1320wayne

Health comes first Terry. Blood clots are definitely nothing to mess with. Hope all comes out well in the end. Take care!

Excellent body work. The overall profile looks really cool. Can't wait to see where you go next.

Very nice vintage build.

I don't think the phrase "model builder" and "budget" really work well together. Anything that you might want to do outside of the actual kit is going to cost money, more or less. As far as the machined wheels that you spoke of, simply do a search on Ebay for Pro Track wheels (you will most likely see a lot of them on builds here on the forum) and you will surely find front sets for about $11 to $14 dollars and rear sets for a little over $20. If you have plans to do a detailed build and can't afford that much you might be in trouble. But, you don't actually have to go that route to have a nice looking model. As far as the body proportions, yes, a GTO pro mod body would need to be stretched somewhat. Some were done with a radical stretch and look kind of foolish to me, but that's just my opinion. Here is a picture of what a reasonbly stretched pro mod GTO could/should look like. I hope any of this helps.

What color is the car? That might help with the creativity. Also, below is a link to a list of periodic comets (scientific) if you want a name that plays on the Comet nameplate. Scroll through the list and maybe you will see something creative that strikes interest. Bear in mind, the list is quite long. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periodic_comets

If you're not into "Eyeball Engineering" and hope for the best you can make a simple chassis jig using a block of wood and nails or small screws. Lay out your measured angles and notate with the nails and this way your angles will all match. That is just one possible suggestion.

Paint the body brown and call it "Malibu Mudslide".

John, I don't now what's more impressive? Your ability at scratchbuilding components or the ability to make each part look so real with weathering and finish work. Your engines look like polished metal rather than painted plastic. And the overall finish work is so highly superb.

Very creative Darin. I think a bunch of these little guys would look cool in a diorama.

It's how low the body sits on the chassis that is placing the seats so high inside. It's the only way I could get the desired effect.

Making progress on the interior. Styrene sheet floorboard with parts box battey and fuel cell. I also got the radiator shell done with added screen mesh from Protech.

Superb job Roger. One of the best one's you've done yet.

Paint looks awesome Brett. Sure to be a head turner when it's done.

Those are some great shots for so many different cars to use as research. Thanks for the links.

Not to say that you should give up hope trying to find the detail that you seek, but the types of research photos that you are looking for were commonly found in the publications back in the day when they did a feature on a car and published lots of detailed photos of the car, including engine and chassis shots. That being said, You might find it difficult to find a feature on this specific car as it only ran for a short time in 74 before Prudhomme decided that he did not like the way the car handled and performed so he switched back to his Cuda bodied car until finally moving to the Monza body.

Here you go.

Here is a little more. I created a bomber seat out of a pair of racing seats that I had in the parts box. In the second pic. the seat on the right is what I started with. I also got the dist. and plug wires in place and added a bit of dry brushing to tone down the brightness in the chrome.

Very nice build Jim. Nice touch with the bobbed fenders.

Superb paint. Excellent build.

Very sharp. Excellent paint work. The overall look is really good.

Hey guys, thanks for all of the comments. Jairus, I didn't know there was anything logical about a rat rod. I've seen quite a few that didn't even look roadworthy, intentional or not. I can appreciate what you're saying about the rear tires. They may not be a very traditional or common rat rod look but I liked the look and decided to go with it. The engine is starting to take shape. Like I stated in the first post, I decided to go with the Revell parts pack Caddy 354. The headers are from the parts box and I added aluminum tubing to enhance the look. There is still a ways to go and I also have weathering to add along the way.

Nice use of graphics. Lookin good.

This is simply over the top, outstanding craftsmanship.

Jim, I hope to have it done to bring to Gainesville for the Billetproof show next month.

Here is something slighly outside my comfort zone. It is only my second attempt at building a Rat Rod. This one is coming mainly from the parts box. The body was part of a parts box that I bought at a swap meet a couple of years ago. It had the body and the basic chassis and suspension. The chop job was already done. The body was a rather ugly light blue color with lots of orange peel. I pulled it out the other day and decided to get started on something. I placed the body in the Super Clean tank and left it there for only one day. When I went to rinse it I realized that there were at least four or five old layers of paint underneath and it would have needed more time in the tank but as I rinsed the old paint it started to give me the affect that you see here and I thought that it would make a cool look for a Rat Rod so I left it as it was. I re-shot the roof and visor with flat black. The decals are bomber nose art decals that I purchased on Ebay years ago and have been itching to put some to use. The tires and wheels are alkl from the parts box and the spun aluminum covers on the front are from Detail Master. The interior will be kitbashed and scratchuilt with a bare bones look. The engine that I am using is a Revell 354 Cadillac parts pack engine. I'm not sure of what headers I will use yet. This is a fun project and a nice change of pace from Drag and Nascar kits.