THarrison351

The tabs are there to install the heat shields. You can see them at the edge of the valve covers.

These are the last two models of my collection that were in need of repair and cleaning. There are a few more that could use a good disassembly and cleaning, but I'm not up for that just yet. The little one is a Tamiya 1989 Mazda MX-5 Miata. I built this soon after it was released. I was on temporary duty in Zaragoza Spain. I'm not sure how the windshield was damaged, really can't remember. I pushed it over and re-glued the glass to stabilize the frame. It's not perfect, but good enough. I had to drill and pin the mirrors and the right side was missing the lower part. I cut and filed a reasonable piece out of sprue and it looks OK to me. I was even able to match the paint. The rest was just clean and polish. The Testors/Italeri Mercedes-Benz 300SL was built a few years later. I think when I lived out west. It's just suffered from sitting out in the open and storage. The body, interior, and chassis were loose. This caused the steering shaft to break and the steering wheel to fall off and the windshield was loose too. There's just a tiny surface for the visors, so no surprise they fell off. Everything cleaned up and went back together pretty good, so it's back to the shelf they go. I'm going to see if I have some German plates for the 300SL. With all the decals I've collected over the years, it would seem there would be at least one set. The steering wheel is just stuck in the hole in the instrument panel and the windshield glass is sitting on top of the dash More pictures at my Fotki

I've had three too! One pre-painted and built, one kit robbed of many parts and eventually the body and and trim was sold by itself and an AMT Masterpieice completed car. I thought it was a great kit for building and to rob for other Fords from the late fifties.

I always liked Richard's Pony-acs! Your's looks good!

Thanks! Yeah, when I did my Ricky Rudd Tide car a few years later, I painted it florescent orange. Much brighter and matched the real car.

Thanks everyone! I still have two more cars to clean and repair. Hope to have them posted soon.

I can see the running standard versions. Plus those are a little heavier and have less power.

Thanks everyone! ESPN was great to auto racing back in the day along with TNN. I don't have cable anymore, it's what I can hear on MRN/PRN and see on the goofy NASCAR app. Crate engines (all chevy) killed ASA and I'm expecting ARCA will die soon since they have crate (all chevy) engines too. The trucks went to crate (all chevy) engines last year and they seem to be OK, but I'm not holding my breath.

What I remember was in the first one, driver (Jimmy "Smut" Means) who looked through the side window of the upside down car got up, looked around and waved frantically for help. It was kind of the same way when the first person (Kenny Schrader) who came up on Earnhradt after his fatal wreck.

That's kind of a scary thought! The cops are sometimes a little out of control in the vehicles they have. I can't imagine them turned loose in a full boat rally car.

Good show!

It's too bad GM never market the Camaro in colors similar to this. I like it. You did a great job on the retro colors on this show car. I'm too tall to sit in a Camaro and see out of them comfortably and drive, but I have to say they have always looked appealing.

This little VW based Dune Buggy debuted in 1973. A recreation of the Sand Crab which was released in 1969. Both were Tom Daniel designs. Other than the color, decals, top, windshield, lights and front bumper, the Li'l Van and Sand Crab share everything. Oh yeah, I forgot the whip and dune flag. The top and windshield really make a big difference in the look. The Sand Crab had a short windshield with a clear cantilevered top hanging off of a targa-top like roll bar. The Li'l van well, looks like a van with a full windshield and with a sedan delivery-like top, still incorporating the same roll bar as the Sand Crab. I never built the Sand Crab or the Li'l Van on their first release. Fortunately, Monogram and Tom Daniel were getting along in 1996 and they reissued the Li'l Van version. In the early century, I was on a "must build Tom Daniel models kick" and was collecting them (I only built two, but I have a pretty good stash). My son found this one at this obscure LHS in my area that managed to hold on to a few for several years, and gave it to me for my birthday. It was a pretty easy build as I recall, and I had it on display for a number of years before we moved from our previous home. It's been packed way for about seven years and unfortunately the fragile exhaust tips became broken off and for some reason the windshield fell out. They were rather easy to replace and if the exhaust breaks off again, I'll drill them and put some stiff wire in for strength. Sand Crab for reference. It had the cool clear cantilevered top! Condition I found this in, out of the box All back together. Chrome on Monogram kits was really a disappointment in this period. Thanks for looking!

This was painted without the knowledge of florescent orange paint being the correct color back in the day (1987). I had not seen this car in person and the TV did not show that it was florescent orange. Looking at photos in magazines, it looked dark orange to me. That's what I painted it. I think it was a cheap store brand paint, over Krylon grey primer. So, this car was built over 30 years ago and has followed me from coast to coast and back to the middle. It's survived relatively intact, in fact I thought the windshield had been sacrificed for another Waltrip Monte Carlo. When I started to clean it up, I found it stuck inside the interior. This one just needed a good clean and polish, the rear suspension tacked back together, and the windshield glued in. It's too bad it was painted with Testors clear enamel and has yellowed with age.

