Wickersham Humble

The '54 Studebaker 'Conestoga' 2-door wagon; I know they were done in resin, but I can't find one now. And spendy! Actually, I'd love to have the 1/1 version! Open-wheel 'fifties sports racers, like Tom Castens HWM-Chevy, Allard J2X, and that genre. Or, similar ventage closed fender cars, like the Echidna, BoCar, Ole' Yeller (any version), Devin 'Caballo Hierro', or Euro types. Cummins Diesel Indy car, Kurtis or Watson variations, any NOVI car, and their ilk. How about any Harry A. Miller racer: one of the flathed FWD Indy cars, or the Gulf mid-engined 'Cars from Mars' or one of his street roadsters? Any racers that ran the old Firestone big-profile tires on wire or Hali rims! Yeah, I know about the Monogram kits. Wick (In his dotage)

JoHan redux: One of my 'grail' builds was to combine the '61 Dodge front clip (fenders, hood, bumper/grille) with the '61 Plymouth, and a MCM traded gifted me both kits for the experiment! (See below) I never could get to like, even for pure funkiness, the '61 Plymouth grille treatment; it was even more bizarre than the '59 Chevy 'butterfly' rear end! Likewise the Dodge rear 'reverse fin' design; either the low ones on the Dart/Pheonix, or the extravagant ones with the big tail-lite on the Polaras; neither looked good and were so far outside the mainstream to seem freaky! So, I decided to create a 'Plodge' mashup, which I think showed that the Exner style could be tasty, if not mis-mated! However, we discovered that the '61 body was actually a modified '60 -- fins cut off, and more-or-less bizarre Exner front grille fabbed -- that needed a lot of work; almost a complete rebuild! OC, the Dodge front group mated up perfectly, and made a very decent result. I had to fake/fab the entire interior, however, but had a JoHan generic frame to convert for an engine, which was a simulated 'B'-block. I had a JoHan promo/curbside Dodge kit back in '61, and liked the front style very much (also =, as seen on Leave It To Beaver!) but it was brush painted and disappeared in the dark past. Seemed like the F-86 'Sabre Jet' snout to me! The Dodge body and Plymouth front end weren't wasted; a talented 15-year-old at the 2023 IPMS Yuba City show accepted it as a challenge build! Also, still have a radical custom JoHan '60 Plymouth that was inspired (front treatment, mostly) by the early experimental turbine test car of that era; first built by 15-year old me; much repaired over the last 60 years or so, but... Wick [Modeling since 1953]

All the JoHan I have is stuff I bought for 88-cents, as noted, and among the first I 'restored' after taking all my kits out of storage after the Army in 1970. Unique, if rather fra-geel-ay, in my opinion. And those generic chassis, with the funny 'torsion bars' and fat axles! True promo roots! Wick, at 80

Looks like they're 17's. Hope these help! Wick

I never knew SMP to make wheels/axles like these, but I think Hubley did. Yes, having bought four in the fall of '59, I knew they weren't customizing kits. I never saw an SMP 3-in-1 kit of the 'Vair. I still have the '62 (?) AMT version, Monza. I have a few parts from one of the '60s; headlites, etc. Durn four-doors, anyway. Wick

Summer is slow time for me with models, but I'm finishing a '53 Ford ragtop kit as a mild-custom '54: '57 312/od trans, Carson top, ebony black PPG acrylic, off-white interiour, and an opened trunk full of stolen hub caps, TV's, etc. Old JoHan Olds Fiesta flipper wheel covers, but however-appropriate, probably not fender skirts. It's a CA late-fifites hood's car, from the 'pink and black days' no less! As a ninth-grader in those days, I recall those cats -- with a dash of fear! Black Chinos, windbreakers with the collars turned up, and pink shirts! And the silly Derby or plug-hats; 'Clockwork Orange' didn't originate that little fillip! Guess the Eastern hoods wore pork-pies? I forgot to make hinge points for open hood and trunk, so I'm taking a short-cut: rather than tubing and bent aluminum jewelry wire, I'm just doing retrofit tubing pockets and soft solder. I don't often open-shut hoods and trunks, and the bendable solder will let me have the option of posing them open, and not losing them constantly -- I hope. A time saver, and easy to align both open and shut, which can be fussy work. What you think? Wick

