My 'artwork' for model ideas I probably won't have time to build

[Russell C]

Don't know if other modelers do this with customs, but for me, when I get an idea for a one, I can usually see it reasonably clear in my mind's eye. I always feel more confident to butcher some kits after I create an illustration, though. My avatar is one such example, but since that one dates to B.C. time (before computers, for me anyway) I had to sketch it out using pencil tracings from a Porsche brochure.

Trained graphic artist that I am these days, I swipe various photos off the internet and hack them up in my CorelDRAW program. Visualize having multiple copies of a photograph and using a virtual scissors to cut 'em into pieces, layering the pieces on until the desired look is achieved. I used to do this stuff in PhotoShop, but I can't afford the upgrade that would make my old version 7 work on my newer iMac.

Since Dan Palatnik is showing off his original 3D drawings in his own thread in this forum, I thought I'd start off mine here with a hat tip to two of his pieces. The first one was purely for my own satisfaction, to see if a 3-wheeled '49 Ford could be done to keep up my running joke of such vehicles for the GSL "Group" category. It worked, as can be seen here, Dan's original is at this link, and right below is my alteration of it. Dan had a good laugh at it when I emailed it to him in 2013.



Next is a more recent alteration of Dan's set that was a '54 Pontiac, where I tortured bits from his '57 wagon to fit on it (the passenger side headlight is out-of-perspective). I believe the overall idea would work out reasonably well using parts from most any '57 kit and the Monogram '53 Chevy (or whatever else is out there that I'm not aware of), but at the rate I'm going, this is a project I most likely will never have time to get to. Dan is a good sport about my alterations of his work.



Then there's this one, where I snagged some photos of a 1:1 Robertsham LLC custom kit car version of the Daytona Coupe (originals are the small inset pics). Much as I love the original Daytona Coupe, the kammback always looked like such an unsightly afterthought, to I grafted on a regular Cobra roadster back end, and then did various other proportional tweaks, as in shortening the hood just a bit while lengthening the cabin just a bit. No offense to the Shelby designers, but maybe it sorta evens out the whole car a bit better. However, this is a project I'll never probably get around to building.....



My stuff isn't all that crisp or professional compared to others, and pro photo alteration guys will easily see the flaws in my work, but then again it's just a kind of virtual sketching exercise to see if some of my wacko ideas work or not. Trust me on this, some of 'em just obviously do not work, and I toss 'em into the virtual trashcan. But some are keepers since they seem like they are maybe 90% on the way to being an actually worthwhile idea. Stay tuned, I have a small stack of those to share.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted photo links

[Danno]

Those look pretty good, Russell.

The Cobra is very subtle but a good blend of the coupe and roadster elements.

I really like that Cheviac! That would be a fun build!

[Harry P.]

I've been doing the same thing for years. It's a lot of fun...

[cobraman]

Don't nomally like any changes to Cobra's but that Daytona looks killer !

[Russell C]

'31 Cadillac Flatterphaeton

Another model - at least of this particular vehicle - that I won't get to, basically because I've chosen a different and potentially more interesting classic touring car. What prompted this idea was a little thumbnail I saw of this particular photo which somebody's computer scan file must have accidentally compressed vertically, giving it the look of the much flatter Ruxton phaeton… or the appearance of being sectioned.

So I took that photo along with two others and erased the section from the top of the rear fenders up to the interior openings. I've lowered the windshield / top on the last two photos, but never got around to lowering the windshield height on the first photo (oops, also cut the top off the front fender light). The last two photos have the vertical strip between the front and rear doors almost completely removed. The rear tires & wheels are wider in all three. Naturally, the kit to use is the Jo-Han '31 Caddy, which begs for either hand-laced wire wheels as in Jürgen Kowalski's thread here, or the alternate method like what Bob Steinbrunn is doing here.

Sure takes a lot of the top-heaviness out of the original car, I'll say that.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted photo links

[Russell C]

Another idea I had been kicking around after seeing a widebody Datsun 240Z was to take this Fujimi Fairlady kit and graft a 930 backend onto it, ditch the Porsche engine, but drop something spiffy in the front like a Ferrari V12, for a really weird mashup. Might keep folks guessing where the engine is 'till the front hood is popped open. Problem is, after doing this photo alteration, I really think those two cars don't go together...... So, I put this one in the no-go project pile, more for visible infeasibility.

** M.I.A. 240Z / 911 Turbo mashup photo**

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted links

[Russell C]

I love graphic artist Gary Campesi's rod renderings. Probably more than one modeler besides Rob Mattis here has seen those drawings and has ideas on building models from them.

