TimKustom

That is terrible news. He was an ambassador to our hobby. Way too many of these kind of posts lately.

Yes, it was at the ACME show a few years ago. Thanks for the complement. Didn't mean to Hi-Jack JB's thread, but I think we've gotten to the bottom of his build. 1975 issue Big T, with the "Drag Accessories" parts pack (headers and moon tank are in that pack). Front Axle appears to be a Monogram part as does the blower and scoop (blower parts pack?). The orange plastic engine block should have come from the Big Tub? The front wheels and the fuel injection appear to be from Lindberg Exterminator Dragster. Pretty cool kitbash.

I built a "Big Drag" a couple of years ago so I'm pretty familiar with it. As mentioned there was an issue of the Big T that was yellow issued in the '70's. It had chrome reversed wheels and maybe non white-walled slicks. The next issue was a red one with the "Fad T" parts that was reissued in black with the gold parts also mentioned. I do see some Big Drag parts on this build. Namely the Tach, Dash, Steering wheel and headers and roll bar. Those headers might have come in the Yellow issue, but I'm not sure. These parts could have come from a "Drag accessories" parts pack that was offered around the time the original Big Drag kit was offered. The wheels and blower drive appear to be from the Lindberg Dragster. Here is my "Big Drag Rod" a combination of the Big Drag with the Big Rod with a few parts from the latest issue of the Big T thrown in. Regardless of what your build is, it is KOOL whatever you call it.

That's one way to look at it... The stripe was so fine it almost had to be pointed out to notice. Bet it would like real killer on a flame job...

Might be REAL difficult on this build, but the best (and in scale) pinstripe I've seen was done by Tony "Tinman" Inman. I've got photo prints of the car at home, done on a '40 Ford Sedan, dark green, with a bright orange stripe. First off, get "In the Zone" cause you really need to be in a happy place to pull this off. Lay down some fairly thick tape to use as an "edge" or if your feeling extremely self confident get ready do it free hand. Take a deep breath... Now take a BRAND NEW exacto blade and lay down a groove between the two colors. In this groove flow some opaque color into it. Don't worry if the paint gets slightly out of the groove. Next polish off any paint that's out of the groove. Bet you can do a double line with two blades glued together... That's all.

Great build David! One of my favorite cars as well. My Dad was at that race. He shot a roll of 35mm slides while he was there. I scanned them, got them on disk somewhere. Reminds me, I need to get them on my fotki. He went in '63 & '64, while his parents were stationed in France. Said it was real crazy out there. I've got the souvenir programs from those races, too bad I can't read French! Looking forward to the review.

OK, I'll bite... This one was built for SAE's "Build a PT Cruiser" contest. I wanted to do sorta an "over the top" entry so I started thinking about a PT boat. I got my buddy Tommy May involved, since I thought the boat by itself would be kinda boring. He went to work on the "PT Truk" while I got on the boat & trailer. Once it was complete, we sent the photos in, and the weird thing is that it was sent in as one entry, but only the truck came back with an "honorable mention." We bashed a few kits for this rig, 3 PT cruisers, 2 Plymouth Prowlers, 2 Sidewinder Pickups, a Revell bass boat, and an RMS Titanic (for the propellers). Paint is "Battleship Gray" with a custom mixed white/red pearl. I've got to dig it out but I have pics of the boat in the water. I weighted the hull so it would float. A fun build, hopefully it gets some people interested in a build off. TK

Lots of great models and photography skills here. I had a few different angles of this one, but this one is really my favorite.

Coming from a household that has both a Lincoln & Mercury (as well as several Chevy's), I hate to say that I think Mercury needs to go to keep Ford alive. My wife bought a 2000 Cougar new and still loves it. It's not my favorite car in our fleet mainly due to the unimpressive powertrain. The Cougar still looks good, has aged well, and has a nice interior (IMO) Oh yeah, you can put a lot of ###### in it too. I get a lot of crossed looks when I say I drive a Lincoln. Funny thing is most of the "non-car" people that see our Mark VIII ask "Is that a new car, who makes it?" I love their look when I tell them it's 11 year old Lincoln! They should have been paying attention when they bought that SUV... Something Ford could try is to eliminate the badge engineering and incorporate a "NEW" car MODEL and call it a Mercury. Might not be a bad idea for Lincoln either, since they haven't really had anything "New" either in some time. After all, isn't that how they started out anyway?

Way Kewl J! You mention the Scalextric cars... I got into them in a big way....Like I need another hobby! Wife got me the scaley GT40 set for my birthday a few years ago. I got hooked real fast. Wound up getting about 100ft more track and a couple dozen cars. Funny story about one track I had thru the house... It had about 75ft lane lengths. We moved most of the furniture out and stood on the coffee table to be able to see the whole track.... The A/C in the house went out so we had to call a repairman. He didn't really say that much about it despite having to step over it many times . Anyway, a couple of weeks later, one of my wife's co-workers A/C went out. She recommended the guy that fixed ours. Well, when the co-worker called the A/C guy and told him that he just fixed our A/C, he said "oh I remember them, they have a giant racetrack running through their house." :wub: Wife had to explain that one... Sorry if I hijacked your thread, great job on the bug! Luv 'ol Finky in there. Despite what some might think, they are MODEL CARS!!! More fun than watching them sit still on a shelf!

