Lunajammer

That's what I'm talkin' about! Get it on!

Yep. Lacquer over enamels. Happens every time and it's seldom if ever forgiving. It tells you immediately when it's angry. It should strip off pretty easy so give it a swim and jump right back in before you let the bad mojo kill your momentum.

Thanks guys, means a lot! Yes, it's liberating to do a build like this because mistakes and flaws, within context, may not be mistakes at all. So I won't point them out now but a keen eye can find a few that are not within context of the subject matter ?. Paint flaws, BMF, buffing burn through, splotchy dash details, CA glue fogging, etc; all things that are laboriously managed on clean models don't much apply on builds like this. Plus, the kit's pretty simple so it leaves time to play around with fun ideas.

Love the last photo. I'm not sure I've seen a pic of one in use as a field plow. That's how I could see it used to its greatest value to a strapped farmer advancing from a two horse team.

Thanks Mike!

A WIP thread helps keep me motivated. I feel more obliged to finish telling the story once I've committed to the project. For that reason, I start taking pictures before I post anything. Once I feel like it's a project that I'm pretty serious about, I'll start telling the story. The feedback helps keep me interested too, particularly when I hit snags that I don't want to deal with but I push on through to keep the thread from dying. Makes me feel like I'm not modeling all alone.

Looks to me like "Paint by Mike Shields."

I mean... why, yes... that's what I meant to do. I mounted it upside down. In fact it actually steers.

Much appreciated Alan! Kind of looks like an upside down steering wheel, but it's actually a parts box find. The kit wheel was a turd, so this was what I had that I thought was at least period appropriate to the 30s or 40s.

Thanks, Jim!

Inspired by the article posted on this thread, I converted an AMT Model T to a doodlebug tractor. I didn't have any good truck wheels to have rubber drive tires so I made cleated wheels using slices of PVC pipe and steampunk buttons. The front PTO belt drive was scratch built using six or seven pieces from my parts box. The AMT Fruit Wagon double kit provided the vehicle. Build thread is here. It was more fun than I was expecting and scrounging to scratch build parts keep me in the spirit of the doodlebug practice. Weathering with oil and acrylic washes took a little practice and I didn't fuss over setbacks so there will be plenty of mistakes to spot.

A few days of playing with washes with mixed results I finally finished it this weekend and struggled to get some decent photos after the natural light faded from my room. The floor is made of coffee stir sticks which scale out to be 2x6 planks. I had my 1/25 resin farmer dude figure to keep reminding me how small this vehicle is. It's easy to think it's bigger than it is without a human reference. Check out the finished, glamour shots here.

I made a gas tank using small diameter PVC pipe and evergreen. For the ends I cut a couple disks from sheet plastic and firmly pressed them into the carpet with a screwdriver handle to give them a little concave shape.

Whoa, that is amazing. Every detail considered. Really well done.

A good looking build of a stodgy old Studebaker. I want one.

Glad to see one of these built. Nice work.

Chassis is assembled. Here is an idea I'm totally stealing from Pat Minarick, with all due respect to him. Using a small plastic spoon for a seat. It's not full size, it's the size spoon you get when sampling ice cream from a vendor. Seems to fit the gluteus maximus of my little farmer dude.

Minor update: I cut the shaft off a plastic gear from a printer I tore apart to use as the pulley on the PTO, then finished up construction on that little thing. Also did a little more weathering on body parts using mostly thinned artist oils and a touch of acrylics.

That's in pretty good shape. Big wheels, yes, but a cut down Model A must be a pretty quick little hot rod too, (home built frame?). Thanks for sharing the pics. I would invite anybody with pics of their own to post them here, especially detail shots or construction points. Might as well add to the knowledge.

This is cool. Thanks Kurt.

I love the memories you guys are sharing here. Too bad I'd never even heard of these until I joined this forum. There was a CBP here about ten years ago that you can find if you search but last time I checked a lot of photos were either damaged or had broken links. Looks like I won't get much bench time the rest of this week. Rats, I like to work when there's momentum.

Fun with paint and washes. As usual, I'm getting distracted with some unnecessary details, but when I saw this Model T belt drive accessory, I decided my doodlebug should have one. I scrounged a bunch of parts, including two 49 Ford hubcaps. Obviously it's not dead on accurate but I think it will look the part. I still need a pulley and some minor details.

Have you just considered therapy? Wonderful, minuscule detail here. Also, I never thought brass era Pyro kits offered such nice material. Learning something here. Watching.