unclescott58

Guess what I dreamt about last night? Last night I dreamt I was working with sixth graders at the elementary school I went to as kid. A school I later did work at in my subbing days too. The only things were, they don't teach sixth grade in that school any more. And the sixth grade classrooms were where the fifth grade classrooms where at, fifty years ago. Other than that, it was an overall pleasant dream.

Yea. I too have had that one. Never at a flea market. Always a store.. and always disappointing to wake up from that one.

Being basically an extrovert, I've been climbing the walls a bit. The school I work at started its spring break on March 6th. We were suppose to go back and start our third trimester a week ago yesterday, on March 17th. Thankfully I've got plenty of models, books, DVDs, and of course good old YouTube and regular TV ? to keep me busy. But it's not the same. I miss the interaction with both the kids and my coworkers at work. Heres one that kind of surprised me. I've been a long standing member of AA for many years now. Well guess what happened when I went to go to my regular meeting a week ago Tuesday? The AA club where the meeting is held is now closed. As of 5 pm that day. I don't see it as major threat to my sobriety. But what about the new comer? And how long will this last? I hope and pray all of us out there make it through this okay. And this ends soon.

Your probably right. I should ignore it.

I keep dreaming about Duluth, MN, and several of my relatives farms not far from Duluth. In my dreams Duluth is a much larger and much more cosmopolitan city than it is real life. And seem to really enjoy my visits to this version of Duluth. The visit to the farms, and the towns near those farms not so much. The main farm I visit in my dreams is my uncle Art's. Like Duluth, things are never the way remember them. But, for some reason I feel confused and not always pleased. For twelve years I worked as sub in several different schools. In several different districts. And with kids of all grades. Just this year, I agreed to take a full time position at the school I had subed the most at, and liked the best. A high school. And yet I commonly have dreams where I end up working at a different school. It maybe a school that I know. Than again it may not. If it is a school I know, it's always changed in ways that I don't understand or can remember. It makes it hard for me to find the classrooms I'm looking for. Yet I never get in trouble. And people always seem happy to see me. So, even if though these dreams seem confusing, they don't really seem all that bad.

I wonder, will this be released with Coca-Cola packaging and decals too?

I'd love to see the old AMT/MPC '72 Chevrolet or GMC pickup trucks come back. It's been a while. I still have two unbuilt Chevrolets that I plan on using with the Model King Camper and Wedge kit(s) from a few years back. In my recent collection, which means the last thirty years or so, I've really only built two short bed GMCs. One with the step side box that came with the kit. Another with short style side box made years ago by a good resin maker year ago. Speaking of resin makers. I do have a Modelhaus 1969 grille I plan on using with my Model King Camper. The Racer's Wedge will keep the stock 1972 look. Its dawned on me that I'm missing one important version of this truck. I need to build just a good old Chevy style side long box. As offered with AMT's old '72 Chevy pickup truck kit. So I really hope Round 2 does gets around to reissuing this kit sometime in the near future. Prices have become a little ridiculous on eBay. Even though I too would love to see a modern tool of this generation GM truck. I still do not mind the old one. It's easy to build. And looks good on surface. The main reason I like to see a new tool done, is so hopefully we could get some other years and variations done on this basic truck. A 1969 Chevrolet, two-wheel drive, Suburban would be number one on my wish list. Second, a 1967 GMC pickup with the big GMC V-6 engine. I don't except I'll see either one. So I'd be happy to get another old AMT kit into my collection.

Buy a poster? And put it where? Where can I get one? And what's wrong with wanting a kit in box using the original box art? I don't get it when people make comments like the above. Sure it's minor. But I just don't get it? I'm not holding my breath waiting for Revell to do what I would like to them do, with this kit, or several others. But, why is it, if I express something like I did here, I'm told "if you want art, buy a poster?" I have not been posting a lot here over the last several months. But because of the Corona virus I've been unable to go to my regular job the last few weeks. I've been having fun sitting at home building models. And I thought it might be fun to share my enjoyment of the hobby, again on this sight. Negative "troll" comments, even minor ones, like the one above make me question that decision. What to do?

I even like the box art on the above Monogram Porsche 904, better than the box art used on the Monogram reissue of the Aurora 904. The box art above, on 1996 reissue I just picked up, is a copy of a box art Monogram used on the kit back in 1965. Again, much more appealing than any photograph if the kit could be.

Besides being interested in building the closed cab version of this kit. I would love it they would reissue this kit with this box art. I love that old box art. Again selling the sizzle rather the steak.

In today's mail: The 1996 reissue of Monogram's 1/24 scale Porsche 904. This is the curbside kit based on their old slot car from the mid-60's. Not the more detailed kit, that was originally tooled up by Aurora. I look the overall looks of the "true" Monogram 904 over the Aurora version. It just looks more right to me. And I reallly don't mind that it's a curbside. Sometimes it's nice to put together something quick and simple. So I'm pretty happy.

Both the GT and Toyota look beautiful. Two problems for me ever owning either. Is size and I'm sure cost. What do these kits cost in the end?

Here's another one I got yesterday from Amazon. Four hours later, I had it finished. It's the 1/4 scale Porsche 911 by Franzis. I do question the scale being listed as 1/4 when you compare it to their own 1/3 Mustang motor. And The Renwal/Revell Visiable V-8. Also claimed to in 1/4 scale. Still a very nice kit.

