W Humble

Likewise, Chico CA today. Just a tiny question for Larry G.: Okay, the MPC 1968 Dodge Coronet "all the tooling in this kit is new" -- regarding the car model that is probably gospel. But the little trailer; if you wonder why there are emergency vehicle gumball parts on it's sprue tree, could it be because it (I think) was originally issued in the AMT 1961 Buick Special wagon kit (along with a welcome early Chrysler hemi) which also had the cop lite? I still have a few bits of my trailer -- much like an early U-Haul -- but don't recall why in '61 I didn't build it as in the instructions! I think I tried to use part of it for bed parts in a Dave Shulkis (sp?) conversion of a '60 T-Bird HT to Ranchero that didn't come off. Well, I still have the rear decking, mauled up by my using a hack-saw blade for sectioning (age 16, living in American Siberia) which anyone may have, along with the unused front and rear bumpers for a small swap. Bet at least that component is a tooling recycle! Just sayin' Wick, fumbling around with plastic kits since 1953 PS/ I was working on that old Buick today: converted to two-door panel delivery, nailhead 401 under the opened hood, GM buckets and console, opening tailgate, big diameter rims, and... probably scratched-up surfboards. :-<)

Dymo tape works fine, but only for straight or slightly curved lines, oc. I first saw the idea in Scale Model for putting Plimsoll lines on big ship models. Don't know it it's still available, but 55 years ago, there was an embossing machine that used aluminum tape (we used it for names on our USFS hard-hats, fighting fire) that would provide a bulletproof edge for the scribing tool. Scribing new lines: very satisfying, if they come out perfectly -- another step toward a superior build! I noted those scribing guides in the M.M. catalog, but typically they don't bother to include a dimension/size reference, nor do most look particularly useful for say, a 1:25 car bod. And spendy! Anybody use those?

Thank, Mike. I was kinda hoping to swap for a sheet, though. :-<) Wick

I need some USAAF decals in 1:48 scale, preferably the 'star and bar -- without the red line' style, c. 1946 for my Kyusu Shinden 'captured enemy aircraft flight'. I haven't done a/c kits since the 'fifties, but this double project has me excited. Will probably wind up as a diorama display, too, though a simple on of an airport ramp. As mentioned earlier, I'm using resin-castings fo a J-47 engine to make two 'apocryphal' jet interceptor developments with it and the also canard Curtiss P-55 Ascender kits. Half-way there, and not bad, so far! They are both awesome looking planes, and designesthat probably deserved to have the further development with turbine-type power. For the Shinden, mostly I just need the wing and fuselage insignae. I have a sheet of Luftwaffe decals, pretty new, to swap from an Arado kit, I believe, complete and in nice condition. As it usually goes, I was at the IPMS shot in Yuba City CA two months ago, and one friendly vendor was selling complete sheets of many kinds for as low as one buck a pop! "When my ship came in, I was waiting at the airport" as the Ziggy cartoon said. At least these will ship in first-class envelopes! Anyone help me out? :-<) Wick Chico, CA

Dave, I recalled the Corvette after I posted. I drove a '55 in 1961, and could barely afford* that; Corvettes and Thunderbirds were not much in my frame of reference! The cars that did have through-the-bumper exhaust, and there were many more (but not standard Chevies!) had plating problems and blackened bumpers in a very short time, as I recall. I only recall one '57 Chev on which the owner routed the exhaust through the oval opening, and he regretted it! Wick *By the time I was college bound in '63, I'd degenerated to a '51 Ford rust-bucket, but had a lot of fun (which I couldn't have with a more valuable car) driving it, and two successors. I guess you haven't really been a hot rodder if you haven't had a flathead interlude! Peppy, sound great, and easy to tune! Wish I had one now!

