Faust

That old saying about not judging a book by its cover seems to be true! When I got the Sword 1/72 TF-9J Cougar with the Vietnam-era decals and weapons, I was pretty excited. The kit looked decent, and despite being a bit expensive, I figured it would be a fairly easy project. Yeah, well… turns out, it’s not quite as nice as it looked. I’ve been battling this thing for a bit, and while I’ve now got it together, I have to say it’s a lot more short-run than I’d have thought. However, I’ve wanted a Twogar forever, so I’m still glad I’ve got it. I think. Check out how it’s going at the update below, and when they say “buyer beware”, remember that they may have had this thing in mind! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/2022/10/13/sword-1-72-tf-9j-twogar-update/

Looks awesome! I love it when these ancient kits get built and shown off! Awesome job!

If it’s not “what you’ve got” but “what you do with it”, then, unfortunately, the armoured vehicles of the WWII Imperial Japanese Army come up short no matter what you do. As a nation that had no real need of conventional armoured forces, the Japanese never really developed powerful tanks in the vein of their German allies or the Americans and British. However, as the American island-hopping campaign got underway, it became apparent that some new weapons would be needed to counter the types of tank their enemies preferred. Thus, like many other nations, the idea of the “tank destroyer” gained some traction. One such vehicle was the Ho-Ni. This rather pedestrian effort was largely a “too little, too late” effort, and there weren’t enough to make much of a difference. Of course, I love oddballs, and this rather wheezy attempt at anti-tank artillery grabbed my right away! Check out the old 1/76 Fujimi kit of this understandably forgotten tank killer at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/fujimi-1-76-ho-ni-type-1-tank-destroyer-oob/

I thought something looked off on the side view. Now I'm really wondering how this is going to work, decal-wise! Good idea about a mid-engine conversion!

What’s black and white and red (and yellow, orange and purple) all over? If you said “A newspaper!” then you need to share whatever you’re putting on your Cheerios in the morning, because hogging that isn’t cool. If you answered “oh heaven's to Betsy! are you talking about?” then you KNOW you’re on the right track for something crazy. What uses that palette? Well, here are some hints. MPC. Harry. Bradley. Minitruck. If you guessed the “California Sunshine” kit based on the Datsun 620 mould, then pat yourself on the back, because that is correct! I received one of these classic beauties for my Birthday, so let’s all share the fun and check out this as-yet-to-be-rereleased classic, at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mpc-1-25-california-sunshine-oob/

After some messing around with this, I can guarantee you that the pic on the box side is not a built kit; it's way longer, and the front wheel arches are far higher. As far as I can tell, the decals on this kit were made for some other truck and kit completely, the fit is that abysmal. In fact, I think it's far beyond my abilities to save them. I may have to go with a completely custom paint job, and just use this as a "cool custom truck" vs. the actual "California Sunshine". I'll have to get into it some more, but you can imagine there's an article forming about this for my website already! It seems like the real Cali Sunshine was a lot different than just a Datsun with some flares. This isnt' the first time MPC has botched something royally...

I likely would have built it, but someone wanted to give me money for it, and that just means that I can fuel my obsession for more weirdness, so I had to let it go. I got a Matchbox Victor K.2 on the weekend, if that helps at all (likely doesn't, but you know, I tried...) I can't get over how much nicer (relatively speaking, of course) the kit is compared to the ancient Revell F-94C. Now THAT.... that's a dog's breakfast! All things considered, it's not the worst kit I've seen or built. The Airfix Trimotor is worse in some ways, and the Pioneer 2 Su-15 is more crude, despite being 20-30 years newer, at least!

Um... I resemble that remark! Nice picks! I have built the Cavalier, and the Escort is in the stash. I'm pretty honoured that my name gets attached to such Malaise-Era awesomeness! Thanks for the shout out guys!

Wow... how did I miss this? That's looking awesome! It's the same colour I tried to get on mine, and I think yours looks better! Great work on another Malaise-era underdog! Gotta love that stuff!

