Ace-Garageguy

Thanks, Tom. Chris Drysdale's (Spex84) remarkable talent took my stalled idea and turned it into something a lot cooler than what I originally envisioned. The hardest part will be putting together a funding package or syndicate of backers. I've already worked out some of the more obvious technical bits and have found sources for major components, even have several major parts in stock (Jag 4.2 XK engine). If it's the only way I can get this one done, I'll sell off some of my 1:1 cars. But the first step is getting together a 1/12 scale curbside model with a decent finish. and staying true to the proportions of the sketch. A lot of customs lose much of their impact going from concept to 3-dimensions.

I went ahead and sprung for a fairly complete and unmolested 1/12 AMT Cord kit to use as a basis for a presentation model to help sell a full-scale project. After seeing Chris Drysdale's sketch based on a quick mockup idea I posted here a few weeks back, I've been working towards making this one come to life as a full-scale car. Though my original idea was based on the old Pyro kit, that kit has several proportion errors, so, as the real car will be based on repro Cord parts that are dimensionally identical to the originals, I need to base the model on a kit that has as few proportion errors as possible...and the big 1/12 scale is more impressive to a prospective backer than a little 1/24 model would be.

The great majority of my kits are '60s-'70s that I bought after 2005 with the specific intention of building, one way or another. They're predominantly kits I had as a kid, or that I wanted and never got. Most of my work involves heavy modifications, so I'm perfectly happy to start with a bodged gluebomb or a complete wreck if I'm building something fairly radical (just like with real cars), but if I want something close to what the kit was intended to build, I'll usually start with a clean, unbuilt original. I'm a builder, not a collector, and I figure there are plenty of collectors saving pristine kits out there already. As investments, I just don't see it. They'll only ever bring chump change, so why not enjoy them by building them? There are, however, a very few kits in my collection that are non-builders, with almost perfect boxes, 100% complete, most of the parts still on the trees, etc. These few have particular meaning to me, and I have builder versions should the desire arise to hack one up. As far as rebuilding goes, I probably enjoy making something nice from somebody else's trash more than any other aspect of the hobby. Before... During the rebuild... Before... Rebuild almost complete...

Actually, it was Bob Taber who dug this up and bumped it...though shortly prior to Harry's passing, I did suggest to the moderators that making a pinned section remembering Harry's models and contributions might be a nice thing to do.

Always a pleasure to see your beautiful, clean work progress and finally come together.

Great colors and paint, beautifully clean model and fine photography.

Very nice. The added details really bring it to life. Exactly what I need for an HO setting I'm designing.

Very nice. I love seeing unusual heavy equipment models. This is really something special.

One of my personal favorites in Harry's collection of absolutely outstanding models.

Very nice roofline. Frankly, I think your roof looks a lot better than the real ones from every angle. It's more graceful, and the proportions work much better with the rest of the car. Excellent work.

Perfectly said, Tulio. Exactly how I feel, and a very eloquent statement as to the kind of impact he had on this community and hobby.

And designer. He had a great eye for proportion and line. Much of his restyle work was far better than a lot of what's coming out of the car manufacturer's studios, or the big-name custom houses. I had hoped to collaborate with him on a 1:1 project sometime down the road, and just never imagined he'd be gone before me. His seven-part Photoshop tutorial series shows what kind of guy he was...somebody who would take the time and make the effort to share his knowledge, and try to teach others that they could master new skills and techniques.

I'll bet $100 that any number of "well known conservative writers" have said "I like pie". However, quoting that sentiment does not make a political statement OR reference. This is especially true when the quote is taken completely out of context to illustrate an entirely different point.

I'll miss him.

Very interesting. I didn't realize the showcar was ever kitted, and I see a few minor proportion and line discrepancies from the real one. Potential to make a very special model of one of my favorite concept vehicles.

Thanks to everyone again for your interest and comments. I've been traveling a lot for business lately, but I'm back in town for a while and should be getting going on this one again shortly. November deadline. Maybe I can make it.

Nice topic. The body does indeed look pretty good. I'm not much of a fan of 1/32 for cars, but some decent models could look great displayed with aircraft in the same scale.

I usually follow the USPS tracking info when I'm expecting something in the mail, and I've seen some pretty bizarre routings. Following the tracking info can be helpful when dealing with the PO employees when a package goes MIA (which doesn't happen often, but HAS happened twice so far, and both times the item was found and sent on its way again).

One method that's always worked for me...assuming you don't have other details on a panel you don't want to drown in primer...after removing molded-on detail, I'll shoot the panel with a relatively hot primer like Duplicolor. The first couple of coats will swell the old detail areas, and the ghosting will be very obvious. Sand it flat and reprime, as many times as is necessary to kill it. The hood peak has been removed on the Revell '50 Olds hood shown below. Once it stops ghosting through the primer, it won't ghost through paint. Here's the proof (even though this part was shot with hot Duplicolor green, and cleared with Testors lacquer).

Just a thought...this old AMT parts-pack has four, 7" headlamp buckets in it, 2 of which are the tri-bar style. No lenses, and they are often available pretty cheap. You can use the ends of Bic-style pen caps for the rear section...

Back in the mid-1980s, I owned a fleet services company. My largest client was a nationally-known pizza delivery franchise that had 60+ vehicles, mostly small pickup trucks (because they were about the cheapest vehicles available at the time, and the franchise fleet manager thought small trucks should be tougher than small cars). They bought manual gearbox-equipped trucks on the first go-round, Mitsubishi, Ford, Toyota and Isuzu. The twinky kids driving the things abused the snot out of them, and were going through clutches in under 20,000 miles. We could do a clutch in those days for about $250. The fleet manager thought the recurring expense was too high, so in his infinite wisdom decided to buy automatic-trans-equipped trucks when the first units began coming up for replacement. The jackass kids would throw them into reverse before coming to a stop, hold them in gear until the engines were screaming, and try their best to trash them in general. So now, instead of replacing clutches every 20,000 miles for $250, we were replacing automatic transmissions at 35,000 miles for $2500. You do the math. PS. The only trucks that stood up to the constant abuse without ever really wearing out or breaking were the Toyotas. Even the clutches lasted until the 85,000 to 100,000 mile replacement. No wonder the third-world warlords like them so much.

Now 13 pages,100% Fact Free! Impressive.