Bill, when I first comped this brochure in the day, I thought it was made for us modelers! Not many mfrs put a file of engine photos in their ads!! Wick

Try POCI, the Pontiac Oakland Club International; they are the source. Their mag, Smoke Signals, often runs photos of high-point cars that are authentic. The Editor, Tim Dye, just ran a seven page article on Pontiac model kits, and it noted the first one was from AMT -- 1n 1953! Well, I never saw one... but! The promo-based 3-in1 kits first came out in 1958, and got real traction when the open-hood versions debuted in 1961. I have them from 1960 through 1964, and discovered that I'd painted all of the engines a sky-blue without the greenish tinge that is original! BTW, the rattle-can engine colors supplied by Ames Performance, a Pontiac speciallater ty source, are pretty accurate! Our family drove Pontiacs, my bestie in high school had a step-dad who was partners in the local dealership, and lived right across the street. HIS partner lived next door! So I was a 'lot-bot' in much of my spare time from 1959 through 1965 or so, and learned a lot about the cars. My first car would have been a '55 Poncho, but they had terrible stick-transmissions through '57, and I refused to drive an automatic. 'Tach it up, powershift here we go!' I went with '55 Chevy instead. If you have specific questions, I might be able to help; PMD had a lot of options in those days! POCI has year and feature experts listed, too. My specialty is the 1961-63 Tempes/LeMans cars, and they have a club as well, The Little Indians. Okay, technically PMD had given up all but the Native American/Indian stuff except for the marque name (and possibly the Star Chief model) by 1961! "Wide Track" was the pitch from '59, and then the 'TIger' image began to creep in in '62. Pontiac, MI was the home town of the division of GM. I'll post my version of the '61 Tempest "Monte Carlo" roadster soon; I began it in '61 with the AMT 4-dr. sedan body! My 'holy grail' kit is the '62 LeMans ragtop, as that's the 1:1 Pony we have now. Wick

When I began using aerosol paint was in the late '50s,.Up till then I used Testors, Pactra, and the other hobby-store bottled paints (even Aurora had a line: really small rectangular bottles, and it went on nicely with a brush) and when I got something like a glossy finish, I thought it was heaven! Then I discovered OEM touch-up paints, which in the early '60s were a neat trick to get more interesting palette of colors, those that looked nice on an automobile, not a step-stool. Finally, Testors, etc. started selling rattle-can Kustom colors, and that was a parallel improvement. I painted a D-Dragster frame from '61 with sixty-year old Pactra red just for fun, and it came out shiny and dried hard! Wow! In '63, I painted/repainted a Supro solid-body 3/4 scale electric bass four times; took two rattle cans, and I gave up! But, despite dire warning to the contraray, I've been using 1;1 automotive colors since the late '60s -- when I began doing bike and street machine paint jobs, and only once has one caused me problems, IF first I used 2K (urethane, or even polyester) automotive primers. Rustoleum, Krylon, and all their kind aren't on my shelf. Seriously, how many modelers nowadays really don't have access to compressed air and a small gun? After retirement, I worked five years for a PPG paint and body-shop retailer, and learned even more about aerosols. You can indeed get quality auto colors in rat-cans, if you have it mixed custom from chips (or if your shop-person has some time and inclination, from your imagination!) and put in a reasonably good aerosol -- for about $25! Even a Harbor-Frieght 'purple top-loader' gun can do an excellent job on models, trust me. I have DeVilbiss (owned over fifty years, an EGA model) and two Iwatas, all of which are nice. But a little-tiny diaphragm compressor and the above shooter will do you proud most of the time. I once retouched a bunch of photos using the EGA, and the purple will go even a bit finer. Well, I said my piece: for what it's worth -- hope it does someone good. BTW, auto paint stores often give away mis-matched paints! Many require a catalyst, but that makes a super-tough finish that won't wilt like rat-cans sometimes do. Just be careful about your respirator/gloves -- but that's true with all paints, right? Wick

N CA (Far!) so I've never been, but a pal goes every year. Used to got to Redding 'Shasta Roadsters' strip in the early-mid '60s; lots of front-engined rails. Now stock bodied cars beat those 8-second runs -- incredible! Old school is more fun, tho!! Wick (I raced a '55 Chevy post, '51 Ford coupe flathead! Building replicas of both!)

