1320wayne

The show was great as usual. Tom is was great to have met you and definately congrats on the Best in Show award. It was most deserved. I just returned to Daytona today so I will be uploading my pics. tonight and linking them here with the rest. Unfortunately I spent so much time up on stage talking with Bob Downie and Mark Batson that by the time I realized I hadn't taken any pictures yet folks were already packing up their models so I believe I missed some really good models to photograph. Oh well, can't wait to come back up again next year. The SCMA folks put on a great show.

A modeler by the name of Stan Ulrich (part of the SABA group in Oregon) built this in 25th scale a number of years back using the truck shown above as an inspiration.

Amazing details John. The realism in your detail is superb the way that it resembles what the 1:1 would look like.

Why the negativity? What problems? You can't give me one example of a problem that can't be overlooked for something like this. Many other venues do things like this with great success. Mark Gustavson did this for years with the Custom Clinic photo contest in the annual Car Modeler issues. All of these different web sites do their model of the month with virtually no problems. If you're worried about fairness across the board, for every member of the forum, then yes your point is valid that there might be problems. But the bottom line is this. If you don't take good photos, and want to particpate anyway, then you are putting yourself out there for possibly not getting the response and votes needed to win and that is solely on the shoulders of that participant. And I know that there are a lot of builders that don't care for competitions. That's fine for them. But, in my opinion, competition is healthy and in a lot of ways it helps a builder hone his/her skills to do better with each next build. Problems will only exist if you allow them to. That's my two cents on the matter.

I left work early today as well due to a cold. Then when the mail came I started feeling better as my decal load from SprintGraphix arrived. Sadly I also found out that I probably received one of the last orders as the business has now shut down and will no longer be producing sprint car decals as the person doing it ran out of Alps supplies.

Chassis construction is coming along great.

That looks great Chuck. Chuck's decals look pretty good. I'm going to have to get a few sets and try them out.

That would be another one of John Teresi's great looking builds.

Thanks for providing the pics. Gregg. After being there for three in a row this now makes two consecutive that I haven't been able to attend. Hopefully the next one will work out.

Excellent build. The detail is clean and expertly crafted and the paint and finish is superb. Very nicely done.

Thanks Jim. Even with what I can do with a shiny finish I've got a lot to learn still to keep up with a lot of other folks around here. But it's fun learning.

Thanks for all of the comments guys. This was a lot of fun to build. No pressure to get that pristine high gloss finish or put everything in the right place because that's where it's supposed to go. I might have to take this same approach on more builds in the future.

I had been showing the progress on this build in the workbench section but hadn't updated anything in over a month. Well, low and behold, I was able to pretty much get it finished today. It's a combination of pretty much pieces from the parts box. The 26 body and chassis was picked up at a show a number of years back, combined with a Revell Parts Pack Caddy 354, a few of scratchbuilt pieces, Detail Master velocity stacks and spun aluminum wheel covers and decals acquired off Ebay. The paint was accomplished by placing the painted body into the dip tank for stripping purposes only to find that it had been painted over around six times with different colors. When I went to rinse the body I ended up with this effect so I went with it. I will probably still find some small details that I can add or tweak somewhere down the road but for now it's done. Thanks for looking.

Progress is looking great Tyrone. Not to get too far off topic of your build but I was wondering if you were going to make the "Big Drag" show in Greenville/Simpsonville next month? I missed last year but will be back this year.

Sorry Niko. I have searched every Euro drag site that I have access to and cannot find any markings that even resemble what you have shown here. It's just the imagery is too small and if these are foreign sponsors it would be very diificult if you're not familiar with them.

I do a lot of decal work and setting solution is a very needy tool to have. Solv-a-set or Micro-sol/Micro-set is something you would need to help those decals snug down into contours, crevices and door/panel lines. Sometimes even that isn't good enough so you might have to cut the decal to get it to settle in the rest of the way. If your line is that deep that you have to cut the decal you probably won't have to worry about the cut showing up but if it does you can conceal the cut with a simple black wash laid into the panel line that will actually add detail to your finished work. I don't ever cut a decal before applying it (if possible) because if your not lined up perfectly then you will have other problems. And, it's sometimes very hard to cut a decal while it's still wet as it might want to move on you or wrinkle. I always try to let the drying process set in at least for a little bit before attemtping to cut the decal. A lot of your success will have a lot to do with the decal as well. Some kit decals will give you fits, especially if it's an older kit and the decal has aged. Some aftermarket decals are printed on high quality paper and work well with settling down. And, some aftermarket decals are very thin and you will want to use more care with those to avoid ripping and tearing while applying. As well, some decals won't respond well to setting solutions so if your not sure of whether or not this could happen with the decal your working with it is sometimes best to test the setting solution on an unuseable part of the decal just to be sure. These are simply my opinions and techniques. Others might have more advice.

John, amazing scratchbuilding throughout, as usual, and I'm sure the detailing will be second to none, but I've got to ask what all the bottles are for? Are you planning on plumbing a nitrous system into a blower motor combination or are they going to represent something else? Don't mean to jump the gun on you, I was just curious.

Very cool. I like what you did with the paint scheme.

Each new improvement looks better and better. Stellar work.

Amen to that. I don't even follow the issue number just so long as it's the next one in line.

Should be interesting John. Don't worry about it being believeable or not. One of the best parts of the pro mod classes is seeing something just a little bit different than what the next guy is running. Just take a peek at some of the European/Australian drag sites and you will see some very interesting body styles selected for competition, including high end Mercedes and BMW's. Heck, if Rick Moore can turn a Lambhorgini Countach into a pro mod (late 80's, early 90's), then what you have planned is not so far-fetched. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

Slot car drags is popular in a lot of different areas throughout the country and a lot of racers are using styrene and resin bodies for a lot of their builds. I think the only big concern for them anymore is meeting the weight requirements for specific classes. I do a lot of body designs for Pro Mod style bodies for a resin company and part of my master design is to keep the weight down as much as possible when cutting, splicing and filling. Every bit of weight designed into the master will transfer to the cast body and if it's too heavy the racer will only be able to compete in the unlimited class, or something to that effect.

Looks great from this angle, Aaron. I don't think you know how to build a model that doesn't look good.

Not a hoarder, a collector of unbuilt models hoping one day to be built. I think I'm like a lot of folks in that I have enough models to last me at least three lifetimes, considering the rate that I build them. I think I currently have somewhere between 400 and 500 models. I think that puts me somewhere in the middle of the road with most folks. My wife constantly asks why I have to but something new since I have so many to bebuilt already. My response is always the same. I've been waiting for this one to be released for so long now that I have to have it. At least it's good to have a friend that doesn't live too far away that fits the hoarder category much better. He is single and owns a three bedroom house. He doesn't have to answer to anyone so that being said, he has models in just about every nook and cranny in the house. Even the pantry in the kitchen is about half food and half models. It's not an exxageration to say that he must have approximately 2 to 3,000 models, easily. And the amazing part is, is that he knows where everything is.

Yeah, that bodywork is looking great.