Built by: Richard Howden (cc: SixWheeler)

I have always loved this Show Rod as it is a no-nonsense, bare-bones (pun intended) Custom Rod straight out of the Sixties! There is no unnecessary bodywork or accessories and the “stance” is just right bordering on the “cartoonish” but not unrealistically. The Skull needs to be that big to allow someone to get in and out, therefore the back wheels need to be big enough to balance out the top heavy look. The triple blowers give the engine some height and bulk and the front wheels couldn’t really be any skinnier or they would look too “weedy”. 

The lanterns all round accentuate the theme and so do the Coffins out back and on the Blowers. Because the Skull is so realistic you can get 
away with the stone effect Radiator Surround up front and the Bat Radiator Cap is just the finishing touch.

I built this one very much “from the box” although I did decide to do it in a Gold and Red colour-scheme. The Skull’s seam line was a real 
pain to try and get rid of as I still wanted to keep the unpainted “Glow in the Dark” feature of it. I then coated the inside with several coats of Pearl White to make the plastic opaque and then painted the inside in a Brown colour to make it look more “natural”! The outside of the skull had subtle shading applied to accentuate the shape and 
details and I heavily shaded the eye sockets to make those red eyes really pop out!

I added a fuel line and injector tubes to the Injector Manifold and I added a Distributor and Spark Leads and Boots to the Engine Block. The 
Coffin Air scoop and rear Fuel Cell were painted to look like heavily stained wooden Coffins and given a high gloss polished wood finish. Up front I added Spiderweb brackets to the Lights and I tried to make the Gravestone Radiator Surround look like stone with gold lettering. 

The Gold Chrome is straight from a can of cheap “Christmas Gold” Spray paint but it really does the trick!! The Blowers were painted with Tamiya Titanium Gold for a bit of variety and the red paintwork was my own mixture of acrylics with a bit of pearl interference red powder added, which unfortunately doesn’t really show up in the photos.

There you have it, a nice, enjoyable build with very few problems and another finished Show Rod to add to the shelves!