# Corner Texaco



## ParkRNDL

Everybody's got a shop these days. Here's the one I've been working out of for, well, it seems like forever. This is a pic from the old days...










Not too long ago, we were actually a pretty busy shop.










Lately, though, even though things have slowed down around here, there's been a ton of construction... seems like everything went to 4 lanes. You can see there's literally an overpass right behind the shop. I worry about my poor neighbors--if someone going too fast comes off that overpass, they're gonna have a car through their roof...










Anyways, just down the road from here is a big-time speed shop. Nick Balko's Velocity Performance. He used to be one of those guys that buys brand new cars off a dealer's lot and stuffs them full of huge horsepower and flashy stripes. He works mostly with Chevys, but I've seen all makes go through his place. Back in the day, he always had a lot full of Chevelles and Camaros...










These days, though, he mostly picks up old stuff to fix up. Sometimes I'll go in with him if he's going to a big swap meet, or if he brings home more than he knows what to do with, I'll take one or two projects off his hands. (Provided I have the time and space, of course.)

Well, that's what happened last weekend. He rolled in from some big meet on Long Island with a ton of restorable and usable stuff, and I moseyed on over to see what all I could get out of it...










Dangit, the phone is ringing, which means the wife is wondering why I'm not home to help put the kids in bed. Soon as I have some time, I'll show you all what came off that truck, and what I ended up with...

--rick


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## CJ53

Nice Job,, Rick,,
I worked in a Texaco station similar to that ,,well ,,,,,a long time ago...
Looks like you beat the Cash For Clunkers deal .... on the truck,,
CJ


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## slotcarman12078

Nice job Rick!! Is gas still 59.9?? I need a fill up!!! :lol: I need to try to make the L I Superbowl show this winter.. I just hope I have the funds to do it!! Nice shop!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## NTxSlotCars

SWEEEET!!!! :thumbsup:

Sparky may have to give you a hand. Is that a resin Dodge Monaco cop car?


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## ParkRNDL

NTxSlotCars said:


> SWEEEET!!!! :thumbsup:
> 
> Sparky may have to give you a hand. Is that a resin Dodge Monaco cop car?


heh heh, yes it is. that's an old picture, big kevin (mrwillysgasser) did that one--it fits a Slimline chassis (yuck). and i need to get some scale figures in there soon...

--rick


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## WesJY

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Wes


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## Hilltop Raceway

Cool pics!!! I like that old Texaco station!!! Glad to see a new shop open up, also, especially a Bowtie shop!!! Keep the pics coming...RM


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## bobhch

Rick,

Man this is a nice lot of Kewl slot car layout pics. Thanks for posting them up and they are blast to see. 

Yeah that Texaco gas station is great and there is alot of fun cars to go along with all the landscape. Truck loads of cars and High Performance Chevys too! :thumbsup:

Bob...working on my mountains now...zilla


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## tjd241

*Great job all around Rick...*

:thumbsup::thumbsup:... Keep 'em coming. nd


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## T-jetjim

Rick - Looks like that velocity shop is pumping out the quadralam engines to drop in those chevy's.

Nice haul from the swap meet. Reminds me of the Haggerty commercial with all of those Cougars!.
Jim


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## ParkRNDL

T-jetjim said:


> Reminds me of the Haggerty commercial with all of those Cougars!.
> Jim


MWAAAA hahaha! I had never seen that before and so I Googled "hagerty cougar" and then "commercial" popped up right after it... linked right to YouTube. that's hilarious.

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

So here's what we took off the truck:










Both of these are real nice. As you can see, someone decided that the Corvette needed a hole in its roof, and the wheelwells have been touched with something sharp, but barely. Needs a front bumper too, and the rear is broken on the passenger side, but overall a nice runner candidate. Think that hole in the roof is gonna be my first experiment with goop, stay tuned... And the Thunderbird is even nicer. Someone rounded out the wheelwells, but they're not bad since they stayed low, and the screwposts are perfect.










These were bought strictly for parts. The rear bumper off the Camaro is already on my lime green one, and the Cougar front bumper is earmarked for a nice yellow Cougar here that only needs one window post. Shame about the roof on this one... the screwposts and wheelwells are perfect.










Nick said this olive Vette was too nice to pass up, since we don't have that color around here, and the Firebird has already given up its glass for the aforementioned lime green Camaro. Public Service Announcement: The glass between Firebirds and Camaros is not interchangeable without a little tweaking...










Nick apparently got a little out of control buying at the show, because he bought this red Cougar for the front bumper, forgetting he already had bought the yellow one above. It's rougher than it looks; the wheelwells have been hit pretty hard and the roof is all cockeyed. And he has some magic potion he thinks is gonna strip the tan Cougar, but I'm not holding my breath. Be nice if it works, since that car has perfect wheelwells and screwposts... just needs a new windshield. By the way, all 8 cars above were in junk boxes for a dollar or two each.










Now this one was NOT in a junk box. Seems that people know the value of these and even beaters never go cheap. We got a million repop Chargers around here, but this is the first original Aurora example in these parts. I told Nick that I'm gonna use Bill Hall's magical goop techniques to fix this one up, that's why he's gonna let me practice on that red Corvette. I'm thinking this'll clean up real nice if I can learn some patience...



















there's a few more things to show you all, and i even got started on a project, but that all's gonna have to wait till I feed the kids and maybe get them in bed...

--rick


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## hojoe

That yellow Cougar looks like a good canidate for a convertible.
hojoe


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## Bill Hall

"Magical"...?

Disney's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is actually what comes to mind. hahahahahahaha! If there's anything I can help bumble you along with Rick, give a shout.

Looks like a great bunch of fun Rick. I spy another lonely torso. Does anyone else wonder what happens to all the driver's arms? Where do they all go? Who cuts them off? The missing head decapitation thing I get...but the paraplegia thing boggles my tiny pea brain.

Will check for turquoise donor pillars in the shoeboxes of plenty. Tricky part might be getting the remaining glass chunk out of that roof. Be sure to tiptoe rather than risk cracking the roof any further. The charger roof is quite thin and charger glass can be kinda uncooperative depending on the glue wad.

The olive vette would be a great candidate to cut yer teeth on. Splitty wheel wells are a straightforward repair with no lip/flair to complicate things. Olive is a very forgiving color too. Fill them up, block them off, cut and shape them, color blend the panel, sand and polish...woopty doo...next victim! The pillars arent that hard either.

Same with the red vette. I can walk you through the woof wepair.


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## NTxSlotCars

Man, I wouldn't strip that tan Cougar for nothin!! (if there was a way to lift that paint and apply it to the red one, yeah, that would be great.) I don't know, just kinda strikes me as cool. Maybe I've been watching too many derbies. The yellow one does look like a great convertible.


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## tjd241

*Not bad...*

Only sorta nibbled... On one side... By a little old lady... On the way to church... On Sunday... but fixable ! ! nd 



ParkRNDL said:


>


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## bobhch

This looks like a Charger getting damaged but, cut the film and switch the car for the flip...Wheeeeeeeeeew this Carger was to young to die.






Bob...Charge...zilla


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## slotcarman12078

Jeez!! Couldn't handle the outside lane on a 9" curve!!! It deserved to die!! :lol:


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## bobhch

*The story behind the wreck...*



slotcarman12078 said:


> Jeez!! Couldn't handle the outside lane on a 9" curve!!! It deserved to die!! :lol:







I watched this after posting the first video. The story behind the story....typical 70s flic. Fast car with a wreck and no real story except for a knife and a guitar.

Bob...stop making me watch videos...zilla


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## ParkRNDL

Bill Hall said:


> "Magical"...?
> 
> Disney's "Sorcerer's Apprentice" is actually what comes to mind. hahahahahahaha! If there's anything I can help bumble you along with Rick, give a shout.
> 
> Looks like a great bunch of fun Rick. I spy another lonely torso. Does anyone else wonder what happens to all the driver's arms? Where do they all go? Who cuts them off? The missing head decapitation thing I get...but the paraplegia thing boggles my tiny pea brain.
> 
> Will check for turquoise donor pillars in the shoeboxes of plenty. Tricky part might be getting the remaining glass chunk out of that roof. Be sure to tiptoe rather than risk cracking the roof any further. The charger roof is quite thin and charger glass can be kinda uncooperative depending on the glue wad.
> 
> The olive vette would be a great candidate to cut yer teeth on. Splitty wheel wells are a straightforward repair with no lip/flair to complicate things. Olive is a very forgiving color too. Fill them up, block them off, cut and shape them, color blend the panel, sand and polish...woopty doo...next victim! The pillars arent that hard either.
> 
> Same with the red vette. I can walk you through the woof wepair.


Hey Bill, I actually finally took the plunge and started on the red Vette... it's only been, what, a year or two since I've said I was gonna do this? I mixed up a (VERY) small batch of red goop... some red shavings and chunks in the bottom of the jar, with just enough liquid Testors to cover them, then went up to bed. I was amazed when I came down the next morning and found that the testors had melted the stuff in the jar to a goo of the perfect consistency.  I also cut a little chunk of solid red material to jam down in the hole in the roof to take up space. I dropped a little goop in the hole to fill in around my filler piece and went off to church. Came home and dropped in a little more. Then a little more the next day, and finally one small drop to build the surface up enough for that ridge in the roof...



















I am AMAZED at how well the color matches. Can't wait to get this sanded, but I'm a little concerned about protecting the ridge on the roof, and carrying that ridge across the repair... I really have to get some proper files before I go any further on this one.

As for the windows in the Charger... I pried and prodded and twisted and got lucky.










That glass with the door windows cut out is from a JL pullback, in case anyone was wondering, as are the bumpers. Also, I found a donor car for some turquoise goop:



















As you can see, I cut a couple pieces of potential window post material off the rocker panel of the Thunderbird. I'm a little worried about using the Tbird as goop, though, because it was previously painted black and I've stripped it the best I can, but there's still some black crud hanging on, and I don't want to contaminate my goop...

Man, I gotta buy a couple of jars of liquid Testors and maybe some more empty glass jars. (Hey Bill, you sent me a couple empty jars a while back, and I'm using one for the red--thanks!) Does the goop actually keep in the jar for a while? And how do you apply it? Brushes? If so, how do you clean them? I ended up using a toothpick to drip the stuff in the hole this time...

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

NTxSlotCars said:


> Man, I wouldn't strip that tan Cougar for nothin!! (if there was a way to lift that paint and apply it to the red one, yeah, that would be great.) I don't know, just kinda strikes me as cool. Maybe I've been watching too many derbies. The yellow one does look like a great convertible.


funny you should say that. the tan car apparently doesn't want to be stripped. it's been sitting in ****-N-Span for two days... first of all, that paint is TOUGH. second of all, it seems to have stained the plastic in some places...



















most of what you see there is what's left in the plastic AFTER I chipped off chunks of paint...

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

oh, and that lime Camaro I tried to strip months ago? thanks to the parts cars above, it's mostly complete, although pretty beat:



















Now it can show its face as a proper beater at the local cruise-in...



















--rick


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## NTxSlotCars

ParkRNDL said:


> Now it can show its face as a proper beater at the local cruise-in...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -rick


Hey, it's whats under the hood that counts!!!
In this case, its a post :thumbsup:

Sorry about your tan nightmare.


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## slotcarman12078

That cougar would make a nice repaint, so I wouldn't sweat it.. Nice job on the red vette!! That was quick!!! And the slimy limey 'maro looks cool as it sits. The rat rod look always works for me!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## fordcowboy

Rick have you every tried pine-sol? I have done a experiment with a lot of things.I used ****-n-span it did not work as good as pine-sol on my cars. lendell


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## bobhch

fordcowboy said:


> Rick have you every tried pine-sol? I have done a experiment with a lot of things.I used ****-n-span it did not work as good as pine-sol on my cars. lendell


I use Pine-Sol first and then ELO to finish it off...ELO = Easy Lift Off by Testors (previously Poly name). ELO comes in a big $10.00 can at hobby stores and last a long, long, long time as it doesn't take much. Just pour a little in the cap and brush area after about 5 min with a stiff toothbrush. Then scrub with a toothbrush with liquid soap and water. Repeat if needed.

Heck sometimes I just go straight for the ELO if I am in a hurry to paint the dang thing.  Pine-Sol never cleans off all the paint scum but, with a finish up with ELO it usualy works well for me.

On getting that black out of your goop donor body. I think you could just cut out the large portions of black & scrape the black off with an x-acto knife on the others since you are going to cut it up for goop in the end anyways.

Rick I am digging your layout as I am working on mine right now. Just had fun with the hot glue gun and am heading off to bed now. Can't wait to get to the buildings and details after my landscaped Desert Mountains are all done. That Freezee builing and detail is very inspirational. 

Bob...nice goop job on the Vette...zilla


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## kiwidave

Very cool pics. Really like the buildings. You have some good looking projects happening.


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## Bill Hall

Yes it will keep ...well so far anyway...I'm still using the original yellow and olive I started with a couple years ago. Admittedly I've added material and solvent to it over time. If it gets too sticky add some drops of 3502 and stir it up. It'll be fine.

For application I use a 000 synthetic artist's brush most of the time. I used to buy 00's as well, but an old fuzzed up 000 is close enough...LOL. For cleaning I just use 3502 but I 'spose one could use lacquer thinner as well. Generally I have a clean bottle of testors to use with the project. I also use another jug of thinner (partial) for brush cleaning. As this is contaminated/tinted it is never used directly on the work piece or mixed with the plastic base (goop). It is only for brush cleaning. A coupla dunks and swirls then twirl it on a towel and yer good to go. Contamination by tinting is more of a problem in white, tan, and yellow. Truthfuly I have a rinse jug for dark colors and light colors. Remember that only plastic should be thinned or cleaned with these rinse jugs....dont make the mistake of using it to clean your detail painting brushes in them. 

Painted cars are a problem. I have a technique for cleaning them, but it's messy. (A lacquer thinner bath and scrub.) I use them only when clean scrap isnt available. Pertinent Note: You will have to remove that black paint on the turq charger roof. Otherwise you may accidentally drag the black paint down into your pillar repair. Been there done that. Oridinarily I remove the painted section entirely because it's durn near impossible to match AND blend the aged factory lacquer. By removing the black entirely you only have to spray it....duh? However you could choose to feather out the black you cut back and attempt to slog enamel over it ...it's just not guaranteed the enamel wont rumple or wrinkle your feather edge.

