Tom Geiger

fantastic news Terry! I'm so happy for you.

Better you than me working on that windshield! You are right, models aren't all perfect and symmetrical. When I was working on an AMT '32 Vicky I decided to cut up a second body to use the window frames as interior window frames on the opposite sides. That's when I learned that the windows weren't the same size from side to side! I did work it out though, as you can see in the below picture. It did come out decent.

I've had this crazy thought of do a group build where every participant is on a different continent. I could start it off in North American, ship it to someone in Brazil for South America. From there it goes to South Africa for Africa, then to Europe where we know a lot of folks, then to a friend in Turkey for Asia. And then to one of our many friends in Australia. Antarctica would be the tough one!

Thank you everyone for the response! I really enjoy saving these old classics. I believe they are the folk art of our youth. For me there's nothing like finding a sad broken custom in the bottom of a junk box at a show, and bringing it back to what the original builder had envisioned. They've survived 50 years so they deserve to be brought back to life. And they look so proud on my shelf!

Do you know a big guy who lives near him who can go convince him??

Ooooh yea! It's happening. I love to watch cool stuff emerge from piles of scrap! Go Ken, Go!

Years ago the Tri-State Scale Model Car Club had a door prize donation arrive after the show. It was a resin body based on the Alumina Coupe. So we decided to do a club build on the car and raffle it off at next years show. It worked fine. Each volunteer member was in charge of a different step in the build process and had a month (from club meeting to next meeting) to accomplish the task. One guy built the chassis, another added a slant six engine and so on. My role was to open the hood up and I realized that the roof on the slush cast body wouldn't hold glass properly, so I replaced the hood and roof with original kit parts. Someone else did some custom bodywork, then someone did the paint and onward to the interior, then final assembly. Everyone performed their task and did well, some of us guys who hadn't finished a model in years. And yes, we raffled it off. I do know where it is today. So yes, it can work.

Rich, if I was starting out with a junker or a fresh kit I'd do just what you suggest. The rules of the Olde Kustom Kollection are to restore the model to be what the original builder created and not to improve it. Even some of the total rebuilds I've done have stayed as true to the theme as possible, such as the purple '61 Ranchero that I got in several pieces. I used modern paint on it, but it still has painted silver trim since that was on it when I got it.

You have to be kidding... Revell just did a major contest aimed at the general public and young people. There are threads on the boards about the Foose kits that are aimed at that same market. Even Round 2 is issuing old kits in new boxes with licensing aimed at the TV and Movie collectors market.

The Testors diecast builds up nicely so the fact it's metal isn't the end of the world! There are a few other full size Fords, that were available in plastic and resin. AMT did both a 1970 LTD and a police car version. The police car has been reissued a few times so it's available. Missing Link Resin does a 1978 LTD and soon will offer a 1971 Galaxie 500 4 door sedan. I believe that All American Resins offered a 1975 LTD, but they no longer cast. It may be available on eBay from time to time. Modelhaus casts a resin 1970 station wagon in a few different trim levels as well as a 1972 Custom & LTD 4 door sedans. They also do a 1965 Ford Custom 4 door sedan. Hendrix casts a 1960 and 1963 Ford 4 door sedan for police conversions. R&R cast a 1961 4 door sedan, 1962 wagon, 1963 4 door sedan, 1964 wagon and a 1967 sedan and wagon. We don't know what's up with R&R production right now since the owner died recently. Still, a lot of their product is in the hands of resellers. Both my grandfather and father were big LTD / Crown Vic fans and owners. My grandfather started with a 1970 LTD and bought a new one every few years. My father had several, three at once. I used to kid him that his house looked like police headquarters. After they both died, I wound up with my father's 1989 Crown Vic and thought I'd drive it through the plate expiration. I wound up liking driving it and kept it for 6 years and over 200,000 miles. So I'd really like a resin of an 89-90! My Vic along with a friend's Caprice.

Jim, I'd just cast the U-Joints and I'd cast them around a straight pin, burying the head inside the resin. Once dry you just need to cut off the length of pin. To use them, a buyer would need Evergreen round stock (or you could include a decent length of it) and they'd just have to drill it for the pin at either end once they cut the round to the right length. That's actually how I make my drive shafts.

