GTMust

Seems we have similar backgrounds, Terry. But I guess I'm the lucky one, now that I'm retired and have the whole day to do some modellin'. Except, of course, for my wife's "to do" list which seems to get bigger all the time! I used wooden stir sticks for the fence on my dio. But I glued them to foamboard backing first. Fortunately that seems to have stopped them from warping when I weathered them. The inconsistency of the sticks gives the fence a used look which would be great, as you say, for rustic buildings. Like you also say, I'll "keep on keepin' on". Tony

You caught me... almost! Actually I spent 20 years in architecture and another bunch of years managing a large constuction company. Before I retired a couple of years ago, I had a small business designing chalets and cottages for high income clients in Ski country. So I do have some experience of construction, even though my two car garage project construction wouldn't meet building codes completely..... modeller's licence! By the way, nothing has warped .. yet. I'm just a little concerned that it might when it gets a wash applied. And thanks for the positive comments, guys.

Bradley, As a relative "newbie" to this forum, I'm feeling a little left out with my Fox build in the "on the workbench" category. Any chance I can join in here now you've extended the deadline? Tony

I've not yet tried to source out Gatorboard. I'll definitely check it out for the next dio. I wonder if there are any self stick vinyl floor tiles available that look like concrete? I know there are a lot of other finishes that we could probably use for natural looking surfaces. Great idea, Jim! I think a trip to the local Lowes or Home Depot is on my schedule... sometime after the craziness of Christmas shopping dies down!

I've been adding the framing for the gable walls and have the roof laid out. (The front wall isn't attached yet... hence the gap!) One of the problems I'm experiencing with foamboard is the it will warp just by itself and it has to be braced to keep it straight. Applying glue or paint to it can make it warp even more. As I plan to weather all the wood surfaces with an acrylic wash, I concerned that the whole model will bend out of shape. Does anyone have any ideas how I can avoid this happening? All suggestions welcome....

Unleash that hemi and it'll blow the cab right of the frame!!!! You definitely have some construction challenges ahead of you with this one.... especially at such a large scale. I can't wait to see the progress.

First of all, welcome to the world of diaramas. At 40" x 60" you could almost build a whole street! That's a major commitment for your first diarama. And it will not be easy to move around. It would be better to break it down into smaller, more manageable sections that could be joined together if you need a bigger scene. Do you have some kind of idea about the type of building/s? Commercial, industrial, residential, street scene or? You've started off right, as the first thing to do is to create some kind of sketch layout on paper. Keep sketching until you come up with a layout you like but remember, it will probaly change a lot as you build it... as you find that things won't fit as you first imagined. Remember that 1/2" on your diarama represents 1'-0' in real life. Can you show us a pic of the layout you plan? Once you have a layout idea in mind, many people here can help you with construction methods and materials. A whole book can be written, and has been, on the subject of diarama construction. So to try to generalise in the forum would take pages and pages. Good luck with your plans.

I am using basswood for 90% of the woodwork. It's stronger and harder than balsa, but is more difficult to cut against the grain. The joists were made of balsa as I had a lot of them to cut. The rafters will also be balsa for the same reason. I don't use a lot of styrene. I haven't been into dio's for very long and I haven't yet found a styrene adhesive that doesn't destroy foamcore board (like plastic cement). I've added the other end gable wall and ridge beam. I will add the gable wall framing before fixing both gables permanently in place.

I checked the two kits against each other, but decided that I shouldn't destroy my real '86 by adding the aero front to it. The real "four eyes" are getting rare and I should keep mine as original. Plus there are major differences between the "cafe racer" body and the "New Monkees" convertible. The most prominent of these is the bump strip that runs aound the body. Plus the newer body has the GT rocker moldings and front air dam that wouldn't be on an '85 convert.: The outcome of these deliberations is that my "Cafe racer" will be as close as I can make it to my real '85 GT with the correct FI V8 engine and auto trans from the Monkees car. This will mean some modification to the front bumper cover and hood, but the rest of the body is pretty close. I will be attempting to modify the roof to create T-tops as my car. That should be fun! Here's the body mocked up after the paint has been stripped: Now, for you guys in the community build, here are a couple of detail pics of the assembly of the front and rear suspensions that might help you with your builds: (mine won't be this detailed) Hope these help.

