Ramfins59

Thank you all very much for your great comments. Bill, that car got an average of 16 MPG. It only had a 20 gallon tank and I used to have to fill it twice a week if I drove it to work every day. You are so right about cruising in that much cool...!!! The car turned heads wherever I drove it. Yeah Tom, I'll bet he would like the ZZT Dodge.

Thanks guys. I emailed pictures of this finished model to my younger brother in New Hampshire and he replied, asking me where the curb feelers were..!!! I had them on the real car and totally forgot to add them to the model. I'll put them on today.

Thanks very much everyone.

Ira, that just looks sooooo cool. Great job as usual.

Thank you very much guys. Your encouraging words are very much appreciated. Bruce, you are right about that, and I think that the Dodge's fins were more "stylish" too. Tom V, should I put a 1/25 scale bloodstain on the driver side lake pipe flame? (Tom is an excellent mechanic and he redid the rear drum brakes on my 1:1 Dodge years ago. While removing the tire and brake drum he scraped his forearm on the lake pipe flame cap and still wears the scar from it.) Tom G., No that is NOT Hitler, LOL. It is a resin figure I found in a box and he has a cigar in his mouth,,,,,, That's not a mustache.

About 30 years ago, my wife and I went on one of those whirlwind "package" vacations...... 4 days in the San Francisco area and 3 days in Vegas. When we landed in Vegas they wheeled the stairs up to the plane so everyone could get off. When I stepped out of the air conditioned plane onto the top platform of the stairs I got hit with the 114 degree heat blast..!! I turned around and went back inside the plane. The stewardess asked "Sir, what are you doing?" I said "It's too darn HOT out there so I think I'll stay here..!!" The wife and I made the BIG mistake of spending the afternoon in the pool at our hotel (The Frontier). We both got the worst sunburn either of us have ever had... It was actually sun poisoning. We couldn't go to dinner or the Show we had tickets for that evening. We wound up calling room service to send up a bunch of vinegar that we were pouring over each other in the bathtub of our room. We smelled like salads that night.

Sunday is the better day for me because I don't drive anymore, and my wife has off on Sundays so she can play chauffeur for me.

Thank you all so very much for all of your wonderful and kind comments. They are sincerely appreciated.

No Casey, it was a 1/48 scale '42 Ford......really tiny compared to a 1/25 scale car.

Never mind, I should have clicked on your link and read what you wrote BEFORE I asked those questions...

Sean, that really looks great. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it, and how much did you pay for it...??

Once I got the glass and the completed interior installed the rest of final assembly went well and fairly quickly. I'm happy with the way that the paint color turned out. It's as close as I could get to matching the color of the real car going by the pictures I have. To recap, this is a Johan, curbside promo that my buddy John (Forum member Fastback340) gave to me. (THANKS A BIG BUNCH JOHN...!!!) The colors are Floquil Depot Buff on the body, and Model Master Wimbledon White on the fins. About a tenth of a mile of BMF took care of the chrome trim. The grille was blackwashed and polished PE headlight half moon covers were added to headlights that were coated with off white acrylic along with the turn signal lenses Chrome wipers, spotlights, mirrors and antenna's are from my parts stash. Modelhaus' '59 Dodge spinner hubcaps are mounted in parts box whitewall tires with sanded treads. The lake pipes are from Bob Dudek with pieces of PE flames added to the end caps. The promo's taillight bezels were cut off and chromed resin ones from Modelhaus were installed with '59 Caddy bullet taillight lenses. I made the license plates using dry transfers and PE frames. The rear exhaust pipes are pieces of polished aluminum tubing with flat black paint applied inside. I now present to you, The U.S.S. TUNABOAT My buddy, Tom Valenta, gave me the "Tunaboat" license plate frame a long time ago. and here's a shot I took of the car using the display case backdrop that I recently made. I've been wanting to make this model for a very long time and I'm very pleased with this end result. This car will now sit in a clear plastic display case in my living room. I only wish that the real car had looked as good as this model does. Thanks for looking in on this completed build, Any and all comments are welcomed and truly appreciated.

That is a very nice looking car Chad.

Steve, that is an absolutely gorgeous car. As usual your skill in building Customs is fantastic...... and your detail work is phenomenal. The engine and interior are awesome. My hat is off to you sir.

Bill, that is looking really good.

Al, that looks really great. Nice job on the interior.

That is a cool color combo.

Thanks for your great comments everyone. Tom, I've never heard of winter or cold weather static affecting glue but I guess anything is possible. It sure is aggravating when it happens though. I'm hoping to have this car finished by Sunday so I can take it to the South Hills Show for the Curbside Class.

OK. The interior is done......stick a fork in it...... YEAY..!!! First, I tried sanding all of the molded detail from the seats (this is a resin interior by Modelhaus). I was able to remove most of it and then painted the entire bucket, dashboard and steering wheel with Tamiya Dark Earth spray and when that dried I sprayed it all with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Clear. Next I flocked the carpet and rear tray Brown. After that I brushed on some Floquil Depot Buff to the side panels and steering wheel for a little contrast. I glued on strips of PE metal sprue to the side panels for a touch of bling and added PE speaker grilles to the rear tray. A PE piece was also added to the rear of the front passenger seat for the swing out ash tray that was on the real car. I drilled holes for resin door handles and window cranks (by ReplMinCoMD) which I painted chrome silver. I added PE "foot" pedals to the gas pedal and headlight high beam floor button (I had them in the real Tunaboat). I also added a black painted handle to a piece of a straight pin, which is glued into a small hole drilled in the floor, for an emergency brake release handle that the 1:1 car had. The dashboard is detailed with BMF and chrome silver paint and a round,flat shirt pin head for a glove box door button. The speedo gauge is from my parts stash and the speedo and other gauges are covered in clear epoxy drops for lenses. A round shirt pin head was added to the steering wheel for a necker knob (which I had on the 1:1 car) and a straight piece of a pin was used for a turn signal lever. A dash mounted mirror finished it all off. Here's how it looks; I'm pretty pleased with the way this turned out. The real car's interior should only have looked this good. Thanks for looking in on this. Now back to the rest of the car. We're almost there..!!

Today was one of those modeling days where some things go well and some things don't. The interior is painted, the carpet is flocked, the door handles & window cranks are in and the dashboard and steering wheel are painted and detailed. While gluing in the glass a drop of CA glue flew onto the inside of the windshield....... I spent an hour or so polishing that out. I attempted to use some Scale Motorsports upholstery decals on the seats. I made patterns with masking tape and cut the decal material to size. The first piece went on fine. The second piece wrinkled up and tore... so did the third piece. I took off the first piece and just threw them away...... No upholstery decals. This is the third time I've tried using those decals without success.... and it will be the last time. I sanded the tire treads and started gluing the wheels together. Tomorrow is another day.

Thanks guys. Today I'll be continuing work on the interior. I finished sanding the engraving off the seats, sawed a split in the front seatback, and glued some small pieces of half round plastic to the side panels to simulate front and rear armrests. I'll be priming and painting it today. If all goes well I'll hopefully show some pictures of the progress.

Geeze I can't wait to get my hands on a couple of these.

Richard, that is looking really good. Great job.

Nice stuff Ira.

That's looking really great Jeff.