Any Model builders out there?

[67 Power Wagon]

I'll start.....

Guys,
Back when I was a teenager, I worked for a garage that you all by now should know! This same garage at that time, was trying to help me get a "first" car or even truck and I worked for it, the owner found me a '78 Dodge Power Wagon, D-150. I was all for it, and he simply wanted me to work for the cost of the truck for 2 weeks and the truck was mine to work on after hours, and so, I took his offer as it was thee only way I was gonna have a 16th birthday vehicle.

The truck was 4x4, it had a Mopar 360 in it. and was pretty solid body and frame! BUT upon checking the engine, it turns out that 360 was seriously "pounded" a lot of little things point that it was ran and used, with little to NO oil in the engine!

So, the owner, Don told me, we'll yank it, and see what I can find. I was agreeing to this as that 360 was never gonna last long knowing it had been used with little to no oil in it. The engine itself, needed both heads replaced, and had a soft wrist pin in the rotating kit, and I simply wasn't going to do all I wanted to do to it, and then risk the engine blowing for sure. So, about 2 more weeks AFTER this, the owner, Don, found a '69 Plymouth 440 "Super Commando" engine. Basically a 440, with a 4 barrel carburetor. Told me he can get it for me, if I agee'd to work yet another week, for the cost of the engine. SO, I got it. I at this point already owned the truck my 2 weeks of working for free were up! SO, it was in to this that far and Don, always treated me good kid or not.....

Was a bit of work to get that engine into the truck, but we did it, I only ever got to "test" drive it, as I could run 2 miles up the road, and back from being an employee to the garage on the very out skirts of my home town, 4 houses away from where I grew up in Pennsylvania.

So, this model, is going to be built, as my truck would have been when it was done, and I had my drivers license!!!!! Not a lot of "building" just Mopar stuff Don had given to me over the time this truck was being built, road worthy, however you want to look at it. SADLY, I never did get it road worthy, as one day were were working on a '68 or '69 Chevy Camaro, the truck was outside parked along the road, in front of the garage in the late winter and a 4 door Chevy Celebrity came down the road flyin hit Anti-skid on the road and T-boned my truck! Sadly totaling the truck, BUT never hurt the 440 in it. SO Don & I both tried to buy the truck back from the insurance and they (hers) would NOT sell it to me or him.......Why? Well thats where Don & I both got a good lesson, that engine we had in the truck the 440 4 barrel out of a Plymouth wasn't what we thought! The block number indicated this motor was a 440 Plymouth Interceptor! AND WAS FULLY in tact from the '68 or '69 Plymouth Fury it came out of with all the "Interceptor" parts in the block, Cam, all that, it was all there...... With it coupled to a 4 speed Mopar transmission! So were S.O.L. on getting it back due to this fact! With that all said, now off to the model..... More explaining to be done with the pictures of this whole story as the kit unfolds!

Now as you all know, I'm a big "stock" builder no less. BUT this truck model will be built as I had it started.....

The engine before it went into the truck, was repainted the same color it originally was.....Mopar Engine Turquoise. BUT upon getting this engine in the truck Don himself came to me one day with a box, while I was sanding on the roof of a car in the shop to be painted, poked me in the arm pit with this box that had valve covers in it, pretty much NEW ones, I was like Don, those on the 440 are OK, I don't need new ones. Hes like take them, I have had these things and since you got an engine for them, there yours......

Pretty much NEW stock 440 valve covers, BUT, they were chromed OEM parts! I got to say, I was a happy camper!

The belts are only "posed" on the front, I got a little ways to go on the engine yet!

I got to replace the oil filter and mount, on my trip down south, and got home, I somehow managed to knock it off and lost it, but I can say here I am not hurt on it, as I wasn't feeling it all that much so, bad things sometimes happen for a reason, I'll replace it with a bit better done detail (was a gluebomb part!)

