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I wasn't sure whether to post this one in "model cars underclass" (stock) or here. This is my interpretation of a mostly showroom stock 61 Pontiac Catalina with some mild mods that I believe would fit within the NHRA rulebook for "stock" class (class S/S for 0 - 10.59 lbs./ hp, I figured 368 hp (dual carb 389?) for a 3750 lb. car and came out with 10.19). Dual carbs (Holleys) and the hood scoop (actually a Ford truck part that Pontiac had to assign a stockroom number for) were around then but not on the standard order form as I understand it. I used an actual restored car posted on the web, a beautiful Bamboo Cream colored Super Duty 421, for the "appearance" prototype for this model (here) but wanted this model to be closer to a car driven off a car lot and taken directly to the drags (think Carol Cox's NHRA winning '61 Ventura (first woman to win an NHRA class!)). I'm sure someone might find some errors in my interpretation and the execution of this build but it's just a model car for goodness sake and I had a lot of fun building this one. This is the excellent Moebius kit mostly OOB but I added the resin carbs (Fireball), aluminum distributor and air cleaners (Detail Master) and misc. solder fuel lines and wire linkage and brake line. The carbs and air cleaners are likely over-scaled but I'm happy with the over-all look of the engine. I scratch-built the hood scoop using Evergreen styrene sheet and the tach using Evergreen rod and tubing. I airbrushed Scale Finishes base paint for the Bamboo Cream with a Tamiya TS-13 clear coat and masked and airbrushed the tri-color interior using Tamiya acrylics. Remaining areas were painted using Tamiya acrylics and Alclad Chrome over black enamel for the window frames. I used BMF to do the two super thin trim spears on each side as these were too thin to try to mask and paint with Alclad/ enamel. I'm down to a 1/2 sheet of my "good" older BMF and not sure what I'm going to do when this is gone, the new stuff is terrible. I've been building mostly sixties SS'ers since 2019 and wanted to do an early car that reflected the years when they were driven off of the lot and directly to the strip without a lot of mods, true super "stock" drag racing. I'm happy with this one, hope you like it too! Cheers, John

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Just completed my latest batch of 3 1960's custom full size cars all with opening doors. 1962 Chevrolet Impala Started life as a convertible. Added custom vacuum formed roof which is done as a vinyl top. Tamiya dark blue with Tamiya light blue pearl top and interior. Vinyl top material is masking tape. This has a more "formal" style roof line. 1962 Pontiac Catalina Replaced the top with a custom top. Painted in Matt yellow with a pale green interior and lowered 1965 Buick Riviera Custom roof, added 4 scale inches to the rear quarter panel, added sunroof. Opened trunk and added amplifiers and huge speakers. photo etched grill with headlights set in behind it. Paint is Tamiya light pink pearl with satin white under pink lace. That's it, all three.

This one is the Ventura, started these this week, I do like how the finned brake drums turned out. Closeup of Pontiac Wheels. Centers were painted Tamiya aluminum while outside was painted Testors' silver. Can't leave the Catalina out of this, can I? Wheels are kit supplied while I sourced the parts box for the BF Goodrich Radial T/As And since I'm building Catalinas, here is the AMT version. Wheels are from AMT 65 Pontiacs while tires are parts box items. Thanks for looking, all comments welcomed.

First completion since January 2017, got this one done November 30 of this year. Painted Testors' Fathom Green, with various shades of grey for interior. Tires/Wheels are Pegasus "23" Ts" Thanks for looking, comments welcomed.

Here are some sneak peaks at the box art and model I created for the upcoming Model King / Moebius Joe Weatherly '61 Pontiac Catalina kit. The kit will probably be out around summerish.

First model in a while, just getting back into it! on with the pics