Subcultures rarely reach aboveground. Most are survived by only a small sect that barely keeps the blood pumping in a dying breed. Some, on the other hand, strive to make their mark and carve out a path for others like themselves in this world of constant flux. This is true for the first die-cast customizers, armed with only innovation and creativity, they started down the long, hard road toward acceptance!

Jaime Trevino of San Leandro, California, is no stranger to the lowrider scene and, in fact, he helps run it! Jaime, who's about 30 years old, got into lowrider bicycles and lowrider model car building at about 16. Ever since, he has developed a vast number of skills in building and customizing on his own. His talents, such as chrome and glass engraving, bodywork, painting, pinstriping, graphics and even tattoos, have been found on some well-known show-winning bikes and cars throughout the lowriding scene. Even cooler than that is the fact that Jaime remains humble about his gifted services. "Even if I don't bring home the first place trophy at a show," Jaime says, "I don't get down because the compliments that I receive on my work throughout the day will make me content enough!"

Okay! For the past three weeks, we have been showing you Revell's new Chevy SSR model kit "transformed" from a 1/25 scale replica of the real car into a Revell-ation Lowrider." Saturday morning at 5:30 am we were up and spraying a clear coat on the top for the SSR. Thinking that it would be sunny and bright and the sun would cure it before the show. Well, we were wrong, maybe because we dipped the can in hot water and took it out side in the cold, that may have been the reason why it had an created a chemical reaction to the pinstriping, we don't know, but it did. Hoping by some miracle that it would cure itself, we waited a few hours for some change, needless to say, it didn't. We put in a quick call to the David dude and he suggested that we worry about that later and get ready for the model show; the top could be redone anytime. Taking his advice we started to clean and pack the model for the long ride to Victorville. That was pretty much it for Saturday; the rest of the day was dedicated to house chores and honey dos.

Okay! I know I have to give big apologies for not updating you guys on Friday before the show. But, it couldn't be helped, so let's move on and get to the show. We have done as much as possible to the truck and tonight we will get a few things cleaned up. Saturday will be a day of family work and we won't be able to work on the truck till maybe 9 - 10 pm, so everything must be ready, or at least 99% done. This week we have been putting the truck together little by little. Every piece is cleaned with a cloth used for cleaning eyeglasses.

Okay as promised, here is the new version of the Chevy SSR from Revell. After we took another look at the truck, we decided to lay down a coat of Testors transparent blue #1257 over Testors metallic gold #1244 as a base coat. As the paint job was being laid a few mishaps happened.

When it comes to playin' around, master modeler Mike Tellez just won't grow up. On second thought, if Mike did get all grouchy, old and gray, we wouldn't be able to experience his charming personality... doh! Now Mike here is a bad dude to say the least, and the reason that we tapped his phone, oops, we mean his shoulder, for another mild-to-wild photo spread is because we were looking for some crazy metal models with a way bigger size since everyone's all turned on to cute and cool SUVs. Well, what do you know, Mike had a shelf in his West Covina, California, garage full of Jada Toy products in the works and a bunch of collectible (still in the package) Hot Wheels cars tacked up on the wall. So now you know where we're at--two guys, on a weekday, photographing toy cars and action figures.

At first, many readers of Lowrider Magazine envisioned a new magazine called Lowrider Bicycle that would showcase the sport's best lowrider bikes and model cars to be a comical yet perfect match, while outsiders thought that the subject mix was a bit extreme. "I don't get it," some said. Ha! It didn't take long and we showed them (in October '93, the month that the magazine premiered) that model cars have ideal coolness, creativity, color, detail and, above all, imagination.

Model car pioneer Jay Holt of Custom Builders Model Car Club in Los Angeles, California, has once again made his presence known within the Lowrider Group offices with his latest creation, "Orange Bang '76," an explosion of details on wheels! Giving a call to LRB editor Nathan Trujillo beforehand, Jay informed him of his intent to take part in the 10th Anniversary issue by building a car fit for the cover. When completed four months later, Jay brought in his creation based on a '76 Chevy Caprice "glasshouse," wowing everybody walking by. Jay is no stranger to model car building and to the lowriding community. Jay has been involved with models and full-size lowriders for years. Plenty of time and money went into Orange Bang '76, and it shows.

The world of model building may be just a hobby to some, but to guys like Steven Hernandez of Carson, California, it's almost his entire life. Well, maybe not his entire life. You see, Steven is a family man, too, with a young wife named Yvonne and a newborn daughter named Arianna who are more important to him than any piece of plastic. Still, he puts a lot of effort into his scale model creations and we thought that we'd share a few with you.

