THarrison351

Great job on those headers. Seems like I read an article in a model magazine years ago about modifying the headers into conventional four into one style because not many NASCAR GM teams ever ran the 180° headers. I believe they were also declared illegal soon after they came into use. I've always wondered what teams gave Monogram access to copy the chassis, engines and bodies they used in their NASCAR kits. They were so advanced over the previously released MPC kits from the '70s.

Yeah, I know. I feel the same way Randy. I can remember in the past when plastic builders would question the point of diecast. I think that was the reason there was a separate section. I'll have to look where the what diecast did you get today thread went. That's one of my favorite threads.

That's a great looking car! Nice plumbing and wiring too! It's great to finally see a correct carburetor on a stock car. So many builders use a Dominator carburetor from the drag racing kits. I believe the Ford Boss 429 was the only NASCAR engine these were used on (Ford worked with Holley to develop them)

Seems fast now

Well, it was the standard wheel for the Dart. From what I can find on the web, the four spoke was optional with the automatic transmission. This kit was produced at the end of the existence of Modelhaus. My wife had to wait 8 months after ordering for it to arrive. It may have been the only wheel they had available. I know the chrome pieces that came with it are not quite as nice as some I had ordered around 10 years before. I'm very happy with the body. It looks almost perfect! Just a couple of pinholes at the bottom that were easily fixed with thick superglue.

Weather was decent enough today, so I prepared everything for a coat of primer. Black for the chassis stuff, dash and steering wheel. White for the body and interior tub. That will be all until this dries for a few days and I can see what flaws are on the body. So far, it looks very clean. It's the nicest looking resincast body or part I've ever seen. It's as smooth as a polystyrene part. Not rough like every other resin part including the parts (see chrome) in this kit.

So, not sure why a resincast model was moved from diecast and resincast models to regular models, but whatever. I'll update it in here now.

Your information intrigued me, so I went to allpar,com to see if I could find any other information. "Deep-dish four-spoke steering wheel (optional with automatic transmissions)". Both the pictures I have with the included wheel are manual transmissions. The four-spoke has an automatic. Seeing how so few 1960 Darts have survived, I'm guessing the more utilitarian manual equipped models were sacrificed to the salvage yards and not kept. I did find a 1959 Dodge Royal with the steering wheel.

I gave it a good soak in Westley's last night and washed it in Dawn today with a toothbrush. Did a quick and dirty assembly to see how things fit. First problem was the front of the chassis would not fit past the bumper. Out came the Dremel and the problem was solved. Here is the result: Some fitment of the bumpers needs to be taken care of before I prime it. It's too cold to paint where I live this week anyways. The chrome was less than spectacular too. Front: I had to grind the headlight buckets to get the bumper up tighter to the body. I think the bumper fits a lot better. I may have to make more adjustments once the additional paint is added Rear: I just needed to sand the pin and the mating surfaces to get the rear bumper to fit. This is the steering wheel that comes with the kit. They filled the webs with a thin flash of epoxy to prevent breakage. Most every picture of a Dart Pioneer on the web has a steering wheel that looks like this: The one that comes in the kit seems to be more common to the base model Seneca, however I did find one Pioneer with this wheel. This is what the steering wheel should look like once finished: And upon closer inspection, this is a Pioneer. I can see the badge on the dash. I carefully cut the flash away with a fresh #11 blade in my scalpel. We are supposed to have warmer weather this coming week, so hopefully I can start painting the primer and see what visible flaws need correcting before color goes on.

