Brian Austin

I think the old opening-door Revell kits are fine for kitbashing, but the two-piece tires weren't the greatest. I recently got the Revell snap '57 Chevy, solely for the nice custom "kidney bean" wheels. The tires aren't too bad as they are, but for a particular project I wish they were a little taller (no fault of the kit). The old AMT kit is fine for what it is, a reissue of an old kit with neat custom parts. I think people are expecting every kit sold today to be produced to a modern standard, and when they don't meet these builders' expectations they have to run to the message boards to complain. The older kits give you an opportunity to practice your building skills. These aren't puzzles. :-)

(Tamiya also did a Dodge Charger slot car in the '60s)

And Canada has its own as well.

Liberty Classics did a diecast model Jeep pickup. Also, I happen to have some old clippings relating to Carhenge.

Some model car styrene plastic recipes might include some clear pellets along with the colored ones. Clear is more brittle than other colors. On the other hand, I have some vac-formed brick sheets I bought 20 or so years ago that were formulated for UV resistance. I found it rather rubbery and hard to cut in a straight line.

As I was posting, I was wondering if it was supposed to be more of a mobile home than a travel trailer. It's a pity I didn't save the text of the auction to go along with the pictures for context. Here's a fun historical look at the evolution of the mobile home. Also note they point out the Pierce Arrow's Touring Landau trailer of 1910, with a gooseneck hitch. https://mobilehomeliving.org/the-history-of-mobile-homes/

BTW, the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY has an Aerocar on display. I got some reference pictures, including what I could of the interior. The museum itself is highly recommended.

This is a fun thread. I don't have one of my own to share at the moment, but I was reminded of an eBay listing from several years ago of a '40s salesman's sample model. IIRC it was 1:24 scale or thereabouts.

The puppet Rodeo was a gimmick for promoting Levi Jeans. Initially installed for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 it was later mounted in the van for a road tour. Wooden puppets moved in sync with the recorded soundtrack. Of course, they were wearing miniature Levi Jeans. The puppets were lost over time, but a couple of pairs of the little jeans apparently survived. https://www.levistrauss.com/2014/10/09/throwback-thursday-meet-me-at-the-fair/ (Image via Pinterest)

Update! I have changed direction a bit. Wheels are from Revell's snap '57 Chevy. I'm not sold on the tires that come with it. I'd rather have some taller bias-ply type tires, but I have nothing that will work. I haven't decided on the final color for the wheels, but I'm aiming for a typical Halibrand finish. Rear bumper got swapped from the custom piece to the stock one, dechromed. I think it flows better.

Those Fireball 500 kits are fun for kitbashing.

1965 Ford F100 https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1135472/1965-ford-f100-for-sale-in-brainerd-minnesota-56401 1970 Ford F100 http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/ford/601995-1970-ford-f100-rare-sears-roebuck-short-bed-utility-truck.html

Here's another view of a similar Corvette. The problem is that the floor boards appear to be slightly translucent. I'd try applying colors over a solid undercoat using transparent layers. Perhaps the additional layers could be applied with the dry-brush method. https://www.stlouiscarmuseum.com/vehicles/749/1966-chevrolet-corvette-stingray Note that some other Corvettes in this dealer's inventory have their underbody painted black. That would be an easy way out for a model. https://www.stlouiscarmuseum.com/vehicles/sold?utf8=✓&ftx=corvette

I'd love to see F-350s derived from this series, but it's probably not going to happen. FWIW, I have seen pictures 1:1 trucks of these generations with utility beds, even short wheelbase, apparently. One listing claims that a particular '65 F100 was ordered as a chassis-cab, with a 3/4-ton axle and rear suspension. A Powers utility body was installed at the dealer. I think modelers will be happy to see a nice utility body they can put on any chassis.

I had the Chevy Caprice stock car in this series. Very toylike.

For the Museum's Mack LJT tractor, I rebuilt a Corgi Classics model. I didn't have to repaint the cab, I simply removed the tampo lettering. Thankfully, the chassis was easy to shorten in wheelbase, as it was made in two pieces held with screws.

The 1:1 trailer was made from intersecting I-beams. The problem with my model is the styrene was perhaps a bit too thin. My trailer turned out to be a bit flexible. Indeed, it was intended to display my diecast Corgi PCC streetcar model, but it's so heavy it causes the trailer to sag a bit. The prototype hauler went through several "revisions" over the years. Mine attempts to depict it as it appeared in the '50s. In later years the gooseneck was swapped for one sourced from a tandem trailer. Luckily the old one still existed on the museum property for me to photograph and measure. Certain details still remained for me to have to guess though.

Back in the '90s I set about to build a replica of the unique bit of equipment the Seashore Trolley Museum built in the early '50s or so to haul newly acquired exhibits back to the museum in Kennebunkport, ME. After a false start, I took the following pictures as the project progressed through 2000.

Yes, that one is perhaps a bit better thought out. FWIW, while I didn't consider the one I posted to be particularly pretty, I thought it was a creative use of the Jeep pickup cab. The one just posted is a better demonstration of the overall concept.

The graphics might be the most difficult part.

So the guy set the model on fire and covered it in Rustall prior to restoring it? There's some rather odd damage to it that doesn't add up.

That sounds like a good way to describe a lot of people who oppose EVs. They don't realize that technology and production methods are constantly improving to address the "issues" critics throw around in every discussion of EVs in automotive forums. We can't even have a nice historical discussion with out naysayers railing against their very existence. https://evannex.com/blogs/news/debunking-electric-car-myths-again Ironically, the tone of this discussion reminds me of those who scoffed at the development of the automobile itself over a century ago. The cry was "Get a horse!". Thankfully, inventors pressed ahead and the public eventually came around.

At local shows I have seen a late-model Chevy pickup converted to battery power.

Front-wheel-drive, hybrid power drives, and V-8 engines (among other things) were also invented a lot longer ago than when the average person might think they were. One should remember that a hundred years ago and earlier, all automobiles were short-range and horses were still in use for work. Roads were poor, speeds were very low, and long-distance driving wasn't common prior to the development of paved roads. So electric cars were viable, and were popular with women, particularly affluent ones, who didn't want to have to hand-crank to start a gas car. In more modern times electric cars were seen not as superhighway cruisers, but as runabouts for shopping or running errands around suburbs, for commuting to work, or more recently, for use in cities to fight pollution and cut congestion. Perhaps common electric cars aren't well suited to commuting in modern urban sprawl with hundred-plus commutes to work out west. UPS and other companies had battery-powered delivery truck fleets in the early days. (I know of one '30s UPS "package car" that had wound up at a trolley museum in Maine after it had become surplus, and then in later years the company had re-aquired it. It was treated to a full restoration and was used for promotional purposes. UPS was promoting electric power again.) I think the mid-20th century drive for interstate highways had erased the institutional memory of electric automobiles. Also, every once in a while, someone reinvents the steam car for a newer era, but these efforts never seem to gain traction.