Your absolutely welcome! Love to help anyone building something as nice as this Impala. If you need any reference for your 67 project. Let me know. It's even more similar to my car.

Looks like fender beat me to it. But yes it's a vacuum can for the A/C system. Here are some shots out of my 68 service manual. Looks like the design changed slightly though. Hope this helps. The intro... diagrams... Keep up the great work! Let's see it in the "under glass" section!

Ollie, Very nice build you've got going on here! Maybe I can shed some light on your "mystery can." I have a 1:1 '68 Impala (very similar to a 65 under the hood). I used a '65 to add power steering to my car. My car doesn't have the "mystery can." It doesn't have A/C or cruise control either so I assume it belongs to one of those systems. I can check my service manual to be sure. Great build!

Looks green and sparklely!

Craig! All I can say is quit ya whinin' and get a building'! If you try to build everything to be an IPMS Nats winner, then win it 10 years in a row, now what? I say "big friggin' deal!" I've pretty much come to conclusion that the idea of a model with a "one year show season and then retire it" is a pretty lame idea. Depite all the doom & gloom, I feel there are a lot of new modelers coming out and they have never seen the models (in person) that were featured in magazines like pre-Kalmbach Scale Auto Enthusiast or Plastic Fanatic. "I didn't build anything new this year," "I'm in a building slump," yeah, I heard that from some of my Florida buddies that showed up and they didn't bring any models! I don't care if it won Best of Show wherever, I like seeing well built models (just like what you build). Bring 'em back every year! I can only assume those that go to model shows would enjoy seeing them as well. Often it's nearly impossible to examine every detail on a car during the duration of an event. Seeing it again often allows the viewer see things they might have missed before. One of the best ways for modelers of lesser skills to improve is to talk to guys like yourself to learn tips/tricks so they can be even more proud of their builds. In reality model building isn't rocket science. Anyone who wants to do it and puts their mind to it can build a really nice model. If your only excuse is "I haven't built anything new" so I'm not going to (fill in the blank) show. Then you're cheating out potential modelers learning some technique you might have learned 15 years ago. So where am I going with this? I always enjoy spending time with you when you come to Birmingham or any other show we might run into each other. Really missed ya this year. The best part of this hobby is the people! The models are really second. Don't sweat making everything "perfect" - perfection cannot be achieved. Hell my latest model has all kinds of zits and boogers all over it. Despite that, it made people smile, shake their head, or evoked some form of other reaction, THAT'S what's it's all about. If I sound harsh, it's only because I consider you my friend. Tim K.

I'm calling this one done. Just in time too, as it will be displayed tomorrow at the Birmingham Classic for the "Donk" Theme. This has been a build that just makes me smile. I got to keep much of the "extreme" detail to a minimum as the concept is about as extreme as it gets. This thing became a kitbashers dream with over a dozen kits giving up parts for it. Here's the rundown: MPC (?) 1974(?) Pinto: body, bumpers, interior, part of the chassis. AMT 1971 Pinto: Custom Hood 2 Caddie Donk kits: Wheels (wanted an extra set so the glass ones wouldn't get messed up) grille, and needed 6 woofers (only has 3 in kit) Revell '69 Shelby: Engine, tunnel ram, carbs, stacks, radiator. AMT '68 Shelby; Valve covers, oil pan, belt & pulley, seats, console, headlights Monogram Nascar T-Bird: Upper & lower control arms, spindles Revell '32 Ford: Rear axle AMT '70 Impala: Mufflers Revell '64 Impala: Steering wheel Monogram Monster Truck: Shock absorbers Revell 06 Mustang: Rack & Pinion Revell '69 Camaro: Steering box Revell '66 Chevelle Wagon: Door handles AMT Dodge D-50 Pickup: Gas tank AMT '58 Impala: Headrests Funny how all that stuff kinda "fit" together. Most of the stuff was "donated" or came from "bashed" kits, so no shrink wrapped kits were harmed. The wheels feature "Stella "DEC" Faceted Waterproof Wedge-Ledge Plastic Watch Crystals" say THAT three times real quick. They were sourced from Otto Frei, a watch parts company in California. Paint is Testors "Deep Pearlescent Purple" with a couple of coats of "Boyds Kandy Purple Pearlescent" on top of that. Interior is Tamiya "Racing White." Tamiya "Bright Red" was also used for some details. The gold trim is Alclad "Clear Yellow" airbrushed over the existing chrome. Bet if it were a 1:1 car it would do this real easy... When I first saw a "Donk" running around town, I just shook my head. "What a worthless trend," I thought. Building this model has opened my mind up a bit more. Hope you enjoy the pics. More at the link. http://public.fotki.com/timkustom/model_ca...971-pinto-donk/

