Built by: Mike McMahon in Palatine, Illinois

The Boot Hill Express is one of my favorite show rods. I have been fascinated with it since my childhood. The box art must appeal to the morbid side of me. I love the intake stacks and body length exhaust headers. Taking a 100 year old hearse and turning it into this machine is just plain crazy.

The cool thing is that it is owned by and on display at the Volo Car Museum in Volo Illinois, which is around 20 miles from my home. I pop in on occasion to visit this awesome machine and just stand and stare at it until my kids nag me enough to move on. In fact, I picked up this kit at the museum. Its a Monogram Classics reissue from 2000.

There is a lot of detail paint work on this kit. I brush painted the entire kit with Testors gold and used light brown for the wood insets. Dark brown was used on the inside wood floor with chrome silver highlights on the coffin rollers and rails. I also painted the roof decorations and antique lamps brass for contrast.

The skeletal Cowboy mascot was painted flat white then dry brushed several times with flat black, light brown, and a touch of gray to give him that decayed look.

This is not one of the best fitting kits to build. There are gaps all over the place, but it went together and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.