Thanks for the connection to the Fox Body community build, Bradley. I wasn't aware of it as I only just joined this great forum recently. I just had 3 hours of fascinating reading and great reference info (16 Pages....!). I would join in there but adding my build there would probably extend the thread to 116 pages! But back to my build... I've got the "built up" pulled apart. The only real damage was that the header above the windshield wouldn't seperate, without a struggle, from the windshield and I'll have some putty work to do to fix it. As this is going to be a conceptural ideas model for my 1:1 '86 GT, I've been searching among the other unmade Fox kits I have for alternate parts. Among them I have a "New Monkees" convertible kit that I never built because of the mish-mash of different years in it. The interior and engine appear to be 1985 era and the body basically '87 GT/Cobra or newer. I have an '88 aero front bumper on my 1:1 parts car, that I was planning to switch to my '86, as my GT one is damaged beyond repair. For my model, with some surgery I think I can switch the plastic from both kits and eventually have a "customized" '86 GT and make up a fairly accurate '85 convertible... maybe. I'm off to my model room now to check and see if these ideas will actually work!

More please.... more, more, more......! Loves dem Mustangs!

WOW! Thanks for all the Mustang input guys. My head is spinning! I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of them but you guys have got me beat! I actually have five real 1:1 Mustangs: an '85 GT with auto, air and T-Tops: my '86 GT with 5speed, air and T-Tops: an '88 5 litre parts car: an '89 2.3 auto, hatch with air (a great little summer "about town" car): and '99 3.8 V6 with auto and air. I've been a Mustang fan since they first came out in '64 and have owned just about every year of Mustang since (except the Mustang II Pinto lookalike). I also had two Capris, a 1980 and a 1981, but none of the body panels interchange with the Mustang. Even the inner window crank handle position was different. The McLaren had totally different wheel flairs than the Capri, much wider and molded into the doors. I'll have to go out in the garage and compare the model mustangs I have to the real ones! See what the salt on the Canadian winter roads does to such beautiful automobiles......! Here's my '85 buried under a coat of dust: And my '86, partially dismantled and awaitng restoration: I gotta lotta work ahead of me!!!

If you do decide to go ahead with a 1/32 scale dio, you will keep us posted.... won't you? I'd love to see your ideas in this time period.

Thanks for the info Mark, Actually I have the 1/25 scale Revell McLaren kit that you mention (still awaiting a build) and I should have checked before opening my mouth and sticking my size 10 boot in it! The McLaren did have the turbo 4 cylinder 2.3 litre as you say. The Monogram "Cafe Racer" kit appears to have a slightly different motor to the Revell kit (a different engine in details and scale), even though it is turbo charged. It could be the same engine that Monogram also used in their SVO kit(?), but I haven't seen that one. Anyway, the four is going in favour of a FI V8....

Just for reference and in case the Ebay listing disappears, here's the pic from the listing: (courtesy of Brandon) (Wow, for a little extra coin, I could have got a box and instructions. Oh well....)

Thanks Brandon, that's definitely the one. Now to start disassembly and stripping paint. No big hurry on this one. There are too many other projects on the workbench.

I recently received this built up 1/24 scale Monogram Mustang from Ebay for $3.99 plus $8.00 shipping. The car is an early '80's "Fox Body" Mustang hatchback, with a four cylinder engine and the GT interior. Apart from the base line four cylinder model, the only other 4 banger I know of is the SVO, but that had different body styling (hood and front headlights). The wheels appear to be similar to the McLaren Mustang but that was a V8. I'll have to do some further research to find out which prototype this model was based upon, but it's definitely somewhere between 1979 and 1984. Although the trim on the model was poorly painted, (the body is still the original yellow plastic), fortunately it's not a glue bomb and I can disassemble it fairly easily. I have a couple of real, 1:1 Mustangs of this era... a 1985 GT and a 1986 GT that I am trying to find the time to restore. The '85 I intend to return to factory stock but I plan some modifications to my '86 and some custom touches. This 1/24 scale model will give me an opportunity to experiment with color choices, tire and wheel combos, etc. before committing myself to the real project that is currently waiting patiently in my garage! Anyway, here are a few pics of the model as I received it: Does anyone have information on the actual kit?

