Monday 31 March 2008

It's Paintin' Season!



And also, beach season. My favourite time of the year, by far. Just seeing a little sun has got me inspired and outside priming and painting again. Lacking the room for a spraybooth, I have to let off all the real poisonous stuff (no, not my farts) outside, and somewhere as rainy as this little country can leave you wanting.

I lvoe getting out and about when I'm not modelling to check out new places (and new hobby shops!), and something I spoted last year on a long hot day at the beach was a bunch of these cool old winches - presumably used to land small boats. There were dozens, and I snapped a few of their rusty (yet still functional) forms for inspiration. I know there's not a direct correlation to cars, but if you're into beaters/rat rods/rusty rods/whatever, they're certainly a cool thing to study. The sea air certainly ruins a nice finish quickly, but I'm looking forward to discovering more cool stuff that I can link, however tenuously, to my modelling.

Just hope I didnt jinx summer with this blog...

JB

Thursday 27 March 2008

Public Service Announcement - Wizzmag / Rods & Customs In Scale magazine



This blog isn't really about this kind of thing as such, but it's been pissing me off so much lately thatI thought I'd try and save anyone else falling for what I did.

Sometime last year, I found the 'Wizzard Publications' website, and like any good auto modeler, got excited about one of their publications, Rods & Customs In Scale. Paid up for a two year subscription immediately, stupidly.

Guess what? No mag, ever. That site hasn't changed or updated in the last year, no magazine as come out, the guy running the scam is ignoring people's requests for a refund (including mine) and has even had the balls to 'renew' some unfortunate subscribers for another year - without delivering a single issue.

Feel entirely free to shit in a Jiffy bag and send it to the guy...but don't put any postage on there, this address and phone number is likely a dud anyway:



Something more positive tomorrow, but just wanted to put the word out

JB

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Whatever the scale....



...be it 1:25, 1:1 or 1:12 (as in the case of these Ministock parts for my RC oval racer project), there's nothing to inspire my quite like a bunch of pieces waiting to be fitted together.

Promise not to blog this RC stuff anymore...we got sponsors for Team Greenspeed now, and a logo and stuff, so it gets it's own blog!

See ya at the track with batteries, or at the bench with glue!

JB

Tuesday 25 March 2008

Study Of A Hot Wheels #2: Mo' Scoot



Who wouldn't love bombing about on the Mo'Scoot? Massive upwards-raked exhaust (bombing in your ear, or the ears of passers by), a nice fat rear wheel and a tiny front (for maximum wobbly fun) and a leopardskin footplate. I want one!

JB

Monday 24 March 2008

Birmingham Classic 2008

No pic at the top of this blog, a) because there's too many to pick from, and b) because I couldn't get permission in time. Regardless, if you wanna see some AWESOME shows of some equally awesome models at this year's Birmingham NNL, courtesy of Bob Downie (of Scale Auto fame) and Paul Wehner then go here.

JB

Sunday 23 March 2008

Junkyard Jewels #16: Flame Decal



Last up, in tonights "catch-up-for-missed-blogs" session, is this cool old fractured and yellowed flame. Nice art, subtle, interesting and just plain cool. Drop this over a nice baby blue base and you've got a SHARP late 50s/early 60s hot rod. Good thing I have an Alps, to make another one for the other side...

JB

Junkyard Jewels #15: Half Gearbox Casing



You don't see enough separately moulded gearboxes in kits nowadays. I think there should be though, like have an auto or manual option. No idea what this is from (maybe the unwanted auto option form another build!), but the fact I dont have another part like it makes this, undoubtedly, a jewel.

JB

Junkyard Jewels #14: Steelies



Sometimes, all you need to make a cool ride a little meaner and more businesslike is to remove some of it's jewelry. Nothing says "this means business" better, to me, than a nice set of steelies. Lose the beauty rings, lose the hubcaps - no need for chrome trinkets on a race car, right? Soup up that flathead and strip her down light, we're going to the races!

JB

Thursday 20 March 2008

Mr Bone's Coffin Rocket



I'm not gonna do my usual analysis of why I like this build, by a CC member called detriothammer, I just do. Cool grille, great stance, crazy custom mods and well finished. Oops, I analyzed it!

Follow it's progress (there's been a lot since this early pic) on The Coffin Corner

JB

Wednesday 19 March 2008

My Mardave Ministock



I know I only chatted RC cars a couple of days ago, but getting this beauty in the post today meant I've messed with little else.