Where's the only place that you can visit New York, Paris and Rome all in the same day? That's right, Las Vegas, Nevada, where anything goes, just like this awesome scale model replica of the "Las Vegas" Lowrider Car of the Year owned by Joe Ray of San Gabriel, California. A decade ago, Joe took the gamble of his life and applied the Vegas theme to his '79 Lincoln Mark V known at the time as "Hollywood." The former Lifestyle C.C. president struck it big with his ride, and now someone else was ready to try his luck building a plastic miniature of the legendary lowrider.

Newcomer Arturo Alvarado is making his presence felt on the lowrider model circuit with his skilled model building that's evident in an array of fine rides. Though new to the competition game, Arturo has actually been building models for a few years now. One of his nicest rides is this '87 Buick Regal, which took Arturo an entire year to complete. Take a peek at the Regal and you'll know why it took him so long.

We've all heard of James Bonsell, but have you ever heard of Naomi Bonsell AKA "Mimi?" Most likely not, but if you know about her father you'll understand the amazing model building talents that were handed down to his 16-year-old daughter. Mimi, who lives in Huntington Park, California, with her parents, amazingly built this '98 Volkswagen Bug in less than a month. The story behind the car is that Mimi was given a challenge by all of the "guys" at the Drag-N-Shop in Santa Fe Springs, California, who regularly teased her by saying that she couldn't build a model. Finally, Mimi had enough and decided to answer the challenge.

Model car builder Albert Galaviz of Phoenix, Arizona, was first featured in Lowrider Bicycle Magazine back in the Winter '97 issue. At that time, Albert's latest and greatest model was his replica of Joe Ray's '73 Buick Riviera, "Dressed to Kill." Albert's lowrider model was and still is a mark of excellence in the 1/25-scale model world and now he's come out with a more potent force purely dedicated to the lowrider lifestyle.

Another talented Tovar has arrived. This time it's young Daniel Tovar, the 15-year-old son of Paul and DeeGee Tovar from Cypress, California, and nephew of the famous Tovar family of lowriders. Daniel has been building models for about three years, and has waited a long time to be recognized by the lowrider community. Taking some advice and help from his friend Roger "Tribal Dog" Chavez, Daniel quickly learned how to cut and hinge doors, trunks and hoods with the capability to work on their own.

Another day passes by and Henry Espinoza of Huntington Park, California, is planning another bomb attack on the competition. Henry's weapons are candy paint-covered, fuzzy fur-filled plastic bombs. Henry has been building models for a few years now and has come a long way.

Anthony Arebalo of Baldwin Park, California, usually spends his time laying ink or piercing people at The Tattoo Shop in the nearby city of La Puente, but Tony also loves to lay into the little plastic rides. One of Tony's favorites is this '49 Mercury with a trailer and a cool roadster that gets hauled around in the rear. The resin kit was manufactured by Jimmy Flintstone, although it has now been discontinued. When Tony saw the kit, he knew that he had to have it, and quickly picked it up at a cost that can't be revealed.

Avo Galebyan of North Hollywood, California, has been around cars all of his life. "I love cars," the 20-year-old admits. "Ever since I can remember, I've been around them." Though Avo, a leasing agent by trade, grew up liking sports and other guy-related hobbies, he says that it was at about the age of 13 that he decided to start building model cars. And now, seven years later, he is one of the top model builders in Southern California.

Finding top modelers does not seem to be too much of a problem these days. Lots of lowrider modeling pros are seen online and they always send us jpeg pictures to our email or by regular mail when all else fails. And sometimes old friends just dial us up. Frank Brise-o (AKA "Cisco") is just such an avid follower of LRB. His first and last appearance in the printed version of the magazine was in 1994. Today, he is a much improved modeler and we wish to display his tiny cruisers here in our Winter edition.

A few years ago, James Bonsell from Huntington Park, California, picked up a '50 Chevy pickup and started to build one of his best models yet. Chopping off the roof and shorting it as well, James added a custom front end with '37 Ford headlights. James also molded in taillights, suicided the doors, and added a flip-open hood, Gaylord tonneau cover, operating tailgate, and front and rear roll pans. Once James was finished, he didn't know what to do with the model. So he put it away in a shoebox for about three years, letting it collect dust and cobwebs in a closet before he recently took it out to do some reworking.