I agree with the Doc, even though I have no idea what a "Tron" is. (Must be getting old!) Love the accessories, especially the guy leaning on the jack. Where did they come from?

Thanks Daniel. It's interesting that the 1/32 scale diecasts of antique and vintage cars sell like crazy. Some of them are pretty accurate (Signature series for example), yet plastic model manufacturer's gave up on this scale years ago. I guess the market just isn't... or wasn't... there. But I guess the world, and people's interests have changed. Pity.

You could also use thinned down Plaster of Paris over your foam base. If you want a hilly scene, add layers of foam and carve them with a kitchen knife to create hills and valleys, etc. White school glue will keep it all together when it dries. Mix a thick creamy consistency and just trowel it on over the foam. Depending on the terrain it can be smooth or "bumpy"... your choice. Any that you have left over, break it up when it's dried and it makes great rocks. But remember that the thicker the mix, the faster it dries, so give yourself time to use up each batch you mix before it goes rock hard in the mixing tub (I use old plastic margarine containers). When the main area is dry, paint it mud color then add the "Woodland Scenics" grass and other details. If you've never done this before, don't be afraid to ask. If you want rocks, just give the plaster a thinned down wash of grey acrylic craft paint (the cheap dollar store stuff works fine). Experiment with various washes and you can get some interesting realistic results. I used this method on my old model railways for years and it worked just fine... and was really cheap! This is just one way that worked for me, but there's lots of other ways as well. Hope this helps. Give us an idea of what you have planned. Look forward to seeing your progress.

Thanks Harry, Not many people seem to be building in 1/32 scale any more (if they are they're not talking about it!). That's a shame as there are still a lot of old kits out there, even though most of them are becoming collector's items and the asking prices on Ebay are getting silly. But they take up a lot less space than the bigger scales on the display shelves..... Unfortunately there's very little, if anything, available in the way of accessories for period diaramas. Slot car fans can still get a lot of 1/32 scale more modern and specific, race oriented "stuff" though. Maybe we'll see a few more 1/32 scale models show up on the forum? Tony

Thanks Ed. I have a whole collection of the old Gowland/Highway Pioneers... then Revell.... in 1/32 scale. They're really neat, everything from the 1895 Duryea, Curved Dash Olds, Studebaker Electric, through Stutz, Mercers, Fords and you name it from the early automobile pioneering days. They were pretty basic, almost toy like, but with patience could be made into fairly accurate little models. And Pyro/Life Like had some beautiful 1/32 scale early brass cars that were extrememly accurate right out of the box. Lindberg now has a couple of them available from the original molds. Here's a couple more from my collection of Highway Pioneers: A 1904 Rambler and an Sears high wheeler: And a Mercer racer (pretty much scratchbuilt using a warped Gowland Mercer kit as the base) and the Rambler again. But that's enough cars here... back to the diaramas.....

Something like this, maybe? Or perhaps cleaned up just a little!

Thank you Doc. I kneel at the feet of the "Master".

I've been building a lot of 1/32 scale vehicles of all eras over the years and finally decided they needed a location for photo ops. This (incomplete) dio in 1/32 scale is intended to represent a small general store and a service facility for those "new fangled auti-mobeels" of the early 1900's up to the 1920's. It was the first one I built and still needs a lot of work to complete. I started it last winter. The location is somewhere in the US or Canada. This one has been on hold for a while but I will get back to it The red 1903 Ford Model A is an original Highway Pioneers plastic kit, the white roadster is a diecast 1907 Ford model A, and the big red tourer is a Pyro 1911 Stevens-Duryea.