Ramfins59

Blair, that is looking really nice so far. Excellent scratchbuilding on the box.

Richard, that came out looking just gorgeous.

Hope you get better soon John.

Thank you Carl and Ray. I'm straying a little from my 1950's builds with this project. At the moment I actually have 3 different models in the works, which is unusual for me. I have this one, which just landed back on the bench since I found the wheels, the '67 Cadillac for my brother, which I had to strip and have yet to repaint (but I did finish up the interior), and the stalled '54 Dodge (stalled because at final assembly time I had to start modifying the interior/dashboard to get it to seat properly into the body. Some dremel grinding of the top side of the resin chassis is also necessary for the chassis to properly sit up into the body.)

I have no idea Ray. Thanks Carl. Now I've only got another half dozen cars to get to complete the "Class of '56."

Wow. D'ya think Jay Leno would be interested..??

This is something that has been on and off my workbench for a little over 10 years..!!! What lit the fire for this project was a picture I saw in an issue of Custom Rodder many years ago. It is a wild, futuristic Custom '48 Buick believe it or not. While the front of the car did nothing for me, I thought that the rear end just looked so cool (different strokes for different folks I suppose). This is the car that lit the fire... (The pictures were taken at different times which explains the 2 different colors.) I chose the AMT Blackforce Slammer for the basis of this project and added a small fin to the rear of the body, and reshaped the rear window openings. I filled in the holes in the top of the hood and also the holes for the taillights and license area at the bottom rear and the trunk lines. I wasn't happy with the grille area but couldn't decide what else to use there or how I should change it. I also couldn't decide on parts to use as starting points for the rear's center exhaust port and taillight pods. I knew I'd have to use a bunch of bondo or putty along with some plastic pieces. In addition, I had a specific type of wheel that I wanted to use on the front of this car but I could never locate them. The car and bits and pieces that I was finding for it over the years sat in a box off to the side of my workbench in the "To Do" pile that I'm sure we all have. When the Custom version of the '36 Ford came out by Revell, I confiscated the custom, dropped headlight pods from the coupe version to use as the taillight pods on this car. I then found a fluted aluminum carburetor stack which, when polished up, would be perfect for the center exhaust port to be mounted in a round plastic base. After stewing over the grille area I decided to trim off the top, curved and pointed sides of the Blackforce's grille and I CA glued them in place on the body. They were sanded smooth once the glue dried. I then chose the chrome '40 Ford standard grille which fit the opening with a very minimal amount of tweaking. Finally, while searching EBAY I ran across a 1/25 scale diecast '53 Cadillac kit by JADA that had the exact set of wheels that I'd spent such a long time looking for, and those wheels were "extra" parts. The kit only cost me $16, plus, the purchase was supposedly benefiting Disabled Vets.... That seemed like a win-win deal to me. This is how the body looks sitting on the chassis with the wheels mounted. It will be sitting a tad lower to the ground once everything is properly "snapped" together. It will also look better once all of the bodywork is done and it is in primer... While I originally had "grandiose" plans for this car (opening and hinging the hood, installing a resin straight eight engine with a turbo, opening and hinging the doors, creating a full interior) I think that after all this time I'll be more than happy to just finish it up as a Curbside. I am still undecided on a color for the car, although I was thinking of maybe some silvery shade.

Today the mailman delivered a 1956 Buick promo that I got on EBAY. I'll have to replace one of the vent windows, but it's added to the "pile" of 1950's cars that I have yet to build.

I'd say just put it in paint stripper and start over.

I sent an email to the guys putting on the Tricon 2014 IPMS Show on March 22nd, asking what the breakdown in the Automotive Classes would be. This is the response that I received; "We use open judging so we don't have separate categories for each different type of Automotive subject. There will be placards on the tables to help place similar types of models together. We are looking forward to having the show this year. See you on the 22nd." Based on this response it looks like we (car modelers) won't know until we get there how they will have things separated.

Manuel, that looks really great. Excellent scratchbuilding.

Doug, I clicked on your Link, but no pictures...???

Thank you all very much for your kind, encouraging comments.

Sounds good Jeff. Seems like it's less than a half hour ride from me. How do they split up the cars, or do they "lump" them all together as "Civilian Vehicles"..?? I haven't attende an IPMS Show in a very long time.

Great job Tom. Isn't it fun to sometimes build a car for someone..??

That is GREAT news John. I'm very happy for you. I hope you will be very happy at your new "Dream Job." Congratulations buddy.

Tom, you should tell that guy to stop in at NNL East so he can see how many people "don't build models anymore." I know that most of the people at the NNL wouldn't be his customers but he'd be able to see how wrong he is.

I'm really kind of bummed that I didn't go. My wife said afterwards that she's sorry she didn't just say "Let's go anyway... if the roads are that bad we'll just turn around and go back home." Now I'm wishing that she had. Oh well, there's always next year.

That's a cool idea Mike and it looks great.

Richard, that clearcoat is a knockout. Great job.

Darren, your theme work amazes me, especially with all the little doo-dads and parts that you find and incorporate into your builds. Great work.

What really irked me today was, after all the hype and gloom and doom reports about the 12 inches of snow we were supposed to get, and all the municipalities around here that couldn't get their road salt orders filled and/or delivered, I decided that I wouldn't have my wife drive me to the South Hills Modelers Assoc. Show today in Castle Shannon (a Pittsburgh area town) since it was already snowing when I got up at 7 AM. So later on in the day it stopped snowing and we got about an inch and a half total...!!!

Well it looks like Mother Nature is working against us today. The snow wasn't supposed to start until late in the day today, but I got up at 7 AM and it had already started, with a coating already on the ground. With predictions of up to a foot of the white stuff, and all the talk of road salt shortages, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and decided against having my wife drive me to the Show. It wouldn't be a good thing to possibly get stuck either on the road somewhere or at the Show in Castle Shannon. I'm usually not an alarmist but feel I made the right decision. After all, it's only a model show and my world wouldn't end if I didn't go.

That looks really nice Frank.

I had a quick and satisfying trade with Casey.