gwolf

THAT IS F A N T A S T I C! Great detail and perfect color scheme for that Chevy. Excellent work, man. I was asking a friend recently if he remembered the old "Chevy Ci-Tayyyyyyyyy-Shun" commercial from the early 80's. It's stuck in my head again...

Great looking ride from a fantastic year!

The worst model kits I have personally built have to be divided into two areas: General: Any of the MPC flip nose kits, especially the '57 Corvette (the weird, wide rear tires made it even worse) and '53 Ford pickup. I built them in the 80's and hated them. Tried them again a few years ago, still hate them. I do like the regular MPC kits, though. Specific: Sorry to step on anyone's toes here, but the absolute worst is the Revell 1959 Ford Skyliner. I got it for Christmas as a teenager in 1987 and it still sits unbuilt in 2014 because the parts just didn't work for me. I've tried several times over the years to work on it and it's a disaster. Specific (runner up): Mr Hobby Volkswagen Karman Ghia Convertible. The body is nicely done, great wheels and tires, but some of the parts, such as the seats and convertible boot are almost rubbery and were impossible to glue down. A poor fitting interior tub that never fit correctly didn't allow for contact with the frame of the car, so it could never be permanently attached. Great tooling, very poor follow through. Best Model Kits I have personally built: AMT '57 Ford, any JoHan kit, and although it lacks separate exhaust, the Monogram 1958 Ford Thunderbird is by far the easiest and most well done kit I've come across. Just my opinion...

I will look at the can, Gordon. I got it at Home Depot and it wasn't that much.

They are good kits, Todd. Still haven't done anything with it though.

I did not, the paint had built in primer which worked pretty well.

That looks great! Nice work, man!

Well, there really aren't many rare or very valuable matchbooks out there, except for the Lindbergh one or some of the very early 1880's ones, but those are extreme ends of the spectrum. Most of us collect not for value, but for fun. Used condition is always less preferable to like new condition but you really have to have something special for it to be worth more than a few dollars. I've been a dealer for more than a few years and usually bring 10,000+ matchcovers with me that I sell for a dime each. Affordability makes the hobby really practical.

That's fantastic, Tom!

I'm sure that was some part of it, Andy. But matches still are the cheapest form of advertising next to word of mouth so some places are still giving them out, especially casinos.

Those Tip 'N Twinkle matchbooks are very funny and there's quite a few of them. I've seen the drive-in one, one for a vacation to Alcatraz and one for space travel with interesting female aliens. I imagine that design would look great on a t-shirt!

Not a stupid question at all. It's really personal preference whether or not you take the matches out. There are a few who don't but most of us do and that allows us 1) more room and 2) to display them in plastic sheets in a binder and 3) removes any worry from the matches possibly igniting. Generally it's the art and subject on the matchbook cover that makes them collectible. However, there are some matches called features that you do want to keep the matches intact (see below) This late 1950's matchbook for a bowling alley has matches shaped like bowling pins. This is a case where you'd want to leave the matches in. That Pep Boys gag is funny, isn't it? It reminded me too of the Land O' Lakes package gag. Here's another one for you, for Ethyl Bearcat gasoline. Another matchbook gag (look where the hole is).

Thanks for the great responses, guys! These auto related matchcovers are fun to collect and it's a blast to find one for your favorite car. It's not an expensive hobby (don't use evilbay to gauge values, they are highly inflated and totally inaccurate) and lots of times if you go to the matchbook events you can get these for about a dollar and sometimes free (conventions usually have three freebie tables with tons of free matchbooks and matchcovers). There are other auto related matchbooks too, everything from Pep Boys to Midas to Perfect Circle piston ring sets to gas and motor oil of all varieties. A very old Pep Boys matchcover, probably from the late 1930's. An old gag using a Pep Boys matchbook. A nice assortment of late 70's to mid 1980's Chevrolet dealership matchcovers. Dealerships could purchase these and have their specific location added to the back side. Some simple gas station matchcovers. Two of my favorites, one for Mr. Goodwrench (remember him?) and one advertising the most exciting catalog of my youth, the J.C. Whitney catalog.

Hey all, Wanted to do a little show and tell about my other sometimes car related hobby. I've been collecting matchbooks for the last few years and have had a blast doing it. Mostly old ones, from the 1930's through the late 1960's. Just like model building, it's an old school hobby that you could talk to you dad about doing and he'd have something cool to say about it. Matchbooks are generally collected with the staple and matches carefully removed and placed in clear pages just like baseball cards. These car dealership matchbook covers usually have one panel for the car ad and the rear panel to place individual dealership location info. I have more of these (and much cooler ones) so I'll post a few and if you guys dig 'em I'll post some more. First up are these Pontiac and Oldsmobile covers. The first one is a 30 strike (the matchbook contained 30 matches instead of the standard 20) 1959 Oldsmobile followed by two 20 strike covers for the 1965 Pontiac and 1965 Oldsmobile. Next up is this 1961 Ford Falcon cover with everyone's favorite beagle, Snoopy. My favorite of the bunch, these two 30 strike Canadian covers advertise Pontiacs in the 1980's. I wish they made a model of that fastback Pontiac Sunbird. Next up we have two 40 strike (these matchbooks contained 40 matches instead of the standard 20) for a mid 60's Plymouth and a 1950's Buick. The mighty 1957 Chevy The 1958 Chevy 1961 Chevrolet trucks An older, late 50's-early 1960's hobby shop matchcover thrown in just for the fun of it. I hope you enjoyed these. Let me know if you did and I'll post more. Our local club has a website here: http://marvaclub.blogspot.com/ Greg Wolf

Brian Setzer is just an all around bad ass if you ask me. Always beena fan of the Stray Cats.

Thanks, Jon. I liked this kit a lot and if I had much more time there's tons of stuff you could really do with it, i.e., add a real wood bed, add a stake bed. I'm too scared to chop tops, but it sounds like fun.

That lawnmower is fantastic! Great work, man!

Nice work! That paint job is incredible.

Oh man, that's bad!

Got this in the mail the other day. Original sealed MPC Camaro Z28, made in 1984 according to the box. Originally got this for Christmas in 1985 I think, sent to me from my granddad who I didn't see often. He was a straight Chevy man and I'm sure that's why he picked this one out. I have the original one I built as a 12 year old and will make this one exactly like it, except with the skills of a 41 year old. I'd like to display them together eventually.

It's great when you find one of your grail kits, isn't it? Congrats! Got mine this year; 1959 Dodge Royal

THAT is brilliant! Excellent job, man!

You know what? I'm kinda getting bummed out about the "you did it wrong" attitude that shows up on comments on this forum from time to time. I can handle these kind of negative comments myself because I really I don't care if someone doesn't dig what I spent my time and money to build, but what I can't handle is negative comments that might discourage others from building and showing their work. Ken, I think you made a rockin' hot rod and it looks fantastic. The black wash on the rims and engine are superb, the spark plug wires give just enough color and the grill is great, too. The Rat Roaster engine looks perfect in this '32 and the suicide doors and weld seams set it apart from the bulk of '32s I've seen. Excellent work.

I have that Lindberg kit and was just looking at it the other night. Might be able to build it without the fender assembly if you wanted. The roof is straight vertical, perfect for chopping. Two options for the bed if I remember right. I doubt it's worth much. I'd build it.

Nice! That looks great. I saw a bunch of these at the flea market this weekend (in baggies) and I considered it, but I'm a true blue 1/25 scaler...