Then Don suggested, I remove the stock Carter AFB or AFC carburetor off the engine due to its age and replace it, which I did, got the transferring plate to mount a Carter Thermoquad in its place (better winter starting), which with the stock carb it did start hard, the Thermoquad once jetted right started the ole 440 with not even a grind start over the winter I worked on it like the Carter AFB or AFC carb did.....I was glad I did it! The last picture, shows the Thermoquad in place and fuel supply line going to it with filter!

More to follow right after these short messages! ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So then while I been at it, I got to really looking at the frame to see what I was facing.....

Took this frame----^

It was to a complete '78 Dodge Little Red Express truck kit, and began designing it to be a 4x4 truck. the Little Red Express from Dodge was a 2x4 truck. So, as you all know me, that had to change!

I got to making my own front end, suspension, rear end, steering, shocks, you name it......

This is how that all turned out:

Top of the inner fender wells painted black, to match the truck, and glossed! You can see a bit of work I did under them with the suspension too!

A VERY good shot of the front suspension, most of it is scratch built! The pumpkin on the rear is thee only true kit part, other then the leaf springs! They are not to this kit, from from some other kit! I made everything else, the shocks are partly kit parts, but again no to this kit, and not from the same kit, as the mounts were cut off something as the shocks themself were off something else. The "coil overs" I made myself to fit over the modified shocks you'll see a bit closer in a minute!

The entire "steering", is scratchbuilt! The tie-rod ends were a necklace part I bought from Hobby Lobby, and I think they look pretty good too! (I have to say I was surprised they worked and looked as well as they do! Metal too! The rods are all metal! glued into holes into the tie-rod ends! That actually lead to the bell crank on the power steering part out of my loose parts collection of parts!

I also had to modify the motor mount to hold the new engine as well! Left "stock" the motor sat oddly in it, so......

Notice the BIG tires, the real truck had these, but were never on the truck, as it was easier to roll around with the beater tires and rims that came with the truck. Don, the owner of the garage found nice rims he had for a Dodge that fit without issue! SO.....gave them to me, and I got the tires on the rims at least and the 4 of them in the bed of the truck with a spare rim to make a real full spare tire with! Also notice the front brakes! Was NOT disk, this truck had drum brakes on all 4 corners!

This also shows a really good picture of the shocks, that I also salvaged from the garage. Coil-overs.....

Fuel tank was replaced, with a better one and treated, this is shown too...... Not that it really "needed" being replaced, BUT Don yet again, had a way better in good shape one that bolt right up! Gave that to me too!

A good shot of the big 4x4 tires I had, they're not 100% exact to what I had, but the size is real close, and the tread too is damn near the same! With chrome aluminum "slot" type rims.....

Also shows a bit of "stance" too, being a 4x4, and a Power Wagon, it was a high setting truck, to start with, did not need any sort of "lift" as it sat plenty high already, so I left that alone on the real truck, the trick was making it have close to that same stance as the real one did!

More to follow after these brief messages! stay tuned!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So then you see how all this is coming together.....I thought I'd get the rear end together (somewhat) and try to get a look at the trucks "stance" I got it did tho, it looks GREAT! Tires are resin models I had, and rims well, were pretty much the same rims that the Little Red Express truck came with! They aren't exact, as they're for a 2x4 truck, and my real one was 4x4, but they're close enough for me at this point........... I'm honestly surprised, I'm even able to make this truck happen NEVER MIND 2 of them....As my Dads truck I have not started yet, BUT it will be placed within this same build.... As he owned one at the very same time I did! Both trucks tho, were 4x4, mine was raised or well looked as tho it was, and his wasn't, it was stock height stance and stock tires on it, with stock steel "spoked" rims. And naturally mine being a step-side bed truck, his was a Sweptline "Straight bed" truck......

Pics of the stance:

With engine setting in place!!!!!

NICE under side clearance on everything engine, tires and rims, height, you name it it all looks damn near spot on to what my real truck was....... Sadly tho, I have but one picture of this truck in real life, and i can't seem to find the damn thing! As its not a digital picture! I find it, I'll have my wife scan it for me at the library at some point to post it with this build!

