Ramfins59

Great looking model Tony. I love the color combo. I've got a couple of these kits and the doors always kept me from working on it... I'm thinking of just adding some plastic to the door edges and gluing them shut.

That really looks great. It's cool too see such a different subject for a lowrider... I love it.

Thanks again everyone for all the encouraging words and all the great suggestions. I'll be getting back to this build now that the Turkey Day travelling and festivities are over. I'm pretty much set with the body except for taillights. I started cutting out the molded in exhaust & battery box panels on the AMT chassis (slow work to scribe them out with the back of an XActo knife) and then I have filing and sanding cleanup to do and then gluing on sheet plastic. Lots of decisions still to make on the engine, wheels, color, interior, etc... But Dave is "speaking" to me through my memories of his likes,building styles and methods and I think I'll manage to get his "seal of approval" on the eventual finished product. I just wish I could sit with him again and have some of our infamous "imagineering" sessions.

Jim, just make sure that when you finish the guy.......... he pulls his pants up......!!!!!! Although it might look pretty funny with his pants coming off as he's flying out of the cannon......LOL.

John.... When you get into working on a project you certainly don't let any grass grow under your feet while working on it do you...??? You are definitely "out of your mind" with getting all the little details done.... Out of your mind in a GREAT way though... Keep it up man... we ALL love it.

OK... I'll play along on this too... First up... '34 Ford Pickup Next is a '59 Dodge Next is a '31 Ford Phaeton with a '32 grille Now a '32 Ford Roadster A '32 Ford Roadster Highboy A '32 Ford Chopped Sedan Highboy A '48 Ford Convertible And finally a '58 Impala

You know John... I was actually entertaining thoughts of a flattie from one of the Revell kits.....(the '48 Ford Chopped Coupe or the "32...???). along with steelies, baby moons & trim rings on big & little whitewalls. Plus, Dave used to really like flat paints on Rods (he called it "suede") so I was trying to decide on a color... I have some Black Gold paints which need a clearcoat to make them shiny... Both Dave and I always thought that '36 Fords looked good in either Lavender or Purple so maybe that will be the way I'll go on this...

I also agree with Pat. I don't watch ANY of the ridiculous "reality" shows... They are NOT real reality... just stupidly presented drama BS... I also don't watch any of the laugh-tracked sitcom shows... The last sitcom show that I actually enjoyed was All In The Family. I enjoy the History channel, Velocity, Speed (when they show something good), Football and movies... And I really wish there was a way to get rid of all the blasted commercials...!!! I am SO GLAD that the elections are over and we don't have to sit through all the mud-slinging political ads. Thank technology for the MUTE button on our remotes...!!!

Thanks for the encouraging words guys. Roger, I added the front splash aprons as pictured on the 1:1 example. I may narrow the rear inner fenderwells as you suggest, or I may just thin down the edges so they are not as noticeable, but I'm also thinking that it all may blend together once it is all painted the same color as the body.

I believe that both Model Car Garage and Detail Master sell photo-etched brake rotor sets.

Thanks Fred & Jim. I'm hoping to get this "right" even though I'm not totally sure of what my buddy's vision was for this build... I'll use the things that I know he liked (like traditional Hot Rod styles).

Back in 2004 I lost a very close, dear friend to cancer. Dave Dickash was only 52 when he left this world, succumbing to prostate cancer which had metastasized throughout his body. Dave was a great modeler who liked to build cars with shock value, putting in engines you wouldn't normally put in certain cars. For instance he built cars like a Bullet-Nosed Studebaker wagon with a Jet engine.... a T-Bucket Roadster with a Turbine engine... One of the cars he said that he always wanted to try to build was a '36 Ford Highboy, but he said that first of all couldn't figure out how to fill in the rear fender openings, and, he only wanted to use a photo-etched grille. Well, I think of Dave often and this '36 Ford Highboy thing has been going through my mind a lot. I finally googled it and came up with the following example... Using these reference pictures as a guide, I dug out the AMT '36 Ford Coupe kit from my stash... I have an MCG '36 Ford PE grille which is in 1/25 scale, so I couldn't use the Revell '36 Ford Roadster kit which is 1/24 scale... I cut the fenders and running boards from the fender unit and am adding some sheet styrene to the front edges to make the apron piece as pictured on the 1:1 car. I filled in the front & rear notches for the bumper brackets, added a license housing to the rear, glued in the rumble seat lid, and cut off most of the coupe top, gluing on the cowl and windshield part to the body. This is how it looks so far... Dave never mentioned anything about a color for the car, or what kind of engine to put in it, or what wheels to run on... I've gotta come up with something for all that as time goes on here. I'm thinking of cutting out the molded in exhaust from the chassis so I can do dual exhausts... but that will come after I get the body done. Updates will follow as I come up with decisions on all of this... Thanks for looking everyone... wish me luck on this build.

