Snake45

I think she was the last surviving cast member of the MTM show. Gavin MacLeod and Cloris Leachman passed in 2021.

The MotorMax has apparently been available in different colors. When I was searching for it the other night, the most prevalent color seemed to be green, but yesterday I got a promo email from Diecasmodelswholesale listing them in black. Might want to check eBay for them, too--often other colors are available there when the main retailers are out of them.

No problem with him sticking up for his daughter, but he laid hands on JB first--and remember she was in the wrong. Glad to see the NOLA team got it all worked out, though. Didn't mind seeing Lutz win the invitational, but I really would like to have seen Disco Dean win it. He's really come from the pack of "also rans" to become one of the top 8 or 10 cars this season. Looking forward to bigger things from him. And he's kind of a character. Wonder if he'll be invited to America's List this year?

Looks like it's going that way! Seems to be. I'll be using current issue Testor orange to touch it up and paint the hood. Decals off. The checkerboard stripe and the Horsepower Heaven and B/FX decals came off with little problem using the hot water and thumbnail method, leaving behind a little glue or some kind of rough areas that will need to be polished out. The Maltese crosses on the lower quarters were another matter. They did NOT want to come off at all. Repeated attempts with hot water and thumbnail removed much less than 10 percent of them. I gave up and tried using a chisel-tipped Xacto blade, which got about half of them off, but left some minor but noticeable damage to the paint, which will have to be repaired one way or another. Finally I tried soaking each one in Solvaset for about 30 seconds and then hitting them with the thumbnail. Took two or three repetitions but did finally get the stupid things all off. Notice also the roof areas right above the drip rail, about in the middle. The model had obviously been handled by picking it up in this area—apparently, a LOT. These spots on both sides were dirty, and even after cleaning, the paint was thin and a bit darkened. These areas will need to be repainted. Haven't yet decided if I'll try to do it with a brush, or mask them off and spray them. Last year I also bought a “Nova Junkyard” off eBay that contained the promise of several interesting projects. I went through that and found glass and a hood, probably from a Rat Packer. Those were plucked for use on Nova Quit, and are seen in these pics.

Today on Netflix I watched Looper, a 2012 sci-fi flick I'd never heard of before. Not bad at all--made me think of Blade Runner, Terminator, and 12 Monkeys. Snakeworthy!

I send up a special prayer for all those who will buy and subsequently attempt to actually build this wretched backbirth.

There's an easier way. Cut the profile as a keel out of thin plastic, wood, or metal. Cut the bulkheads and fasten them to the keel, like your balsa model. But instead of stringers, you just fill the gaps between bulkheads with foam blocks (like florists' styrofoam) and sand the blocks down to the bulkheads. Epoxy-coat the whole mess, you're done!

Sorry to hear of your loss. We live in very sick times.

I don't think any of those would be even "close enough" for your purposes...if they even exist in 1/24. The Hellcat could provide you with the basis of an engine, though you'd have to scratch or modify the late-type bolted gear case. Closest airplane to the Bearcat in size is...the Wildcat! I've been known to describe the Bearcat as "a Wildcat with a Hellcat engine in it." It was kind of the 427 Cobra of the skies, in its day. Frankly, I think you'd be better off finding a good set of Bearcat plans with cross-sections, and using them to scratchbuild the thing completely using carved foam with epoxy coating.

Does the Trumpeter Spit floater include the standard landing gear? If so, that could be the basis of your Spit prototype. Of the other two, Dago Red is very do-able. There have been at least three 1/24 P-51Ds. Biggest job would be scratching up and vacforming the racing canopy. Rare Bear is another story. I don't know of any 1/24 F8F kits, ever, so that's a 100% scratchbuilt project.

Watched Don't Look Up last night on your recommendation. The Dr. Strangelove comparison is VERY appropriate. DLU is hilarious and manages to send up just about every aspect of modern life. Idiotic people acting like idiots, but no more so than you'll see turning on any current day news or "infotainment" show. As Cobraman says, very watchable. Snakeworthy!

See my note above about the hood. Looks like I'll be going the MP route with it, more or less--or a dual purpose street bomb/MP deal. A Weber-carbed 6 would be cool, but a Grumpy lump wouldn't make sense for that, so it's looking like a SBC with tunnel ram 2X4s. Actually, youse guys have given me an idea. Thinking now about doing the old one as a high school hot rod circa '66-'68, and this orange one as the same car a couple years later, maybe '69-'71. The kid has graduated, gotten a job, painted the car orange, and set it up with a little more serious muscle. Did a spoon test last night with a rattlecan of Testor Orange I have on hand. Seems to be exactly the same color, but the new stuff dried with an eggshell finish, no gloss at all like the paint on the body. I have doubts about being able to polish the touch-up spots to blend in with the old paint. Looks like I'll be airbrushing some "little bottle" Testor Orange and polishing that out--pretty sure I can pull that off. I wonder why the new stuff has no shine? Maybe the old stuff had lead in it, and the new product doesn't?