For the red vette roof ridge.... and other things like that which are proud and difficult to maintain straightness...use fine line tape. I like 3M blue 1/8" but whatever works is more-n-likely fine. I run a tape line along the known line so that it crosses the nebulous as yet to be defined area. Do it again! Doubling it up keeps your file riding properly so ya dont skip off. Cut one side and then the other. For sanding I only use the fresh folded edge of the paper to clean up the file marks along the ridge. Sometimes it takes a few passes to get them right.


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## ParkRNDL

Bill Hall said:


> Painted cars are a problem. I have a technique for cleaning them, but it's messy. (A lacquer thinner bath and scrub.) I use them only when clean scrap isnt available. Pertinent Note: You will have to remove that black paint on the turq charger roof. Otherwise you may accidentally drag the black paint down into your pillar repair. Been there done that. Oridinarily I remove the painted section entirely because it's durn near impossible to match AND blend the aged factory lacquer. By removing the black entirely you only have to spray it....duh? However you could choose to feather out the black you cut back and attempt to slog enamel over it ...it's just not guaranteed the enamel wont rumple or wrinkle your feather edge.


What do you (anyone, not just Bill) recommend for removing Aurora's paint? I've stripped plenty of well-intentioned applications of Testors' finest brush paint with **** N Span, but the whole point of using it is that it DOESN'T take off the factory paint. YOu mention lacquer thinner, bobhch also suggested ELO and Pine-Sol. will these have any negative effects on the plastic finish? I'm hoping to find something that will not. I once got a car (a nice turquoise Cougar, fwiw) that had numbers painted on the doors in what looked like red nail polish. I tried hitting them with a little nail polish remover (can't remember if it was acetone type or not) and it took the numbers right off, but seemed to haze the plastic too...

Separate but related question: think it's possible to remove the roof paint without screwing up the bumblebee stripe? Seems crazy to have to repaint tail stripes because I'm replacing a windshield pillar, but I guess that's what makes some of 'em harder to restore than others...

--rick


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## fastbackron

*First Picture*

Rick,
Just curious, The car in the middle between the Willys and the burgundy MM Camaro, is it an JL or AW AFX style 71 Cuda? Thanks.
Ron


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## Bill Hall

Ahhhhh-so...factory paint.

I use easy-off and elbow grease myself...but thats only cuz I'm in charge of oven cleaning too. I only use the LT as a cleaner bath for scrap....NEVER on the work piece to be restored!

Rumor has it that ELO is great, but I believe there have been reported casualties the Tyco universe.

Not uncommon to run into lacquer painted numbers and stripes from vintage modeling. Who ever came up with the idea for painting slots with nail polish should be killed....well ok ....maybe just cut off their hands as a stern warning to their children. I dont waste alot of time on lacquered cars. Usually the fine details are irrepairably ruined by the time you get the offending paint off. The hazing you describe can be sanded off, repolished or both depending on how bad it ate into the parent material.

There really are no absolutes or definative word when it comes to stripping...sometimes ya get lucky and this or that works ....and other times ya crash and burn and say..."D'Oh!"


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## ParkRNDL

fastbackron said:


> Rick,
> Just curious, The car in the middle between the Willys and the burgundy MM Camaro, is it an JL or AW AFX style 71 Cuda? Thanks.
> Ron


ahhhhh... someone noticed. :thumbsup: it's neither. it's a resin cast by Marty Milligan who used to hang out around this board, based off an old Johnny Lightning diecast. i painted it brown with a black roof to look like a 'Cuda that a friend of mine had back in high school...










--rick


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## ParkRNDL

Bill Hall said:


> Ahhhhh-so...factory paint.
> (snip)
> The hazing you describe can be sanded off, repolished or both depending on how bad it ate into the parent material.
> 
> There really are no absolutes or definative word when it comes to stripping...sometimes ya get lucky and this or that works ....and other times ya crash and burn and say..."D'Oh!"


Yeah, I discovered that most of the hazing will polish off... I hit it quick with the old fashioned toothpaste trick and it looked a little better. I am leaning toward stripping only part of the roof of the Charger and trying to see if I can blend it without it looking too funny... guess we'll see when I get there...

--rick


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## XracerHO

Just about missed the Corner Texaco, Great shop, Cool pics and good looking projects! Nice gooping job. Keep the photo's coming. ..RL


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## ParkRNDL

*finally getting around to a project or two...*

Some of you may remember this getting its initial color coat, when I didn't realize the spray bomb was metallic:










Well, it's been sitting in the back of Balko's just like this, and when I asked when he was gonna get around to detailing it up, he told me to feel free to wheel it down to the Corner and finish it up. So we rolled it in, and this is how it rolled out:





































I gotta say this one didn't go as easy as I would have liked. First off, the mirrors are a pain. I know someone else here had the same comment. I used CA to get them on. Worked pretty good, but apparently I didn't let it dry long enough and it boogered up the windshield when I put it in. I was able to minimize it with Future, but you can still see the streaks. Then I ruined a bunch of dishes in the kitchen sink trying to open a bottle of Testors Silver for the details. (Long ugly story. Don't ask.  ) Finally, I had little decal stripe sections BEHIND the rear wheelwells, but they weren't laying down nice, and when I touched the red paint to the side marker, it ran under the passenger side decal and got all ugly. So off they came. Hey, HO Detroit didn't put stripes behind the wheelwells on their Mach 1s, so I guess I can get away with it.

I am once again amazed at the wonders of Future... the side stripe decals weren't looking that great and the edges didn't seem to want to stay down, but all I had to do was lay some Future over them with a Q-tip and they were a hundred times better.

So this one's done for now. We gassed it up and sent it on its way.










--rick


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## slotcarman12078

A thing of beauty for sure!!! Nice job!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


>


Looking good Rick!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Great detail work!!! I likes these garage shots...RM


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## kiwidave

Awesome, gotta love a blue Ford!!


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## GTPguy

Nice detailing job- looks great!


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## roadrner

Rick,
Looks pretty good. I would have only changed one thing, flat black on the front spoiler. :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## XracerHO

Rick, Nice Mach 1 & like the garage background too!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


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## win43

Nice STANG :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Glad to see it finished


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## Bill Hall

Nice lil pony Rick.
Whose tires did you use?

Glad to hear the CA is being schlobbered and silver is splashed around the sink at other houses too. LMAO!

Did I tell ya the one about accidentally spritzing a bit of easy off on the levolour blind in our kitchen...? It suffices to say that it REMOVES OTHER PAINT also! :freak: Duuuuuuuuuh.


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## ParkRNDL

roadrner said:


> Rick,
> Looks pretty good. I would have only changed one thing, flat black on the front spoiler. :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


ya know, i thought about that after the fact... i might still brush a coat of flat black across it...



Bill Hall said:


> Nice lil pony Rick.
> Whose tires did you use?


those are Weird Jack's Rocket Science tires. just won a Bag-O Rejects from him off the 'Bay, w00t!

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

MAN I haven't had a chance to get in the shop much lately. but thanks to Dave (aka Goose Chicken (aka CTSV OWNER)), I had some motivation to get a little tuning and decal job done... 

We unloaded these at the shop a couple weeks ago.










The idea was to use the 'Cuda chassis and the Camaro body and create a race car, then ship it off to a proxy race at Dave's. No additional parts, just tweak and tune what's there. It was decided that the one permissible change would be silicone tires.

I lapped the gears, lowered the body, and shaved the windows so they just filled the openings. I also fixed it up with a few decals and a Future dip, and now this is what we have:



















Finally got 'er on the trailer and hitched to the most reliable tow vehicle we have at the moment:










It's gonna roll out to NJ tomorrow; let's hope for the best... 

--rick


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## tjd241

Looks great Rick. Good luck in 'Joisey. nd


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## win43

nice CAMARO

Good luck at the races :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## bobhch

*1/2 Chevy & 1/2 Mopar...*

Love the Elky tow vehicle rick! 

That Camaro should get to the track right on time. What's it got under the hood? 340, 360 or a 440? Vroooooooooooom baby Vrrooooooooooooooom!

Bob...a posi always leaves KOOL burnout marks...zilla


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## XracerHO

Rick, Nice Camaro & Great tow vehicle & nice garage background !! Good luck at the races. :thumbsup::thumbsup: ..RL


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## ParkRNDL

a Camaro with a 340. man, that would tick some people off... but i kinda dig it... 

funny, though, i DID think that at the time... that it was wrong to put a Chevy body on Mopar running gear... lol

--rick


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## win43

ParkRNDL said:


> a Camaro with a 340. man, that would tick some people off... but i kinda dig it...
> 
> funny, though, i DID think that at the time... that it was wrong to put a Chevy body on Mopar running gear... lol
> 
> --rick


I had a friend who put a Chevy 427 in a 66 Olds 442


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## bobhch

ParkRNDL said:


> a Camaro with a 340. man, that would tick some people off... but i kinda dig it...
> 
> funny, though, i DID think that at the time... that it was wrong to put a Chevy body on Mopar running gear... lol
> 
> --rick


Don't for get the MOPAR decal on the top of the front window...lol :freak:


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## slotnewbie69

nice work rick!all my builds are on hold,and can't get this damn camera to take close ups.also my photobucket went bunk...grrr


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## ParkRNDL

*It's been a while...*

Must be time to drag out another chunk of plastic or resin from the old Cigar Box 'O Projects. I've had this so long I forgot where I got it:










It looks like someone cast it by cutting the middle out of a Johnny Lightning diecast. I kinda like the overall proportions; they're pretty similar to the JL/AW '59 and '62 Chevys, except for one problem:










This is even WIDER than them. A stock skinny-tire chassis is absolutely LOST under there. But Tuffy wheels and tires won't clear those low rear wheelwells. I don't mind a little rake, but I'd rather not go the whole Gabriel Hijackers route. I'd like to tuck in at least the tops of the wheels.

Enter a set of RRR chrome stock wheels:










man, that looks SWEET. but the old lumpity rubber they came with had to go, so i had to thin the inside of the body a little to get some Weird Jack's AFX tires under there. looks MEAN...










and fills out the wheelwells quite nicely, I think. Now for primer and a little Internet research to get color ideas. I have a spray bomb of silver, and one of silver-blue similar to the Riviera in the last AW release, and a dark metallic green. These also look good in red, though, and I'm even thinking of a two-tone with a white roof. Decisions, decisions...

And I think I'm gonna pick a second project out of the box so I have something to do while I wait for the primer to get good and dry. You guys always say you have several projects going at once to help avoid getting back into stuff too soon. I gotta try that--I certainly have enough projects waiting for attention.

--rick


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## kiwidave

Good move with the RRR wheels. Cool project. I like the stance!


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## bobhch

rick,

This should be a neat build up....gotta love old Chevy cars. 

Bob...looks like some fun building man...zilla


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## Bill Hall

Proportionally I think the width is closer to the original...and even though the roof looks a bit puffy; it's nowhere near as weirded out as the AW bubble-top.


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## slotcarman12078

I like this body too!!! Some one did some great grille detail on it!! :thumbsup:


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## Joe65SkylarkGS

That chebby is sweet. I likey!!!:thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL

*Finally wrapped up a few more...*

This is an MEV kit that's been waiting in my project box FOREVER for some attention. I bought it specifically to paint it silver because I always loved the song "Silver Thunderbird" by Marc Cohn. The line "Great big fins and painted steel/Man, it looked just like the Batmobile" has me convinced it's a first- or second-gen car he's talking about. (It was originally a kind of mint green... ya can't be too picky when Mike brings blem kits to a show  )



















(to be continued)


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## ParkRNDL

You guys liked this Chevy when I posted before pics last week. Here's the after pics. Happy to report that the "fog" in the paint rubbed off pretty easy.














































The bumpers are foiled, and the grille/taillight panel are brush painted with Model Masters Chrome. Hard to see the difference in person unless you know to look for it, and nearly impossible in these pics. One more in a few...

(to be continued again)


----------



## ParkRNDL

This one is special. I've always wanted to do a black '60 Starliner because my dad had one. You know that car we all had that we never shoulda sold? (Some of us have had more than one, I'm sure...) Well, this was the one he should have kept. Got rid of it before I was born. Black with a red interior. Mom said THIS one looked like the aforementioned Batmobile. I'm thinking she was right.





































Both this one and the Thunderbird have had the bumpers sprayed with an auto-parts-store Bumper Chrome spray bomb. I think it looks okay, all things considered. My detailing job on the side chrome trim moldings, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. I WISH I had the steady hand some of you guys seem to have. there's a lot more chrome that could have been picked out on this car, but the detail is VERY fine, and I would have botched it worse than what I already did...

--rick


----------



## bobhch

*Love the pics...*

rick,

You been busy huh? The Chevy looks great the way you did it up. The T-bird and a black Starliner are great too! I like the way all of your builds have meaning to them...that is cool as it makes them even more special and fun during the whole build up.  Hey they don't have to be perfect...they just have to be fun and these look right at home in your pictures you posted. Nice TEXACO set up for some old cars to get put into. 

I worked at Pizza Hut in the early 80s while in High School and one of the waitresses ( a hottie ) drove a black starliner just like that. I thought the same Bat Thing as your Mom. It was a cool car in it's own special way. Not the Batmobile but, you could see Batomobile written all over it. Her parents saved it for her but, I don't think she cared about it....doh

Bob...I see a batch of neat custom cars...zilla


----------



## slotcarman12078

They came out nice Rick!!  I tried the foil treatment a few times and never got the process down. I like the results Alclad gives, but I'm a bit puzzled by what would be the best attack for a car that has the grill / bumpers molded in. I'm still toying with different approaches to see which is easier. Detail painting isn't easy, and is near impossible to make look good in macro vision...:lol: I really like that starliner!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Bill Hall

Cars look great!

Same trouble here Rick...and I'm not getting any steadier with age.

CJ, I think?, told me about trying the fine tip silver paint pens to take away the detailing stress. Havent tried it...as I'm a de-chromer by nature, but it's on my list of things to pick up just to have in the arsenal.


----------



## XracerHO

Great work & great batch of custom cars!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Like all of them. ..RL


----------



## slotnewbie69

nice work rick!


