General Motors Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild

The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild was an annual contest to design automobile models at 1/12 scale. Entrants had a choice of designing a sedan, convertible, station wagon, sports car convertible or sports car hardtop. 

The models had to abide by certain restrictions in wheelbase, height, ground clearance and rear end clearance. General Motors supplied the tires, but entrants had to do the rest: windshields, bumpers, headlights, rear lights, and interior for convertibles. Each model was judged by GM designers against six standards: originality of design, artistic merit of design, practicality of design, scale fidelity, workmanship, and painting. 

I entered the contest from 1958 to 1962 and produced a total of six plaster cast models, progressing up the ladder from no award in the Junior division to first state in the senior division  and regional award winner in New York State five years later. 

In 1962 models were either carved out of wood or made out of plaster. I chose to make a plaster model by first making a clay model with a five-piece plaster mold around the clay. Then I poured plaster into the plaster mold and extracted a plaster model. The model was sanded to a fine finish, sealed in shellac, sanded again, painted in several coats of primer, sanded again, painted several coats, sanded and then buffed to a beautiful finish. Bumpers and hubcaps were chrome plated brass and fitted into their respective positions. Windshields were plexiglass and formed around a plaster base. Seats were cast in plaster, the steering wheels turned on a lathe made out of aluminum, and the headlights and tail lights were shaped in plexiglass. It was a great learning experience which taught me about persistence and determination – qualities that have sustained me throughout my life, and I owe it to my Guild experience.