Jim Gibbons

Congratulations on a well deserved prize! I happened across an article in the recent issue of Autoweek featuring the Monterey Historics and related shows, auctions, etc., and one of the auctions has a Tatra 603.

Way cool...missed this when it was first posted. A 1:1 KG with the twin cammer would indeed, be one heck of a sleeper! I've seen some 1:1 Spyders at Lime Rock with this engine, and it's an impressive piece of machinery. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

Whoa! Incredible. This is gonna be one heck of a kit!

For those of you on Facebook, there's a great site called Long Island and NYC Places that are no more. I grew up there, so the memories are incredible. If you are on FB and check it out, go to the photos and check out the Parkways/Expwys/Bridges section. Some really neat photos and cars, plus bridges being built. Well worth spending a few hours at; I have. Here's the link for FB folks: https://www.facebook...#!/Placesnomore

A couple that I built nearly 40 years ago. My take on L'il Coffin and a '49 Merc.

Superb!

Looking really good, Tony.

Very nice; I didn't know this Lindberg kit was a good as it is from your photos. I may have to get this one, but I'll finish my Monogram Type 35 first!

I like your idea and execution. The overspray on the wheel/tires works great. However, (and I could be wrong, so if any of you know, please post,) I think by 1976, GM and a lot of other US manufacturers were using self adhesive body trim rather than metal trim clips. I bring this up, as I'd like to know when this transition was made. I suspect the name scripts would have been bolt on, but not sure of the side moldings. Nick, I'm not trying to nitpick here; your modeling skills and creativity improve every time I see one of your projects. I'd like to know on the trim myself, as I find myself thinking about building a "junker" or resto style project like yours more and more.

Very cool! I have a number of the Glencoe/Ideal models, and am looking forward to seeing the LeSabre done. What color are you using for the green?

This will be a fun project, and looking forward to seeing it. More decades ago than I care to admit to, I had a '71 Gremlin. It was that odd purplish blue. My Army Reserve unit was getting rid of a lot of old camouflage paint, and I snagged it. One weekend, lubricated by vast quantities of beer, my friend Brian and I painted the Gremlin in Desert Tan, and made it into a German "Afrika Korps" vehicle. It was all hand painted, but since Brian and I were graphic artists, we did a great job. He painted a Luftwaffe squadron shield on the "C-pillars" that was a color tiger's head on a red shield. White "Afrika Corps" palm tree markings (without the twisted cross), etc. It guess I should have named it the "General Rommel!"

I like your sketch and idea; maybe the factory wheel spokes could be painted body color. Just a thought.

I was all set to bid, but I have alternate side of the street parking where I live, and it would be a PITA to get up every morning to move it, especially without power steering. That and the Mercedes hood ornament would likely end up stolen.

A machinist friend of mine makes restoration parts for WW2 Clark "airborne" bulldozers. He has one himself, along with the scraper. Here's a scratchbuilt 1/10 scale model he built of them. http://www.syltech.net/miniatures.htm When I last talked to him, he was planning an operable 1/2 scale Sherman tank, using many of the bulldozer components. He plans an aluminum upper hull, and a propane ignited gun barrel to simulate firing. Knowing him, he has it started already.

Way cool, and the ORRC decals are the icing on the cake.

I don't know. If I had to make a call, I'd say it is legitimate. For one thing, if you buy a car in NY, and have new plates generated for it, the dealer both inspects and registers it, so the stickers were applied before delivery. I had a '71 Gremlin over 30 years ago (it actually was a pretty decent car,) that had in the mid 70k miles on it. A few things on the Pacer dash stand out for me; no grime in the black plastic trim flutes below the speedometer, the plated plastic trim areas (switch gear, too,) are as new, and the foam "insulation" around the windshield wiper switch slot is intact. My Gremlin had the "grime" from dust on dash trim, the plating was but a memory in most places, and AMC foam stuff didn't last long, especially near heater ducting. The fit of the interior plastic panels is as factory installed. The chassis photos, exhaust, shock mounts, etc. look untouched. If this were a restoration, it would have to be an incredibly expensive one to make it look as it does; hardly worth the value of a Pacer in the collectible market. I still would want to see the car in person, but I think he's likely looking for too much money, as his reserve wasn't met at $10.5k.

I wanted to add a close up of the '62 Chrysler grille; nicely detailed.

Very cool!

Just got an email from my brother: "Wow - thanks for the kind words on this - really gratifying!!! I can't believe the comments.. Thank them all from me. This makes my day. No doubt I was really proud of those two models. Maybe some day I'll get back into it." He better, lest he get clobbered!

The '60-'62 Chrysler dash ranks as one of the coolest ever designed. I have a '65 Impala convertible yet to build, and thought of that Orchid color for it like the box photos.

Lol, Chuck; well, my brother boxed them up in the old color/clear window JoHan promo boxes you could order back then, so they've been spared the dust of the decades. The boxes alone could bring a few $. Bro knows how to take care of things. I was delighted that he took pics. I'll spare you the details of his Ex-el repro promo collection of late 50's Mopars that he's had since the '70s (in the original boxes). Before I die, I WILL get John back modeling again; he's good.

Thanks for your comments. I hadn't seen this model in ten years, and I'm a bit critical about it. I could have masked the headlight brows a bit better using a liquid mask, and I used Tamiya Desert yellow for the interior. I think if I mixed that color with their Deck Tan, it would have toned the color better. It looks good, but the camera makes these things a bit glaring. I also should have used the same base coat on the area under the taillights, which shows as a brighter red than the rest of the body. Originally, I had painted the body in an enamel which was way too dark and on the maroon side. I sanded and repainted it without stripping. I have another of these kits started, and I thought that I would paint the body in a grey metallic like the two Kiekhaefer cars built. Since there was the option of a different leather color (though likely rarely, if ever used,) I thought of doing the seats and door panels in red with black carpeting, etc. Just a thought.

I wanted to include a couple of models that my brother built. These are both JoHan kits. These were built over 30 years ago when he was a teenager, and he did a beautiful job. These were the days before Bare Metal Foil and polishing kits, so the trim is Testors silver brush paint. I keep telling him to get some BMF for these. I remember when he was working on the Desoto; he had gotten a '60 DeSoto brochure and had researched the correct grey/white/black interior finish. I hope to get some additional interior and engine shots of his models. He's a software engineer, and unfortunately hasn't built in decades. I need to get him back into it, especially with the Moebius kits coming out. We often talk about many of the newer models that have been released, and how we would have loved them, all those decades ago.

I built this model for my brother as a little side wedding gift ten years ago, and finally got pictures. This was built box stock. It isn't the correct Gaugin Red which is more of a coral color, but I'm limited to spray cans, so it was finished in Testors Guards Red. When he took the photos, he forgot to insert the antenna, which I didn't glue in to prevent breakage when I was travelling with it. I love this kit, and the real car. For anyone building this kit, the little "Lucas" style headlights they supply work great for masking the headlight brows. I broke ends of toothpicks in each lens, Tacky glued them in, masked the rest, and painted. I have a feeling that's why they included them, and should have added a note to the instructions for using them this way.

I built this a number of years ago, and had given it to my brother as a gift. It only took him ten years to finally send me some decent pictures! He forgot to mail the disk, but emailed me a few pics, so I will have more with some interior shots. This is the Starter 1/43 resin kit. I replaced the molded in resin exhaust pipes with aluminum tubing, and added some photoetched rear deck latches to the interior tub, plus aftermarket instrument decals. This is my favorite sports racer from the '60s. I really need to find one of the Monogram SSP 1/24 kits of this. That kit was the very first model I built solo.