Snake45

They were probably ALL left behind. We didn't even bother to bring all our airplanes home. On further thought, maybe we did bring those back, as they'd have been special equipment for a special program. But if U-2 ops were leaving that base....who knows? Good question!

I'm pretty sharp on '63-'67s, a bit less so on '68-'73s. I quit building model cars around 1970 (going back to airplanes, and then, on to Life) and didn't come back to them until the mid-'80s, so I don't really know much about what Monogram was doing with model cars in the '70s. I take it this was a modified reissue of the original TD California Vette?

Ah, okay. I just assumed that post was by the OP. My bad.

Kewl! Did you alter the hood scoop? It looks different in the Before and After pics. In the After pic, the front end of the scoop looks more like a '67 Stinger, instead of like a big NACA duct. I like it, by the way.

You didn't specify lacquer. You just said "model paint." If you're airbrushing, thin the bottled MM Arctic Blue with lacquer thinner and it will behave just like lacquer (i.e., dry completely, ready for polish, in 24-48 hours). Beyond this I cannot help you.

I posted a link to the pics above at HyperScale (model airplane [mainly] site) and someone replied: Watched and listened to these monsters operate in 1971 at U-TapaoJune 11 2017, 1:09 PM RTAFB in Thailand. Loved listening to them going through the gears and the drivers did not spare the horses. That show was almost as good as watching the U-2.

I've never seen or heard of that kit. Looks like a great project!

Now THERE's three terms you don't often find used in the same sentence--but dernit, it actually works in this case. Well played!

I imagine him being welcomed to TV Heaven by Robert Vaughn, and maybe Mike Connors.....

If I wanted to match that Mustang, I think I'd start with Model Master Turn Signal Amber and experiment. First by airbrushing it over different colors of primer (white, black, and a few shades in between), and then if necessary by adding small amounts of solid colors--perhaps yellow--until I got close enough to suit me.

Very nice! I thought the photos WERE a Hot Wheel. Only the wheels/tires gave it away.

That's probably the best rendition of that kit I've ever seen. Well done and model on!

Well put.

TD must have intended that that piece of trim be painted over, I guess--or he didn't realize that it WAS chrome trim, and not a body line. (Well, there is a body line there, but it stops a few inches ahead of the door line, it doesn't continue out onto the door.)

Thanks! How about the contemporaries in that line--Jeep, M29 Weasel, M5 halftrack? Are they also 1/35? I think they were all marked 1/32--maybe to tie in with the couple of 1/32 airplanes Monogram had at the time (who'd ever heard of Japanese kits back then, or 1/35 scale?).

Model Master Arctic Blue is a great paint that will pass for many, many of the '60s-'70s dark metallic blues. It's available in both bottle and rattlecan.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, and thanks SO MUCH for sharing these! I've been looking for pics of these cars for over a decade, and your first one is the best I've ever seen! I believe your fourth pic--or one very much like it--was in the Squadron/Signal U-2 in Action book, which is what set off my interest in these cars. So, definitely '68, definitely SS, which means definitely 396, and it looks like it retains the standard (for SS) semigloss black lower body areas. Again, THANK YOU!

Looks pretty good! Don't forget to foil the chrome spear on the front fender/door. (That one will be easy.)

You just made me buy a Revellogram M48A2 "for cheap" at Hobby Lobby, even though I already have at least one other one (a previous issue) new in the box. It's a disease, I tell you. I notice it said 1:35 on the box. I thought these old Monogram tanks were all 1/32? BTW, I think when this kit was new, it was $2.00 That was a lot of money for me in the day, when I was used to paying 50c for a 1/72 fighter airplane or $1 for a 1/72 bomber (or maybe a jet) or a 1/48-ish fighter. That would have been a few years before I got used to the idea of a $2 AMT or MPC car.

My definition of "exhibition car" is one that was designed primarily to make solo passes, not race against another car. Now, some of these things did race against each other on occasion, but in general, not. And they certainly didn't race in sanctioned competition against real race cars.

If you're going to use a Mattel Vacuform, do ABSOLUTELY back up the windshield with clay or you'll break it. Please don't ask me how I know this.

If foil works for you, then good for you. All I can tell you is that I couldn't MAKE it work for me, and believe me, I tried. But I'm not unhappy with how the thing came out in the end.

The foil was fine except it would never lay down around that trim intersection on the side. If you can make it work on that, you have more patience than me.

Very nice!

Yeah, same principle--they'll work too.