The ‘Mad’ Modeller
One of the joys of classic car enthusiasm is the availability of scale-model replicas of favourite cars, especially if that model also features details you have added that are unique to your car
DEDICATED CRAFTSMAN
Gary Petersen has a hobby that has taken him to all corners of our car culture and it all began quite by chance. This Invercargill scale modeller has an eye for detail that helped him develop a solid reputation for making high-quality intricate models of full-size cars for their owners throughout the country.
If only a good eye were enough; having one also means that he has to find or make the flourishes the car’s owner has added to the original, to both Gary’s and the owner’s satisfaction.
Gary readily describes himself as ‘The Mad Modeller’ and admits that his dedication to making the best possible model is an obsession. They are toys to some but from hot rods to classics, these models are significant to their owners and their families and they go a long way towards being works of art.
“Some people come back as regulars, and I’ve made some really good
friends, people I would never have met if I hadn’t got into modelling hot rods. Craig Stare from Christchurch [Muscle Car Madness and long–time hot-rodder] and Graham Rollo from Dunedin for example. ‘I’ve done three models for Graham — a ’30 Model A coupé, a ’39 Tudor, and a ’59 Chrysler Imperial — and I always set up a display at Muscle Car Madness in Rangiora,” Gary explains.
HUNDREDS OF HOURS
Gary’s models can regularly take more than 100 hours to complete, including the research required to find or manufacture specific items peculiar to the model being constructed. Painting the models also takes hours of patience and skill. The longest a model has taken him was 160 hours. Most are mounted on a plinth and encased in a clear display case to protect and retain any parts should any of the more delicate items be dislodged.
It doesn’t stop there. Gary often makes a copy of each one for his own collection. He probably has more hot rods, modified, and custom classic cars; trucks; and motorcycles under one roof than anyone else in the country, and his collection just keeps growing.
“I was about 12 or 13 years of age, I think, when I started with models,” Gary recalls. “I spent a bit of time at my grandparents’ place in the school holidays and one day I found a box of old model parts my uncle had been playing with years before. Some of the models used to belong to my dad. They were stuck in the bottom of a wardrobe and had been left there. As kids of that age do, I dragged it out to have a bit of play round with them. It sort of all took off from there.”
“I’ve made some really good friends, people I would never have met if I hadn’t got into modelling hot rods”
His father got interested in modelling when he needed to fill the long empty hours of recovery after a back injury. He later gave the models to Gary’s uncle, little realizing the impact they would have on his son in his highschool years.
“By the time I left school, I had got into it quite religiously, buying a kit a week. A couple of other guys I was friends with were also into modelling. I had always wanted to be a panel beater or car painter but I couldn’t handle the industrial environment because of my asthma. It was the next best thing – building model cars. I got the best of both worlds. I guess you could say it grew from a hobby into an obsession,” he says with a laugh.
FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY
It wasn’t long before custom car and truck modelling became a family event involving Gary, his father Alan, and brother Greig.
“Dad was an ex-fireman so he had a lot of models of fire engines. My brother got into sci-fi and movie models such as cars from Back to the Future, Mad Max’s Interceptor, and that sort of thing. My brother also built a Chevy Nomad like [TV’S] Tim ‘the Tool Man’ Taylor’s. Unlike Tim’s, he didn’t drop a beam on that one!”
The family all took part in competitions held by the New Zealand Model Vehicle Club (NZMVC).
“My dad, my brother, and I all competed in competitions at that stage. Over three years they had two competitions a year. You had your May school-holiday competitions and your August school-holiday competitions. Between us, we three won over 80 awards over those three years.”
As time went by, Gary needed a job to support both his model car hobby and running a real car. He also realized that he didn’t want to just build any old models.
“I didn’t want to build model cars just for the sake of it. I wanted it to relate to something. I must have been probably 18 or 19 when I saw a couple of cars in town and liked the look of them. I thought I would build something to represent those cars and that was where it was all hatched — this idea of building model replicas and going from there,” he tells us.
A SPIKY CHALLENGE
An invitation to display his models at a Southland Chevrolet Club’s Super Chevy Sunday car show in 1995 was the starting point. A casual remark by a spectator at that show about “wasting his time with toys” only hardened Gary’s resolve to raise the bar and lift his model-making skills to new heights.
Word-of-mouth reputations are everything and social media played a big part in Gary’s success. He’s now a nationally recognized craftsman, modelling and replicating precise miniatures of real-world bespoke cars.
