Fat Brian

Some racks have bins with doors for storage and others have exposed metal bars or angle iron to hang things on. As for what is stored, it's mainly chains and binders for securing loads and the metal bars for tightening the straps if the trailer has them. Sometimes you'll find a broom and a shovel back there for cleaning off the deck of the trailer if it's a flat bed or lowboy. Now you can find chain binders from various makers on ebay and very good realistic looking chain from Michael's or Hobby Lobby. For a pickup I would keep chain and recovery straps in there, maybe ratchet straps for loads.

Thank you. The real car has I believe 70s Celica tail lights so I tried to mimic them.

Thank you, built if for the Cannonball build a few years ago. It's based on an extensively modified real car. The wheelbase is stretched about 18 inches and has 2008 Mustang wheel arches.

This kit has a way better chassis than the AMT kits do. I used this chassis and interior under an AMT body with the opening rear hatch to build this.

Yep, I've gotten a few from them in padded envelopes too.

I think it might be foil, you can just barely see some wrinkles on the trunk side of the cover.

It might be easier to add a little spacer to the end of the axles to poke the wheels out a bit more.

This is my Revell Beetle done for the Peking to Paris group build a couple years ago.

The main website I used for reference pics for many projects I have shut down unexpectedly. I have some pics saved but I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do now.

You would need to make the rear cover behind the rear seat but otherwise it should have everything. I think the hub caps are molded onto the wheels so you'd need to find bare ones. I don't know about the bumpers unless a Gunze kit has them, I agree they don't look too hard to make.

Yes, the Revell 68 is very nice and has a full interior.

The Revell 68 Beetle is a far better kit but it has the earlier rounded bumpers and 1/24 so the flat ones might not fit it well.

Another type of saw that is super handy to have are these Model Car Garage photo etched saw blades that fit in an Xacto handle. The razor saws are great for long straight cuts but these will get you in the little nooks and crannies. Bonus, they work pretty good as panel line scribers too.

From the looks of that you could almost take a big transfer case for the gear box and add the electric motors to it then place in an IRS suspension. Similarly, you could take a C5 or up rear end with the transmission in the rear and add the motor to that unit. There are also adapters to mount the electric motor to a traditional transmission.

I got some aftermarket tires from ebay that were soft and sticky like that. I washed them to get all the crud off them shot them with Mr. Super Clear flat spray paint to seal the surface.

You are correct about that, when you put the Chevelle headlight surrounds on the El Camino body the gap between them is too wide for the Chevelle grille. I believe the hood is also a bit narrow but it's been a long time since I messed with my attempt at this. I vaguely remember trying the 70 Monte Carlo hood with the Monogram 70 Chevelle grille but the Monte hood is way long. I'd have to dig it out to see.

There's also a Revell snap one in 1/25. It has fender flares in it.

It's a twin turbo 475hp Cummins. If I'm remembering correctly the twin turbo setup wasn't terribly successful so it's lifespan was fairly short. However, the basic engine is pretty accurate for most late "Big Cam" Cummins engines with some mods.

Morgan Automotive Detail makes good ones, then wire is nice and workable.

Depending on how the windows and trim are done on the kit a black marker may be best or you could mask them off after painting the body and hit them with a brush or paint pen. Without seeing exactly how this kit handles the trim it's hard to be really specific.

This kind of paint effect is hard to pull off with a spray can, you really need an airbrush. You paint the body the normal color first. Then you lighten and flatten the color and lightly spray the upper parts of the body to give it the sun-faded look. From there it's chalk pastels or other various weathering powders to grime up the flat surfaces to give it the barn find look.

I've had old foil get a layer of oxidation on it. I learned this when rubbing it down put black streaks all over a flat white paint job. Putting the sheet on a hard surface and rubbing it with a soft cloth should get most of it off.

I have. There has to be some kind of chemical reaction happening since it goes on kind of gray and then the highly chrome surface seems to rise to the top. When my pens went bad the just stayed that mottled grayish silver and the chromie goodness never appeared.

I've had mine over a year and it still works like new. I think since the refill seals tightly whatever evaporates out of the pens and makes them not work stays in the refill.

I think it just means you're a man of refined tastes.