Modelmartin

My name is Andy Martin and I can not shake this case of model car OCD. I just hit the five-O and have been building since I was seven years old. My dad started me out. He built models from the 50s on to the early 70s. He built them all stock and rarely painted them. When they were done he would stick them back in the box with the instructions and give me and my brothers all of the custom and racing parts! I wish I had access to his stash of probably about 100 models but unfortunately the garage where it was all stored burned down in 1976! I had a brief period not building in my late teens, early 20s when I attempted to build a street rod (34 Plymouth 4-door sedan with a 4" chop), a street machine (66 Chevelle SS) which got turned into a bracket car. I came to my senses and returned to scale cars when I was about 23 or so. I discovered in '79 that the MPC contest series was still around. They quit coming to the twin Cities in '73 when I won 1st senior with my IMC Beetle turned into a NHRA gas class car. I drove down to Omaha to enter the best model I had ever built in my life thinking I was going to clean up. Well I did not win a thing but did not care because my life changed. I got to meet a bunch of model car builders who to me seemed famous from the pages of Car Model Magazine such as Tim Boyd, Tom Woodruff, Chuck Helpie, Bruce Owen, Dave Berry, Wayne Saunders and many others and got to see all of the Best of Show winners from around the country. They were handing out subscription blanks for a not yet published magazine called Scale Auto Enthusiast! I haven't looked back since then. I have been a contest and NNL junkie since then doing up to 5-6 events a year from coast to coast but mostly midwest. I do not care if I win or lose. I go to have fun, meet people, see friends, be inspired. I have won an occasional trophy which is always nice but have never won a Best In Show which was my goal when I started out. Maybe one day............GSL '09....hmmmmm. I have lived in the Twin Cities since I was 4 years old, married to Ann for 16 years , have no kids, no pets. Do have a Porsche 914 restoration project, just sold my 1960 Mini (sad day), many home improvement projects, and those pesky 500 or so kits that are clamoring to be built! Car and model car interests are many and include Bugattis, classic cars, Porsches, Minis, drag racing, occasional wild rods and customs, and anything else that strikes me as cool. I have been a professional model car producer for many years punctuated by brief periods of employment. I currently am operating as Aardvark Models and Modelmartin producing resin kits and conversion kits. I refuse to grow up. I enjoy this forum becuase the average IQ seems to be significantly higher than most others and there is a broad range of interests and personalities. I can't handle single subject clubs or forums. There is too much cool stuff in this world. There is even cool stuff beyond cars and model building!!! Yes, there is.

Dune Buggies Rule!!!!

can anyone tell me how to fix the link so it works? I have the pics in a Fotki album. Thanks.

This is a really fun show held every year on the Saturday after Labor day in Osceola, Wisconsin. There are usually 700+ cars and motorcycles of every type and description there but the big draw for me is to wander the Classic Motorbooks warehouse - everything 25% off and a 1/2 price sale in the tent outside! Only three books for me this year. 2 Porsche books and the Thom Taylor/Ed Newton How to Draw Monsters book!! http://public.fotki.com/modelmartin/wings-and-wheels-2007/

I see you had a smaller mold in a Lego box on the side. Get some of the bigger Lego Duplo blocks off of Ebay where they are cheap and make sturdy boxes for the big molds too. I recently did a 1/12 scale body mold and it worked great. I line the inside of the Duplo box with .030 styrene sheet glued down with silicone caulk and glue the box down to a Plexiglass base with caulk, also. The boxes are nice and square that way and you can easily turn them over for the second half and they fit back in the boxes real nicely. Never had a problem like your little leakage incident.

Beautiful job on a beautiful car! I love it.

All American, Herb Deeks, and ScaleKraft all made the Cord Beverly in different versions (trunk, no trunk and Custom Beverly). None of them are in production at the moment but some judicious searching should turn one up. The Monogram and Pyro/Lindberg were both Phaetons. I think Art at All American did do a resin sportsman. Guido at Scalekraft may have also. I don't know why anyone would attempt to build the Pyro/Lindberg kit when the Monogram is so easy to find and so good and so inexpensive! In addition to the Graham Hollywood, Hupp got in the act with their Skylark based on the same tooling. Both the Hupp and Graham had conventional rear drive drivelines and were a shorter wheelbase than the Cord.

