unclescott58

I'm telling you, it's a sickness. Look what I just found out on my porch.

Oh! By the way Snake. I keep thinking about buying a copy of Lindberg's Gee Bee Racer. Any thoughts on that one? Is it okay? Or do I need to be committed to the HaHa Hilton? And of the two mainstream (read cheap) Gee Bee kits out there, which would you recommend? The Lindberg, or Hawk?

Just finished AMT's old Airwolf helicopter kit in the "stock" Bell 222B version. It's not that I don't like the helicopter from Airwolf. I like the regular civilian model better.

Ah. You understand. Your sick too ?.

Thanks Snake, but I have no need for the stands. I'm okay with them sitting on their landing gear. In fact in most cases I prefer it. As far as advice on old kits by Lindberg and others. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them, but I don't know if it would change my mind on picking them up or not? Again, I have no regrets buying the Lindberg F-80C/F-94C combo kit. True, they are junk. But, I kind of like them. I know, it's a sickness ?. I can not help it.

You were right on those two. Wow! The F-94C Starfire in particular is bad. The worst cockpit, or lack there of, that I've ever seen in any airplane kit. Look into the engine intakes, and what do you see? Nothing! There is nothing in there! With the lack of cockpit detail, you might see the radar operator's lower torso, legs, and feet in there. And where are the landing gear bays? The the gear is there. So are the gear doors. But no bays for them to retract into and cover. The F-80C Shooting Star is a little better. But not by much. It includes a full cockpit. Landing gear bays. Air intake pieces. But, look in the exhaust, and like the Starfire you'll see nothing but a hollow plastic tube. Still it's a better kit than Lindberg's F-94C. Just not much better. And you asked about stands, Snake. There are none. They are going to have sit on a desk or shelf on their own landing gear. An I disappointed? Yes and no. I didn't pay a lot for the two of them. I kind of knew what I was getting into a head of time. And I've built BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH like this in the past. So it's not a big surprise. I still have hopes for making them look somewhat okay in the end. Lindberg's Winnie Mae is a lot better. Interior detail, like AMT's version is lacking in both kits. The Lindberg version has only one exhaust coming out of the lower engine cowling. And then that exhaust looks like nothing I've seen in any of the photos of the real Winnie Mae. But, it does the look similar to the exhaust you'll see on some photos of Amelia Airhart's Lockheed Vega. And from my understanding, there are aftermarket decals out there to convert this kit into Airhart's Vega. So what flaws the Lindberg Winnie Mae has, are much easier to overlook than those of Lindberg's F-80C or F-94C. Despite everything, I'm happy with my recent purchases of Lindberg airplane kits. No regrets. I'll have fun doing the best that I can with each kit.

WARNING! Lindberg's F-80C Shooting Star and F-94C Starfire leave a lot to be desired. WOW! Are they bad. Very low parts count. And a lot of details are missing. Thank goodness the price wasn't too bad for the two kits. The decals look good. So I'm hoping between careful painting and proper application of decals the two plane may look okay. But only okay. We'll see.

Believe it or not, I have the old Esci/Ertl release of the AMT Winnie Mae. Doing some basic subassembly work and comparing the two, I'm surprised how nice the Lindberg version is. In fact, looking at the two together, I'm not sure which one I like better. The Lindberg Winnie Mae is that nice. I've never owned the Lindberg F-80C or F-94C up to this point. Or anybody's else's F-80 or F-94 plastic kits. I do have a very nice, but small, prebuilt die-cast F-80 in my collection. I love the looks of early jet fighters. And I knew the Lindberg kits may not the best. But, sometimes I like the simple crudeness of those early plastic kits from the mid-to-late 50's. I have not opened the bags inside the box and started doing any work on either kit yet. They do look a little rude and crude from what I'm seeing. Not as nice Lindberg's Winnie. Still, I'm happy with the choice. Will I be happy after I build them? More than likely l will. But if not, I do know that other companies offer nice kits of the F-80. The one I'm mainly interested in in this case. In the meantime, I'll have no regrets.

Still on an airplane kick. So where does one go to buy airplane model kits? Why Auto World of course. Right? Here are two (3) new kits I got today from Auto World.

I'm in really no rush to find the Magician's Corvette. If I was, I think I be leaning toward a '74, even though I like the chrome rear bumpered '73s better. But, since the '74 was the one mainly used in the series. I'd also lean towards the MPC kit, rather the old AMT version. Restoration parts availability from the MPC '75 wound be one reason. The other? From what I remember, the MPC Corvettes from this time period were better kits than the AMT kits. By the way. I know that for several years MPC offered their C-3 Corvette kits in both 1/25 and 1/20 scale. Did they do this with the '73 or '74 coupes? It might be fun to build the larger version to display with the Magician's plane.