A bright shot of the bed in place.....

And just a few extras. this is where I'm at for now...... More to come as I'm able and have made some sort of progress, the frame tho is damn near done! I have to get the brake line mounts made and in place as well as the rear end in place and then detail the thing right up to go along with the rest of my builds being super detailed!

ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So, with the weather being really decent, and doing a bit of yard work as well as the clean up from the trip I made to N. Carolina, I did get a little done and or worked on on this build this weekend! I got the front brakes and brake connections set up. I have yet to do some more but..... All in good time!

Showing a bit of brake line shaped and added to the frame for the front axle. I had to make my own fittings to the lines, as seen the lines to the wheels are hose, and otherwise have fitting through the frame, to a hard line that goes to basically a brake line/flow manifold, that sits on the frame just below the master cylinder on the firewall.

Same sort of view just a bit more shown! That longer line on the right side of the frame is the brake line to the rear axle!

A bit more detail shown of the same bit, the manifold and all its connections seen here!

Right side up view this time. The brake line manifold is mounted right to the top of the shock mount! Makes it a bit easier to add the brake lines from the master cylinder this way! This also allows the motor to be in place or removed with the parts! JUST MAKES clearance here (It really is a tight fit!) As the engine is a 440 Mopar big block!!!!

Showing a bit of the steering parts I added to the kit. This was a FUN one to do, but looks good!

Shows a bit more details and is a bit clearer to see what was added here......

ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

For the Day as it is, 4-26-16. HAPPY HEMI DAY! I'll begin with the frame work and firewall on the truck. I added the details to the firewall, as well as the brake lines to the master cylinder.

Then, a little work went into the fuel tank and added details for such.

Fuel lines, with fittings, supply and return.

So then now that the frame is pretty much done inside the engine compartment, around the engine where it will set, lets add the engine!

In these pictures, you can see, the alternator wires, to the coil, and the red one to the battery, the red one will follow along the radiator core support to the battery, the blue wire is to the coil, and into the firewall for the dash electrics. THEN you can see the wiper motor wiring, as well as the heater motor wiring, as well as the places all the battery cables will be going as well. THEN if you look at the engine, I got power steering lines to the power steering, I got the heater hoses going from the engine to the heater, WITH fittings as well. I also went as far to add fittings to the brakes master cylinder, as well as the steering shaft u-joint, that goes to the power steering from the steering wheel inside the cab.

More to follow, right after these short messages!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So, Being this model was started from a stock kit of the Little Red Express, truck, that truck was a 2 wheel drive truck, and my truck that I'm modeling here as a replica, was a 4 wheel drive truck, I had to come up with some extra parts! One of such, being he transfer case. This part I got in trade from our own Knarf. THANKS Frank! This was a GREAT detail, and needed a little "changing as it wasn't meant to be on a Dodge, BUT with a little work, I made it happen AND built the mounts to hold it as well!

This part, was made to have the pumpkin of the front axle to the drivers side of the truck where as the actual Dodge truck had the front axle pumpkin to the passenger side of the truck. SO I had to make some modifications to the whole set up as well as the front axle, too, was scratchbuilt, using some existing parts I had laying around!

With this all in place, I think it looks pretty good and going from memory, I think I am getting the look on the model that I had on the actual real truck!

Thats it for now. a lot of little details that doesn't look like much in the big picture, BUT thats allowing that much closer to finishing the model itself!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Well a little further on this..... I got the front exhaust in place to the mufflers, that in itself was a trial to get the pipe bent correctly to fit! BUT thats how it was, or close too how it was on my real truck as when I got the truck I knew and so did the garage owner (he got it for me) that it needed new exhaust so...... Thats what it got!

This shows that it also got the front drive shaft as well, as the exhaust pipes had to go in first, to then be able to add the custom made/fitted drive shaft!

Same thing different angle of view!

Showing that the red mufflers were placed side-by-side to then be able to run the exhaust within the frame rails as the model had "stacks" which were running the mufflers outside of the frame rails under the the floor board/pan and just inside the rocker panels of the cab on both sides. My truck didn't have "stacks" so that was all not needed and really, I wasn't impressed with the mufflers the kit supplied as these used were closer to what I actually had on the real truck!

Showing the rear most part of the mufflers having been drilled to take the new formed tail pipes..... I have yet a little paint touch up to do BEFORE the pipes are bent to go in place.

"above" pic, without the bright flash of my camera, to allow some less "flash" and to let the details be seen instead of flashed over..... As the paint is bright, added with the flash hides a lot details I find at times.....

I also have yet to add the rear differential as well, as it has to have the exhaust pipes "in-place" before ANY of that can be added as I am not fond of "fishing" pipe through all that when it can wait till the end and save me some frustration trying to get it all in place AND this allows me to add pipe hangers, and any other small details without a lot of trouble!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So to continue on....... John got the exhaust tail pipes on the truck frame! Lookin' good I gotta say!

If you look closely to the rear suspension, where the axle would be placed, center of the leaf springs you can see a Testors "rubber" colored wire, this is the rear brake hose to go from the cross pipe on the rear, to the hard pipe mounted to the cross members of the frame. Look a bit closer even still, you can see the mount for that on the cross members as well as the fittings!

A different view. You can see the rear brake line coming out from behind the fuel tank, going to the mount, where the hose fittings are, that would be to the hose thats headed for the cross pipe on the rear.

Also seen in these pictures is the exhaust pipe work I done. Notice the pipe hangers in various locations. ALL pre-bent to fit the location its placed in, as the real truck would be if I still had it.

Looking at the whole frame from the rear, seeing the hose for the brakes, in the center of the frame. As well as the way the exhaust pipes were ran. The black exhaust pipe hangers show up well here!

A slightly different view..... I left the ends of the pipe "long" for the finish of the model as I will have to bend the pipes down from behind the hanger to get past the bumper once in place, and then "tips" to be made and added when all said and done, that will be the last details added to the model when its all done!

Now that the exhaust is in place, I can move on to get the rear end in place as well as the rear drive shaft, and suspension completed!

Stay tuned more to follow after these short messages......

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So as I said, short messages! LOL It was going together so well last night, I kept going!!!!!

As you can now see, the rear axle in place, as well as a custom fitted drive shaft that wasn't painted in this picture and the following ones BUT is removable! IF you look, you can see that there is 2 telescopic aluminum pipes that slip together, just like a real 4 wheel drive truck and even most rear drive cars, the drive shaft is slipped to have a section slip into another section, for suspension adjustments when in motion. I make my drive shafts much the same way! AND it allows me to play with different placement scenario's to see which way "fits" better to the part(s).....

Rear view, to show the details from the up-side-down frame and that little brake line hose leading to the rear end pumpkin.....

From the other side.....

A shot from above down-on to show the over-all of the frame......

A LOT of details and some yet to go! I have yet to add rear shocks, just like the front ones, they too will be coil overs as the real truck I had, was equipt with. (Came to the garage owner that way) and were in pretty good shape, so I left them on the truck and this model will reflect that! I have to pull out the shock supply to see what I may have and or to see if I might have to build my own from tubular plastic thats telescopic due to the nature of this build, the stock kit supplied shocks won't be long enough to go from the bottom of the rear axle to the bottom side of the beds floor boards, so...... We'll see! This all will happen later tonight! But as of this posting, the drive shaft is now painted, glued in place, and ready for shocks to be added!

ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

OK so a bit more to add to this build. I got to thinking I took pictures of the drive shaft work as well as the underside details BUT this was done when the drive shafts were unpainted! As well as a good "stance" of the over-all frame. So, with that said, have a look:

Pretty good shot of the passenger side front corner and to show the trucks height as well as the tire details! Looks pretty good!

