Brian Austin

Yup that's a film/TV trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMountainsOfIllinois And it's a known fact that films are shot in locations nowhere near the setting. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CaliforniaDoubling Countless productions were shot in Toronto that actually took place in various places in the US, and then there were movies taking place in New York City that were actually shot in Boston. A recent film set in the '60s in Detroit was partially filmed in the Boston area. I happened to watch a herd of period-dressed extras head toward a local courthouse for courtroom scene shooting. Women wore beehive wigs. I wished I had grabbed my camera. Other towns had period police vehicles and other cars parked around for exterior shots.

Here's a kit that doesn't have much of a chance of reissue. It was produced here in Massachusetts in the late '40s or so, in a range of old-time horse-drawn fire truck kits and other wagons. These were produced in rough cut wood shapes, plastic wheels and other materials such as cast plaster items and rubber hose sections. Small detail parts come packed in a war-surplus field ration wrapper. Two members of my model club knew the son of Mr. William H. Low, the manufacturer, who produced these kits in his basement. There was even a brief period magazine article on him and how he made his kits. I borrowed this kit and three others for study and photography. I have seen a small number of built-up models of these kits in the collections of area fire museums, though the staffs there don't appear to know anything about them. I have also stumbled upon a blog of someone who kitbashes these kits into various types of fire wagons, so there's at least one person building these.

I'm reading a lot of the complaints here with a shrug: "Yeah, so?" I can picture a bunch of typography fans on some forum rolling their eyes at signage shown in movies: "That typeface wasn't used in 1961! How dare they!" :-P It's going to be virtually impossible for a film maker to 100% accurately re-create the past, and the general audience won't know the difference. Is the story itself compelling? That's what's important. So, sure, we'll have classic cars bearing current-day license plates, inspection stickers and other anachronisms, slightly-too-modern trains in Western movies, aircraft rebuilt to resemble rarer types, etc.. Actual buildings used as sets are often re-dressed, with certain modern details covered over. Results are often not graceful, but they made an effort. Watching movies involves a bit of suspension of disbelief. As someone who graduated art school with a degree in photography, one scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang jumped out at me. The photographer at the 1:45 mark is using his camera incorrectly: He puts the cloth over his head and shoots the picture. The problem is, when you have the film (or glass plate) holder inserted in the camera, you can't see through it to focus the image on the ground-glass screen on the back of the camera (when the photographer ducks under the focusing cloth). There doesn't appear to be there's even a film holder in the camera any way. There are a few steps involved in shooting a large-format camera that are omitted in the movie. Point and shoots they are not! How dare they! :-P Shifting gears, be sure to check out the old film serials of the '30s and '40s, often referred to as the Republic Serials. These often featured vehicles. The legendary Lydecker brothers filmed the special effects sequences for many of these serials. Large models were used, and at least one miniature vehicle has survived, a '30s Ford woodie wagon: https://www.yourprops.com/Miniature-Car-from-3-1940-s-original-movie-prop-Spy-Smasher-1942-YP55035.html Background info and pictures: http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2010/09/big-boys-toys-howard-and-theodore.html Film reel of special effects sequences involving their miniatures...and lots of explosions! (Skip to around the 3 min mark or so). One final note, regarding "classic" vehicles wrecked in modern films: Many of these vehicles are owned by "picture car" rental agencies that can build or modify vehicles to suit, often rebuilding a car numerous times to repair stunt damage.

Along with the aforementioned ITC Jaguar I also inherited an unbuilt Aurora Curved Dash Olds. Here it is as it looked in the late '80s or early '90s. Sadly I didn't set the parking brake and it rolled off my shelf one day, breaking a few things in the process. Someday I should replace the molded rod stock with brass.

I might want to chase down one of these ITC kits: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hard-to-Find-1950s-Ideal-Co-Plastic-Toy-Pegaso-Model-Kit-Original-Box-/123726040907 On the other hand, I think I'd avoid their Rolls-Royce https://www.ebay.com/itm/ITC-Ideal-3068-1951-Rolls-Royce-Kit-1-20-Built-1954-Black-Cars-of-All-Nations/382800650119?hash=item5920b25f87:g:Ez0AAOSwdwlcbwd5:sc:USPSFirstClass!60062!US!-1 As far as my Jaguar goes, I might consider removing the roof to make it a roadster.

Thanks for the reply. I was just surprised not to find any chatter regarding that show whatsoever on the truck club forums I'd found. It was such a shock to see it go since the show really seemed to become bigger and better in its new location. I can appreciate the problem with not having enough members to crew an event, though. My first truck shows were in the late '80s, held in Marlborough, MA and sponsored by the ATHS. I knew of the Deerfield truck show, but missed that event, and sadly got lost in Providence, RI while attempting to take an offramp to a neighboring town where there was a truck show a couple of weeks ago. As a consolation I did take a few pictures of some rusty old Divco milk trucks parked in front of a dairy in that area that I've learned has been put up for sale.

I'm missing the big ATCA show that was at the Bolton Fairground in lovely Lancaster, Massachusetts (central part of the state) until a couple of years ago. I've been unable to find any info regarding the status of the show, no discussions anywhere. For a decade or so it used to be held at the field behind the Elks club in Hudson, MA. For several years there it was sponsored by ATHS, then ATCA. Why the show swapped sponsors I've never heard either.

