Model Cars? now that's Grassroots!

In reply to Saron81 : The tractor is unreal. Amazing weathering.

Thanks guys! Appreciate the compliments. It's something completely different from what I usually build, but saw it at Hobby Lobby and had to grab it, and I'm pretty proud of how it came out.  
I know what you mean Turner... every single picture of one I could find had been restored. But at some point... some of them had to actually be used! 

In reply to Saron81 :

Great work!  The only unrestored ones I could find were these.  Your's fits right in

Magnante has a new show on Motortrend all about models. 

watched his first episode, pretty neat. built a street machine gtx clone using parts from 4 or 5 kits. had good stories about the car it was based on and even had audio from an interview he had done with the driver in the late 1900s.

Finally found the hood for this, now just one exhaust pipe is missing. Close enough to complete, so I'll put decals on it soon.

solfly said:

watched his first episode, pretty neat. built a street machine gtx clone using parts from 4 or 5 kits. had good stories about the car it was based on and even had audio from an interview he had done with the driver in the late 1900s.

2nd episode was good too. built an altered wheelbase 67 chevelle.

Probably could use a few more decals, but good enough to go on the shelf for now.

Back in the early spring I sent a number of photos of recent builds to the "Virtual NNL West" organized by fine scale modeler. Yesterday I got an email from them for another full resolution copy of the photo below for inclusion in there "Contest Annual" edition of Fine Scale Modeler. They also wanted more info on the model and it's inspiration, etc., so I was able to give a good plug for GRM and our forum, since the Tiger was an April 2020 quick build for our series. Primo!

OK this is going to be a big one. Last month I got to visit mom & dad's for the first time in a year and a half. Between the last visit and this one, there was a plumbing issue that caused some flooding and forced the folks to face reality: they had too much stuff. Since the basement was where my brother and I still had a bunch of stuff from our youth, this meant we were asked about what to save/what to toss as a dumpster was on its way. I said that the only stuff I knew was there that I wouldn't mind saving was a pretty good stash of unbuilt models I accumulated in the '90s. If they could be saved, great. If not, it wasn't that big a loss. Most seemed to have survived and I got to check out the stash.

For the most part, all of these kits have at least been opened. In the case of a lot of them, I even started, though only just barely. Usually I'd brush a coat of paint on the body, then everything went back in the box for another day. But here's the stash:

1. Honda S800. Not sure when I got this or where. The good news, nothing has been done on this car yet. No paint, and for the most part everything seems to be there in the plastic bags. The bad news, it looks like the windshield frame has become warped and I wonder if it'll be able to get back into the right shape.

2, Superflo ASA Camaro. I don't think I had any intention of building this as a replica of the #17 box art. I think the goal was go make this into what I would be driving if I were running a Pro Stock (Late Model these days) at Riverside Park Speedway. I'm sure by the time I got this model, all the Camaro Pro Stocks had turned into Monte Carlos, but I liked this body. At the time, I was big into black & blue liveries, so that's why the car is black with the inside of the body blue. I *think* all the parts are there, though there's no plastic bag. The odds of this actually getting built are fairly slim.

3. NASCAR Thunderbird, body only. In the early '90s I built what I thought would be my Riverside Park Speedway street stock, putting a '70 Chevelle body on a NASCAR chassis. That chassis came from this Ford model (so that Chevelle has a Ford engine, D'OH). This T-bird body is abandonware, but I can't throw something that could be useful away. It also has a bunch of pit equipment and even a plastic driver, which I guess I could use.... somewhere... somehow... sometime.

4. Dick Trickle Tropartic Pontiac. I wasn't a big fan of Dick Trickle, or Phillips 66, so I don't know why I have this. The body has been painted white so I'm thinking it was another attempt at building a Pro Stock even though Pro Stocks didn't at all resemble Winston Cup cars. The chassis is complete and in the bag, decals are probably trash, so maybe I can get a set of decals from Mike's and build something correct from that era.

5. #35 Quincy's Alan Kulwicki Thunderbird. I was a big Kulwicki fan from the time he broke into Winston Cup, and have a completed #7 Zerex Thunderbird here built back when that car was current. Around the same time, I started to build his Rookie of the Year car, based on this generic reissue of the older T-bird kit. In this case, the body is (brush) painted and decals applied fairly well, so the hard part is done. There is a very good chance that this winter I'll put the chassis together and finish this car as it deserves to be on display.

6. 1949 Mercury. Completely unstarted, I don't think the bag has even been torn open. I think the goal with this one was to build a late '50s lead sled with chopped top, Frenched lights, all the usual stuff. But there is no way no how I had the skills to do any of that stuff without completely destroying the body, and there is no way no how I have those skills today, so this car will probably get built very stock or maybe as just a mild custom.