I have four more to add to my list. 1. The AMT '32 Ford two-door sedan that came originally in the double kit with the '40 Willys coupe. As much as I love the '32 grille and grille shell, I really like the Edsel grille on that one. 2. The Monogram Mean Maverick. I got one for Christmas one year ('71 or '72). And I loved it! 3. Monogram's original, molded in green, Poison Pinto. Another great Danials' design. 4. Another Monogram kit. Their Mercedes Benz 450SL. I don't understand why this kit was never reissued after the 1970's? It was a simple, but very nice kit. Heck, lets make the model car list an even ten. (Well, kind of, as you'll see.) 10. Any of the JoHan Oldies series of models reissued in the 1970's. Look what was included in the group. The '60 DeSoto 2-door hardtop and Plymouth station wagon. The '62 Dodge Dart 440 and Plymouth Fury. In both 2-door hardtops and convertibles. The '62 Chrysler 300H hardtop. And the '66 AMC Marlin. All of those kits belong on my "holy grain" list. And last, not a car kit. But, very desirable kit in another realm. Revell's Space Station kit from '59. A poor seller at the time. Revell later destroyed the molds. Today it's a very sought after. And very expensive.

Looks good.

Any word? Did I understand it correctly that Round 2 will be reissuing the AMT 1/16 Thunderbird? Or was I mistaken on that one?

Interesting that Casey brought this model up. At our February Model Car Club of Minnesota meeting, we decided to do a club build/contest. Guess what model was decided on? AMT's '41 Plymouth. What an odd coincidence. Part of the reason for picking this car is that you see so few built. And the one kit dealer at our meeting has several left over from the last reissue, and is willing to sell them to us cheap. Any issue can be used for the build. I'll be using one I think I picked up back in the 1990's. For the build, one can do what ever they what with kit. With the talent in our group, it will be interesting see what they come up with.

A question of scale. As you know, I've built 3 "visiable" large scale engines in the last couple of weeks. Finishing the Porsche engine this afternoon. When I sat the Porsche engine by its sister Ford engine made by the same company. It brought up the question about what scale are these models really? Franzis claims their 289 Mustang motor is of 1/3 scale. Their Porsche 911 motor 1/4. Yet side by side, the 2.0 litre Porsche motor looks bigger than the 4.7 litre Mustang motor. Putting the 1/4 scale Porsche boxer 6 by the Renwal/Revell Visiable V-8, also claimed to be 1/4 scale, it looks enormous. Time to get out the old tape measure. Not counting the water pump. Just the engine block. The Franzis Ford 289 measures out to about 8 inches long. Talking to a friend who knows these engines fairly well, he says that should be right for 1/3 scale Ford 289. The real 289, block, not counting water pump, is about 24 inch long. Good so far. The Franzis 1/4 scale Porsche 911 motor measures about 12 inches in width, at it's widest, not counting the exhaust manifolds. From top of one valve cover to the top of the other valve cover. 12 inches. At 1/4 scale, this means the real engine is 4 feet wide! I think Franzis has got their scale wrong on this one. At the same time I don't have the specifications on the Porsche engine ready on hand to check how big the real engine is. 4 feet just seems too big to me. The 1/4 scale Visiable V-8? Tough to check. Is it really a Studebaker V-8 or not? But, just looking at it compared side by side to the 1/3 scale Mustang V-8, it looks right for the difference in the two scales. I have not measured the Visiable V-8. And I don't have the specs for the Studebaker V-8 right at my fingertips. So we'll leave that alone for now. I'm sure in my vast library, I do have the exact specs for all 3 real engines. And I may have to do more research in the future. But, I thought in the meantime I'd bring it up to you guys, and see what you think? It will be interesting to get the AMT Transparent 283 V-8 I have coming from a seller on eBay. AMT/Ertl claimed it to be in 1/6 scale. It will be interesting to see how compares to the other three?

Not a V-8. But, another Franzis engine model complete. The Franzis Porsche 911 engine. 1/4 scale. Like their Mustang engine I built above, another great kit. Took just about four hours to complete. Everything looks great. Fits great. And works great. Other than price, I love these Franzis kits.

4 hours and it's done! My second Franzis engine. I built their Mustang 289 K code engine almost two weeks ago. I was so happy with that I had to buy Porsche 911 motor too. I great kit. Everything snaps and screws together. No waiting for glue to dry. And like the old Renwal/Revell Visible V-8, everything is sturdily designed, and works the first time. I love it.

Amazon just dropped this. Since I can't go into work, this isn't a bad way to fill in the time.

Looks great. I like it.

A four-door Wranger might be cool too. Around here, I see more four-doors now, than two-doors, of the lastest generation Wrangers.

Peter, your wright, Atlas does put out a couple of very nice structures. As you can see by my switching tower below. A lot of Bachmann structures really turn me off. But, the Buchmann Plus "Freight & Passenger Station" I found a few years ago. I've not seen a station for my layout I like better.

Dave, it's the HO guys who've got it made when it comes to the variety and amount of structures, rolling stock, etc. From my understanding N is the second most popular scale in miniature railroading, after HO. So I'm sure we've got it pretty good compared to other scales. But, we are still a poor second in popularity to HO. HO overwhelms all. I drool when I go through the HO sections in Walthers catalogs of recent years. Wishing I could have those things the HO guys can buy, in N. By the way, Walthers doesn't even publish a seperate N scale catalog anymore. We use to get a catalog with N and Z together. Now N and Z are small parts shared with HO in the same catalog. It makes it hard to not be even more jealous of those HO guys. Because of what's available in HO, I sometimes regret going with N scale in the first place. Yet I like the size of N. One can fit a lot of stuff into a very small place. And trust me, I live in a very small place. Without a lot room for any layout. N or HO. I mainly love passenger trains. Yet passenger trains are really too big for the layout I have. I can't imagine putting an HO, especially HO passenger train in the same space. By the way, I like the building above. What scale is it? It would look cool in my imaginary small town I'm building for my layout. Yet I've not seen that one available in N.