Tonight, Cordoba posted a wonderful new custom under the thread "It's Not For Sale". First, if you have not seen it...get your tail over there and gander for a moment, this thread will still be here when you return!

You back? Good, here we go with one of my famous (OK, INFAMOUS) rambling post. In his text, Cordoba mentions that he had been inspired by the work of Stupid Squirrels. Remember, we have all heard that " imitation is the sincerest from of flattery".
Though Cordoba is not new to customizing, this was his first "vintage" finish!

I just wanted to take a quick moment for you new guys looking around and offer a bit of encouragement. For several months, our own Lummox has been saying "Get started guys, you can do this!". He has even led several build-along threads resulting in some wonderful finished projects. But I have been wondering if a few of you still need one more gentle push.

I can hear you now..."I can't do that, why bother?"
You know, it's not about if we as customizers can do something "never done before". We all borrow ideas from each other and build from there. After all, there truly is nothing new under the sun. What is important is what you do with the knowledge and techniques you learn along the way. We all have the same access to the same information, so the question is, can you make this something uniquely yours. Can you find your own voice?

Look at what Cordoba built! No,it's not a Stupid Squirrel Customs, but that's alright. That's not one of John's pieces. It's Cordoba's. What he makes, what you make, what I make, what Lummox makes, what Grayhouse, Clearhooter, Gunn, and others make is uniquely their own. It is their voice, their personal statement.

Why am I rattling on like this? I just saw a great opportunity to address a personal issue that is important to me. We are all travelers on the same road. Just different places along the journey. The end destination is the same for us all. A hand built, custom diecast that we can be proud of and share with our brethren. It's not the tools you use, it's your interpretation that makes a project uniquely yours.

Cordoba was inspired by the Squirrels work and built on that into a great project. (Boy, ain't I smart, after all he said it himself!) Goodness knows that the master builders here have kicked my butt with inspiration over and over. And maybe, just maybe, my custom blisters and presentation displays ( I don't build dioramas in the true sense of the word) will inspire someone else to grab a case and give it a shot.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to encourage other guys who might be thinking "I bet I could do that too"...HECK YES YOU CAN! Get your stuff together and get busy! We all look forward to what you have in store for us!

It may be a wheel swap (oldmoparjerry) or a decal job (Dadvball) or maybe your inspired by Clear Hooter to build the next great "Long Nose" or open that trunk like Grayhouse. Maybe it's Lummox (king of all things "land barge") or what ever jaw dropping thing Gunn may be currently building. Or it's Mustangman, ACCobra64, Jeff Fleetwood or a trailer by Snowman. Or your own oldie based on the work of Stupid Squirrels himself. OR, heaven forbid...your me holding a spray can while looking at one of Cadillac Pats finishes! Point is, they all started out at the same place...the beginning.

This is not a name dopping list, you could never get all the wonderful talent on the same thread. Besides, I would miss someone and I have no desire to offend. I just wanted you new guys to look around and see the wonderful heritage that has built such a solid foundation on this board.

So now it's time to start your own journey. Mess up a few cars, it's OK. For every piece we show you, there are dozens we tossed back in the part box thinking " what the heck was that all about?" I have NEVER seen a board more willing to offer help, share encouragement and be as supportive as Hobby Talk.

Jump in and join us...the waters just right! :wave:

:thumbsup: well said :wave:

Well said, been trying to get my own custom police cars/trucks going right now. Just have a problem with photoshop and decals. Oh and my painting still sucks but i think it's because i use spray cans. Getting there though almost...

Well said, iv'e been working on a 1/64 JL Dodge ram vts pro street for some time now. Its by far my most detailed and most complex custom. Ill post some pics of the mock up. Its almost ready for paint. :wave:

I think the biggest thing that stops a guy from modding is fear. Fear that you like the car as is but want to change it and you're afraid of the results. Fear that you'll be disappointed in your work and even worse yet, that someone else might be. Fear that you'll wreck a car in the process and it's not coming back. After awhile I had to quit making excuses for myself and just go to it.

I'm no artist guys, not in my eyes anyways. Regardless of how many great responses I've received (there's been lots and thanks is in order), I ALWAYS doubt myself. At first this made it a really scary thing to do but after awhile I decided to try and outdo myself everytime and that alone has taken my work to areas I never imagined.

I think modding brings these cars to life, gives them a soul. And just like in real life mods vary - For one guy a mod consists of a pine tree air freshner, the next needs to change EVERYTHING. I guess the trick of it all is to make it matter to YOU. Awhile back on another board I'm on a friend of mine (amazing modder, literal surgeon) started a thread about passion in the hobby. What a great word - Passion. There's no other way to put it. Passion brought us all here and in the end passion will be what drives this hobby forward. We all have to remember is that it's guys like us that start the next trend and what might be popular tomorrow might be residing in the back of YOUR mind. Let that sucker free.............
:thumbsup:
Jay

Well said, this board was the push I needed to give customizing a try.

That may be the push that some (including myself) need. I've started some cutting and disassembly (mainly for an auto wrecking dio I'm working on). I used to say "I wish I could to something like that". Now, I've built a couple buildings and made a section of road and used those buildings. It may not be as good as some other dios that have been shown here, but like you said, "it's mine".

So now I'm going to give customizing a try. It doesn't matter if they don't turn out perfect, cause they are heading to the wrecking yard anyway. :)

Ward, you're a wizzard with words. Inspirational for sure!

Jayz, very well put. Fear of the unknown - fear of "Is anyone else gonna like it?"

