ChrisBcritter

This one is sort of cute, especially with the sound off - Live and Let Live, a 1947 safe driving film set in a world populated by stop-motion animated "39 Series" Dinky Toy cars:

From ebay, I got some decent used wheelcovers and a used bumper/grille for the Continental, which is starting to regain its dignity after being dismantled and getting a purple bath: Quarter panels are still an issue; compare it to a tired but uncut '62 body: I'm watching another unpainted convertible body with a broken windshield frame; if I get it cheap I'll clip it from the rear doors back to make one good body.

One difference I'm noticing with Awesome vs the purple stuff: Awesome seems to have a little trouble dissolving silver paint; purple stuff dissolves silver before any other color.

Just picked up a template over at Michael's and I'll give it a try. Thanks!

What an amazing transformation! It deserves to be recreated as a 1/1. Clifford, what made you choose tin as opposed to brass or aluminum for the body work? And who made the wire wheels? They look photoetched.

Hopefully she's giving the brunette a stinging lecture about sitting on other people's cars! The Ford looks good in black. I have one in my "to do" stash; probably will get a set of Magnum 500s for it.

Just please tell me he didn't start with a cherry low mileage original Rivi! The only change I could see making to that design would be curved side glass and roof pillars (GM was a bit late to the party there; the Riviera didn't have that until '66).

This used to be a good idea I came up with: I needed a lot of scale broken glass for a junkyard diorama, and I hit on the idea of used flashcube bulbs. They were very thin glass with a plastic coating; all I had to do was crush them with pliers until the glass crumbled, then cut off the top of the bulb and sprinkle the glass where I wanted it. It worked well 35 years ago, but who knows where you'd find used flashcubes now...

That escalated quickly... At that time, my father was the advertising manager for Pettibone, who made the Cary-Lift that tilts the Vegas up into the boxcar. He used to bring home 8mm and 16mm movies demonstrating the machines they built, and one was a film of the Vegas being loaded.

For Appliance wires, would those be the ones in the AMT '65 Riviera? I also had some nice wire wheels on a chrome tree from a Monogram(?) '32 Ford but I don't know which issue it was.

Definitely DO NOT use oven cleaner on acetate; don't know what purple stuff/yellow stuff/brake fluid/ELO does to it. Having these cast might be better if you can scare up some X-El styrene reissues; the bumpers will fit better (remember these old bodies shrink as well as warp).

They have arrived: '60 Chrysler New Yorker and '61 Continental convertible. The New Yorker had its headlight areas puttied over: But the "putty" turned out to be plasticine clay , fortunately: Off to Modelhaus for the corrected grille (Jo-Han's error; the NYer grille should be inset) and taillight lenses. As for the Continental, it's got four near-mint 1961-only wide whitewalls, an undamaged interior and windshield frame/glass: Its biggest problem is that someone cut down the tops of the rear quarter panels so it's one level front to rear . I do have a complete set of '61 chrome and a damaged '62 sedan body in my CA stash, so I'm hoping to get it shipped out here soon.

This looks vaguely familiar. I think there was a flyer or order form for posters that came with the 1/20 IMC dune buggy kit; anybody have one to check?

And most importantly the NIMBYs can't complain about noise from the track!

I drive this: 1978 Buick LeSabre. Bought it in 2002 from the original little old lady owner in Burbank, CA with 48k on it; it now has 58k. It's got the V-6 with 105 throbbing horsepower, but it's in good shape and comfortable to drive. Now that I'm back in IL I just hope I can stave off the body rot for a few more years. And for my Southern California friends, maybe you'll recognize the characters on the sunshade: Shorty and Cheap Chicken from the old National Lumber commercials!

Love how this one turned out! I've got one molded in gray with red second-tone paint; traded out the rolling stock for a swap meet set of Franklin Mint Ferrari Testarossa wire wheels and tires. In the mid-'70s one of my junior high teachers had a white-and-green '56 88 two-door hardtop that I coveted greatly; I wish I'd kept in touch with her and bought it...

The Modelhaus has the stock dashboard for three bucks. The stock wheelbase is 112"; my '63 convertible promo's wheelbase measures out to 4 15/32", which is 111.71875". Close enough for me! It'd be nice to see some photoetched grilles for this car. Edit: Let's do a head-to-head comparison: You'd have to move the wheelwells back 3/4" to match the 112" wheelbase, but the wheel openings aren't stock.

Not only LeMans, but LeMons as well!

As others here have, I've considered this same method for improving wire wheels, and this proves it can really work! The rest of that chassis is amazing as well. Hope to see the finished car here soon. Now I don't feel so bad about the fistfight it took to put together one of their Model A kits when I was eleven...

Duly noted - thank you!

If I wanted a Chaparral, I wouldn't get nearly as much satisfaction from paying eight grand for it as I would if I found it in a yard sale for five bucks, even if I were rich. Where's the fun in saying "I spent lots and lots of money" as opposed to "I just got a screaming deal"?

Looks like you'll need a set of Chevy van taillights. Good luck!

Just happen to have an old (1970) shot of our family car right here to compare: (Our cat got hold of the slide and got me across the face - no great loss... )

Good score on the T-bird! That custom front end, if you had it, is supposed to be good for converting the AMT '53 Studebaker into a '58 Packard Hawk. I have three incomplete '57s that will someday be combined to build the one Nancy Sinatra had: (Anyone have a good kit source for those mags and the steering wheel?)

Another thing you can do - since most of them are easily available, you can get unbuilt reissues and build clones - copy the style and colors of your dad's models and use your own talents to make them even better than they looked brand new - like if your dad had access to modern tools, detail parts and paints (after all, most fathers want their sons to do better than they did).