Go to the Smokers cacklefests? My G-son is at Ridgecrest ; Coyote baseball, etc. Wick

Ok, thanks -- as long as it doesn't cost you a ton for shipping! Wick

Lee/Emil, "Mother?" I'd like to see the Mustang, too!! I have all the air race books that covered 1905 until about 1970; pretty amazing! I wish they'd been in color. These projects will probably come out in about a year... I have so many starts: "A lick, and a promise." I'm also doing a Brewster 'Buffalo' racer -- yep, when I was doing some research on the company and planes in the Smithsonian archives in '06, I found that a race plane had been requested and considered about 1940; Seversky was putting his P-35 prototype (SEV-5?) in races with Frank Fuller (Fuller-OBrien paints) and wond a few. The Buff racer never was begun, but I've faked up some drawings of how it might have been done: SB2A 'Bermuda" R-2600 instead of R-1820, and lowered canopy -- I have all the parts, just need time. Then I'll need to imagine a racing paint scheme, over bare aluminum, oc. I wrote a very long novel about a pioneer aviator/racer/designer called "The Bird of Ill Omen" in which the Brewster racer IS built, but was crazy unstable (of course) and crashed on LI, NY. Hope to get it begun on Kindle by next year as a serial. Well, we'll see anyhow. Soon to indie publish on Kindle "A Place on Mars" trilogy, about teen adventures in 1959-64 in a rural town in the west. Whee! I used to volunteer at the Chico Air Museum a lot, esp in restoration, but have too many projects to finish now! Wick

Lee; right, I guess I thought it was a PM! Thanks! Ole' Wick

Thank you very much! What do you need? Wick, age 77 3191 Coronado Rd. Chico CA 95973

Looks like a challenge; nice! A twin-engined version of the old Warlur? PS, think it's Stranraer.

Very nice indeed! Funny, when I saw "Buccaneer" I flashed on the Brewster dive bomber, also called "Bermuda" by the Brits. Perhaps even a poorer ship than the Curtiss "Helldiver". Most of the 750 Brewsters wound up in training schools as hacks. Wick

I haven't built an airplane kit since the 'fifties, but at age 77 I'm motivated to try a few. My project is to build both the Hasewgawa Shinden and Modelsvit Curtiss Ascender as the might have evolved with turbojet power! I love the looks of both, canard with swept wings, and am amazed at the similarity. displayed; how neat if both had been moved up in technology and performance in 1:1 ! I need some 'fifties style tip-tanks, moderate size for the Curtiss P-55, and a glue-bomb early jet figter fuselage for the tail=pipe area, if such is available out there. FINE SCALE MODELER would prob. be the best place to look, but I'm not on that forum, yet. I can swap car parts (mostly early '60s) and a few extra bits from theser two kits, props etc. The Shinden has a six-bladed prop! I have a J-47 from an old Crusader kit that I resin copied for these; might share one of those? I want to mount the two on their gear, facing one another, semi-diorama style. Well, those 1:48 parts are sure small! Pretty cool, gettin a kit from Ukraine! Wick

One think about some modern metallic paints; in small-scale the look like metalflake! I scored lots working in retirement for a PPG auto paint store! A gallon of Hemi orange, anyone? We usually sold it half-price, but employees could just take it home! I've only had trouble with 1:1 paint once on kits, and the epoxy primers work fine, make good sealers on styrene -- for me.

I'll make my plea, the hush up: About 25% of us refer to the make, model, etc of their build in the 'TITLE' box, and that sure helps me know which ones to open and oogle. "Lead Sled" or "Chopper" don't have as much appeal without "57 Caddie Lead Sled" or "Indian Chopper" headlines. Either in the box, or as a tag would be a courtesy to all us fans. Or not; just sayin' Amazing craftsmanship, (a ship which has sailed for me, at age 771/2 !), style, and creativity; kudos. I have my camera probs sorted out, and will post some built kits, some done over 60 years ago -- soon! Wick

Pretty build, Gary. Looks like just what I'd have wanted to drive in high school, tho I had a '55 Chevy Delray post with all the old-school goodies, including full pinstriping by 'Coop.' I'll post a pic of my '60 AMT Bonne with what I always thought it needed, a '61 divided grille hood, from an old promo. It was my first try at PE details, and... well, lots of good left-overs! I got to go to the '60 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics in a new '60 Bonneville 'Vista' (four-door HT), and when the dad driving got sleepy at nine PM (on a snowy mtn road!) I almost got my first chance to drive one. Of course, I was only 15! Really liked the style; much better than other GM divisions with the same body base, I thought. Shame they lost the divided grille after debuting it so effectively in '59 -- which was cursed with a bizarre collection of over-decorations! Do-overs? I M Humble O... Wick