My problem is that I sometimes see vehicles that aren't there. While rumaging through Gary's drawings, what I saw in the pickup box of his "32 in Blue" were Edsel fins. Thinking that I might undertake a model project of Edselizing Gary's idea, I did the mildly crude photo alteration below, while borrowing someone else's 1:1 rat rod truck......... but in looking at all my various other projects on the shelf, it looks like this one is yet another that I probably will never get to.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted photo link

[Danno]

I've been doing the same thing for years. It's a lot of fun...

I actually LIKE the rear end treatment of that '61, although I would have brought the taillights down in an arc matching (parallel to) the arc of the fender/trunk lid brows.

I love graphic artist Gary Campesi's rod renderings. Probably more than one modeler besides Rob Mattis here has seen those drawings and has ideas on building models from them.

My problem is that I sometimes see vehicles that aren't there. While rumaging through Gary's drawings, what I saw in the pickup box of his "32 in Blue" were Edsel fins. Thinking that I might undertake a model project of Edselizing Gary's idea, I did the mildly crude photo alteration below, while borrowing someone else's 1:1 rat rod truck......... but in looking at all my various other projects on the shelf, it looks like this one is yet another that I probably will never get to.

I like these, Russell!

[chunkypeanutbutter]

That Cobra makes me queasy... I love Kammbacks. Keep it original

I like Datsche idea. Or is it Porschun?

Edited October 3, 2014 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Russell C]

Nordberg Ford COE 50 year tribute, 2014 version

This is more of a 'wondering what it would look like' illustration, with the idea that it could be done in model form using the Meng Ford F-350 Super Duty kit.

To set this up, I must first explain via the photo composite below that Bob Nordberg was the senior co-champion in the 1964 Revell-Pactra 2nd-National Open contest for his partly scratchbuilt phantom Ford cabover. First, there's a cover of the December '64 Car Model magazine I gleaned from an ebay listing, a different photo scan of pg 28 in the Dec '64 Rod and Custom Models magazine courtesy of the Model Car Museum's Hot 150 clone list, my own photo of the Car Model magazine spread taken of a copy at the Model Car Museum, and finally the color photo at the lower right of an unknown modeler's copy of Nordberg's truck, an ebay sale item that Steve Gilmore posted in his "Weird Cabover" thread here.

Basically, Nordberg moved the cab of an AMT '62 Ford up and forward and filled in the gaps. He went for a quad headlight appearance - possibly the custom option in the original kit - while the other modeler retained the Ford pickup grille. Nordberg's truck was inspiring to me in the early '70s when I first saw only the single tilted cab color photo, because I wanted to build some kind of big rig and it was the only 25th scale one I'd ever seen anywhere.

So, 50 years after its first appearance, I've done basically the same thing, opting for a recognizable stock look. Slightly different illustration basis than the Meng model, but the basic idea comes across, and it helps a bit if you ignore my somewhat questionable transition from the sides to the front. Yep, it would be an odd looking thing once again.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted links

[pharoah]

I love cabovers,but that first one would give you nosebleeds...

[Russell C]

Camaro Alfa/Datsun-ish quadlight 'Cuda widebody

Since my mind is filled with car images, they tend to overlap. In this case, when I saw this guy's illustration version of Bob Owen's '69 Camaro, of course I recognized it for what it was, but overlaps of the fronts of the '67 Camaro, the Alfa Romeo 1750 GT and Datsun 510 made me think I could move the headlights and turnsignals out in such a way that the front would take on the character of those others. Then, since another corner of my mind is occupied by Corvairs and Bo Zolland's sorta 'more Corvair-ish than Corvette-ish' (in my opinion) rear treatment of the Camaro, I thought I'd try to place Corvair taillights on it. But they didn't look right, and if maybe the goal was to mimic the front's collection of circles, then a 'Cuda treatment with the upturned bumper would work better. Dunno, the jury might be out on that, still. So, here we go, with some back-dating to pre-'69 sides, ditch Owen's giant rear wing, and shorten the rear deck just a tad….

This one might just be a model I still could do, but somehow it isn't fitting into the build schedule too well right at the present time.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted links

[Russell C]

Ferrari Charger

Again on the idea of overlapping images in my demented mind, whenever I see Ferrari 512 BB LMs, I can't help but also seeing Dodge Charger in it, especially I carry the imagery around the back to the Ferrari's quad taillights. There is a 1:24 resin/metal kit of the Ferrari LM (quite expensive, though), and I figure a person like me could concoct a wild story around building this combo as an illegal initial #6 Buddy Baker non-shark nose prototype since there are decals to do that. But, alas, no time and not enough money for me to aim down that road....

