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Looks like it's sitting on the showroom floor. That's great.

Like you, I have never cared about vinyl roofs in scale or 1:1. The one that I have done was a '50 Ford Crestliner. I had good luck using Rust-Oleum Textured paint. It has an almost to rough finish for vinyl, but with a light coat of flat or semi it looks good. Being a rough finish you need to remember to paint it last as masking would be very difficult.

I have used aluminum tubing from a local hardware store. You can cut it any length you want, and use a nail to flair the end as needed. Have seen tubing at Hobby Lobby also.

Lookout Dad, there's a new Modeler in the house.

Henry would be proud, and so should you. Looks fantastic.

Only one car left in my garage now with a manual transmission. We have an '09 Jeep Wrangler, and the dealer changes the oil and filter for not much more than it would cost me to do it myself, and I don't worry about disposing of the old oil. The only problem is that they don't have any lot boys who can drive a stick. I think it is partly a generational problem. When I was first learning to drive that's about all we had. If you wanted a performance car, and that would be me, a stick was always faster then the automatics of the day. As automatics improved and the demand increased more and more people just bought automatics. Now you have a couple of generations of drivers with little or no experience with a manual transmission. Manual transmission owners do need to be careful about who they let drive a stick shift because many people find just driving a real challenge without worry about a clutch.

Another thought might be to look at the stock 2bbl. setup on the '50 Oldsmobile. I know it's supposed to be an Oldsmobile engine, but the Olds and Cadillac look very close and a lot of detail will he hidden by the air cleaner. Then use the 3-2's on the Olds.

This is really nice. What engine did you use ? Valve covers look like Pontiacs. If I could afford a 1:1 Olds this is how I'd want it to look.

I guess I'm just to old. I really don't get this Rat Rod thing. I'm not dissing it, just don't get it. In my early years I had a few Hot Rods. I've had a T-Bucket, but it was shinny and went like stink. I have had many sedan fully enclosed type cars which are my personal favorites. I had the good fortune to be of an age when you could go into a dealership and order a car that could turn 13s and below right off the showroom floor. While there was times when I had to put together an old car with what ever I could scrap up and paint it with Krylon flat black spray cans, it still looked good and functioned as an every day driver. I look at Rat Rods as a kind of an expression of one sense of humor or something.

Hemmings has several magazine covering cars and trucks also. They are all the best, and must for research.

Could you give me the exact address for the Wheel Horse sight? I have a neighbor who has had on for years and still uses it to plow his driveway. He should enjoy looking in on the sight.

What ever you do, make sure it will really serve your needs ? Then how much is really worth to you ? How much room is it going to take up on your work area ? It's worth what ever some one is willing to pay and what ever this guy is willing to sell it for.

I always struggled with making an exhaust system if I couldn't use the kits exhaust. I saw something either in a magazine or here on the forum where they used 3.2 mm or 2.4 mm Plastruct and put 1.57 mm Brass Rod in to hold any bending so that the plastic didn't kink. I'll leave the Brass Rod a little longer so that I can drill and glue into the kits exhaust system.

Ford Country Squires as I recall all had the wood trim either real or simulated.. The only 2 door Country Squires that I recall were the '49 thru '51. Now there were plenty of 2 door wagons built from '52 until about '60 or '61, but they were steel bodied. Now that's not to say that some dealer or owner didn't ad wood trim on their own.

Very nice ! Tread lightly.

Outstanding in every way.

Hello again Tom, On your frame, if you're not to far along. You could try very hot water soak and gentle bending of the frame. Since you have a real F250, look at how Ford mounted the rear springs. Can the spring shackles be moved on the frame ? Could you use blocks on the springs to raise the ride height ? It all depends on what you want it to look like. It should fun to build a model of your own truck.

I'd like to see how well the 3M product has worked for you. I have some I have used for its intended use, and it worked great. But I think this tape will be 1. To thick, 2. Lots of luck removing the part you cut away from the model without damaging the paint. Thank you for the tip on the artist blending tool.

I have tried all of these methods with good results. But what I have found that works the best for me is to use a small bolt with washers to hold the tire as if in a vice. With double nuts to hold the tire in place on the bolt. The threaded end of the bolt is then tightened in a drill chuck and turn the tire at low speed against a finger nail file. Please be careful as the higher the speed of the drill the harder it is to control.

Really like what you're doing here. I have a question about your bed rails. In the one mockup picture it looks as if your bed rails are level and the cab is leaning forward. I think it would look best if the bed and the cab were on the same plane. Most flat beds I've seen have the bed covering the rear tires, some times with small fenders in front and rear of the tire to keep the splash from going every where. What kind of side rails are you thinking of if any ? Have you thought about a tool box and or tire rack ? Keep up the good build.

There has been a lot of teases over the last couple of years about a car using one of Fiat's chassis with either a turbo 4 or even a V6. The concepts I remember seeing look very much like these you see here. The SEMA Gallery - 1 above looks the closest I remember being called the Baracuda. The April issue of Hot Rod magazine has a short interview with Ralph Gilles, CEO of the SRT brand for Chrysler. In it he is asked about the future of the next Challenger and other models. Gives you a little more insight into what manufactures are facing and what Chrysler may or may not be doing in time to come.

That is just to cool. Showed to the wife, she liked it so well she's even thinking we may need one of those. Yhaa, New toy time. .

Outstanding Barn Find. Better call "Mad Max" and tell him you found his old ride.

Another place to check is Office Depot.

How soon we forget just how good the models of today really are.