The first Dodge Darts were introduced for the 1960 model year. They were downsized large cars developed to replace the Plymouth in the standard, low-priced car segment for the Dodge dealer network. Dodge dealers had been selling Plymouths since 1930, but divisional restructuring took the Plymouth brand away from the Dodge dealer network. Project planners proposed the name Dart, only to have Chrysler executives demand an expensive research program which produced the name Zipp. This was promptly rejected in favor of Dart. With the cancellation of Chrysler's upper level DeSoto brand, upper level Dodge products were pushed upmarket, while using Plymouth products with more features for lower-level Dodge products. The Dart sedans and coupes were based on the unibody Plymouth platform with a 118 in wheelbase, shorter than the standard-size Dodge line. However, the Dart station wagons used the same 122 in wheelbase as the upmarket Polara wagons. The Dart line was offered in three trim levels: the basic Seneca, mid-range Pioneer, and premium Phoenix. The new Dart came standard with a new engine, the 225 ci slant-six. The 318 ci V8s (A block, standard equipment on certain Phoenix and Pioneer body styles) and 361 ci V8s (B block) were optional with two-barrel or four-barrel carburetors, and with single or dual exhaust. The Dodge 383 ci V8 (B block) was added in 1961. Brakes were 11-inch drums. (Wikipedia) I believe Johan was contracted with Chrysler to create promos for their product lines in the early sixties. You can find Johan promos on eBay molded in various colors and unfortunately because they were still using acetate to mold them, usually very warped. However, at the same time Johan was also marketing what was essentially unassembled promos with additional custom parts, opening hoods, and engines as kits, just like AMT and Revell. Fortunately these were molded in polystyrene and did not warp. The only destructive item I've ever observed in these kits is the vinyl tires will melt the polystyrene plastic if left in contact for a long period of time. Johan made both a promo and a kit of the 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix 2 door hardtop. It was never offered with an engine in the kit, just custom parts. To continue this long story. One of my father's few new cars was a 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix 2 door hardtop. When my parents were married, it's the car in their wedding photographs. The first pictures I've ever seen of me in a car are with that one. They are black and white, but I've always been told it was originally a red car. My dad was in the Air Force and was sent to Germany just before I was born in 1964. We followed as soon as I was old enough. The car went too, but it was shipped in a container and unfortunately was not well secured and subsequently arrived damaged. My father had the car repaired and painted blue. We lived in Germany for a couple of years and went back to reside CONUS and the car followed. Same story with the shipping container, but this time my dad let the car go and bought a different car. A 1961 Comet 2 door station wagon. Try to find one of those! That is the first car I have an actual memory of riding in. So, that leads me to the part I want to cover here. I tried for years once eBay was up and running to win a kit of a JoHan 1960 Dodge Dodge Dart Phoenix, and was either outbid or the kits were too damaged, missing parts or expensive. Eventually I found out about Modelhaus and they offered a complete kit that was based on the Johan kit, but was remastered to fix some imperfections and separate some of the chrome trim. When I discovered it, I thought $85 was a little too much, but I put it on my Amazon wish list anyways. Several years later, Modelhaus announced they were going to close. I thought nothing of it at the time other than I'd probably never get to build that kit. Well my 51th birthday came and my wife gave me a piece of paper saying she was planning to give me this kit, but they were on backorder for months and I'd have to wait. In April 2016 this box finally arrived and I've finally decided to start building it. It will be painted just like my dad's was originally. Red with a white top. For years there was this hood ornament in my dad's toolbox and until I started studying on this model, I didn't know what it came from. Now I know it was from the Phoenix. No clue what happened to it when he died twelve years ago. Here's what comes in the kit: I'll be soaking it in Westley's bleche-wite to remove the release agent. Then it gets a good test fit of all the parts before I start priming everything for paint.

A common malady in many mint diecast is missing/broken antennas. I've bought several with broken antennas included and reinstalled them successfully. Several years ago I scored these two off of eBay from the same seller. Poor pictures, not much information in the description and dirty diecast made for almost no bids. The seller also said the Packard was missing the boot and top. I could see in one of the pictures the pink tissue in the foam liner that they may not have known where to look. Turned out they'd never been removed! Unfortunately, both cars were missing antennas. I figured I would fabricate something or maybe someone would have a replacement for sale. I did clean them up, but time got away from me and I never did fix the antennas. Well, I've got time on my hands so I'll fabricate something. Franklin Mint 1957 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible. This is what it should look like: Fortunately, the base is real chunky and tall. I have some Evergreen rod and tubing that will fit pretty well once it's cut and filed. First drill out what's left. I ran a small bit down the center not knowing how deep it might go. Turned out the pressure pushed what was left down into the trunk, leaving a nice clean hole. I used a piece of plastic rod in my drill chuck and turned it down with a file until it fit into a 3/32 tube. Then I tapered that a bit with a file and sandpaper and glued a piece of guitar wire to the end. See the last photo for the result after a bit of Molotow pen and installation. Franklin Mint 1955 Packard Caribbean Convertible. This is what it should look like: Looks like the antenna base at the corner was all the damage there was. I've seen worse on other Packards. The piece that I pushed out of Pontiac's antenna hole will work out perfectly at a replacement once I square up the corners of trim and angle the base. I've already drilled a small hole in the center when I was removing it from the Pontiac. I should have taken a picture before I installed it, but here it is installed. Now they look almost mint!