His friends pull his leg saying that he has it easy nowadays because he doesn’t have to choose the body colour, interior trim, or the mechanical bits, as he is just ‘copying’ and he knows what the finished product should look like. It’s funny because it’s so untrue.
“Some of the cars I have built have been very difficult to find parts for,” he says. “For instance, a lady who contacted me a while ago. She had been trying to get a model of her husband’s XP Ford Falcon for him as a gift. She couldn’t find a model anywhere and then someone told her to contact me to make it for her.”
His friends pull his leg, saying he has it easy nowadays … It’s funny because it’s so untrue
THE RIGHT KIT COMBO
She was right. Model kits did not exist for this car. After some research in magazines, Gary found his solution.
“I used a kit of a ’61 Ford Ranchero and a ’64 Ford T-bolt. The panels looked pretty close to what I wanted, so I combined the two of them with a little bit of aftermarket plastic to make up tail-light and boot pieces. It all hinges on your imagination, and it takes time to sit down and think about it,” he says.
The Ranchero kit provided the side panels.
“The top half of the body, which was the roof and the tops of the doors, came from the ’64 T-bolt, which was the same styling as an XP Falcon.”
Gary went through his bits and found one to chop up to make a test piece without his having to buy another kit. He superglued it to see how it looked tacked together. Problem solved — an XP Ford Falcon!
Gary’s favourite style is American but increasingly Holdens and Falcons are being requested by customers here and in Australia. He has completed an XB Falcon sedan, an XT Falcon sedan, and an SLR Holden Torana.
GRAVITATIONAL MASS
“There is quite a bit of stuff starting to happen now with kits, but they are starting to get very expensive. People don’t realize how much money is involved in them,” Gary tells us.
His store shed, full of plastic model kits, its cupboards and drawers jammed with aftermarket parts such as wheels, superchargers, seats, and a multitude of minute detail pieces, could easily be the biggest of its type in the country. It’s so big that it has gravitational mass. People who know he can probably use them donate unwanted parts and kits instead of throwing them out in the rubbish.
“That’s another thing with building stuff like that,” he muses. “You can think outside the box and think of things to use. I might get a two-door car and change it to a four-door, or hardtop it instead of a two-door convertible.
“I might get a two-door car and change it to a fourdoor, or hardtop it instead of a twodoor convertible”
“I look through a lot of car magazines and if I see something I like, my brain starts ticking over and I will start building it. I know I’ve got that model car sitting at home and I think about where I can get the wheels for it. That’s already floating around in my head: that’s a nice car; I’d love to build that,” he says.
It’s not unusual for Gary to have some 10 models in various stages of construction at any one time. Chroming parts is something he is looking at getting a local company to do, but in the meantime he uses adhesive silver foil or a chrome paint pen.
Gary uses mainly plastic or resin cast kits but in the future a possible source of parts could be 3D printers. At the moment, most of the lower cost printers tend to layer the plastic, so it’s easily split. The more expensive ones do a pretty fair job — but there are other priorities.
“Eight or nine years ago, I was ready to give it all away. Dad had just passed away,” he says.
MODEL BEHAVIOUR
Gary had met and married Tracey, who was fully supportive of his model making.
“Tracey told me these are the only models I am allowed to play with,” he jokes.
She had been to a couple of car shows and helped set up displays, and enjoyed the atmosphere and meeting people there.
In 2014, Gary decided to build a workshop at the rear of their house, moving everything out of a cramped single garage. This year, extensions included a dedicated spray booth and a new storeroom to house what was becoming a very extensive collection.
Revell 1932 Fords form a big part of
Gary’s collection. He has also obtained a plastic replica 1932 grille surround, which will form the basis of a new illuminated display sign for car shows. He’s also keen to display his models with his brother Greig, to show an extended array of models at shows.
As Gary clearly has the dedication to build cars in miniature to a high standard, we ask him about building the real thing for himself.
“I’d love to do that but then with everything involved, such as certification and the specialist mechanical skills required, I don’t think that is going to happen,” he replies. “Besides, I haven’t got a garage big enough!”
Also, why build a real car when it’s much easier to buy one? Gary has picked up a very tidy sparkling white Chevrolet Camino pickup that meets his needs for transport and marketing.
“It’s powered by a 350ci [5.7-litre] V8 and it’s not too bad on fuel. It’s just right for getting to car shows,” he explains.
It’s not unusual for Gary to have some 10 models in various stages of construction at any one time