7. #75 Dinner Bell Oldsmobile. Another one that I had reason to buy since I wasn't into Rick Wilson or Morgan Shepherd or whoever drove this car (there's no name on the kit). It's white and blue, which isn't any paint scheme of any Oldsmobile run at the time, so I'm guessing it's another attempt at doing my own Pro Stock. It's another one that might get built with a vintage decal kit since I miss Oldsmobiles.

8. #4 Kodak Lumina. If I had so much trouble with the decals building a '99 Monte Carlo for a GRM contest in the spring, imagine how much better decal kits that are at least five years older will work? But I like Luminas (hated them when they were new, but appreciate their simplicity now) so this'll get built as... something if Mike's has a decal set that works with this body.

9. Random F150. I have no idea why I bought this kit. I'm not a pickup truck guy, not a Ford guy either. I think I got suckered in with the '90s body kit and wheels. The body has been painted with a strange dark greenish-blue metallic, but it's really badly done. Think the purple bath will work on 30 year old paint?

10. 1986 El Camino SS. This is the kit I most wanted to see still complete and unstarted, and I was happy to see it was in that condition. I love El Caminos (my very first GRM model build was a '69 Elk) so I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this one and building it over the coming winter. It's a simple kit, will probably go together pretty quickly, but I get a wicked smile picturing this thing in a sinister black.

11. '37 Chevy Modified. I've always wanted to build a NASCAR modified, even though the ones I'm familiar with don't look a thing like this one. I don't know if I thought I was good enough to build this chassis and then figure out how to scratchbuild a modern NASCAR Tour Mod body to put on top of it, but I never even took the plastic off the box to begin that process.

12. #52 ASA Camaro. This looks like it was going to be a second Camaro Pro Stock a la the Superflo Camaro back at the beginning of this post, down to the same black/blue paint scheme. I'm less confident that all the parts to this kit are here, so this might just be a backup kit for the Superflo car if that ever gets around to being built.

There was also a handful of built kits in dad's basement, but I'll save that stuff for a separate post.

In reply to Claff :

Sweet stash! I keep trying to score one of those ASA Camaros for cheap and missing out because they're kinda rare. My goal being to somehow make it resemble an IMSA GT or Trans-Am car.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

That's awesome!!!

In reply to slowbird :

Let me assess the two ASA Camaro kits and see if there's really two buildable kits. If this turns out to be the case, I'll wrap one up and shoot it your way since there's really no reason why I should have two and you have none, especially since you have a stated goal for what you want to do with it.

Part two of the model stash at mom & dad's, this being the built cars from hundreds of years ago

Starting out with more of the 1/32 NASCAR cars I built somewhere around the 1991 season. I posted some that I had here at home last year; these are some that didn't make the trip. The Pennzoil car was cheating since it was so simple. When the Pennzoil deal was announced with Mike Waltrip they made a point of saying that they paid extra for the sponsorship to make up for the car not wearing all the NASCAR contingency decals on the front fender. Less work for me! I had one conundrum with the #20 Crown Rob Moroso car: the actual car was an Oldsmobile, but there weren't any 1/32 Oldsmobiles available. It wound up getting built out of a '77 Trans Am.

This Cobra was something I was particularly proud of because I built a 289 car and not the usual 427. But this is included just to show off what is going to be a trend with my builds, ridiculous color combinations. This is a bizarre burgundy metallic exterior paired with a lipstick red interior.

I don't know how long after Fieros came out that the model kit followed, but this one is powered by a V6 and I don't think those were offered from the factory for the first year or two. But it was a refreshing change from the usual Mustangs and Corvettes I built before. Kit was molded in red, so I didn't paint the body. But I paired it with a bright blue interior for some reason. The blue Vette in the background is an '86 convertible that came out pretty well, though I had no concept of "know when to say when" when it came to color accents, putting a little body-color dot of blue paint on the wheel's center cap.

This was the first NASCAR model I built, a replica of Terry Labonte's 1984 Winston Cup-winning Monte Carlo, probably built in 1985 or 1986. I remember taking the body out of the box when I first got it and my dad expressing surprise at how not-stock the fenders were. For as little experience I had with decals at the time, the car came out pretty well and miraculously has held up over the years. I'm most amused by the high-tech in-car camera taking up the entire passenger seat area.

The red Vette in this picture is a 1/8 scale '85. It's HUGE. I'd bring it home but I don't have a display area big enough for it without putting up more shelves. The gold car is an '84, molded in gold so the body is unpainted and the interior is bright red again. If you think this stuff is bad, imagine me trying to dress myself in the late '80s.

These last two got me in trouble on separate occasions. My brother, who is a year and a half older than me, was never a car guy. But since he was the son and a brother of car guys, he kind of got lumped into car guy stuff when it came to birthday or Christmas presents. So he'd sometimes get model kits, and reluctantly build them with little effort or attention to detail, and they'd go on a shelf and get ignored. At some point, I'd get tired of looking at those half-built cars and take it upon myself to improve them.

