Monday 30 June 2008

Magic Cupboard #2: Hangman



Picture the scene. Its the middle of the seventies, that showrod you put together in the sixties is showing it's age after a decade on the show circuit and you just KNOW there's gonna be some kinda mechanical mishap round the bend. Flat battery, bubbletop blowing away in the wind, Barris signed it whilst you weren't looking - you know the deal. But how to get it back to the garage? Towrope? Nope. Lowloader? Nope. Its gotta be something fly. Enter The Hangman.

Based on the earlier Dragon Wagon kit, this TD design is a little less desirable in collectors circles thanks to a mid nineties reissue, but it's thanks to that reissue that I've got this one in my collection, stashed away for another forty years or so.

Dig the noose tow-rope, the distinctive single-coil sprung front axle and those cool drag-style 12 spoke front wheels.

JB

Saturday 28 June 2008

Another 48 Hours



It only takes a couple of days for AutoModelling.com member Rodburner (aka Bob Black) to get a cool project on it's wheels (or even finished!).

This time, he's got a channeled '34 on the bench, finished with that gorgeous true blue pearl paint. Really pops, with them whitewalls.

Follow the project's progress here.

JB

Deskspace...

....I has it.



JB

Tractor Grilles



I was browsing The HAMB the other day, as I do when I have a spare hour or two, and I came across an interesting thread regarding tractor grilles. Not the most interesting topic, you might think, but some of them farmer's front ends look pretty damn cool dropped onto a rod. I haven't researched this phenomenon much, but it certainly grabbed the attention of the guys on AutoMod.

Check out a couple of threads here and here.

JB

Monday 23 June 2008

Magic Cupboard #1: Uncertain T



I'd wager that some of the readers of this blog will have a Magic Cupboard. It may not be a cupboard, it may be a Magic Pile or a Magic Attic or a Magic Somewhere else. Mine though is a cupboard.

Some people call them 'grails', but I just call them 'projects I'll build when I'm a bit better so I can do them justice'. Much simpler that way...

I realised today that most of my very favourite unbuilt kits are hidden away and I dont ever really see them, so the Magic Cupboard series (named after where I keep al these unbuilt kits) is gonna expose some of the cool stuff I'm saving for a time when I can build them to the level I want to.

Theyre not all rare or valuable, but this one is both. It cost me some £200 from eBay a while back, it's an original issue Uncertain T and it IS gonna be built. A resin copy has been in production for a while (more on that the very second one reaches my door) and that will no doubt form a test run for this 'real' build, but in the meantime this kit couldn't be further from the front of the pile.

If you ever find one of these somewhere, buy it, it'll bring a little bit of joy to your life guaranteed.

JB

Sunday 22 June 2008

Study Of A Hot Wheels #5: Fore Wheeler



Golf has never been a sport that I've considered being much fun. Crazy golf, yeah, sure, I can dig it. but walking about for three hours with a bag of clubs trying to put a little ball in a series of little holes doesnt sound like my cup of tea at all.

Enter the Fore Wheeler. Suddenly, a day at the club looks a little more entertaining - though the green keeper's gonna hate you pretty quick.

Blown Hemi, mounted WAY high at the back fo the car is gonna make for interesting handling weaving round the sand traps, that moon tank out front hints at the performance this thing has and the Maltese cross shaped skull on the short stubby nose is sure to make sure you DEFINITELY dont fit in with the checkered-trouser crowd.

See ya at the 19th!

JB

Cool Cooling



Sometimes all it takes to kick start a stalled project is a little inspiration. Having been stuck on my kustom 40 Ford project for a couple of weeks, I decided to do a little digging through my parts stash. Now, I've done all the hard work on this Ford, there was a TONNE of bodywork that needed attention before I even started with the kustom touches - the teardrop rear fenders, the new grille, the new lights and all the little tweaks that I wanted to make.

All that's needed is paint, a few minor bits and pieces (the steering wheel, some scratchbuilt rear shocks, stuff like that) and then it's ready for assembly and detailing. The cooling system had me stumped for a while, with the radiator being so visible it had to be something cool (pardon the pun) but also functional. Whatever I chose, it'd be visible from the front through the grille, when looking towards the front of the car from the back and from above. This was not a job for your ordinary rectangular radiator.