I did a lot of selling a few years ago on eBay and at that time their algorithm for figuring shipping cost was pretty accurate. Most items shipped for less than $15. My biggest problem was acquiring boxes that fit the kits I was shipping. There were other occasions where a winner won multiple items and wouldn't believe the shipping cost. It's hard to find the perfect box to fit multiple items safely. I even cut big boxes down to make things fit. I think these sellers who charge more than $20, are trying to recoup the increased fees eBay and PayPal have added in the last few years.

The first generation “FairladyZ” S30, also known as Datsun 240Z or “Z-car”, was rolled out in December 1969 and won a big market not only in Japan but in North America and other countries. This model was manufactured for nine years as a representative car of Nissan all over the world and its global sales was over 520,000 units, the best number on record for sport cars of a single model. This car is the high performance Model “Z432” on which “S20” engine of an inline 6-cylinder 4-valve DOHC and 160HP is mounted. This engine is same as that of the first generation Skyline 2000GT-R (PGC10). “432” comes from the engine configuration of S20, i.e. “4 valves, 3 carburetors, and 2 camshafts.” The standard equipment included LSD (limited slip differential) and luxurious magnesium wheels appropriate for the flagship model. The sticker price was 1.85 million yen (aprox $5,200 USD) that was almost double of the basic Z-car. (Nissan Heritage Collection) Upon further study I found this engine has only 8 more rated HP, but 15 lb-ft less torque than the standard 2.4 liter inline six. It also has a much higher redline, possibly as much as 1500 RPM. The performance numbers I've found don't seem to justify the cost. 0.2 second faster 0-60 MPH 0.5 second faster 0-100 MPH and 0.9 second faster in the 1/4 mile. About two years ago, M2 Machines released a nice version of this and both Gary and I showed pictures of it in the "What diecast did you get today" thread. This diecast however represents taking the "Z432" a step further. This one used a third generation 2.6 liter RB26DETT engine from the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. This engine develops 276 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. However, there is one big error. They forgot the turbos! It's got a nice pair of headers and the manifold for the intercooler is there, but nothing else. Oh well? They also replaced the stock seats with racing seats and added a six-point roll bar. Finally the luxurious magnesium wheels were replaced with what looks like Superlite aluminum wheels. Kind of a Minilite knock off. All I did was some paint detailing and polishing, along with the white paint on the lens pins. The only other change I made was the brake, which you can barely see were installed incorrectly. They had the disc brakes on the back and the drum brakes on the front. easy to swap once the wheels were off. Before: After:

