PatW

White or silver wheels, or even black would look better with a blue bodyshell.

We had three of the real ones of these in the family, mostly 190 diesels. I've built two of the models and had the same problem with each of them. The rear window just sits in the space and is difficult to fix. Both were oversize and had to be shaved down and then had to stand the car on it's nose and try and use clear fix or superglue to hold it there. Yours looks superb, just like the real ones that I saw parked nearby when I marshalled at the F1 GP at Silverstone just 5 miles away in the day. Well done. We done have the real ones anymore as they have changed the latest design to boy-racer hatchbacks that don't have the space we need. We sold them and bought new Renault Capturs.

Thanks guys. Yes stray, having holey, rusty bodywork here is a definite NO NO! When the annual (all cars over 3 years old) Ministry of Transport Test ( MOT) comes up and there's any hint of rust it's 'Off the road' and get it fixed. In some places even rust spots on the paintwork is dodgy. You mentioned bullet holes, a good few years ago there was a gangster theme going around, notices in car windows 'You tucha my car I puncha your face' The car accessory shops were selling bullet hole decals/sticker's in ones or sheets! Also no uncovered tyres and beetle engines in buggies ( Fan belts and pullies flying round) no moving parts uncovered! Some have got round the rusty look by painted patina or acid dipping the bodyshell (or just panels) and spray coating with gloss or matt varnish. Also the Vinyl Wrappers are looking at that patina effect as well. So just coat the panels or whole body the a rusty looking wrap!

Just delivered from Japan a car that was racing in Europe in endurance sporstcars the same year that I was married 1968. The Mazda Cosmo Sport.............

As I'm trying to extend my casting skills I'm watching a fair few 'YouTube' videos on the subject. On one or more when the beginning of the process begins the narrator talks about 'warming' the flexi clay so it adheres to the plastic bodyshell and is easier to shape. I'm finding that by the time I'm nearly all the way around the shell the first lot of clay is drying out and falling away! How is this done, does anyone know please?

Cheers guys, yes my method needs to improve. On searching Google for rat rods (and there are hundreds) I notice that a vast majority have a large percentage of their original paint from the factory and show rust spots or in fact rusty holes in certain raised areas, around wheel arches or the bottoms of doorswhere this would normally form/appear in reality. I need to focus on that more next time

This will be number 7 ( plus my Dakar Offroad /Purple that I have already built) and be used to extend my skills of resin casting to develop a 4 seater on a standard length beetle chassis/floorpan, and produce a 6 wheeler as well! This was bought from Omnimodels in the USA to me in the UK in a very short time of 6 days, the best shipping time so far from US suppliers!

Cheers Rob, the other problem is that we don't see many American cars/ trucks here so we don't now what or where the mold lines are or aren't!

This my first attempt at a rat rod! I bought a box of spares from ebay here in the UK. Included in it was the Ford body parts and nothing else relating to it. So I sourced, wheels, tyres, seats, dash, steering wheel, head and tail lights from my parts boxes, made the alloy tube grill, wiper and door handles from wire, shortened the pick up bed and cut the windows from thin retail acetate. I painted it with a mixture of red, red/brown,black, silver and green all matt...

Hi again Rambenna, yes all but the Manx Purple I've just finished.

Thanks guys, look forward to seeing your builds Michael.

Yes Jurgen, very nice indeed. I remember these when I was a rally marshall in the day, very quick car with a relatively small engine, all down to the plastic/fibreglass bodyshell!

Great stuff Scott I look forward to seeing it on here!

Yea go on search one out and chop the roof off it!

Yep Scott, I thought of that with the full detail version, but this being the quickbuilder there's no interior or engine/fuel tank.

Yes Gary good question! It's all about copyright noted for the kit. It's the same on all of them (clear/white/yellow/red all on the inside of the hardtop). That must have been part of the copyright agreement that one specific mould must carry it. Yes I looked on Ted's website for the alloy spun rims and photoetch centres along with the rear resin paddle type tyres and skinny rubber tyres for the front.

Yes Dave it may well be, I wondered why it went round corners funny! Luckily enough they slide off OK. Yes I just looked the tread points towards the front but the smooth section is on the outside (!) whereas the right hand one as we look at it in the photo has the smooth area inwards!. Thanks Dave and Dan for your comments.

I had delivered today from the USA with the help of jb welda a new resin Baja Bug Transkit manufactured by Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland. They suggest the Tamiya VW Beetle kit as donor, that I haven't got. I have a Revel VW Beetle but it may not be as good a fit quality. But I will check tomorrow!

Thanks guys, yes I think they ought to offer just a clear shell with all the other bits in just white and chrome plastic.

Thanks guys, I'm out in the cabin again today looking for bits to build a rat '50's pickup!

Thanks Carl.

Very good indeed. I haven't seen any of those here in the UK.

The sun has just pierced through the kitchen window!

I started this a week or so ago. As it is in a see through plastic I've added a chrome tape rally style stripe to the body/bonnet and lift off roof panel. From Teds Model Marketplace I've added alloy spun centreline style wheels, Rubber ribbed skinny front tyres, resin paddle style rear tyres. Also adding haberdashery pin heads as front wheel bolts. I've painted the chrome engine fan housing and chrome tape covered pulley cover, clear blue acrylic and plug wiring. I've also covered the top and bottom of the floorpan in chrome tape. Modified the exhaust, widened and lengthened the rear bash plate. The seats, rear luggage area and steering wheel rim are painted red /brown. As the fuel tank can bee seen through the body it is left chromed under a large race type filler. This is the last (sob sob!) of my eight Manx Builds. Until I think of another theme to buy some more!

I started this a few days ago. I've changed the colour, wheels and tyres and added decals. The colour is rattle can Plasti-Kote Metalic Red, the wheels Watanabe spoked, which are normally seen on Mark 1 & 2 Ford Escort Rally Cars.