GSo, with a little digging, I came up with this interesting piece. I like the asymmetrical design of the pipes routing out of the top, I like the size of it (it fills the bottom of the front grille, whilst leaving a gap at the top where those wonky pipes can be viewed nicely) and it's not like anything I've ever seen before.

Now to finish the paint...

JB

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Ron Weissinger's #3



Another sick pic with no info bar what's on the build sheet. I like how this (1920s era?) 'streamliner' would be much better aerodynamically if the whole deal was turned backwards. That stuff didn't matter back then though, just craftsmanship, exciting new pursuits and heroism for those brave enough to chase it. Great tribute Ron.

JB

Fred Bell's Deuce



Another 'photographer unknown' situation here, but at least I can make out from the build sheet that it was put together by Fred bell. Hope he finds this blog one day and digs that I dig it.

And what's not to dig? What looks like an Arrowhead moon tank, nice Revell steelies, engine struggling to stay contained in the confines of the engine bay and a subtle but oh-so-effective flame job. Perfect.

JB

Shorter Woody



I'm not sure who was building this when I 'right click saved' the picture so my usual apologies to whoever snapped this image. Its cool though man, great idea for a build. Some things just look cooler by being shorter!

Having a can of propane in the back of the image makes me wonder the means by which these parts were to be fixed back together - hope it made it out alive!

JB

Study Of A Hot Wheels #4: '32 Ford Vicky



Considering my well-documented Deuceophilic habits, I've only got a couple of them in my Hot Wheels collection. Both of them green - should I read something into that? This is a 2004 'reissue' of one of the original Redline Hot Wheels, issued as part of a range of 24 cars, in various colour schemes, in 1968. Dig those rectangular low-mounted headlights and the Gasser ride height.

I love the simpole clean look of the original issues of this car (check them out here - the blue is my favourite I think) but the tattoo-inspired tampos on this one are hella cool, fresh looking, and make the whole car for me. There's a whole series of these, called 'Tat Rods" which I think I just decided to collect - uh oh...

JB

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Chevro-clay



I've never featured much clay on the blog before, and I doubt I will any time soon, but when I spotted this 53 Chevy in a shop in Hampstead at the weekend, I had to have it if only for it's 'something interesting to write about' factor.

I've mentioned before on the blog that the 51 Chev is my all time favourites, but the 53 shares a lot of it's styling cues, and is close enough that I'd happily 'settle' for one on my driveway. If it's two tone red and blue and has licence plates reading 'CUBA', then so be it.

I've been pondering the origins of this model (sculpture?) for a couple of days and I'm happiest with the theory that it was a souvenir bought home from some Londoner's holiday - bought to remind them of a happy week or two in the sun, smoking cigars, visiting talent shows and drinking the banana. It looks well done enough to definitely not be a first effort, but imperfect enough not to be mass produced either. How you'd go about making a hollow Chevrolet out of wet mud by hand, I have no idea, but thats my theory until I come up with something better.

Whatever it's story, for the princely sum of one Pound, its now stting proudly in my collection, all cartoon looking and ugly in it's garish colour scheme. Viva Cuba!


JB

Monday 16 June 2008

The 48 Hour Deuce



Seeing as I'm just about to build one of these AMT 5 Window 32 kits, this build hit home. I'm mid-high detail build, and I wanna do something quick and easy. That AM/Coffin Corner member RodBurner shows, a SWEET model in two days is entirely achievable.

The AMT kits dont get so much attention any more, given the extra detail and accuracy of the Revell Deuce kits. I love the look of the AMT kits though, they build into a nice model despite the lower parts count - Tim Boyd did a gorgeous build of this same kit in Scale Auto a couple of years ago.

This is the nicest AMT 32 I've seen though. From the colour, to the whitewalls and steel wheels, the white interior and roof insert, the stance and the speed in which this was built - this build inspired me no end like only a Deuce can.

JB

Edit: Forgot the thread link!

Tin Plate Car



I've been thinking about pinstripes a lot lately. My toolbox, which we featured a few Saturdays ago, sits next to me all the time, and since it got a little decoration I've started to appreciate this art more and more. Its not a skill that I really thought would translate well to 1:25th modelling, though I've seen it done. Just the thickness of the lines would be a limiting factor in doing something cool, I'dve thought.