Back in 1956, Ford Motor Company realized that there was a void in their selections of mid-size automobiles. General Motors could keep Chevrolet owners in their fold by offering a path of advancement to Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, while the Plymouth owner could move up to Dodge, De Soto, Chrysler and Imperial. But Ford buyers were looking at Mercury, Lincoln and Continental. The perception was that Ford was losing customers to other manufacturers when the time came to trade-up. They needed a new car line between Ford and Mercury to compete on a level playing field. In order to correct the problem, Ford instituted plans for an entirely new car division, and an entirely new car. The design of the car was to be completely unique - distinguishable from any angle. And the promotional build-up of the car would be like nothing else. The 1958 Edsel came in two sizes. "Big and bigger" you might say, but they are actually two distinctly different designs. The "Senior" Series cars are Citation and Corsair models. They were built on the large Mercury-based frame. The "Junior" series cars are Rangers, Pacers and station wagons Bermuda, Villager and Roundup, which were built on the smaller Ford-based frame. One of the most talked about feature was the "Teletouch" shifter, which controlled the automatic transmission selection electronically from push buttons in the center of the steering wheel hub. (A series of planetary gears in the column keeps the buttons stationary as the wheel turns.) Many other Edsel-original ideas are still found on today's cars. The car was referred to as the "E" car (for Experimental) from its inception. The name "Edsel" was bestowed by Special Products Division General Manager Richard Krafve, after reviewing a list of nearly 8,000 suggestions from their advertising firm, Ford employees and renowned poet Marianne Moore who was solicited for ideas. After a massive promotional campaign, which included multi-page "teaser" ads in major national magazines, some 2.5 million Americans poured into Edsel dealerships on "E-Day", September 4, 1957. But it was quickly apparent that few cars were actually being sold. The public expectation was much higher than the car could live up to, and sales reflected the disappointment. There was a combination of other factors that led to the name "Edsel" becoming synonymous with "failure" - By the time the first Edsel hit the showroom, the country was in a recession. (For comparison, 1958 DeSoto sales were down 54% from 1957. Buick was down 33%, Mercury 48%, Oldsmobile 18%, Dodge 47%, Pontiac 28%.. Probably the worst year since World War II to unveil a new car line!) Car-buying habits had turned toward smaller and more fuel efficient cars. Edsel's styling was radical, and not to everyone's liking. On the assembly line, Edsel was run between Fords or Mercury's, causing the assembler to have to interrupt his routine and sometimes forget to install some parts. The Edsel also suffered from parts that wouldn't fit together correctly. Because of problems with suppliers, many of the early cars arrived at the dealerships with parts missing. Many dealers were poorly equipped to replace the parts or add on accessories. Ford Vice President Robert McNamara offered little support to the Edsel Division. The Edsel was more expensive than other comparable cars, and the price of the loaded, top-of-the-line models that were first on the showroom floor scared many buyers. There was no owner loyalty to count on. And, finally, it had a funny name. The Edsel Division was in a death spiral. The more cars that failed to sell, the more dealers dropped their Edsel franchise. The more dealers that folded, the more the public was afraid to buy the car. After three model years and just 110,847 Edsels later, Ford Motor Company threw in the towel, and went about trying to forget about the whole ordeal.Today less than 6000 Edsels survive, and each one is a cherished classic. The 1958 Edsel advertising said it best - "Once you've seen it, you'll never forget it. Once you've owned it, you'll never want to change." (The Edsel Pages) As I said in my post in the "What diecast did you get today?" thread, I kind of won this Franklin Mint accidentally. I put in the minimum bid ($19.99) and no one else bid. I had totally forgot about it until there was a message I had won. Fortunately it's complete, with paperwork, foam insert and box. This is the first version from FM issued starting in 1993. These are probably the cheapest and most prolific versions available. Painted in Chalk Pink with Snow White coves and a Chalk Pink and Charcoal Brown Metallic interior. The brown probably is it's downfall on popularity. Not quite the color it was mean't to be, it should be a little grayer. The only thing I noticed wrong with it was a stain on the boot cover, sun fading on the headlight eyebrows, RH hubcaps, and some yellowing of the RH whitewalls. Other wise it just needed some cleaning and polishing. Once I started the cleaning, I noticed the rear bumper was loose, so I glued that back on. Before cleaning and polishing: After a bit cleaning and polishing: E-475 V8 MEL engine standard for Citation & Corsair. When Ford Motor Company celebrated their 25 millionth V8 engine, it was an E-475! 410 ci 345 hp and 475 ft-lb Torque. Interestingly I discovered dual exhaust was optional on other Edsels, but standard on Citation convertibles. The spring assist load carrier shocks are not stock. They must have had them on the vehicle that was used to model the diecast. I'm happy to see they did include the x brace for the convertible. Overall, this is a nice model considering the time it was issued. Oh yeah, I took a group photo of my other two built 1958 Edsels an AMT Masterpiece Series Pacer and Danbury Mint Bermuda. I have one more in a box. One of the black and red ProShop prepainted kits.

This arrived today. I won it quite unexpectedly. I've been trying to cut out all eBay purchases, but I still like to bid. I've noticed some nice cars come up and no one ever bids and they fall off never sold. So I started putting minimum bids in, no one else bid, and that's how this one was won. It's really funny because I had been bidding on one just like this a couple of month's ago, but the bidder had a ridiculous reserve. I don't know what happened to it but it eventually stopped being available. These never really sell for much. I think it's because of two things, A] the colors pink and brown and B] they made way too many of them. It's in relatively good shape. A bit dirty and it looks like the RH side was exposed to the sun. The headlight eyebrows and RH hubcaps are a bit faded, the RH whitewalls are also slightly yellowed, and there is something staining the boot cover. Hopefully this will all clean up and polish out.

