62rebel

Ford didn't produce a hardtop until 1951. Forties Fords are not what i'd refer to as a "fullsize" car, even though they are large (in scale); that term wouldn't really apply until the late '50's..... when there were finally some "compact" cars on the market. "Lead Sled" almost always denotes a '49-51 Merc, or Chevy Fleetline, something bulky, round, with lots of curves..... "Low Rider" might be more correct for what you're thinking; early '60's to late '70's, customized, wild paint jobs, murals, panel painting and lace.... morphed into "hoppers" in the late '90's... Revell has a great selection of '59-'66 Chevies that fit the bill; multiple building options, easy to build, lots of features... AMT has a good selection of reissued annuals that include several big bruisers.... even the repop '76 Caprice is an iconic custom hardtop today. the Monogram '59 Cadillac is probably the single biggest fullsize hardtop kit out there... and it builds up nice, too.

sorry... gave away too much! they were torturing me with grasshoppers.

u no wt i mn. wrdz lik ths instd of prpr engl. of course, it could be worse.... like, people could, like, always be stopping, like, you know, to think of the next, like, word. lighten up, Skip. this post has NOTHING to do with my "alternative history" question from the other day. or, in the local vernacular; chillax.

excellent conversion! i'm really not into Pro-Touring style stuff but i like how this one came out!

great looking T, Lyle...

first model? first CAR model? weeelllll now... for a first timer that's a pretty good job. if i might suggest, join the Jalopy Journal HAMB and read through the stuff there. it is LITERALLY chock full of great ideas, reference material, and just plain old fashioned HOT RODS with a liberal sprinkling of customs. another great reference is Dave's Show Rods site, and the Model Car Museum, linked through Dave's site as well. there's the Custom Car Clinic, which has a scale model section, too. don't let my feedback serve to limit you in any way; i have my own conceptions (and misconceptions!) about how certain cars should look... use your own judgement and imagination.

the Federal Witness Protection Service prohibits me from posting the myriad scars on my fingertips, lest the IRA catch up to me.... dang it. gotta move AGAIN.

stop it, or i shall taunt you again. or.... i'll start posting in "Pirate".

well; since you asked... the concept of radically smoothing every contour away wouldn't be out of place except for the cutting in of the moonroof, losing a whole plane of surface that breaks up the flow. the pro-street hoodscoop does the same thing, interrupts the flow of the body. a shorter, more integrated scoop would be better IMHO. the pro-street chassis, engine, and wheels/tires seem incongruous to a custom so radical, especially with the rear tires hidden. what i see is a near-Funny car; neither a dragster nor a true custom.... a Street Freak, possibly, except those are readily identifiable as the car they're based on. remember; whatever WE say or think means NOTHING if you're happy and satisfied and comfortable with the finished product. it's YOUR imagination and build.... BTW i've seen a LOT of bodies smoothed out so much that the original source is hard to pinpoint; it was popular in the '80's and a LOT of guys did WILD paint jobs on them. keep it up! show us another one!

Harry; Gregg; are you charging members by the letter for posts? we need a "text-correction" feature for us old squares that still use The Olde Tongue; you know, English? i know, i'm old and grumpy and growing weary of deciphering "text-speak".

i don't know what is worse; manual drum brakes, bias ply tires, points ignition, lap and shoulder belts with no air bags, saginaw style steering boxes, or distracted drivers talking on cell phones, texting, eating behind the wheel, putting on makeup or shaving or actually DRESSING while driving, DVD players in the front seat area.... in cars that virtually guarantee that regardless of the stupidity of the driver, he or she will no doubt survive the crash they cause. soon, man will only have one developed limb... the one that holds the remote control. and his brain will have diminished to the size, usefullness, and value of a spoiled tangerine.

very pretty VW... the colors are just right for the car.

so slice the pan and splice it back together. razor saw, straightedge, scrap styrene, solvent. problem dealt with.

