traditional

Believe it or not, I built this model in 1966 (46 years ago) while I was still in college in Toronto. It was the last model that I built before my brother and I turned our attention to restoring 1/1 vehicles for the next faze of our hobby lives. It was at least ten years or so before I got back into model building and I've been enjoying building models ever since (as well as full size cars). This B/Msp model was built from a 1/25 late '50s Revell Austin Healey kit (it had a multi piece body) and the basic Chevy 396 Rat Motor came from the then just introduced MPC Corvette kit..... I believe it was one of MPC's first kits and the first kit to use that big-block Chevy. The model uses most of the popular trends of the day, including the now absurd 'high in the nose' stance and long traction bars. The various drag racing parts were largely scratch-built.....no aftermarket parts back then, the wheels and tires came from an AMT kit of that era (I can't remember the exact source any more), and the handmade front axle/ suspension used coil springs from a ball-point pen. Paint choice back then was Pactra candy green enamel spray over Pactra silver, and details were also painted with Pactra enamels. NHRA's Modified Sports class eventually got lumped in with the Gassers and Street roadster classes, but in the mid 60s it was still its own entity. I've always kept my models in dust-free environments or display cases so although the workmanship isn't what I'd try to achieve now-a-days, I'm really glad to still have the model in its original completed condition.

Virgil, I built one of these quite a few years ago when it was a repopped Revell kit (history Makers). It was inexpensive and somewhat nosthalgic (since I remember them in their original kit form when I was a kid) so ,although it wasn't my typical area of interest, I built it 'box stock', painting it the colors suggested on the kit, and found it quite simple but satisfying.......I still like it, and keep it in a dust-free cabinet. The doors open, front wheel bogie steers (poseable), and the missile launching mechanism articulates and raises for firing.

Although it's been reissued a few times, this model was built using the original Entex kit that I'd bought inexpensively decades ago, and sat unbuilt for most of that time. Other than a few tweaks to make some parts fit correctly and adding wire hinges to the 'golf bag compartment', it's built pretty much just as the kit intended but with my own choice of color etc. The original Entex kit provides a very satisfying level of detail with good quality molding and, to my eyes, proportion.......I am delighted with the end result. Paint is automotive basecoat/clearcoat with humbrol and testors used for details etc.

Tamiya reissues this great 1/12 kit from time to time and I really recommend it to anyone interested in large scale models or simply interested in old racecars. As with most Tamiya kits, the fit and finish is really good, the level of detail very satisfying, and Tamiya's Lola body and smallblock Chevy engine (fitted with an appropriate brace of Weber carbs) are both well proportioned. My only modifications to the kit were fabricated pins to hold the front and rear covers tightly in place, the small front fender spoilers, and all paint and lettering (done to my own fantacy) The Tamiya suspension is nicely sprung leaving the stance looking nicely 'hunkered down'. I've always thought that the Lola T70s in both open and closed versions were some of the most attractive competitive racecars ever made and although many of them are now approaching 50 years old they're still really gorgeous today.

That looks great......beautifully finished and nicely detailed. The rear wheels look just fine to me.....what is it that upsets you about them?

Here are a few models done over 20 years ago....before I'd ever seen a real dirt-track race. At that time I just really liked the shape and style of the open-wheel dirt cars. Now-a-days, dirt races are the only ones that I really enjoy. The red 'sprintcar' is modified from an old Monogram 'Supermodified' kit....with lots of added detail as well. The yellow/orange 'midget' is refinished from an early Monogram kit that I found at a toy show in built/derelict condition without box or instructions. The maroon 'dirt Champ car' is modified from an old (rare) Stromberg slot car kit. All the main body paints are lacquer with masked scallops, letraset lettering and hand painted pinstriping. Thanks to always having been kept in display cases, they haven't deteriorated at all, over the years. The last pic is of my 1/1, restored 'late 60s' Midget..last raced in '74.......My brother and I did all the restoration work including paint around 15 years ago and, no, I don't race it. Dirt tracks are pretty abusive to cars and I can easily get my thrills watching current sprintcars and midgets race.

