Cars Gallery

Hello and welcome to the Cars Gallery. Most of these models have been built in the past 5 years or so, with more to come. You'll find my Custom Clinic entries here also. Cars are my favorite subject, despite the hard work they take to make, especially customs...

All copywrited ©2004 G. Plummer

Camaro Concept

Here's Revell's snap-tite kit of the new Camaro Concept car. The Revell kit has better quality mouldings of the body and wheels compred to the AMT glue kit of the same car, though the Revell kit lacks an engine. One of the few things wrong with the kit is the poor fit of the rear spolier pegs; I added a custom black spoiler to cover this problem area.

Paint is Testor's pearl orange over the orange plastic of the kit's body. The kit chrome wheels were airbrushed with a mix of clear gloss and a touch of gloss black to give them a black chrome or hematite effect. Revell designed this kit well and I recommend it for beginners and experienced modelers alike.

Cordwood

The Cordwood is an AMT Wagon Rod kit with Cord fenders from a Linberg kit grafted on. Not as easy as it sounds...

The Cord fenders were enlarged and the Cord doors and hood were blended into the Wagon Rod body. The wrap around grill is scratchbuilt, and the wheels are Ferrari look alikes from the now defunct Choice model company.

The paint is automotive deep cherry red metallic, with the wood painted tan. This is a Custom Clinic entry, taking 1st place the 8th annual Custom Clinic.

Fiat 500

This is Tamiya's Fiat 500D. Paint is Tamiya spray racing white over dark yellow. This model is a mild custom, and one of my higher quality works.

The interior has been fully detailed with photoetch items, and kit lenses have been replaced with MV model railroad lenses.

View of the scratchbuilt 2 cylinder engine. It has a turbo and intercooler; why not?

Chevy '69 Corvair

Here's AMT's old '69 corvair kit cleaned up and lowered. Paint is Testor's turn signal orange over a Tamiya desert sand base. The resulting color is a bit like lime gold, and the interior was sprayed in a darkish gray/purpule for contrast.

AMT's kit is as old as the car, so it would require quite a bit of work to make a respectable replica out of it. As a customizing project it's fun, and the kit has plenty of extra parts for just that. The wheels come from a Fujimi Porsche kit.

'61 Ranchero

Here's AMT's ancient Ranchero kit painted in purple nail polish. The body was shaved and coated with auto primer to protect the plastic form the toxic nail paint. The bed cover is airbrushed with a tiger pattern, and the wheels come from AMT's Dodge Duster kit. All in all a fun and quick project.

Honda Accord SiR Wagon

Here's Aoshima's Honda Accord SiR wagon in a dark metallic blue spray from Tamiya. The kit features an opening hatch, witch I glued shut. The rear windows are separate and require a bit of fitting to get the right look. Not a kit for your first car model experience just because of that...

The wheels came with the kit and are quite nice as Aoshima wheels tend to be. To get the right stance I glued the wheels to the top of the wheelwells. All's fair in love and model building.

Charger 500B

Here is a just for fun custom that shouldn't have worked but it did. After Mercedes and Chrysler joined I built this car with their union in mind. The body is Monogram's '69 charger with a Tamiya Mercedes 560SEL roof, interior, and front end. The hood is scratchbuilt.

The paint is Testor's turnsignal orange, if I remember right, over an orange base (it looks red in the pic.) The bumble bee and hood stripes are black decals. The hinged hood opens to show a Hemi engine, and the wheels are Mercedes with orange centers.

Toyota bB

Here is Tamiya's hard to get in the states Toyota bB kit, also known as the Scion xB here. The Japanese version has smaller bumpers which look better. This is a love or hate kind of car - I think it looks good here lowered with Aoshima 18" wheels and an orange pearl over silver paint job.

The interior is painted in light and dark gray greens to contrast with the orange exterior. The Tamiya kit went together very well with the exception of the separate rear bumper, which had an only so-so fit. The kit wheels were strange but stock multi-spoke designs; the larger wheels here look much better.

Ford Focus

This is Tamiya's Ford Focus rally car built as a street tuner. This model was made when the kit came out in 1999; now a Revell Focus tuner has just been released. The newer Revell kits are quite nice, but I doubt they match the crispness of Tamiya's moldings.

Paint is metallic red automotive paint. The kit is basically stock, with a sunroof cut in the body to get rid of the roof scoop present on the rally car.

Rally cars make for great all out street tuners right out of the box. A satisfying build, making people wonder where you got a Focus kit...

Mustang IIIB

Another Custom Clinic entry, the Mustang IIIB placed 2nd in the 9th annual Custom Clinic. It is a Mustang Mach III kit with a stock '95 Mustang roof added on. A few modifications were made to the front and rear body styling also, and a stock interior was used to replace the two seat configuration.

The paint is a Ford automotive spray teal color, with a cream tan interior. Wheels are BBS from the now defunct Choice model company. Interestingly, there is no chassis at all; the wheels are held on by axles that are in turn attached to outriggers glued to the interior bottom. Nobody's going to turn your model over, except at Salt Lake...

