unclescott58

Here we go, finished this up about a month and half ago. It's the Polar Lights Deluxe Edition kit of the C-57D Space Cruiser from the great 1956 movie, the Forbidden Planet. Staring Walter Pidgon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen (in a non comedic role), and Robby the Robot. Who, along with his cousin, the Lost in Space Robot, is one of the greatest movie or TV robots of all time. This is the "Deluxe Edition" of Polar Lights 12" kit. It includes lights and motor to make the ship's engine look as it does in action in the movie. Polar Lights also makes a bigger kit of this ship with the ships interior. The 12" versions do not include the interior. It's a very nice kit to build. I really like the way they setup the ship's doors/ramps to work. A great piece of engineering. Here are the photos. The first from the top. The second, resting with the engine off. Resting, with engine running. And finally from the bottom. As she would look in flight with engine running and ramps retracted. Love this kit! Love the old movie. If you've never seen it, you must. It still holds up pretty well. Scott

Ah, Honey West, Anne Francis of Forbidden Planet fame. I have not seen Honey West since it was originally air back in the 60's. I remember liking the show. I didn't remember the Corbra. I'd look to see a episode or two of that show again. I wonder if it was really any good, like I remember? Scott

Ditto on this. I rarely watch TV beyond PBS and METV. I read even more than I watch TV. Plus, I'm too cheap to pay for cable or satellite. I bet I watch more things now on YouTube than I do TV also. But, reading is still number one for me. The only western I've ever really liked. And I don't know why? Scott

Never had 4-doors the the first go around? The old Dart, in all versions, from 1960 to 1976, were available as 4-doors. I'd need to check the the figures, but I'd bet that more Dart 4-doors were sold than 2-doors. Scott

When I was at my old employer's yesterday (the Buick-GMC dealer), the owner's brother had a '61 fuel-injected Corvette in the shop that I had not seen before, being worked on. I asked the mechanic working on it, if anybody knew how to service those old Rochester fuel-injection units any more? He said, that they were no big deal. That they were fairly similar to modern fuel-injection. This mechanic is a good one, so I assume he knows what he's talking about. Scott

Here is another one I wanted to show earlier. Scott * Note: Found out from Tom Geiger tonight (9/6/2014) that this is a McDonalds Happy Meal toy.

And one more I found, that I almost forgot to post. That's it for now. Scott

One last picture. I'm one of those guys who always like Betty better than Veronica. Betty was blonde and more down to earth. And as you can see by this cover, she liked a lot of things guys like. Plus this one again shows Archie's later ride. The Mustang. Which I have no interest in replicating for now. I built a copy of Revell's '65 Mustang convertible not that long ago. I did not paint it red, like Archie's. But, I'm very happy with the results. Scott

In the late 60's there was a very popular Archie's cartoon series. Below are photos of the car from that. This helps explain the Aurora model. Their is no way I'd want to build one looking like that. Here's a Marx toy based on that. And cereal premium out at same time. (Did not want the yellow one. Was happy that I got the red one. Wish I had it today.) Scott

That one cover is the only time I've seen Archie's car look anything close to a '32 (at least with a '32 grille shell) or with a supercharger (much less a V8). If you read Archie comic books like I did as a kid (I had 2 sisters, so we got lots of Archie comic books in the 60's), you knew Archie was always broke. And could barely afford to keep his "jalopy" running. Much less turn it into a hot rod. So, for now I'm leaning more to Dave Van's and Chuck Most's idea of the Model A phaeton. But, I'm also posting more photo here to get more ideas. The more I think about it. The more I want to do it. Scott

It looks like it has a license plate. So I guess they are "legal" aliens. Scott

Interesting comments Bill and John. Like John, I too like the '61 Buick from the rear. It's mainly the pointed front fenders that didn't work for me. Scott

You mean to tell me that these figures are different than the ones that came in the predecorated snap kit? Scott

Why, thank you. Scott

I got to spend part of the day, yesterday now, driving a loaded 2015 GMC Yukon XL for my former employer (a Buick-GMC dealer). Wow! Is it nice. This was the first vehicle I've ever driven with adaptive cruise control. Boy, do I like that. Less touching the brakes and hitting the resume button. Worked much better than I expected. At one point I set the cruise at 60 on the 494/694 belt line. Tuned the XM radio to 60's on 6. It was the best and most mellow time I've had on that freeway in years. It was about 1 in the afternoon, and I only had to touch the brake pedal once between 394 and Brooklyn Boulevard. Is that nice. I also used it on an extensive run from Forest Lake, MN to Orono, MN before that. I love adaptive cruise control! I want it on my next vehicle. Scott

Does Monogram still offer this kit guys? I thinking I may have to do a model of Archie's car. Scott

I too like the skegs on the '61 and '62 Cadillacs in particular. The '61 Olds is okay too. But '61 Pontiacs, even though they have no skegs are my favorites from that year. I also like the '61 Chevy. The one '61 GM car I don't really are the Buicks. The Electras are okay. But, the LeSabres and Invictas just don't work for some reason. Even though I'm a big Buick fan, I'm glad Moebius is releasing a '61 Pontiac rather a '61 Buick. Scott

Stop? I love pre painted kits. My favorite part of model building is the assembly. Painting and foiling does not thrill me. I only paint because I have to. Using Bare Metal Foil, forget it. I hate the stuff. So I'm okay with pre painted or pre decorated cars. That said, I will not be buy this kit because of the subject. I have two very nice present generation Camaro proms. A yellow 2012 SS convertible. And a red 2012 SS coupe. Until a major redesign of the real car, that's enough for me. Scott

Did you read all the postings on this thread? If you do, you should know the answer to your question. Scott

Was the guy okay in this? Scott

Thanks for the great info, Bob. And thanks to everybody else for the nice comments. Scott

By the way, the Scout pickup photo Rick posted (see below) is not a Terra. Below is a Terra. Notice the longer wheelbase. Scout IIs were on a 100 inch wheelbase. Where Scout Traveler and Terra rode on a 118 inch wheelbase. The model does not represent a Terra. Scott

Ah, that explains it. Scott

Vice nice. Didn't Rommel use one in North Africa from time to time? Scott

I wonder if your thinking of the Scout Traveler? Which replaced the full size pickup based Travelall. The first photo here is a '69 Travelall. The second photo here is the Scout Traveler. All Scout models were smaller than the Travellall. But the Scout Traveler and the Scout Terra pickup truck were longer than the regular Scout II. The Ertl model is a regular Scout II by the way. Scott