1320wayne

Looks good. I just started a weeks vacation today and the main project while I am off is to gut the garage, lay down a new garage epoxy floor, add a window unit a/c to stay comfortable in the summertime and re-do the entire work area to make it more user friendly.

I feel that the level of detail that someone places into a model should be for their own personal preference. I would never recommend to someone to attempt to add detail to a build simply to try and keep up with other builders. I have been around cars all of my life, especially drag cars, so the placement of detail comes a bit more natural to me. That's not to say that I still don't utilize reference material for builds that can be obtained from magazine articles, the internet or simply other builders models. I know where most details need to be added to a drag subject but when I decided to tackle an "extreme" build of a Nascar subject two years ago I used reference from some of the best Nascar model builders around to try and get the details just right. My own feelings are that I like to add whatever feasible details are possible to make the model look as lifelike as possible. Try to get away from the toy-like persona of the build. That being said, I don't have the fancy machine shops to make details out of raw aluminum and I don't like to spend too much money on details that can be accessed through lesser expensive means. The bottom line is to have fun, challenge yourself when possible and enjoy the level of building that you can achieve.

Out of every picture that I have of many of the Rod Shop cars I only have one of the blue 71 Charger. I have plenty of the blue 71 S/S Challenger or the white Charger or many others but only one of this one. I don't know the exact colors but when I did my build of this car a few years back I used a Krylon Royal Blue and MCW Guards Red. It looked like a pretty good match.

Wow, I missed out on this one when it first started. Back in my hunting days (yes not so politically correct with some folks), here in Florida, all of my hunting buddies and myself had CB radios for communicating when we were "running dogs", which is how you hunt in Florida. I had a Pioneer, 40 channel, with triple highs and triple lows. Not the most legal piece of equipment in most parts. It was hooked up through a 400W linear with a 10' fiberglass whip antenna. When I keyed the mic. it would glow bright red and you'd better not try and touch it with your bare hand. On a clear day I could talk to folks over 100 miles away. Sometimes at night, I could park down by the beach and bounce the signals across the water and talk to folks in the Caribbean. Anyway, my CB handle was "no shot". That was given to me because every time I tried to shoot a deer I missed. I eventually figured it was a sign from above and that I wasn't meant to kill anything. As a result I haven't hunted in over 8 years now and got rid of the truck and all of the CB gear. As far as 8-tracks go. I was raised on them with all of the time that I spent in my youth traveling with my dad. He still has 8 full cases, 16 per case, with no player to play them on. My favorites were the few drag racing 8-tracks that he had from events from the late 60's, early 70's. It was a play by play with announcers like Steve Evans and Dave McClelland and all of the sound effects to go with it. You just had to use your imagination and try to picture being there during the race.

Excellent work. I can't wait to see more and what it looks like when it's finished.

Since we have recently talked about contest formats and judging styles now I would love to know what everyone's opinions are regarding the best time of the year for a show? Does it matter to you either way whether or not it's early or late in the year or simply placed mid year? What types of issues would prevent you from attending a show at certain times of the year. Is the Summertime bad because the kids are out of school? I would love to know peoples feelings on this matter. Thanks!

Here is more progress. I fixed the valve covers and added the photo-etch blower holddown brackets. The scratchbuilt magneto is done, attached and wired along with added bolt head details to the valve covers from Protech. And the chassis construction is basically complete to the point that I was able to add some paint.

Excellent work John. Your creative detail work is superb.

Whatever the issues I hope you get things worked out. Food for thought, though. Whenever my life gets to be riding heavy on my shoulders it's this hobby and the people around it that you know that helps to keep me grounded and feeling better about things. If possible, don't give up on what you love. It may be what helps to keep things in your life bound together. I've always called it my stress relief. It helps me to escape (even for just a little while) the daily rigors of life and gain perspective on things. I hope this helps in any way and I hope you get past whatever is not right in your life, soon. Take care.

Yeah, there are a lot of builds that I clear coat these days even though I know that it's not historically accurate for the time. Even though this is a glorified shelf model it still needs to pop, and the clear seems to do just that.

PDP no longer exists. From time to time you might find folks online/Ebay that might have some items for sale. When they were around in the late 90's the company had resin bodies and decals to do a few 70's era funny cars. I remember the 73 Charger body, 72 Satelite and a early 70's GTO body. They had decals to do the car above, the Muldowney Satelite, Arnie Beswicks GTO, Wild Willie Borsch 73 Charger and the silver Mr. Norm's early 70's Charger.

Here is a quickie build that I am doing. Pretty much an out of the box Revell funny car kit with slight adjustments made to the ride height. The body is a resin body from Performance Detail Products as well as their decals. It's almost ready for clear coat and then once that cures and is rubbed out then I can complete the final assembly.