A good under side shot of ALL the underside details I added!

Also a good picture showing the custom made exhaust and hangers, as well as the custom made drive shafts too, with a custom fitted transfer case...

Head-on shot of the front showing the engine missing the fan, and radiator core support as well as radiator, that part was curing when this picture was taken and is almost ready to go onto the frame! I have a little detailing painting to add and some extra detail to put into the build!

Like the real truck this is following that I owned awhile ago, I had added chrome differential covers to it. The front one can be seen here, as I had chromed the pumpkin cover, and all the steering and tie-rod ends are scratch-built to fit the truck as well as the entire front axle!

Picture of the rear differential, showing the chromed cover in it as well! Also seen here is the tail pipes left, "long" for bending down under the bumper when in place! This will allow me to adjust them as needed for the truck when that part is done (that part of the assembly will probably be the last detail I'll add), just before the truck is actually "complete"!!!!

So far, all looks GREAT, I have yet to get the interior started, its setting drying right now as I sprayed the common interior color and then when dry, will go back and detail paint what I can as well as add "carpet on the floor. My real truck was all black, with a tan interior, that was a real close match to the Little Red Express trucks, as the interior was removed for the original truck and replaced for a cab that simply had a good tan interior, better then the one that came with my truck when I bought it, and the interior I put in the truck was give to me just to get rid of as much as it that was useable, to then scrap the cab (was rotted out pretty bad) so, the interior however was used, but in way better condition then what was in my truck when I got it.

ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

OK as promised, I'd have some pictures of the recent posting of progress I made (I had to be in a good place to stop and get pictures!)

Anyway, the rear axle now has its shocks in place, they like the front ones were custom made, from existing model shock "mounts" to where they go on the axle, and then have the "barrel" or telescopic parts custom made from evergreen styrene, cut to fit, and had a coil over spring added that I also made with a spring mandrel in my lathe and spring wire guide.

The pics here show them, quite well also shows the custom made angle iron brackets to connect them to the frame. The rubber grommet around the shock nearest the coil over spring is to be like the real ones that were on my real 1:1 truck at the time....

Slightly different view just a bit "over-head".

Same thing, just the frame setting on its wheels to show how they look as well as showing the chrome differential plate a bit better then the pics I took to depict it!

This actually "completes" the frame at this point, The next things to be done to the frame seen here is the added bumpers both front and back as well as the tail pipes bent down around the rear bumper, and "exhaust tips" added, BUT those details won't be seen till the very end and will be the completion of this particular truck model in the set!

Interior is up next! ENJOY!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

OK, I mentioned it, now comes what I been doing with the interior of this truck. The real truck had a tan interior. In poor shape I might add, BUT working for the garge I did at the time, the owner Don told me if I needed or wanted anything for inside the cab to look in the "grounded" truck cab to what was a Little Red Express out back of the shop. So, me being me I did go and have a look, the cab was in pretty bad shape first thing I noticed but the interior from the outside looked to be in pretty good shape, (what I could see of it from a distance) as the windows all were wound up, and there was A LOT of under growth around it. So, back to the Garage I went, and into the office to talk to Don about what it take to get to the trucks cab, and if and what was in it that be of any use to me, (I was unsure), he told me, it was getting hauled up next to the garage the following Monday, as if I remember correctly this was on a Friday afternoon, OR Saturday, I can't remember exact, BUT come Monday morning, I was to come to the garage grab my chain saw and he'd have gas and bar oil ready for me and a weed wacker and some other tools to clear a pathway to it.....

