Tom Geiger

Finally finished, this 25 year project! The saga started back when I was friends with Joe Cavorley and became interested in how he weathered his models. I bought a Poly S weathering kit, and grabbed a junk Volare body (they were expendable in those days!) and had at it. And this was the result. I brought it to our next club meeting and was encouraged to build a model around it. So started this project, using the very first thing I attempted to weather! So this is the grand daddy of all the worn and weathered cars I've built in my modeling career. All in all, the weathering isn't all that great. The first thing Joe told me was I needed to dab my weathering rather than brush it since real cars don't have those front to back brush strokes! So this car was a good learning spring board. I keep my unfinished projects in boxes on shelves right above my work bench so I cannot forget about them. So every couple of years it got pulled down and worked on a bit. There were times that I got one more step done, and there were times I just screwed something up and put it back in the box. It is on it's second chassis from my failed attempt at putting a full detail front end under it. Live and learn. Lettering is from before the era of easy computer graphics. Those are rub on letters. The company name "Better Letter" was the logo on the top of the lettering sheets. That just kind of worked out. The slant six engine came out of the Lindberg '64 Dodge kit. In my opinion, this is the nicest slant six ever done in 1/25 scale. I had started the engine years ago, but didn't get past the assembly not fitting correctly into the chassis. I overcame that with the last sitting and then decided to see how far I could detail out the engine bay, just for the sake of learning. I added the hood latch and all the detail of the latch assembly etc that would be visible through the missing grille. Rear view has a pad locked trunk, we'd see a lot of vehicles that way in the city. There's a missing lens and I made bulbs in there too. The license plates were early computer graphics made by a friend way back in the 1990s so I used them on the final build. The interior was worked on during the last few times I had this on the bench. I did the final detailing and glued everything into place this sitting. And the chassis is the basic unit that was under the kit. I had carved out the molded in drive shaft and molded in a hump. That was necessary since I changed the engine / trans unit. I also had to make the exhaust system using a duel exhaust from the AMT 71 Duster kit. Each piece was cut and put together with bits of straight pin, the same way you'd assemble a 1:1 exhaust. I decided to not mess with the front suspension, since I failed at that once, and in the name of getting this project onto the shelf once and for all. This was my Christmas Model Car Amnesty Build for this year, and once again I did finish what I planned to do. Last year I finished the Dodge A100 van, the year before my '34 Ford rat rod, all projects older than dirt. So it's great to get these out of boxes and on display. And it has me eyeing those boxes, to see what I pull down next!

I dunno but now that you mention it, my '55 is straight too. See how clean it is around the metal grille? The '56 in the back is a modern repop, so it's straight too.

What were you convicted of? Eight weeks of hotel room nights sounds like some modeling time.

Yes, that was his Willys interior.

Yup! That was my reaction! My cousin put me behind the wheel of his Tesla and told me to floor it. Man, I wasn't expecting it to take off like that. It was more intense than my buddy's old 455 GTO!

Love the headliner. It's details like this that make the model!

Dave Clark posted this photo in his Willys build thread. Something like this would be cool in your pickup

F&F Resins (Ed Fluck Sr) did a 1970 4 door hardtop. The one car I fondly remember was a 1973 Electra 225 Hardtop. It was a company car where I worked, and I bought it. It was light yellow with a brown vinyl top and interior. I still remember cruising with all the glass down. That got replaced with a 1978 LTD II "Pillared Hardtop" 4 door. That car was dark brown and was fun because the NJ State Troopers used them then and cars would just pull out of the fast lane as you came up on them.

If you go the promo route, the currently available AMT 1970 Impala chassis and engine set up will scoot right under that body.

The problem with a pickup from the 1950s is that the interior is tall. So to use any cool modern car seats, you'd have to make a base for them. Maybe a late model pickup seat with a console? Dash wise, you could adapt a modern dash, but a lot of customizers take the stock dash and smooth it out, that is sand off all the detail. Then you could do a modern dash pod, even if it's just gauge decals.. from memory, I believe that interior only had door detail engraved on the inside of the body. It was poorly done, and wasn't the right shape. You could make door panels, or adapt kit door panels. What ever you do to that interior, there is no quick fix that will just pop in there and be cool. Everything will be a bit of work. Just a matter of how much time and energy you wish to devote to it.

It's dark out now... will post something tomorrow. It's supposed to snow all over night and through tomorrow too!

The International Scout that I'm building is a replica of a truck that had a white scallop design on the doors. Does anyone know of a kit decal of a white scallop? I had a sheet of K-Dog decals of white scallops that I had bought and saved for this project, but it disintegrated.

What pleases me today? Well, it's snowing like all heck outside and I'm not going out there! Worked from home today and won't be going into the office until Thursday. So I can sit out the snow storm and not have to deal with driving around in the muck!

Congrats Lucas! We call it "Adult Day Care" here in the USA. It's nice that you wish to do this!

Nice save! For some reason the 1972 seems to be the hardest full size Chevy to find. It was the only one I didn't have and it took me 6 months of bidding on eBay to score a rebuildable junker like yours.

You got it. It was a movie that inspired me as a kid. I painted all my models yellow and black for a while! Movie was never released on video, but I was able to buy a boot leg CD.

Austin T posted this photo under the What I Got Today thread.. great reference shot of rust and dents.

That can wait for a year or two!

1967 Valiant

Ferris Buehler's Day Off

Johan kits were made of styrene at the same time that their promos were made from the warping stuff. They did the promos from that material because it was shiny. You will also find many older Johan promos... 56 Plymouth, Desoto, Olds and Pontiac to name a few that are of non-warping styrene because they are copies popped out in the 1980s or later.

I think they are cool too. Just when you think they've done everything, someone invents a new style. I tried to do one a while back out of a '59 Chevy body... I"ll tell you not to try that one, the tail lights are too wide. I cut out the center and had them touching and the body was still too wide.

Had to dig back that far to find a likable Ferrari driver, Bill? And that is a cool Ferrari I could get into... they lost me with the shapes of today!