Okay. I can now build Bill Bixby, the "Magician" airplane the Sprirt. As one can see, I bought Roden's1:144 scale Boeing 720 Starship One. Kit #314. One of four variations in Roden's Music Series Boeing 720s. Two representing two different paint schemes for the Boeing 720, N7201U, the Starship One. The other two representing Boeing 720, N7224U, 'Caesar's Chariot' in two different paint schemes. It looks like a great kit. The parts are molded sharp and crisp. No flash what so ever. The instructions are great. They give a good history on the 720 series in general and Starship One itself. Though no mention is made of it's use in the Magician. There is also a great seperate sheet, in color, showing the paint instructions and decal placement. And the decals look very good too. Overall, I'm impressed. To hopefully to make this a little easier to build, I also bought a Montez Mini Mask set designed for this kit. It contains masks for all the windows. Most importantly the windshields. It also has masks for wheels/tires. Why, I'm not sure? I wish they made a mask that could help with painting the downward slope of the paint on the nose. To me, that looks like it maybe the trickiest part of building with kit. Now I need to find a '73 (pilot episode/TV movie) or '74 (series) Corvette to display the plane. The Magician. Still one of the coolest TV shows ever.

Very nice. I just ordered the Aerobatic version from a vendor on eBay this morning.

Looking at the box and the contents, I'm pretty sure this is an original. "Copyright 1957 Monogram Models, Inc. Chicago 32" marked on the box. Even has a small catalog showing the kits available from Monogram at the time. Kit PC13 ($2.49) "Cadillac '56 Series 62 Convertible. With figures, chrome plated grill and bumpers." is the newest car shown in that catalog. They also list "Speedee-Bilt" Plastic and Balsa flying kits in there. And indicate that kits "PM24 - 98c, "Weasel" amphibious cargo carrier." and "PM 25 98c Piper Tri-Pacer. " will both be "Available Aug. 1, 1957". So I'm guessing this is a genuine, vintage kit.

Thank you Snake. Guess what I got in the mail today?! The Cessna 180 floatplane I've been wanting. The guy, Tracy, you put me touch with, was great to deal with. His price was very fair. He shipped it fast. And what he sent me was better than I expected from his description. Especially the shape of the old kit box it came in. I definitely have nothing I can complain about. I'm as happy as one could be. Again, thanks Snake.

On my grail list. I don't need another '40 Willys coupe. But, I really want the custom '32 sedan. I've always liked the looks of this one. A very early 60's custom look that I like. Kool man!

Just added one of these to my collection today.

I don't know why, but I think you kind of ruin it by just showing the ending the way you do here. The wait to getting to that ending makes it more rewarding to see.

If the old Mutt II tooling exists, they need to reissue a stock '76-'77 Cobra II version.

I too find this cool. An odd one from France. One those French Fords after Simca's buy out of that company, I assume?

Three guesses to what I got today. ? Yep. ? Another airplane. A Monogram Piper Tri-Pacer still wrapped in the plastic. A 1995 reissue. Plus a book to help identify the different members in the Piper family.

I like the silo video. Ending definitely made it worth watching. The second video is too longggggggggggg.

Tim - if your view is worth 2 cents, mine is only worth a penny. I always enjoying hearing your opinions on the subject of model kits in particular. Because your opinions tend to be based on facts and logic, rather conjecture.

Had more fun enjoying each other's company, that we never got around to watching the movie. Which was okay with me.

I have a niece with a 16 month ago boy. And it was a lot fun to watch him at his first Christmas where he's kind of aware of what's going on. He loves the song Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and will point at his or others noses when it's being song. He liked the toys he got. But, had much more fun with a box he could sit in. Little kids + Christmas. That's what it's all about to me. The best gift other than watching my grandnephew, was seeing my nieces reactions to what I got for them and their significant others. I am a very avid reader. And love the classics. So they asked that I buy books for each of them for Christmas. As they've enjoyed that in the past from me. So, I got each one a copy of one my all time favorite books. An unabridged copy of the Count of Monte Cristo. The reaction was better than I hoped. I'm really looking forward to hearing their thoughts as they read the book. Little Noah, the grandnephew got a copy of one of my favorite kid's books, Bad Kitty. Sorry to have stray off coarse. No models under the tree for me. But, I'm glad about that. I buy what I want and like model wise for myself all year round. And I hate to disappoint others because I didn't show enough enthusiasm because I either dislike or already have the kit they picked out. I have told friends and family to not even try. I enjoy their company much more than anything else they can give me.

Kind of cool. Where do we go to do this? When I was young, I was dumb enough to try things like that.