iamsuperdan

Lots of mold lines on this one too. Mold lines I didn't bother with 20 years ago. So those are all sanded smooth now. Will be getting some flocking down on the interior. Won't be able to see much when it's done, but it looks pretty plain as it is, so I think a little detail is good.

Very cool. Looking forward to the end...result. I've always had a fascination with hearses. I want one, laid out on bags, license plate says "MRSCARY." Because after all, life's a grave. You've got to dig it.

Well this kit has been an incredibly long WIP. I bought this kit back in the mid-90s when I was still working for Porsche. It was to be one of the kits that got me back into building. So I started it, then promptly stopped working on it. For whatever reason. And now I'm going to finish it. Back when it was new, I decided purple was the colour of choice. And I decided to spray that right onto the body, no prep, no primer, big mistake. So now I've done the purple bath, properly prepped the body, primed it using Tamiya white primer, then sprayed Tamiya Gun Metal. Needs some polishing, but I like how the colour turned out. Interior is now a semi-gloss black, with Model Master Dark Crimson. I think it's a pretty close approximation to Porsche's Oxblood Red. Over the years, the kit's wheels and seats vanished. Thanks to Steve (Intmd8r) I have a set of wheels and tires that could be interesting on this one, going to require some suspension tweaking, but it should look cool when done. I have a set of seats coming from Clearly Scale, so those will look pretty good once in. Not going too nuts with detailing on this one. Just want to finally finish it and have a good looking curbside kit to put on the shelf.

Excellent work! Love the 965.

After being a Ram guy for a long, long time...I made a switch to the dark side. Sold my 2017 Power Wagon. HD trucks are hard to find here in western Canada right now, for a number of reasons. I used all of my resources, but couldn't find the right Ram 3500. I then searched for a GMC or Chev, but those are even harder to source, and a lot of my dealers won't sell their Duramax trucks to fleet clients right now. So that leaves only one option. This is my new 2017 Ford F350 Platinum. Pretty much full load with the Power Stroke diesel. I added a BakFlip tonneau cover, clear 3M stoneguard, Drexler ceramic paint protection, and a set of Nitto Terra Grappler G2 tires in a slightly larger than stock size. Should handle things easily this summer. Kind of dwarfs my '97 K1500!

There have been a number of times I almost threw the entire kit in the parts bit. Nothing fits right, and the lack of details is annoying. But I'm in the same boat as you; I HAVE to finish kits I start!

WOw. Amazing work on an awful kit. I've been fighting my Super Stones Ford for a while now. Haven't been happy with any aspect of the build. Yours is just about perfect thought. Engine and chassis is excellent.

Well, I got the dreaded email last night. Will go elsewhere now. Not sure where just yet.

Dang. Turning out beautifully!

Detailing and chassis weathering is on point! And the paint looks great too!

As soon as I clear a few off my bench. This will be one of the next ones I start. I think this'lll be a fun one!

Something a little different! The shipper packaged it horribly, but it's complete and damage free. Now just need the matching Land Rover kit.

I think this is the best build of this kit I've seen so far. Very nice!

I dig it!

Hmm...photobucket still working as usual for me? I open the album I want, then the pic. Then I right click and"copy image." Then I go back to my MCM thread here and hit "Control V." And the pic appears just fine. I will say this though...there has been a BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH ton of ads on Photobucket over the past week or so. It's ridiculous.

Love the concept, and your builds are looking great so far!

Yeah, the US is definitely a little further along in green car rebates than Canada is. Still, using your numbers, we're looking at a minimum of $8k US difference in cost to buy. That's a lot of fuel. And you still have the expense of the battery pack replacement down the road. Depends on how long one keeps their car too. Around here, 3 or 4 years max is really common. Warranty expires, get a new car. So it will be interesting to see what this does for used car prices down the road. WHen dealers, and companies like mine, have to start including a battery replacement in our reconditioning costs, that's going to make a big difference in what clients are offered for their used hybrid/electric cars.

