LDO

Jared- I saw a mild custom '59 in Custom Rodder a while back. IIRC it was metallic orange. It had the Series 62 trim and IMHO, it does a lot for the '59. I did a quick search on the old Chevy colors. Dark gray was the one that looked so nice with Coral. I remembered it was a dark color, but the rest was vague. I'm thinking Tamiya metallic grey and a custom mix of Tamiya paint from jars for the coral.

I'm at home and I'm now able to use my computer for a search. These are the wheels I'm trying to find in 1/24 or 1/25:

The Caddy. Inspired by a Hot Wheels car. Top chopped, sides of rear roof filled, fins extended, chrome side trim removed. That side trim removal was a pain. A whole lotta grinding. It's going to get a Series 62 thin chrome spear down the side to visually break up the massive expanse of sheet metal. Rear fender skirts opened up a bit for the same reason. Caprice wagon. Modelhaus body. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it. It's kind of "wavy" past the back doors. It needs a little TLC in the area of the rear wheel opening. The beltline will need some tweaking as well. It should be a straight line but it's not. Body is getting all the barbs removed, including the roof rack. I'm thinking of Nomad-type trim with original '50s colors' like coral and...oh heck I can't remember the color that went so well with coral. I decided it would be easier to smooth out a resin stock body than turn the Alternomad into a 4-door.

Lambo- That's a really fascinating project. I think you should try to find the books "The Complete Car Modeller" and "The Complete Car Modeller II" by Gerald Wingrove. He built models from scratch. They were almost all pre-war classics, but many of the principles are the same. I looked in these books for an answer to your question about tires, but he says simply "silicone rubber". He has a website too, so I looked there. ( http://www.wworkshop.net/ ) Someone else asked the same question. He says; "..the rubber I use is Dow Corning Silastic 9161 (which is white) with catalyst 9162 which can be obtained as a 0.5 Kg pack complete with a small bottle of Catalyst. The pigments are black iron oxide 5.5oz and ultra blue .5oz per 0.5Kg of rubber, Sorry about the mixed measurements, it just happens that is how I work. The pigments should be added a little at a time and well mixed in with a power mixer, then left to stand for a day or two and again mixed with a power mixer until there are no lumps at all. The advantage of using 9161 is that it can be made to harden very quickly, so preventing air bubbles moving to the surface of the mould. I use an old fashioned glass and rubber eye dropper to add the catalyst to a measured portion of rubber as follows; 20 drops (from the eye dropper) = 1%. 3% of catalyst to rubber will set in 7 minutes. 4% of catalyst to rubber will set in 3 minutes. You will need to check this out in trial and error for yourself as the room temperature can affect the times as can the size of the drop from your particular dropper." For the tail lights, I think the best answer would be to start with a real car tail light. It will be too thick, but that's ok, because you can sand down the reflective texture inside. Find one that has the proper curve that you need then carve, sand, and polish it to 1/4 Murcielago size.

That's why I support my LHS whenever I can. I just bought Hasegawa's Lamborghini Miura Jota and ordered the Miura SV. I could get them for a few bucks less on ebay, but after shipping, what do I save? Maybe 3-4 bucks? Don't get the idea that I have money to burn...far from it. I just think that it's worth a few dollars to have the LHS there. The internet is fast, but many hobby shops will have a new kit open so you can take a look at it. A good shop has everything you need; paint, glue, sheet plastic, even casting supplies. You can pick that stuff up NOW instead of waiting a week or spending big $$$ to ship it overnight. When I lived in the Dallas area, Phil's Hobbies was the place to go. After they went out of business, I made it a point to support King's; the LHS for Austin. As far as kids not building, it is what it is. But we old guys (I'm 37) can help by supporting the LHS, even if it's not as convenient as the 'net.

I just liberated myself instead. I'm working full-time for the National Guard. I'm 200 miles from home so I sleep at the armory and go home on most weekends. My orders have me working full-time until October, even though I'm scheduled to get out in September. Someone higher up finally put 2&2 together. After I posted the OP, I found out I had to reenlist or go home. I am NOT reenlisting. I've had ENOUGH. I like the one other full-timer here, but I am not going on another deployment to be led by morons who have no integrity...and who make decisions that could cost my life. I'll be a free man on...are you ready for this??? September 11th. I'll be the only guy celebrating that day. Wanna have a beer with me? I think this looks cool. I'd probably go with '57-style side trim. Maybe even go crazy and use '58 Pontiac rocketship side trim...complete with flames coming out of the back 8)

I don't have one of these kits, but I'm wondering if it would be a good basis for a relatively stock Caprice wagon custom. Yes, I realize it's now a 2-door. I just got a stock wagon in resin and I'm not happy with it. Mainly looking for a big side profile and front and rear 3/4 views. I'm on a gov't computer and I can't view Photobucket images. Thanks, Lee

Ismael- Try "Blu Tahiti". Go read the Miura thread at Ferrarichat.com. Blu Tahiti is very similar to the blue seen so often on '69 Camaros. You'll see lots of color combos and even a photo of leather samples. Check out ZN75, the one and only Miura roadster (more like a targa). Also visit Joe Sackey's website.