Well needless to say, we got it out from where it was, up next to the garage, and able to get into the cab, and boy, let me tell you the cab was in some rough shape! It sat on the ground for what Don told me was at least 8 years, as they got a whole truck in and the frame was in half ways decent shape as well as the bed of it, the truck had hit something (large) as the front was mangled up a bit and rusty, whatever it hit, was high enough that it took out the radiator and grille but just missed the filler part that ran under the grille to the back of the top of the front bumper..... BUT the interior tho, was in pretty good shape! BETTER shape then the truck I was building, WAY better shape! Dash pad had a pretty good rip in it, so I left my original dash where in the truck, BUT the cubby hole cover was good mine wasn't and the seats were untorn ANYWHERE, so I took both of them as well as both interior door panels. As my trucks had a bench seat in it with rips EVERYWHERE or so it seemed at the time as well as the interior door panels on my truck wheren't "ripped" anywhere but were simply raty looking compared!

Now to get to making the model like this was in my truck, a few things may have been different, but I'm going from memory so not ALL may be 100% so..... But at this point, I'm good with that!

A few things to point out here..... Notice that the cab has bucket seats, my truck originally didn't, BUT the donor cab had all that in good shape! The only difference I can recall was the seats..... Notice the seats have 2 different colors in it, both "tan" but slightly different shade, they were like that on the real thing, BUT the "center" grain runs length-wise on the seats seen here, on the real truck, if my memory serves me right ran side-to-side. I can live with the difference!

Then on the real truck, the gear shift to a 4 speed transmission had no gear shift knob, NEVER did and the donor truck didn't have one either, SO with a bit of modeler's license I took and added my own rendition, a "skull" gear shift knob. Thought that was a good way to add it in. The accelerator pedal on my truck was an unpolished aluminum "foot" NOT with any "tread" on it, but the detail I used, I think looks good! AND the the carpet, in my original truck it was tan, the darker of the 2, BUT the donor cab had good "black" cab carpet so I installed it, as there was no rips, or rot in it as the truck had when I got the truck I was building!

showing the door panel details a bit better as well as the seats. That chrome strip you see is to the band that was like a horizontal door handle, my original truck had solid black ones, the donor cab had nice chrome ones that I musta polished on for an entire weekend at home before they went into the truck!

Then last but not least, looking as tho through the windshield. Showing the seats a lot better now..... ALSO, something else that was slightly different was the gear shift "shaft" my original truck had what looked to be a "blackened" shaft, NOT painted black mind you, but darkened metal. Was "OK" but just didn't stand up to the one in the donor truck, being chrome. Needed polished which I did and had just a little rust on the bottom end of it where it was connected originally to the donor trucks transmission, BUT wasn't to bad to clean up to make useable again and in working order, so that too got changed out!

Dash is next! Stay tuned!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

So, with the interior of the truck posted, the missing part was the dash.....

On the real truck, all I replaced to the actual dash part was the glove box cover. As it was a matching, or sort of matching color, I was good to have one with NO rips or what I recall remembering a slice or something in the glove box cover, SO, it got that from the donor cab!

I also changed out the steering wheel, and column, as the one in my truck, was "OK" its just the donor truck had tilt steering, and a nice aluminum centered steering wheels! SO, while the truck was setting with no motor in it over a weekend, I added these parts by myself to be inspected come Monday morning as the garage opened for business. As the Owner Don had it a PA inspection station so.... -just before the truck was rolled outside to open up that bay for business that day!

I left the dash keep its original chrome plates that went around the gauge clusters as those in my truck were actually the one of very few things in really good shape! Seen here I used BMF to add them. The gauges themself were black plastic, but because of how well the gauges turned out on the model I left them be BMF chrome as they show the details a bit better then I could have EVER painted them to be seen!

The model itself out of box, did not have a turn signal lever OR anything for a tilt steering lever, SO I made them to fit the column! One thing I also noticed with this truck, was the interior came with having a "automatic" transmission, NO clutch pedal! And thinking of it a bit, the engine itself came with a standard transmission! SO having said that, and my real truck being a 4 speed manual, I had to remove the single pedal for the brakes, and leave the gas pedal to add the chromed foot, BUT I have to make a clutch pedal, and a brake pedal and while I'm at it, I'm going to add in a emergency brake pedal as well! These have yet to be added! Granted, the interior is almost done as well. Once it is, this whole model will be sat aside to allow me to do the same sort of work to the truck that I'm modeling after my Dad's truck and that truck will as well be in this same thread! As when it comes to painting the 2 trucks cabs and beds, they can be done at the same time due to both truck being black! So really, I'm almost a 4th of the way done!

