The Juniors category was open to ages 19 and younger. Ted Quinn entered his Revell 1/25 scale 1963 Chevrolet Impala in the competition. Built box stock, he painted with custom-mixed PPG lacquers and said his fondness for early Impala body styles inspired him to create this model.
The diorama Paul’s Garage took Bob Bergfeld one year to complete. Inspired by football coach Paul Brown, also a co-founder of the Cleveland Browns, Bob dug deep into this cache of modeling skills, kitbashing the trucks and scratchbuilding many of the scene’s features.
A self-proclaimed Rick Mears fan, Seth Brock built an AMT 1/25 scale Pennzoil Z-7 Special Penske PC-17 Indy car kit to honor the racer’s win in 1988. Painting with Tamiya, Testors, and Alclad II colors, he improved the kit markings to match the winning car’s and swapped in custom-made, three-hole wheels.
Those are some tiny wheels on a very pink truck, but that’s the lowrider look Ron Nelson Sr. was shooting for. He opened the butterfly hood of an AMT 1/25 scale 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup and furnished the interior and bed with biscuit and tuft upholstery.
For the show’s theme celebrating 60 years of the Chevrolet Chevelle, here’s Don Woodward’s Revell 1/25 scale 1969 Chevelle. He painted it Scale Finishes Olympic Gold sealed under 2K clear. He replaced the kit’s wheels with 3D-printed upgrades and ran plug wires on the engine.
Todd Wingerter got it into his head to convert a Shelby AC Cobra into a pro street machine, and that’s exactly what he did. Starting with an AMT 1/25 kit, he modified the chassis and body to fit a SOHC 427 stolen from a Revell gasser kit. After lowering the windscreen, he scratchbuilt the exhaust, firewall, and dash, ran the wires, and painted the body Dupli-Color Barcelona Red Metallic.
Adding a 3D-printed Coyote engine to an AMT 1/25 scale Ford Bronco was no small feat. After performing that surgery, Bob Lorenz kept going, installing working steering, scratchbuilding a folding spare-tire rack, and replacing the kit’s seats with Recaro seats and belts. He ran dual exhausts, outfitted the bucking Ford with a roll cage, and detailed with aftermarket decals.
Another entry in the 19-and-under Junior category, Jon Eby’s Testors 1/9 scale Harley-Davidson Softail benefits from additions like engine wires, straight pipes, and fork sliders made from aluminum tubing. Jon painted his Harley Testors Arctic Blue and Colors by Boyd Pacific Blue.
Eric Mayle saw a 1969 Chevy Nova Yenko on an episode of Bring a Trailer and needed to build one for his model collection. He spent two months on the Revell 1/25 scale kit, wiring and plumbing the engine, flocking the carpet, and wrapping the wheels in redlines. He painted his Nova with MCW Seafrost Green enamel.
This 1/24 scale BMW M Hybrid V8 comes as a fully 3D-printed kit from Wicked Model Cars. Ron Francis built his model without modification, painted with Dupli-Color lacquers, and chose the color of the driver’s helmet to match Augusto Farfus.
Mike Garrett owns a 1/1 scale 1960 Ford Starliner, so it isn’t a leap that he’d want to have one in his scale model collection, too. He began with an AMT 1/25 kit, added full-wheel covers from Modelhaus, and brought in the correct whitewalls from an AMT Edsel kit.
“The era of the early street rod inspired my build,” Patrick Grubish said of his AMT 1/25 scale ’32 Ford. He built the model box stock and painted it Testors Pearl White.
Scott Burgraff thinks the ’32 Chevy Cabriolet is a cool old car, and we couldn’t agree more! He built the AMT 1/25 scale kit and added spark-plug wires and a fuel line before painting it Krylon Tan and Black from the can. A 2K clear tops the body colors.
The Tamiya 1/12 scale Porsche 934 kits are a massive undertaking, and Mark Harmon was more than up to the challenge. Choosing the Vaillant version, the only change he made to the kit was to upgrade the wheels with aftermarket aluminum and resin parts. Mark finished his endurance racer with colors from Tamiya and Zero.
Psycho Kuda took Scott Hoover about 45 days to complete. He tubbed the rear wheel wells of an AMT 1/25 scale ’69 Cuda to fit insane slicks, crammed an engine and blower under the hood, and hung a pair of dice from the rearview mirror.
James Tester’s box-stock build of a Tamiya 1/24 scale Mercedes AMG GT3 took him a month to complete. While he painted with Tamiya White and a 2K lacquer, he marked the Mercedes for Goodsmile Racing from Miniature Decals.
Continuing his romance with drag cars, Dave Johnson wooed this magnificent model of Dick Landy’s 1968 Dodge Dart SS/E from a Revell 1/25 scale kit. He wired the engine, ran a fuel line, and added battery cables.
Cody Hoce’s Sinister 426 entered the world as a Lindberg 1/25 scale 1964 Dodge 330. Taking inspiration from Ramcharger super-stock cars, he chose MCW colors for the custom paint job, cut masks for the lettering, wired the engine, illuminated the brightwork with Bare-Metal Foil, and put it all atop 3D-printed wheels and tires.