 23rd in points in 2002, Sadler left for Robert Yates Racing to drive the #38 M&M's Ford. In his first season of competition with Yates, Sadler won the pole at Darlington Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, and finished 22nd in points. In 2003, Sadler had a vicious crash at Talladega after near-contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and touched the right-front fender of Kurt Busch. Sadler's car flew into the air, flipped twice, landed on his roof, spun towards the banking, and flipped six times. Sadler emerged uninjured. That's what I get for thinking when I first wake up!