----------



## CJ53

Bill
Actually ,, just silver "Sharpie" markers is what I use.. Not steady enough for a brush and sometimes BMF just won't stick.. 
CJ


----------



## hojoe

Rick, you should try chrome pinstriping. It'll give you a nice clean line.
hojoe


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## ParkRNDL

I've used silver Sharpies. They work good if a.) you have a nice new one and b.) the trim you are trimming sticks out far enough from the body. Probably would have worked well for the Impala, but I don't have a fresh one at the moment.

joe, is that something you get at an auto parts store?

--rick


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## slotcarman12078

Alclad can be gotten from finer hobby stores. It is a bit expensive, but the results make it all worthwhile, especially when shot through an air brush. 




























It makes for an interesting base coat too!!!


----------



## hojoe

I get my pinstiping at the hobby shop. I used it on this 57 Ford.
hojoe


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## tjd241

Tape 2 NEW xacto blades together with a flat spacer inbetween and you can make stripes out of BMF or any other sticky stuff. :thumbsup:


----------



## slotcarman12078

tjd241 said:


> Tape 2 NEW xacto blades together with a flat spacer inbetween and you can make stripes out of BMF or any other sticky stuff. :thumbsup:




Dang it nuther!!!!! That's smart!!!!! That belongs in the Quick tips thread!!! :thumbsup:


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## NTxSlotCars

SO many great cars here Rick.

Gotta show one. It's not so much a custom, but, in 94,95 ISH, I got a white Charger #11. 
I had an old decal sheet and pulled the matching Texaco decals to put on this car. 
I raced this car in our stock Magnatraction Nascar class for five years, til I built a Petty car. 
I still like the simple scheme of it.










GO TEXACO !!!!!


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## scratch

Some times wish had gone HO. Small footprint, big track on a 4x8. 197-zillion rides to choose from.

Ho scenery to make use of, now gas stations pit stalls, grandstands ... wow you've got it made.

Wonderful looking working cars all. Resurrection of rides is part of the game. Anyhow, nice work.

Cheers,
Jas


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## ParkRNDL

*Do I need a shop truck?*

I got this pickup on a cheap friction powered monster truck chassis at Wally World years ago with the intention of converting it to Tjet duty. (It was in a set of 3, actually... the Dodge van got converted back when I got them and the Baja Bug is still in the project box.)










So we backed it up to one of the bays...










...and the boys unloaded it.










They laid it on a chassis to see how close it was. It lines up about perfect for a short wheelbase Tjet. I was thinking about stripping it, pulling the roll bar off, and making a simple shop truck. Nice little Chevy short bed.










But then these evil ideas came creeping in... I got this stake trailer in a set of farm equipment from Ollie's Outlet.










And I'm thinking: How would this look as a stake truck?










I'm probably NOT going to do it, maybe save the stake truck idea for something like a trashed Vibe or AFX pickup, or maybe convert one of those Bachmann train scenery trucks that has the bed that's too narrow for Tjet duty anyway. But I'm gonna do SOMETHING with this little truck, just gotta figure out what...

--rick


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## resinmonger

Rick, your whole set up is very cool. I like your ability to show a car or truck outside the shop and then move it into the interior. It's like a movie or TV show with two sets! It's very inventive and well executed! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL

heh, thanks. it IS a little like two sets. i feel like i'm cheating... ya know, when you find out the TV show you like that's supposed to take place in NY is actually filmed in Hollywood? well, the exterior shots here are on location on my layout table in the basement, and the interior shots are done on the kitchen counter/island because we have halogen high hats in the ceiling there... :freak:

--rick


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## bobhch

sweet bike...yeah everything resinmonger said!


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## WesJY

SWEET!!!! :thumbsup:

Wes


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## demether

Cool truc ! You should use a buggy chassis, and make an off road track 

Or...if you don't want to make a off road track, you can make a hunter truck (you already have the lights ramps to poach at night), with deer bits and guns, decorating the whole thing 




> Rick, your whole set up is very cool. I like your ability to show a car or truck outside the shop and then move it into the interior. It's like a movie or TV show with two sets! It's very inventive and well executed!



I agree too :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: It's really a good idea.


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Cheater.


----------



## scratch

Simply, _too _cool for school. First shot is a really cool photo. Nicely done . . .


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## ParkRNDL

I gotta say, I'm really jealous of you guys who throw painted bodies into Pine-Sol and get these pristine white bodies to work with when you take them out...










I always get this mucky sticky mess. This one looked like it would be different at first... it stayed in the dip overnight, then when I started on it the next day, whole big sections of paint just slid off the sides and left nice clean white... but when I started scrubbing it out of the nooks and crannies, I got this.










maybe I need to leave it in longer, but I get nervous. I thought the body was feeling kinda gummy at this point and I was worried that the stuff was gonna start attacking the plastic. Oh well. Next up, returning the hood to stock.

--rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

A little dremel, a little file...










a little chunk of scrap plastic and some CA...










...and the boys are ready for their first-ever experiment with Squadron Putty.



















It's gonna be a challenge to get this smoothed down to look stock, but the bigger challenge is that I want to do a factory-looking two-tone like this on it:

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f5/four50hp383chevy/1975 Chevy Silverado/Truck5-5-0710.jpg

(Not those colors, necessarily, but the white is pretty much a given, I guess.)

--rick


----------



## bobhch

That Green and White pickup is a Dream Machine...Sweet!

I use Testors ELO after my Pinesol soak to get all that junk off real fast...like 5 to 10 min. or less after scrubbing. You can find it at the Hobby Shop it is made by Testors in a big can for about $10 or $11.00 and you only need a capfull and a stiff toothbrush...then rinse in soapy water right away. Don't ever let your parts soak in ELO for very long. It is a great way to get all that junk left from the pine sol soak off....I do it to every body of mine. 

That Green Squadron putty can be smoothed out like Bill Halls goop with some Testors Liquid Cement that comes in the glass bottle with the pink label.

Bob...Love pickups and that one is going to be cool rick...zilla


----------



## ParkRNDL

Let me just tell you why HobbyTalk is awesome.




























These three pictures demonstrate a whole load of stuff I learned from this board. Such as:

-The use of jewelers' files from Harbor Freight
-The use of Fun-Tak
-The idea of taking off a LITTLE at a time, shooting a coat of primer to see where you're at, then taking off a little more
-The use of Squadron Putty
-How not to lose a molded accent line
-The idea of cutting a "plug" of material the right size to close a hole and using a very small amount of filler around it, rather than just stuffing the hole with filler

This is all stuff I wouldn't have done if I hadn't read about it here first. I cannot BELIEVE the hood looks this good after one round of putty and filing and one coat of primer. The pic is hiding a couple of little wrinkles that I may or may not address... I'm either gonna do one more round with the file and a pinhead's worth of putty tomorrow, or just gonna leave well enough alone and start with color coats. Thanks to everyone who shares their talents here...

--rick


----------



## bobhch

I'll tell you why that pickup is Awesum...because, it looks WAY COOL!

nOW Your Elky will have a friend...

rick.............nice job on that man!

BZ


----------



## kiwidave

Came out great!


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## resinmonger

Wow Rick, you hit that baby out of the park and into the next state! Nice work!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


----------



## Bill Hall

*Hide and seek and coat hanger antennas*

Do you need a shop truck?

Heck yeah Rick!

After catching up on your progress, the correct answer came to me... Yes!...you'll actually need two; but they are two entirley different species.

A "company crummy" like the deisel rabbit pick up we had. Dumb thing rattled and shook so hard no one liked to drive it...'cept me cuz it was a free massage and made my back feel better. Something along the lines of Rich's Sanford and Son build maybe...ya know?...the company jalopy takes many forms. Usually has a screw driver for a key start and vice grips to wind the windows up cuz everbody is to lazy to fix the window regulators. Three bald tires and one good one...usually a high quality Sears "snow tire". Note also the only tire with the white wall or raised lettering mounted out...a jack but no spare cuz we'd rather walk back than be seen working on this turd. The bed/box is hammered every which way from sunday....often looking like a wad of aluminum foil that someone pressed out. It must have some sort of congealed ooze draining out of the bed and down across the rear license plate; which is a good thing because it covers the fact that the tabs have been expired for six months... It will never have the company name or logo on it because it can usually been seen at 12:01 with a bunch of coveralled goons careening around the corner to the local bar for chicken and jo's, a coupla cold ones and a few quick games of nine ball.

The "company truck" is usually the boss's and has the company logo on it along with all the bells and whistles. Like it was covered in 3M trim adhesive and then crashed into a JC Witney warehouse and allowed to dry. It can usually be seen being washed and all his families crap hoed out of it weekly by the shop maggot/whuppin' boy. Generally on monday or friday. It is normally laden or hauling one of the boss's many cool toys that he or his wife have purchased with the sweat of yer brow. The bitchen new boat...personal water craft....travel or horse trailer...enough quads or dirtbikes AND the full regalia to outfit a platoon of Marines...or perhaps the brand new Harley with training wheels that'll hardley ever be ridden. aka the "Hardley" in shop lingo...or all of the above! 

...it can usually be found on fridays at the local tavern around 1:15 looking for the crew...the best part was changing up bars and making him drive across town...hahahahahaha!

Gonna really hate seeing you go back to work Rick...it's been great fun watching your builds this summer!


----------



## ParkRNDL

HAHAHAHAHA! I worked at an auto parts store like that in college! A couple of them, actually... one near college during the school year and the other near home during the summer. This would have been between 1987 and 1991. The "home" store had only crummies for delivery trucks... a long-bed '74 Ford that had a shifter so loose it was practically falling out of the column, and a couple of miserable early S-10s that always reeked of the motor oil dribbling down the hot exhaust manifolds, along with the attendant mosquito-killer cloud. The owner liked old ('70s) Ford trucks, and we NEVER got to drive them.

The store near school had slightly better trucks... the owner was the dad of a high school friend, and he liked to buy well-used import pickups. I remember 3 Mazdas--a silver one, a black one, and a blue one, but my favorite was a yellow Mitsubishi with a stick. There was a Cavalier wagon with a stick too, that was kinda fun. When some or all of them were out on deliveries or out of service, I did drive the owner's personal vehicles on occasion... a new-at-the-time Lumina Z34 or a circa '77 Seville. Liked cruising in that one too.

Wow, thanks for that cruise down memory lane. Most of the details of the crummies you mentioned existed on those trucks in some form or another. Gotta think about modeling one of them some time...

--rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

*I like the way this one sits...*

So we got screwposts installed and took the lil workhorse out for a few laps. I like the way it sits.



















I know it's high, but for once, it sits like a truck because it IS a truck. I experimented with different wheel looks... it looks okay with stock skinny Tjet wheels, it looks way cool with AFX wheels, but I think this is the look we're going with. If I had loads of AFX steelies around, I'd definitely try a set, since they look like Chevy truck wheels from the 70's. I still might dig a set up, or maybe a set of RRR Steelies, but for now, I'm digging this look with all fat tires.

Now to figure out paint. I think I want to paint it white first, then mask off those white panels on the sides and tailgate, then shoot a color over it all. Anybody ever use 1:1 automotive pinstriping tape for masking wide stripes? Or what else can I use to mask that area? It looks like it would get masked as one area starting just barely in front of a wheelwell on the front fender, moving all the way back and across the tailgate, then back up to the front and ending at the same spot on the other fender...

oh by the way, since these pics were taken, i opened up the rear window...

--rick


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## WesJY

I like it high like that! blue color would look good on that truck. maybe like medium blue not petty blue or dark blue. :thumbsup:

Wes


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## NTxSlotCars

That looks way cool on that chassis. I was thinking Tyco for some reason.


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## XracerHO

Rick, the truck is coming along Great & the background photos really add to the story line with interior & exterior shots!! Some great garage details & remember driving from one gas station on fumes to the next one because the price was one cent more! Thanks for the memories ... RL


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Better than I thought...*

The paint laid down pretty nice, all things considered. I mean, there's a bunch of issues, but the white went on well, the mask worked out better than I expected, and the blue (it's actually called Bright Aqua Metallic) didn't run or sag or drip or anything horrific like that.



















After letting the white dry, I used 1/8" automotive pinstripe tape to mask the top edge of the white area. I cut a tiny corner off the leading edge of the tape on each front fender. I did one side at a time, ending both on the tailgate, where they overlapped. Then I cut a shorter piece for each side that went from the front fender to the middle of the rear wheelwell. This sat lower on the body and overlapped the first piece. I cut a tiny corner off the BOTTOM of the front edge of these. So essentially, ahead of the rear wheelwells, the white area is one and a half pieces of pinstriping tape wide. Did that make sense?



















I kinda dropped the ball with the research for the white area behind the wheelwells. I could see in the pics I found on the intarwebs that it got narrower behind the wheelwells, but I made it too narrow; i. e. I raised the bottom edge of the white area too far. I should have had another piece of tape overlapping the first like I did further forward.



















But I'm pretty happy with it. The bumpers and door handles are Testors brush-on Chrome Silver, the wheelwells are silver Sharpie. The red taillights and orange side markers are waterbase acrylic hobby paint like you get at Michael's. For the taillights, I painted Testors silver squares first, then dotted the red over them. Once the details were done, the whole thing got a Future dip.

I know the headlights are kinda bug-eyed. The toy originally came with rectangle headlight detail like a very late '70s or early '80s model. I try to keep everything on the layout roughly pre-'75, so I wanted round headlights. I drilled holes and put small nail heads in for headlights. In retrospect, straight pin heads would have worked better, but I used what I had on hand.

I should figure out windows, and something for the bed, and if I get brave I'll do some chrome detailing around the windows and sunroof... but for now I'm just gonna put laps on it. I managed to pull a whole original Aurora Tuff Ones worth of parts out of the spares box. TO chassis with silver electricals. Red lam arm ohms at 6.7/6.7/6.5, red and white matched magnets, correct silver brushes, TO gearing, AW wheels and axles. I had the silver pickups on it, but it seems to run better with the stock TJ copper ones. For being thrown together from spare parts, the dang thing runs pretty good.

So maybe it's not a shop truck. I can't bear to beat it up dent it and dirty it and weather it. Not yet, anyway.

--rick

edit: i also think it REALLY needs a little Chevy bowtie in the middle of the grille. working on ideas for that.


----------



## WesJY

LOOKS GOOD!! 

Wes


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## kiwidave

Cool, love that blue!!!