I was surprised to find Glencoe's website to be fairly up-to-date. I wasn't sure they were still a going concern. They offer a wild variety of reissued old kits. Their small-scale automotive kits originated with ITC Model Craft (Ideal Toy Corp) in the '50s. http://www.glencoemodels.com/Online Catalog/MiniKits/MiniKits.html Images from the website: (More built-up samples can be found at http://www.glencoemodels.com/Gallery/TheGallery.html Background info and pictures regarding the original ITC/ Ideal kits and toys. https://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plastic-model-kit-history/itc-ideal-toy-company-model-kit-history-and-cam-a-matic-action-used-in-the-halibut-uss-enterprise-thor-mercer-duesenburg-and-battling-betsy/ I have built two of their locomotive kits (turning them into nifty Christmas tree ornaments in the process) and I picked up their little Jaguar XK-120. They aren't too bad for their size and age of tooling. Now I want the Le Sabre and Indy Racer. :-)

I don't know. This thread seemed to be about griping about kits designed and put into production decades ago when tastes were very different from today's, intended to appeal to kids and not jaded middle-aged men. :-P

Think this one will come back? I inherited this ITC (Ideal) kit from my late grandfather in the '80s. Scale is a bit larger than 1:24. Battery acid had eaten a hole in the box bottom. Now, Glencoe Models has been reissuing the small-scale ITC kits (similar to classic Matchbox toy cars in size) so I wonder whether they'd happen to have the tooling for these larger-scale kits or not. The small kits are neat, but these larger ones are kinda in Palmer territory in terms of execution. I'd be tempted to say they're gone, but I could be wrong...

I think the Rolls-Royce looks fine. I believe that bodystyle is termed touring limousine. The view from the back seat should be nice and clear with the slim window post. The door window post trim should be brighter in the picture, along with the vent wing trim. I'm not sure why they're printed so dark. The bodywork in the two-tone grey one appears to be by Park Ward. http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=72657&country=us

There was also another Hong Kong plastic toy Jaguar Mk 10, OK Toys. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ok-toys-hong-kong-jaguar-mark-mk10-1809053690 https://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=141&id=90764&limit=15&limitstart=75

I may well have passed over this book, or one very similar at a car museum this past summer. I sensed the photos were simply factory promo images I could perhaps find online or elsewhere, so I didn't purchase it. The price, while a bit higher than the equivalent of £2, didn't seem unreasonable. I do really like that "Coupe Super Flow" (Alfa Romeo by Pininfarina).

Using faux fur to make grass: http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/fur_grass/article/index.html http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/mink_grass/

Today running around town today I saw a Deux Chevaux, and then a bit later a Chevy Nova. I wondered what car show I might have missed after seeing the 2CV. :-)

That must've been a wild ride. The rust weathering on the fender is an interesting detail.

Australian Ambulance http://automotoclassicsale.com/node/2821 Here's another, in better shape:

Perhaps this reference site will help: http://www.fordification.info/

This article comes from the perspective of noted diner historian Larry Cultrera who in 1995 had built a model of a diner... \ " ... As I said, Michael and I met sometime during the New England Diner weekend, in fact it may have been at the stop we made to the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, RI. I showed him the photos of my Star Lite Diner model and he immediately was enthusiastic about what I had accomplished. I do recall he asked about the scale of it and told him I did not use any particular scale. We quickly found out that we lived about 7 minutes or so (by car) from each other. ... We made arrangements for me to visit with him soon after and I brought the model with me. We visited at his home for an hour or so and he was impressed with my diner model and how improvised it was with little or no materials other than balsa and bass wood and other items I used to create it. Now don’t get me wrong, I think I did pretty well for this attempt to build the model but my expertise was nowhere in the same ballpark as Michael’s modelling experience. Be that as it may, little did I know that this chance encounter may have actually led to Michael’s near future project of creating Elgin Park…. " https://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/2019/01/12/a-tribute-to-michael-paul-smith-a-true-artist-in-forced-perspective-photography/#respond The Diner Hotline Weblog is a diner enthusiast blog.

Poke around this site for various automotive artists and cartoonists: http://www.motoringart.info/motoring-artist-listings/motoring-artist-information.asp?ArtistName=Jeffries Mike Just an example.

Saturday Evening Post Magazine covers

For those interested, here's the Luv Machine under construction. I happen to have saved some van/truck magazine pages from the '80s. This article is from Truckin'.

Aurora Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aurora-Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang-Model-Kit-1968-Movie-Tie-In-with-Instructions-/131980329740?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l44720.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

The huge EnterTrainment Junction model railroad display in Cincinnati, OH has a very informative web site, with close-up descriptions of their varied scenes and details. Most stuff is built to 1:24 scale or so, though trains are the usual "G Scale" items. Here they have a diner occupying a large storefront: https://entertrainmentjunction.com/111-july-status-report/ https://entertrainmentjunction.com/100-august-status-report/ https://entertrainmentjunction.com/102-october-status-report/ Note that while some bits might not look quite right up close, they are often meant to be seen from several feet away, often through storefront windows. For more ET detail projects see this page: https://entertrainmentjunction.com/category/the-big-train-project/

I recently saw a circa 1964 Chrysler Imperial convertible, in great shape. Its black roof was up, as it was a rather drizzly day. Also I routinely see MB G-Wagons.