Harry P.

Ok, a quick history lesson first... so you guys know what the heck you're looking at. This is Stephenson's "Rocket" locomotive, built in the UK in 1829. It was actually an entry in a contest sponsored by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway Co. to find the best, most competent locomtotive design. The "Rocket" was not the first steam locomotive, but it was the first "modern" steam locomotive design, that is, wheels driven directly by pistons instead of geared cogwheel setups. This is actually the first design. The cylinders, mounted on an angle, were a problem. They gave the locomotive a bumpy, pounding ride as the pistons cycled. A subsequent redesign had the cylinders at only a very slight angle... almost horizontal, the way all steam engines had them ever since then. Since photography was only in its infancy back in the 1820s and still in the experimental stage, no photos of the "Rocket" exist. The current examples in various museums are all replicas created from original engineering drawings. Here is the kit. It's 1/26 scale (), from Minicraft: I made a display base for it. The ballast is from the model RR aisle of Hobby Lobby, glued down with a 50/50 Elmer's glue/water mix. The crossties and rail sections are included in the kit; I just detail-painted them. I added "coal" in the tender; it's the same ballast as I used on the track bed, only painted black. I also added real wood strips to the inside (unpainted) surfaces of the tender. The "brass" straps on the tank are BMF that I first painted by brush with Humbrol "Brass," then cut strips and applied to the model. The rest of the "brass" pieces were made by painting the kit plastic pieces first with Rustoleum "Metallic" brass, then toned down and given a more "aged" (unpolished) look with a wash of the Humbrol brass, thinned down. After painting, I added a little weathering here and there to give it a more realistic, less "showroom shiny" look.

Not exactly. I built a few truck kits when I was a kid, including the IMC(?) Dodge L700 tractor and a couple of big rig tractors, but this is the first truck model I've built in a loooooooooooong time!

A couple more... Now I need a load to haul!

I replaced the kit's plastic bumper with some more real wood and attached it to the mounting brackets with more of those antiqued brass pins. The tailgate really works; the hinges are brass hinges I found in the dollhouse section of Hobby Lobby (I painted them black and added a little red oxide for "character"). The chains are from the Hobby Lobby jewelry aisle (I drybrushed the chain with a little "red oxide" acrylic craft paint to weather them a little. The hooks are brass wire painted "steel" and bent to shape, the rest of the hardware is scratchbuilt out of brass wire and styrene sheet. I added mudflaps made of styrene sheet and painted a sort of dirty dark gray (they're darker than they look here in this photo). Now I have to figure out what kind of cargo I'm going to load onto it... Oh, I almost forgot! I cut apart the front axle, and made scratchbuilt spindles to give me poseable steering.

Here's the kit I started with; it's the reissue of the Monogram 1926 Mack AC, but instead of the Texaco markings the kit used to have, they substituted goofy generic decals (to avoid a licensing fee, I'm sure). I doubt a tanker would have "G&L Express Trucking Company" markings on it!!! This kit has been issued as a tanker, a dump truck and a stake bed truck, but this is the version I had on hand. I didn't want to do a tanker, so I added my own scratchbuilt stake bed. The stake bed body is basswood that I stained with Minwax "Dark Walnut" stain... because what looks more like real wood than real wood… right? The fasteners attaching the floor to the main wooden structural beams (that are attached to the top of the chassis rails) are brass pins from a wooden model ship kit (they're used to attach the hull's planking, but they looked pretty good as fasteners here). I "antiqued" them by soaking them in ammonia until they turned a nice, crusty brown/black. I also used them to attach the signboards to the side of the bed. The "A.B.Reese" signage was done by first staining the sign board, then painting it white. Then I used some die-cut self-adhesive vinyl lettering to do the words and numbers, sprayed black over it, then removed the lettering to reveal the white paint underneath. The cab is painted with gray acrylic craft paint, then I shot some Testors Transparent Black Window Tint over it to give the cab a dirty, kind of grungy look. Used but not abused. I also did a black wash to bring out the engraved details a little. I cut apart the kit's windshield frame and reassembled it (with some more of those brass pins used as hinges) so that I could make the windshield panels open. The frame is painted with ocher acrylic craft paint and then some more Minwax "Dark Walnut" stain. The rearview mirrow is scratchbuilt out of brass wire and a styrene disc, that I beveled to look more like a mirror housing. The mirror face is BMF. The chassis and most of the engine was painted metallic dark gray, then a black wash was applied to everything to give a sort of dark metallic look to it.

They're stacked one on top of the other. The lower one is in a round recess.

I vote for "A."

I wish Pocher was still in existence!

Yeah, there's not a real long line of volunteers for the job!

Dave, that's a really nice collection of Beetles!

Holy freaking cow! Let's just say that you are the Leonardo DaVinci of model cars (and bikes!). "Amazing" doesn't even come close to describing your work.

John... when a builder of your caliber tells me he likes my work, well... that means a lot to me! Thank you very much!

Actually it was nice and sunny today. Really! No kidding!!!

No, you didn't miss it. I just don't have any way of photographing it on a clean background. The thing is huge... I would need some sort of photo sweep and a fairly serious lighting set up, neither of which I have...

Maybe it's just me... But this seems like the car these guys would have driven...

Because I'm getting a little tired of having to do that all the time... I figured maybe if I this time I DON'T just be quiet and move another post to the right place without saying something, at least some of you might take notice and maybe post in the right place next time. It's nothing against Steve personally... just a general heads up to everyone. We have the forum divided into specific sections for a reason, and that is so that you guys can easily find what you're interested in without having to search all over the place.

I prefer that you post things in the appropriate place. We have a "Contests and Shows" section for a reason! "Forum for posting on line model car and truck contests, announcing national and regional shows, and for show coverage."

Do you realize that we have a separate section of the forum called "Contests and Shows?" Guess what it's for?

Wow! That's some mighty impressive scratchbuilding!

No, we're counting 2 spares that are attached to the rear of the car.

What a cool car! Man, they sure don't make them like that anymore...

Remember, don't post any hints or answers here. PM me with year, make and model. The answer: 1957 (or maybe '58) Tatra 603-1

What's a "Tom's Toyota kit?" A resin kit?

Yeah, you don't see any images just by clicking on the link... you have to know the secret handshake...