Hey Jeff, That Olds looks absolutely superb......not only well made, but great concept as well. As you know, I also really like Halibrand style wheels, and they've never looked better than on your Olds. Cliffo

The louvers are done by doubling a thickness of vinyl pin-striping tape on a clean flat surface and ,with a new xacto blade and a straight-edge, slicing the tape into strips the width that you want the louvers to be. Apply the long strips to the model in parallel lines and then, again with the xacto, slice away the spaces between the louvers. Next, slice small 45 degree corners away from the back-sides of each louver and apply a couple of coats of primer....spraying in one direction, to blend in the rear face of the louvers while leaving the simulated open side vertical. Paint the color coat the same way and when it's good and dry, use a 'tech-pen' to carefully make a thin black line where the louver will be 'open'. Once the tech-pen lines are dry, clear-coat the area. Try the technique on a 'scrapper model' to make yourself more comfortable with the technique before doing it on a 'keeper'.

Terry, The door hinge is simply an old style 'dog-leg type', going from the inner front of the door to the inner cowl side. Its geometry makes it swing out and forward. Just take a look at any old diecast model from ten years ago or more to see the mechanism

My brother, Larry, modified this '32 Ford hot rod pickup from a stock YatMing '34 Ford pickup a few years ago to look like many of the popular '50s trends. His main modifications included chopped top, body channelled down to the fenders, vertical '32 style grill shell, shortened wheelbase including box & running-boards, hot 'Flathead' motor, custom interior, louvered brass hood sides, tubing exhausts, bed tarp with pin-head snaps, louvered tailgate, 'Steelie' wheels with Merc caps, as well as numerous other subtle mods throughout. I've always thought it looked really cute.

It IS a small world. I'm heading to BC next week to buy and arrange shipping of a 1989 Nissan S-Cargo (quirky little Japanese panel truck).......it will be one of three Japanese KIE cars that my brother and I have collected. We also have 15 or so other antique or collectible vehicles. Please email me.... cliffandheather@gmail.com .... I know an Industrial Designer near you in Aus, who also spent lots of time in BC before moving to Australia about eight years ago.

Congratulations, Jack....Your model looks great. You're right, even if you usually collect diecast models, building kits (in whatever material) is a great way to round out a collection as well as achieve models of cars not available as diecast. It becomes addictive and there's a great sense of accomplishment in 'doing it yourself'. I hope your Industrial Design studies are going well...it's a wonderful career, and any modelling skills learned here as a hobby will transfer well when you build concept models of the products that you are designing. I'm a recently retired 'Industrial Designer' in Canada.

These two '50s Triumph sportscars.......a '56 TR2 and a '57 TR3 are both built from vintage Gunze Sangyo plastic kits that include some photo-etch parts such as wire wheels, dash cluster, steering wheel spokes, Triumph badges, and a rather strange PE 'fold-up and bend' sheet metal chassis. The plastic bodies are simple (no opening features) but well molded and proportioned and I find these kits are quite satisfying visually. I've used custom mixed basecoat/clearcoat paint, with Humbrol, Testors, and Tamiya used for small details. I added foil to the rear fender 'spats' and also to the upper fender trim as used on a TR3.

I've always liked tiny cars and, growing up in Montreal, I saw lots of these cute Renaults running around. I particularly liked their deep split wheel rims which I still think look really cool especially when combined with wide whites.....something only the American and French cars really embraced. Delightfully, French vehicles in the 50s also tended to use many of the then fashionable pastel colors. This model is built from a 20 year old (or so) Heller kit to which I've added hinged hood and trunk (Heller expected you to glue them opened or closed) engine wiring and plumbing, brakelines to front and rear drums, and ,of course, foil to all the trim. Paint is custom mixed automotive lacquer with some Humbrol and Testors paints used for details, etc.