I agree with micronitro. The Ford banjo worked pretty well. George Montgomery used one in his famous willys until he put the Cammer engine in it. He ran a blown Caddy engine and a blown Small block for many years through that rearend. Also popular then were big olds rearends like in the Anglia/Thames kit from Revell.

That looks great, Harry. I usually am not a big scale fan but that Jag could almost change my mind. What will be the finished color?

Congrats on the new ride! Those are nice looking vee-hicles. I like the old Land Cruiser flavor they incorporated in the styling. And it's a Toyota so it will last forever, right?

It comes with Ford carbs! Chayne didn't like the single 1 barrel updraft carb that the car came with and fitted 4 1 barrel Strombergs to it on a log manifold. He also put bucket seats in it and made up some large hubcaps which covered the wheels.

You are on the right track with reference. If you want I can scan some of my articles and photos and send them to you if you can send me your e-mail address. Dave is right about the Wingrove book being the best resource for that car. The one big issue I have with that kit is that the fenders are not well done. If you look closely you will see that the fenders need to be skirted more all around. Some Evergreen strip and a little putty should cure that. Lindberg made them very flat like a mid 20s car but that body was done in 1930 and everything by that time was being somewhat skirted. The kit exhaust system is very goofy also. I would make a new one from brass rod or thick solder. Otherwise it is actually a fine kit. It has been boxed and sold by Entex, Gunze Sangyo who then sent it to Revell of Germany. Someone at Revell USA thought that would be a neat thing to import here so that kit was also sold here as Revell import!!! In addition there have been the 2 or 3 releases from Lindberg. Looking forward to seeing both Tony and Dave's builds of this car!

Viva Model King!

Very cool! I bought a gluebomb off of Ebay but sure would like to build with "fresh" plastic. Yay.

Sorry Mark but that is frightening me!

That is pretty cool. I think it has potential. Finish it! Jo-Han wire wheels?

I have been to that site. It is very cool stuff! www.salsalvadordesign.com/spacerods.html

I heartily agree with David King's view of the best builders. There is an inverse relationship between ability and ego. The more of one, the less of the other. That cuts both ways. The big egos usually don't stick around the hobby for a long time either. Their ego can't handle all of the bruising from hard contact with the real world. We all have egos but I think most people keep it under control. I love winning a contest or a class but don't have any issues if my model loses to a better model. I usually appreciate the winning model. I actually enjoy dealing with the big egos when they go looking for the judge who insulted them. I tell them what's what and exactly why their model did not win. Some of these guys were actually pretty good and their models only needed a little improvement to win but they were so wrapped up in their anger they couldn't pick up on anything. Sad. I like judging and always do it when asked or a call goes out. I have found "quiet" models that really astound when you look carefully that I would have missed if I had not been judging. I have also been astounded at the depth of craftsmanship and art in some really spectacular models. Judging lets you systematically enjoy these models.

Thanks for sharing. That Packard is very special. It would be criminal to restore it! I also enjoyed the '05 Cadillac. Another fun fact is that Cadillac and Ford used the same body supplier in those early years and looked nearly identical!

I get my Milliput at my Local Hobby shop which stocks it. It should be available at any place that has a good stock of military model supplies, The figure guys use a lot of it too. Try squadron.com I just checked and they stock it. It comes in 4 grades from really fine grained to coarser. I use the cheaper stuff and seems fine to me. I think the guys who are sculpting figures like the more expensive finer stuff. It's all good.

3 things to keep in mind. Milliput! Milliput! Milliput! It does it all from thick sections to creating features to filling gaps and small holes. Highly recommended by this moidel builder. Tamiya is OK but overpriced and doesn't work as well.

That is really well done! I am not a roundy round guy but this is a cool model!

Dude! Very cool model! Very clever and it looks well balanced and well detailed conceptually.

The thing is that if you do a realistic finish like Jim Drew's 1/12 Corvette Grand Sport you get punished for it in model car contests. IPMS guys believe in realistic finishes but don't know jack about judging cars. I figure they are model cars and I give them a glossy paint job and clearcoat a lot if not all of the graphics and decals. I recognise that I am not being completely realistic but that is how I like to build my models.

If you want 4 Buick nailheads you can always try a Tommy Ivo Showboat dragster. They had fuel injection.