Gary, I guess we missed one another in The BIg Green Machine, datewise. Nice drawings! Many of mine from c. 1960 are pretty crude, but I loved doing them; also graduated into Big Daddy imitation "Wierdos" for my HS classmates. Note; they didn't impress girls, however. A degree in Art/Education followed, both BA and MA, but mostly I taught -- Kindergarten. Well, they love art! If I can get my scanning stuff to work right, I'll submit a few more; some of them I attempted as models, as well. Many now lost, but I still slave at it! Wonder how folks will remember us oldies? Wick

I began building with Aurora's 'Famous Fighters' in about 1953; by 1958 had switched to cars -- but now I have the urge to do two more fighters: Canard fighters as jets: Kyushu Shiden and Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 'phantoms' project. I have a J-47 jet engine saved from the old (1:48 Revell?) Vought F7U Crusader kit, and made molds to resin-replicate it. I love the forward-looking appearance of the experimental swept-wing canard fighters from WWII, and know both the above were severly limited by their pusher piston engines/props. If nothing else, imagine needing to abandon quick with a big chopper behind you; even though both had means to jettison their airscrews, it would have been a disparaging element! The Japanese kite apparently was designed with a reaction-motor in mind, and the Curtiss design was s-canned without a thought to prototyping a new concept in fighter design. I sourced the Hasegawa Shiden and Czech Model Ascender kits (and not inexpensively, either!) for starters. Besides the obvious mods, there are a number of details I want to incorporate to 'update' the appearance, at least. Also, the Shinden will be in USAAF livery, as an Enemy Evaluation Aircraft to be 'flown off' versus my modified XP-55. Apparently the Ascender, as prototype, had some handling issues, and test pilot CPT Ben Kelsey hated flying it; gave it an "F-" grade (he was enraptured by the Lockheed P-38 anyway!), and with characteristic Curtiss dithering, it died on the vine. It remained for the N/A F-86 Sabre to sell the USAF on swept-wings for speed, whereas the '55 already had them! (Yes, numerous other A/C had true swept, going back to the Dunne Navy biplanes -- 1910-ish -- but like it, most were other canard/tailless prototypes.) The Me.262 had swept leading edges, but for that matter so did the Douglas DC-2/3 series! I want to show them together, both in natural metal finish, as if being 'flown off by AF testers. Also, if I pose them on a ramp, I note that the stalky landing-gears on both can be shortened since no big prop is causing clearnace problems; both originally req. take-off/landing in 'three point configuration' dut to runwa strikes! Haven't rec'd the XP-55 kit yet, as it comes from the Ukraine, apparently! PS/ I realize that the J-47 isn't exactly the shape of the early jet engines, but I'll mod it some, and delete the afterburner section for a simple metal tail pipe. I may donate the display to the Chico Air Museum, where I volunteer. Wick

For what it's worth, I think he was in a couple of them as "Duke" Hathaway, Mayfield High's BMOC. Also in one or two Father's. He co-starred with Cynthia Pepper in a 'roaring 20's' fad show called 'Margie' where he drove a Stutz Bearcat, I think. (Years before it had been a pop song and later movie.) Don't know about Donna Reed. Not he, but a number of sitcom kids were grads of the Mickey Mouse Club productions, incl. Tim Considine, Don Grady, etc. Jimmy Hawkins was 'Scotty' in DR, had a funny '31 Chevy roadster with F-100 steering, SBC with 265 manifolds which Scotty called a '350' -- about '60. He was one of the kids in 'Its a Wonderful Life'. "TV Tom!" Some great old rides! Perry Mason for the best, tho!

Kookie; never missed 77 Sunset Strip, from the Warner TV show factory: private eye and westerns! T bucket was the Norm Grabowski car, right? I've seen the repop version, which is very cool, but never the original, now had the kit -- tho I had Beatnik Bandit, Outlaw, and a lot of other T rods. I haven't bought any figurine sets yet, hoping to find the perfect ones; Wally and Eddie need to be crouched or running away, which is hard to find. Lump could be sitting (stunned!) in his ragtop, and Bud A. should be trying to get his Model A running. Thanks for the tips! Wick

Oddly enough, I was just looking at a model car mag from quite some time back that had the Mod Squad Merc and show figurines built; not bad. Guess the wagon gave the production crew so man problems that they replaced it with a modern van in later shows. Didn't watch the show, tho.