Modelmartin

Simply the best S'cool Bus I have ever seen!

"Stately" would be many Rolls Royce sedans or the Duesenberg Murphy Limo like the Monogram kit. A-C-D, Packard, Cadillac and many others had great designers. I think most Classic car connoiseurs would agree.

As well regarded as this car is in classic car circles they were always dowdy looking. This one is not bad but it is still kind of stiff. I would take it if it was offered, though!!

I only have one kit I want to build that I avoid but I will sit down one day to conquer it! It is a Resin copy of an Auto Replicas 1/24 Bugatti T23 Brescia. The original kit was white metal and Guido from Scalekraft copied it in resin since the proprietor of Auto Replicas retired shortly after releasing it. The original metal kits were tricky but at least you could solder parts of them together. The car is very small, delicate and kind of spidery. I am usually pretty fearless about building model cars and will take on any challenge and do a lot of scratchbuilding but for some reason this one puts some fear into me.

Teflon thread sealing tape for plumbing. It's cheap and very thin.

A guy in our club was at a garage sale and the man running the sale asked him what he was looking for. He said, "model cars". The guy hauled out of his closet a mint unbuilt original AMT 58 Ford. "I need $10. for it". He brought the kit to one of our meetings. It was primo!

I believe the current owner of Sears is a hedge fund guy. I am sure he is just going to bleed it for a while and then sell all of the real estate. The store in St. Paul is a stand alone with a gigantic parking lot. It is at least 4 full city blocks near downtown, 1 block from the State Capitol building, next to the new light rail line and with freeway access at the corner. It has to be worth a very, very large pile of cash! I have been going to that store since I was a kid and still do when I need tools, a car battery(they still have an auto service center and I have had good luck there) and do buy the odd shirt there once in a while. I will miss it when it DOES go.

The enthusiast kits could be a good starting point for an engine and unibody but I mean that it is JUST a starting point. You have to add the all wheel drive, the fuel injection, there are tons of details that are really different and would need to be scratchbuilt. My advice is to build the curbside!

Originals always get more money. Same with Van Gogh as Monogram!

Those early Revell "plastic-eaters" have long since out-gassed all of their toxic gases. Any of them are safe now but I like to put a barrier of bare metal foil on them to be safe. Older Protar Motorcycle kits had the same issue.

Pretty fine photography, too! It lets all of us see all that great detail up close. When the image is bigger than the part is and it still looks real good, you know it is good!

I love helicopters and especially vintage examples. Very nice job!

I am a machinist and have seen similar video before but that is still very cool. All I know is I have to dodge those chips and they are hot!

I saw two different Nissan GTRs in two days. Those are awesome cars.

Good color, too many wheels!

I would say that it is impossible to make a correct and complete list of all of the S&M cars. Unless you had all of the shop invoices, bills of sale and title records, and entry forms to all events, it would be extremely difficult to even know how many cars they ran. I heard that even Ronny and Buddy couldn't recall all of the details before they passed away. Researching is part of the fun.

Big scale stuff for the mass market has always bee a profit killer with the exceptions of Tamiya F1 stuff which is nearly $200. per kit now. But even they haven't tooled a new one for what? Almost 20 years? When was the last time anyone made a new tool 1/12 or 1/16 car? Almost forgot! The new Ford GT and the new Mustang kit have been out for a bit but they are very pricey and I would be fascinated to know how they are doing for the companies that released them. That's two! Sorry to rain on the parade but it ain't happening (much).

Very cool! As a machinist I would love to see the equipment that machined all of those parts.

Speaking of Corvair engines ......... The Revell dune buggy kits have a nice Corvair engine in them which is funny because the VW engines in the Revell Buggies are atrocious! The AMT engine in the Manx is pretty nice, though. Oddly enough all of the AMT and MPC dune buggy kits offered either a VW or a Corvair engine but not both in one kit. Revell gave you both in every kit. Speaking of odd, I do have almost all of the 1/25 dune buggy kits produced. I couldn't stomach the Revell Super Safari - way too ugly and not a real buggy either as far I know. The Barris T-buggy was actually produced and sold in 1:1. I saw one on Ebay recently. I may have to slide a Manx chassis under one of them.

I have done a bit of research through my magazine collection and came up with a list of about 30 cars that Sox & Martin and Ronnie Sox by himself campaigned under Sox & Martin colors. It could be very confusing. They often showed up at an event with 3 or 4 cars. They updated some cars with the next years trim and front and rear panels. The same car ran different classes at different times. Then they had the clinic cars which they allowed clinic attendees to drive. They only got to run the 440 automatic cars. Ronnie saved the Hemis for himself. I won't repeat the lists that others have started in this thread but will add a few: Ronnie's 62 Impala, the 64 Comet, Ronnie's Pro-Mod Comet and IHRA Pro T-bird from the 90s, the pro stock Dodge pickup, a 72 GTX which ran in Modified production, and even a Neon pro stock. I liked some of the more unusual combos that they ran like the AHRA 70 Cuda GT-1 with a Hemi and a single four barrel, the 69 Cuda in X/SS which was a test class for pro-stock in 69 ( I suspect it was the same car which they ran in 70 as a Pro/stocker alongside the 70 car and the Duster - all 3 being at Indy that year), the B/G 69 Cuda with short injector stacks, the 68 Cuda E/SA which Jim McFarlin of Hot Rod magazine drove, and the 69 Cuda which ran in SS/A in 73 with the leaf springs moved inboard and big rubber stuffed in the back. My list of drivers includes Bill Shrewsberry, Don Carlton, Joe Fisher (S&M parts dept guy), Dave Strickler, Jim McFarlin, Sam Carroll, Herb McCandless, Jake King (S&M team mechanic), Dave Kempton. They only worked together for 10 years but left a lasting impact on the history of the sport.

Cheap at twice the price!

There are probably 75 of them out there now with all the counterfeits!!!

Looks great! I will have to add that to my Ducati stash. Being older I can't hack the flat black thing going on now. Red would be fine!

It isn' like it is rare or anything. They built 39 of them!

Le Car!