Believe it or not, I have a second '62 Nova project slated to follow almost exactly Bullybeef's "story arc." Got it a couple years ago off eBay. The body has some glue damage around the left rear wheel opening due to use of the kit fender skirts that's gonna be tricky to repair--if not for that, I'd have already gotten that one finished two years ago. It even has a 2-carb setup for the 6-cyl! I have the color, wheels/tires, etc. all picked out for it. Only hood I've found so far for Nova Quit has a big hole in it, which I don't feel like filling, so I'll need to find some kind of scoop to cover it, or build a Grumpy Lump, or something.

I'll be amazed if there's anything in that Spit kit you can use in the S6B model, unless maybe you're able to modify the floats. Is the Rolls-Royce R engine similar to the Merlin? The old Hawk 1/48 S6B kit might be of use to you in establishing the 3D shapes. Just make everything twice as big!

I never "got" the whole idea of a chemistry set. Okay, so you could make a beaker full of framistatic acid, or whatever--now what were you supposed to actually DO with it? My friend Eddie had a chemistry set. One night we played with it, using the tiny spoon to play a game of "Will THIS burn?" with all the chemicals. Some of them did, and kind of specatularly, too. Most didn't, or not more than common house dust. When I told my Dad about our game, he wasn't too pleased. He showed me that he could only move his right thumb about 3/4 as far back as his left, due to scar tissue between his thumb and forefinger, inflicted by "chemistry set fun" when he was about my age. Dunno about Eddie but I never played with chemistry again.

Thanks Keyser! Yah, I thought of lowering the rear just a hair, too. That could work. Thanks Mike! I appreciate the "vote of confidence."

Couple months ago at the local toy show I bought a box of AMT '63 Nova convertible “project.” A quick but semi-careful look in the box seemed to show everything needed to build a model of some kind, including TWO '63 convertible bodies (actually, a fairly nice '63 and a pretty much roached '62), complete chassis, complete interior tub with molded-in seats, original '63 rear bumper (with possibly usable chrome), resin hood, dashboard and taillights, and resin '63 hood and grille. A baggie of misc. goodies turned out to have most of the 6-cyl engine (missing exhaust manifold, carb, air cleaner, a couple of random (not great) SBC V8s, and a complete set of four kit small tires and matching factory wheel covers. Now, I don't care a thing for convertibles (except for some Vettes), but my thinking was I could graft on the top from a common AMT '65 Rat Packer AWB FC and make a decent '63 HT. I completely forgot until last week that earlier last year, I'd bought a pretty nice bare AMT '62 HT body off eBay. It occurred to me that I could combine the '62 HT body with the '63 convertible project parts to build a cool '62 HT project of some kind. Just did some checking and it looks like everything will work together, more or less, so I'm gonna try to drive on with it this year. (Heck between the '62 body and the new '63 parts, I'm into the hot mess for $50 or more already anyway.) Maybe in the future I'll graft a Rat Packer roof onto this nice '63 convertible body (the windshield and its pillars are pretty much roached, so that would all have to be removed anyway). The '62 HT body has what looks like might be a rescue-able paint job on it. I'm gonna see if I can work with it, just for fun. Will remove the decals and see if I can polish out and touch up a few little spots. The paint's probably common Testor Orange, which means it SHOULD be easy to match. If it does, I can paint the hood to match. If it doesn't, I guess I'll have to paint the hood black. Speaking of the hood, the included resin hood doesn't fit. Seems to be too flat, and doesn't dip down to meet the grille. Gonna see if I can heat and reshape it. If I can't, I'll replace it with a hood from a Rat Packer or Boss Nova wagon. I've checked and flat or stock resin hoods don't seem to be available, only ones with modern “outlaw” type tall cowl induction lumps on them. Usually when I start a project, I have a clear vision in mind of what it will be. Not this time. All I know is that if I'm able to save the orange paint, it won't be factory stock, so it'll be some kind of modified or “Day Two” car. I'd like to make it look like a '60s-build survivor model, maybe, if possible. There are a number of ways I could go. Here are a few that come to mind: *Late '60s-early '70s “high school hot rod,” street cruiser, or street freak. *Early-mid '60s FX (probably B/FX with SBC). * Late '60s-early '70s Modified Production (perhaps with the 6-cyl engine!). * Mid-late '60s Gasser. * Modern street cruiser, street freak, or “gasser tribute.” (This would kinda blow the "60s survivor model" idea, though.) Any other ideas or suggestions? First step will be removing the decals and trying to rescue the orange paint. Let's hear those ideas, and wish me luck!

I always wonder, where's that wind chill in the summer, when we could use it? How come you NEVER hear a TV weatherman say in August, "It'll be 96 degrees tomorrow, but with the wind chill, it'll be a balmy 78!"

Magnificent work! Very VERY well done and model on!

MotorMax does an inexpensive 2018 Challenger Widebody in 1/24, could save you a lot of work: https://www.diecastmodelswholesale.com/2018-dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-widebody-green-with-black-stripes-gt-racing-series-1-24-diecast-model-car-by-motormax/

Yes, excellent film. I doubt anything as good, much less better, could be made today. (And the 111s were Heinkels, not Dorniers. )

Now I am sad.

Same here! I have couple "project" glue bomb AMT 1st-gen Novas in the queue, and I'm hoping to get at least one of them finished by the time the Moebius kits show up.

Very cool, both of them! Well done and model on, both of you!

If someone were doing this in my area, I would DEFINITELY get involved! It looks like hella fun!