Brian Austin

In Hammondsport, NY is the Glenn Curtiss museum, dedicated to the tinkerer of aircraft and motorcycles. There were numerous models on display, along with various items from industries and people from the area around Hammondsport. The school bus was 1:4 scale model built by the Mercury Aircraft factory (Penn Yan Buses Div.). It seems to me the nose is taken from a toy of the period. The bus bodies were constructed of aluminum.

There are numerous small museums in downtown Pontiac, IL. Above the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum there is the Life In the 1940's exhibit which had all sorts of household items, including this WWII era model aircraft kit. Like so many wood craftsman kits, it's "mint and unbuilt". ?

Same museum. Model of a Route 66 landmark, with trailer...

Their library

Pontiac-Oakland Museum, Pontiac, IL had some neat model displays in 2016.

The former Hotstetler collection of Hudson cars in Shipshewana IN had a small selection of related models and toys. My father and I saw it in 2016, and sadly the museum closed and the collection was auctioned off just a few years later.

Maybe I vaguely remember the episode where they paint the GL black. It's been a while. I enjoyed the show as a kid, but I don't follow it closely. The show may not have been the best, but it was typical of the period. The same year that brought Dukes of Hazzard also gave us the lamentable Supertrain. As far as the Charger goes, I think those were just 10-year-old used cars at the time of filming. If you produced the show today with 2010 Dodges I don't think anyone would care. Perhaps if the show hadn't happened, there could be more old Chargers around, but fewer people interested in them . I thought the General Lee was cool, but over time I just got tired of the whole muscle car thing in general (pun not intended). Since I've not attempted a replica of the GL, is there difficulty in positioning the roof decal (whichever body color!) ?

I wasn't even aware of a black General Lee. Some sellers include a picture of the prototype in their listings for reference.

You can find the history of S Scale trains here: https://nasg.org/About/History/S.php In a book on slot cars published by Louis Hertz in the '60s, S Scale was also known as H1 (Half of #1 Gauge) but that designation soon lost favor. Note that in the "Tinplate" era scale was relative. Some O Gauge toys were closer to 1:64 in scale (early Marx and American Flyer). Even into the classic plastic era of Lionel the lower-tier ranges of trains were undersized for proper O Scale. In the US 1/4" to the foot became the standard for O Scale out of convenience, though some manufacturers offered models in 17/64" scale, which is near the metric equivalent of 1:45 scale, favored by Germany and other continental European builders. In Europe, O Gauge is defined as 32mm , and IIRC 1:45 scale is closer to correct than either UK or US scaling. Getting back to Lindberg, their Mini Lindy range had some models that might have been close to 1:64, though most were "box scaled." Trucks were closer to 1:87. Some models like their Chevy van worked OK with Aurora slot car chassis.

For information regarding any possible real-world connection to the camper shell, maybe contact the RV/Motorhome (industry) Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart, IN. Is the camper included with the El Camino based on any particular prototype? I always thought it seemed a bit...cramped looking.

I was there in 2017. These are the only pictures I have ready to post. I still have a couple-hundred more to do, eventually...

Maybe R/V industry people can tell you can whether they recognize the design. https://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/rv-founders-hall/

I recall someone in a large scale model railroad forum complaining that there were not enough 1:20 vehicle kits to go with the model trains in that scale. Funnily enough, there used to be a line of 1:20 scale Ford Model T truck "craftsman kits" in addition to the Hubley/Gabriel diecast kits in that scale.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daf_truck_met_oplegger_met_DAF_personenautos_in_Madurodam,_Bestanddeelnr_912-2628.jpg

DAF car carrier shown here in 1961. I wonder if those are plastic promo model cars, baking in the sun. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daf_truck_met_oplegger_met_DAF_personenautos_in_Madurodam_vliegveld_Schiphol,_Bestanddeelnr_912-2630.jpg (Large imager file)

This video is by a company that produces similar ones of model railroad layouts in various scales around the world. Note the animated vehicles. Just about everything is built from scratch at the park.

Some cool diorama/display inspiration here. Camping and boating in the 1950s with Ford wagons. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112000731189&view=thumb&seq=1

Fun thread. I happen to be wearing a Studebaker truck T shirt. ?

My '38 Ford "Van" is interesting. The components are rather nice, and would be good for kitbashing. While the chassis and fender units do seem to be 1:24 scale, the body itself seems undersized for some reason.

I heard the song "Panopticom" on the radio recently, a college station, so it's getting a little airplay.

There are other volumes available at Hathitrust. Scroll down the page: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002582551

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071539103&view=thumb&seq=1

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071539129&view=thumb&seq=1

Wild's out of Princeton, Ill. First I found the image on eBay, then the slideshow video on YouTube.