This 1957 Ford was built custom from the very first issue of this kit, probably when the kit first came out. The builder did a pretty good job for the era. This one came to me via Dave Burket who donated it to the collection. He knew I'd like it and bring 'er back! It was delivered to me with the delicate suspension parts all gone, and in pretty poor shape. Here you see it with the suspension back in place from a newer issue parts kit. And since it had no wheels on it, and the original builder used all kit parts, I used the tires and wheel covers from the later issue. The one part that was missing was the original hood. I restored the rest of the car, but couldn't find a model paint close to the original to match it. So it sat just like this on my shelf for some time. Then upon picking up a can of Tamiya blue, I got the brainstorm to two tone it. Follow along... And here's our car as she appears this afternoon! Dramatic change. I did hesitate to do the two tone since I thought the color might be over powering so I primed and painted the new hood. It looked good so I proceeded. I also try to 'restore' the old customs back to what they were, not to 'improve' them. But I think I'm justified at making it just a bit better than she was when new. The car is not glued together, only press fitted, and I left it that way so I could take it apart if it ever needed repairs again. So I popped it apart and the rear glass was loose so that came out too. I carefully taped off the body with Tamiya tape along the chrome lines, crossed my fingers and gave it a spray. The results are very cool! Side view shows the tail dragger look the original builder incorporated by sinking the rear way down low! While it was apart, I noticed that the doors had no vent window glass, so I added some from my parts box. I thought about painting the rear skirts the bright blue, but decided to leave well enough alone since I had no technical reason to do so. I did have to update the chrome Testors Silver (it was dry!) along the two tone lines, so I gave it a new coat with a Sharpie silver marker. Important to note that the original builder shaved the door handles and all the emblems. Here's the rear view with the very rare Edsel wagon tail light treatment that customizers used on the Fords back in the day. The bezels aren't in the later issues of the kit so I certainly wanted to retain them on the car. I took them off for the resto, and cleaned them up a bit. Since the chrome is pretty much silver paint, I duplicated that. The lenses were foggy with tube glue so I broke them off and replaced them with new red lenses that you'll still find in the kit later issues. Also note that the fiddly doors in this kit do work fairly well, although pretty tight in their frames. The rear view gives you the full impact of those Edsel light units. Pretty cool. The Tamiya tape did an excellent job of masking around the license plate surround. As with any of the Old Kustoms with a place for a plate, I added a Colorado 1961 plate from my last working sheet of AutoWorld license plates. The interior was all done by the original builder and survived intact. He went for the full custom treatment with the four buckets and full length console. I like that he dabbed all the buttons. Other than gluing the dash back in place, I did no work here, all original using the custom wheel with the red center and the piston custom shifter. Cool, cool. Under the hood is purely kit chrome dress up parts. I didn't touch anything under here at all. So now we have a very cool custom '57 Ford that is ready for another 50 years on the shelf! An old survivor like this deserved a make over to bring 'er back, but retain the work and imagination of the original builder, where ever he may be today!

I went looking for scale fabric for my camper seats over the summer. I couldn't find anything suitable in Joanns or Michaels. But check the craft aisle in Walmart. They had very small bolts of fabric for 99 cents to be used in crafts and scrap booking. In the same aisle as the pins and other sewing notions.

I've been told that the old promos won't warp any further. It was all in the drying out of that plastic and it's all done now.

One guy I know told me he'd never do eBay nor drive anything but a Ford. Now his feedback is up over 2000 and he drives a Honda!

Very cool build. I like the thread and following through your thought process. The stops and starts are interesting, not unlike my own projects! And I really like that Turbo 4 going in there. I have one tucked away for such a project someday!

Tamiya doesn't focus on the US market. We just get some of what they aim at their own Japanese home market. I don't even know if they aim product at Europe or rest of world, or if the Euro subjects they do are for home market consumption.

Don't ya hate it when you spend time writing a PM, attach photos etc and go to send only to find that the person's mail box is full!

Try doll house carpet. It's available in a number of ways, including on self adhesive sheets. Also check the printables sites, I found this Victorian carpet pattern there and it's printed just on plain paper. It looks great through the windows of the car. Totally convincible as carpet.

Nobody said you had to build them all! Just owning great kits is fun in itself. Most of us have many more models than we'll ever be able to build in our lifetimes! For supplies, I'm constantly running out of things that cause me to run for the store. This week I ran out of Duplicolor primer and went to Pep Boys. A few weeks ago it was glue, so I hit Michaels. A few months ago I got fed up with running out of Evergreen plastics so I went to the hobby shop and loaded up on about $50 worth.

See you there Don!

Here's the set I use. I just sent you an eBay link to buy this same set for $5.

My '55 Chevy Christmas Tree Truck sitting in my wife's Christmas Village one year!

Cool! I remember the good ole days before the Internet and instant research. If you needed info or pictures you had to rely on going through your magazine and book collection. Sometimes for a long while if you didn't know exactly where to look. Then you could phone a friend, or wait until your club meeting to ask questions. Someone would say they thought they had a picture or two and would bring them to the next meeting. A month later you saw them at the meeting and they forgot! Of course as soon as you finished it using some assumptions, the first person who saw it would jump all over the discrepancies (although they didn't speak up when you asked earlier!) Man we are so spoiled today!