Currently, here's the big problem I see with hybrids. Cost. Let's look at the Chevy Bolt. Small electric car. We add the comfort and convenience package, and now we have a nicely equipped car that I can go and buy for $42200CDN. It gets equivalent of 2.1L/100km. No look at the Chevy Sonic LT. Let's give it the Krypton Green package that includes the 1.4L Turbo and 6-speed manual, and let's add lowered suspension. I can buy that car for $18875CDN and get 6.6L/100km. How much fuel can I get for that $23k difference? Now let's look at the Chrysler Pacifica van. The MSRP starts at around $37000CDN, they'll get 8.4L/100km. And the Pacificva Hybrid MSRP starts at $52495CDN. It's ll get around 2.6L/100km. Again, $15000 buys a lot of fuel. Now you have the other costs. Plugging this in over night to charge will increase your home electricity bill. How much? The other thing to consider...the battery pack on a Pacifica Hybrid runs $9800CDN. On a Prius, it's about $5000CDN. How long with that operate at peak efficiency? Batteries deteriorate over time. That's why an iPhone or Android has about two years of useable life in it before the battery needs replacing. Where I live, temperatures range from plus 40 Celcius to -40 Celcius. How long will that battery stand up? So now I have a hybrid, that costs a lot more that a normal fuel efficient car, and in five years (maybe?) I might need to put another $5k into it? I think for now, I'd rather stop at a gas station once in a while. And for comparison, A few years ago, I drove a 2005 VW Jetta TDI. $45 CDN would get me around 1300km. And I don't do that hyper-miling nonsense.

Wow! That looks perfect!

I think your masking job turned out just fine! The whole bus looks great.

Looks great so far! Love that blue.

One of our local stores just closed up shop last week. Hobby Alley here in Edmonton was mainly RC but over the past few years had been stocking more and more model kits. The serivce was great, and they were always willing to bring in anything that wasn't on the shelf. Pricing was a little more than online, but when you factor in shipping, they were cheaper. Plus they were convenient. In speaking with them, on of the big reasons for there closure is similar to what Rusty alluded to above. THe RC guys were big money makers. Big margins. However, online shopping killed their sales. Guys would come in, pick their brains, check out the inventory, figure out what they wanted, then go home and order online. And then once it arrived, they would come back to the store for help in assembly or setup. And if the shop didn't help, they'd be out there slamming the "horrible service." At the end of they day, he says it just wasn't worth it anymore. Model kits and slot cars weren't enough to pay the bills. Now in Edmonton, a city of over 1 million people, we have only a couple of options for hobby shops. None of which are in the west end, so if I want to go get kits or supplies, it's an adventure. *sigh*

Checked out my credit card statement today online. Discovered 5 fraudulent charges. I'm in Edmonton, AB, Canada. Five transactions through a couple of Casey's General Store locations in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I guess that's a convenience store chain? So I spoke with the guy at VISA, and it turns out the charges were all swiped, not online or phone orders. So somehow, someone in a different country has cloned my card. Now I have a cancelled credit card, and have to wait a week for a new card to arrive. Good times.

Another movie we almost wore out was Tugger. It's about a Jeep that works at an airport and dreams of flying. I thought it was better than Cars. But maybe that's because I have a soft spot for Jeeps.

It's always an interesting mix, and there's no rhyme nor reason to the prices people pay. I remember wa coupel of years ago when that VW 23 window bus went for almost $300k. You find those two guys that want something and get out of the way. A few vehicles that I found odd. The main one being one of the Thursday night ones; an early 90s bright red Chev crewcab duallie. Not customized, just a clean example of a truck that is commonplace around here. Beauty truck, but not something I would have deemed Barrett Jackson worthy. Not yet anyway. I've been talking with wifey, and within the next couple of years we'd like to go down, get the bidders pass, and see if we can find something interesting on a Thursday night. When the cars are still affordable, and we could take home something I wouldn't be afraid to drive. The ultra restored cars on Saturday night are beautiful, but they're so over done, you'd feel bad driving it for fear of scratching the inner rails of the frame, because they're finsihed just as nicely as the body. We had a BJ car here in our showroom last year. It was a Chevelle SS clone. The guy bought it for $66k US. Once it got back here, it needed almost $20k worth of work to make it a good car. Good from far, far from good. The car was very obviously thrown together and given a quick paint and polish to look good on tv. Needed a lot of mechanical work, and nothing in the interior worked. Panel fit was horrendous. Like anything, buyer beware.