Ace-Garageguy

That's a beauty for sure. Loving the old Corvette side coves. Great look.

It's not uncommon for people to claim other people's work. I've seen it from kindergarten up until now, and never understood how anyone would want to do that. But what I find particularly odd here is that Barris did enough really cool stuff over the years to not have to try to take credit for other's work to build himself up. He had plenty of cred from his own early accomplishments. But you know, the guy's dead. He can't defend himself, so why not just look at the stuff he DID do and let the rest of it drop?

Nice clean little rod. Very period-feel colors. Lots of good things about this one to like.

Outstandingly cool. Cooler than cool. Way cool. Man, I LOVE that thing !!!

READ AND FOLLOW THE MATERIAL DATA SHEETS FOR THE PRODUCT YOU'RE USING. Screwing around with hardener ratios will only lead to grief. After you've added the CORRECT, MEASURED amount of hardener, you MAY experiment with reducers to get a good consistancy to spray through your airbrush. Use the manufacturer's recommended ratio of hardener / activator to paint...ALWAYS.

Very interesting. Looking forward to seeing where all those parts end up...

Here's the Dodge...though not built as the Maverick SS car... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/58601-1964-lindberg-dodge-330/ The chassis and guts from these are also popular donors for similar-period Johan and Revell Mopars.

Man, that's pretty. Probably the best one of those I've ever seen.

Agent G got it, I see. Great quote...but I had to look it up.

So cool...really getting into watching this come together, sir.

From Brizio's site http://www.roybriziostreetrods.com/progress/mumford_ak/index.htm ..."Built by George Barris, Richard Peters and Blackie Gegian in 1957, the Ala Kart won the coveted AMBR trophy at the Oakland Roadster Show twice, in ’58 and ’59 "

I was lucky enough to meet him at a World Of wheels quite a few years back. I got to the show early to avoid the crowds, and he was pretty much alone at a program-signing table. He seemed like a nice enough guy, very small and old even then, and seemed genuinely happy when I told him I'd been a fan of his work since the late '50s, and that he'd influenced what I did with my life. He really DID build a lot of seriously cool stuff...and later on some awful stuff...and self-promotion was a large part of his schtick.

The '53 Ford is a little jewel. The Mopars are very nice too, as is the '61 Impala. The '34 Ford truck is a relabeled old AMT kit. The Cord, Auburn and '48 Lincoln are ancient Pyro tooling, and not great...but they make good starts for custom projects. The '53 Ford built by Marcos Cruz. Doesn't get much better than this...

X2. His early work was really pretty important in developing the whole custom car movement, and though his cars went a little off-the-rails in later years, he was major influence in the '40s, '50s and '60s. These are just flat kool...

Beautiful, beautiful work. I'm always impressed by the realism your models have in photos. Exceptional.

You might want to have a look at this to begin to get a basic understanding of what you're trying to do. http://www.instructables.com/id/LEDs-for-Beginners/ Also think about whether you want to run your LEDs in series or parallel. The simplified downside to running them in series is that if one fails (unlikely but possible), they all go out. In parallel, the wiring is more complicated, but if one fails, the rest still work. There's also the option of series-parallel, where several LEDs are run in series, and groups of series-run LEDs are run in parallel. There are pros and cons to each configuration, and the power requirements are different. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?80039-Series-or-parallel-for-multiple-LED-s To take High octane- Nick's suggestion further, try looking up circuits for multiple LED setups online in the model train forums. There should be plenty.

I believe a slightly more correct version of the quote is " If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man". Mark Twain

Next trick is to stitch in the new floor section, using the fender unit as a jig and clamps to keep it all aligned. Next shot is of new frame rail being glued into position. Three rails waiting to be cut above. Clamping to the sides of the fender assembly holds curve to match while glue sets up. After the joints are hardened on the first set of rails, the fender unit is popped off of the chassis, and another set of rails is laminated to the outside. Rails are made up of .050 styrene. Two thicknesses make the final rails about 2.5 scale inches wide...about right for many cars, but I may do one more. ....Now I'll do the final trim, put the wheels on, assemble the body shell and see if I got it right... Well, this is the stretched chassis from the bottom for the wheel test fit. Surprise surprise, the wheels are in the centers of the wheel openings, just like it was all made to go together. Next is the stretched chassis sitting on its feet with the completed rails. Center tunnel needs to be completed, but that's about it. Of course, all the C5 parts will simply assemble like the original kit, with the exception of lengthening the driveshaft the same amount as the chassis. Fender unit dropped over new chassis. Rails fit curvature of the body because it was used as a fixture to make them. Stance is exactly the same as in the original mockup. I reinforced the roof center and pillars with epoxy and fiberglass cloth to eliminate the chance of cracks coming through the bodywork, or in case I drop it. The roof on these always looks flat to me, so I've built the curve up just a little... ...and the rest of the chop is about done. There was more re-shaping of the original styrene roof sections than I'd thought there would be to get it to flow...

