mr moto

My avatar is a build that I did just for fun but you know that some alien somewhere has customized his UFO. As far as the screen name, it comes from two things. One is the instrumental tune "Mr. Moto" recorded by The Bel Airs in 1962. It's generally considered the first ever surf music hit and it still sound awesome. The other thing is the very cool Mr. Moto series of detective/spy movies that Peter Lorrie did.

I agree that the Lindberg Stutz might provide a starting point and it's still in the catalog. http://www.lindberg-models.com/land_model72337.html At least the radiator and hood are fairly similar but there would still be a lot of scratch building.

Welcome aboard! That's a great looking build. I've always loved that kit. The headers are way cool. I have a later issue but the headers aren't in it. Maybe Round 2 will restore it to its original splendor and rerelease. You did it proud! I like the nose up stance. That's period correct for the drag cars of the time when that kit first came out and, of course, street machines copied the drag look.

This is the latest progress on the interior. I can see a few detail changes that I want to make but you can get the idea. The carpet is dollhouse stuff. You can get something similar at Hobby Lobby but I had to find that color on the 'net. The steering wheel in the picture is a '60 Imperial unit from an old SMP annual. I plan to make a resin copy and then modify it slightly. 1960 Chrysler Corp. steering wheels are the coolest thing for customs. 1960 Plymouth and Dodge wheels are really far out! BTW, the upholstery pattern isn't really an Escher design. It's just a paisley that I got off the net. Here's how it looks blown up.

That's a great looking build!! The old promo style kits can make a beautiful display model with just a little TLC.

I LOVE that look!! Great job!

All I wanna know is when is the gasser version coming out?

The interior is starting to come together. This is the seat I used for an upholstery test. As you can see, I'm sticking with the lava lamp theme. The uphostelry pattern is a homemade decal. Found the pattern by Googling "seamless paisley pattern". Try it! You'll find a zillion of 'em. Fitting the decal into the seat is a little tedious but I think I have the hang of it. The rest of the interior is ready to receive the same treatment now.

I can't thank everybody enough for all the kind words. It was fun to build something that wasn't trying to be the biggest, baddest, best anything. You really have to stop and think "How would those guys have done it?"

The problem is "outgassing" common to some types of relatively unstable plastics. That's what causes the warping in old promos that were made from acetate plastics. They're shrinking unevenly. It also affects many older guitars. The bindings and pickguards will shrink and ultimately need to be replaced. Also some plastics will attack each other. It's been called "Revell Tire Syndrome" but it wasn't unique to Revell. They just had an especially bad case of it. The vinyl tires would slowly dissolve the wheels - I have a few examples. The model companies seem to have solved the problem over the years.

If I remember right, Viking Blue is the lighter color that was usually seen on the 289 Cobras that Shelby raced.

I voted real but the one thing I see that makes me question it is the out of focus area in the lower left of the picture. Looks like it was very close to the lens when it was photographed.

Great job!! I recently picked up a few old Hot Rod Magazines from 1959 on the 'Bay and your build looks like it hopped right off the pages of Hot Rod. You nailed the look exactly!

That's it exactly! Here's a test of the underhood lighting.

I started a post about this one probably a couple of years ago and then set it aside. It's supposed to be a way out 60's futuristic custom and I decided to name it Mothra since every good 60's custom needs a name and this car has quite a wingspan. Just to refresh memories, this is where it was back when before I put it away. Since then I've done the chassis and started the interior. This build is kind of a "hybrid curbside". It's based on the Model King Imperial (curbside) bashed with AMT's '69 Riveria. I mated the Riveria's roof to the Imp and the interior will also be based on the Riv. There's not much in this build that didn't come out of one of these two boxes. Since the hood is fully louvered there should be something to look at under there. So I installed the Riv engine (with some of the lower half removed) in or on the Imp chassis plate and then provided a little LED lighting. The interior concept is sort of a Lava Lamp look. Here's a before and after on the front seats and the proposed interior layout.. Well, that's where it stands now. Got work to do on the interior!

One of the guys in the club had a Lamboghini kit (Fujimi?) with a set of sidedraft Webers so I borrowed his carbs and cast them in resin. Replicas and Miniatures of maryland sells sidedraft and downdraft Webers, too. Thanks for all the good words, everybody!!!

This is my take on a late 60's D/Dragster - the kind that a low budget operation would run. I started with the AMT Hippie Hemi kit to get the chassis but there isn't much that wasn't modified or scratchbuilt. I'm not sure that it was a good choice of chassis because I had to carefully jig it and add extra braces to get it to build straight. Oh well, it looks cool! Body panels were made from .01" styrene, seat is from scratch, the steering is basically a scratchbuilt repro of the kit linkage - it was easier to duplicate it than to clean up the mold seams, etc. Engine comes from Lindberg's '64 Dodge with scratchbuilt intake and exhaust systems and six cylinder magneto. It got damaged so often while I was working on it that I decided to attach it to a base so I wouldn't have to handle it any more.

I don't know the year but that's an Impala emblem on the steering wheel.

Seriously showing my age here but I remember a time before there were ANY model car magazines. Back then Car Craft and especially Rod & Custom ran model car articles every month - how-to's, contest coverage, R&C even sponsored a national mail-in scale drag meet for 1/24 slot cars. Of course, that's where the model companies advertised including Budd Anderson's monthly column-style ad ("The Cat from AMT")in R&C.

Waaaaay too nice to be put on a track (by me at least)!!! I hope you're a better driver than me. That's a really beautiful build!!

Here's my son Gordon with "The Large Father" in March of 2000.

THREE HOURS!!! I'll bet I can build it in one!

That's the best gas station diorama that I've seen. Very convincing with all the right touches. I think I stopped there once - but only once!!!

Looks great!! Can't tell that you're a newbie. Moebius will probably send you a new headlight if you contact them.

Yep, that's a Fiat for sure. If it's not real the builder is a true master.