The other excuse is time, well that's a hard one to argue sometimes - but maybe if you
do a custom wifey won't drag you to one of those pottery "classes"!

Chop-chop people! and I mean that literally!

I think everyone should try their hand at a custom, at least once. Let your inner artiste' out! :tongue:

Simple wheel swaps, repaints, weathering, damage, or all of the them at once -- take a crack at it and have some fun!

I must agree that the one thing that stops most people is fear. I tend to remember this quote when I hit a wall: "Obstacles are those scary things that we see when we take our eyes off our goals."- Henry Ford

That was a good read. I usaully don't spend a lot of time on long reads because my attention span is way too short if I'm reading from a monitor. I do much better if I can read from a hard copy, but this little essay was well thought out and well put together. It was pretty inspiring and I made it through the whole thing. That's a big deal for me you guys. Now I think I'm going to have to pull out those unfinished projects of mine and get crackin'.

One think you must remember is that no matter who you are, or how long you've been 'desecrating' diecasts, or what you know, someone else will eventually come along with a fresh technique, or maybe just a tip, that inspires, or solves a problem.
Someone else's perspective or approach can hand you the tip, trick, or technique that puts you in the zone.

It happened to me Sat. morning when I saw 'Doba's thread, when I looked at it again just now, he'd solved a riddle for me, something that had bugged me for months, and he did so in such a way that I literally slapped myself in the head (I coulda had a V8).

I've been PIPping for about 2 years, using techniques that let me avoid disassembling the cars (the injuries to my hand prevent me from using power tools without serious discomfort), and my work has improved steadily in that time.

I've been very fortunate to have such a great group of people to draw inspiration and support from, and yet, I'm a little scared to post EVERY car I've posted.

Don't be afraid to try it!!!!!!!!!
Will you make mistakes? Well hell yeah! We all do, that's how you learn.
I've made mistakes lot's of them, still do.
Why I've got the most beautifully junked Studebaker Avanti on my worktable, my mistake? I failed to research the car BEFORE I started the project, the resulted is the worst rust I've ever seen on a fiberglass car :lol:

Maybe I'll put it on epay as an Stupid Squirrels error car! :lol:

I have in the past avoided PIPing Vettes and the like because I haven't seen too many examples of them in a neglected/abused /abandoned , but I just did my first Vettes and think they look pretty damn good!

We all started somewhere, and the best of us would likely admit that they frequently learn new tricks from boards like this.

If you're of a mind to try, just do it.
Any one of us could have the potential to be the next Gunn, Grayhouse, Lummox, 69Stang, Clearhooter, pic your fav, there areway to many to list.

Great thread Ward! :thumbsup:

very well said guys thanks for the inspiration,been collecting and building plastic kits over 30 years,also I've been collecting die cast for over 10 yrs,but have become bored with both the past few years,esp the die cast it just sits in the closets,so I began buying model RR kits,stock,track etc because building weathered dioramas of real life objects seems appealing to me,but I havn't built anything yet probably because some of the techniques are unknown to me esp the weathering,

well thanks to this board I'm ready to give it all a try and hope someday I can post pics of something I've created,seems like a great group of people here I look forward to learning others tips and techniques and hope to share some of my own

Mr Squirrel I've already learned something from you this morning about the Avanti and had a good chuckle as well I could have done the same thing as I had no idea they are fiberglass thanks for sharing

LMAO Squirrel,

Yeah, research can be key. Once i finished a PIP and I was sitiing there marvelling at it (sometimes they still catch me off guard even though I built it) and something just felt weird about it. I got talking to a friend and came to find out that the car I had thoroughly rusted had an aluminum front clip. ERRRRRRRRRRRRRDUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH. lmao. I keep the car as a reminder, in fact it was that car that kicked me into researching stuff. Another self-evolution. I guess in the end it just goes to show that sometimes your screwups can make your work even better. That still doesn't change the fact that I still have the only aluminum car that rusted, EVER. LMAO. Now that's custom! Yall ain't got that! :woohoo:

lol

Jay

That still doesn't change the fact that I still have the only aluminum car that rusted, EVER. LMAO. Now that's custom! Yall ain't got that! :woohoo:

lol

Jay

Just tell people that acid rain can sometimes make aluminum rust . . . lol :lol: :eek: :lol:

I have seen the light! yea-ah brothers! let us go forth and customize!

er, see the twilight zone...ok ok, shameless, unabashed self promotion ....lol.

Where yat Stang,
It's 3a.m. in Houston and I'm here looking for the thread where someone was posting bags of 1/64 scale figures on eBay.
I have a Wrecker driver friend who makes 1/64 Dioramas and he needs some people and accessories to add lifelike realism.

Well I came upon your post, several pages back, and had to check it out due to the thread title.
Anyway, I'm honored that you included my name with so many of this Board's great Customizers.

Heck it's great just to be a small part of such a large Board of friendly Customizers.

Just had to say thanks and enjoyed your post.


--CadillacPat the UnCustomizer--
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/CadillacPat/Web%20Sigs/WebsizedMFWhiteHeat-1.jpg

I agree some people just need nudge to get them started ,others need a big encouraging push. No body is perfect and we all have had set backs and mistakes but we learn from them. Heck the first trailers I built were off square and looked like a 4 year old tried to put it together. And not to mention my first Car custom, finger nail polish and testers jar paint, man what a wreck that was. So Guys 69Stang is right we all started some where and You should too. Good Luck and if you need any help we are all here to help you. :thumbsup: :wave: