SfanGoch

"Lee" is the Chinese company. The kit is a poorly produced knock-off of the Arii model with an electric motor added. You can read about it: KIT REVIEW – 1958 Cadillac El Dorado 1/25 by Lee

Great looking land yacht, Jim. That green is the perfect color. I have one in the stash. I want to open the doors and trunk on mine. First, I need to re-scribe the doors (3mm too short lengthwise) and do something with the shape of the front fenders. The wheel openings are a tad too high and wide Not really. The Caddy kits, and most of the older Arii offerings, have been out of stock at that site for years. I kept checking for updates and it just isn't happening. Arii went bankrupt in the '80s and a portion of their molds (Macross series) were bought by Bandai and Hasegawa. Don't know what happened with the automotive molds, though. Imex is mainly an import/export distributor, which is why its name is on some of the Arii kits. There aren't any new Arii/Imex '58 Caddys being produced. Whatever is available is existing stock. The only one actually available from Imex at this time is 31241, the Biarritz (no soft top) molded in pink. This is also existing stock. if anyone wants to get a '58 Eldorado, grab the Heller release. You can get it for $20-35, a lot cheaper than the Arii/Imex kits. Contrary to online urban legend, the Heller and the Arii kits are the same exact models. The only differences are that the Heller kit is molded in all black styrene and has whitewall decals included.

That's what I keep saying. Unfortunately, it seems like I have thirteen fingers on each hand.

Holy stocking stuffer Batman! That is the best yet, Dan!

No car kits. My son got me the Italeri 1/35 S-100 Schnellboot Not the biggest. That honor belongs to the Soar Art "Dora". It's about eight feet long, including the track bed. This one is about 39 inches long, though. We're gonna hook this bad boy up for RC operation. Can't wait to see the faces of the model sailboat crowd at Prospect Park Lake.

Just a little teasin', Steve. Many happy generic all-inclusive non-offensive winter festival felicitations! It took me four kits over 10 years before I finally got it right. Tube cement wasn't my friend back then. We're still not on speaking terms today. The magic of CA adhesives makes getting those panels to align properly a cinch. I build a lot of armor and they usually contain an insane amount of small parts; so, I don't rush things anymore. When it's done, it's done. Trying to find the old AMT kit is a hassle in its own right. I understand your point about an alternative; but, man, the price for one, if available straight up/buy now, is a bit steep. For that kind of bread, one can get three Revell kits to practice on and still have money left over for a fourth to build up nicely after learning from your mistakes.

That's a real beauty, Harry. A little bit o'patience goes a long way. Multi-piece bodies shouldn't present a problem for real modelers. Try building a couple ICM car kits. Ol' Humpty Jackson here didn't take his time and lookit the mess he ended up with.

$17K cars are the ones that make me feel like the driver figures found in some open cockpit slot cars - cramped. Also, no rear leg room for anyone more than 4'7" tall and model car quality interior appointments. I like a hood long enough to accommodate a squadron of F-14s, trunk space I can rent out to a family of six, comfortable, roomy seating for the same number in the passenger compartment and enough headspace to wear a stovepipe hat without scraping the headliner. Something like a 1967 Coupe De Ville.

You did mention in the original post that those particular decals were 20 years old. Ageing affects everything in one way or another. Have you taken a look at Tina "Ginger Grant" Louise lately?

"Affordable" is a relative term. The new Opel GT is to be built on the existing Astra hatchback platform. That car sells for around 16,000 Euros, or $17458.68 in real money.

Ran across this a little while ago: Could Opel’s baby Corvette return after a 45-year hiatus? I always liked the GT, a pretty cool looking car.

Congratulations, Full Name: Jim! As a parting gift, you've been awarded the Faux Platinum Most Excellent, Exalted and Preferred Customer Discount Card, good at participating Earl Scheib locations in Boston Corner, NY. All taxes, service fees and additional requisite gratuities are the sole responsibility of the cardholder. This offer excludes body work and repaints requiring more than one coat. Void where prohibited by law.

UV radiation is a component of sunlight; but, I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave a built model sitting in direct sunlight for any extended period of time. I dunno.....maybe if you got a No! No! Pro laying around, that might work. I originally was going to bring up the quality of the items used to manufacture decals when I commented that all decals aren't created equally. Art took care of that.

