Model Cars? now that's Grassroots!

I don't know if anyone here is into them or builds them but I am, very much, as I gone to the biggest show in the states Saturday. There's another one coming up in May, that's in Maryland, if anyone wants information on that, feel free to ask. I am very much into them, with my dad here's some pictures I took with my new camera, enjoy and thanks for looking! NNL East 2009 pictures by NickF40 - Photobucket I don't know if I took a picture of it but I brought a blue PIAA Accord.

I love Grassroots Motorsports, the reason why I like the cars I do and am into the racing I am into! haha There were some there that had a great conversation with me on the 24 Hours of leMons and the $200X challenges. They love em!

Seems like a fun hobby.

I likes these, check out all his videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfFYbQptp_w

That no. 5 Gulf is beautiful.

Yup, into it big time. Nice builds you have there! I just did my yearly contest up here and grabbed 3rd in the Competition - Closed Wheel class (where the 3 you posted would have ended up). Most of my stuff is pretty off-the-wall (like a twin-turbo LT1 Camaro with a cage and SFC's in plain white like a street racer).

I keep thinking about putting pictures up in the Reader's Rides.

Oh, you definitely need to do that.

Lets see em P!

Models are definitely one of those things I respect, but just can't do.

I love driving. Cars let me drive. Wrenching lets me drive when I elsewise couldn't. Modding lets me drive how I elsewise couldn't. Video games/Sims let me drive what and where I elsewise couldn't.

Definite props for the work invovled, they're gorgeously done. You just won't catch me turning a Testors tube of plastic cement any time soon.

OK, so tell me about this May show in Maryland. Might be a doubly perfect thing to visit, having an 8 year old son.

Those are nice. Do we need to start highlighting model cars in the magazine?

Absolutely start highlighting model cars! Guess I'll post em up

Holy Crap! Those are awesome!

David S. Wallens wrote: Those are nice. Do we need to start highlighting model cars in the magazine?

Only if they're race cars.

David S. Wallens wrote: Those are nice. Do we need to start highlighting model cars in the magazine?

I'd much rather see model cars than watches. Models reflect hours/days/months of dedicated and obsessive work on the part of one individual, watches are a big price tag for wrist bling. A model of the month would be very cool.

Nice!! i love building models, but i pretty much suck. w/e, as long as i get enjoyment out of it idc. though i do get frustrated from time to time when things get too jacked up, i think i remember on a few occasions crushing them with a monster truck r/c car...

I think a page on models would be cool. Vintage Truck has a 2 page article every issue on something, and even though I no longer build I still find it interesting. I wouldn't try to make it a real how-to as Scale Auto Enthusiast is there for that. But it would be neat to see some of the builds and hear the stories behind them.

As much as i like model cars, I found them taking up a lot of space while doing nothing but sitting there. Kind of why I chose model trains instead. They at least move, plus I get to build a huge variety of things (trains, track, buildings, trees, and even vehicles). Model building is a great hobby regardless of what it is you build. I credit building AMT car kits with my early knowledge of car parts identification; back in my day, they actually labeled all the parts with the name. Now they just have pictures and 'symbols'.

I credit building AMT car kits with my early knowledge of car parts identification; back in my day, they actually labeled all the parts with the name. Now they just have pictures and 'symbols'.

I agree, In the 60's I could work on blown injected , fuel burning Hemis' using and X-acto and Testers.

Adding parachute release cables, wiring, etc

Hurst Hemi Under Glass The Little Red Wagon

What was the hemi powered Pirhana?

I also had one of those HUGH scale Bucket T roadsters, and turned it into a Gas Altered. Moved the rear wheels to under the seat. ( I still have the scar on my left middle finger from carving out the body!)

These models are SO much better than my feeble work.

What a great way to work on classic race cars, on the tiniest budgets.

I would enjoy a model page or two a couple times a year. Maybe a GRM , age based contest?

A former co-worker of mine was a model builder. He'd buy already-built snap-together models at garage sales--often they were out-of-production models that were no longer available in the hobby stores.

He would cut open the doors, trunk and hood, and install hinges.

He'd go as far as spark plug wires and seat belts, and hinged seats for back seat access.

This was the guy who would wash his truck every morning before driving it to work.

Back in the 60s I had a deal with the owner of the local hobby shop. He would give me two of each model; I would build one for display in his shop, and I could keep one for myself. Pretty soon I had a pretty nice collection. In 1971, AMT had a design contest, and I entered a design that took 3rd place. They sent me one each of all the new 1972 models as a prize. It took a good while to finish that batch, as there were like a dozen of them. Still, even though I was pretty good at it, I never put together anything as nice as that #5 Gulf car; even though the colors are all wrong, the attention to detail is superb.

I was also real big into the "Monster" models: Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, etc.. Anybody else old enough to remember those?

the color looks about right.

I have a couple 962s I'm waiting to build, and the amount of detail you can put into them is incredible.

Wally wrote: the color looks about right. .

My bad. I was thinking of the early GT40 Gulf colors.

Here you go, model #1:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/1023/

A suitably GRM Datsun 280Z Rally Car

More coming!

It's how I got into cars back in the '60s with my dad. He built a lot of models, as well, and had subscriptions to the major car model magazines of the day. I've still got a bunch of plastic kits that have been scavenged for parts for other model builds (cannot build any kit "stock.")

A few of the car magazines of the day had a page or two on model cars, as well, and just as often the models were the inspiration for real life builds, and vice versa, real custom car builds were the inspiration for new models.

ReverendDexter wrote: Models are definitely one of those things I respect, but just can't do. I love driving. Cars let me drive. Wrenching lets me drive when I elsewise couldn't. Modding lets me drive how I elsewise couldn't. Video games/Sims let me drive what and where I elsewise couldn't. Definite props for the work invovled, they're gorgeously done. You just won't catch me turning a Testors tube of plastic cement any time soon.

Too bad. I like model building because I can build cars in models that there would be no funds or time to build in real life. I'm never going to own an original Ford GT-40 or Porsche 956, but I can build a nice model of one. I have a custom car project, but there's no way I could have 20 different custom projects at once in full size cars. And I can spend time and a couple dollars on pursuing a custom car idea in model form and end up changing my mind or deciding it really didn't look as good finished as I had imagined it, where wasting the time, space and money on a real car and ending up with the same results would be bad.

Cool pics man, I have built quite a few models I have built, but unfortunately I have a ton more that are unfinished. I'll try and snap a few shots tonight when I get home.

My dad has had a lot of his models in Scale Auto and Model Cars magazine, we mostly attend the NNL Birmingham, and the ACME show in Atlanta Georgia.

My grandfather owned a hobby store in Connecticut back in the 60's and so my whole family has always been into stuff like that. Growing up my dad had a room of the house just for slot cars with a 6-lane HO layout all professionally built on a huge table (8'x6'?) and those rotating jewelry cases full of cars, most of which were Aurora Thunderjets. When I was little I used to stare at the cars for hours slowly rotating the shelves.

My dad taught me how to build model cars around age 7, it was a Johan 1972 Javelin AMX molded in Bright Orange that I painted Blue. I still have it, though it's been broken and repaired many a time since then.

Here's Model #2:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/1024/

Model #3:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/1025/