Ok, calling it a beauty is probably stretching the word to trade-descriptions-worrying edges of it's definition, but there's something cool about a rough and ready race car, fresh off the track. And this one is ROUGH. Massive chunks out of the tyres from some exciting oval-shaped battle, a little rust here and there, and some paint that doesnt belong to it on the drivers side door. Proud scars from a hard live on the circuits.

The Mardave Ministock is outdated now, so the pros tell me, but I know it inside out and I'm confident I can get one running good results in just a few meetings. Admittedly, I've had to spend £100 on parts and spares (compared to £55 for a new one) to get it even raceable, but it'll be well worth the effort. And that's all part of the hot rod spirit, right? Taking the expensive old thing and making it perform as well or better than the new thing?

I know how to build the car, my driving skills might need a little tuning of their own since it's been almost a decade since I did this last.

Keep ya posted...

JB

An Open Letter To Manufacturers Of Model Kits



Dear Manufacturers Of Model Kits

I like a lot of old stuff, but if there's one modern thing I enjoy it's model kits. And Formula One. The most most expensive sport in the world; and since they turned the traction control off, the most exciting.

You kit makers model a lot of competition cars. Some cool (vintage gassers) and some not so cool (Toyota rally car anyone?). A couple of you even make Formula One kits. And I'm grateful, cos if I wanted to build an old F1 car, I can.

Here's what bugs me though. Why can't ANYONE release a Formula One kit in the year it's racing? Announcing it before the end of the season doesn't count, it's gotta be on sale and out there. You used to do it with the annuals - soon as the 1:1 was on sale, the model would be too. What's changed since the sixties? I really hope it's not something lame like licencing or some crap like that. I don't wanna build 2007's Ferrari! It's 2008 now! There's a new one already!

Also, when you DO get around to making these kits, could you think about making them in 1:25 or so? You know, like most of the other car kits on the market? 1:20th is WEIRD.

Thanks

A Formula One/Modelling Fan
The Internet

Monday 17 March 2008

Flamed Tyres



I had a set of these already, but I received another set today. Who WOULDN'T want flamed tyres on a rod? Kudos to Revell for copying the Dodge Sidewinder perfectly, right down to these rubber beauties.

I'm gonna have to build the mother of all flamed rods now, just to match the tyres...

JB

Sunday 16 March 2008

Radio Controlled



Excuse the terrible picture, courtesy of an eBay seller, but I wanted to blog a bit tonight about my current modelling-related addiction.

For the past few weeks I've been thinking about my days, about ten years ago now, racing the 1/12th ovals with my trusty Mardaves. Week in, week out (and often weekends too, for the Nationals) I used to be at my local Cambridge Oval Racing Club or one of the many other carpet-racing clubs across the country battling it out with other roundy-roundy racers. 4 cells, 6 cells, stockcars or Ministocks, I loved it all.

Then came a move, pubs, 1:1 cars, girls (and it was the girls who really screwed it up for me) and I stopped racing, sold my stuff and that was that. Until I discovered Racechat, an online forum for RC racers in the UK. Like I often do when I get excited about some amazing new hobby, I signed up, asked some questions, eBayed a little and got excited.

As a result of chatting to a guy on the Racechat 1/12th Oval forum, I got invited to an annual event called King Of The Fens, so I took a drive down there this morning to check it out. I'm hooked again. So much so, that I'm due back this coming Saturday for some more, and I've got all kinds of goodies coming in the post to get me up and running again myself.

Some of the technology has chaged, the batteries, speed controllers, motors, stuff like that, but on the most part it's much the same hobby. Simple, but finely tuned race cars battling to complete the most circuits in 5 minutes. Messing about with cars, with friends. Sharing tips and techniques. All the stuff I enjoy.

The cars I used to race are, for the most part, uncompetitive and outdated now, despite their simple straight axle/solid front end design. I'm still gonna have a try to make 'em compete though - the new stuff just aint as cool as the old cars I used to race. I might even restart development of my Greenspeed saloon chassis that was abandoned prematurely, but that's another story for another day.

Soon as that car, pictured above, arrives I'll be tearing it down, and eagerly awaiting all the cool new stuff I've ordered so that I can bolt it all together. Funny story behind this car, by thew way - back in my nineties heyday of racing these things this car was raced by one of the betters drivers at CORC, a guy called Roy. His car was always the car was trying to beat in the four cell classes - who woulda thought that ten years on it'd appear on eBay and I'd accidentally buy it without fully realising that I'd raced probably hundreds of times.