Nice build, and a cool little car. I saw many of these during the 4 years I spent as a soldier stationed in Germany. I thought it would be great to bring one back, but that was never going to happen. I looked into bringing back my 1985 Mercedes 190E (that I bought for $460 in 1998). Converting it to US specs would have cost at least $5,000 in parts, with no gauruntee that it would pass emissions. For that kind of money, I could just buy a 190E in the US. Oh yeah, one other expense; shipping it home. At the time, Uncle Sam would only send a car home for free if they had brought one over for free. They wouldn't send a car across the ocean one time, but they had no problem doing it twice :roll:

You can't miss www.ferrarichat.com if you like Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, etc. They have many different forums. Most are Ferrari, but there are Lambo and Maserati forums as well. It's a great site for modelers because there are quite a few threads with in-progress shots of cars during restoration. On the Lambo board, there's a thread about a Countach reunion. It's about 120 pages long. I've only read up to page 21 and you would not believe what you can learn. LOTS of knowledgeable and helpful owners on the site. Lots and lots of photos. You can get a glimpse of the engine in Bob Wallace's turbo "Countach SV". That's the site where I snatched the pics of an Enzo's underside and interior. They are posted in the 1/1 forum here at MCM. You have to register to view photos, but it's free. One more note- WHATEVER YOU DO.....please don't ask what Ferrari owners do for a living. They get that all the time. They have also seen the wooden F50, 1/3 scale 312PB, and "Hello Kitty" 512TR. It is an awesome website.

Bagwan Shree Rajneesh. IMHO, some of them were pretty groovy. There was one that looked like an '80s Indian-influenced take on lace painting. If I could afford it, I'd buy it and drive it as-is. The Ferrari on the other hand....well, that's just ugly. The artwork itself is not great quality. That's the problem with 99% of the airbrushed artwork on cars. It was done by a talentless hack. People see a mural and go all gaga over it because they don't have the ability to step back and say "Wow. that looks like poop"

I don't know if you aleady have the PE set or the kit, but a guy at Scale Auto forums used the Crazy Modeler PE set on a Revell F430.

Your welding truck looks great. The wheels on the street truck are from Replicas and Miniatures Company of Maryland. I don't have their phone number handy but they are in the model car magazines. They do not have a website.

Thanks John! I'll go look for the diecasts on ebay

I'd love to see the newest Dodge body style. I think it looks really aggressive. I saw a Megacab with long bed in traffic a few days ago. Man that was cool. A single cab would be great for a box truck. A friend of mine is about to start his own plumbing company. He's getting a 4-door pickup with tool box bed. That way he can carry the parts for a day's work and drive his family around when he needs to. That would be a cool model project. Does anyone offer new pickups in resin?

What kits are suitable for that? (and realistic. I'm not going to get an Escalade box truck for plumbing )

I was trying to find a single cab model for my box truck project. It looks like the '99 Silverado is the newest pickup model out there. I did find one single cab pickup, the early Dodge VTS. That's gotta be 10 years old. (The real truck, if not the kit).

A little bit more work. Just a general cleanup. I cut off the top leading edge of the box. laid down some strip styrene, then put in some Milliput Superfine White putty to get the rounded edge. I couldn't find any quarter-round plastic big enough so I did it the old-fashioned way. I also dug that trench on the sid a little deeper with a Dremel so I can lay some Bondo in it. It's cut because I accidentally picked it up when cutting the front of the box. I decided to just glue it back together and lay a .015 strip on the end to make up for the width of the cut. It ain't easy keeping it all symmetrical while cutting with hand tools.

Good. I just shot this photo to ask if it's either one of these. I can't find any reference at all to a DS39. I need primer. I've always had problems getting automotive putty to stick to bare plastic. I prime first, then put on putty. BTW that's Tamiya spray can primer on the cargo box. I went with a sure thing on this new project.

The can I bought just says "Sandable Primer". Below that it says "Fills Light Finishing Scratches/ Sands Quickly Dries Under Ten Minutes/Quality Guarunteed" I'm guessing I did not get DS39? I can't find DS39 in a Google search either.

How sandable is it? How well does it bite into plastic? How well does it feather when sanding? Can I use Tamiya spray can lacquers over it? My favorite primer; Dynatron by 3M, has changed its formula. It's time to move on. Thanks, Lee

I ordered 2 sets from Modelhaus. It doesn't do me any good to get wheels if I still need tires. I spoke with Norm Veber about his Dually wheels. He said they're more appropriate for a nice custom street dually than a work truck.

I can't view ebay on this gov't computer Are you saying I could buy the AMT kit and just raid it for the wheels and tires (and I assume suspension)?

:shock: Holy Bleep! I didn't scroll down on the main page! I went to the page about wheels and saw what looks like dually wheels with race car tires mounted on them. Man I feel like a dork.

The way he uses "Late Model" and "Modified" when describing his wheels. I don't know if he's talking about wheels for cars or trucks. Why not make a separate page for each type?