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## Hilltop Raceway

Nice truck Rick, I like Chevy trucks!!! For the bed, if you will look at the back of a CD case, some have a black textured plastic, that will work great for a toneau cover, just cut and drop inside the bed area or cut to fit and lay on top. If it needs painting, try some Krylon Semi-Flat (No.1613) black, leaves a nice sheen. You can also make a hardshell cover out of some smooth plastic (credit card), paint to match the truck, and place on top of the bed or cut to fit the inside area, use some spacers to bring it up level...For the Bowtie, check your decal sheets, or use some red tape and a xacto blade...RM


----------



## ParkRNDL

Hilltop Raceway said:


> Nice truck Rick, I like Chevy trucks!!! For the bed, if you will look at the back of a CD case, some have a black textured plastic, that will work great for a toneau cover, just cut and drop inside the bed area or cut to fit and lay on top.
> 
> (snip)


AWESOME. I was just thinking that something black and textured would work and trying to think of where I could find something like that. Off to the CD rack...

--rick


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## Joe65SkylarkGS

Wow:thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## ParkRNDL

Hilltop Raceway said:


> (snip)
> For the bed, if you will look at the back of a CD case, some have a black textured plastic, that will work great for a toneau cover, just cut and drop inside the bed area or cut to fit and lay on top.
> 
> (snip)
> 
> For the Bowtie, check your decal sheets...
> 
> (snip)


I LOVE the ideas I get here.




























--rick


----------



## Bill Hall

ParkRNDL said:


> AWESOME. I was just thinking that something black and textured would work and trying to think of where I could find something like that. Off to the CD rack...
> 
> --rick


Right under yer nose of course...where I find most of my stuff!

A chunk of track? Noticed when I was making the grill for the Un-cola that the old track surface I was using was kinda pebbly.


----------



## slotcarman12078

Wow!!!!! You nailed it Rick!!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## XracerHO

Awesome transformation from toy to Chevy Pickup!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## resinmonger

That is one sweet truck, Rick! It's hard to believe that it started as a inexpensive toy. One of the cool things about this build is we've been able to follow it near real time! Keep up the great work!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


----------



## bobhch

*Go rick Go!!!!!!!!*

rick,

You posted up a nice T-Jet Chevy Pickup man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice build and what a cool and fun truck....Yeah! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Bob...keep going you are on a roll...zilla


----------



## roadrner

rick,
reminds me of an old Chevy truck I had back in the late 70's! :thumbsup::thumbsup: OFDave


----------



## ParkRNDL

*And now for something comletely different...*

This project is a little different. Instead of customizing the body, we're customizing the chassis. I LOVE finding unmolested XLerators in the wild. I only feel a little guilty dissecting them for parts, as they are all but useless the way they came from Aurora.










For those who have never done this, XLerators were Aurora's first attempt at slotless racing. The concept didn't work very well, although I do remember someone here had an old set working not long ago. The fun part about them is that they have a cool quadralam armature that drops into a Tjet chassis if you have a few extra parts around and you know what to mix and match.

The boys went to the scrap pile and picked out some stuff... a bare Tjet chassis, pickup shoes, some wheels, a stock Tjet crown gear, a pair of Tjet brushes, and a pair of Magnatraction magnets.



















In this picture, as they pull the XL powertrain out, you can see why the taller Magnatraction magnets work. Look at the front (white) magnet. It's sticking up above the top edge of the chassis where it fits into the magnet pocket. These are the same size as Tjet magnets, but for some reason, Aurora cast little pucks into the bottoms of the pockets that raise them up that far. If anyone knows why, feel free to chime in, because I have no idea. Note: put the XL magnets aside and hang onto them for another project. They are are VERY strong; I'm pretty sure they are up there with Super II magnets. If anyone's curious how close they actually are, I'll check later...










OK, the donor motor is out, and the recipient chassis is being prepped. Look at how the Magnatraction magnets stick out the top of the Tjet chassis. Exactly the same height as the XL ones raised up in the XL chassis.










To be continued...

--rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

Looks like we're about ready to drop the motor in. Before they get to that point, look at the cluster gear and shaft. That has to be pulled off the XL chassis. It's not like a Tjet cluster, where the gears are pressed onto the shaft... in this case, the shaft is pressed into the hole in the chassis, and the gear turns freely on it. (Interesting side note: I'm pretty sure it's Alan Galinko that sells a cluster gear that does not reduce the gearing to stock Tjet (9t) ratio, but rather sets it at the Tuff Ones (14t) ratio. Talk about top speed...)










Aaaand it's on. There's a bunch of fiddly little things to get right here: There's a bushing at the top of the arm shaft, there's a hole in the "gear plate" that has to fit over the top of the cluster shaft, and the "ears" on the bottom of the gearplate clamp have to sit on top of that rear magnet, not behind it. It's just a matter of playing and tweaking till it all fits and turns smoothly. Also, I think I've had to slightly ream out the arm hole in the chassis on all the ones I've done--just use a knurled Tjet axle and twist it around a little. _The one other thing I had to adjust for is that the Tjet crown gear is a little sloppy fitting against the pinion--I had to pull the wheels in close to the chassis to hold the gear mesh in tight enough._ *Edit: This was wrong. The problem was that I was using the wrong crown, maybe one that had been modified for a 12t. I replaced it with a stock Tjet crown for a 9t and it worked fine.* I know I should get some little tiny spacer washers, just haven't done it yet.










Finis. Took it for a few laps, it's pretty quick, though for some reason it's kinda loud. It's smooth enough, had a good amount of coast, so I'm pretty sure the noise isn't from something binding...










Now the next project may just be a body for this chassis...

--rick


----------



## resinmonger

Cool transformation, Rick. I also find that free range XLerators are the best. They lose a little something when they're raised in confinement... :freak:


----------



## Bill Hall

Rick.

The "ole" drain pan (gotta say it like the new sacrificial lamb from BP...if you've heard the commercial yet) made from hubs is drooling with slimey shop mojo! The clutter factor is comming right along.

BTW...The "depress-o-lator" chappy and J bodies in orange are good for matching the highly coveted t-jet orange cars for repairs.

Anyhow try it without the body and see if the noise goes away. The Chappy doesnt have alot of headroom....so a few thou difference could have your gear rack kissing the headliner....maybe? I did mine on a Ford J a few years back and if memory serves I had to take a few scoops out with the mellon baller.  

Someone makes a kit to make the final drive ratio a little more useable.


----------



## eastside johnny

ParkRNDL......Nice set of pictures!


----------



## kiwidave

Very cool stuff Rick! New shop is a busy place!


----------



## ParkRNDL

Bill Hall said:


> Rick.
> 
> The "ole" drain pan (gotta say it like the new sacrificial lamb from BP...if you've heard the commercial yet) made from hubs is drooling with slimey shop mojo! The clutter factor is comming right along.


sweet. i was hoping someone would notice that. it's amazing the way the clutter and schmutz just kinda blends in...



Bill Hall said:


> Anyhow try it without the body and see if the noise goes away. The Chappy doesnt have alot of headroom....so a few thou difference could have your gear rack kissing the headliner....maybe? I did mine on a Ford J a few years back and if memory serves I had to take a few scoops out with the mellon baller.


Melon baller! ROFL! That's exactly what that bit looks like, too. I was thinking about the body making noise, so I ran it with my test body, which is the hood, grille, and front screwpost of a tan Hot Rod, and it seemed quieter, so it sounds like you're right...

--rick


----------



## Bill Hall

Just an add on... if any part of that clatter-saurus 40's friction toy strap-on device comes into contact with the body work you'll pick up an additional harmonic...true for any car of course. 

The more cupped or open the internal profile is the better they resonate.


----------



## bobhch

rick,

Looks like Eye'm not the only one having fun this weekend....Cool pics and project!!

Bob...It looks like you got the right guys "4" the job...zilla


----------



## joegri

wow rick thanx for posting that build. i dont know much at all bout the excellerator cept the arm might be a good one to transplant. keep wrenchin on ,er she,, come to ya.


----------



## 1scalevolvo

:thumbsup:I love your shop ! I gotta get on like yours ! Cool build on the Chappy too !!



:dude:Neal


----------



## scratch

Great shop, keeps "moving." :thumbsup:


----------



## ParkRNDL

So I'm thinking a Cougar body for that XL conversion chassis. I have a tan Cougar I picked up in a junk box at a show not long ago... perfect wheelwells, perfect screwposts, perfect window posts... but the previous owner dipped it in various colors of Testors and broke the windshield. I tried to strip it, but the paint appears to have "stained" the plastic in spots, so it looks like I'm gonna paint an original Aurora car, ouch. Cruising the Internetz for pictures of 1:1 Cougars for inspiration... think I want to do a contrasting color vinyl top, but that's all I know so far.




























on a related note, check out the Cougars with the fastback Mustang rooflines here... a baby blue/turquoise one and a green one, about halfway down the page...

http://www.wingedmessenger.net/PhotoChops/photochops.htm

--rick


----------



## oddrods

I actually saw a fastback couger in a wrecking yard in Tucson AZ many years ago. If I remember correctly it was a 70 stang with a couger frnt clip and rear tail lights. It was actually pretty cool looking.


----------



## joegri

hi rick i stop by the corner texaco once and a while to hang out. i,m liken whats in the works.nothin like takin a demoed body and makin it presentable very cool. i,m sure you got a plan for that meangreen on the bench! da shop looks busy better get back to work the customer will be lookin for there cars at the end of today.


----------



## Bill Hall

*Never say die!*

*Whoa! Rick!*

After you get the big stuff off. Pull the chrome and glass and do some easy off.... then try the peroxide trick to remove the residual stainage. 

You may be surprised....regardless it's a great tool for your bag of tricks and you can always paint it later.


----------



## ParkRNDL

ugh, easy off... i remember using that stuff when i tried to REbuild 1/25 model kits. nasty stuff. but it DOES work, doesn't it? ok, ok, i'll give it a try... 

question, bill... will the ez-off or peroxide or other chemicals make an already potentially brittle tan body worse? and another related question... you've said that spraying the inside of a tan body with 3502 can revitalize it and make it less brittle. can i BRUSH the 3502 on the inside of the body and get the same effect?

tznx... i'm tired because we already had 3 days of teaching last week and i have to face them again tomorrow. the kindergarteners are the worst, they're kickin' my butt... lol

--rick


----------



## roadrner

Cougar has a tough looking windshield. Passenger went through and the driver did a head slam. OUCH! rr


----------



## resinmonger

roadrner said:


> Cougar has a tough looking windshield. Passenger went through and the driver did a head slam. OUCH! rr


Those are the types of wrecks police departments park in high traffic areas to scare kids into good driving. Could make a good scene on one of the tracks that has a town or city vibe... For that, the more scrunchified the better. :freak:


----------



## ParkRNDL

yeah, with that windshield, i was thinking it was a good start for something by Ed or BobZilla... :dude:

--rick


----------



## WesJY

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wes


----------



## XracerHO

WOW, Rick, love your shop with the mix of scale detail (manual on the table) & actual T-jet parts scattered around the garage! Great story & photo presentation of the cool Chappy build!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Will be stopping by the Corner Texaco more often to view the interesting builds! ..RL


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Dude, the radio rules. Classic rock?


----------



## ParkRNDL

gotta be. what else would work in a grungy repair shop? :dude:

--rick


----------



## bobhch

rick,

Hey I just checked out the link you posted up of the Cougars with the Mustang Fastback roofs.....EYE WANT ONE. Very cool idea! 

If painting that original Aurora body is bothering you then, just try this. Close your eyes and tell yourself it is a Shadow. Keep your eyes closed and paint. LOL

Bob...looks like a deer hit the windshield to me...zilla


----------



## Bill Hall

[QUOTE... 

question, bill... will the ez-off or peroxide or other chemicals make an already potentially brittle tan body worse? and another related question... you've said that spraying the inside of a tan body with 3502 can revitalize it and make it less brittle. can i BRUSH the 3502 on the inside of the body and get the same effect?

--rick[/QUOTE]

Peroxide...I'm totally delighted with the stuff and have not seen anything but positive effects when used. A true elixer of T-jet youth! :thumbsup:

Easy off...There's a lot of concern about Easy Off; which may be over-hyped to some degree...I dont necessarily share the hype. Like any harsh chemical (caustic in this case) it can have detrimental effects when incorrectly used. Easy off works rather quickly if it's going to work at all. The chalking, drying, and proported brittle-izing are generally due to prolonged exposure in forgotten project tubs. 

Where I see trouble is when we expect Easy Off to do things it cant. 

At the point that the paint is tougher than the easy off; the tendency is to use more and leave it in longer. So if ya go off the menu and set your project on "fry" you can certainly accelerate the aging process.

When used correctly Easy Off wont aggrevate the Tan condition. 40 years of outgassing, UV exposure, and primitive plastic formulations are the true culprits.

Here's the poop on the brush/airbrush methods: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=215904&page=94 see #1403 if you didnt catch it Rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Goop, goop, wonderful goop.*

Picked up this Riviera last week. Basically, I paid too much for it and the other 4 cars that came with it, but I figured I'd make the best of it. Someone had painted it all yellow, then someone else had done a lousy job stripping the yellow off, so the first step was to take off the bumpers and glass and REALLY strip it with **** N Span. I was able to pick a bunch of yellow off the bumpers without completely losing the chrome that was left, so now I'm down to body repairs.










As some of you read in another post, I thought I had a donor window post, but the trashed red Riv I have turned out to be resin, so I sliced a piece off the bumper support of a red Jag. A little sliver came off with it, which wound up being perfect for the vent window post. After looking at the pieces and pondering for a while, I figured the best way to start would be to file a couple of flat spots for the new post to mate to.










then, well, it was just goop that bad boy in.










I let it sit overnight and couldn't wait to get into it after work today. So I filed a little and carved a little and got to here.










While diddling with it, I actually broke the seam where the posts were attached at the bottom... no prob, they stayed attached at the top and they needed another coat of goop anyway. So this is where I'm at now.










I'm thinking it's coming along pretty well, and I'm thinking about the turquoise Charger window post replacement project I have on the back burner. Also thinking about the Alfa Romeo project car I got at the Aberdeen show, and how suddenly it doesn't look so tough--it needs 2 screw posts, and the rear one left a hole in the body...

--rick


----------



## kiwidave

Excellent save!!!


