Harry P.

Hey Bill... if you don't mind a few odd stares from female customers, check out the fabric section of Hobby Lobby or Michaels. They have a TON of different fabrics and materials, I'm almost positive you'd find something that would look correct as convertible top material. It would be a shame to waste that incredible top mechanism you made...

ok... you guys got this one! It's REAL! (but I had to let you win one this time... since I've been on a roll lately! )

Huh???

Nice work overall... I especially like the rear 3/4 view. The shape of the side window openings and the roofline remind me of a mid '60s Fury or 300 (that's a good thing! ). I like how the rear edge of the side windows lines up with the top of the rear window and forms a continuous line across the car from side to side. That's a nice styling touch... good attention to detail there. I like your idea of embedding a "FORD" script across the rear light panel. Maybe a thin chrome trim strip centered in the red area, to break up that large expanse of red, with "FORD" in the cehter. I also might have tried a thin horizontal strip of "backup light" running across the middle of the taillight panel, side to side, and centered top to bottom within the red area. But even without either of those touches, the back looks good. Nice job!

And then we'll work on your spelling! (It's "grammar")...

What a great selection of trucks! Are they kits or scratchbuilt? I've never seen so many vintage truck models...

Looks good... but it would look a lot better if you used some Bare Metal Foil on the chrome trim, like the window moldings. Check the photo on the kit box...or the real car (do a google image search). Try it! Foil is pretty easy to use, and it really adds to the realism of the model.

You mean 1969 Trans Am. No T/A stripes?

Yes, you can do that. In fact, that's how real cars are painted. Just use the same type of clear as color coat to be safe.

I guess I don't get the beater/rustbucket body going with the shiny chrome custom engine parts and perfect, clean, shiny wheels/tires?

That place was SEDCO (Southern Engineering and Development Company), a company basically set up by Chevrolet as an "undercover" operation to build NASCAR Chevies.

Right you are! Let's pretend it's the yellow one...

Yeah, those guys were ok! I especially like their "Abbey Road" album...

You don't really have to mix paints. Between the gloss, satin and flat blacks out there from Testors, Tamiya, Krylon, etc., plus different gloss and dull clears from a bunch of manufacturers, you can create pretty much any gloss level of black that you'll need. If you want to mix your own, that's fine... but not really necessary.

Yeah, I know. But the question is, why different fronts and rears? Shouldn't they both be the same???

Geez, those are some awfully clean and shiny wheels on a total rustbucket...

Just one question: Why do the front and rear seats have different upholstery???

I agree exactly... sort of. Scratchbuilding is literally building a part or parts "from scratch"... from raw materials like sheet plastic, rod, tubing, wood, brass, aluminum, whatever. But kitbashing is using existing parts from two or more kits to create something different than any of the original donor kits. If you're just using the parts from a single kit in a way that's different from the instructions, to me that's not "kitbashing." There has to be at least two different kits involved, IMO.

Penetanguishene??? Wow, that's a mouthful!

Thanks, J! BTW... it was seeing your post on building a slot car Woody that got me going on this!

Art, I had a feeling you'd be the one to answer this! Thanks for the info. I was assuming the wheelbases would be the same, based on looking at photos of both, but it's nice to have a definitive answer! But while I have your attention... is it correct that '31 Woodies had no glass other than the windshield?

Does anyone know if a 1931 Ford Woody's wheelbase was the same as the 1931 Panel delivery van? I bought a Minicraft 1/16 panel van that I want to transform into a Woody... just wondering if the wheelbase would be the same?

Since I won't be able to access a computer Monday morning, I'll start ROM early this time. What do you say to this one? The answer: REAL!

Acetate sheet can be found in the art aisle of Hobby Lobby or any craft store or art supply store. It comes in different thicknesses and is usually sold in a pad, like a pad of paper. The only problem is that it doesn't really bend well in more than one direction. If you need to make a piece of "glass" that's flat (like side windows) or only curves in one direction (like on a '55 Chevy windshield), the acetate works great... but it doesn't work as well for compound curves. Use the damaged kit glass as a template to cut out the new "glass" from the acetate sheet. You can "pre-curve" the acetate by rolling it around a paint brush handle or x-acto knife handle. Attach it to the inside of the body by taping it into place with thin strips of masking tape, then adding tiny dabs of clear 5-minute epoxy around the perimeter with a toothpick (obviously, be careful so that the epoxy doesn't show from the outside). Once the epoxy has set up, carefully remove the tape strips and there you are... a new windshield! The nice thing about acetate is that one, it's thin and more to scale in thickness than kit "glass", and two, it doesn't have the weird optical distortion that some kit glass has. It basically looks more like real glass.

Easy there, Bill. We have to take George into the 21st Century slooooooowly. Today was a big day for old George. He's probably wiped out from all that fancy computer stuff he learned today. Better give him a few days to recover before he tries the bulk uploader...