| A R M A N D O F L O R E S |
M A S T E R P I E C E S
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| My name is Armando Flores the founder of Masterpieces. I am 47 years old and I have been building models for over 30 years. Three decades of style. My inspiration comes from the lowrider magazine and growing up in the San Fernando Valley, and started building models after seeing all the things you can do with new ideas. If my mind can see it I can build it. I can duplicate almost anything on a 1/25 scale model, body modifications, chassis, frame, interior, candies, pearls, patterns, murals, stripping, etc. I love real cars and sometimes I like to have one but instead of spending thousands of dollars on a real car I build a car model with hundreds, that’s one of the beauties of model cars. I have competed in hundreds of contests and bringing new ideas to the table and inspiring other model builders. Over a hundred trophies are in my room and one of them is my pride and joy “Car modeler of the year for 1997”. I believe that my cars have a special touch because I have the ability to modify models by opening the doors, truck, hood and other things like being 80% scratch built. I make my own fine detail-machined aluminum rims. Lots of engine parts get anodized or nickel plated and scratch built all interiors that feature instrumented dashboard and interiors that show high quality and precision, custom chassis with hydraulics that are chrome or gold plated to the perfection. Some of my model cars have even working lights. House of colors is definitely the paint that I use on my car models. The hardest part of building a car model is in the body modifications and paint jobs sometimes it takes over 200 hours of dedication but is worth it. I love building car models because you can do so many things, some models can take few months and other up to two years depending on the craftsmanship level. Building car models at that level is fun and I appreciate when people see them and they are amazed of the things I did. The model car industry has decreased in the last few years but not for me. Today I have a large collection of legendary lowriders replicas. Loco64, Las Vegas, California’s Gold Rush, Sunset strip, She devil, Tattoo you, Pimp juice, and more. You can see some of my work on the Lowrider Bicycle Magazine Summer ’94, Nov/Dec of ‘95, Winter of ’97. MASTERPIECES collection has been at Petersen automobile museum “Arte y Estilo”, “LA vida LOWRIDER cruising the city of angels” and the San Diego Automobile Museum “Bajito y Suavesito”. GQ Mando masterpieces@sbcglobal.net |