----------



## slotcarman12078

Dang good work Rick!!! Now tell the truth... Gus just happened to be on vacation in south central PA and popped in for a visit, right? :tongue: Nice save!!! A little filing, sanding and polishing and she'll be good as new!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Bill Hall

Ya may have rushed it just a bit Rick....48 hrs next time!

Looks really great!!! Wait a bit and profile it again....you can tell if it's ready by how the file feels when it cuts. It will also produce a different tone higher when it's tightened up/dry.

For the stuff you cant get with your file use a fresh blade and lay off the caffeine. Scratch your detail seam into the pillar and work it smoothe with testors and yer brush (this is an important step....you can smooth areas you cant sand chemically by feathering it around with testors). Then let that dry. Then proceed with your sanding 320 600 1200. Remember to adjust your viscosity so it flows nicely, after 320 and 600....sometimes 1200 too if it doesnt polish nicely. This is how you get things filled and smoothed. It's always the death knell when someone has a great start, doesnt thin out the base, and then uses the sticky high solids repair base to wash down a good repair. It will look lighter ...but drys true! You'll learn to push stuff around pretty quick.


----------



## joegri

wow rick what a nice riv and a great job on the post!


----------



## Rolls

Very nice! Thanks for the great pictures and perfect walkthrough. The red Riv is a beautiful body and is looking great as you bring it back to it's former glory (and probably beyond). Can't wait to see more of this one. Thanks!!


----------



## scratch

My goodness ... can't keep up, like all of them.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
*
Model Expo has Chrome rolls .010 inches wide. Place tape on a clean steel ruler, take, steel ruler to mark and cut thinner chrome lines/pieces.

Could see a lot of you using them on side chrome pieces. 

Don't forget about Bare-Metal® Foil for sale by a number of outfits. houseofhobbies being one of dozens.*


----------



## NTxSlotCars

This shop is turning out _excellent_ work, and is in danger of earning another SAE certificate.


----------



## bobhch

rick,

Ooooooooooh red!! Looks great man!

Bob...Riv on Dude...zilla


----------



## XracerHO

Great Save !! :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## scratch

59.9 I'll take that, nice layout of shops . . .:thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## ParkRNDL

You guys are way too generous. We got 'er did, but I know I could have spent another three rounds getting it perfect, which I didn't. No patience, no attention span for that. As for Dr. Bill's advice to wait 48 hours for goop to cure... man, that's hard for me to do. I was that kid whose model cars always had fingerprints in the paint because I couldn't wait for it to dry to get it slapped together. But in this case, I did wait another 48 hours for the next Goop-around, and this is where I ended up:










Somehow, even the close-up of this shot makes it look better than it is:










But if you look up close, like Shep is doing here, you can see the obvious repair.










A little more touch-up to hide the scar...




























and she's about ready to join the other full-size luxury specials out on the lot at Jerry's Cherries.










Take my advice: don't trust Jerry. Always ask to see a Carfax report. Oh wait, this is the '60s... Carfax doesn't exist yet.  Well, then, look over anything you buy here VERY carefully...

up next: coming soon


----------



## ParkRNDL

With all this newfound confidence in goop and window post repairs, I have a bunch of candidates all picked out for upcoming projects:










But first is gonna be one that's a little more involved. You all may remember this guy from the first page of this thread about a year ago:










Well, I finally got around to doing something with it. First I sanded the ugly corner flat, so I could attach a nice little 45-degree dog-ear to it:










(Yeah, I know, I left the paint on it. I just sanded a little away from the repair area. I can't bear the thought of stripping and repainting all that, so I'm gonna attempt to patch this all up and feather the paint in so it looks presentable. Not trying to fool any hardcore collectors or anything...)










Then I cut a dog-ear off a basket-case turquoise Thunderbird. Incidentally, the Thunderbird is also the donor car for my first batch of turquoise goop. I used the goop in a pretty thick state to attach the repair slug to the corner:










And yeah, I left it really big. Something I learned when I got my first set of little files at Harbor Freight: You can always take a little more off. Didn't take much to get here:










Due for another round of Goop and filing... wonder how this is gonna play out...

--rick


----------



## bobhch

*How much is a Ton? Lots and lots fer sure...*

rick,

Hey I just want to let you know that your pictures of your shop guys and shop make this sooooooooooooo much fun! Yet another reason Hobby Talk is the fun-er than any place to be. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

The fix is great and all the neat t-jets that still need repair and on the lots are great. Before and After....Oh Yeah! :woohoo:

Bob...I vote this thread TONS of Fun...zilla


----------



## kiwidave

What Zilla said!!! I am enjoying this thread Rick!


----------



## Bill Hall

SUPER!

Rick, yer picking it right up and have a great bunch of wrecks to hone your skills on. Always fun to watch.


----------



## resinmonger

One man's wreck is another's goop project! Nice work!!! :thumbsup:


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Great lookin work Rick! 
But, yall need to slow down, take it easy(let some of us other shops catch up).
Nice lookin blue AW Charger!!! :thumbsup:


----------



## tjd241

Great stuff Rick... wtg with the Riv resto... looks good to me. :thumbsup:


----------



## 1976Cordoba

That Riv is sweet, salvage title & all :wave:

Can't wait to see how the Charger will heal up!


----------



## XracerHO

What Zilla said!! Fantastic shop & Jerry's Cherries Lot storyline & appreciate you sharing your gooping results!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


>


Way to keep those old classics on the road & track!!! This is one cool shop, love that Spark Plug clock!!! RM


----------



## joegri

hey rick the riv came out fantastic!i nominate the corner texaco as shop of the month!! that radio with the functioning antenna got me. very cool. i,m in some type of planning stage of a shop.mybe i can use some of yer ideas.also liken the posters.


----------



## ParkRNDL

Hilltop Raceway said:


> (snip)... love that Spark Plug clock!!! RM


funny story behind that clock...

when I was building/decorating the inside of the shop, i was scouting online for cool ideas for stuff to hang on the walls. i saw this for sale online:










my plan was to shrink this pic way down and print it in the right size to use on the shop wall. but with my limited resources (MS Paint) i couldn't get it to look straight (perspective in the photo gets the edges all out of line) and i couldn't get the blue side to be uniform enough in color to look good. so i went to plan B, which also involved MS Paint:










i've found it's real easy to draw stuff big in Paint and then shrink it WAAAAAAAY down for printing in a size appropriate for HO scale. shrinking it tends to hide imperfections or discrepancies in scale or font type or stuff like that. so i printed it in the right size, and put a piece of packing tape over the top of it to make it look like a hard plastic surface, and used white glue to attach it to a little rectangle of fun foam from Michael's craft store. voila, wall clock. if ya like it and ya can use it, feel free...

--rick


----------



## roadrner

Love shrinking those JPGs for decals! :thumbsup: rr


----------



## Bill Hall

Very clever!


----------



## Rolls

Slick! Perfect garage accessory.


----------



## scratch

Liking the clock, way cool.:thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

I might just do that!!! I bought some old and new signs for decorating my walls in the basement. Always liked those sponsored signs and clocks. I gotta NAPA clock that works great for a night light too...Thanks again on the How To...RM


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Nice!!!!


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Charger news*

finally got brave enough to paste a window post in that turquoise Charger. first I filed away a little at the previous repair. i was amazed that i was able to get something that looked kinda close to the drip rail detail with a little pointy file:










and of course then i had to do undo half of it by laying the new window post in and gooping over some of the detail i had just cut. oh well. did it once, i can do it again:










i think this just might turn out okay looking if i can figure out a way to touch up the black that doesn't look too obvious...










question for Bill if you're reading, or any other goop experimenters:

last time i played with this color a couple days ago, it was just thick enough that when i took my brush or toothpick or whatever out of the bottle with a little goop material on it, it pulled a kind of spiderweb with it that wanted to drip in my work but dried immediately. reminded me of if you would have stuck yer toothpick in honey. does this mean it's a little too thick or a little too thin? i went with too thick, and i thought i needed to thin it a little, so i added a few drops of 3502. now today when i worked with this stuff, it's more like heavy cream consistency... it worked okay to lay the post in, but i wondered if it should have been thicker. any thoughts?

thnx...

--rick


----------



## slotcarman12078

I recall on old video episodes of MMtv, Bill would mix 3502 with the goop in the cap to work from, leaving the goop in the bottle thick. The excess goop in the cap would mix with the bottled stuff when he was done. I also recall him using different consistancies for different types of repairs. Mine was too thick too, and I added way too much 3502 and made it rather soupy. It's easier to float a smooth coat like this, but a bit too runny for fills. Sooner or later enough will evaporate and it'll be too thick again! :lol: 

You're doing way better than I am at repairs. My black Jag is looking pretty lumpy in the front end.


----------



## ParkRNDL

slotcarman12078 said:


> I recall on old video episodes of MMtv, Bill would mix 3502 with the goop in the cap to work from, leaving the goop in the bottle thick. The excess goop in the cap would mix with the bottled stuff when he was done. I also recall him using different consistancies for different types of repairs. Mine was too thick too, and I added way too much 3502 and made it rather soupy. It's easier to float a smooth coat like this, but a bit too runny for fills. Sooner or later enough will evaporate and it'll be too thick again! :lol:
> 
> You're doing way better than I am at repairs. My black Jag is looking pretty lumpy in the front end.


Ah ha, it DOES thicken up a little over time, huh? ok...

i can also throw in another chunk or two of Thunderbird, I have a little left... 

--rick


----------



## joegri

rick yer startin to scare me. man that looks good!


----------



## Bill Hall

Stranding! Oh my yes... too thick. Add drops of 3502 to your base until it doesnt strand. Dont over do it!

Viscosity hopping....yes! Thin it on the fly ... in the lid. Just pull the base up with your brush and deposit it into the lid....then add solvent drops and stir it up. Usually you use most of what you make; any residual drools back into the jar of base with no ill effect. No problemo. 

Once the repairs are roughed in ...ALL following skims should be thinned. If it's not gliding on smooth after you've done your file work, it's not thin enough. As I get near the end of a project the final applications are applied using surface tension only...the brush rarely touches the work piece...only the drop/bubble of thinned goop is teased along. 

Yeah it'll settle and dry up some in the jar... I always add solvent in DROPS ONLY to reconstitute the base...otherwise you have to leave the lid off and evaporate your mistake away.


----------



## slotcarman12078

Oh man... I knew I added too much!! :lol: At least the fumes will make me happy!! :tongue:


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Moving right along...*

More progress on the Charger; now we have the vent window post in too. It will need to be thinned from the inside--in order to have a little meat to work with, I made it deeper than it needed to be.



















Definitely needs some finish work, cut the goobers off it, maybe float a thin coat over it to smooth it out. The big question for me is how am I gonna repair the black paint over the corner.










Spent some quality time cruising today too... my 6-year-old loves this Chevelle SS 396, and I had to pick the 390 Torino to keep up with him. We put quite a few laps on them this afternoon. In the end, the little bugger beat me to 7-11. 










--rick


----------



## resinmonger

The Charger is coming along well. IMHO, strip the top and repaint. :hat:

That El Camino really needs some love... :freak:


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Great shots of the goings on. Love the clutter!


----------



## bobhch

rick,

Lucky...Fletcher (6 years old) just got Mario Cart so, there is no chance of him wanting to do any real racing for a long time now.

These are some great pics of the shop and Chargers progress! you just don't get to see neat old cars like that in front of a 7-11 much anymore. Ah the good old days!

Bob...the shop is looking pretty busy right now...zilla


----------



## kiwidave

Great pics rick!


----------



## NTxSlotCars

bobhch said:


> you just don't get to see neat old cars like that in front of a 7-11 much anymore. Ah the good old days!
> 
> Bob...the shop is looking pretty busy right now...zilla


No, but you might can still buy some sandwiches and mils from that era there.


----------



## slotcarman12078

Awesome pics!!! Especially the 2nd one!!! I think I found my new computer background!! LOL :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I'm with Resin, strip and repaint.


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


> The big question for me is how am I gonna repair the black paint over the corner.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --rick


Airbrush is probalby the best way, but a spray can will possibly work. I'd sand/feather the rest of the top portion to the side roll edges, to keep from having a blead through sanded area showing, then use some Krylon Semi-Gloss Black enamel. Heat the can and spray some fast light coats after making the edge with some Tamiya tape which wil give a clean line. Automotive penstriping tape will work even better. Test on a junker first, just to see how you like it. Should leave a nice black vinyl look that has a sheen to it. This is only a suggestion!!!...RM


----------



## ParkRNDL

*You guys are gonna be mad...*

I'm sorry. I have to admit it right up front: I'm lazy. I'm a lazy, lazy man. I didn't like the thought of stripping the roof off an original Aurora Charger because, well, it was an original Charger, but more than that, it was just gonna be a lot of work. And a lot more work to mask and repaint it. And since I don't own an airbrush, I don't know how good I could have gotten it to come out with a spray bomb. And on top of all that, I really am still that impatient kid getting fingerprints in the paint job of my model Corvette because I can't wait to see it all together. So...










so I found a couple of semi-gloss Krylon type spray bombs I had around, sprayed them into the caps, and tried brushing them on some turquoise scrap. then I took the one that was closest to a match and did this:




























I know it's not gonna fool anyone who looks at it close, but I really only ever wanted to have a nice Charger runner. And this does it for me, so there it is.










I feel a little better because, like the red Riviera earlier in the thread, this is done "correctly" up to this point, and if I ever want to go back and revisit and refinish it, it shouldn't be to hard to kinda pick up where I left off. And if I never get around to that, well, they still look good on the track. 

Now about this red Alfa...

--rick


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Geez Rick, we're all so disappointed.


----------



## slotcarman12078

I'm not disappointed in the least, Rick. You took a graveyard charger and made it a great looking runner! The before and after pics say it all. We all can't be Bill Hall, we all can't have the patience to do everything by the book. Heck, I rarely ever do that! :tongue: Someday, maybe you'll have the time to finish it up right, but for now, you got a sweet turq charger to cruise with!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## NTxSlotCars

I was being sarcastic.


----------



## slotcarman12078

I know Rich!!! Just bustin' your butt!! :tongue:


----------



## joegri

the corner texaco not only has cheap gas but, they do nice bodywork! nicely done rick.and i enjoy yer shop.


----------



## kiwidave

End result nice Charger runner! Real nice save!


