Tom Geiger Posted March 14, 2019 Posted March 14, 2019 Lately I've been on a tear to finish a lot of my long outstanding projects. I am now working from home, so I'm no longer doing my 90 mile each way commute to my client in New Jersey. That frees up a considerable amount of time, and I'm no longer tired much of the time. So I've been spend an hour or two a day at the bench. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do this regularly. Anyway, here's what I've been up to: December 2018: 1963 Valiant stock car This one was started back in 2007 and never got to the point of having paint on it. I picked it up as my 2017 Christmas Amnesty Build and didn't finish it, but it never left the bench! Chuck Rehberger kept on me to finish it, so I had to make him happy! December 2018: 1958 Chevy Old Custom Rebuild This was an old custom that I bought as a finished model. It wasn't built that great, and it was missing some parts. One thing I thought that was cool, is that it has thread engine wires. Those were left on the model. I took it apart, cleaned up the build a bunch. For instance all the glass had glue on it, so I added new kit glass. Suspension parts were broken, mirrors, antennas and grill were missing, so we sourced all of this from a fresh kit. About two weeks of relaxing work brought this one back from the dead. December 2018: 1930 Ford Phaeton TROG Racer This wasn't a old project of mine, but an original 1962 issue kit that someone started back in the day and didn't get that far. This past year I got on a kick with the old Monogram 1/24 Model A's and I have been following the TROG (The Race of Gentlemen) racing series. I got this image in my head and decided to build it. Part of that decision was that most of the necessary parts were in that box, and not in more recent issues of this kit. For instance the tonneau cover, roll bar, frame mounted headlights and cycle fenders. The four cylinder engine was missing, so I did buy a whole new kit just to acquire that. I made the "60" decals to commemorate my recent milestone birthday. It needed to be built and I'm quite pleased with the results. December 2018: 1957 Ford Old Custom Restoration This one was the last completion of the year, in fact the photos were taken on New Year's Eve! This was a destroyed old built up I found in the bottom of a junk box at a show. The seller told me to either take it for free or he was going to throw it out. So of course I took it! It had no suspension at all. It had no roof. But there was something very cool about it, so we sacrificed a new kit to bring her back! I made the matching roof decal, painted the roof gold since we weren't going to match the green and gave it all a clear coat because the ancient decals were flaking off. It had no grill so I added the Canadian Meteor grill that comes as a custom grill in the '57 Ford kit, and added an Alberta plate as a tribute to my many Canadian friends. I'm glad to restore this relic for future generations to enjoy! January 2019: 1930 Ford Woody Pickup (24 Hr Build) This was my 2019 24 Hour Build that actually got finished! I started with the Monogram Woody wagon and honestly, the conversion to pickup wasn't hard at all. More like cutting parts off, and adding a second tail gate as the back of the cab. I am quite pleased with this one and it's on the list of cars I'd build in 1:1 when I hit the lottery. January 2019: 1966 Dodge A100 Pickup (was an unfinished 24 Hr Build) This was my 2014 24 Hour Build and again, one I didn't get finished. I over estimated the buildability of this ancient IMC kit! In the end, it was at the 80% mark and just had a lot of fiddly little details to complete. In my haste during the 24 Hour Build, the rear got glued in place crooked, so I had to fix that and some other silly 6am building errors! But it's complete and now sits on the shelf next to the van, which was completed back in 2014. January 2019: Dodge D-50 (Mitsubishi) US Navy pickup (was an unfinished 24 Hr Build) This truck was my 2017 24 Hour Build. I didn't complete it in the allocated time and pretty much put it away. I was having issues lining up the cab and bed on the chassis and some road height issues as well. I was probably half done when I packed it in. I pulled it out in January and decided it was getting finished! And so it did! March 2019: 1950 Ford Pickup Rat Rod The latest off the bench! Again a long unfinished project. I first sectioned the body in 2008, and it spent some time on the bench around 2012. But the final push was pulling it out in January. It had been stalled when I couldn't get the interior panels to line up in the sectioned body, nor could I figure out how to complete the Falcon bed. Wouldn't ya know, I figured those both out in my first bench session this time around! So it's complete! Already this year I've completed four projects, which is more than I did in whole years! Part of it is that I'm finishing up old stuff that was at the 50% or greater mark, and I'm also not fretting and going crazy. I've been keeping my overcomplicatius gene in check.. for instance the voices were telling me to build a whole new chassis for the 1950 Ford.... the old Tom would've done it! Today, nope! I will continue with my unfinished project hoard, I have a ton that should be finished.
Ramfins59 Posted March 14, 2019 Posted March 14, 2019 Great work Tom. I've been trying to accomplish sort of the same thing with some of the models that I've recently finished, and am still working on. It feels great to finally finish something that's been hanging around for a while.
Gramps46 Posted March 14, 2019 Posted March 14, 2019 Nicely done models gotten off the bench. I hope to do the same with the encouragement you have provided with what you have accomplished. Thanks for sharing.
bbowser Posted March 14, 2019 Posted March 14, 2019 Wow, some really nice work. I especially like the TROG car! Did you do the A100 van from a Flintstone body? I have one to replicate a window van I had in the service, I'm just a little leery of cutting out all those windows without a slip!
Tom Geiger Posted March 15, 2019 Author Posted March 15, 2019 1 hour ago, bbowser said: Wow, some really nice work. I especially like the TROG car! Did you do the A100 van from a Flintstone body? I have one to replicate a window van I had in the service, I'm just a little leery of cutting out all those windows without a slip! Thanks guys! I'm amazed that I actually got that many projects done! Bruce, yes that's the Flintstone van body. I did cut out the side windows. One suggestion is to draw it on the body first, then drill a small hole in each corner. The body is pretty thick. The front door panels need to be shaved down a bit to fit since the van body is much thicker than the pickup doors! I found out the hard way when I couldn't get it all to sandwich together!
bobthehobbyguy Posted March 15, 2019 Posted March 15, 2019 Nice work. They all look great. My goal for this year is to get some of my unfinished projects done.
Belugawrx Posted March 15, 2019 Posted March 15, 2019 Wow you have been busy Tom! All nice builds ..I like the D-50.
bbowser Posted March 15, 2019 Posted March 15, 2019 22 hours ago, Tom Geiger said: Thanks guys! I'm amazed that I actually got that many projects done! Bruce, yes that's the Flintstone van body. I did cut out the side windows. One suggestion is to draw it on the body first, then drill a small hole in each corner. The body is pretty thick. The front door panels need to be shaved down a bit to fit since the van body is much thicker than the pickup doors! I found out the hard way when I couldn't get it all to sandwich together! Very nicely done, and thanks for the tip!
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