jbwelda

thanks folks! as for the kit yes pete you are right: it came in a low and high tech version, separately and with the Messerschmidt. this one I am using is from a combo low tech kit, I probably paid less than 20$ for it 10 years ago or so. I have never seen a high tech version of the combination kit but I have of the isetta. as many know, these high tech kits can be a bit of a puzzle because often the "high tech" stuff is kinda crude and/or hidden in the final build. the isetta has a hinged engine compartment (side) panel and at least some engine detail, and some other kool looking underpinnings. that's the high tech version but like I said the one I am using is the low tech version. don't think I will mess with the messerschmidt, I don't really care for the look of it. the clear body and most parts just make these a pain to deal with though it might be kool to build the mess out of box and only detail paint a bit of the internals, leaving the body clear. other than that I think I will just put it back on the shelf. not quite finished with the Isetta yet though; I don't like the headlamps so I am substituting some kustom replica and miniatures of Maryland louvered street rod light buckets instead, and have to trim out the front wheel wells some to get some more clearance for lowering the front end, plus have some body polishing and detailing to attend to. thanks again for looking and commenting! jb

>I'm not bidding on something worth $20 if the seller is dreaming about $200…. on the other hand its kinda fun to mess with them. if you know somehow, or have a strong hunch, that the reserve is 200, bid 199 on it and let it go...the seller is gonna be pissed off that he let that fish off the hook for a mere dollar. yeah I get bored sometimes. jb

if you look around at some more of the content (and there is definitely interesting stuff to see!), you might notice an ad for "Monster Shirts" originating from Mill Valley CA. that was in fact Stanley Mouse after moving out west from Detroit to become a rather famous artist of SF rock posters as well as his own hot rod art. He drew a number of album covers for the grateful dead as well as for offshoot groups in fact there is a t-shirt design there for mickey hart's rolling thunder revue, but I think they took the logo from mouse's design and had him redraw it later for their band logo and first album cover design. in case some of you might not know who this "Mouse" I am referring to is, he was more or less ed roth's #1 competitor in the "weirdo" T shirt business in the early/mid sixties, the biggest difference being, when you saw Mouse at a car show doing shirts, he hand painted the entire design with airbrush, while roth worked on pre-printed shirts and just basically fogged some color over the preprint with his airbrush. Stanley Mouse still loves models and even builds them a bit (this was actually a few years back). he is a totally kool character and generally very approachable and friendly. jb

so does that mean that this current model up for sale is one of his "prebuild" exercises? if so he should put that in the auction because to me anyway that would make it a much more interesting item. in fact I might even bid on it knowing that. but he should definitely ditch that reserve blah blah blah. if he wants a certain minimum price for it he should just make that the minimum bid. reserves bug the hell out of me. jb

its amazing what something like that can do to the body lines! totally amazing! I have never been able to visualize that sort of thing, but in this case you sure do have a good eye. jb

evidently some dude from barrett Jackson and hot rod magazine. not too subtle a job on those rear tires... jb

try this one: fatman riddim section: take it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdGbXAFI9rI or this for a different riddim Sam Cooke: Love Me mashup on Party Time riddim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYu3sz_0QG4 how does one embed these so they show up directly here? one love jb

I had abarth decals handy actually... jb

Favorite Steve Martin schtick of mine but heres something else that had been sitting around in the ToDo pile for awhile: Gunze BMW Isetta, done up different, what-if-Abarth-did-it style. Mini Cooper alloy wheels and wide tires all (3) around. Rebuilt the interior and got rid of the bench seat, replaced with two racing buckets, one a traditional seat and the other (drivers) a drift car seat, added the rear package tray with spare tire. the kit had a similar setup except that the seat and shelf were all one piece and it was that awful rubber-plastic that Gunze often used in these kits. one look...into the trash, retrieved only to use as a pattern for a replacement. made up an exhaust extractor, actually made up a kinda shadow engine for up in there, there is a high tech version of this kit but this is the low tech one...high tech got detailed down in the engine compartment but I basically just made something to attach an extractor end to. did a bunch of other fiddling too that is apparent on closer inspection. did I mention this body was clear? oh yeah, and also the windows are all molded in! that's why the painted body I show here is a far cry from how its going to look with the window masking all off (fingers crossed on what I find when I pull the tape), with much more greenhouse that is currently colored red. total pain in the rear to paint the body and not only that, when I was doing the black accent on the front (door actually, the whole front end swings forward on the real car) somehow I got a spot of paint on the red. went to remove it and next thing I know I have eaten through the paint, primer and down to the clear plastic! didn't feel like repainting so I am putting the photoetch BMW symbol in that hole, while the scorpion has removed it and replaced it with an Abarth logo. Silly, I know, but you got to be flexible. just got the decals on tonite, will give it a final clear coat in a couple days and then its about ready to mount and go. am going to significantly lower the front end so it is almost touching ground. got to rebend the exhaust pipe a bit too depending on where the body actually sits on final mounting. comments questions critiques always welcome! jb

>And all that was just for a basket of freakin' muffins! uh no, that was for over a billion dollars worth of potential sales. the muffins were props. get it? jb

> jaguar d type what he said^^^ and a Maserati typo 60/61 Birdcage while you are at it. any scale but boy would 1/8th be sweet!!! jb

