Jim Gibbons

For those of you on Facebook, there's a great site called Long Island and NYC Places that are no more. I grew up there, so the memories are incredible. If you are on FB and check it out, go to the photos and check out the Parkways/Expwys/Bridges section. Some really neat photos and cars, plus bridges being built. Well worth spending a few hours at; I have. Here's the link for FB folks:

https://www.facebook...#!/Placesnomore

I wanted to include a couple of models that my brother built. These are both JoHan kits. These were built over 30 years ago when he was a teenager, and he did a beautiful job. These were the days before Bare Metal Foil and polishing kits, so the trim is Testors silver brush paint. I keep telling him to get some BMF for these. I remember when he was working on the Desoto; he had gotten a '60 DeSoto brochure and had researched the correct grey/white/black interior finish. I hope to get some additional interior and engine shots of his models. He's a software engineer, and unfortunately hasn't built in decades. I need to get him back into it, especially with the Moebius kits coming out. We often talk about many of the newer models that have been released, and how we would have loved them, all those decades ago.

I built this model for my brother as a little side wedding gift ten years ago, and finally got pictures. This was built box stock. It isn't the correct Gaugin Red which is more of a coral color, but I'm limited to spray cans, so it was finished in Testors Guards Red. When he took the photos, he forgot to insert the antenna, which I didn't glue in to prevent breakage when I was travelling with it. I love this kit, and the real car. For anyone building this kit, the little "Lucas" style headlights they supply work great for masking the headlight brows. I broke ends of toothpicks in each lens, Tacky glued them in, masked the rest, and painted. I have a feeling that's why they included them, and should have added a note to the instructions for using them this way.

I built this a number of years ago, and had given it to my brother as a gift. It only took him ten years to finally send me some decent pictures! He forgot to mail the disk, but emailed me a few pics, so I will have more with some interior shots. This is the Starter 1/43 resin kit. I replaced the molded in resin exhaust pipes with aluminum tubing, and added some photoetched rear deck latches to the interior tub, plus aftermarket instrument decals. This is my favorite sports racer from the '60s. I really need to find one of the Monogram SSP 1/24 kits of this. That kit was the very first model I built solo.

I received my Modelhaus '61 Pymouth Fury yesterday, and man, am I impressed! I've built a number of 1/43 Provence Moulage and Starter resin models, but had never built a Modelhaus 1/25. I've read the rave reviews from folks here about his kits, and even at that, I expected at least a little filling and sanding. If there's anything that even remotely needs filling are a few tiny depressions on the absolute lowest part of the rocker panels, and primer will definitely fill those. The quality of the molding, plating, tires, and vacuformed clear parts are beyond reproach. I plan to build it in the same emerald green/white roof color scheme as one featured in Hemmings Classic Cars a few years ago. Now that I see the quality, I will definitely order parts to restore my JoHan '62 Plymouth.

I was also able to get out today to Michael's and Harbor Freight (my first trip to both,) and picked up some good supplies. Years ago, a former roommate had taken off with my very expensive set of digital calipers, and I was able to get a decent set with a coupon for $9.95. My legs were ready to give out after a few stops including the grocery store, and Michael's was the last one, so I couldn't spend a lot of time there. I picked up some paints and modeling supplies I needed (I hadn't a clue they had those things,) so it was a very fruitful day. I'm disabled, and rarely get out, so this was a treat. I need to spend a few hours at Michael's sometime, as I got a slew of great ideas just whirling through the isles.

If anyone wants, I can take a pic of the Modelhaus Plymouth kit, and post it here in the next few days. Let me know.