mirror (or any other missing/incorrect part) flow chart: A: doesn't have one? "fill in the blank" kit maker is a cheapskate. B: has one, but it doesn't have positive mounting points? "Fill in the blank" kit makers didn't engineer the part correctly. C: part(s) is/are there, but out of scale, correct only for a certain specific model, not chrome when they should be or ARE chrome when they shouldn't be? "F-I-T-B" are idiots. D: (specifically mirrors) don't have a smooth reflective face separate from the mirror body and don't have remote control cables or electric motors to adjust them or aren't heated like 1:1's are.... yeah i just went completely over the top on the last one. if you want to find out whether or not the car in question came STANDARD with certain parts, almost any car's factory brochures can be googled or wiki'd and you'll find that, indeed, a great many cars did not come with factory standard driver's and ESPECIALLY passenger side mirrors until the car makers decided that it was easier to sell the options to the buyer if they were ALREADY ON THE CAR, instead of having the dealership add-on to the sale. i've had several late '60's cars that didn't have mirrors on the outside and didn't even have holes for the screws. time was, you could buy a car without a heater, without carpets, without a radio, only one sun visor and armrests only for the driver. granted; almost EVERY model car, with a few exceptions, represent top-of-the-line cars and ought to have deluxe mirrors included. the Revell Thunderbolt represents a specialty built drag racer and didn't come with side mirrors.

i definitely recall seeing these on GI Joe, A Real American Hero........

Disney used the term "Imagineer" for most of their technical artists from their heyday... and artists they were (and are!).... does this fellow have an album up anywhere, that we can see more of his work?

good grief.... next to a penny, no less! dedication.... sheer dedication.

if 100% accuracy is your goal, join the HAMB, do a search for V8 swaps on these model year Chevies, and you will get all the info you need. Revell didn't seem to think much of accuracy in their '53/'54 Chevies, in regard to the engines and transmissions. still; not a problem a well stocked parts box and a razor saw with some imagination and reference material couldn't overcome in short order.

Revell had (has?) a '53 Chevrolet 2dr sedan that comes with a 409 w-motor, with a choice of supercharger or dual 4v carbs. there used to be a choice of '53 or '54 grilles in the kit, but no stock wheels, and kind of crude by Revell standards of today. Monogram has a '53 BelAir hardtop, which you could PROBABLY fit any Chevy engine you desired into. it's in 1/24 scale, and it came with stock and custom wheels the last issue around. plenty of Monogram big block Chevy engines to use, Monogram kitted a lot of Chevies. the problem i have with the Revell '53 is the low detail fidelity of the engine; it seems awfully small for a w-motor, has odd seams that are difficult to remove and fill; and the valve covers, although beautifully chromed, are narrow and small. swapping engines in almost any kit is simply a matter of how much fitting has to be done; a razor saw, some strip styrene, and a few reference photos will guide you straight to your goal.

Gattaca used a few off-beat cars to good effect.... Citroen DS19's and a Rover, i think. at least In Time dosn't have convicts building armored race cars. i'm sure lots of hallucinogenics went into THAT trash.

when i replace the seat in this kit (i almost never build one stock!) i use the kit seat as a guide to help me set the height for new seats. i usually copy the shape and size of the kit seat side and adjust it to match the new seats. this is one spot where the MPC '53 has a "better idea" and has a raised platform for their high back buckets, and you could put the AMT seat over it if you wanted. the kicker in the AMT kit is getting the new seats far enough forward to clear the bck of the cab. the MPC kit bed has built-in rear wheelwell wideners to fit bigger tires, and with just a little work fits right in place on the AMT frame.

i think i'd have raised the seats a bit off the floor.... otherwise, i like the concept you're exploring.

great work so far, but with all this effort, don't you intend to correct the door length? there is a definite difference visible in the length of the tudor doors versus fordor doors. the car also can't be "aged" too much, even with the bullet damage, as it was nearly new when the ambush occurred. Clyde had several weapons in the car within easy reach; he was not unprepared to throw down on anyone. Ranger Hamer got the "drop" on them with their guard down using known friends.

whimsy, it seems, is seldom encountered some places. first off, i was hoping somebody had, in their files, some source material to go on to build some scale machineguns, hopefully that i could scale to 1/24 or 1/25. the second part was alternative history, the "whimsy" of which i spoke.

well gee thanks fellers.