bobss396

I was lucky enough to start welding in HS when I was 17. Onto auto college, we had a mandatory good gas and arc welding course. With the stock cars, I had a racing partner, the best welder I have ever come across. He could do anything in steel. No gumball welds, no bolts added to fill gaps.

I have a partly built '58 in a box somewhere. I chopped the top and am struggling with the glass. Fun times. I recall that the engine and chassis built up quite well. This is one of the cars that has held up well since it came out. I guess the molds were well-done back in the day. Everything on the trees still looks crisp and clean on the newer ones.

I missed grabbing one of these kits at our recent show. I was busy vending. Hobby Lobby (king of the 40% off dealie...) hasn't gotten them yet. The only hobby store close by has them for almost $40. I can wait for HL to get them in or catch one at a show.

I have a few of those bottles too for some reason... I mainly store parts in then on ongoing projects. I will have to squirt some sample paints on them. I also have a good supply of leftover kit pieces I use to experiment on. I have been doing that for many years.

I just sold a bunch of kits at a show, got rid of many duplicates. For an odd reason I came home with 2 unsold AMT '49 Merc kits. They were priced to sell. I had a Replicas version of the '56 Ford, that came home too. I was talking with a modeling buddy yesterday. I was talking about taking a year off and building nothing but Trophy Series kits. Everything always fit together well on those. I never recalled a struggle even at 9 years old. I'm building an AMT '66 Impala Modified Stocker. I also have a stash of this series and most are pretty good. Talk about fit issues. I had to sand the sides of the interior tub to get it to meet the tops of the doors. I made up blocks towards the front of the tub as stops. I will have to pin the chassis to the interior tub and make up something to positively locate the rear of the chassis to the body. Imagine a little kid of 12 trying to put one together?

Thanks. There was talk of adding a spring show some years back. The show itself takes some work. We set up on Friday afternoon. Once everything was at the facility, we had it done in an hour flat. I was a vendor there and that went fairly well. I had hoped to sell more than I did. We had 170 paid through the door, included modelers and spectators. Models on the table, just under 250. Usually we get between 275 to 310-ish. I think covid had a negative impact to this day. Plus the 2022 show was canceled at almost the last minute. The number of clubs present was very low. I don't recall seeing any from The Town of Newburgh, Classic Plastic or Masscar. I'm not sure that the Masscar club even exists. The Tristate club from NJ had a good representation. I may have missed some since I was selling and stayed busy with that. The cast of usual-characters was also low. The diehards that used to come to the show were absent. I know some that are older than me, some have passed on as well. We are not getting any younger.

I have seen them locally. I buy a lot off eBay. I have saved sellers I go back to, I like the ones with free shipping.

I know one guy who was in my club. He has an INSANE amount of parts and it is INVENTORIED. He keeps spread-sheets, everything has printed labels on it. He can locate any part in a matter of seconds. I'm a caveman in comparison. I just split off my 3D printed stuff into smaller stackable boxes from Hobby Lobby. Those are in 3 boxes. Also did the same with my Ron Coon stock car pieces and new stock car tires and wheels. I have 2 shoe boxes I work out of and I just cleaned up the contents. One is open detail parts, the other is new detail parts. They both sit under one of my dining room chairs up off the floor for easy access. I also bought some small plastic bags used for those who do jewelry crafts. So now nothing falls out of them.

The red shouldered black bird is the only one I've seen crack one open. I have a pair of crows that sit on a tall light post behind my house. I back up to an ocean causeway so I get shore birds now and then. The crows carry away as many as 6-7 peanuts at once. The Bluejays, 2 or 3. They size them up so they fit in the gullet. Usually I have 2 Mourning Doves come by, now I have 10-12 of them at once on some days. I pick up Bluejay feathers that I find on the grass. I have lately found a couple of small bright yellow ones. They may be an under-feather. I'll have to look them up.

My go-to primer was Duplicolor up until maybe 6 months ago. It is still a good primer, I don't like how the cans spray when they empty out. Yes, I do clean the nozzles. I have used Tristar aunto body primers, a great barrier but I wind up having to do the nozzle cleaning thing too often. Now I'm liking Mr. Hobby primers and Tamiya Fine Surface products. Not cheap but less work in the end. They go on MUCH smoother and I can paint "lacquers" over them. Auto touch-up paints are not as nearly as hot as they were 20 years ago. They are considerably less volatile due to environmental regulations. I have to shoot some over bare plastic and see if they still craze. I have guys in my club who seek out the cheapest primers possible. Rustoleum, Ace Hardware, Home Depot and so on. Then they wind up with mixed results and wonder why. There were a couple cheapos I liked, Bright Beauty (also has a great clear lacquer) from parts stores and Bondo brand.

I forget where I got it from, it is nicely cast and I fit the AMT interior into it. I'm glad it found a new home. I still have 4 or 5 '57 kits on hand. Just thinning the herd. Nobody bit on my '56 Fords, another good one to build up.

Some of them forget where they hide the nuts. I come across them in my planters in the spring. Bluejays stash some too. The only bird I saw open up a peanut was the red shouldered black bird. I'm close-ish to the bay so I get them in rarely. This bird is slick, it holds the nut with one foot and picks it open.

On the opening doors... I had one fall off on a contest table when I was putting the car down. Just the inner portion... no contest for you. This was 20 + years ago. Now I would be pinning it in place and using CA glue instead of tube glue.

I dug one out (was going to sell it at a show) and the top graft looked good. I did use a little filler, right now it is in primer. I have a couple of resin chop-tops in my stash. A 3 and a 5 window. The dry fit is pretty good.

Anything questionable, make up a sample first in case it breaks bad. I use the overnight rule, most of the time, between primer and paint. It gives me the option to sand the primer a bit if it needs it.

Getting the top in place and looking like it belongs there is a big hurdle with these. I have some of the 3 and 5 window issues, also come resin chopped tops. They build up well, as yours shows.

My LHS despite being sparse on model car parts, has a full rack of Tamiya spray cans. He has the newer ones as they come out, the numbers are getting higher. I picked up a TS-82 black rubber and a TS-100 semi-gloss silver that is quite nice on engine parts.

I'd say it came out great, you really captured the essence of the real car. I saw someone at a show yesterday with a Bobby Allison reissue of the Monte kit. I probably have a couple here.

I picked up an older reissue of the Mustang AWB kit, $35 but reasonable since I haven't seen it out in a while. I was busy with the club's show on Saturday, didn't have the time to seek out a Time Machine kit.

We were discussing this at our show yesterday. I was selling some kits that I probably had 5 to 8 of in my stash. Favorites: AMT '40 Ford, '49 Ford and Mercury, '32 Fords. Any cheap NASCAR kit that can be pillaged for parts. MPC modifieds, I have by the case. Funny they were not selling at $15 per. I also have a bunch of AMT early modifieds, despite the cumbersome chassis to build, they are nice kits.

On sketchy roll cages... my brother was racing one night at Islip. He had a feud going with another driver and stuff him into the wall (turn 3... out of sight of the officials) and the car folds up like an accordion up front. Evidently the front bracing was all done with .050" wall tubing to save weight. The car never came back.

Ever start the evening drinking wine and then switch to scotch? There is your answer...

Norm is ageless, he has not changed a bit since I met him 25 years ago. He was at the NNL East, not as much on his board display, but had other shows prior. I always pick up what I need. He used to come to our show on Long Island, but not in a long time.

I have to do one of those, awesome job. The Wood Bros always had and still have the best looking cars.

A very nice build, takes guts to pull of a decent gloss black paint job.