Brian Austin

I heard this on a local radio bluegrass program the other night. "Love Shack" by the Cleverlys

It's been pointed out in the past that all the manufacturers have passed on the JoHan tooling.

FWIW, the kit represents an ambulance built by the coachbuilder Miller-Meteor. They only built on the Cadillac commercial chassis in this era. They did not use other manufacturer's chassis. No Buick, no Chevrolet. People have kitbashed the Ectomobile kits with the Revell '59 Cadillacs. This would give you an engine and drivetrain detail. Note though that the Cadillac passenger cars had coil spring rear suspension while the Commercial Chassis employed leaf springs. The Polar Lights kit does have a stock rear bumper, but note that parts do not swap between the two kits.

3-D printing is also useful for making investment-cast parts in brass. The printed master melts like wax in the mold.

This kit is a modified reissue of the Ectomobile. If they have retooled the interior bucket, then yes it will be very attractive to us who want a stock ambulance/hearse. The old interior bucket had too much Ecto-gear molded in it to make one considering just making a new one from scratch. Superior-bodied versions have been offered in resin.

To me neither the AMT or the PL kit looks "right", but then again, this 1:1 ambulance doesn't quite look right either. The hearse pictured below appears to have softer contours on the rear quarters. (It should be noted the ambulance has been "restored", and includes elements considered inauthentic to the car such as those silly horns.)

Reference

This is an assembled promo that lights up, like most gas station promos.

FWIW, there does exist a B-Model Mack in styrene. This is a petroleum promo model issued by JMT Replicas in the 1990s.

Circus modelers also like Macks. These pictures are from an auction of the Robert MacDougall collection that depicted the various pieces of equipment used by the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey circus. I'm presuming he used the aforementioned resin cabs for his B and L-Series trucks. Since Mack offered numerous models and variations in their range, how does a prospective model kit manufacturer decide which one to offer? Do modelers complain that their preferred variant wasn't picked? ?

In my art school days I took an architecture class. I thought it was going to be fun making models. My first ones were built using styrene and such. I got strange looks from my classmates wondering what this exotic material was. As it turned out, the professor wanted us to work in foamcore and cardboard. I kinda lost interest in architecture as a career at the end of that course. I learned I was more into old architecture than designing new buildings. As an aside, the professor had a habit of noting scales as fractions of an inch, but in an odd way: 1:48 was "Quarter Scale", 1:96 was "Eighth Scale". Made me wonder what he would call 1:8 scale. In one of my other courses, a movie model maker dropped by. Sadly I don't recall his name. What I remember is his puncturing my awe of his career choice. There was a lot of drudgery involved on a daily basis. Drilling lots of tiny holes and such. From what I've heard, special effects artists work from show to show, and so you have to get your work where you can. You might not get far if you're not driven to pursue those jobs continually. I was told by a friend that there was also a lot of routine drudgery in architectural model building as well. As far as the factory in the video goes, I have a feeling it's not too far off other factory work. Keep cranking out widgets. The manager did seem rather enthusiastic about his company though.

I've heard that '60 Chevy wagon kit's roof is slightly lower that it should have been. One year I saw a box of craftsman kits at a flea market. Unfortunately they were all so badly butchered I could find no use of them. There were one or two green Chevy wagons.

Perhaps, but I was reminded of the old "analog vs. digital" debate raging for years.

Someone already has cloned a JoHan Cadillac (1966). Hasegawa. ?

I corrected the link. Thank you for the notice.

Here's a relevant chapter. While it does discuss building materials and processes, it starts off describing the state of the art of the hobby at the time vs "the good old days", along with the attitudes mentioned earlier. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009816383&seq=155&q1="scratch+building"&view=1up FWIW, you can still buy 0 Scale craftsman kits and parts. https://allnationline.com/WP/?product_cat=cars

You're better off buying a vintage JoHan/X-El model or modern resin reproduction than waiting for new production of these subjects.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031692422&seq=1&view=thumb

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112040260405&seq=7

This book is a fascinating look at the hobby as it was in the middle of the 20th century. While it details the construction of models using a variety of materials, the book also mentions that plastic kits were becoming popular. Apparently some oldtimers used to wood and metal didn't think much of the newer kits. A small point worth mentioning for you 0 Scalers is that the scale standard used in this book for 0 was 17/64" to the foot rather than 1/4". https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009816383&seq=1&q1="scratch+building"&view=thumb

With castings you can get identical quality. With a model that has duplicate components individually crafted by hand, there's the possibility that quality can vary visibly from one part to the next. In this case the model made of castings could have a tidier appearance.

I don't necessarily disagree with this sentiment, but note that some artists have a crew of assistants to do the physical work for them, to their specifications. Some of these processes involve machinery. These sculptures, etc. are still viewed as art created by the artist.

If you're doing the 3D work yourself, you're both the architect and builder in this metaphor. I am fascinated by the CAD and 3D printing process, but right now to me it feels like yet another program for me to learn to use when I already have others to figure out, such as image and video editing. So far working with an old version of Sketchup I have been unable to draw a straight line. ?

So many points in this thread to keep track of. What is scratch building? I guess it depends on where he gets his scratch. I am reminded of the old debate regarding photography vs. painting. With a painting the artist is involved in every step with his hands. With a photograph so the argument goes, the photographer just presses a button. There's no art involved, right? I think there is. The discussion regarding resin casting is interesting. I wonder if anybody's used investment casting ("lost wax") in brass or bronze in their model work. Such craftsmanship. While some modellers do their own resin casting, I think fewer might do their own brass castings. It's an art form. To say this doesn't count as scratch building if the modeller uses this process to make duplicate parts for his project doesn't quite sound right to me. I may as well point out that before plastics were available, model builders were casting components in plaster.

I may well have seen the Stanley back in the '80s or so. I grew up in a pipe organ family. My father belonged to the local Theater Organ society and he was fond of mentioning the Shanklins, along with the Stanley. I probably met them then. When I saw "Silent Movie" at the Hall last year or so, I didn't get to tour the "backstage" area. It was crowded and I think my father just wanted to head home. It was a long drive. I did see a nifty boat-themed diorama there, though. I just found this video clip of the Shanklin organ tour. You can see the Stanley beginning at the 5:00 mark (and again at around 7:45). It's not the greatest footage of the car as it's painted dark colors with dark upholstery.