This Sunbeam Tiger was built stock by my brother. It was molded in yellow and he pretty much built it as it came out of the box, no paint so it had a yellow body, interior, engine, suspension, etc. The only contrast on the whole car were the black tires and whatever chrome bits came with it. I decided it needed help, so it got torn apart and completely molested. I think the engine is a Chrysler product (can't think of what I had that would have come with that engine). The wheels are tires are from a 1/32 stock car and glued directly to the chassis. The turn signals up front and taillights in back are carb/fuel injection velocity stacks. I think the windshield was cut out of a cassette case. Nothing about this car should have worked but I loved how it came out, even with the blue interior. "Champ Dynamics" was the name of my customizing shop that built these monstrosities.

This Pinto is probably my favorite ruining of one of my brother's models. First off, it's a Pinto. Who builds a model of a Pinto? The kit had options to build it stock or custom, and my brother, not a car guy, BUILT A MODEL OF A STOCK PINTO. Four-banger. Skinny wheels and tires. Molded in white so it was built white, but at least he dabbed some black paint on interior bits. After looking at this thing for a while I knew I could do better. I cleaned up the body, removing the B pillar which made a huge difference. I added some ridiculous aerodynamics: cow-catcher front air dam, massive rear spoiler, and ridiculous side skirts which unfortunately fell off and got lost somewhere down the line. I thought the yellow/orange/red stripes worked well with the bright blue paint, though the burgundy interior was a poor choice.

Engine swaps are real easy when you don't have to worry about the car actually working when it's done, so naturally a small-block Chevy made its way into the Pinto. I don't know where the wheel/tire combo came from but they *almost* fit, good enough! I loved it, my brother hated it, and I wasn't allowed to touch any more of his toys for many many years.

In reply to Claff :

Cool stash you have there!

In reply to Claff :

Loved the pics and stories!!

In reply to Claff :

That first year Fiero kit came with the V6 and the 4 banger over a year before the real car was offered as a six. I bought and built it right away when only white and red were offered on the real car. No photo available now, I will take a few and post one later. Light metallic green with brown & beige interior. A color combo never offered. And the Minilites from the (yellow) Tiger kit that I just completed last year.

In reply to Claff :

I built that Fiero as well. And the Terry Labonte car. That very same model. But I still the chassis out of it to make a Pro Stock BMW M635CSi. Wish I had pics.

Would love to have built that 1/8 scale Vette. Big money on eBay now.

Honda touch-up bottle green. This was one of my first lacquer jobs on plastic. It is holding up very well. I did polish it a little a few years ago.

Hey guys, I totally failed at contributing here.  I OWE SOMEONE HERE A MODEL KIT! 

 During one of the build-off I had a t-bird kit up as a prize, I gave this to the shipping crew here at my work to go out. Well I just went back and opened up a box last week with my name on it and well, someone didn't get their kit. If it was you, please send me your address again and I will get it out to you. I am very sorry, I have sufficiently verbally abused the staff to be sure. 

That said. Here are some kits I have finished up in the last few months. 

First is this 1/43 scale Precision Miniatures Porsche 356 America. I ended up taking some liberties with car, no bumpers, half moon wishield, aftermarket wheels and steering wheel being the main thing. My wife picked the color and I think it turned out well. This kit was from 1978, dead simple and very well made for the year. 

Next was this John Day kit, from somewhere in the early 70's. Also 1/43 scale. This was a pretty big challenge to even get looking this good, many rounds of sanding and filler to get the body looking decent. I changed the wheels, steering wheel, and put some resin seats in there. I also did the exhaust pipes out of brass tubing. It isn't all that accurate, but I really like the 300 SLR lines and thought it turned out to be a decent looking model. 

This is an MA models Porsche 908 kit. From Sebring 1969. These kits are pretty terrible, again a ton of work to make look even close to respectable. I am happy with the results for the most part, and again made my own exhaust etc to increase the scale looks. 

Then lastly the Tamiya 1/20 F1 89' car. Most of the decals from Indycals. Zero paints Rosso Corsa red paint. Pretty much straight out of the box build, and I learned a lot about building up more F1 cars in the future. I should have done much more test fitting of the panels before painting in this case. Either way it looks good on the shelf. 

Thanks guys, I PROMISE to check in here more often!

Zack

In reply to Claff :

Much appreciated, keep me posted!  And wow, those built models look really good considering their age!

In reply to ZackM :

Those look awesome, I am strangely intimidated by the 1/43 scale kits. Maybe because the ones I have are resin with etched metal detail parts.

TurnerX19 said:

Honda touch-up bottle green. This was one of my first lacquer jobs on plastic. It is holding up very well. I did polish it a little a few years ago.

Ml

Vermont tags FTW!

In reply to ZackM :

About time you got back in here!

I'd offer that 1/8 Vette a good home. 
I'd try to restore it... although decals may be tough to find.