I'm going to try to sell some of my older custom models on Ebay, let's see if "fine art models" can fetch any dough.  First up is my British Bomber super custom show rod.

You can check out the link to read about the details...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121167256530&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

I got a message from Dave at Blap models a few minutes ago regarding my "Heavy Metal Corvette" model that he helped me cast last year.  I was hoping to get these on sale earlier this summer...not so much it turns out.

I've taken my prototype to a few model shows to get it out there, but have not ben very aggressive with the hype yet.  The kit uses a easy to find Monogram Corvette, and my resin bits include accurate wheels, the drop in space man and the cool display stand.  This is one of the only models I've built that I will display in my shop.

 

 

The greatest 3 minutes of video from my childhood!

(Hey, turn on your wipers dude...there's carbon on the windshield!)

 

Radar RiderVideo

 

 

 

      I just got back from the IPMS National show in Loveland, Colorado, GOOD TIMES. Bruce McKinney and I drove 1200 miles to and from in one shot each way. 17 hours in a car, only stopping to pee and fuel up...that's the way I like it.
      I did well at the show with a few 3rd place awards, a couple of 2nds, two firsts and a BEST SCI-FI! I was very happy that the judges liked my work, but was a little sad that I entered everything I had. The big winner was my O.E.P. 15, the classic "wing dude" that's been around for over 7 years! I did enjoy hearing some people say how "magical" the piece was, even after all these years that one still speaks to the viewer.  Thanks for the Pic Krueger!

      All the love and pats on the back made me feel guilty for taking a break from the "creative models", sure my cars and other stuff has kept me relevant, but I need to get people worked up. So I went out to my shop tonight and started sketching my next 1/16th scale Magnum Opus, working title: "The Strong Gravity Test Vehicle".

      I might bring it to Wonderfest, Seattle IPMS, and the Nats in 2014...I'll see if I cant win the triple crown again.

Almost done with my shop!

It's been 8 years since Thomlyn and I moved to Portland OR. When we bought the house my wife and I had a deal that the garage was all mine, all 20'x20'. Ive spent a couple of hours, give or take a few thousand, turning it into my super cool/nerd man space. I just wrapped up a 3 day cleaning and organizing session and here we have it, Strange World Studios!

I spent the morning cleaning my paint booth and changing the filter. I hadn't cleaned it in about a year, an the filter was over 5 years old. The booth itself was a lab cabnet called a "dry box", my buddies dad is a laser psysicist and he ran a few experiments in it. It has a cool pass through opening on the side and a huge clear lid. I stuck an exhaust fan in the back on a rheostat and a light on the top. The pass through now has a box heater on it so I can run a stream of hot air into the box and help things dry/cure faster!
Check out all the paint dust that came out of my old filter...damn I'm glad that's not in my lungs. Saftey first.

It doesn’t seem like I got a lot done this last week, but I did spend a long time in the shop. The work on the hood and scoop assembly continued but the work was kind of tedious, so it felt like I got nothing done. The scoop was bonded to the hoods with MEK solvent, it’s the best for getting a solid plastic weld and I knew it would be necessary to avoid the seams cracking as I worked. After bonding, the seams were faired in from the top to get it nice and smooth. The next step was to grind away the hood area under the scoop and create a seamless flow from the bottom of the hood to the inside of the scoop, the dremel and a cylinder chipping bit did a quick job of it.

I now had a flat and true hood with the scoop as an integral part of it. I then finished the block sanding and contouring to get it as smooth as possible. During this step I was a little too rough with the piece and the two hood pieces started to crack where they joined. I knew I had to separate them at some point but I was hoping I could do it as the last step after the hood was reintegrated into the body…DAMN.

To make sure that integration went well I had to keep the hood flat and true just as it would be for the finished model. After cutting the hood sections apart I taped on some thin wood strips to the bottom to keep the piece aligned until I could create a hood support rail (white styrene) and get the fenders to match the hood line with bondo and putty.

It was a lot of work for what looks like no progress, but I’m still excited about how it’s coming along.




Money Shot!

I just had a chance to get into the shop for a little more work on the b-17 Cadillac. I decided to keep on working on the main body so I know what I’m dealing with once it comes time to do the detail and trim work. Sometimes that stuff can be a problem if I don’t get a head start on the planning process. The next hurdle in the body work was the hoods and the new intake and tunnel I’d need to accommodate the Allison motor.
I knew I would have to vac form a piece because the hood will be able to open, no cheating for me this time. I started with the rough dimensions of my scoop, like where the carbs are and the overall size. I then took a piece of ¼ inch Sntra (pvc board) and cut and shaped it to be the new piece. Sintra works great for this stuff, it will handle the vac pressure without distorting and it is easy to shape. After it was done I loaded it into my Mattel Vac former machine and pulled a few shapes. It was a tight fit on the vac bed but I got a few good ones made.
Then to rough the scoop in, I took a pencil and traced a “hull line” around the vac part and proceeded to cut out my new hood scoop. In the top picture you can see a line of blue tape extending to the front of the hood that will be a cut out that flows into the opening giving the scoop a little more “purpose”. You can also see that I cut out the front grill to make it super aggressive, I’ll load a bunch of custom radiators behind the opening…SWEET!