After three years and many subsequent builds, this one always captures my eye when I go into my 'TOY ROOM'. '35 Ford roadster custom rod....made from a stock '36 Ford

That is both exceptionally pretty, and exceptionally well done. Beautiful pics as well......an absolute delight to see.

I'm having a lot of fun photographing some of my really old models and these were todays photo project. A/MR was a '50s/early '60s NHRA class of racecar that was basically a dragster with some sort of roadster body covering the driver's area, and in the mid '60s the class became combined with the 'competition coupe/sedan' class and became simply 'Modified' class. These two models were completed circa 1980 (time really flies!) using the Lindberg 'double dragster' and a Monogram 'big deuce' as starting material. The dragster frame was modified and a 'blown' Pontiac used instead of the unusual double Ford 'Y-blocks'. The 'modified roadster' body (fits right over the dragster body) is modified from a Big'T' kit and the Chevy motor in the Deuce is also modified from that kit. The Deuce's wire wheels and wide whites are from a Lindberg 1/8 Model 'T' hotrod kit from that same era. The flames on both vehicles were masked and sprayed in lacquer with clear topcoat, and the white outlines and other pinstripes were all done by hand. Lettering was by letraset. Although, now-a-days, I'd probably add a lot more detail to models like these, I'm quite happy to leave these models exactly as they were built 30+ years ago. Again, thanks to being kept in a dust-free display case, the models have withstood the passing of time nicely and I'm still proud to display them in my 'model room'..

Hi Jeff, I sent you an email a couple of days ago...Is your email address still the same?

My twin brother, Larry, completely scratchbuilt in 1/24 this circa 1950 model 21 Divco milk truck entirely in BRASS and completed it in 1978 after at least a year of spare time effort. Reference was from measuring a no longer used milk truck that sat behind the dairy in our old home town, and they were also kind enough to supply him with an original parts/maintenance manual for the truck to give him added detail reference. All doors fold and open, theres a completely detailed chassis with working leaf springs, brake-lines, and 'worm/sector steering etc. The seat folds and pivots, there's complete engine detail, and the Divco nameplates were photo-etched (then a relatively new process) using new equipment at the college where he taught technical illustration. The model won 'Best In Show' in the only contest in which it was entered (Group 25 modellers club), back in '80 or so in Toronto and, thanks to being kept in a display case, it's stayed in fine condition for the last 30+ years. Paint was done in lacquer, with details added using Humbrol and Testors paints, and the lettering was all done using Letraset. .

They come up from time to time on ebay, and I've seen them also at toy shows. I bought mine on Ebay a year ago, when there were always many of them at 'Buy-it-now" prices of about $60. I'm hoping these get reintroduced as ACME (the new name for GMP) kits, but in the mean time, just keep on the look-out for them. The large, interesting box art is '50s style and made to look weathered/shelf-worn.

GMP, the diecast model manufacturer, made a few really nicely done kits of 1/18 models that you can still sometimes find on Ebay etc.....a couple of Deuces and a Fiat Topolino drag racer. The bodies are supplied primed and there are optional fenders as well as copious choices of wheels, tires, tail-lights, steering wheels, motors etc. Because of the scale (1/18) the door hinges look very realistic to me and I think they build into very nice models. I added some engine detail to both deuces.....fuel-lines, ignition lines, carb-linkages(with return springs), dip-sticks etc. and to the Coupe I also added an antenna as well as door-handles and simulated fabric roof insert. I've also swapped the modern valve covers for more traditional finned versions (not shown on all my pics) from other 1/18 models, and I finished both my hot rods with a traditional, fenderless, hi-boy look....red basecoat/clearcoat and painted 'steelies' with wide whitewalls. The fit and quality of the GMP molded parts is, in my opinion, excellent .

Yeah, Chuck, the original model is really ugly and quite badly done (hence, it came along cheaply on ebay). I'm kind of a Chevy guy, so I was happy to swap out the absurd stock, chrome flathead in favor of more realistic the SB Chevy.

A great concept, and superbly executed! I love it!! D/Dragsters were seldom big buck affairs but usually passionately done. This represents the class perfectly.