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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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