Edited April 26, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted links

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool ideas Definitely great idea to preview an idea before committing the model.

[Chuck Most]

That cabover reminds me of one of the old Convoy trucks I've seen. Coonvoy Co. of Oregon had a fleet of modified Ford F-8's with modified Ford factory cabs.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Chuck Most

[Russell C]

...Convoy Co. of Oregon had a fleet of modified Ford F-8's with modified Ford factory cabs.

Eek. Real life mimics art. Or, I wonder if Bob Nordberg back in 1964 based his model on a phantom update of the Convoy CO Fords. Fun to see you got the one photo from ATHS, I've belonged to that society since 1986.

[Russell C]

Sectioned hood / heightened cab Dodge Bighorn

I always thought the Dodge LCF trucks' front ends looked like a total 'just-throw-something-together design, so when I first saw the Dodge Bighorns, I liked the way the sides of the cab were carried forward along the hood sides in a proper way. Except Bighorns always seemed front-heavy, with the cab being too muted in size relative to the front. So, if I was to do something with the RMR resin hood, I'd knock out a section basically at the bottom front and lower the whole cab a corresponding amount, and then either use an entire AMT Ford LN cab or at least the greenhouse part of it, while keeping those distinctive Dodge door sides. Original pic of the truck below here.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Russell C
fixed busted photo link

[Russell C]

'40 Ford "Tudor Coupe"

When I was an itty-bitty kid playing with my older brother's original issue black plastic AMT '40 Tudor, I always thought the front end was pretty, but the back was too turtle-like. Later, I built my own metallic purple paint-blistered, then orange glue bomb, and right before I junked it completely, I used the body to do a silhouette pencil drawing to cure its too-turtleness. And I ended up with the 1992 illustration below, which was too VW beetle-like.

But just a few days ago, I spotted the sectioned/channeled iconic 1st version Dave Cunningham Tudor, and that reminded me of a photo alteration I've long meant to do. The result is below, from this original photo, heavily sectioned with just a slight rearward lean of the windshield and a bit of channeling. Less turtle-like, without looking too much like the factory coupe, and without turning into the Lincoln Zephyr coupe version. Call it splitting the 3-way difference. I'd also blame the curves of the trunk & rear roof on the Matchbox Rolls Royce Phantom VI that I also used to play with.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Russell C
fixed busted photo links

[Russell C]

Spotted a glue bomb ebay listing for a 'van roof' 1966 Vette gasser a few weeks ago (1st photo below from that listing which somebody else won), but had no idea what I was looking at until after a bit of research turned up Greg Myer's post here showing that roof option in an AMT '67 Vette.  As a result of too much imagery of Ray Hinck's Revell '31 Ford Cherry Pie rattling around in my head, along with images of the D&M Glasses Gasser VI, I cobbled all of that together into the second image below, with a quick 'n dirty roof I drew myself. Might be one way to put one of those roofs to useful purpose, if only I had time for such a project....

[Russell C]

Basically combining the look of of David Gilmour's "Low Tide" shortened '42 Ford woody with Tommy Olsen's standard length '48 Lincoln woody .... and adding a vintage Marmon-Harrington 4x4 conversion. Cobbled this one together out of another Hemmings Motor News photo and a slightly more blurry Continental front end, but at the rate I'm going, this will have to be thrown on the "not likely to get the model project going" pile.

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Russell C

[Dann Tier]

I've been doing the same thing for years. It's a lot of fun...

 

 

 

The GTO is EXTREMELY cool, Harry!!

[Harry P.]

Thanks!

[Russell C]

1930 Ford Bronco

I figure this is another one I'll relegate to the virtual model file, since I don't have time or apparently the money to pursue it. Altered photo below was of a regular Aurora 1/32 scale glue bomb with sagging rear suspension and missing parts, which I first leveled and then shortened. The Aurora kit's oversized tires, widened rear fenders and jacked up appearance suggested maybe I could do such a project, perhaps using substituted toy tires & wheels. But after a year or so of keeping an eye on ebay listings for the kit, unbuilt ones don't go for cheap, and decent glue bombs don't come around all that often. Probably a better choice befitting the "Bronco" name with more options for adding the 4x4 bits would be the Revell 24th scale '31 Ford Sedan, anyway.

[DrKerry]

Kool stuff!!!!!!!

[Len Woodruff]

Very interesting.