Model Car Culture Podcast · Scale Riders

Left Coast Model Car Builds

·2 hr 9 min·12 clips

At age 12, Paul found his dad's hidden stash of model kits.

This episode of Scale Riders Podcast features Paul from Left Coast Model Car Builds, a prominent YouTube and Instagram creator and host of the Automotive Model Car Livecast. Host Six Paloaks interviews Paul about his deep roots in both the real and scale automotive worlds, tracing back to his family's history. Paul explains his channel name originated from "left coast" references in car culture and billiards. He details starting his popular Sunday Model Cars and Coffee online gathering, inspired by real cars and coffee events in Salinas. The conversation covers his collaboration with Luke Carosi of Customs Illustrated magazine, who designs shop cards and coffee mugs for their community builds. Paul promotes the upcoming September 20th show by the Monterey Bay Scale Auto Enthusiasts club in Hollister, which runs alongside a one-to-one car show. He recounts discovering his father's stash of vintage AMT and Revell kits around 1988, which ignited his lifelong passion. Paul learned automotive painting using his father's Binks and DeVilbiss spray guns as a teenager, even painting bodies for friends. He recalls meeting legendary modeler Gary Seeds at NNL West in 1992, where his automotive paintwork on models was still uncommon. Paul contrasts early two-day NNL West events, which included a packed Sunday swap meet, with today's single-day format. A memorable highlight is Paul's daughter Belle having her 49 Merc build featured on the cover of Auto Modeler magazine, with his son June's Chevelle also inside. He describes teaching Belle to paint using House of Color candies on a 32 Ford when she was around ten. Paul shares the story behind his candy blue 49 Ford custom, a body salvaged from a botched club project that sat in primer for 13 years before completion. He currently uses Restoration Shop Euro clear and often has two to four different builds in progress simultaneously, depending on his day job's demands. The tone is relaxed and conversational, flowing like friends chatting in a parking lot about shared passions. The style is deeply nostalgic, emphasizing personal history, community, and family legacy within the hobby. This episode will deeply appeal to model car builders interested in custom culture, automotive paint techniques, and multi-generational hobby stories. Listeners seeking highly technical tutorials or debates on new products might find the reflective, anecdotal pace less engaging.

As heard by us

A loose, specific builder chat about timing, patience, and the small fixes that decide a finish.

The episode settles into a loose, specific conversation about the patience, shortcuts, and small disasters that shape model car builds. Paul, also known as Left Coast Model Car Builds, walks through the practical side of the hobby, from body prep and clear-coat timing to the…

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Why you'd press play

If you like build stories with real paint talk, this one leans all the way in.

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