Snake45

Very nice! I have the Otaki kit of this airplane and need to get around to building it sometime. Thanks for the inspiration and model on!

Aurora Aston-Martin "Super Spy Car" was one and done, far as I know. AMT Sonny & Cher Mustang. Wasn't the Monogram Tom Daniel '73 Vette only issued once before it was altered into something else? AMT '65 Chevelle Craftsman. As previously mentioned, most of the old annuals were one-time-only before they were changed into the next year's model, or a custom, or a funny car, or something. As far as I know, the "panel wagon" top for the C2 Sting Ray roadster was exclusive to the '67 annual kit. The molds were modified into a '63, which was reissued many times, but that panel top has been missing for 50+ years.

I've fixed stuff like this with CA very successfully. I can't imagine it will see much stress. Epoxy will also work very well.

You beat me to it, old friend.

If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE bringing "dead" old rare builtups back to life, and you've certainly done this one justice. HELLA well done, and model on, my friend!

Absolutely fabulous! HELLA well done and model on!

I bought several of these about 20 years ago at a local toy close-out place. They came with a stand where you could pull a cord or something and the prop would turn. I think I paid $5 apiece for them, or some cheap price like that. I always thought the landing gear were screwy on all of them, but thought some of them were good enough to make into gear-up, on-the-stand "desk models." I gave the P-51 to my kid, who took it to work, where somebody stole it. The P-40 ended up in my grandkids' "toy box," where it lives to this day. At some point, the propeller disappeared. My Corsair came in the silver/yellow prototype colors. My plan was to repaint it as a regular F4U-1 "Birdcage," but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I don't remember if I have the Zero or not. I think I do but not 100% sure. The Spitfire XIV doesn't look half bad. I might see if I can get some dihedral in the too-flat wings, and then look for some kind of simple paint job for it--overall silver or PRU Blue or light gray or something like that. Your photography is great, BTW. Well done and model on!

Thanks Steve! The MPC kit is definitely the second car, and I've never seen a pic of the real one where it had a wing like the kit. I've bought a couple copies of the kit over the years, and hope to eventually build one. But I'll have to scratch up a more accurate wing. Actually, couple years ago, I got the idea of building a simpler, early version of the #1 car, when it was the Harrell-Borsch-Muse car, pre-wing and pre-lettering. I THINK I can do it using an AMT Double Dragster frame and other commonly available (nowadays) parts. I realize it won't be an exact replica, more of a "tribute" kind of thing.

Hi Steve, This is AMAZING work! I built a model of this car back around 1970. I had to draw my own chassis plans, and scratchbuild or modify everything on it, including the wing. One thing I discovered in doing the research at the time was that the car changed in appearance constantly, so I had to pick a couple of photos to stay with. I also had to hand-paint most of the decals--IIRC, there are only 4 "real" decals on each side. It's pretty crude by today's standards, but I'm still proud of the thing. It was one of the last model cars I built before I went back to model airplanes. I'm sure yours will turn out much better. Model on!

I've been collecting Time Machine parts for years, hoping to piece one together. Bought 3 of the new ones, and am a bit disappointed. The body has none of the factory stock trim or emblems, as the original did, and the rear panel is vastly inferior to the original. If you just want to bang together a retro/nostalgia-style "funny car" model, I guess it's okay, more or less. The new decal sheet is actually pretty nice, though. I still have my original, built in 1967 or so. The decals are in rough shape, and most of the chassis is gone. I'll probably build up one of the new chassis, paint one of the new bodies in the original box art scheme, and use a second set of decals to "restore" my original body. Figger I can get a kinda-sorta "Then and Now" build out of it.

Beautiful work! Well done and model on!

+1 on all this, plus what Mark said. Couple years ago I restored an original AMT Craftsman '65 Chevelle SS, and the body is definitely more accurate than the Revell Z16's. The Z16's weird/unusual trim is also a problem. The original AMT '65 Chevelle AWB kit retained all the factory emblems and trim, and quite nicely done, too. You could have grafted in the Revell Z16's lower quarters and come up with a nice, accurate "regular" '65 Malibu body, which you could then combine with the rest of the Revell kit (with a new SBC engine, of course) to make a nice '65 Chevelle. The new AWB sadly, doesn't. They didn't even put the Malibu emblems on the decal sheet. And of course the headlights are missing. So there's no good/easy/cheap way to get to a "regular" '65 Malibu body. Not factory stock, anyway. Un-altering the wheelbase could get you a nice body for "street machine" or pro-stock/pro-street use, though. Let's hope Round 2 tools us up a nice "curbside" '65 Malibu kit along the lines of their recent '65 GTO.

The great Warren Zevon died 20 years ago today—September 7, 2003. John Ritter died September 11, 2003. Johnny Cash died September 12, 2003, thus completing possibly the coolest Celebrity Death Trifecta of all time. If I ever think I'm having a bad day, I remember Billy Bob Thornton that week. He was close personal friends with all three. Zevon's “last interview” with David Letterman has been called one of the finest hours of TV ever. If you'd like to see a particularly moving version of “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” just jump ahead to about 18:20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTi8KWSZl4

Well, Warren Zevon died 20 years ago today, so two of mine would have to be Learning to Flinch and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Linda Ronstadt's Mad Love would make my list today, too. Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Now for my last I gotta pick the best of Tom Petty, Heart, or Meat Loaf. Ouch.

Personally, I like this performance a LOT better than 9 to 5!

This should put to rest any debate about whether or not Dolly Parton belongs in the RRHOF:

LOOOOOONG way to go for a laugh, but you made the effort and you DID get there! Respect! This is a variation of a joke I heard long ago, and I don't remember who told it. "I had two tickets to a [name of despised local sports team] game. I made the mistake of laying them on the dashboard of my car. Parked it downtown. Came back to my car, the window is smashed, oh great. Look at my dashboard, someone has put two MORE tickets to the game on it." The joke works just as well for non-sports events, too. Try it with, say, an Alanis Morissette concert.

I thought the punchline was gonna be, "What, too soon?"

I remember for most of my childhood/teens, my Mom would fill the trunk of a full-size Chevy at the grocery store for $25-$30.

I didn't forget them. I've never heard of them.

Warren Zevon, and Foreigner. It's a travesty that neither is yet inducted.

Thanks, and yes I am. My nephew was an F-15 Crew Chief in Germany. Today he's a cardiac care nurse. Going the other way, my kid started his military career as an Aeromed Tech (basically, a flight nurse). After six years of that, he decided he wanted to drive the bus for a change, and graduated pilot training in 2015.