More on this new money-pit as it happens...

JB

Big Al's Eliminator



Ira Dahm is something of a local legend n the Coffin Corner. A man with seemingly limitless skills at transforming even the most mundane kit into something crazy and exciting.

For something REALLY mind boggling though, check out what he did to an already-interesting kit...then check out his other builds too. Treat yourself for an hour or so...

JB

Friday 14 March 2008

Road Trip, Part Two.



The concluding part of our mini-road trip series takes us up hill and down dale to the Heritage Motor Centre - a home for all that's great (and kooky) about the British motor industry. Guaranteed to bring mass gasps of "I had one of those!" to any Brit who visits.

The really cool stuff, for me, wasn't the stuff that I've owned, been in, or seen daily since the year dot. It's great that they're preserving old Metros and the likes, but the REALLY cool stuff was a little left of centre. Predictably enough. Take this beautiful 50s prototype Lotus, an early relation of the Lotus 7. Check the carbs popping through the bonnet, the hammer marks on the roughly formed nose. Took a bunch of reference shots of this one, with a view to modeling it sometime soon...



Land Rover for the road anyone? Presenting...the Road Rover!



Alec Issigonis takes a go at model making, circa 1945...



...and Morris Garages goes to the salts:



Then finally, I go dirty up a Land Rover



If you're ever in that Rover neck of the woods (or the Aston Martin neck of the woods, for that matter), well worth a visit.

Tomorrow: normal service resumes! Breath a sigh of relief, unless you wanna check MORE holiday snaps.

JB

Thursday 13 March 2008

Road Trip, Part One.



I dunno how romantic a trip to Birmingham, Alabama would be, but a trip to Birmingham, England isn't too high on the list of the world's most romantic driving excursions. The M42 has got a new "traffic control" system consisting of traffic lights, primarily. On a motorway. Got stuck there for a good hour this weekend, playing "stop the guy in the lane to the right of you cutting in cos he's an impatient bastard who drove straight to the front of the queue you've been in for an hour". Some prick named Keith, judging by his personalised plate on his silver Peugeot hatch almost had me in the barrier in his attempts to save five minutes of queuing time. Thanks Keith.

Good thing the company was good, my iPod was loaded with some decent driving music and we had a good reason to be there. My missus, an avid dog lover, wanted to go to Crufts, apparently the World's biggest dog show. I wasn't relishing the thought, but decided to buy her the tickets for Valentines and keep her company. I had a little niggle in the back of my mind that I might be able to find something cool to do, aside from Schnauzer-spotting.

I'd booked a Holiday Inn overnight, and decided to make the most of their internet to see what there was to do around there on the second day. I'd already had a slight clue, having seen signs for the National Motorcycle Museum on the way back, but I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to find it again. Thank God for satnav and hotel wifi.

The museum is a cool place, only recently rebuilt following a major fire which I gather destroyed the building and a large portion of the collection. A grim reminder remains in the lobby - two vintage bikes in a glass case, burnt almost beyond all recognition. Real sad. The rest of the place soon cheered me up though, and gave me some AWESOME modelling-related ideas. And I'm not even a bike guy!

Heres a few bits I couldn't help but share...



First up was this cool model, silver plated no less, of the 1930 350cc Rudge Whitworth TT winner, as ridden by Wal Handley. Beautifully detailed, and a good 18 inches long, this was a seriously nice model. Check the engine detail out!



It wasn't the only model there either, there was a whole case of cool stuff in the gift shop:





1:1 inspiration was what I was REALLY after though, and the National Motorcycle Museum didn't disappoint...

From the new:



...to the old:



...to the frankly scary:



Lots of inspiration too. Check out the drilled frame on this old Ariel. I can see this translating nicely to an early 30s build of some sort:



Or this, seemingly zeppelin inspired side car:



Or these two streamliners...of which the one on the left makes me wanna crack out the Alclad and get painting a Bonneville car of some sort:



I was surprised at how easy it was to translate aspects from the hundreds, literally, of motorcycles into the car models I make. I took so much form the experience, and even my missus found some stuff to admire. Considering this wasn't even the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most, it was a hell of a way to spend a morning.

Part two tomorrow, but in the meantime feel free to check out what else I saw there. Who knows, maybe it'll spark some kinda idea off in your brain too...

JB

Wednesday 12 March 2008

The Joy Of S...



...anding.