Mitsubishi Lancer

This Mitsubishi Lancer was converted from the Tamiya rally car kit. The dash was converted back to right hand drive using a Fujimi kit. The clear corner lenses were made using MV railroad lenses behind the clear kit parts.

A Japanese photoetch set provded the grill work, while paint is an automotive touch-up spray orange pearl. The wheels were done in a mix of burnt iron and gunmetal.

The tint on the back windows was done by spraying the inside with gloss black. Gloss paint is slightly translucent, espcially with only one coat, so the effect is a deep "limo" tint.

Compact Pussycat II

Looking at the Vette Again kit, I noticed a similarity between it and Penelope Pitstop's Compact Pussycat from the Wacky Racers cartoon. Don't ask me why... I decided to build a modern Compact Pussycat out of the kit.

The kit is basically stock (I don't know if the blower was included in the kit), with the paint job being magenta lick flames over dark magenta. Dual twin pipes (which the original Pussycat had!) were made from aluminum tube.

The figure is some Japanese anime kit painted to look like Penelope Pitstop 30 years on. Don't know if that quite worked... The personal plate in back says "CPUSSC2" - vaugely filthy. Now all I need is the umbrella.

Trendy Rat Rod

This is Revell's Rat Rod Model A pick up kit - a nicely detailed but tough to build old mold. The primer is various shades of gray, while the whitewalls are actually pale tan - like they should be.

A "junk" block was put in the bed. To get the model to sit right, the rear spring should be bent so that the axle touches the chassis. It defeats the purpose of having a spring, but that's Rat Rods for ya.

A close up of the kit 4 cylinder engine. All chrome on the kit was redone in Alclad chrome for a realistic look. The Mexican blanket was drawn on a computer and then printed out on paper. The paper was then cut and glued to the kit seat, and a good rubbing ensued a worn look.

Shelby Series Coupe

Entered in the last Custom CLinic, this is a Shelby Series 1 with a Dodge Stealth roof grafted on. The front end and hood have also been modified.

Paint is a blue teal automotive touch up color, with a black and orange/tan interior. I should have done something with those elephant ear rear view mirrors, like throw them away.

The side view is especially pleasing, showing the swept-back lines of the long hood design. Unlike many of my custom cars, this one has a full chassis with engine, though the hood does not open.

Land Rover Range Rover

This is the old Esci stock Range Rover kit with a smoothed body (hinges taken off) and custom wheels from Aoshima. The kit is fairly accurate with a nice chassis, but no engine detail. The real item had an old Buick 215 cu. in. aluminum V-8 that Rover bought the molds for in the late 60's from Mercury Marine.

The paint is Tamiya's light blue metallic. I didn't polish it; maybe next time. I like the looks of these old Ranges, but painted white they look like refrigerators layed down on wheels. The kit windows were replaced with clear plastic sheet. The Esci kit features optional left or right hand steering.

Mercedes Benz CLK

This is Tamiya's Mercedes CLK DTM racer converted into a street machine of sorts. The interior was redone with two bucket seats, and the rear spoiler and roof scoop was eliminated. Unfortuneately, the filler putty has sunk over the years, making divots in the finnish (model was built in 1999) Use polyester putty for custom work - Tamiya, Evercoat, or Bondo (the fancy version) brands are fine.

The kit headlamps and small metal transfer hood emblem finnish off the front end nicely. Rally and DTM cars have basically a stock body with a lot of racing parts on them, making them great modern street tuners out of the box. Don't try this with a NASCAR kit, though...

Pontiac CTO

A variation of the tried and true El Camino concept in scale customizing, the CTO is a '64 GTO converted into a cab forward compact pickup. The GTO body was obviously cut up and rearranged...

The front bumper and wheels are from a '62 Catalina kit, but otherwise it's all GTO and a bit of sheet plastic. Paint is touch up ice blue metalic with Testor's high gloss clear in top. The bed cover is made from thin plastic sheet with snaps simulated by pushing a scriber from behind.

Side view of model. The front cab droops a little, showing the problem with eyeballing evrything. For the next radical custom I do, I'll draw a few sketches of the design first. Nevertheless, the model turned out well enough, and the plain body style of the '64 GTO makes for a convincing compact pickup.

Pontiac GTO

Speaking of GTOs, here's Revell/Monogram's fine '66 Gto kit, painted in an unusual light tan (Testor's Ivory? - I forget) The kit builds into a fine stock model of the GTO, and is well detailed.

The model is detailed with ignition wires, fuel lines, etc.. The interior is a black and white "Tuxedo" version, an option on many 60's cars and one of my favorite scemes.

Mercury Cyclone NASCAR

This is Polar Light's '69 Mercury Cyclone NASCAR kit built with kit decals. There are several boxings of this kit, this is Kyle Yarbough's. The front end had to be lowered significantly to give the right stance, as NASCARs of this era were low in the front. By the way, the Ford Torino versions of this same basic kit has incorrect side window profiles and an upturned nose; the Mercury body is better.