Back in the '80s and '90s it was great to watch and build oval track race cars. The networks and cable were broadcasting all sorts of racing every weekend and even Thursday nights! Revell released three ASA '89 Camaros and they had small block V-8s or V-6s depending on the driver. Then they released two Thunderbirds in 1990 with V-6s. Also, they came with either Wide -5 or ten hole racing wheels so you could mix and match those if you wanted. Finally, most cars had Goodyear tires, but at least one had Hoosiers to make it interesting. I bought and built all of these when they came out and unfortunately sprayed all of them with Testors enamel clear coat. So they have a nice yellow tint after 30 years. I believe these haven't seen the light of day since about 1997. Surprisingly, they were complete except the #84 was missing the fuel filler piece. Fortunately the Thunderbirds come with them on the chrome tree, but the filler is molded in the body so I had two extra. Bits and pieces had come loose on all of them and they were all dirty inside and out. I took them apart and washed them out. I'm not sure what these were exposed to, but the interior upper surfaces are all oxidized and faded. All the dust and in one case cobweb and dead spider are gone. I polished the bodies and even they had something that was difficult to remove. I also dropped the chassis of the Superflo (Darrell Waltrip Camaro) and fortunately parts broke only at glue joints. There was one thing I forgot to add. They all come with the most horrible version of a window net I've ever seen, hence why none are installed. Plus the cars are at rest without drivers, so the nets would be down anyways. So, here we go. Jeff Neal #5 Zerex 1990 Thunderbird. The rear firewall was loose and the fuel cell was out. Apparently I did some detailing on this because it has a wired distributor and braided hoses to the oil cooler. Picture doesn't do it justice, but it's all back together and clean Butch Miller #52 SAI Lane Automotive 1989 Camaro. Nothing was really physically wrong with this one, just filthy and one suspension point on the rear suspension had come loose. Obviously, this is the one with the Hoosier tires. I wish there was way to bleach the yellow out of these. Darrell Waltrip #17 Powerflo 1989 Camaro. This one started out only needing the air cleaner cover glued on, a couple of rear suspension points re-glued, and of course dirty. Well, everything was going ok until I was drying the chassis after washing. I was holding the car by the dash when it just disconnected from the rest of the chassis and hit my soft rubberized floor, but it didn't. My chair won't roll on the floor so I have one of those hard plastic mats. This was the result. It was repairable. Turned out ok for me. It's strange, I'm not a Darrell Waltrip fan, but I have six 1/24 scale model cars from him. Besides my favorite three drivers from over the years, I have more cars of his than any other single driver. Tom Jones "The Zero Hero" #0 Fel-Pro 1990 Thunderbird. The rear suspension was completely loose on this one and it's dirty too. All cleaned up and ready to display! Bob Seneker #84 Pro-Am Leasing 1989 Camaro. This model was dropped once a long time ago. I remember the fuel filler was never recovered and for some reason I never fished one out of my spare parts, even though I had two. So, other than cleaning and the missing fuel filler, this car has some chips in the paint from when it was dropped twenty odd years ago. Can't remember why this has Wide-5 wheels instead of regular ten hole wheels like what is in the picture. This is a couple of model kits (ASA Camaro and Thunderbird) that I'd like to see someone (JR Salvinos?) release them again with new graphics or even new bodies. They were easy to build and looked pretty good when complete. All five ready for the shelf! My next group of victims to repair! The Miata is the worst because the windshield is crushed.

Those look great Randy! That First Gear Ford looks really sharp!

Very clean build! I like it!

Thanks, now I have to find a cheap L-89!

Thanks for the kind words. Well, they'll get placed somewhere in the pack, but I'm sort of OCD with my stuff. They'll be placed chronologically, like all the rest. Thanks! The 53 Ford was my third time building one and I have an unbuilt kit on the shelf, so I must like that one too. Thanks! Thanks!

I had some listed on eBay starting at $1 plus shipping and no takers, so I've kept about six AMT kits and four Monogram kits for future kitbashing.

looks great to me Randy.

While I was off during the early Covid-19 crisis, I decided to inventory, clean and photograph all my models and diecasts. I ran across several that needed more than slight cleaning and repair. These two had been put away damaged for more than 23 years. Before we moved to Kansas. I built them about the same time when they were released in 1994. I don't remember how they were damaged, I just remember they were both put on top of a book case afterwards, near an HVAC return register and when we moved, both were caked with dust. I must have held the parts under the faucet before putting them away, because when I pulled these out of their respective boxes, both were relatively dust free, but had a filthy film all over them. Repairs were straightforward. The Ford was just easy reassembly. The Chevy's front axle was broken past the springs. The right side was completely free and left side cracked. Superglue and activator fixed it right up. The rest was easy. The Chevy is missing the L/H tail light and license. I might have them in my parts box. I'll have to look. Cleaning the film and dirt was the worst part. The Ford was easier. It has some non-model paint on it. Probably Krylon and it cleaned up fairly well. The Chevy just did not want to release the film that was on it. Looks like Testors green to me. and it took several applications of wax to get it to shine. There's still bits of dust on the chassis and interior. THe only other thing I noticed is these both have lots of mistakes, Both have incorrectly painted grills and the interiors are wrong. I'll blame lack of reference. My next project is a collection of the five ASA cars Revell kitted in 1989-1990. They're filthy and slightly disassembled.

They have 1/32 or 1/43 (?) and maybe 1/64 but I was looking at those and didn't pay attention to brand, quality or anything.

That color really Pops! Good job!

So I ran to my local Sam's Club to see what they had after what the others posted. Two mostly empty pallets of diecast and nothing that interested me. Fortunately, we have three Sam's clubs and I had to go near where another one is so I and popped in there. No pallets to be seen at all?. I asked a worker and they showed me where someone had emptied the pallets and stacked all the cars left under the shelf. So here I go plowing through about eighty cars on a lower shelf three cars wide by six tall and five rows deep. I wanted the yellow Corvette because it was exclusive to Sam's Club. Someone had already taken them all ?. So, I got a red one and a decent looking 1968 Mustang Cobra Jet. I'll get them out of the boxes and take a closer look soon. If I'm on the other side of Wichita, I'll take a look at that Sam's Club, but I'm fairly certain all the yellow Corvettes are gone. 70 plus listings on eBay right now for the yellow Corvette. Some as low as $24 starting bid plus shipping with a high of $70 plus shipping. All are in the Sam's club box. These have been out since June. Ah, entrepreneurship!