mr moto

Super kooool!!

Holy cow!!! I WAS around for the "Golden Age" but I guess there was a lot that I missed. Somehow I wasn't familiar with Bob Siffert's models but he's obviously a great innovator and craftsman!

Beautiful work! I know how challenging R&R and some other resin bodies can be but your work makes it look like perfection. Just one little nitpick. Am I the only one old enough to remember that amber turn signals didn't start until '63? Maybe I'll get old enough to forget it soon!

Great work on the Merc! I hope it doesn't get overlooked in the flood of Revells. The shifter and engine details are fabulous! Also, much thanks to Mr. Willits for a brilliant technique. I'll definitely try that one soon.

Thanks for the compliments, guys! That's a Revell kit. It's the companion kit to their '59 convertible, in fact it includes almost all the convertible parts, too. You could probably cut off the roof and build a convertible if you wanted to do it the hard way!

This is my current project (one of 'em) - the one that's most likely to get finished anytime soon. It's supposed to be a '59 Cad that's used for ranch work. It's been a real fun project so far. I had to open the trunk to make cargo space and generally abuse every part of it with washes and Tamiya Weathering Master. The body comes next. And the finishing touch!

Well, I did it. Built my own spray booth. The fan was in our bathroom until about two years ago so that was free. I used an old aquarium light that I already had. It's built on top of a cabinet from Home Depot (about $75). The plywood is scrap that I had on hand. Electrical bits and pieces plus the filter, hose and vent add up to about $45. Here it is!

The Corvettillac sure works for me but those bean counters in Detroit wouldn't have the guts to do it! Adventurous styling died sometime in the 60's and was replaced by committee-driven, focus-group tested styling.

That is truly SWEET! You'll be able to display that one proudly.

My favorite stripping method is Easy Lift Off. It's not instant but it's worked on everything I've tried it on and the fumes don't knock you over like the oven cleaners do. No damage to the plastic. Sold at LHS's and lots of places on the web.

I just love a good tailfin!

I still use Pactra (yes, you read that right!) flat white acrylic paint. I don't know how old that bottle is but it works every time! The first time I ever saw those new-fangled acrylic paints in the LHS I wondered if they would work on tires since I knew that enamels didn't. I bought some and haven't looked back. Here's some I did this past year with the same Pactra paint.

Beautiful build! That shade of green really sets off the early Vette. I can't imagine why nobody has hit on that before!

That's brilliant! I don't know how in the world you ever thought of that!

Here's a tire flattening technique that worked for me. First do it before you put them on the car or even the wheel. I found a wooden dowel that was a snug fit inside the tire and used it to keep the inside from changing shape. That way you can mount them on the wheels later. Then just hold the tire (using the dowel as handle) onto a hotplate or similar heat source until it's flat enough and mount it on the wheel when it cools. I've only done this once but it worked.

Another product you'll need to become familiar with for chrome is Bare Metal Foil. It's purpose is different from Alclad and they're both essential. Bare Metal is generally used for chroming the trim pieces and scripts on the bodies but it can sometimes be used to completely cover small detail pieces as well. It's a very thin adhesive backed foil that is burnished down to the plastic and then trimmed with a very sharp #11 blade. And I would recommend that you use the one that is called "Chrome" not the "Ultra-bright Chrome". It's much easier to work with and I've never been able to tell the difference in brightness after it's on the model.

That looks so real that I want to believe it's a model! I voted real anyway.

Those look great! I'm not much of a resin caster myself. I ocassionally do a few small parts that I need for a particular project. That's enough experience with resin to know that casting something like those tires is WAY harder than it looks!

I'm not familiar with that kit but I'm old enough to have bought from Auto World and I remember the grab bags! They were $1.00 added to your order. I decided to try one once expecting that I'd get a few decals or something but instead I got a complete 1/32 scale Revell Ferrari GTO slot car (easily worth over $100.00 mint now). I was blown away! In fact, I restored it and put in a new motor a couple of years ago. Anyway, from then on I always got the $1.00 grab bags and they were always awesome!

I've moved in the direction of "no roll". It's just the practical thing to do and it doesn't affect how good they look when displayed at all. So far I haven't had any disasters with rolling wheels like some of the other guys but I've gotten close enough to see it coming!

I have one of those, too. I believe it was in the Lindberg '34 Ford pickup kit - the version that can be built as a stake body or tow truck. It might be in both versions of the kit but I can't be sure.

Very cool and original! That could even have been a pickup but I'll bet the back is full of sound gear.

I love it! That looks straight from the yellowed, wrinkled pages of an old Hot Rod magazine.

Very nice!!! You really brought out the best in the original's lines!

Welcome aboard! That is one sweet lookin' Chevy! The '59/'60 tailfins just blow me away.