John, we're all prepared to be blown away with your anticipated work on this project.... and I'm sure that YOU will have absolutely NO PROBLEM with the non-existent inner door panels on this kit. Do you think it will take you more than a couple of weeks to finish this one up...??? We'll all be watching this one for sure.

Rob I think overall this entire build is pretty cool... Your treasure map paint job fits the theme of the build, even if it may not be appealing to all viewers. I can't wait to see the entire thing finished. Keep up the good work.

No thanks necessary Rob, I was glad to be able to help... maybe some day I'll need something and someone will be able to help me out... hopefully what goes around, comes around. And no...... no relation here to either Charles OR Marilyn Manson...LOL.

Great job Bruce. These cars look great stock.

I'm just blown away with the detail that John puts in his builds... Makes me want to just step on my own models... LOL. Could you just imagine if John Teresi and Bill Geary worked together on a model... The detailing and working features would be mind blowing.

I've never tried any homemade solutions for making wood look aged... I have used stuff called Weatherall that I picked up at a hobby shop which gives wood an aged look... just dip it in the bottle and it works great. Not expensive stuff either.

Great article. I can't wait to get my 18 month old grandson into the hobby. His favorite toys so far have been the Snapfast Slammer cars that I built for him to roll around. I wish I could find more of them to build and give to him. For Christmas he's getting a Playskool car set with a looping track, and an electric powered Lightning McQueen ride on car. I can't wait to see him enjoy those on Christmas morning...!!!

It sometimes boils down to what the judges like... or don't like... One year I spent months working on a Pro Street '58 Chevy Sedan Delivery. It was a resin body from Art Anderson. I used the front half of an AMT '58 Impala chassis mated to the rear of a Pro Street Superbee chassis. I detailed a blown BBC engine with wiring, linkage, hoses, etc... & added a PE electric fan, aluminum radiator (made by a friend), a radiator overflow can, washer fluid container, wiper motor, master cylinder/booster with brake lines, a PE grille, painted it Candy Apple Red... I really went to town on it. At the same time, I was just "throwing together" a '37 Ford Cabriolet kit with the trailer. I detailed the engine with wiring & heater hoses and flocked the interior in 4 colors... It took a little over a month to finish it. I took both models to the MassCar Model Show (1996) and the '58 Sedan Delivery didn't even place...... The '37 Ford took First Place Street Rod and Best Interior...!!! I was blown away, and kind of disappointed that the '58 didn't do anything after I had put so much time into it. Now, I never expect any of my models to place in a show because you just never know what the judges will or won't like. If they get something... it's cool... if not, that's cool too... but I'm usually always happy with the way the models turn out when completed, and that is all that really matters.

That "former First Mate" looks pretty cool Rob... I can't wait to see him in the Merc.

My grandparents on my side never had any cars. My wife's parents, from what she remembers, had a '48 Dodge, a '67 Ford Custom (6 cyl.), and a '76 (I think) Maverick. My wife & I have owned a '67 Ford Galaxy, '74 Chrysler Newport, '71 Plymouth Satellite (I loved that car), '71 Plymouth Scamp, '78 Olds Cutlass Wagon, '71 Maverick, a Chevy Celebrity (don't remember what year), '86 Caprice Classic, '96 Dodge Spirit, '02 Hyundai, '10 Toyota Camry, and of course I can't forget my baby.... a '59 Dodge Coronet (Man I miss that car...).

Beautiful model Drew. Great job.

Sorry to hear of your accident John. Hope all is well with you and Amy.

Welcome to the madness Gordon.