Russell C

Needs a bigger engine and more wheels. https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/rolling-insanity-pocket-biography-of-the-metronome-an-english-blown-hemi-altered-based-on-a-bond-bug-micro-car/

Aha, I see 'em now, via the Drastic Plastic instructions for a '64 Marauder & the '57 Ford Flashback. Good to know.

Just spotted it in a current ebay sale, the Beatnik Box has an interesting supercharger setup. Would be handy if it was done in 25th scale....

Been bothered by that appearance, too. For sheer realism on air flow, while being true to the box art, a builder could either get the decal to adhere like crazy to a photoetched grille, and then laboriously cut away all the decal material between the bars, or replicate the decal in paint over a photo etch grille. Mucho work, though.

Great 'what-if' idea complimented by a fabulous model.

Cougarutlassamaro … or something.

My gripe as well with some kits. Got another Monogram '41 Lincoln Continental recently for a mild custom project, and one thing that always bugged me about the kit was its pie-plate flat headlight reflectors. Yours is a solution when another kit's bowl reflectors aren't readily available.

Aha, you are the one who ended up with this glue bomb I sold for cheap on ebay. Monogram stock version kit. Glad to know it went to an appreciative home. I originally got it for about equally cheap, and also got a Tamiya DTM "Tabac Original" Mercedes partial build for a smokin' low price around the same time, with evil intent on combining the two. Then I got a more evil idea to use a different body altogether, however, it'll be a project a lot further down the road.

If you can't get rid of the warp, you can always cartoon the car instead for a dragster launch, with giant slicks & cotton material smoke, a 1/12 scale engine, etc

You, too, can build one: http://www.goodshomedesign.com/vw-beetle-chassis-with-sleeping-and-camping-for-four/

Outlaw sleeper? 8.2 liter mid engine V8 911, currently on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/253836591349 It hides the engine under a cover that looks like a set of suitcases, cover off in this pic ....

Quite nice work!

Built a tudor (with what had to be one of my worst rattlecan paint jobs, orange over crazy blistered purple metalic) to play with in the carpet in '73 or so; photo-altered a phantom "tudor coupe" much more recently; still kicking around the idea of a vintage box-art style using the original black plastic-polished coupe but maybe with the Revell '49 Merc flame decals instead. Lazy in my old age when it comes to painting, vs polishing up nicely colored plastic, but not convinced yet that the much newer Revell-ogram blue coupe is all that great of a color.

One option to keep an eye on when various kits don't have the right wheels/tires is the growing number of diecast collectibles out there, especially when some can be gotten for cheap or for parts. Here's one example.

As my current (31 year old) daily driver is a bit on the low side compared to the plethora of taller SUV / crossover things roaming around now, I miss how the old cars did not have HID headlights that could just as easily double as aircraft landing lights. I can't remember a night within the last five or more years when I didn't have to flip my rear view mirror into the "save yourself from the brights" position at all.

In case you don't have enough reference photos yet, the Bring a Trailer site sometimes has auctions that provide a boatload of close-up detail photos. Here's one for a '73 Courier. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-ford-courier/ I have some nostalgia for these since I learned how to drive a stick shift in my dad's Courier.

I'll have to re-look at those, next time I'm at the hobby shop. Years ago I found an assortment of photo etch airplane or ship model parts sheets in a car parts lot I bought, and I've used most of that up as assorted engine or chassis/interior detail parts. Not overly impressed with the actual vehicle kits, but some might have interesting shapes in them as well.

I remember it years ago, I still have difficulties wrapping my arms around the concept of a Buick with a flying bridge .....

Man! If I only had real cash ...

Happens when you leave things out in the Valley of the Fierce Sun too long.

Ditto - got a pic of the one I snagged here, with a second photo in comparison to a larger scale Shelby Collectibles one.

(Senility on my part - forgot to post these from yesterday's grocery store visit) One needs restoration, the other is all done.

The failure to do so sometimes has entertaining results. The yellow for my old Diablo Speedster Flambé is nail polish, as is the pearl orange for the flames, but when I went to thin one bottle of yellow with lacquer thinner to airbrush it, whatever the nail polish was made out of didn't agree with the thinner. Looked like I'd created fluid for a lava lamp.

Snagged off eBay last week for cheap. A few years back I was kicking around the idea of a mild late ‘50s-era custom of the much more common ’58 Impala hardtop, but got my mind permanently stuck on a Bonneville version instead, only to discover the kits are generally in unobtainium-level prices. Patience does pay sometimes in long term eBay watching, and this one is ideally suited for the price. Since it’s already missing its trim, it’s not like I will be wrecking a pristine original. Only needs a little bit of putty on the rear bumper before rechroming, and as for the rest of it, such as a full roof, there’s no problems a donor ’58 Impala can’t easily cure. As though I really needed another project, of course, but you guys know how that goes …..

Yea! Might call for an unexpected set of stripes, although I can't think of what might work at the moment ....