Rusty Race Cars ?

Last week (when my wife was talking to me), we were clearing the loft of old Christmas decorations, clothes and plastic toys, when I opened up an old suitcase and found this 1/16th kit - which I genuinely thought I’d sold years ago.
Started and converted to a sedan delivery - with a roll bar, it was going to be a drag racer but the build had stalled, probably because of the usual lack of decent wheels, tyres, and engine mods.
Also in the box was just the body of an early Mustang which I had been given by another scale modeller.

At first I wasn’t sure what to do with them - but I had an eureka moment : a diorama of a couple of abandoned race cars. No searching for parts, just using what is there. The Nomad with faded signwriting, and the Mustang hidden in brush.
What do you think?

I’m ready.

Looking forward to this. I have the Nomad kit.

That Mustang kit has a horribly inaccurate roof. A- pillars are slanted way back which makes the roof short. Rest of the kit isn't that bad. So it will look really good hidden in the brush.

Thanks Sam, I’ll make a mental note on that and see if I can rectify it, if possible.

Here’s what I had in mind...
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I like those.

I’ve made a start on the base, to give me the confines of the display - of course it’ll be a corner of a yard, fences to two sides.

Here we go.
The size of the diorama is 12” x 18”, (good old inches) and after buying some balsa strip and sheet this afternoon I cut it all down to what it might look like
I’ll be saving the old teabags to give those planks varying densities of woody colour.

Tea bags?  Interesting.  I use different colors of oil paints, thinned. I really want to see how you use the tea bags. Being that your in England, they shouldn't be hard to come by.

Let the games begin!

Good start Ron, tea bags? Like dab the wood with a wet one?

My attempts to stain balsa with tea bags didn’t quite work. I couldn’t get the variety of dark and light stain that I thought possible - it works on paper, literally, but not with balsa.
So I reverted back to paint, with a better result, then glued them all together.
I still have a lot more to do, and I think it’s time to bring out the airbrush to get those subtle colour changes that I’m looking for.
However, today I’m feeling like all seven dwarves wrapped up in one : Dopey, Sneezy, Coughy, Achey, Sniffy, Sickly and Fuzzy - so I’ll give myself a break until I feel a little better - otherwise I am likely to just mess it all up.

......and bish, bash, bosh - the scene is set !
I didn’t bother with the airbrush in the end, just a lot of dry brushing.
The rough base is just dabs of paint and sawdust, but the dry leaves are by way of raiding the kitchen cupboard for Dried Mixed Herbs, held down with spray adhesive.
I’d like to eventually add a couple of lines of wire across the top of the fence to simulate barbed wire or electrified defence - and maybe a LED light ?

While I was at it I thought I’d test the diarama to photograph a 1/16th 31’ Model A van that I built some years ago, in the sunshine.

Enough of the Model A - what would it look like with the Mustang and Sedan Delivery ?........

That looks ace Ron, vans way too clean though, the shell at the side looks at home

Wait until I get to the detail Ash.

I might have to make another fenced plinth, as the 1/12th Camaro is looking at home in those surroundings ?
I can also see the fault in the laid back windscreen, and narrow quarter lights of the Mustang. As I intend to ‘heavily dent’ the roof, I’ll try and improve on the oddities.

That Camaro looks huge compared the other ones before.
When’s the next instalment?

You can really see the difference in the a-pilars in thar side by side comparison. The Camaro needs to at least be under an overhanging roof, and on gravel. It's a nicer car.

For the past week, my wife and I have been suffering Covid-like symptoms, but it hasn’t knocked us out. I managed to complete my fenced base, and I want to get stuck into the two cars, but I haven’t the energy to start - the mind is still working on them though.
I want the Mustang to be quite heavily damaged, but still have race car mods. It is only a body, with doors and hood plus the interior tub, so some sort of chassis needs to be created, probably with a straight gasser front axle. I also plan to cut away panels and replace them with brass foil to resembled dented parts.
The ‘55 Chevy, not so damaged, but rusty - with a tree growing from the open hood, with it’s race car heritage showing through faded paint. I like the way it is sitting, on collapsed suspension too.
That’s the plan in my head, but how it will turn out in the end is anybody’s guess.

I like the sound of it. Sure you’ll be able to pull it off

I didn’t even see the covid bit. Wow, ouch!
You’ve had the vax though yeah?

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well Ron.

I have one of those 1/16 amt Mustangs, I really wouldn't bother too much with the A pillers Ron, they might be a bit wrong, but it's not that bad.

Hope you and the Missus feel better soon.

Thanks all - yep, we’ve had all the jabs, but at our age, defences are low and we seem to get every new bug that appears from just looking after our two rug-rats!
Can’t wait to get stuck into the cars.

...particularly for Sam...
This is my stock of wiring, nuts and bolts, and general odds and sods

A decent stash you’ve got there Ron

Looking at your fence got me thinking, would it be possible to build a kind of chain link fence, have you ever done one of these and if so how did you do it?




I can get some wire but but it’s the frame, what to use for that? I would like to try and have a go at a 1/12 scale (how I work that out, I’ve no idea yet)
And do a kind of police compound to put my creations within to take the pics with a view to doing a 1/24 some time after.

Hello Ash - the mesh is easy enough to obtain, and the frame can be made from plastic extrusion ......might have a go at that.

Sorry that I haven’t been involved lately, but this Omicron bug is really sapping my strength and enthusiasm - but I have managed to dabble a bit, and there is some progress on the rusty race cars, by using brass foil sheet to replace some panelwork. 🥴