Danno

Most excellent, Zoli!!

I've seen their work. They were still there last Christmas season (haven't been to Arizona Mills since then). They had some amazing things, and they do some incredible work! Had to walk away before I dropped a couple paychecks with them. Guy's name is Jaime Rodriguez. He has a facebook page ... check it out!

Nice, Kevin! Both of 'em.

Ditto here!

Interesting that we both had a Frost Green '69! Small world. There weren't that many on the road in that color. Besides the fact that they were just pure beautiful, especially with the black stripes, I really liked the fact that you didn't see every other Camaro in the same color as yours.

What IndyArt said! (Outlines it better.)

I have two. My very first car was a '53 Studebaker Champion coupe with 327 Chevy, Muncie 4spd, Honest Charley motor mount kit, Hooker headers, radiused rear wheel wells (I built that!), handbuilt mahogany dashboard with Stewart-Warner guages, and slated for four bucket seats, full length mahogany console, custom upholstery, Cragars, and candy apple red paint. It was an ambitious project for a teenager. Got it about half done before a ton of outside issues doomed the build. I built a replica of the concept. My second car ~ and first-ever brand new car ~ was an order-sheet custom '69 Camaro Z28 with stripe-&-logo delete, vinyl top, and hockey stick stripes. It was an awesome street sleeper. I've never gotten around to building a model of it. One year at Christmas, my late, great friend Andy "Moose" Kallen surprised me with a 1/18 scale replica he built for me ... from a die cast ... with help from the Lovely & Gracious Mrs. B. She found some 30+ year old Kodak Instamatic pix of the car and sneaked them to Andy. He even accurately miniaturized the front license plate, although he took a little {ahem} artistic license with the rear plate. The pix Andy worked from: The result: {Look familiar, Tom?}

"Heyday?" {It's actually Hay Days. Evolved from terminology for the harvest season for farmers when it became time to get busy and put up the hay.} Heydays? That's NOW! Far more kits being issued ~ new and reissue ~ far more frequently now than ever before. Back in the days that MPC was alive, they (and AMT and Monogram and Revell) did not issue or release so many kits during a year as we're getting now. Sit back and enjoy. Rambling? Yes. Big time.

Career-wise, I split my time between B&Ws and the Red/Wet stuff. Ten years cop (dispatch, patrol, and detective), 22 years firefighter, 34 years fire/arson investigator. Simultaneous, not consecutive. I'm NOT THAT old! I was a volunteer firefighter (Certified FFII & Instructor) with a couple of busy departments while I copped for pay. The two hats evolved into one as I became an Origin and Cause investigator (Certified, National Fire Academy, Court Qualified Expert). After retiring as a firefighter and moving to AZ I still played with the big red rigs ... I volunteered at the National Hall of Flame for 7 years ... polishing red and brass, restoring and caring for and driving the vintage rigs. Highlight of that was when Rescue 51 came to live with us for a year. Before all of that, I was a top-40 rock-n-roll DJ and before that I had a newspaper route (junior high & high school), grilled MickeyD's when they were 15cents (18cents for a cheeseburger), and bagged groceries until I became a world-famous (okay, not) DJ. Been a fun life. Too bad it didn't involve copious quantities of cash, too.

Thanks for the comments! Stay tuned, Grasshopper. Aaron, I've harbored (no pun intended) the same notion about the Turbo Chief for quite a while. I understand the powerplant from the rare AMT Titan 90 Turbo kit would replicate the Turbo Chief's motivator pretty well, but I've never had the opportunity to snag one. It would go well in any of the dozen or so AMT ALF kits I have in the stash. And, by the way, a side note about this build. Since I failed to make mention of it in the original post, FYI, this is not the 1/32nd scale Aurora / Lindberg kit. As Aaron pointed out, it is a conversion of the 1/25 AMT American LaFrance Custom Pumper kit. PS: Aaron, I split my time between B&Ws and the Red/Wet stuff. Ten years cop, 22 years firefighter, 34 years fire/arson investigator. Simultaneous, not consecutive. I'm NOT THAT old, despite what Jonathan thinks! I was a volunteer firefighter (Certified FFII & Instructor) with a couple of busy departments while I copped for pay. The two hats evolved into one as I became an Origin and Cause investigator (Certified, National Fire Academy, Court Qualified Expert). After retiring as a firefighter and moving to AZ I still played at it ... I volunteered at the National Hall of Flame for 7 years ... polishing red and brass, restoring and caring for and driving the vintage rigs. Highlight of that was when Rescue 51 came to live with us for a year.

Beautiful van, Tom!!!

Plus a guitar!!! Cowabunga!

WoW! Lookit dem Dodge trucks!! And that Rivvie! And that '51 Ford grille! I think I heard there will be a '57 Dodge sedan from the Modelhaus, too. Woooooohoooooo!

Thanks, guys! I truly appreciate your kind remarks. I almost forgot that this one was pre-bare metal foil. All the trim is Testors bottle Chrome Silver and very fine-point brush. I do everything BMF these days, but I'm suprised at how well the old chrome-silver has held up. I also noticed the handle of the hose clamp is long gone. I don't know whether to make a new one or leave it as it is ... to commemorate the model's survival.

Oh, yeah! That, too. (Where's the Peggy Lipton figure?)

HOLY CARP!!!! G! Did you see that? A Ford EXPEDITION! Dressed up in work clothes! WoooooohooooO! Mustang ... Expedition ... now all we need is a righteous TAHOE!!! I gotta get busy fattening up the piggy piggy bank for the new releases are gonna hit the budget hard this next year!!! :) PS: Moebius is doing a '71 Ford F Rangie pickemup!! Whoa!

Seriously, What CaddyPat said!

Yeah, babeee!

Given, the pic is a little blurry, but looking at the parts trees for the Mustang, I still can't quite make out the spotlights, radio, pushbumper, and whip antenna? Can anybody point them out to me?

COOL.

Wow! That's stunning!

Nice. Don't you have any more pix?

Yes.

Anything New on the Olds, Len?

Snow Day? Don't get any of those around here. That's just another thing I really miss as a result of leaving Colorado. The occasional day there was "too much snow to go to work or school," but we always managed to find our way to the local adult beverage dispensary and hang out with the gang, all of whom were similarly temporarily 'snowed out.' On the other hand, I can tell you some doozies about some snow storms! But, one thing about living in the Sonoran Desert. No snow days. And the really bad part of it is this ... they never tell you to stay home because there's too much sun!