The ‘50s were an exciting time, with airplanes improving, performance-wise, in leaps and bounds, and with new, futuristic shapes taking to the skies in increasing numbers. Swept wings, delta wings, rockets and afterburners… it was as if all the sci-fi serials had exploded into life overnight. For aviation-minded youths of the time, it was only natural to want to build the “latest and greatest” of these new aircraft as soon as possible. To that end, the modelling companies of the day often tripped over each other to be the “first out” with kits of new and racy planes, sometimes to the detriment of accuracy. In North America, Revell, Renwal, and Aurora battled fiercely in the styrene arena (Styrena?), while in Britain it was Airfix vs. FROG. Recently, I had a chance to get some of these ancient gems, and I asked which one people wanted to see first. The winner was the FROG 1/72 Javelin, which represents a prototype, not even the initial service marks! Check out this classic beast at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/frog-1-72-gloster-javelin-prototype-oob/

Yeah, it does look white, doesn't it. Since it's moulded (ostensibly) in white, that's what I'm going with. Oh crud... that kind of decal, eh? that's a shame. Maybe I'lll make some extra myself and then I have them when I need them. I'm not sure I want to have that much painting to do on this thing. However, if I have long strips of orange and red decal, at least, I can do some work on it. I might paint the purple though. Thanks for the heads up!

The Javelin is one I love, because it's such a ball of crud. I mean, it's so fat, and thick, and it takes all the "high speed, space age"-ness of the deta wing and turns it into a caricature! I hear on on "cool factor". I too love the Cutlass and the Demon. The Demon is so, sooo slick looking. Then you realize it has hardly any air intakes... that can't be good. Voodoos? Hell yeah! Loved them as a kid at air shows, still love them now! Ugly French bombers... can't not love those! Nothing wrong with the flying Dustbuster that is the Hun, either!

I'm amazed that there's not more information out there on this thing. I'm also shocked at how badly that Sunshine got... uh... baked? If it was important enough for MPC to kit, I'd have thought there would be some kind of information on it out there, like in old Hot Rod magazines or something. Does anyone even know the real colour? Is it white or silver?

Hey guys! Well, I consider myself pretty lucky! We celebrated my birthday the other day, and my brother got me an original, still-sealed, California Sunshine kit! Of course, I opened it right away, and was glad to see no "tire melt" on the windows, although a tiny big of easily fixed damage to the decals (only on the black! Yay!). Now, I want to get at this thing: I've wanted it for years! However, finding information on it seems to be next to impossible. I know there were flare kits that you could get to "IMSA-fy" Your Datsun 620, but I want to do the Sunshine as the real, honest-to-goodness show truck that it is. I thought, since it was an official IHRA (I think) show car, that pictures of it would abound on the net, but really, I've gotten next to nothing. I can't even tell what colour it's supposed to be. Is it silver? Is it white? It's moulded it white (now yellowish-white, of course), so I'm thinking the truck must have been white, but it looks silver on the box. The interior seems to be white, but that doesn't tell me about the exterior. Does anyone have any links to articles, pics or anything else of this cool little truck? Thanks a tonne!

Hey Rusty! Yeah, I wasn't sure where to put this, and sometimes, this site has trouble on my computer, too. That sucks about the poll. It has had lower than the usual number of respondents, so that must be why. Wordpress changed how they do polls, and I'm not tech savvy enough to figure it out (yet) but I guess I'll have to get there! I'm sorry about that, but I do appreciate you reading it, enjoying it, and letting me know about the problems!

Got anything on the California Sunshine?

When I say “silver”, what comes to mind? Is it a very precious metal? Is it the hair on an elderly gentleman? Or, is it the streamlined shape of a prowling fish? One thing that should come to mind is fast ‘50s jets, with their penchant for bare-metal silver chrominess! And, just like those real jets, there were a lot of kits from that time that tried to capture the look with silver plastic! I recently came across a quintet of such kits, and they’re silver in that they are supposed to look fast, they are aged, being from the ‘50s, and they are somewhat precious! For some really classic, early-run-not-retro old-skool modelling excitement, check out my score of 1950’s FROG jets at the link below! Vote on your favourite, too! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/1950s-frog-collection/