I put some photos of this up as part of the answer to a question over on another part of the board. There was some interest in it, so i thought I'd put more of it up over here. I started the build back in 2010, and it stalled (for no real reason) where it still is today. I've been looking it over and think it's time to put this one back in the "finish soon rotation" pile. When I was stuck on yet another build, I started wondering what the Monogram '37 slantback would look like chopped. This is about a scale 4" chop, about 1/8". Hacking in progress....This is a more challenging chop than earlier 1930s cars because of the compound curves on the roof. As usual for me, I lined everything up on the B-pillar and made up the C-pillar from bits of the original, while the front of the roof got stretched about 4 or 5 scale inches to line up the A-pillars. I was considering raking the windshield back more, but I don't think it needs it. The backlight was left in position, and leaned forward to mate with the lowered roof again. The roof and body still looked too bulky to me without a minor channel job. This is an 1/8 inch top chop, but only a 1/16 inch channel. For the channel, I only removed enough material to close up the gap at the running boards. Material was removed from the fender cutouts on the body shell to the black lines, as seen below. I just shaved enough to channel it between the fenders. With only this much taken out, everything still fits fine at the rear apron. I did have to trim the fenderline very slightly to fit in back. I tried a couple of different nose treatments while I was studying the proportions, too. This will be a contemporary street rod, with full Corvette C5 running gear, including the rear-mounted gearbox. No ideas on color, so all suggestions are welcome. Maybe the 2004 Corvette ZO6 dark metallic blue, dark tinted windows, corvette door handles, and Vette taillights frenched into the rear deck, down low. I started to fit the C5 guts to the '37 frame but later decided just to adapt the entire chassis to the '37 body shell instead. Chassis is too short by about 1/2 inch, front crossmember is in the way, and chassis is too wide too. Seems like a lot of work, but when complete, all the C5 running gear will "bolt in" like it's made for it. First thing is to fit a new front crossmember. On the real C5, the rails forward of the new member don't do much but support the body and radiator, and they're too long to fit under the '37. Glue bottles for weights keep it square during drying. Next thing is to liberate the center tunnel, lower right, from the interior tub. The liberated tunnel is glued into the chassis BEFORE it's cut in half and again weighted to keep everything square. Also, the frame rails will be rough-cut away on the lines. In real life, center tunnels provide a lot of structural rigidity to some cars, and I'm using it here to support the floor while I make up new rails. The floor of the '37 has been carefully removed to be used on another build, and will be replaced by the Corvette floor. Chassis has been rough-trimmed to fit the '37 fender unit, and the suspension is checked CAREFULLY to ensure the wheels will be in the right place in the wheel openings when it's all done. Everything is now tacked to the running boards with a little liquid glue. It is absolutely essential that everything is where I want it at this point, as the fender unit will be the jig to make the new chassis rails and floor insert. The Corvette floor has been left a little wide to allow it to be tacked to the '37. It will be final-trimmed at the end, with no ugly glue marks, and a just-right fit.

I'm sure you're aware the Corvette of that vintage has the gearbox in the rear, so you'll have to transplant the entire Corvette rear suspension into the '57 to make it work. Complete IRS driveline swaps are somewhat complicated...but straightforward, if that makes any sense. Dry-fit or tack the Corvette driveline together, and see first what you'll have to do for engine mounts. Then look at roughly how much you'll need to lengthen the Corvette torque-tube to accommodate the longer '57 chassis. Cut the torque tube, and start fitting the rear suspension into the rear of the '57 chassis, paying particular attention to ride height, and getting the wheels correctly centered in the wheel-openings on the body. You'll have to make mounts for all of the suspension components. Then when you have your dimensions finalized, finish the torque tube. An easier way to do the swap would be to simply lengthen the entire Corvette chassis to fit the '57. Much less fabrication...and believe it or not, it could be done that way to a full-scale, real car. I lengthened and narrowed this Corvette C5 chassis to go under a '37 Ford.

Bill Hicks.

Wow. Some of those shots, I really had to look hard to be sure I was seeing a model. Nice.

Love the first version. Just screams "salt flats". The slammed one is shaping up nicely too. Old hot-rods never die...they just get recycled into new hot-rods.

Looking good. Love those little cars.