One of the more exciting parts of our AZ-AL trek home in our newly aquired Mark VIII was being a part of a real "Texas style shoot 'em up car chase" Cruising along, I see two cops on the side of the road ahead. As I pass them I notice they're out of the car holding shotguns. Go about another 1/2 mile, same thing on the left side of the road. I think, "what is going on here?" Then I look in the mirror and see flashing lights, then "Whoosh" an Acura NSX comes flying by with a half dozen cops in hot pursuit! The wife screams "they're shooting at him" as she saw an officer hanging out of the window with a rifle! Said she swears she saw smoke come from the gun! Startled, I start to pull over as several more officers are speeding by, then I look over and the wife says "Punch it, catch 'em!" OK, hold on! We go about another 1/2 mile and we see officers pulling tire spikes off the road, then see the cluster of officers about another 1/4 mile down the road. I tell the wife to get the camera set it on video, as nobody will believe us. Once back, I searched for any news coverage about it and there's several stories about it with the police video! Check the link, video link at story. Our car is passed at 28 sec. look for a silverish Grand Marquis, our Mark is right in front of it. Brake lights come on (neon tailight does not work). http://www.kpxj21.com/news/Man-takes-polic...race-car-7752/# Here is the video that the wife took as we passed. TK

The Mark VII's are some of my favorite cars. Best of luck on your conversion. Seems pretty much straight forward. One day I'm gonna take my Mark VII kit and one of the Monogram F350's and try to build this... Our 1988 27ft Eldorado Starfire motorhome. Yep, that is a real Mark VII grille and headlights on that thing!

Glad to see some of y'all "get it." This thing is sort of a train wreck, and everyone loves a train wreck! It really has been a blast to build. I'd never thought I'd be putting this kind of work into something like this, but that's what makes model building so challenging. When coming up with the concept for this one, everyone I explained it to thought I was insane. I had a "vision" of what I wanted to come out like and it's nice to see it pretty close to what I had in mind (ran outta time for the lambo doors though ). Hopefully can finish it up tonight. Still got to glue the wheels, bumpers & grille on and add a few more details...

Been working like crazy on this thing trying to get it ready for the Bham Show. It's getting real close. Did a 28 hr slam session over the weekend just for the final assembly/detail. Thought I'd share a little teaser shot. 24K Crystal Faceted 28's. With 13" Brembos..."Thats how I roll."

I love them big birds! Nice job on the conversion!

Looks great! The interior pic is dynamite! You know I have a fondness for those! I think a '74 is the only one I don't have. Looking forward to seeing it in Bham! Gotta have some Donk wheels on it!

Just wanted to give an update on this "thing." With the Birmingham Classic just a touch over a month away, it's time to get hustling... Here is a link to the start-up idea: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...ic=4279&hl= As time passed, it has changed a little. It's switched from a '71 to a '74(?). Don't worry, this one was just as much a glue bomb as the '71 so no real harm done. I liked the big bumpers and the big rear hatch window better anyway. Started out making a rear suspension from some parts box leaf springs and axle from R/M '32 Ford (with some lifting blocks of course). Then it was on to the front suspension. "Stock" was thrown out the window, and it's riding high up front with help from an old R/M Nascar kit. Funny how "gracefully" the custom '71 Hood, the Caddie Donk grille and the "massasged" front bumper all go together. This pony needed some oats, so a 428CJ with a tunnel ram should do the trick. Even found a use for those headers in the AMT "68 Shelby GT500 kit! Here's a parts layout before the sanding, priming, sanding, painting, polishing starts... And a little "BLING" for ya... P.S. The wheels are just "mock ups," wait 'til ya see what it really rolls on...

I've used the stuff for years by applying it with one of those cheapo brushes that come with Testors bottle paint sets (they have black bristles, and a white handle). Got a few that I've trimmed for "tight spaces." If they get hard, I just roll the bristle end in my fingers and it just flakes off. Got to try the glass applicator though... TK

Looks great Virg! You did it proud. I think you should have a stack of colored sharpies displayed next to it at the shows. Modelers could come up and "Personalize" it themselves. Imagine what it could look like after a couple of years at the shows! Here's are some links to the other shots taken by the wife and I at the Caddie Ranch during our "Great Lincoln Adventure" that inspired Cranky's build. http://public.fotki.com/timkustom/vacation...lac-ranch-amar/ http://public.fotki.com/timkustom/vacation...c-ranch-amar-1/ If you make it over there, be sure to head east from Amarillo to Conway to see the "Bug Ranch" Tim K.