Turns out, the problem was me. I was thinking like a model maker and not a pinstriper. A pinstriper doesn't care about scale, he just cares about sick looking symmetrical lines, like those on this awesome 50s (I think?) tin plate car, striped by Nefarious Pinstriping. Too cool

JB

Big Brothers

Big Brother fever is sweeping the country again, and it's the time of year when people would rather be out in beer gardens but find themselves at home watching Channel 4 every night. These big ol' Yanks would be a great addition to the evening TV schedule:





These two big bad beefcakes are the last two in this mini series of builds that Harley Richards very kindly donated to me, via a Coffin Corner charity auction. I've soaked up incredible amounts of ideas, tips and inspiration just from looking at these builds and I know I'm going to enjoy them for years to come. The diecasts are on my desk next to where I'm typing, the built kits are on my display shelf and all the cool stuff he showed me when I was collecting this bounty is STILL bouncing around my head weeks later. The gorgeous brown-primer 32 roadster. The slingshot dragster. The unusual kits that I'd never even heard of before. The rare old Parts Paks and kits that I'd kill to have in my collection - tonnes of things.

One thing really stuk though. Harley's desk was a quarter of the size of mine but IMMACULATE. Two projects sitting there, works in progress. A cool little bike frame with engine (which itself inspired me - I love seeing stuff in progress and seeing one of Harleys builds in progress is like hearing your favourite band recording a new song) and another one. No parts laying about, no tolls scattered everywhere - I gotta get myself together. Hence today, to celebrate and pay tribute to these many fine builds, I'm tidying my bench. Who knows, it may even stay tidy for a couple of days until 'new project fever' hits again...

JB

Fendered Aluma-Coupe



A lot of 'real' rodders argue that it isn't cool to be a Boyd fan. And true, his super-sleek modernised creations are about as far from the traditional rodding scene as you can get. That said, and much as trad rodding will always be my first passion, I love Boyds stuff. There, I said it. Some of it dated better than others, but they're all clean, pretty, and inspirational. I'm working on a Boyd tribute 32, and I build my own version of his Aluma-Coupe, and I've seen every American Hot Rod fifty times. I bought all the AMT Boyd Coddington signature kits, although they were arguably little more than poorly thought out cash-ins.

Harley did his take on Testors' snap kit long before me, and did it better too. He envisaged a fendered version, with a big sexy rear end moulded effortlessly into the sides of the body, and sleek swooping front fenders perfectly complimenting the front end that Boyd envisaged. he pulled it off too, and then some. His build looks more Boyd than Boyd - just the kinda sleek sexy machine that the bearded one would love. Great tribute, even if none was meant.

JB

Blown



We've shown a lot of pretty pics and exterior stuff from my new collection, but not so much of the actual mechanical bits. Just to prove that Harley's more that just a pretty paintjob, check out what's under the flip-front of this pretty Gasser. Definitely sexy, to my eyes.

JB

Warcraft



Much as I love the 32 grille on a 32, I've recently started thinking about other options. The 32 body is distinctive enough to take a new nose and not lose it's identity.

This die cast street rod is rocking it's 33 grille shell, looking to me like a warrior holding his shield, proud and bold about to do battle.

JB

Union Special



If you gotta go Austin, this is probably the way to fly - in a sky high, beautifully raked sky blue build, more than 20 years old. Sporting gorgeous vintage door art, paint that still smells like it's gassing out (ahh, the wonders of enamel) and opening door and flip front, this Harley build is my new favourite eye-candy.

JB

Sunday 8 June 2008

"Mr Gasser"



I'm familiar with Testors paints, but I had no idea they made die-casts too. Not too common over here maybe? They should be though, they do a damn fine 1:43 Willys gasser

JB

Off Topic



Or is it?

I've been debating the next part in my mini-series of the bounty I found whilst pillaging Croyden, and by the time I'd decided what to do, about a week has passed. No blog for a week? Blame my think box.

Anyway, here was the dilemma. This blog is kinda like the Jalopy Journal, but for models. Well, that's the goal...Ryan's writing skills and eye for a good story are a whole solar system away from my sporadic ramblings, but the stuff that he features is all the kinda stuff I like. On the accompanying message board, Ryan and his operate a stict rule; traditional rods and kustoms only.

My rule for this , inspired by personal taste than an attempt to ape someone else's formula, was no tuners on this blog, however cool. There's enough amazing stuff to feature here without branching into something I don't know much about. Don't get me wrong, my 1:1 daily is a 3 year old 'hot' hatch, I got nothing against people who wanna build this stuff, but my plan was to stick to the old stuff here.

