Maindrian Pace

I've got the Don Mills diamond plate and the chrome round slam locks. Both are top shelf merch, and inexpensive to boot. -MJS

Great little replica, love the color combo and the Fuchs wheels. -MJS

Very nice, great details not often seen on van models. It stands out! -MJS

I gotta say I really liked the red and white version, but the new scheme is laying out nicely as well. -MJS

Race track trim: Or the beginnings of it anyway. The '74-'75 version has different, narrower upper side trim than the later versions, so I narrowed the existing trim strip, and glued .030 rod to each side. I then contoured it to nearly the correct angle. Not done yet but close. The rest of the trim will come next. I also cut out the gas cap door on the other side. -MJS

Stay vigilant, man. Often it's a health scare that makes people really listen to their doctors and gives them the determination to make changes leading to improved health, condition, weight, etc to avoid future scares. -MJS

The five lug wheels are a good indication too. You know your Falcons/Comets. It's a .040 over 289 with a Comp 268H cam, vintage Weiand intake, and ported heads. Old school power, because the original bolt-action 6 banger was just a bit under powered. (pathetic, that is) C4 trans, '63 8" rear end, '65 V8 front end, Granada discs. Fun little car. You mean kinda like this? Taillights and tailgate insert are from a Palmer '61 Comet wagon kit. Someday, I'll finish it. -MJS

Flares! As a custom 4x4 junk model, I can sort of make this up as I go along. I have a loose idea of what it's going to look like when done, but anything can change. The flares are from the Bigfoot issue, but narrowed, lowered on the wheel wells, trimmed, and molded in. I may narrow them a bit further, depending on how the Satco tires fit. I corrected the windshield opening, removed the lower rocker trim, smoothed the fire wall, and added the missing rain gutters to the cab. -MJS

Thanks Al and Scott. -MJS

If you insist Roger! So you'd probably think that I would say, "Give us a '60 Comet 2dr wagon kit pleeeeease!!!" But, cool as it is, who would buy it... and I have most of the stuff to kitbash one, so bring on the Boxpanther; with it's Wagon Queen, demo derby, police/fire, and trailer diorama possibilities all in one box. Kit manufacturers like multipurpose tools. -MJS

Bob, It's the nicest mid '70s El Camino ever put in 1:25, without a doubt. Finding fault is a daunting task, but since you asked, the front overhang is a tad long. Fender and hood length are correct, I'd say pull 1.5-2mm out of the header panel, back the bumper up to the fender seam and you're right there. Other than that, nothing, and that includes the way-tricky rear B pillar slope. -MJS

Yes, the old "It's a Ford/GM/Chrysler etc design, not yours, so take it up with them" defense. But cheaters like this never win, and never get ahead; they get bad reputations that stick with them for life. -MJS

'79 LTD wagon. Because I loves me some classic two headlight box Panther. MJS

My brain just shorted out. The conversation in my head went something like this: "Nice pro mod or whatever engine, that must be what this guy is modeling his after." "That's a model engine. Unreal, must be 1/8th or better." "Wait, he only does 1/25th? must be an exception here." "That IS a 1/25th engine. I... I... I don't know what to say." -MJS

The owner of that car felt that the way cool blue chrome paint job was detracting from the mechanicals, so he repainted it red. Bo-ring. -MJS

Great looking '78, Roger. The yellow '79 is one of my reference trucks, owned by a local guy who is a major dent side fan. It's an original rust free AZ truck, that's the original paint, it's loaded, and has this - A '93 Mustang 5.0 with an Explorer cam for torque, '95 F-150 AOD and transfer case, and air lockers front and rear. It's his daily, and gets 18mpg on the freeway. Way cool truck. -MJS

You know I will. I got the other side roughed in. I tried a different method, cutting the bottoms off of the wheel well, and gluing them to the bed so I didn't have to add the little filler panels in to re-contour the lower character lines. That turned out to be a mistake, because I then had to add filler pieces at the front and rear of the wheel wells and shape them. On this truck, I'm going to use fender flares, so it will all be covered anyway, but for stock fender lips, use the first method - drop the whole wheel well intact, then trim the bottom flush with the bed sides. You get a perfect shape that way with less work. -MJS

That's kind of a happy accident. Looks like it could be a factory color. -MJS

Probably not this one. It's going to have the race track trim like the yellow one in the pics, and the lower ribbed trim has been shaved off, so it won't match any cab. But Repstock has converted a few long beds, perhaps he can be convinced to shorten one for casting. -MJS

Attached with the panel cut from forward of the wheel well: And filler panels added. Shorten the front of the bed by 25mm. After the front cap is glued in place. Now I just have to do the other side. -MJS

Back in our suburb of Boston in the '70s, (that really sets the mood, doesn't it?) my cousin and I used to take the left over parts from our kits and build "junk models" with them. Some were pretty wild, all were horrible, and all were fun to do. I've had this box of glue burned junk Ford truck stuff for who knows how long, and I decided to combine some of it into a truck that I've always wanted, a late '70s Ford short wide 4x4, two tone with the race track trim. With other stuff out of the way, I'll get to work on this from time to time. Most of this stuff is real junk, so I'm feeling pretty frisky with the razor saw. First order of business is that goofy Camper Special bed. Nobody, to this day, knows why AMT decided to do this bed instead of the conventional long or short bed, the best explanation I've heard is that Ford sent them the wrong blue prints by mistake and AMT never checked. May be baloney, but why else? If you look at '73-'79 Ford beds, you'll see that both the long and short beds have the same rear overhang, which is longer than the CS bed. Cut here: and move the wheel well forward by 5mm. But, the other mod that most miss is that not only was the CS wheel well moved back, it was also moved up. So when you move it forward, move it down by 2.5mm. Approximate placement:

Thanks Gentlemen, I have two other promos to do, but next up is a '77 Ford pickup kit that's been in the planning stages for some time. -MJS

Incredible. What else can you say? I was ogling the rear end U bolts and separate nuts, when it occurred to me that this is the kind of detail that you see in those epic build threads, where the builder is going all-out on the tiniest amazing stuff, and then the thread goes dry and the car is never finished. This wild Mustang has that same energy literally everywhere, but it's a finished car. A rare thing. The photography is great too. This needs to be on a magazine cover, MCM. -MJS

That Tamiya masking tape is amazingly good stuff. And finally, Now maybe I can work on something that I own. -MJS

And then for the white: Tamiya fine primer, followed by Testors Wimbledon White, a good match for Colonial white: Meanwhile, the chrome was sent off to Chrome Tech USA: And the heavy lifting was done. Here's why the acetate was so popular back in the day; it was very shiny right out of the mold, and shines up like mad with very little effort.