Mobile Starting Gate

[Hi-Po]

Three or four months ago I was looking through the an issue of Hot Rod Magazine when I came across a short article about a 1954 Buick Mobile Starting Gate.  The subject matter really caught my interest and I saved the article for later reference.  It was a month or so later when I decided that I was going to attend the IPMS Nationals in Phoenix, AZ.  It was at this time that I decided to build the mobile starting gate.

I was not able to find a suitable '54 Buick, injected or resin, so I did some research and discovered that any number of different vehicles have been used as starting gates.  I settled on the MPC 1970 Pontiac Bonneville because I wanted a LONG vehicle to accommodate eight gate positions.  Note:  the Pontiac is really showing its age.  Lots of flash, soft moldings, warpage, etc.

The entire starting gate was scratch built using styrene rod, tubing and rectangular tubing.  Other items that were scratch built include the control pedestal, chair, loudspeakers (front and rear), gate supports and the clipboard on the front seat.  The Pontiac was modified by scratch building a trunk lid cover that hides the supporting framework and mechanicals for the starting gate.  The kits molded in headlights were drilled out and replaced with clear lenses.  I used various sizes of wire for the electrical and hydraulic lines.

The model was painted using Tamiya Light Sand Metallic (TS 700) for the car body.  The interior was painted Model Masters Leather.  The starting gate is a mixture of Tamiya and Model Masters paints.  The decals were produce on my home computer and transferred to Microscale Decal Paper using a laser printer at the local FedEx store.

This was a fun and enjoyable build and I was able to finish it in time to enter it in the Nationals were it took first place in its class.

Enjoy the photos.

[TooOld]

Now that is just plain old cool !  I had no idea what you were talking about but then when I saw the first pic a light bulb went off - "Oh yeah I knew that !"

Great job , this is a real winner ! 

[om617]

Great idea and nicely done.

[Silver Foxx]

A lot of great work in this , so different , well done .

[cobraman]

Way cool. What a neat idea !

[Dragonhawk1066]

A great idea done very well. Nice job.

[bbowser]

Now that is cool!  Great idea and execution.

[Zoom Zoom]

That's amazing and unique, best use of the '70 Bonneville CV I have seen yet!

[slusher]

Very unique and wonderfully done!

[Earl Marischal]

Very fine work!

steve

[DumpyDan]

Wow that is alright, well done oh so cool.  Great job Terry.

[crazyjim]

Very unique and a great idea.

[spencer1984]

Wow, nicely done!

[Hi-Po]

Thanks everyone for the comments, they are appreciated.

Terry

[Gramps46]

I remember these at the fairgrounds.  Really excellent job recreating it and congratulations on the 1st place in class.

[espo]

This is really something special. Beyond the paint and interior finishes, the making of the swing gates is perfect. I remember see this type of vehicle used at the Arlington Race Track out side of Chicago when I was growing up.

[o-man]

holy cow, that's so cool and well built!

[Phildaupho]

Very well done. A pleasure to see.

[peekay]

Fantastic! Great idea in the first place, but beautifully built and totally realistic too. I LOVE it!

[OldTrucker]

That is just what that car needed!

That would be a cool option in that kit next time around except not many would know what it is!

[afx]

Impressive.

[Ken Gilkeson]

very nice build

[Curt]

Awesome model!  This reminds me of a Ken Hamilton model, which is a sincere compliment.  Nice work.

[NYLIBUD]

Now this is definitely out of the box.Excellent idea,and great detail all around... Very cool.

[Jim N]

I had a great uncle that went to the horse races a lot.  I went with him a number of times.  I had forgotten about the track using a car like this to start the races until I saw your model.  Thanks for bringing back some memories.  Superbly built model!