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Posted

young_tom-vi.jpgo

That's me circa 1970, sitting at my model building table. I still have most of the stuff you see on the table. The ornate piece on the left is a silver condiment server, that I found in the trash and used as a parts bin. The gargoyle was bought in Paris outside Notre Dame. The odd yellow bank was in my Easter basket one year. These pieces are all on the shelves in my den today. The paisley shirt had those puffy sleeves and is long gone, but I still have the leather fringe vest that went with it!

model_close-vi.jpg

I was scratch building something odd. I remember that the chassis was a rectangular piece of sprue and that I made the body from cardboard that I coated with nail polish to get it to accept paint. It was a woody, decorated with match sticks. I don't remember much else about it.

Posted

This had to be about 1962 as I was 16 when I did this. It won 1st in custom class and lost Best in Show because they said it wasn't "roadable". I guess it wasn't because I used every trick I had to lower it to a scale 48" high. A '40 Ford sedan that was obviously based on the Matador. I'm embarrassed that this is the best slide I got with my 35 mm camera, but I don't think I had an SLR yet.

40ford3a.jpg

40ford1b.jpg

I could swear I've seen that model in a magazine.

Posted

I could swear I've seen that model in a magazine.

I've never had any model chosen for a magazine. I've seen many similar builds but probably because they were built when Bill Cushenbery's El Matador was done. This is the only part of it I have left .. you can see how bad my first Candy paint job was ...

40FordHood2DSC_9134_zps2f931e91.jpg

and that truck .. "mid 80's pic" and "Just a couple months ago," ... now you're talking MY speed! :lol: That IS an interesting truck .. is it based on a Corvair? I'd love to see it done .. this millennium at least. ;)

And everyone .. this thread is the best in a long time .. photos are awesome from when we were all little kit wrecking pups! Keep em coming!!!

Riveria_Willys_zpsfa441124.jpg

Posted

I'm LOVING this thread! Yeh...these old photos are SO cool! I didn't realize there were the number of us that are "older", and still have photos of this great hobby from way back! Cudos on such a cool thread!

Posted

Home movies and yearbook scans too. Very resourceful! The ties and haircuts are great. This is a lot of fun. Please keep 'em coming. The background info is great too! Adds to some really cool projects.

If you don't have a scanner, take a picture of that old picture.

Mike. There is a red 40 on the cover of an old magazine that is a twin to your 40. - Which is very cool, by the way.

Posted

Mike. There is a red 40 on the cover of an old magazine that is a twin to your 40. - Which is very cool, by the way.

Oh Scott ... now I'm going to have to go on an endless search for that magazine! :blink: Think I have to do another scour for that slide I scanned of the '40 to rescan larger

Posted

I have that March '63 issue of Car Model magazine...... I always wanted to try making that convertible top mechanism but never got around to it. I know that Bill Geary did make the mechanism frame but I don't think he was ever able to find an in-scale material for the Top that would fold up properly.

Posted

I have NONE of my original Revell Snap-Together models that survived outside of my childhood since we lost the house that had all of that stored in the attic. This includes my favorite Star Wars vans I kept on display beyond all the others.

I loved the Glow-In-The-Dark Vader and Luke vans. They were awesome.

Posted (edited)

I don't have any old photos, but I do still have several models that are exactly as I built them in the late '60s--un-rebuilt, unrestored, just cleaned up a little in some cases. Here are a few:

55ChevSD02.jpg

68Charger01.jpg

68Firebird1.jpg

ChevFC1.jpg

Edited by Snake45
Posted

My mother bought me this '64 Impala model at Jordan Marsh in August 1964. It has been rebuilt 2 times. It has no wheel covers because that is how I remember seeing a new Impala SS at the dealer back in 1964.

Posted

These are fun. No old photos but I do have a Cobra that I built about 45 years ago. It was when the AMT Cobra kit was first released.

I have one, too. I think I built it in late '66 or early '67. I believe it has my oldest surviving original paint job (Pactra Lemon Yellow). No photos right now--I hope to photograph it soon

Posted (edited)

I've never had any model chosen for a magazine. I've seen many similar builds but probably because they were built when Bill Cushenbery's El Matador was done. This is the only part of it I have left .. you can see how bad my first Candy paint job was ...

40FordHood2DSC_9134_zps2f931e91.jpg

and that truck .. "mid 80's pic" and "Just a couple months ago," ... now you're talking MY speed! :lol: That IS an interesting truck .. is it based on a Corvair? I'd love to see it done .. this millennium at least. ;)

And everyone .. this thread is the best in a long time .. photos are awesome from when we were all little kit wrecking pups! Keep em coming!!!

Riveria_Willys_zpsfa441124.jpg

On a side note, I have heard recently that an El Matador II was built after the original had an incident. The builder of the El Matador II worked with the blessing and assistance of Bill Cushenberry.

The "then and now" pickup is actually based on an AMT Gremlin X kit that I didn't feel like building as a drag car, mix in a Deora chassis and interior, a VW engine I massaged a bit and you have the result seen. I have to figure out a way to make a rear window without messing up the rest of the body and some graphics are planned to jazz it up a bit...it needs more eye grabbing appeal.

Edited by blunc
Posted

Here's another mid-seventies 'trophy case' :rolleyes:

PA054341_zpstspxnnsp.jpg

Haven't looked at this pic in years. AMT trucks, big bad van, kandy van, 55 nomad,monzilla, 40 ford, 71 petty car, 57 vette gasser and others I can't even remember... still have the parts cabinet and all the big trucks and some others.

mike

Posted

Far from the oldest (at least one of my photo albums has gone AWOL), nonetheless these three shots are of a truck that I built roughly 20 years ago. Shot with my old Minolta 35mm SLR that I haven't used in eons.

oldies%20002_zpsr7serqza.jpg

Posted

mini_front-vi.jpgAn

Oldest surviving model... This is a modern digital photo of my Polystil Mini Cooper. I've had this since about 1970-1. After seeing The Italian Job I was very into Mini Coopers. And my favorite color scheme back then was yellow and black, after seeing The Yellow Rolls Royce. I lived in Germany at the time, and every where we looked there were red, blue and white versions but I knew it came in yellow so I held out until I found one! Of course I added my own spin on it, the interior has orange cloth carpet. The engine is painted the correct green and the hood was brush painted with Testors lumpy black. The decals came from some aircraft model, and I removed the grille and painted the opening black because it was cool to me at the time.

This Mini has survived well my entire life. In high school it was in our single frame animation project film. I have a photo that shows it on a shelf in my first apartment. It has a place of honor in my show case today.

mini_interior-vi.jpg

mini_snowtracks-vi.jpg

Posted (edited)

These are great pictures. Got to love that trophy case. You look pretty proud as we all were.

It's awesome to see those survivors that have been tucked away for so long. And there were some good skills all around

Again, the stories are good too.

Even the recycled ones are great too. The before and afters tell a great story.

Please keep more coming.

Edited by Scott Colmer
Posted (edited)

It's Winter, 1961, and my mom and i keep an eye on dad as he assembles an AMT ’37 Ford sedan. (Note the can of LustreChrome).

DadModel_zpskxbufggo.jpg

Edited by Watertown

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