I get your horror at the Superfly totally wrecking a nice GP, being a Poncho fan myself, Steve. For me, the "Travolta Fever" Trans Am is the same; I love my '80 T/A and consider it a pinnacle of automotive styling, but I still would love a Travolta kit. The great thing about the kit is that you can have something fun and wacky, and use it as a hammer to remind people why we DON'T CUSTOMIZE CARS like this anymore. It's a great laugh and a great shaming tool all at once! Of course I have a real love of the ugly, maligned and totally horrendously ridiculous, so I might be a bad "voice of reason". Man, that His and Hers thing shows how bad Barris really was. I mean, it makes the FOXY VETTE look awesome! Again... a good shaming tool on both parts. I won't bother if it's a gasser, or another Mustang. I've hardly bought any Round 2 kits lately because they've gotten away from the weird '70s and '80s stuff. the LUV and the Courier are the only ones I've picked up in the last year or two. They need to get their mojo back, and you cannot get more mojo than the Grand Superfly! Heck, keep the targa - it's better that way anyway!

WHAT??? Of all those listed, the Superfly is the ONLY one I care about! If it was that, I would surely "Freak"! That is one of my holy grails; pimptastic from head to toe!

Wow, that Toyota Dually is awesome! I have to find one of those somewhere!

Wow, they made a Cyclone, eh? Interesting... I love that Camaro, and the colour is dead-nuts '90s!!! From what I can tell the "Z10" is actually the Chevy S10 "Xtreme". I think they should have stuck with "Z10", but that's not as '90s. Thanks for the info about the Tamiya Jeep, too, Ken. I've never seen that kit nor even heard of it (obviously).

Sometimes, you end up with a bunch of similar things without even trying. A perfect example of that is my (admittedly small) collection of Lindberg 1/20 model cars. I never really went out of my way to collect them, I just kinda bought them when I saw them. Then, I realized I had a gaggle of them hanging around my stash! So, I thought it would be fun to visit a bit of a model car Brobdingnag and see how the “bigger half” lives. I have some older MPC 1/20 kits, but the Lindbergs are neat because they’re all from the ‘90s, when kits of this size were really not a thing! Check them out and let me know what you think? Did you ever get into these? It doesn’t seem too many did… https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/lindberg-1-20-scale-cars/

Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d put up another Dinky Army review. However, I wanted to do something really out of left field, something that’s not as often thought about when one thinks of Dinky Toys. That something is a French Dinky Toy! Yes, as oddly juxtaposed as it may sound, today’s topic is a Dinky Toy made in France, in a French box, not related to a British toy at all. Adding to the fun, it’s an incredibly piece-y and complex bruiser of a toy, the Brockway Bridge Layer! So, if you’ve ever had an imaginary river you needed your Dinky Army to cross, this was the piece of kit you’d turn to in order to accomplish that. Heck, even if the water was real, this think could have come to the rescue! Check it out at the link below, and let me know what you think! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/dinky-toys-no-884-brockway-bridgelayer-truck/

When I posted the stuff I got at HeritageCon 14 a couple of weeks ago, I had a lot of interesting kits on display. I asked people what they wanted me to review first, and I was totally unsurprised by the result! The winner was the oh-so very weird and wonderful Suzuki Carry “Matsuri Van”! I mean, if you can’t see a Kei-class truck with a dude Taiko drumming on the roof would be the winner, then you need to go back to ESP-school, I think! Just like me when I bought it, I think a lot of people are drawn to the weirdness and want to see what it’s all about. So, being a firm believer in “give the people what they want”, you can read all about this pint-sized “parade-on-a-box” at the link below! You must provide your own Sake, however. https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/aoshima-1-24-suzuki-carry-festival-wasshoi-matsuri-van-oob/

With road trips across borders being taboo, and no model shows, the last few years have proven to be a bit of a challenge when it comes to getting my hands on old, weird sprue. Thankfully, I’ve had a local show buy up an old collection and my good friend Alan has pitched in to help me out, too. However, this past weekend, the dam broke when the HeritageCon 14 show took place in Hamilton, Ontario! It was a huge show with lots of great things to see, and lots of weird stuff to buy! I may have gone a little nuts, but you can judge that for yourself! Check out my haul at the link below, and vote for your favourite three (3) in the poll at the end of the article! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/heritagecon-14-haul/ This is only a tiny bit of what I got!!