The small parts of the kit do not fit well and there are not too many locator pins, so this model is best for experienced builders. The decals are excellent, and the body was weathered with dark gray to represent the exhaust and tire rubber stains found post race. I've always liked this earlier era of NASCARs, when they actually looked like cars instead of plastic jellybeans with too many stickers.

Hammerhead '49 Ford

Everyone's done a custom '49 Ford, so here's mine. This is AMT's kit, heavily sectioned and with a Dodge Stealth roof grafted on. The Stealth interior is also used.

The front and rear ends have also been heavily modified, with Stealth bumpers front and rear. Wheels are Aoshima, and the paint is dark blue pearl with lighter blue scallops in front.

The side view is, well, interesting. I could have tweeked the stance a bit more, and perhaps the body overall is a little bit too round. On the other hand, it's not just another chopped '49 Ford. This was entered in an early Custom Clinic, placing 7th. Now how 'bout a '49 Mercury?

Porsche 4959

Despite the Porsche name, this model is mostly AMT's '49 Mercury. A porsche 959 roof, rear deck lid, and wheels have been grafted onto the body. The interior and chassis are also Porsche.

The color is German Silver Metalic, of course. Tail lamps are scratchbuilt, while the headlamps came from another Porsche kit. Various vents have also been cut into the body.

Not quite like other '49 Mercs, and that my be good or bad. This was my entry for the first Custom Clinic I entered, placing 10th. The name of the model is pretty cool...

Reynard 89D

A 1/24 scale F3000 racer kit from Hasegawa, this is an Raynard 89D powered by a Honda Mugen V-8. Yes, the car is pink. Actually, it should be a lighter shade of pink, but no one here has seen the real thing, so I'm OK.

I like F1 and F3000 racers (but not CART), but their bodies are often hard to assemble and paint. This is a simple marking scheme, but it still took quite a bit of work. Note lovely ejector pin marks on rear wing. Tamiya's 1/20 scale series of F1s are quite nice; I'll have to finnish one...

'70 Ford Torino

Monogram's '70 Torino Promodeler kit built out of the box with added engine detailing. A nicely detailed kit with photoetch parts included for the trim, and few assembly problems.

The paint is Tamiya spray pure white, with a red interior. On this model I masked off the window trim and sprayed it with Alclad chrome. It didn't work too well since I had some bleed through the masking, but spraying the body color first would have stopped this. It's always good to experiment though.

PT Tow Truck

This is my entry for Scale Auto's build a PT Cruiser contest. The PT body was shortened and sectioned taller to make a truck cab, and the chassis and flat bed were scratch built. Wheels are from Monogram's old 1/32 scale snap-tite fire truck kit, and detail items were taken from Italeri's truck accesories kit.

Close up of the cab. The model took 1st place in the contest. My goal is to get a free subscription to Scale Auto for life, or as long as the magazine lasts...

Fiat 500 Surfmobile

Set the wayback machine for 1990. I built this Gunze Sangyo Fiat 500 Abarth kit back then; this was before the excellent Tamiya kit came out. The paint is 80's turquoise and peach, and the front end has been lowered.

I took this model to a Sacramento Autorama around this time, where it was photographed and printed in the now defunct Plastic Fanatic magazine. This makes it my first model to be published in a magazine. I still think it's cool after all these years also...

Peugeot 405 Tuner

This is another Tamiya World Rally car kit turned into a street tuner. Paint is Tamiya spray Mica blue. The roof scoop as been eliminated, as this is a bit too much for the street.

The hood has been cut out and a scratchbuilt turbo 4 cylinder has been added. Working hood pins are at all corners of the hood, but they're a bit delicate to really use that much. For a Peugeot, this model looks pretty awsome. I bought Heller's Citroen Xsara (pronounced zhara, if that helps), but that kit is horrible compared to a Tamiya. Way down on the to do list now...

Model A Anti-Rat

This is AMT's old but still good '29 Model A pick up/woodie kit. It's been lowered using the suspention and wheels from Revell's Model T delivery kit, while the DOHC straight 4 engine is from Revell's Acura Integra kit.

As an experiment, all the "wood" and trim have been done in aluminum Metalizer. I, uh, may repaint it wood someday... The fenders and cowl are Testor's Boyd's Orange Pearl over a base coat of Testor's copper paint and it is a beautiful deep orange though it appears more reddish in the pics.

Honda Prelude

Here is Aoshima's fine 4th generation Prelude done in Tamiya's spray pearl green. The kit is lowered by glueing the tire tops to the fender wells (can't get too much lower than that.) This may seem like a short cut to lowering, which it is, but many Japanese car kits really need this move to get the proper stance.

The interior is painted in Britsh gulf war sand, which has an orange cast to it to contrast with the green exterior. The wheels are from the kit, making this model completely from the box - no aftermarket parts here. I have Fujimi's 3rd generation Prelude kit, which is unfortuneately crude but buildable. One day I'll make it...

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More to come later, thanks for your support.