My favorite 'heritage' model company was, by a tic, AMT/SMP; because when they released their promo-based one-piece body kits, I was at the point of giving up planes, armor, ships and so forth because of the seeming limitation to my Jr. Hi. 'creativity' and I'd discovered Kustom Cars and Hot Rods. The Revell and other kits I'd had were multipiece build-up types, and just too frustrating for a kid who was used to instant-gratification builds of one day, or even one sitting! However, these products got me fueled into a new genre, and I'm still doing that type 65 years later! OC, I went back in the 'eighties and did a number of Revell and other build-ups, when my patience had gotten a bit longer. Second choice would probably be Monogram, for their variety of rods and racers; a bit basic at first, then well detailed as newer kits evolved; a good company with a lot of commitment to we young car modelers. As I get ancient, their 1/24 scale seems a tad easier to handle, and I enjoyed a build of a repop 'Slingshot' dragster last year. I'd love to have a (re)buildable 'Sizzler' kit now; I nearly wore mine out in '61-63 stacking the many optional parts on and trying to decide how to finish it; thing is, I don't now recall how I built it, or what happened; I have a number of bits in my spares box, unexplicably! I'm rebuilding my 'Green Hornet' from the day, and finished a Model A tub Mod Roadster using the body from the one I built in '62, still with the turquoise Candy paint and decals. Third, Revell; they try so hard! The '56 Ford and Buick built-up kits basically defeated the 11-year old me, back when, but I still have some bits and decals! The '62 MoPar promo-style kits were fun, but engines, etc. were underscale and rims/chassis kinda strange. The original F100 kit was terribly warped, and the '55 Chevy hardtop too; doors glued shut! JoHan follows, mostly because we saw so few here on the left coast, and when AMT/SMP went to opened hoods with reasonably scaled engines, etc. in '61, they took longer to follow suit. Their wheels were wonky, back then, but had cool wheel covers included. My little section of 1960-61 MoPars make great subjects for engine transplants, but their styrene was sooo brittle! Nice an thin, though. Our 88-cent Store here in Chico had JoHans for that price, much lower than the $1.39+ of AMT. Lindberg, Srombecker, Palmer, ITC, and others; I tried them all. Auroroa cars were never seen in our stores. One last mention: Hubley; often pretty neat promo-style bodies of neat subjects. I ordered four '60 Corvair kits by them with Nabisco box-tops and fifty-cents; their fate is unremembered. Well, that's my take on it. What do you think? Wick

well, no luck. I'll repeat my request, if anyone sees this; holding up finishing kit replica until I can approximate the Mustang (Cobra center) 5-spokers, about 18-inch on 1`/1 car, I believe. Help? Wick

The 1/24 scale Monogram 'Sizzler' dragster from 1961; I keep finding parts of mine in my miscellaneous box, and recently have realized how much fun I had with that kit back in the day! I'd love to have another one, but really can't afford the tab for the NOS sealed ones for sale on eBay right now. Even an incomplete one, if mostly there might get'r done. I don't have a huge stash of kits, but would trade favorably to get a Sizzler, especially if it still had the Banam coupe body. Or, possibly a 'Long John' that is rebuildable, or both. I bought a new-issue 'Sling-Shot' rail kit two years ago, and had mucho fun building it as a slightly more probable A/Gas dragster, using a few 'Sizzler' parts in the mix. The slightly larger size of the 1/24 scale parts helps when your small-motor finesse begins to fade! Any help in MCM land? Wick

Steve, The first edition of my book had some rust repair illustrated that was just catastrophic; but with some other stuff I omitted it from the new revision because a Z with that much damage -- at today's commercial body shop rates -- would put the owner upside down in a tic. I took out the 'paint your own resto' section too, because that isn't done much anymore, but both can be seen in the old copies. As I point out, the Z wasn't the only collectible that had body cancer proclivities; the '55 Chevy was vulnerable in some areas, especially over the headlites, and lower front fenders. And the Nomads: the trick hardtop bodies, behind the front doors to the wheel wells had virtually no 'scuppers' to drain moisture -- or dust buildups -- and needed lots of surgery to be saved; I began my driving career with a '55 when it was only six years old (1961) and had about twenty, including all but the ragtop -- and let's not talk about them! My second car was a '51 Ford 'Special' from MI, and it had no floors, which made ditching beer cans easy, anyhow...

Oh, should I live so long, I'm going to build my big-scale Tamiya Fairlady ZG into a replica of my 1970 car, with standard front bumper/lights, and left-hand drive! Yes, I know Z's rusted, but so do all other cars: even Corvette frames suffer from the tin worm. I recall auto guru Mike Lamm's DeTomaso Pantera, the one owned by Dean Martin, with a rust hole in the body side you could have reached through with your hand!