----------



## XracerHO

Nice save, you now have a great runner & enjoy your shop, too!! :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## Rolls

Mission accomplished! She's ready to run! Thanks for posting the down and dirty required to bring her back life. Definitely a great save.


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


>


P.S. Those are some cool looking Snap-On vans!!! RM


----------



## slotnewbie69

where i can i get me one?great job on the save and yeah.where did you get the snap on van?makes me wanna see a ups van.too!


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

I think those were a Snap On promotional item Newbie. They came out several years ago. Not sure what the hole was for, a screwdriver set maybe, not really sure, just guessing...Bill Hall did a trick job on one, cutting all the windows out and replacing it with glass. The guys over at GlasTech had one on the back burner, just never finished it, maybe someday...RM


----------



## ParkRNDL

I got it as a prize in Goose Chicken/CTSVowner's mail-in race. Very cool--it's mounted using, if I recall correctly, a cobramite gear plate clamp. When I'm home later I'll try to remember to shoot a pic with the body off... 

--rick


----------



## resinmonger

ParkRNDL said:


> [


This pic tells one amazing story. It's saga of a man with a dream. And best of all, the story has a very happy ending!!! Sweet job, Rick! :hat: :thumbsup: :hat: :thumbsup:


----------



## tjd241

*Ain't no thang Parky...*



ParkRNDL said:


> ....And if I never get around to that, well, they still look good on the track.  --rick


Judging from the amount of cars you have parked around the track waiting for this and that ( I'm assuming just the tip of the iceberg? )... and your in-house squad of racers... You probably got enough maintenance to keep ya busy anyway. I know the feeling... stick'n move... next ! ... stick'n move... next ! :hat:


----------



## bobhch

*Just PUNCH it............*

rick,

Hey burn the tires up on this Charger now....*SPIN, SPIN, SPIN* from every stop sign on your layout. Just like the old days. A little Windex on the track if you want BIG TIME burnouts!!!!

Bob...blue by you is race track ready now...zilla


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Dr. Dremel is in the house...*

I haven't done a chop job like this in a while. This was a lot of fun.

Everybody loves AW's new Karmann Ghia, right?










Well, I have both this orangish one and the goldish one and as much as I like to hack away at stuff, these just run really well right out of the box with the traction magnets and all, so I decided to leave them as is when I got them. Then, at the Aberdeen show, I was lucky enough to score another orange body from Bud's bargain bins, so I figured I'd eventually get around to stripping and repainting and lowering it and all that. But then, our own 1976Cordoba posted one on the SnS board, and it was a little different--it was white. Not the Dash white one; I have a couple of them too. This was the AW iWheels version. Now, I like the Dash version and all, even have a few of them, but the AW one is special because a.) it has bumpers and b.) it's short wheelbase. And since he was keeping the chassis and selling it as a body only, it was no longer strapped into its collectible little case and I didn't feel so bad about, er, altering it... whzzzzZZZZZZZ....

So this is what we got.










Not much really done here, just a judicious application of Dremel to the screwposts and the bottom edges of the windows, as well as opening the side windows. Oh, and lowering the front required notching the "glass" headlight diffuser on both sides to clear the chassis rails. (That's an Aurora chassis FWIW.) Overall, the degree of difficulty is pretty low. But the difference is drastic:





































(Obligatory shop photos coming up next...)


----------



## ParkRNDL

I LOVE the way this thing sits now. Runs and handles good, too. The guys in the shop had fun with it:














































And while I'm here, I gotta post this pic i took a few weeks ago in a local parking lot. No idea whose it is, it just looked like a huge real-life Tjet sitting there in all its turquoise glory, so I had to shoot a few pics with my camera phone. This is the best one:










Nice, huh?

--rick

edit: yes i noticed after i took the pics that the grilles are crooked. guess i gotta get the guys on that. and i left out one modification: to get standard skinny silicones (which, as you know, are wider than Tjet rubber) to play nice under the body, i had to (gasp) gently take an Xacto to the inside radius of the wheelwells. you can't see it from the outside. somehow it makes me giggle that i chose to use my implements of destruction on an iWheels version...


----------



## WesJY

Looks like a real car! :thumbsup:

Wes


----------



## tjd241

ParkRNDL said:


> I LOVE the way this thing sits now.... it makes me giggle that i chose to use my implements of destruction on an iWheels version...


Me too ! ! (snicker)..... We've been known to chop a few down to size around here too. I think it's a VAST improvement over the stock ride height. :thumbsup::thumbsup: May not be an issue with the AW mag chassis, but it's gotta handle like night and day on a stock nos.


----------



## roadrner

:thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


----------



## ParkRNDL

tjd241 said:


> Me too ! ! (snicker)..... We've been known to chop a few down to size around here too. I think it's a VAST improvement over the stock ride height. :thumbsup::thumbsup: May not be an issue with the AW mag chassis, but it's gotta handle like night and day on a stock nos.


The height definitely makes a difference in handling. I've also heard that removing like half the weight of the windows should make a difference, and I assume it does, but I don't know how much you'd actually feel it...

--rick


----------



## slotnewbie69

real nice job rick!looks great,i didn't notice crooked grills though...


----------



## slotcarman12078

You know Rick, when I first came to HT I had a blast going through the library of old threads, and your old posts were highly informative. It kinda made me sad you were sort of taking a break from HT at the time. You had posted up a heck of a lot of dissection threads, and the before and after pics were amazing. This thread most definitely reminds me of those older posts, and is even more inspirational than them! ( it must be the shop pics ) That ghia looks fantastic now. She sits pretty darn close to stock ride height, and swapping out the stock tires will only enhance that. Great lowering job!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## bobhch

rick,

That looks just right now that you lowered it...Fun VWs are Cool! Ooooh and you got front and rear bumpers with the AW version. :thumbsup:

When Dash came out with thier version I stocked up on them but, will have to pick up an AW version now to get that different but, same look going on.

Peace and Love...I'm feeling it 

Bob...try a Dash Ghia now...zilla


----------



## Rolls

A study in effective trimming. Outstanding results!


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


>


Nice nip and tuck...I like this pic too!!! RM


----------



## NTxSlotCars

The radio rules.


----------



## 1976Cordoba

ParkRNDL said:


> . . . somehow it makes me giggle that i chose to use my implements of destruction on an iWheels version...


 
She looks much happier in her new home. :thumbsup:

And in 20 years I can laugh and say "I actually had an AW iWheels Karman Ghia and sold the body off to someone for $12."

And you can laugh and say "I actually had an AW iWheels Karman Ghia that I did a chop & drop on."

Then we can both watch the feeBay auctions and cry when they are ending with AW iWheels Karman Ghias fetching upwards of $200 . . . :freak:

lmao - this is also what makes the hobby a laugh!


----------



## ParkRNDL

NTxSlotCars said:


> The radio rules.


You know it's tuned to the local classic rock station and playing something like Van Halen. Jamie's Cryin', maybe...



1976Cordoba said:


> She looks much happier in her new home. :thumbsup:
> 
> And in 20 years I can laugh and say "I actually had an AW iWheels Karman Ghia and sold the body off to someone for $12."
> 
> And you can laugh and say "I actually had an AW iWheels Karman Ghia that I did a chop & drop on."
> 
> Then we can both watch the feeBay auctions and cry when they are ending with AW iWheels Karman Ghias fetching upwards of $200 . . . :freak:
> 
> lmao - this is also what makes the hobby a laugh!


yeah, a few people have commented that these AW Christmas ornaments are gonna be collectible, especially since they're the first year of the series... I'm just trying to decide where to hit them with the ol' Dremel. :devil: I've been doing that since day one, though. Way back when, I got a couple of cars from the first release of JL Thunderjets, and I took the candy red fastback Mustang and cut the interior out and dropped it as low as I could. At least one guy here on the boards was happy that I was raising the value of HIS red fastback Mustang...

And thanks to all who like seeing this stuff. It's funny how you can add to the appearance by taking little bits of material away. 

--rick


----------



## SplitPoster

That Ghia really looks right, like scale and diecast quality even! The whole shop is done very realistically and well! 

I don't just don't buy into all of the collectibility predictions - yeah it's true that somebody will always want to pay something, you hope, but it's how many of them will bid things up that sets up collectibility. We like our T jets because they started out darn near 50 YEARS AGO !!!! as a great design, not a collector's item! That Karmann Ghia looks more collectible to me now than it did when it was on stilts!


----------



## Rolls

SplitPoster said:


> That Karmann Ghia looks more collectible to me now than it did when it was on stilts!


True dat.


----------



## slotcarman12078

Absolutely right!! There's another thing to keep in mind as far as "collectible returns" goes. You have to look at the value of today's dollar verses the value 20 years from now, as well as the cost of storage for those 20 years. Yes, that ghia might be worth 200.00 clams in 20 years, but what will a loaf of bread cost in 2030? About 200.00 clams too? :lol:


----------



## XracerHO

Great Ghia :thumbsup: :thumbsup: & really like the shop pics!! ..RL


----------



## tjd241

*Purely for shellfish reasons...*



slotcarman12078 said:


> Yes, that ghia might be worth 200.00 clams in 20 years, but what will a loaf of bread cost in 2030? About 200.00 clams too? :lol:


For that matter, I wonder what clams will be worth then??... I better stock up on canned chowder while prices are still reasonable. :hat:


----------



## win43

Sweet job on the Ghia. Looks great lowered. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Joe65SkylarkGS

Everything looks better lowered. Especislly that gia!!!!


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Porsche 914--need a roof?*

I've had this Tyco Porsche 914 for a few years now... I think I picked it up in a junk box at a show. 










Problem is, I never much liked race cars like this; I prefer street cars. Then something bugged me when I saw this Matchbox 914 on the pegs at WallyWorld. I finally got them together in my head and realized it looked like I could use parts from the diecast to make the slot car a street version. So I started drilling on the posts of the diecast, and I was amazed at how quick and easy the car came apart:










Obviously, this is the part you want to keep:










So the boys got started taking the Tyco apart for me:










A little hacking with a Dremel and a hobby knife and we had the diecast roof whittled down to the same outside base shape as the Tyco insert:










Finished pics in a sec...


----------



## ParkRNDL

It's amazing how well the diecast roof fits the slot car body.










This is just press fitted on, no adhesive at all. And it's snug enough that I did a few laps like this and it never moved.





































I think it looks kinda sharp myself.  Eventually I'll get around to stripping the stripes off and painting the whole thing so the body and the window frame match. For now it's still a work in progress, I guess. So what works well to strip old Tycos?

--rick


----------



## kiwidave

Awesome result! You made that car 100% better. The pics are excellent!


----------



## Joe65SkylarkGS

Rick funny thing with that Porsche, I sent it to bruce to mold a tjet out of it!!lol I hope Bruce sees this. I wasn't aware of the Tyco version. I'd say they are almost the same!!!

ANd you can stick Randolf back behind the wheel!!! I just see the guy driving that thing as a Randolf.


----------



## WesJY

AWESOME!! I agree with you on that porsche! I always like the street version! 

Wes


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Wow, Rick. Good call!
That car would look great in orange or the pale green with the black 'Porsche' stripe along the bottom.


----------



## slotcarman12078

Great eye Rick!! I never seen that 914 before, but then it's a TYCO... :lol: Rich is right, plain primary colors, flat black bumper inserts, and the Porsche stripe and it'll be a grand slam home run!! :thumbsup:


----------



## ParkRNDL

NTxSlotCars said:


> Wow, Rick. Good call!
> That car would look great in orange or the pale green with the black 'Porsche' stripe along the bottom.


Yeah, what's the deal with that? I did a Google Image search for Porsche 914 and it seems like there's a law that you're not allowed to paint them any color that's not in the cheapo Crayola 8-pack. Orange, green, yellow, blue, red, like that. And no metallics. There were a couple of silver ones, and the only metallics I saw besides that were a couple of blue ones. Not a problem, since I was thinking along the same lines as you--orange or green. Just sayin'.

And for those of you wanting to try this, it's EASY. And I think the 914s are pretty common in the junk boxes at slot car shows...

--rick


----------



## Rolls

Now that's a 914! Slick conversion. Can't believe how well it works!! Good eye to have seen the ingredients in the diecast version. :thumbsup:

Ahhh now, what color?

Here is every 914 ad that Porshce-Audi ever released. Might be fun when thinking of colors and how they might look on the car.


----------



## 1976Cordoba

That's fantastic!


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

Oh the diecast boys anin't gonna like this a bit, but I sure do!!! Thanks for cutting and sharing the info...RM


----------



## bobhch

*914 street is neat...*

Rick,

Everyone already said it all on this Super Cool Porsche street build you are doing....Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeat!

Bob...more fun from the Rickster...zilla


----------



## joegri

more cool stuff comin from the corner texaco !!!


----------



## ParkRNDL

*Target ornament hack*

Since the Target ornaments were announced back over the summer, this is the one I most wanted to get my hands on. When we all started scouring our Targets for them, I was starting to get nervous that this one wasn't gonna show up in my neck of the woods. Dslot was kind enough to help me out when he found some near him. It was waiting in the mail for me when we came back from Thanksgiving.










"4 x 4" does not begin to describe the stance. And when I tried to stick a stock Aurora chassis under it, it got worse, because the Aurora has longer gearplate rails than the dummy chassis that it comes with. The way it came, the screwposts wouldn't both contact the chassis because the gearplate rails interfered with the plastic at the bottom of the windshield. 










An added problem is that this is one of the first bodies that AW designed to match the length of THEIR chassis, not Aurora's, so the rear wheels are a little too far forward in the wells. Argh. But somehow this body was just BEGGING for a stock Aurora Tjet chassis, so I had to find a way to make it work.

The job was pretty similar to the one I did way back here:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=97957

However, as you will see, I did NOT get this down as low as that one, partly because of the gearplate rails and partly because I'm getting old and cautious, I guess. 

First off, I removed the hood and hacked all this excess plastic out:










Then I worked on the underside of the cowl at the base of the windshield with the melon baller Dremel attachment. I went as thin as I dared without going thru the vents there:










As you can see in this pic, the gearplate rails are still lightly contacting that cowl.










More in a minute...


----------



## ParkRNDL

continued...

Then I had to thin the hood above the gearplate rails.










And finally, I hacked the heck out of the window piece. (Sorry for the lousy pic; that's what you get when you use the digital zoom feature in the new iPhone OS4.)










