Of course no collection would be complete without the most successful
car and driver in the history of everything. I'm writing, of course,
about the legendary Thunderbolt Grease-Slapper driven by none other that
best of all good guys, Tom Slick. This car was a result of me going
down an eBay rabbit hole one night and buying the cheapest thing I could
find, an Ertl Model A Ford, with the idea that I might turn it into
something. I had no idea what it would become until I was well into the
project. I thought maybe a hot rod of some sort. Once I started cutting
it down, it just hit me. The body was cut down to remove the fenders and
the top, and the frame was modified. The engine cover side panels were
filled and smoothed out. The dashboard was modified and the steering
wheel moved to the center. The headlight brackets and windshield frame
are scratch-built from steel rod. The radiator cover is a small tack,
and the exhausts are made from parts in my junk bin. The fuel filler is a
piece of scrap plastic and the folded top is made from steel rod and
black gorilla tape. Tom Slick was scratch built from Milliput over wire.
Tom was painted with Tamiya acrylic. His goggles were fabricated from
24 gauge copper salvaged from a Cat 5 data cable. The front wheels and
tires came with the donor car. The rear wheels and tires are from a toy
Caterpillar vehicle I found at a thrift store. They were hollow and had
heavy treads but I got them for $3. I glued two pairs together and
chucked them int a rotary tool. Then I laid them into 120 grit sandpaper
to smooth them out. I masked the body and airbrushed the blue stripes.
The red stripes are decals. And there you have it. The one and only (as
far as I know) 1/43 scale replica of the legendary Thunderbolt
Grease-Slapper.