Wow, I've had AdBlock on my computers, laptops, and now smartphones for so many years. I never even knew this forum had ads on it. What a mess! Even when I have to pause AdBlock to look at a site I ignore the ads and never click on them.

Fresh from the paint booth, er paint porch, or walk out I guess. I used some ancient stock 15-20 year old plasti-cote FM 8071 touch up spray paint decanted. I know it falls somewhere in that age, because when I worked part time at the parts store it was closed out from years ago, I was still in the military and the paint was old then. It looks like a good match, maybe a skosh lighter. Once it's fully hardened, I'll polish out the stuff that landed in it before it dried. All the tape and protection removed. Not perfect, but better than before. Found this while cleaning my airbrush. It's a chunk of metal from the machining. It was stuck in the paint inlet port just below where the needle passes through. This is only the second time I've used this dual action airbrush. It didn't seem to affect the operation. I really like how it works compared to the single action I've been using.

The Fairlane Victoria was a hardtop or pillarless top. The Crown Victoria added a chrome band where the "B" pillar would be and wrapped across the top. The Fairlane Crown Victoria was also offered with a transparent "skylighted" top on the forward half of the top. As far as I know, the aft half was always painted and most often in a contrasting color matching the lower half of the car's paint. I can't find any pictures of Crown Victorias with vinyl tops. I think the texture was an attempt to keep the paint from coming off. It seemed to work on all colors, but the white ones.

It's not too bad. I kind of like it and it's a lot better than the previous combo!

All gone?

I guess it's warmed up enough to go ahead and repaint the top on this. Plus I have a lot of time on my hand during this furlough. Had to think of a way to remove the paint without damaging the rest of the chrome or diecast. I do know this is not like plastic model chrome the kind that is basically vaporized aluminum electrostatically applied to the painted plastic. No, this is plated with a copper base and chrome on top. The good stuff. This basically means I can use a harsher solvent without fear of damaging the chrome, but I might damage the rest of the paint or windows. I decided on acetone. First though, I wanted to remove as much loose paint as possible. I have a bunch of aluminum (speed) tape from my years of traveling as an aircraft mechanic. Very sticky adhesive. I rubbed that down over the top and this was the result: Kind of cool looking! I'm thing maybe temperature cycling is what is causing this paint to crack and flake off the chrome. I've only seen it on the custom Victorias with the white top. None of the other Danbury Mint Victorias have this problem. I know the black Franklin Mint '57 Cadillac passenger doors suffer this paint loss as well, but the blue ones don't. My fender skirts show fine cracks in the paint like old nitrocellulose lacquer tends to do. My pink '50 Ford custom shows the same thing on it's skirts. The paint's not coming off, but they are plastic parts. I'm just spit-balling here. It took only maybe 30 minutes of cotton swabs and cotton balls to remove the rest of the paint. I protected the windows with tape. The area to be painted is textured. When it was painted it shone through the paint. I plan to smooth it with sandable primer. I sanded the chrome to hopefully give the paint something to bite into. You can see the copper plate under the chrome. All taped up and ready for paint. I think you can see the copper better in this picture. Decanted Dupli-Color sandable primer and airbrushed on waiting to dry. Sanded with 600 grit to remove any rough spots and make as smooth as possible. I'll let it dry and shrink before I airbrush a top coat. I hope the color I've picked matches as well as it looks. More to come soon!

Those are pretty trucks, not towing trucks! So no problem. Like I said, this is a nice truck. One of the first I purchased. It's been so long since I've seen mine, I don't remember what year or color I have. It's been packed since we moved over six tears ago. Maybe next week I'll pull everything out and start my "sell what I don't want anymore on eBay" project I told my wife I would.

Those trucks are nice! Is your spare tire still hidden behind the center of the back bumper?

As far as the scale is concerned, I've come to the conclusion, this is all about fitting the box the diecast is shipped in. They will make the model smaller even if it's a smaller scale to keep all those cheesy cardboard boxes they're shipped in the same size. It's a shame too. First off the cars and trucks are different scales and second the box provides no protection for the mirrors. I've returned several with broken mirrors after removing them from the box. At least M2 Machines has a plastic perimeter and thicker cardboard. I've never had a damaged car, just poorly assembled ones.

Maybe it's because I grew up on military bases, but I've known about these bears since I was a kid and I was born in 1964.