All decals aren't created equally, or something to that effect. I dug through my decals and ran across a Scale-Master set which was included with the 1980'ish Hasegawa 1142 S-3A Viking. The entire sheet, including the portions sans carrier film, was yellowed. I decided to run an unscientific test. I cut out identical tail codes with plenty o'yellowed clear film visible. Both were soaked in lukewarm water. The first one was applied to a piece of plain white styrene without any other preparation. The second was applied to another piece of styrene that was surface prepped with some Microscale Micro Set. After both were allowed to dry, the first decal still had a noticeable yellow tint under and around the decal. The second, prepped with Micro Set, was crystal clear where it was supposed to be. The Micro Set removed the discoloration completely. I also tested this out with ancient discolored decals from an original 1962-issue Hawk Lockheed U-2 with the same results. The results should be identical with the decals Drew used.

It sure would. The yellowing is caused by the glue ageing and breaking down. If you examine old decals, it only occurs underneath the decals themselves, not the surrounding paper. The water activated glue is similar to what was once used on lick n' stick postage stamps. My late Dad was an avid philatelist and he had old mint sheets where the glue side was yellowed from age and cracked from shrinkage. This would also cause the decal carrier film to become brittle and break up. This is why I suggested printing a copy on fresh decal paper as an alternative. Yeah, intellectual property, copyright, yadda, yadda, yadda.....we all know things like this are done all the time. As long as what you're reproducing has been unavailable for an extremely long time and it's for your own personal consumption, I don't see the harm in it. Resin guys have been doing it for years.

A light coat or two sprayed on is sufficient to cover, seal and prevent the older decals from disintegrating. You don't want to apply a heavy coat of either clear acrylic spray or Microscale Decal Film. You'll only end up with thick decals which would be noticeable after application onto the model surface.

Another method is to scan and print a copy of the older decals onto a new sheet of clear decal paper, just in case. If the decals don't contain white in the design, you're good to go. Otherwise, you'll have clear carrier film where the white would normally be. That wouldn't be a problem if the surface to which it's to be applied is white, though.

I have a giant collection of 40+ year old Microscale decal sheets, 30 y.o. Super Scale sheets and piles of old car kit sheets. I store all of them in gallon-sized Zip-Lock bags. Aside from a couple few decal sets for assorted Hawk kits, I haven't experienced any yellowing or other physical deterioration. One method to get rid of the yellowing is to tape the affected decal sheet onto a window which faces sunlight. Leave it exposed to the sunlight for a couple of days and the yellowing will be bleached away by UV radiation. It only affects the clear parts of the film and the solid colors remain, well, remain colorfully solid. This was something I picked up years ago in a hobby mag and, strange as it seems, it works. Like Nick suggested, spray some light coats of clear coat (Krylon Clear Acrylic works well) or get some Microscale Liquid Decal Film. It brushes on and preserves old decals. Using either will require you to cut the decals off and trim the excess film around each individually, though. Small price to pay if you really need them.

The tires/wheels are 2 piece styrene split down the centerline. You can check out the instructions: TERACRUZER WITH MACE MISSILE This would look nice parked next to the Atomic Cannon.

Well, aren't all of AMT's automotive kit line, excluding more contemporary vehicles, produced from comparatively "old" toolings? Aren't all of the reissues which haven't, until their recent resurrections, seen light of day for "x" number of years produced from "old" toolings? Your honor, the answer to both of those questions is an absolute, unequivocal, indisputable "YES!" Cynical? Not at this moment. More like sarcastic. Yes, that's right. "Executive Lounge". Also known as the men's room. Why, I'm willing to bet that even RC 2 had johns with indoor plumbing located in the plant. With ashtrays next to the wash basins yet.

I understand that R2's, and other manufacturers', business is producing model kits and other hobby items. I also feel that redesigning packaging for the umpteenth time for items that are re-released on what seems like a regular rotation is a waste of resources. That's my opinion. We already know what the '58 Impala looks like, what parts will be in the box, etc. Do we really need another box with different graphics to sell the same kit? There are what, something like ten box designs for the 1957 Ford? Redirect the resources toward getting tooling inventoried, inspected and, if feasible, repaired. Personally, I'm not the the type of model kit buyer who sits on the edge of my seat waiting for the next new and exciting box art for a nineteen-fixty-eleventy-four Formerchrycheviac Bulgemobile Most Excellent Classic Supreme Hardtvertible Broughdan which has been recycled seventy six times before. It's still the same old kit I bought before and I'd buy again; so, I'm okay with any of the older box designs. Re the Meyers Manx, how do you know if they didn't, in fact, trip over the tooling when they walked in? For all you know, that's exactly how they came across it. It could've been used as a doorstop by the previous owners. Or, quite possibly, as an ashtray in the Executive Lounge.

If, by choices, you mean the sidebar comments, alright then. i didn't bother checking back to the original post.

There really isn't a tactful way to do it. You're gonna look like a piker no matter how you go about it.

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