I don't know why I left that plastic there at the bases of the wing windows, but it worked out well: I didn't have to glue the windows in, and the gearplate holds the window unit up there with that extra plastic keeping it located and centered. Another shot:










EDIT: Forgot to take a pic, but I used the Dremel to ever so gently extend the rear wheelwells forward a little. Screwed up the driver's side slightly, but I can live with it.

And this is how it all comes together. The front is a hair higher than the red one I did, but the rear is a hair lower. Don't ask me how that happened.



















And just for giggles, compare it to an Aurora Corvette:



















Next: in the shop...


----------



## ParkRNDL

The boys were only too happy to button it up and get it ready for me to run some laps. This chassis happens to be a sweet, smooth runner...





































Something about the way this thing sits just screams "Beach Boys" to me... I can hear "Shut Down" playing when I look at some of these pics.



















Looking forward to tearing into my other ornaments. Maybe if this one is Beach Boys, I'll have to do the GTO next for Ronny and the Daytonas. (I actually prefer Jan & Dean's "My Mighty GTO", but I don't think that was as popular...)

--rick


----------



## Rolls

She sure came out great, Rick!!! Is the rear tire diameter any different between the red and the silver one? Great pics, btw. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## videojimmy

very cool... amazing craftsmanship Rick!


----------



## tjd241

*Nice one...*

Quite a few steps in the process, but worth it to look so good at the end. I was too busy lookin at the overall car to even notice the roofhole-spot too. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## XracerHO

Great work & really appreciate the instructional photos & shop pics!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## plymouth71

Wow Looking great, reminds me of my friends 63 Vette. I still remember the day Jay Leno called asking to buy it! My friend held off for more $$ from someone else(Sold for over $100,000.00). It's a very low mile original.(Survivor)


----------



## slotcarman12078

I'd be inclined to say Jay made a serious boo boo!! Sweet 63!! WOW!


----------



## ParkRNDL

WOW. That is GORGEOUS. Seeing pics of a '63 in silver like that is what made me want to get my hands on this particular ornament so bad...

--rick

edit: Dunno why I felt compelled to do this. Check the attached pic.


----------



## WesJY

LOL! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Wes


----------



## NTxSlotCars

I gotta say Rick, you make even that silver Corvette look good. :thumbsup:


----------



## plymouth71

LoL Nicely Done... You should see his heated garage, He's also got a 34 ford street rod, and a 35 Chevy street rod which competed for the Riddler award. He regularily has other local vettes and muscars wintering there. Last time I was there there was a 1964 Impala SS 2 dr Convertible with the 409 4-spd.


----------



## bobhch

rick that looks great and with no side windows looks almost like your last picture. 

Bob...Vettes Rock...zilla


----------



## ParkRNDL

Hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew here. The restoration and customs shop down the road a piece has more work than they can handle, so we're thinking about taking on some of the overflow. These are a few of the projects they want to send this way once they get replacement body panels:

Looking at this one I can hear Sammy Johns in my head. Anybody know a good mural artist?




































--rick


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Love the Lincolns!!!


----------



## kiwidave

Watching this with interest! Haven't cast anything yet so always keen to see what you guys do! Zilla has posted some go stuff on casting. I'm liking the Datsun. The wheelbase looks perfect! Can the front come down lower. Is the glass holding the front up?


----------



## bobhch

rick,

I like the looks of these bodies and your plan! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Bob...they all fit real nice...zilla


----------



## slotcarman12078

Oh boy!!! I like that Van..... and the lincoln, and the 240!!! Rich, was it you who had a die cast Ford Galaxie pop up in a thread way back when also? Watching this thread with great interest too!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## win43

:thumbsup::thumbsup: on the CORVETTES


----------



## win43

"....... Son. you're gonna drive me to drinking if ya don't stop driving that Hot Rod Lincoln........." :thumbsup::thumbsup: Can't wait to see these finished.


----------



## ParkRNDL

These are the first of the jobs we took on for the resto and customs shop down the street.










I know there's GOTTA be a story behind these cars, but the shop owner's not saying much. He apparently picked them up at a police auction in New Jersey. He did say that these two cars were previously titled to the same family, and the name on the titles was something like Saprina or Sobrano or something. All I know is when we got them, the interiors were taken apart pretty good. Someone was looking for something in these cars. Wonder if they ever found it.



















They both have the factory 460 motors in them. But while the blue one was pretty much left alone as a boulevard cruiser, someone seems to have diddled with the red one. It has a fancy carb and intake and headers, and from the way it idles, I doubt the cam is stock. They tried to lower it down and tighten up the suspension too, but you can only do so much of that when you're working with close to 5000 pounds. Looks like this is as close as you can get to a hot rod Lincoln when you're working with materials from the late '70s.




























A few more pics in a minute...

--rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

It's funny, we got the blue one cleaned all up and I was thinking it was done, but somehow it just didn't look right, like it was missing something. I couldn't figure out what it was, but then one of the guys in the shop clued me in.










Now isn't this better? Somehow, big pimpmobile cruisers like these just somehow don't look right without wide whites...










We got them cleaned up and rolled them out of the shop. I'm kinda digging the blue one myself...




























I noticed there's a Datsun he wants to send us next, but I dunno when I'll have time to get it in. If it winds up being anything interesting I'll keep you all posted.

--rick


----------



## kiwidave

Awesome pics! Love the detailing on the rear. Very cool!


----------



## Rolls

What kiwi said! Rick those are mighty cool! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Super Coupe

With work like that I'm sure you will have plenty more from the shop down the street. Both cars look great. .Tom.


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Rick, those turned out great!!! :thumbsup:


----------



## slotcarman12078

AWESOME!!!!! They came out great!!! There is one more thing missing on the blue one.. That baby needs a TV antenna on the trunk... one of them wings!!! Be proud of yourself Rick!!! For a first cast, them Lincolns are sweet!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## WesJY

AWESOME!!! :thumbsup:

Wes


----------



## bobhch

*Love the pictures...thanks for Sharon*

Rick,

You are the Lincoln caster of HT now. They look so neat and to know you made them from something that was a part A & part B liquid just last week makes them even that much better!

You chose a great first body to do. They realy look 70s style big and heavy just like they should. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Bob...Really Love them Lincolns...zilla


----------



## 1scalevolvo

:thumbsup::thumbsup:
THose Lincoln's just kick butt !!

:dude:


----------



## 1976Cordoba

BIG PIMPIN' :thumbsup:


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

ParkRNDL said:


>


Welcome to Pimpsville!!! Looks like your off to good start with resin casting!!! RM


----------



## ctsvowner

I know the family that previously owned them. 

It was the Sabitino's Great bunch, They needed the big sleds as not one of them weighed less than 300lb's

They also owned a few high end restaurants and jewelry stores. The one still has a car dealership.

Dave


----------



## XracerHO

Great casting & finishing by the shop. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: White walls finish the car. ..RL


----------



## win43

Love the Lincolns. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## joegri

the corner texaco is the place for heavy sledwork . very nice work on the both of the lincolns rick from start to finish!


----------



## ParkRNDL

Here's the Datsun I was talking about.










The body is a little rough, but it's a nice little car to drive. We diddled around with different wheels on it, since the stock ones are kinda lost in the wheelwells...










RRRs are the PERFECT size. I dunno if this is the best RRR style for this car, though... I gotta go check the site and see what he has.










And if you like the wheels-out Fray stance, good old AFX wheels are always an option.

Gotta go check on the other one that we tried to paint. It ended up in a Pine-Sol bath. Not sure if the problem was with the paint or the painter... 

--rick


----------



## gunn

i like the afx best


----------



## Super Coupe

I vote triple R's >Tom<


----------



## XracerHO

Great Datsun & casting. Vote RRR ..RL


----------



## CTSV OWNER

OMG that Datsun surprised me how nice it turned out. 


Dave


----------



## Rolls

Whatever the problems are with your Datsun casting, they are pretty well hidden... That looks REALLY good!! Great work. Can't believe it's your first foray into the world of resin. Inspirational!


----------



## NTxSlotCars

The RRRs rock!
(Both with looks, and you may have some wheels wobble)


Lookin good Rick. :thumbsup:


----------



## bobhch

*Make-in cars....yeah!*

Datsun.....awesum...drive the wheels off it rick!!!

Bob...wooooah that little car is Neat-O man...zilla


----------



## Joe65SkylarkGS

Bump for Paul to check out the Stinkin Linkin!!!!!


----------



## Ralphthe3rd

Well, if it wasn't for the BUMP, I would have never found this thread, which is AWESOME ! I can't believe I spent the last 2 hours reading it all, and enjoying the pix from the very beginning to the end. Very Cool Stuff :thumbsup:


----------



## slotto

Nice land yachts! I love the shop.


----------



## slotcarman12078

School's almost out!! Corner Texaco is bound to get busier!! 

P.S. I wish Rick was my teacher!! He's CL!!! :lol:


----------



## videojimmy

wow, come cool cars... love the Datsun and the pimpmoblies...

"diamond in the back, sunroof top, making the scene with the gangster lean"


----------



## roadrner

They all look great. :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


----------



## NTxSlotCars

Earth calling Rick.... where ya been man? anymore shop work????


----------



## ParkRNDL

Man, I've been away a while. Sometimes life steps in and takes over and the little cars just have to wait. But anyway, I saw something here on HT that got me motivated to rekindle an old project...

Years ago, I picked up this Tyco S Corvette on the cheap in a junk box at a show. I figured I'd cannibalize a diecast Corvette for the missing parts and make it a snazzy runner.










But it didn't go as planned. The pieces I sliced off a HW diecast didn't fit as well as I had hoped. Specifically, the grille/bumper off the diecast was much more sharply vee'd and didn't come anywhere near mating nicely with the slot body. The project stalled, and it sat, sad and forlorn, in the lot behind the shop.










(Anybody else see this pic and flash on the image of the wrecked Corvette going by overhead on the crane at the beginning of Corvette Summer? Yeah, I thought not... :freak: )

Anyways, last week Ralph III offered up some items from an odd lot for sale or trade. A deal was struck and another, much more complete Tyco S Corvette body was on its way to my house. I had the boys drag the old project and the parts I had gathered into the shop to survey what we had.










Then Ralph's package arrived and we set the two Corvettes side by side to start developing a plan.





































More in a minute...

--rick


----------



## ParkRNDL

The boys got right on it and found that while the green 'Vette has some paint issues, it's not cut or cracked anywhere.










The silver one, on the other hand, has beautiful shiny paint but has had its wheelwells enlarged a little towards the doors, moreso on the passenger side.










Just to complicate things a little more, the guys found out that Tyco S wheelwells do not line up nice with Aurora screwpost spacing. The posts are the right distance apart, they're just a little too far forward in the body so the wheels are positioned closer to the front edges of the wheelwells.










Technically, it'd work this way if I just shorten the rear screwpost, but I don't know if it'd look okay with the wheels slightly forward in the wheelwells. Pretty sure I can get the diecast glass to work out. Then I have to decide if I want to use the green body or transfer the bumpers and interior to the silver one. Sounds like I have some trial and error to do. Hmmmm...

--rick


----------



## bobhch

Rick that silver with those red stripes...That Sizzles! 

Decisions, decisions...Hmmmm

Bob...love those shop pics Dude...zilla


----------



## joegri

glad to to see the old corner texaco is open after a short intermission!! i like the guy in a few pics back that is throwin his arms up in the air as to be saying "wtf"!! goahead and start choppin away!! ya said they were going to be runners. the shop looks good.


----------



## roadrner

Rick,
Bring on the builds. Great versions! :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


----------



## XracerHO

Always like the shop photos & setup with slot car parts around the work area. Wonder, which one will the shop build! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


----------



## Ralphthe3rd

Rick, I love seeing your shop in action, and my old 'Vette in it's new home. Though I, as a Classic Tyco Purist, am kinda cringing at the thought of powering the Tyco 'Vette with T-Jet drivetrain. It's kinda like when I see a sweet '40 Ford Streetrod, and then note it's now Chevy powered....OH, the humanity !


----------



## plymouth71

kinda like my Hemi powered 32 Ford Ralph?


----------



## Ralphthe3rd

plymouth71 said:


> kinda like my Hemi powered 32 Ford Ralph?


 Yeah Dan, sorta. But I'll forgive ya, coz I figure it's kinda hard finding a flathead motor in 1/64 scale  But it sure would be sweet finding a lil flatty, did ya ever see one in 1/64th scale ?


----------



## Bill Hall

*Hand me a #2 blade!*



Ralphthe3rd said:


> Rick, I love seeing your shop in action, and my old 'Vette in it's new home. Though I, as a Classic Tyco Purist, am kinda cringing at the thought of powering the Tyco 'Vette with T-Jet drivetrain. It's kinda like when I see a sweet '40 Ford Streetrod, and then note it's now Chevy powered....OH, the humanity !


Aw Ralph, we'll hack that manufacturer's purity stigma right outta ya! :devil:










Now what's wrong with this? I chainsawed the 2x12's off'n the bottom, replaced the missing fender pieces that the factory obviously forgot, took the extra helium from under the roof AND found a chassis that actually fit. I havent painted her yet ....but I was thinking AFX royal blue. :tongue: 










Soon to come!


----------



## ParkRNDL

Little parts-swapping project here today, nothing groundbreaking. But I'm having SO much FUN...

You probably don't remember this Thunderbird from when I first started this thread a couple years ago.










I figured I'd get some parts for it and get it back together eventually, but mostly, it's been sitting in a corner of the lot on a trailer providing background scenery for other stuff.










Well, this weekend at the Lehigh Valley show, I picked up a little bag of random parts and pieces (Thanks Bob!). In that bag, among other things, were a driver's head and a Thunderbird front bumper. Didn't realize that till I got home.

I also picked up two dash Falcons (Thanks Tom!) with the intention of making them into one: My mom's first car was a white Falcon 2-door. I bought a white convertible and a green hardtop with a white roof, figuring I'd put the white roof on the white car and have one that looked like Mom's. Quick and easy, but it left me thinking that a green Falcon convertible would look ridiculous with a red convertible boot. Until it hit me: That windshield looked an awful lot like the T-bird windshield. And hey, now that you mention it, I never noticed how close that rear bumper is, too...

Et voila!