There's nothing I enjoy more than a satisfying sanding session. I scratchbuild a lot of stuff, and however careful I am, there's always SOMETHING that needs a little gap filling. Sometimes, it's ejector pin marks or sinks in bodies or frame rails, but whatever it is, I have some kind of weird sanding fetish.

Take the chassis above. It's for a 40 Ford that I'm building. I used the recently-reissued Lindberg kit, which is frankly terrible. I know it's an old kit, but the flash and general quality of the parts is horrendous. So, rather than make chicken soup out of chicken shit, I decided to make the chicken largely from scratch instead.

A new chassis was first order of business, constructed with 3mm square styrene rod and a front frame (much modified) from an AMT 49 Merc. Rear end is a 9 inch Ford, and the motor will be a 5.0 Mustang mill.

I've finally got it mocked up and complete enough that I'm ready to paint, and tonight I laid down some healthy blobs of Squadren Green fputty to fill the gaps. I like to use McDonalds coffee-stirring sticks to get it roughly the shape I want it whilst it's still wet, then leave it for a couple of hours to set before sanding.

The comes the fun part: breaking out my sanding stick collection to attack the now-set Green and get it all leveled out and pretty. I;ve gt probably 20 or 30 sanding sticks (aka 'nail files') that I've collected from various places. Some smooth, some coarse, some seemingly suitable for rubbing down the sharp edges on a tank, and some suitable for nothing much more than bulking out my sanding-stick bag.

I like to start with about 150 grit or so, to level out any lumps and bumps quickly, then progress up to higher grits as I go. There's nothing quite so satisfying as sanding a bit lump of Squadron on the corner of two joined pieces, and gradually seeing the colour of the plastic peek through, leaving patches of filler in the low spots. A quick coat of primer brings even more sanding fun - this time with a potential three or four colours to appear before your very eyes. It sometimes takes me 4 or 5 goes to get it how I want it, but I always get there in the end.

Take your time, be patient, work gently and carefully and you too can experience the Joy Of Sanding, and the much improved finished product that comes with it.

JB

Tuesday 11 March 2008

AMT Is Back!

AMT is on the way back, so I wanted to show five good reasons why this is a good thing. People rag on their moulded in chassis and old-as-the-hills reissues, but I like them old kits!

Reason 1: The Deora. Best Slant Six motor on the market, cool subject, awesome set of wheels. Must have!

Reason 2: The 32 five window Coupe. For a long time THE kit to base a Deuce build on.

Reason 3: The 32 Vicky Phaeton. Better parts fidelity and design than the Revell Deuce kit? Most definitely. Much overlooked

Reason 4: Their parts packs. Aircraft engine? No problemo. Wheels? Yep. Drag diorama accessories? Yep

Reason 5: The Lil' series of kits. Lil Yella and Lil Mixer are my faves, and recently reissued too.

Heres to AMT being back for GOOD.

JB

Monday 10 March 2008

1:25 Hot Wheels



What with Revell releasing a series of Hot Wheels branded kits lately, and my ongoing love affair with these cool little die-casts, this post was one that I'm particularly excited to bring you. See, I thought the Revell kits would be 1:25 versions of popular Hot Wheels models, just scaled up. Actually, I didn't honestly think they would be, but I was really hoping that something like that might happen. Or that Hot Wheels would bite the bullet and make their own 1:25 kits. I'd buy a shipping container full in a second.

Turns out, no, just as I feared; nothing new and groundbreaking from the Revell/Hot Wheels alliance. I was gonna have to wait to see a scaled up Hot Wheels in plastic. I had no idea I'd only have to wait a week though.

Chris Walker, aka Nightstalker, posted a thread up on the Coffin Corner which I didn't read straight away but when I did my jaw just hit the floor. It was like he'd got in my brain overnight and taken a kinda loose casual thought and made it into a well rounded and developed concept. And he didn't just do it once either...

What would YOU do if you were building a 1:25 version of, lets say, a Hot Wheels VW Beetle? I know what I'd do: buy myself a Tamiya Beetle kit, and assemble it box stock with paint to match the HW. Only a modeller with heroic levels of determination to match the concept in their head would make, for example, a 1:25 copy of the Hot Wheels base plate, right? Chris did. With lettering? Yep. Redlines? Yep. The rivet that holds the bottom and the top of the car together? Yep!

Like I said before, he didnt just do it once either. I picked the Hot Pink Sand Crab shown above cos it showed the original and the scaled up version in one pic, but it could've easily been one of the many other executions of this cooler-than cool concept that Chris has built. You just GOTTA check out the original thread first, then more pics on Chris's site. In fact, check out the WHOLE site, it's a great way to spend a little while!