I forgot to add this in my response above. The closest relative topic that I could come up with regarding the Hooters girl piece was that at the last Portland Roadster Show model contest that I attended before moving back to Florida in 2007, we were lucky enough to enlist the services of the then reigning Miss Oregon. She was more than gratious to be the "trophy girl" and did a great job handing out the awards. And I was able to catch it all on camera. If interested, check out the link. Go to the last two pages for the awards pics.. http://public.fotki.com/1320wayne/model_shows/2007-shows/2007-portland-class/

Here's a couple of tips that I can pass along. My work surface is a larger, white glass cutting board that sets on top of my workbench. The white helps things show up better and the glass part allows me to use an x-acto blade without carving into the workbench. For those individuals that pour their own resin castings. I use syringes (minus the needle) to apply the resin into smaller detail pieces to help ensure that the resin gets into all of the little nooks and crannies. I picked this one up from another modeling forum. Use the back sides of white plastic spoons as paint pallets when you are comparing color shades to get just the right tone.

Absolutely amazing detail work. I have seen Jim's models in person and I'm sure that the pictures don't do it justice......and the pictures are great anyway. Thanks for sharing.

So many valid points to review. Basically it's a matter of persepctive from each individual surveyed as to what the best format is for a show. I have personally competed in so many different formats, I can't really put one above the other. I like competition so the fully classified shows appeal. Publicly voted shows are also good to attend because all of the work is done by the participants. I don't neccesarily care for any public voted shows where the general public is allowed to chime in because that's when you get a sway in the results simply because someone liked purple over green or Camaros over Cudas. In these cases the "Best" models don't always come out on top. I have attended a few of these formatted shows from South Carolina to Seattle and the best part is that most participants go away happy, regardless of the results, as long as they have mentally prepared themselves to understand how the results came about. Judged shows are good so long as the judging crews are fair, impartial and know what they are looking at. I know that the topic has come up regarding shows that have had less than stellar judges and somone states that if you wanted better results you should have stepped up to help out yourself. That's great and all until the topic of those involved in the show shouldn't compete arises. Then that defeats your whole purpose of being there. I also like the degree of difficulty and understand the breakdown in categories but some of the feedback that I have heard people use about this format in the past is that competitors don't neccesarily like having to pit their street rod up against a drag subject or their commercial vehicle against a custom. It is hard to seperate one from the other. Especially if you consider that you may be able to go further with one subject matter as opposed to another. I also think that the awards themselves can be a big part of the draw for the show. I attended am IPMS show in Atlanta a few years back and they had an entire table of custom created awards that were part of their "best of's" awards. And there were plenty of them. I also attended a first year show in British Columbia Canada back in 2007 which had master categories (6 of them, i believe) with cash awards attached to them. That was a pretty good draw as this show attracted a lot of highly skilled builders from around the Pacific Northwest. The show was organized to near perfection, which was also a bonus. Unfortunately, something happened in the planning for the next year and the show never happened again. So, that is my 2 cents in the matter. These are my personal opinions and I definately don't speak for anyone else on the matter. The bottom line is (to me) that when you attend any show, regardless of it's format, go to have fun, go to meet other interesting, creative people, see some awesome builds and have a good time. If you happen to win an award in the process that is just a bonus.

My personal preference is for Saturdays. Not that I don't spend enough time at the workbench now but model shows usually stur some extra motivation and inspiration in me after I return home so having Sunday available to spend more time at the bench is great.

Excellent pics. Dave. Everytime I see pictures from one of the shows up there it makes me miss being there. This was always a great show to attend. This will sound strange coming from me but it was cool to see all of those older antique/classic builds on the table that you don't see all that often. By the way, was that a scratchbuilt Sharpie or was it straight out of the box, LOL?

These are tough models to work with but I think you did it justice. Very nice work indeed.

The wheels are machined aluminum pieces from a company called Pro Track primarily for slot car use. They are readily available from numerous sellers on Ebay.

More work done on the front spindles. I also added the engine plate between the block and the bellhousing. And, because the chassis work came out so intricate and is hard to get down into, the sheet metal work will have to be done in smaller pieces. You can see that I started on the sheet metal floorboard on the drivers side. These pieces will take some time as they will have to be cut and then shaped around the sections of tubing.

Took a short break from this one to finish another project. Now back to it. I added more of the chassis/suspension framerails to the build. The front suspension is starting to take shape. And, I created a new fuel cell from altering a piece from an Action diecast by adding a new base along with bolthead details.

Awesome job. You hit on all the right details.

Very nice build.