Now before anyone gets all high and mighty about the blasphemy of besmirching an original Aurora 'burd with replica Falcon parts, be aware that the wheelwells are cut, so it's not shelf queen material anymore anyway. I only attached the stuff with tacky white glue, which comes right off if you pick at it a little. Besides, it looks pretty darn good, even if the taillights are a little small:










Interesting note, maybe: I have 4 Aurora Thunderbirds. None has the original windshield; I just never found one that way. Only the red one is uncut.










The chassis for the green one was my favorite kind of tinkering: bare solid rivet chassis from one parts box, gearplate with Christmas tree arm from another, pickup shoe springs from the stash I got from Bud's HO, just pieces from wherever. Nice smooth little runner, it's even fun to drive with old rubber tires on it...

--rick


----------



## bobhch

Hey Rick it is always good to see you having fun...keep on keeping on Dude!

Love to check out your new pics and projects when you post them up.

Bob...ride on...zilla


----------



## Rolls

Great update, Rick! Sounds like your trip to the Lehigh Valley show was a good one. Haven't been back to that area in way too long, but I spent 4 years up there right after high school. Good times.

Cool pics of the latest goings on at the Corner Texaco. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Rolls


----------



## tjd241

*It's a bird... it's a plane ! !.... no.. it's a Bird.*

You must be good at big jigsaw puzzles Rick.. The kind that you dont sit there and finish... the ones you sort of complete and walk by to put a piece every so often over a period of time. Nice flock of birds!!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## XracerHO

Great swap & good looking T-Birds. Always interesting to check out the progress at the Corner Texaco. ..RL


----------



## Ralphthe3rd

Hey Rick, great parts swapping and fantastic looking results :thumbsup: the old 'bird looks like a nice runner now.


----------



## 41-willys

nice looking flock of T-Birds:wave:


----------



## NTxSlotCars




----------



## ParkRNDL

Hahahahaha! I wondered if anyone would catch on that there's a girl driving the yellow T-bird... Nice!

--rick


----------



## Hilltop Raceway

Cool Birds!!! I like the top up version...RM


----------



## Super Coupe

ParkRNDL said:


> Hahahahaha! I wondered if anyone would catch on that there's a girl driving the yellow T-bird... Nice!
> 
> --rick


Is she the girl that was driving the T-Bird in American Graffitti,but now has a slightly newer one? Jus' wonderin'. :thumbsup:
>Tom<


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## ParkRNDL

The roof for the top-up version was hacked off an AML 'Bird, and the windshield was from a random diecast. And yeah, I suppose that could be Suzanne Somers driving the yellow one. Jeez I wish I could find a Citroen 2CV that'd fit on a Tjet, then Kurt could chase her around all night...

--rick


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## slotcarman12078

Either that, or stuck in the back seat of the Pharoah's lead sled!


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## ParkRNDL

just another quick cheeseball repair...

well, i finally have presentable AFX Daytonas in three different colors for my collection. i kinda cheated, though... you'd be able to tell better in person.










i got the orange car many years ago when i got back into the hobby. it was in a small collection that i bought. and i got the blue one from a local Hot Wheels collector several weeks ago. here's the problem: the yellow one, which had been kicking around for so long that i forgot where it even came from, was missing the wing. broken off pretty cleanly at both ends between the uprights. (duh. no before pic. sorry.)

so i got to thinking: what would Bill Hall do? the answer was simple: find another Aurora car in that color that had a suitable donor body panel. i found what i was looking for in the last place i looked: a 4-gear Model A body with no fenders and squashed window posts. i'll let the picture do the talking:










not bad for a quickie, huh? i know it won't fool any collectors, and it's not intended to. but, hey, now i got one in each color... :thumbsup:

--rick


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## tjd241

Somebody's been taking notes I see!!! WTG Rick. :thumbsup:


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## Rolls

Pretty darn slick, Rick! I like it!! :thumbsup:


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## slotto

Nice Superbird fix but, what are the plans for the Hot Rod?


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## Joe65SkylarkGS

Masterful save there Rick. :thumbsup: 

I love that it's now on display instead of sitting in an old cigar box under the table. Very very cool Rick.


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## 41-willys

slotto said:


> Nice Superbird fix but, what are the plans for the Hot Rod?


My thoughts exactly


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## ParkRNDL

slotto said:


> Nice Superbird fix but, what are the plans for the Hot Rod?


Hmmm. Let me work on that. Maybe I'll let someone else make plans for it. Watch this space. Slotto, you have a PM.

--rick


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## bobhch

*It aint nothing but a chicken wing...thang*

rick,

Hey those AFX Superbirds are Neat looking cars!

For a second though I thought I was back in Vegas playing slots or something....777!!!

Bob...U break a my wing & I break a your face...zilla


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## Bill Hall

*surgical precision*

" i found what i was looking for in the last place i looked" < Rick, I'm still trying to figure out how to reverse this part of the process. 

At a glance, I blew right by that wing fix....until I read the text. Very slick, which makes it all the more satisfying.


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## ParkRNDL

Times is tough for everyone, but there's a few customers I can always count on for business around here. Take this guy. He's a local P. I.










I don't know what this guy does to his car, but he goes through tires and transmissions like penny candy. (That's him in the tacky jacket.)










I try to tell him to get something other than cheap whitewalls so maybe they'd last a little longer, but to each his own, I guess.










Guess I shouldn't complain... at this rate, he's gonna help put my kid through college... 

--rick


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## gomanvongo

now you just need a beachfront and a trailer to park on it!

Star cars are my fav - and James Garner drove one of the tuffest! keep up the great work!

What next - the Simon and Simon truck?


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## torredcuda

Hey where`d you get that diagnostic machine?


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## Gear Head

Awesome Rick! I watched that show too many times to confess to.

Is rockford's firebird a posted aw xtraction body?


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## ParkRNDL

Gear Head said:


> Awesome Rick! I watched that show too many times to confess to.
> 
> Is rockford's firebird a posted aw xtraction body?


Indeed it is. I just discovered that Rockford Files is on Netflix, so I'm gonna have to spend a few late nights getting reacquainted...

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

torredcuda said:


> Hey where`d you get that diagnostic machine?


It's from an old, old Matchbox Service Center. I had one as a kid that I'm sure is in a landfill somewhere, but a few of the plastic parts and accessories survived and got put in my box of old diecast. Then several years back when I discovered Fleabay, I bought one to replace it. When I get home later, I'll link to a pic of what it looked like before (yellow plastic and about twice as tall). 

Edit: found the link. Check out the first few posts of this thread:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=298692

--rick


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## ParkRNDL

*tanks a lot*

I love Racin' Rigs, both the originals Auroras and the AW repops, but I never got around to getting a tanker truck, either original or new... and from what I've seen, the Auroras are kinda undersized-looking and the AWs are worse. (Actually, I think even the regular box trailers are kinda wimpy-sized in relation to the rigs, but I guess they had to make concessions to have these things easily negotiate whatever layout a kid might come up with. I digress.) I have had some success converting plastic toy trailers for slot car use, and I grabbed a bunch of them at yard sales this summer with that in mind... so this morning when my son got all into the rigs, I started on a tanker I had picked up.










The whole thing came apart easily into many pieces after removing three identical Phillips-head screws.










Turns out that Tyco HP2/HP7 fronts with Tjet wheels behind them as spacers worked out perfectly to replace the hard noisy plastic toy wheels. Tires are some of Weird Jack's AFX tires I had around that have gotten too stretched to stay on the drive wheels of AFX cars anymore.










The hitch pin was broken off, but that was easy to solve with a piece of brass tubing and a Phillips head screw. I had to grind the screw head down to fit the hole in the back of the tractor... the goal was to get it just about the same OD as the tubing. It's not perfectly round and a little ugly if you look close, but I ain't lookin'.










Voila. I like it. The only thing is that because the rears are not articulated, I'm kinda restricted to running the middle two lanes of my 4-lane. I guess if I had turn borders/aprons in the insides of all my turns, it'd work out okay, as long as I didn't have any scenery too close to the edge to take out...



















--rick


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## kiwidave

Cool conversion! I like it.


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## ParkRNDL

I'm starting to like these...





































And there's this from a while back...

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=342644

--rick


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## Gear Head

Diggin' on these tricks Rick. Where'd you get that yellow and red car carrier. That is a must have. :thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL

Honestly, I have no idea where that came from. I actually did that one maybe 10 years ago, as opposed to the others which I just started playing with recently. I think it belonged to one of my kids and they busted it up to the point where it was gonna get thrown out, so I rescued it...

--rick


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## XracerHO

Great looking trailers & they make great rigs! Keep on truckin'. :thumbsup: ..RL


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## NTxSlotCars

We got a Convoy!


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## Omega

NTxSlotCars said:


> We got a Convoy!


Just need a micro bus full of hippies. :dude:

Dave


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## plymouth71

Paging Mr. Joez


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## ParkRNDL

Oooooooooooh. Y'all just gave me an idea for painting one of my Dash VW bus kits...

But where do I get chartreuse paint?

--rick


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## torredcuda

Gear Head said:


> Diggin' on these tricks Rick. Where'd you get that yellow and red car carrier. That is a must have. :thumbsup:


Ya, we need to find out who makes that.


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## SouthLyonBen

Pretty cool, I am guestimating that A tyco US-1 trailer is closer to 40' if you use 1/87 true HO as the conversion as compared to 45, 48, and 53' which are the more common lengths in real life (28' pups aside) there's vendors that sell just the wheel assembly pieces from Aurora and Tyco trailers if you wanted to convert to articulation and a pin


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## Hilltop Raceway

Maisto made some a few years back. You'll need to grind the 5th wheel pin down or enlarge the tractor plate hole. Made of diecast and plastic...RM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-Maisto...Action_Figures_Diecast_US&hash=item2a2577cfe4


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## tjd241

Nice trucks fellas. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL

Hey now, I know we have that one around here too. That definitely belonged to the kids... ours came with a teal cabover tractor. Darned if I can lay my hands on it, though...

--rick


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## wickedlemon

Cool truck.


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## NTxSlotCars

Something you may like....

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=350917


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## bobhch

Yes............I like that alot!

Bob...old stuff looks cool(even if it's new stuff that looks old)...zilla


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## ParkRNDL

Very cool. Thanks for posting the link. I gotta pay closer attention around here. :wave:

--rick


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## bobhch

ParkRNDL said:


> It's funny, we got the blue one cleaned all up and I was thinking it was done, but somehow it just didn't look right, like it was missing something. I couldn't figure out what it was, but then one of the guys in the shop clued me in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> Now isn't this better? Somehow, big pimpmobile cruisers like these just somehow don't look right without wide whites...
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> We got them cleaned up and rolled them out of the shop. I'm kinda digging the blue one myself...
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> I noticed there's a Datsun he wants to send us next, but I dunno when I'll have time to get it in. If it winds up being anything interesting I'll keep you all posted.
> 
> --rick


rick,

Dude I never forgot about this Lincoln Continental body you sent me...It Rocks!!







Have that Datsun sitting by also for paint...Yeah!!

I painted it once and messed up the paint. 
Stripped the paint off and kept on thinking about painting it again.

Well It happened last week with a small bottle of Testors Lime Gold.

This car has been on my to do list for about 2 years now and BAM...here it is now waiting for me to detail it out.

Dig this car....now I just need to finish it up with a white top, black tinted windows and silver painted chrome trim.

Bob...looks like there is room for a driver and passenger also...zilla


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## ParkRNDL

bobhch said:


> rick,
> 
> Dude I never forgot about this Lincoln Continental body you sent me...It Rocks!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have that Datsun sitting by also for paint...Yeah!!
> 
> I painted it once and messed up the paint.
> Stripped the paint off and kept on thinking about painting it again.
> 
> Well It happened last week with a small bottle of Testors Lime Gold.
> 
> This car has been on my to do list for about 2 years now and BAM...here it is now waiting for me to detail it out.
> 
> Dig this car....now I just need to finish it up with a white top, black tinted windows and silver painted chrome trim.
> 
> Bob...looks like there is room for a driver and passenger also...zilla


WOW! sweeeeet! I have a bunch of these sitting around yet, never did anything with them after the first two. I keep thinking I want to incorporate some kind of green into one; I keep picturing one in a light mist green with a dark green top. Can't wait to see how this one turns out...

--rick


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## NTxSlotCars

The dark blue and red w/ white top are classic colors!!!










What's that little red 31 car hiding behind the truck?


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## Gear Head

An Aurora Tjet Alfa Romeo


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## Ralphthe3rd

Wow ....what a Day ! I spent half of today in Chambersburg Pa.- Cruising AND Racing around the Corner Texaco with rick !

Oh man, what a Slot Cave, it should be a Registered National Historic *Slotcar* Landmark ! 

It's a 80 mile drive down for me, and once there- I didn't want to leave, as rick has soooo much to see in his slotcave, plus his awesome 4' x 16' layout that features Atlas/Lionel Track. And you know what, I'm now a convert, I'm gonna build another layout featuring Atlas & Lionel Track, as IMHO- it's far Superior to Aurora L&J for many of the reasons I was originally gonna use L & J.

Thank you rick for being a wonderful Host :thumbsup: ...what an Awesome day


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## slotcarman12078

Man, you're a lucky ducky!! Some day I gotta get down that way!!


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## Ralphthe3rd

BTW- FWIW, Rick is the first Hobby Talker I've met in 3D, but I hope he isn't the last....and like Arnie used to say in the movies.... "I'll be Back !"


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## ParkRNDL

And a great time was had by all. Thanks for taking the trip, Ralph. The old cave doesn't see many visitors. It was great to have someone else to run laps with and just shoot the breeze about little cars. :wave:

--rick


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## Ralphthe3rd

*Awesome Slot Day !*

Yesiree Rick, an awesome day was had fer sure, all in the coolness of your slotcave. Only bad part was, there wasn't enough hours in the day. We never got to go to Hobby Lobby(I've never been to one), and there was still so much more to see, talk about, and run on your Track.... But it was well worth the trip, at least for me. 


ParkRNDL said:


> And a great time was had by all. Thanks for taking the trip, Ralph. The old cave doesn't see many visitors. It was great to have someone else to run laps with and just shoot the breeze about little cars. :wave:
> 
> --rick


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## NTxSlotCars

Always was a cool thread. Lots of missing pics. Has anyone seen Rick lately?


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