Brian Austin

I grew up in a household that loved pipe organs. My father belongs to the local chapter of a theater organ society. Movie theaters used to accompany the old silent films with large pipe organs that are a bit different from church organs. In my younger days I went with my parents to various concerts and recitals. They often showed classic film, especially for Halloween, with a live organ performance. This was all very fun for me and the family, but I sure felt old-fashioned being involved. No one I knew was into it, and few young folks attended these events. It doesn't help the music itself can be more often than not rather old-fashioned itself. Here is a brief example of the local organ in action. Note the console is the visible part of the organ, the pipes and mechanical audio effects apparatus are kept in chambers on either side of the hall, out of view.

Just don't call records "vinyls", as some people apparently do these days. Sadly most of the cassette decks in my house have failed due to age. The drive belts go bad and turn to black goo that sticks to everything. I see the Techmoan YT channel has already been mentioned. He bemoans the fact that seemingly nobody makes a good cassette deck anymore. Another fun channel is Tim Hunkin's "Secret Life Of Machines" TV series from the late '80s and early '90s.

This one was based on a poem by Goethe

This piece and Stan Ridgway's "Camouflage" are built around similar folk tales.

Classic instrumental.

Like a Rock...

With all the woodie wagons around, it's about time someone did a "stoney" wagon. ?

Sunday afternoon, I saw on I-95 S in Massachusetts a VW Beetle. The plate read FUSCA, which is the Brazilian term for the car. The driver appeared to be wearing a safety vest of all things, as I could catch a brief glimpse of bright lime reflective material. I also saw a small COE truck (Mitsubishi Fuso or similar) wearing a cement mixer body. It was the cutest little work truck. ?

That $12.95 (be thankful they didn't round it up to an even $13!) includes shipping and handling. Driving to a hobby shop to get another kit costs something itself as well. ?

Par for the course in the 1980s. Modelhaus quality hadn't been invented yet. ? Also, the Banthrico promos, while perhaps a little crude compared to modern diecasts, were the state of the art for the 1940s and '50s. Banthrico models have their own charm. They're the only game in town for certain vehicles in 1:25-1:24 scale. I think it's cool they made a model of the Tucker in the first place.

Rik also has his Kustomrama site, which has those pictures, but also explanatory text as well. This is one of my go-to reference sites for old custom cars. https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Bill_Cushenbery's_Silhouette Rik Hoving also runs the Classic Car Chronicle forum, though I couldn't find anything of note regarding the Silhouette. https://www.customcarchronicle.com/

Customized Monogram Lincoln Continental. Bent styrene strip glued to the floorpan.

Frankly, I'm not hung up on model names myself. Everyone's image of Mustangs is based on marketing. Marketing changes.

FWIW, Greenlight offers 1:64 scale wheel/tire packs. I saw one at Hobby Lobby.

Franklin Mint did produce a 1934 Chrysler Airflow coupe. There is also an Airflow sedan in 1:32 mass-market diecast. Note that DeSoto's Airflows had a shorter wheelbase and different nose styling from the Chrysler line. Dodge did also produce a relatively small number of Airflow-styled truck cab-chassis. Many had streamlined tanker bodies mounted, though I don't think I've seen one with a tandem axle such as this custom. As Chrysler Airflows are seldom seen these days out and about, I think DeSoto ones are even less common.

That bank is not 1:25. It's closer to 1:30-something.

On the bright side, you can park these with your 1:20 Lindberg and AMT kits. ? Oddly enough, years ago someone complained on a large scale model railroad forum that there weren't enough model cars to go with his 1:20 scale trains.

Here's another molding process for gaming miniatures using a type of injection molding with a rubber mold and a proprietary plastic.

Here's one that was imported into Hong Kong. "This highly original, matching numbers Pontiac Firebird in the top of the range Trans Am spec is exceedingly rare in right-hand drive. However, this particular example is rarer still in that it has almost always been right hand drive having been converted by the GM dealer (DCH) in Hong Kong before being delivered to its first owner in 1979. " https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1489700

I've seen this Firebird twice now, but know nothing about it. This year as well as last it snuck out the door before I could get pictures and info. You can barely see the dash is "different". The driver is wearing yellow in the first image, and you can barely see he's on the "wrong" side. Car show in Waltham, MA (1st image 2021, 2nd 2022).

The owner of one of my local hobby shops theorized that the kits baked in the shipping container on the way to the US.

That was interesting. Here's one showing the process of model railroad locomotive production.