Scale Survivors

[Dave Darby]

Here's another one I've had for a while. For you guys with Facebook who like this stuff like I do, check out our Scale Survivors group.

[Tom Geiger]

Here's one of my favorites I've named The Duessy Duece!    Someone with imagination created this beauty!

[Lordmodelbuilder]

These are models that my GF gave me. Her late dad build them in the 60's. The 40 is missing the hood & whatever he used for taillights.  The 49 Merc has lots of mods & swapped parts.

They are survivors & I am happy to be their caretaker now. I will post a few others he built.

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 minutes ago, Lordmodelbuilder said:

These are models that my GF gave me. Her late dad build them in the 60's. The 40 is missing the hood & whatever he used for taillights.  The 49 Merc has lots of mods & swapped parts.

They are survivors & I am happy to be their caretaker now...

Those are pretty cool, especially the Merc. Real period pieces. Love the junk in the trunk and the flocked interior too.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Lordmodelbuilder]

A few more of his original 60's builds. 57 Ford, 60,Falcon,and a SMP 62 Vette.

[Tom Geiger]

Very cool Brad!  Especially since you know who built them and feel that responsibility to be their caretaker!

For the '40, I think the tail light footprint on the right side would yield the replacement part.  Any ideas anyone?  It's a pitty the hood is missing, I don't know what to do to match that paint.   A bit of dusting and judicious application of soap and water would yield some good results.

Here's what I did with a car that was missing the hood:

Dave Burket gave me this old survivor of a '57 Ford. We especially liked that it uses all the custom parts, even those that haven't been in the reissues. When I got it, the suspension was trashed, so I opened up a brand new kit to install new parts. Here it is up on all fours.  Note that it was missing it's hood and that's the replacement part just sitting there. I tried to match the paint, but wasn't successful in finding that color in modern model paint lines.  Sometimes you get lucky and it's a Testors spray still in manufacture, but no luck here!

After looking at it for a long time, I decided a period two tone would be in order. I had this Tamiya aqua and carefully taped off the entire car.  It was stuck together really well and I wasn't going to force it apart.  

Again I touched up the silver and added one of my 1962 AutoWorld plates.  This one had the custom tail light bezels that aren't in recent releases, but was missing the lenses.  Of course those are in the latest releases, so I had a few pairs.

And while we are on '57 Fords, here's one I'm planning on restoring.  Again, the suspension is wiped out. This one had the roof sheared off of it.  I pulled it out of the bottom of a dealer's junkbox at a show and when he saw me looking it over, he laughed that it was so sad that I could just have it.  I saw promise in it so I took it.  Little did he know it would cruise again someday!

What I like about this period piece is that it uses the other set of custom parts than the blue car above.  The roof was cut from the same body that gave the hood for the blue Ford.  The front clip went to someone on one of the boards who wanted to graft the front wheel wells onto the newer Revell '57 kit.  Again, I won't try to match paint, I  am planning on painting the roof gold.

[Lordmodelbuilder]

Pretty wild looking car there Tom. Can't wait to see it all repaired. I have a junker 40 hood, is even green, but not the right shade .

I might try to match the old paint. I believe it's old lacquer. I will keep you posted. Hope someone may have an idea on the taillights.

[alan barton]

What an amazing thread.  I hope it turns out to be one of those huge threads that continues forever.  That Gravel Girtie is one of the most original designs I've ever seen on a roadster.  And the heavily chopped white coupe is so raw it is like a piece of art work rather than a model.  Can you just imagine the pride the builder would have felt when he finished it?

Here's a few from my collection. The first one was built by my cousin Richard in the mid sixties. The body is made of heavy cardboard and Bondo.   I think it used Aurora 22 T rear fenders and radiator and a Little T roof.  When I got it , a lot of pieces were missing so I made a dropped (just a little!) axle from sprue bent over the gas stove.  I added the Pontiac grille from a 50 Ford kit and the Wankel rotary from a then new MPC 73 Vega.  I also used two SweeTee turtle decks to fill the gap between the fenders and pair of bucket seats from a toy XKE Jag .  Never did work out how to get a steering wheel in there.  I spent days trying to produce the smoothest glossy black finish, brush painted with Humbrol No 12 enamel.  Trust me it is about as smooth as the bark on a gum tree!

[alan barton]

Also built by Richard was the Drag Hag.  Again, the body is made from Cardboard and Bondo  It used parts from an Airfix 1/32 scale MGB.  About ten years ago I realised what a gem it really was and managed to find a re-issued MGB kit and replace the missing parts.  Otherwise it is as he built it.

[alan barton]

I built this 49 Merc around 1971 or 72.  It is brush painted Humbrol Maroon.  I recently gave it a bit of a polish with Tamiya rubbing compound and the gloss is amazing!  I am tempted to block sand the whole body and polish it to a mirror finish but then it wouldn't be the car I proudly built way back then.  The Pegasus wheels and tyres are recent additions - I built it with the white walls and mags from a Don Edmunds supermod but reclaimed then years later for another build.

[alan barton]

Hey Tom, that green 57 Fairlane with the custom front and rear end extensions was my first ever 1/25th scale kit.  Sadly it didn't survive the passage of time but I still ave the seats, the front extension and a few other bits and pieces. That really brought back memories.

The next one is an AMT 50 Ford convert built by my brother Rob.  We were ahead of our time back in the early seventies - this one has a complete late model MPC Pontiac floorpan and frame!  Interior is in red and gold velvet purchased from a drapery.  Paint is pale blue Humbrol applied by brush.  Spray cans were only available at one shop in Perth and they were the same price as a new release kit!  Brush paint it would be on our budget!