Then, in my haul, was this cute little 2 seater Suzuki. It's got after market alloy wheels, carbon fibre on the silencer and the plate indicates it was tuned by computer rather than screwdriver. And yet, I think it fits. Why? Let me explain.

First up, its tiny, light. Not silly money. Long bonnet. Rear driven. Kinda classic looking, like some kinda relative to the Austin Healey Sprites and MG Midgets for the 60s. The Japanese do retro pretty well (see the Mazda MX-5's resemblance to old Lotuses - no accident, it was part of the design brief), and in it's metallic British racing green finish, it's not hard to see where they might got some of the ideas from.

Sometimes stealing liberally from the past works out pretty well (New Beetle), sometimes its questionable at best (PT Cruiser), but in this newer-is-better-gotta-get-the-newest-thing-now world, the fact that anyone in these big companies is even looking back to what's gone before is pretty damn cool.

JB

Postscript: Regardless of how off topic the model itself was, the blog it inspired was DEFINITELY left of centre. Do not adjust your set, normal service will be resumed shortly...

Friday 6 June 2008

MG



My family's got a little history with Morris garages and their products. As a kid I was dragged around countless MG Owners Club shows until we finally got our own (modest) slice of the pie; a got-the-runs-yellow rubber bumper Midget. I think it's still in a shed somewhere, but noone's in a rush to drag it out right now. My mother works, and has worked for as long as I can remember, for the MG Owners Club, she drives MG Metros rather than the regular Austin/Rover versions and our coffee table is home to today's newspaper and 'Enjoying MG' magazine.

This in mind, I've never actually contemplated adding a scale MG to my collection. I should've probably, those old pre-MGA roadsters that I saw all those shows cant have hurt in the development of my love affair with the shape of Americas equivalent early Fords.

I forget which model of MG this is, my encyclopedic knowledge of these things has waned somewhat since I discovered girls, but the shape of that wheel arch, that sexy wire wheel and the louvres mean this old English lady, kindly donated by Harley, is certainly welcome in my collection any day.

JB

Thursday 5 June 2008

Badman II



To create a classic is something many artists strive for their whole lives. Many will achieve it, though it may never reach the public consciousness. Imagine then, creating not one classic, but dozens, creating a new genre of model kit building, becoming the biggest name in model design that the world has ever seen. Creating the Beer Wagon. Bad Medicine. The Cherry Bomb. The Fire Iron. The Garbage Truck. The Groovy Grader. THE RED BARON.

Compared to these, a 55 Chevy gasser sounds pretty tame, but Tom Daniel created another masterpiece with the Badman. This die-cast Badman II (what IS the difference?) has cut an imposing figure on my display shelf the last week, proving that even when the body's stock Tom Daniel is a guy who knows how to design a classic.

JB

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Pete and Jake's Truck



Another of my new toys, and one of the nicest diecasts I've ever seen. Great subject, gorgeous stance (check how that rear wheel sits in the arch), and great use of colour.

And then consider the wire wheels - on a model the same scale as a Hot Wheels. How they even did that is beyond my comprehension...

JB

Monday 2 June 2008

Dueling Willys



I've blogged before about Showrods member Harley, featured a couple of his builds and relieved him of a significant amount of plastic. He's a true ambassador for the hobby; friendly, knowledgeable, generous with his time and skills and best of all a fantastic and innovative modeller.

I recently won a charity auction on the Showrods site for a collection of diecasts and built-ups from Harley's collection that he'd very generously donated to the cause. Now, this wasn't junk either - the stuff Harley gives away is better than what most would keep, and I'm delighted to be able to show you some of the cool stuff that's recently set up home in my display case. There's some plastic, some diecasts, some old, some new, all of it worth a look.

Not listed in the auction, but very generously gifted to me (I'd love to say it made my day, but so many things made my day that it wouldn't be fair on the 100 other amazing things...) was a little postcard sized diorama of a Willys Coupe and Pick Up launching from a drag racing startline. The blue car is ahead by a tiny fraction, whilst the pink one climbs dramatically skywards .

Its a beautifully simple piece, two cars, a start line and the asphalt it's painted on, but the elements are combined to truly create that old cliche of something bigger than the sum of it's parts.

And you aint seen nothing yet, we got some serious coolness to come. Think yourselves lucky I felt it rude to arrive outside someone's house with a camera, or we'd be here for the rest of the year...

JB