And now, I can sleep sound knowing that (although none of them are mine, sadly) there ARE some ubercool 1:25 Hot Wheels models out there, and that they're even cooler than I first imagined.

JB

Sunday 9 March 2008

Dave Marek's Red Baron



I've been thinking a lot this weekend about inspiration. I spent all of yesterday at a dog show, which was surprisingly like a car show in terms of the camaraderie and atmosphere, and then spent all of today dragging a reluctant girlfriend around a motorcycle museum in the morning and then a car museum in the afternoon. Payback for the dog show, see.

Every time something grabbed my attention this weekend I snapped a pic of it on my little Pentax digital camera. I've got dog pics, pics of interesting people doing interesting things, pics of some cool little design features in my hotel room, pics of motorcyles, pics of cars...if I thought it was cool in the last 48 hours I snapped a shot of it. Why? Inspiration.

Today's blog is what happens when one of my favourite artists, slash designers, gets inspired by one of the most famous and recognisable model showrods.

Dave Marek, who has already penned updated versions of such classics as the Cop Out, the Orange Crate 32 Sedan, and the Badman 55 Chev, turned his attention to the Tom Daniel designed Red Baron. The above "doodle" done during a "long meeting" is the result.

I'm not even gonna try to critique this one, it's just too cool for words. Sounds like Dave's gonna build it too..."already have built the motor from the Horny Toad and suspension from misc. Working on the frame and body." he says. Now THERE's a build that I can't wait to see in the plastic.

If you liked that "doodle", check out some other crazy creations from Dave here. Some of these have already been reproduced by modellers in scale, and most of them could easily find themselves projects on MY bench. One of the most inspirational artists I've yet seen? Yeah, totally. Dave can stand with TD, Roth and all the greats with his head held high and proud. Whether he's paying tribute to those before him or taking the present day and warping it into something cool, Dave's a guy who's next work should constantly excite and inspire.

JB

PS: Many many many thanks for Dave with being so cool about letting us feature his image here. Most artists freak out when you mention reproducing their work and not paying them (which kinda rules us out, seeing as we don't make any money from this blog), but Dave couldn't have been cooler. Thanks Dave!

Saturday 8 March 2008

Flounder's Krazy Vette



Just a quick one tonight, cos I'm in a hotel and there's not a lot of info to go on about this one anyway as yet. Kinda like those Choose Your Own Adventure books, you can make your own decisions on where Coffin Cornerer Scott Colmer (aka Flounder) is going with this krazy 'Vette...at least until it's finished anyway. Im guessing streamliner, but whatever it becomes it'll be cool as hell.

Follow the progress here: http://tinyurl.com/35suot

JB

PS: Sorry for no hyperlinks...my Mac laptop, Firefox and Blogger are hating each other. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow...

Friday 7 March 2008

Steve Hammann Revisits 'The Vandal'



Lately there's been so many amazing builds floating around that I hardly know where to start - I've got 'em backed up like air traffic control at the minute. Cool news too, which just came in today. More on that in a few days though. In the meantime, we got some uber-cool business to attend to.

We haven't featured anything this modern on the blog to date, and normally wouldn't. We're all about the old school baby! This though tied into so many different things that I find cool I couldn't resist asking the builder, Steve Hammann, if I could feature it. Regular readers will probably know how much I love bare plastic and filler, but the way this one ties into history is the real interesting aspect for me.

In 1972, Monogram released the Vandal, a wild bubble canopied, offset engined van that carried a dirt bike on it's tail. At the time, kit manufacturers were turning to such legendary designers as Tom Daniel to create original kits, not (usually) intended to duplicate a 1:1 subject. No full sized subject means no royalties to pay (but to the designer) and thus higher revenues. Us showrod fans have a lot to thank the astute business development guys of the 70s...

Anyway, skip forward 36 years to this week and Steve's "epiphany". Maybe if he shortened the wheelbase, cut this bit off, moved this bit, glued that bit, filled this bit...then he might end up with something like the Vandal might look today. Same design cues: short stocky wheelbase, engine on the right, driver on the left and the same open minded thinking that bought the original to us all those years ago.

Steve's got another awesome build which I'm hoping to feature soon, with his permission, but in the meantime check out what he's been up to here.

JB

Tomorrow: ANOTHER cool-as-hell-itself build!

