Dale W. Verts

What's a "model budget"? Never heard of such... Dale

Super looking car. I get it. Dale

I've bought five old Roadster kits and am working up the courage to start one of them. Yours looks great, and I want to do the same justice to what I believe was at one time the ultimate American hot rod. A lot of these cars were built in small shops and garages by everyday Joe's with a passion for the sport. Candi-metalflake, gold-foil... Lots to do to make one look good. Keep up the good work. Dale

I used to love watchin' some of those finishes. Cars bangin' into each other. Pearson & Petty. Fistfights. Fistfights the next DAY when fans went at it. Man, those were good times. Dale

In the 70's NASCAR was all about innovation. Cheating included... I think it was when the Yahoo topic turned to EXCACT measurement on SUSPENSION that I got riled. C'mon, what you have is cookie-cutter cars here, right? A few VERY talented drivers I imagine (again, I don't follow the sport any more). A politically-sound front-page worthy news item with a nice figure... But the cars all look alike. I'm only fifty years-old, but I remember when professional race drivers had to fight it out on dirt too (LOVE 60's and 70's USAC drivers). Improvisation was king. Make something too good, and yep, the governing bodies stepped in to try to even things out. But at least you got to TRY. Now I imagine a new idea has to go before a BOD. And the cars all look the same. I have no horse in this race, or dawg in the hunt. Just an observation. Sorry, Harry, if this topics' been beat to death. But wanne see something? LISTEN to a 1974 NASCAR stock car sometime. Don't care whether it's a Ford, Chevy, Hemi, AMC, whatever. Listen to them slobberin' all over themselves when they come into the pits. Listen to them screamin' down a straightaway. You could TELL the difference. Yep. Then listen to the same thing in today's cars and tell me the difference. They even SOUND politically-correct. Dale

That's a nice haul right there. Dale

Guess I'm in the mood to complain- I don't even watch NASCAR any more, and this is why. Too many poitics. Sure is a long way from the "Run watcha brung" days. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/post-race-inspection-process-explained-100000411--nascar.html Dale

See, this is what I'm talkin' about- good information! And no one has really come out and called me a goofball. Brett, thanks for the link! I've bought enough VW kits to see the difference between "good" and "bad". Not to much "good" out there, unfortunately. The oval-window is COOL. So I have a $31 body to use on another project- the rest of the kit is hopeless. And again, this mody has mold-marks that are like new body lines. Gotta love a challenge. Thanks everyone for the help. Dale

Yeah, but that's too SIMPLE...! Dale

Okay, this isn't really a rant. I'm still new (again) at this, so bare with me. But I've bought over a hundred kits now, and I wonder about an industry-standard for what you're actually purchasing in a kit as far as what's inside, especially leaning towards the DEATAIL of the kit. A simple parts count on the OUTSIDE of the box would give you at least a clue (in all fairness some kits DO include a parts count on the box in a really small font) I've now bought several kits that are borderline junk- they're curbside (or worse, SEMI-curbside with an ugly, no-detail TWO-piece engine that's visible with an open hood). The differences on "good" kits range from 80-85 parts, up to regularly over 100. The latest, and the one that got me fired-up, is a "Mr. Hobby" '56 Oval Window VW that I just got in from an eBay purchase. I asked the man, "Is it a complete model (bad choice of words probably, because it IS "complete") or a curbside kit?" He of course didn't understand and answered "complete". So dummy me, I now own another high-dollar ($25 + shipping) kit that's essentially a just a Bug body that I may or may not be able to use somewhere else. It's pretty badly molded, too. A whole 'nuther subject, right there. I do think I'll be steering clear of these Japanese kits that come in flat boxes from now on. Anyway, other than experience (which I'm getting/paying for) I guess there's no way to know about the kit you're buying? Skill level? Probably not. Again, not a rant. Just an observation, and maybe ya'll can teach me somethin'. Dale

Really, REALLY neat. Dale

I'm about 90% done with this kit (molded in white). Although I haven't been back to modeling long this is the worst kit I've done out of the ten or so I've started. The flash and junk I can work around, but this kit lacks a lot of detail too. Anyway, my .02 worth. I wouldn't build another. Dale

Still, pretty cool. From a Mini to a Maserati. Dale

The green's wild, I'll give 'er that. No dirt- this is an asphalt car. Dale

Just thinkin'... With the renewed popularity of the Mini-Cooper, don't ya'll think a modernized Volkswagen Squareback would go over pretty good? Dale

If it could be done with a Bug, I probably did it. Good luck on the model! Dale

Love the bugs, and the history. Glad you noticed the steering wheel is on the "wrong" side. Dale

LOVE the old sprinters. Great stuff. Dale

I would flat freak if I saw something like that in 1:1. Cool! Dale

Roadster design. Sprint car motor. Hmmm. Pretty wild. Dale

Neat. Very neat. Dale

Thanks Len! Dale

Stay away from Arrowhead Aluminum! Dale

How was the show? Dale

About as slick of a Flats car as you'll ever see. Dale