ENJOY more to come as progress happens!

Truly it for now.....I have to resume when I'm able..... This happens to be a 2 truck build, my truck and my Dads truck that we owned at about the same time!

ENJOY!

 

[Meep-Meep]

I lived for model cars back when I was a kid. Did the spark plug wires (in the correct firing order) and so on. Your work is very nice!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Meep, I know you from either FABO or FBBO. nice to see you here!!!! ANYWAY, thank you.... I put a lot in it when I'm doing it, its fun to say the very least. This particular truck, is one of a set of 2 I'm doing as a Father & Son set, I have yet to post the progress on my Dads model in this, which is a bit different from what I had in a real truck, reflected in the model. All done from pictures from a Concord 110 camera back in the day, and memory they bring!

 

[Meep-Meep]

Thanks. You would know me from FBBO.

Your attention to detail is great. That dash alone should win an award. Keep up the good work.

 

[LocuMob]

Good God, I have close to 200 models of Mopars and semis (and a couple other cars and planes) and I haven't even touched one this year! Good work and nicely added details that seldom gets added. I have done a little bit of detailing, but fi s I just don't have the patience for much of it. As my models just sit on a shelf and that's it I'm okay with out of box builds. Maybe this winter I'll get back into building models as I don't have a heated garage. Look forward to your updates.

 

[GW.]

Okay! '67-PW. is it a 1:25th. Scale or 1:18? You sick "Bast@rd!" Didn't know people in rhe good old U.S.A still build models! But not just any "out of the box model" but a well executed, highly anal-retentive, "CUSTOMIZED!" model.
Bro! that's what I do... I specialize in 1:35th . Scale military dioramas... Granted, haven't build one in about two decades, you know, wife, kids, bills, work. That's why I'm simplifying my life.
Bloody incredible work!

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Thanks. You would know me from FBBO.

Your attention to detail is great. That dash alone should win an award. Keep up the good work.

Thank you....I've been told by several people high standard model builders, I'm more "Professional" then I know or take in. Sadly, thats just me, if I'm gonna do it, then, I'm gonna put what can be seen in a real one in my models. I'm sadly retired, at a young age due to health reasons but I still "play" with the real ones when I get a chance. The models, keep my mind sharp and my hands working but doing not stressful things.

Gotta love FBBO, I am seriously attached to the '70 Dodge Coronet, ANY one of the options to that particular car! -My "Dream Ride" be a '70 Dodge Coronet R/T convertible, 426 Hemi backed with a 4 speed A833!!!! Plum Crazy Purple, Banana Yellow Deck stripe, white interior, Ramcharger hood twin scoops...... GAWD..... OMG YES! Thing is, I am so in love with that car, I have 5 models of it......

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Good God, I have close to 200 models of Mopars and semis (and a couple other cars and planes) and I haven't even touched one this year! Good work and nicely added details that seldom gets added. I have done a little bit of detailing, but fi s I just don't have the patience for much of it. As my models just sit on a shelf and that's it I'm okay with out of box builds. Maybe this winter I'll get back into building models as I don't have a heated garage. Look forward to your updates.

You sir are a man after my own heart, I build nothing other them "MoPar" models...... I also mold my own parts..... SO if you got some "rare" MoPars" engine parts, I'd LOVE to mold them and supply you with a few just for allowing me to use your part to make the mold!

Alot of parts in this truck are from my own molds! Then whole motor I think I molded! I'd have to go and look at the pics to be sure..... I KNOW the valve covers I molded AND I chromed them! -Was told you couldn't "chrome" resin plastic..... Yeah, I'm hard-headed that way!