Thursday 6 March 2008

Steve Lewis's Tow Truck



I was writing in one of my blogs a little while ago about how much I liked how things evolve in hot rodding. Someone has a cool idea, someone else likes it and does their own take, and so on and so on since the 50s. Today's subject is a great demonstration of that, as well as being the first in a string of amazingly cool builds spotted at the Coffin Corner.

Built by Steve Lewis of Michigan, this insane tow truck is inspired by another build from the Coffin Corner, but is more than cool enough in it's own right to get a mention.

Based around an original issue Lil' Mixer cab, Steve's build uses a twin blower set up from a Gridiron Grabber, and parts from a Chuck Wagon and Popcorn Wagon. With pedigree like that, how could it fail to be something a bit special?

Follow Steve's progress on the 'Corner.

Tomorrow: something at least as crazy and equally cool. Don't touch that dial!

JB

Junkyard Jewels #13: Fuel Can



Bare metal, primered, painted to match the colour of the body or in a nice military camo, this fuel can would make a cool addition to the boot of all kinds of builds. Or, how about using it AS the tank on a rat rod or something?@ Run lines from the bottom of the can to the carbs and you got a cheap, lofi fuel containment solution!

No cap, but a little machined aluminium (or polished brass, for a real old school look?) would detail this up nicely. I can really see a 1:1 version of it in amongst all these old military artifacts:



Dig that tiny bike!

JB

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Tom Kren's 32 Sedan



I have a small secret when it comes to writing this blog, and that secret is the Model Cars Magazine forum. Whenever I'm stuck for an idea of what to write about (or, more to the point, have forgotten all my good ideas when it comes time to put thought to page) a quick surf of the MCM forum will always trawl up something cool for me to think about, or often, feature. There's a high turnover of cool projects there, without the bullshit and blurry dark pictures that you see on some other popular forums. This is one such project.

Currently in progress by Ohio resident Tom Kren, this is the latest of many 32's that we've featured here. This has GOT to be the prettiest though, by far. Look at that colour!

Tom's gonna drop that gorgeous orange/white body over Replicas and Miniatures whitewall tyres, Modelhaus steelies (finished body colour, so the rolling stock continues the orange/white theme) and a beautifully prepared flattie.

With the cool touches (check the stock style firewall, for example) and an eye catching colour Tom did everything right on this one. Looking at his in-build progress thread, he's pretty close to having all the painting completed too, so it shouldn't be long before we see this one under glass. About ten seconds before I steal the whole cool concept and build my own just like it.

Check more of Tom's work in his Fotki, here. You won't regret it...

JB

Monday 3 March 2008

My favourite blue



Lots of us have a favourite colour, but I suspect it takes an artist or a car guy to have a favourite shade, by a particular manufacturer of said colour. This is mine.

Based on a Tamiya rattlecan colour, Zero Paint's take on Mica blue is such a beautiful tone I cant help but share it. Responsive to different colour base coats, you can get a number of subtle variations of the shade by using different primers and bases.

Not without it's perils though...Revell plastic seems particularly prone to wrinkling and crazing without a VERY good coat of primer (or six) and I've ruined several bodies in the course of trying to find a good base for this colour.

Hardest thing is to not use it on every project!

JB

Sunday 2 March 2008

Paying Tribute



On a day when we lost another hot-rod great, paying homage to our influences has been on my mind today. Even if subconsciously, anything we see that we like is gonna filter into what we do somehow, I think. Maybe we'll mix it up a little, change something, add something, remove something, but without any influences we'd not be hot rodders. Lets face it, this is a scene BUILT on the past.

But, the great thing about that is the way ideas are copied, recycled, reused, tweaked and perverted into something new, yet old.

We're running a Boyd Coddington tribute build on Auto Modelling - please, if you liked anything he did, feel free to join in and help us remember an innovative and important figure in the scene I love so much.

JB

Saturday 1 March 2008

Dub's "Dirty" Deuce



We've featured one of Jonathan Lutz's builds before, but that was at the start of the project, not the end. So, in order to redress the balance, here's a finished build straight from York, PA.

For Dub's first attempt at building a beater, he's certainly got a knack for it. Deuce phaeton body, mismatched grille, a little dirt and a carb for a shifter. Now THAT I like. Every rat needs at least one part in a place it shouldn't quite be doing a job it shouldn't quite do, and this is one of the most imaginative examples of that I've seen yet.

Dub certainly seems to have developed a liking for these flat-finished beauties, here's to many many more rolling out of York soon!

JB