The Datsun 240Z. I bought a new one (HLS3547) in July of 1970, drove it with a huge smile on my face for twenty four years, and restored it as the subject of my book HOW TO RESTORE YOUR DATSUN Z-CAR, (CA Bill's Automotive Handbooks, 1990) and sold it back to NISSAN USA in 1995. BTW, the book was never out of print for 35 years, but is now in a new revised edition distributed by Car Tech Books, easily found on Amazon, etc. I have a '71 Resto-mod Z now, a conservative personal build with about a hundred 'improvement' features. Sadly, I'm 80, and need to sell it with less than 500 miles on the complete job, 'frame-up' (no frame, oc) and never having been driven through a puddle. The Z was built to a price, and not in contention with any of your exotic hand-built GT's, but was (is) hugely popular and brought more driving pleasure to more folks world-wide than many other sports cars since the beginning. And, it was always affordable: my first Z cost me $3660 in '70, when the 911S was heading for $6K. They don't cost much more than a Mustang to rebuild (if you can find one nowadays) and are cheap to run. And beautiful! I'd love to have a Scarab, or maybe a J-2 Allard, or one of the Harry Miller street machine roadsters, but the Z is/was accessible, and a lovely thing! My only regret was that is wasn't built in the USA; John DeLorean's Pontiac OCH Banshee would have been my choice, if produced. Wick Humble

I always make notes, usually on a strip of buff manila (from old file folders) just to save space -- and the heavier card is durable. It's rare I build OOB, as I'm a child of the 'Customizing' era, and began doing 3-in-1 kits because I thought I was going to be a car stylist in Detroit, and at age 13 couldn't afford a real car, much less modify it! Later, of course... ! I like to draw, and besides listing tghe proposed changes on any kit, make sketches and tracings to confirm the feasibility of each one; often that is enough to change the script right there. Also, I list the parts I need to source (usually adding them, if available from my meagre stash, in little Ziplocs) and hit the forum Wanted for help, usually forthcoming -- thank you all sincerely. Right now I have about 20 kits abuilding, a dozen or so very close to paint, or even sprayed, waiting finishing up; but I work mostly in the colder months. 'Holy Grail's' included, it's still a lot of work and time!!! I'm not as adroit as I once was -- seniors take note -- nor can I see details as well, at 80. The more ambitious the project -- and more stimulating -- the more time and 'notes' it takes for me. My two apochryphal Harry A. Miller street roadsters are a case in point; tons of detail work and mods to Caddie and Rolls base kits. Also, my B'Ville 2XV-16 LSR car from 1934... In the aftermath, it's interesting to see how far the real kit strays from the concept I penned; or not! Wick

Boxed the frame for a Monogram "BIG T" gloo-bomb kit I bought at last years Dragonlady IPMS show. I want to rebuild it as a hauler for my Mono customizing V-8 kit that I bought in '62 and saved. I never could afford the monster-scale kits back then, but then they're hard to display being so big. I used epoxy to soldily attach the boxing plastic, and included some high-tensile steel wire inside the rails for some extra stiffness. Then, since I was priming the door on my daughters 1/1 '57 Ford business coupe project, I shot it with epoxy primer. The original builder used so much adhesive to put the rear leaf spring into the spring X-member I had to leave it in place, and will possibly sand the leaves smoother and shoot them with Molotow when it's ready. The rims are getting the bling treatment, too. A few light-weight bits are damaged, and some real nuts/bolts hardware may come into play as I finish it. Wonder where one can source such stuff for this scale? Wick

I was an enthusiastic Scout; got to 2nd Class in BSA, but our Scout Master's dry cleaning business went belly up, and he emigrated to a new locale to try again. A badly crippled 20-year-old Eagle Scout tried to keep old Troop 32 together (Alturas, CA) but it was about 1959, and it just dried up. I was troop bugler. We had Buffalo Patrol; leader was Robert Hight, the uncle and namesake of Force Funnycar driver, Robert Hight. He had the fastest car in our little burg (Pop. 3000) with his '62 Plymouth Sport Fury; my '55 Chevy could hold him in first gear, but I was giving away 100 cu-in. and it wasn't any race. Funny Hight's dad, his little bro, raced me in his mom's '61 Imperial 413 (well, I had hopes...) and lost that too. He got a '64 Max Wegde; family was rich. Still in touch with Robert the uncle. Yeah, Scouting, five seasons of USFS fire-fighting, and then the Army... I got an MA in Art/Education, then taught Kindergarten. Wick