I think most if not all those 69 vair kits came with rally parts didn't they? maybe not that "custom" issue I mentioned yesterday, but I thought most others did (not the funny car of course though). jb

I notice many complaints here are about flash etc on the CURRENT issue of the model. it could be box art models were built from prior incarnations that maybe didn't have all the flash, or perhaps even from the ORIGINAL issue which might not have any flash at all. I am very wary of kits with built models on the outside that look dumb...because that means in most cases what you are going to get is really going to be that dumb at BEST...because someone somewhere put their best foot forward on that box art build and if it looks bad there lets see what you can do with it! that sort of answers the question about how, if its so unbuildable, there is a seemingly built example right there on the box top. another partial answer is the retouching mentioned, but also shortcuts could well have been taken (like leaving off a whole set of wheels side trim etc on the side not shown in the planned photo) and also in the final assemble stages, actually fitting the thing together, the box art car could have no or minimal interior etc so the body just slid on easily versus what the reality might be. all kind of tricks are possible like that because after all you don't see it in 3D and aren't able to view different angles. jb

I just plain wish there was more selection in engines and running gear in 1/8 scale. stuff that could be used with the current monogram line. reissue of the big drag definitely. maybe even some Ferrari or other exotics in 1/8 scale. jb

>Why not just cut the fenders loose on the body you have and graft them to the hood, making your own flip-nose? yep that's about what I was getting to as well. shouldn't be too hard to do; I was just hesitating before cutting into a 30 dollar resin body. and he who hesitates is lost so... jb

thanks Bill and that's a great idea; I don't know why I didn't think of it myself since I just used the AMT sbc in the mooneyes dragster set I recently finished. the problem I have with the revell offering is that multi piece block is a bit of a struggle whereas the AMT one is a breeze and does indeed look great. what will be going on it will basically be backstreet garage racing style, he doesn't have finned aluminum valve covers and stuff like that, although he did on the big block he recently replaced with the current SBC (and of course for which I had gathered up all the parts I needed!). I already pulled down the rat roaster, I'm never going to build the car so might as well rob it, but now I am going to pull out an AMT parts pack and see which fit and look best. I will probably go with the AMT one as of right now. thanks again folks and any other suggestions and/or discussion is welcome! jb

back to the 'vair I have the prestige kit, the blueprinter issue, and also a couple of 69 Monza "Custom" series kits that look like maybe are from the mid 70s. these are all the same kit, right? any extras in some not in others? and then that is the same body matched with a funny car chassis that comprise this latest issue? jb

is this "Scorpion" the same as the base kit for a recent series of scratchbuilding articles in MCM? that set of articles was pretty inspiring and intimidating at the same time. jb

if and when you do the wagon conversion to that 510 body, PLEASE either resin cast it and offer it for sale or let some established caster use your master! I think there would be a huge (well, ok, maybe not that huge) market for it...I know I would buy one sight unseen and a lot more if they were quality. jb

its hard to really and truly mess up a model. you can always dip it in the Castrol Super Clean (make a note Owen) for a couple days and start over. its when you start cutting that the potential for messed up becomes more of a reality. also Owen, but some Future floor wax (now called pledge with future shine or something similar). it will be indespensible in the coming future for you. glue in windows, clear parts, coat decals before or after applying, hold photo etch in place, use as a clear coat, its a modelers miracle. remove it and clean brushes you've used with it with plain ammonia. jb

that barnabas Collins hearse van kind of thing. I had visions of making a kool street rod out of it. that was dashed upon opening the kit. total piece of garbage, warpy pieces and just junk. you would have though tom Daniels might have designed it. didn't go into the trash but onto the shelf next to it so it will only need a soft nudge to end in its rightful place. jb

another thought: is this AMT Willys basically the same tool as the old original that came in the double kit with I think a 32 ford sedan with the quad headlamps and edsel grille? I do seem to remember that one had a one piece front end too. jb

ok thanks I do happen to have both those around already so they would be high on my list... any others? jb

>The AMT Willys Coupe/Pickup has a one piece tilt front end. ah yes it indeed does seem to! this is going to get kind of complicated though, I am actually using a drag city casting resin cab and was planning on using the revell 41 kit since it has the short pickup bed my friends truck has. but everything is sort of wrong on it vs his...kit has a tube frame vs his square channel frame, kit hemi vs his sbchevy. so I might have to either go with this AMT kit you point out or find some other combination. do you happen to know if this AMT kit has a tube frame, or a normal, more stockish channel frame? at this point I might not even use the resin cab, which is more correct than the kit one, but looking at photos of my friends car, im not sure the correct cab is going to be worth using even though the rear windows and front fenders are like his (and not like the ones in the kit body). any idea how well the nose piece from the AMT kit would line up with the Revell pickup body? thanks again jb

ok I know there will be a million choices here and a thousand opinions, but what would anyone recommend for the best looking, most realistically molded, most complete Chevy small block engine? I don't need stock peripherals as it is going to be for a race application. this is going to be for a gasser that runs just a big four bbl carb...any tips on particularly accurate looking ones? I assume it would be a Holley with a lot of capacity. thanks for any tips! jb