mr moto

This is my take-off from an Ala Kart starting point using a '32 Vicky body and Fred Cady decals. And here is another approach to the "not so Ala Kart" concept. It's an AMT '34 Ford pickup and it shares nothing with the Ala Kart except the spirit.

That is really SWEET! Great job.

We faced a similar situation recently. The ABS controller in my wife's 2008 Hyundai went out causing the brakes to lock up. Fortunately she was going slowly at the time. This happened while she was visiting her sister in another state making for a very inconvenient situation. AAA towed it to a local shop but repair costs would be over $3,200. That's a lot of money for replacing a module and not a very good investment for a 2008 vehicle with over 170,000 miles. Fortunately, we were in a situation that we could afford a new vehicle. She loves her new Nissan.

Haven't seen them in person but I remembered seeing them in my old car magazine (small pages) collection. I pulled out a few and got lucky - it was in the second I looked in. It was "Accessory of the Month" in the January 1959 issue of Car Craft. There's a 3 page article (again, these are small pages with large print and it's mostly photos) showing how to install them. Retail price was $35.50. It's cool that they're in the '57 Ford kit. I have one unbuilt on the shelf. If I build it I'll be sure to install those. I know another old mag has a small ad for them but I decided to quit while I was ahead and didn't look for it!

THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!! I'm kind of blown away by the reaction and all the great replies. It's really kind of a simple build and just done for fun. I have to say that I see much better work by so many of you every day on this very site so I just can't tell you how much it means. I have a little history with the car/boat thing having done one before. Here's a few shots of the pair of them sitting on the workbench and in the spray booth. The other one is called the "Hydro Hawk". It's made from a Jimmy Flintstone (I think) resin 1951 Studebaker and the old AMT 3 in 1 speedboat.

I have no good excuse for building this. Just one of those crazy ideas. It's a kit bash of an SMP 1961 Corvair and a Lindberg 1959 Owen Deluxe Cruiser. The motor started out as one of the 1959 Evinrude Starflite 50's from the boat kit but I decided it needed some remodeling to look more realistic. While I was remodeling I went ahead and updated it to a 1960 Starflite 75. Got 25 extra horses from just a little bit of styrene and paint! Enjoy.

OMG!! That hits me in ALL the right places! Wonderful work that truly captures the right look. I think I've seen that car in an old magazine. I have to look through my collection and try to confirm that. Great looking build!

A beautiful and most unusual build! Is that from a kit, resin, or ????

How about a '57 Studebaker Parkview? Not likely to happen but I want it! This thread really shows up some huge voids in cars that should have been kitted by now but haven't been - whether as station wagons or any other versions. For instance, it's a sin that are no mid-century Mercurys or Dodges of any kind kitted. Look thru this thread and you'll see many other examples.

Lacquer thinner in enamels is great for spraying but not for brushing. Woodworkers and painters use something called "Japan drier" to speed the drying of enamels use for brushing. Personally, I've never used it so I can't give you any advice but it's well known so I'm sure you could Google up some information on the proper use. It's available at most hardware stores, Home Depot, etc. where you can buy it by the quart or larger and I think some art supply companies sell it in smaller bottles (Grumbacher maybe) so Hobby Lobby may also carry it.

I don't know the kit manufacturer but the top car is no Lotus. It appears be a McLaren M7A (Google it) with the wing installed backwards.

Duplicolor primer works great with MCW paints and MCW paints are excellent.

I don't have an answer but I did notice locally that Hobby Lobby has almost no Krylon now. They used to have a large selection.

BTW, did anybody notice that in the first photo that Cobraman posted there are whitewall pie-crust slicks on the TRAILER!

A great big "Thank you" to everybody for the appreciation of my build and a very special thanks to Cobraman for posting those photos. I had never seen anything like this before but I suspected that somebody must have tried it back when two engines seemed liked a good idea. Thanks again to all!

My version of a "Freight Train" style Fiat competition coupe. I'm pretty sure that nothing like this ever existed but I didn't let that stop me! Basic components: The chassis is the Dragmaster Mark IV from Revell's Mickey Thompson "Attempt 1" extended out to a 130" wheelbase with Evergreen rod. The body, engines, wheels, fuel tank, chute pack, etc. came from AMT's Double Dragster. Tires from Modelhaus. The stacks are a (discontinued) Parts Pak made by Round 2. Paint is Tamiya French Blue and Brilliant Orange with Duplicolor Chevy engine red on the engines (of course!) and various shades of Alclad. All the decals are home made. The photos are a little dark but here they are. Thanks for looking!

BTW, my earlier comment about what was happening in the early 60's was just for the historical record. You always get to build your model in your own way!

Very fine build of one of my personal favorites. I agree it looks right in red!

Well! That's a bummer! ?

From someone who was there...by 1964 wide or even medium whites were for squares and old fogies although a lot of them were getting recapped as cheater slicks. The fashion on the street was narrow whites. It happened fast. Starting in '62 some cars had the narrows. By the time the 63's hit the new car dealers' lots they were almost all wearing narrows.

That's a great looking build and a really classic kit. You have to wonder if maybe the tooling still exists and Atlantis has it.

There is at least one more in this series. It's a Ferrari and I think they called it a "Tiger Shark". I think all of these would be great subjects for box art builds. Sort of like re-creating a relic of an ancient time.

Thanks, John. The white paint is Duplicolor Bright White and I think the blue is an old Krylon color. I clear coated both after applying the decals (to protect the decals from slot racing wear and tear) but I'm not sure what the clear was. Maybe Testors Wet Look. The front vents are just home-made decals made from a photo of the real thing that I found on the net. I figured that was good enough for slot racing. I don't know if you've started assembling yours yet but after you get the multi-piece body together, you'll see that that's about the last place you want to try cutting an opening and installing a small grille. The decals were so much easier!

This is a great thread! I'm familiar with many of the original kits so I know just how much hard work went into making these cool looking models. I've got a couple of builds to contribute, also. First is this Glencoe 1/72 Jag xk-120. Detail is seriously lacking but it displays okay. And this is what I did with my Cunningham Phantom kit. It's a 1/32 slot car conversion modeled after the car that Briggs Cunningham drove at Le Mans in 1951.

Your realism is amazing! It just doesn't look like a model. You have the experience to know what's right and the skill to recreate it. Fabulous model building.