[alan barton]

Finally, one that had a big impact on my life.  As a fifteen year old, I belonged to the local hot rod club and had my heart set on building a hot rod.  This was the car I wanted.  Problem was, the AMT 29 Model A roadster wasn't available in Perth but the Monogram Boss A Bone pickup was, so I got that instead and fabricated the rear quarters from cardboard and Bondo.  It is brushpainted in Humbrol red.  By the time I was 27 I had built my dream car and 34 years later I am still driving it.  It even ran a half hod for the first few years.

See, dreams do come true!

Cheers

Alan

[Dave Darby]

Alan that is one cool A bomb!  Here's a few more survivors...

[Tom Geiger]

Here's a survivor of sorts... 1965 Dodge Coronet planted in hot wax!   Now that Alan has shown up,  I'll let him 'splain it!   

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Dave Darby said:

 

I have a mint unbuilt '64 Vette roadster kit that has that top (and other custom parts). Thanks for showing what it looks like installed! 

[Tom Geiger]

Here's a couple of Valiants...

[Snake45]

Tom, those Valiants were so ugly that there's almost nothing you can do to them to make them any worse. 

Still, I remember when I was small, before I really got into cars, I thought they were kinda cool looking. Maybe just because they were so different. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by Snake45

[alan barton]

C'mon, Tom, you're holding out on us!  Show them the Val with the floating roof!

So about the Coronet.  Back in 2013 my wife and I travelled to the USA to visit New York and the north east in general, a part of the states that I really hadn't visited much on previous trips.  My wife and I never do the resort hotel/guided coach tour deal, we always grab a car and hit the back roads and make a point of stopping at every antique mall we see.  I have a decent sized toy hot rod collection as well as my model collection back home so there is always something to find although I must admit, models are fairly rare and the ones you do find are usually common and not that desirable.  None the less I have found diamonds amongst the stones  that have returned down under with me.

So a week out of New Jersey and a planned visit to Tom's I spot this thing on the back of a shelf in a funny little place somewhere in Pennsylvania if I recall correctly.  At first I thought someone had stuck a model in a bowl on the shelf but when I investigated I find the bowl is actually a mold made of wax into which the Coronet, complete with Ramcharger stripes,is embedded. The price escapes me but rest assured it was cheap - probably under $10.  I was going to leave it behind - I mainly collect hot rods, dirt track racers and early drag and salt racers - but it kept nagging at me.  My wife was encouraging me to get it and then it suddenly occurred to me - we're going to Tom's!  Old kit, Mopar, weird - it ticked all Tom's boxes so we grabbed it.  It now rests amongst a collection in Tom's house that can only make you smile!

It would seem that the melting point of wax is not enough to damage styrene so the kit is probably restorable underneath the slime but I know Tom won't - he would rather have a hand cut off!  Not sure if the original builder was trying to replicate a crash at a  dragstrip but he must have got some serious air to land at such a steep angle!  Certainly a very adventurous undertaking for back in the day and I can't say I've ever seen it done before.

Cheers

Alan

[Tom Geiger]

Man, that was 5 years ago!  Seems like yesterday!  Alan and his lovely wife stayed a week.  We did the Lancaster Amish thing,  we took a day at the Baltimore  Harbor and went to one of the John Carlisle swap meets in Wayne, NJ where we shopped separately but bought the very same things!  The following week we went to the Liars Show on Long Island.  And we spent a full day digging in my basement model vault. We had a great week!   

And here's the Fury Alan mentioned....

This is one of my favorite customs in my collection. I've never seen a car with a floating roof like this one!  

Funny story is that I pulled it out of the bottom of a vendor's junk box about 15 years ago.  As I pulled it out, he sighed and said that it was ruined! It couldn't be restored.  So I agreed.  I gave him $5 and he was happy!

[alan barton]

Sorry, mate, that was 22 years ago!  NNL 1996, remember?  There is a similar coloured Valiant to go with it somewhere in your basement..  I found them on my 27th trip through the vendors hall and came and got you off the front desk.  I do remember that it was cheap and the vendor didn't think very highly of them.  That was an amazing weekend!

Cheers

Alan

 

 

[robertw]

Boy,  do these photos ever bring back memories of my modelling youth although if I look at the pic too long the vision becomes more like a modelling nightmare. I'm glad you saved so many of them so that we can be reminded of where we came from. It's a good lesson for us when he start complaining about our kits of today.

[Funkychiken]

Some great stories here and the survivors look great!

[OldTrucker]

I see a whole lot of imagination and hard work in these builds!

[Tom Geiger]

On 10/11/2018 at 12:11 AM, alan barton said:

Sorry, mate, that was 22 years ago!  NNL 1996, remember?  There is a similar coloured Valiant to go with it somewhere in your basement..  I found them on my 27th trip through the vendors hall and came and got you off the front desk.  I do remember that it was cheap and the vendor didn't think very highly of them.  That was an amazing weekend!

Cheers

Alan

Wow Alan! How time flies!  And NNL East is like twice the size it was on your first visit!   I forgot the entire back story about that Fury.  And I didn't even have photos of the Valiant, although it was sitting in the Olde Kustom Kollection showcase.  So here they are together, I took some quick photos yesterday afternoon.  Note that the original builder had one can of paint.  And he applied it thick.  These are really horrible paint jobs!  The vendor proclaimed them absolutely ruined and useless so I believe I paid $5 each for them.  Little did he know what we saw in them!  

Now I'm off to New Jersey and my club meeting!   

 

[alan barton]

Wow, that is even uglier than I remember!  Do those two models share the same custom front clip or did AMT have two models with a similar theme on to different cars?  And to think this was BEFORE psychedelic drugs became popular!

Say Hi tp the guys at the club for me!

Cheers

Alan