Wickersham Humble

There, fixed that! W.

Nitrocellulose lacquers 'dried up' decades ago, replaced by acrylic lacquers -- which are about gone nowadays! I've been painting 1/1 cars since the late 'sixties (shadetree only) and car models since the early 'sixties -- and worked my retirement in a PPF paint store. DuPont introduced the n-c lacs as "Duco" finishes back in the early thirties, as I recall, and it took over at GM; Ford, Chrysler, etc. largely went forward with enamel-type paints, but all gun-sprayed. Lacquers hung on for aircraft finishes on fabric, called 'dope', for a lot longer. Duplicolor was selling lacquers as late as five years ago (Pep Boys, and probably Summit also) that was sold in quarts thinned and 'ready to spray.' It was perfectly serviceable paint, but with the typical lac disadvantages like requiring many coats, brittleness, some fragility and vulnerability to UV rays. It is beautiful on a 1/1 car, done right, but has a distinctive look, for sure. Well 'cut and buffed' lac looks miles deep; so cool! We tend to compare all finishes with the modern acrylic urethanes, either catalyzed or not, or more significantly, clear-coated or not. Art guys (such as myself) can lecture you about the dual-reflectability of base/clear coat finishes and it's being the motivation for automakers almost exclusive use of such. As anyone knows, clear-coats are almost as vulnerable to sun damage as lacquers; witness the big gray patches on old base/clear colors, even factory applied. Lac has it's own look, but must be well-cared for. I did my son's '51 Chevy resto-mod in the original color (green poly eg, metallic) as original with PPG Duracryl I sourced in 1993 for that purpose, as it was Dad's old ride we'd discovered 'in the wild' and rescued. I have about one quart of lacquer for future touch-up, and he'd better take good care of it! I did a resin 2-dr Styline body for him to mimic it, but clear-coated it because the lacaquer didn't really 'pop' on such a small object. The danger of lacquer of any kind is the thinner; it's terribly 'hot' and can work as paint stripper in worst case scenarios. As noted, the real crux is the substrate; a correct primer-sealer is required, and sanded to at least a 400# smoothness, as lac won't cover flaws or sand-scratches at all -- makes them stand out, if anything. Polystyrene usually is only a bit resistant to hot solvents, so beware, and test. I use real 2K primer-sealer, fairly thin to preserve details (except on 'lead sled' type customs) but very judiciously, and then wet-sanded, oc. Lacquer over old finishes is a krap-shoot, and you usually lose those! Modern acrylic-urethanes, cleared or not, work well with styrene kits, but the plastic should be sealed. I no longer trust rat-can materials, and oc have a huge stock of Deltron-like paints that were returns or mis-matched from the PPG shop where I worked, and that's what I rely on. OC, I test them each, first! PPF 660 Clear works fine on kits (catalyzed) and literally never yellows, like the old enamel clears. Other brands also, I suspect. Judges get testy about thick clear coats, and by the second go-round, it begins to be obvious, if that worries us. I painted my first bass in 1965, a Supro 3/4 scale solid body I bought disassembled from the local band, 'The Cool Ones' with rat-can black, and after sanding it down (and then off) three times, gave up and passed (now a collector's item) to another sucker, buying a homely Kay that was reliable, at least. But that's another tale... Don't be shy about asking your local auto paint jobber for the mis-mix colors; usually they're less than half price, and often free -- and the colors!!! Ole' Wick Site made me change to 'krap' from 'c--p'. The latter comes from, supposedly, Arcadians playing dice and yelling 'Jean Crapaud' to help the odds. Sir Thomas Crapper, GB, apparently invented the flush toilet -- but you knew all that!?

Mike, thx! What are your needs for a swap? My stuff is mostly early 'sixties, but ask... Wick

I'm old (yep, still!) and those Kurtis roadsters take me back to my kidhood in the early 'fifties. No, didn't have those models, but lots of d/c toys that resembled them, including as I recall, the Maserati Indy winner from prewar. To my small mind, they were the essence of cool and race -- and insane bravery, too! There are a few good open-wheel racing movies still out there, but not enough!! I have the remains of a very similar Mono roadster, but it had sat in direct sun, and ruined all the wheels/tires (damn!) and the hood. To salvage it, I morphed it into a Bonneville Special with twin Cad V-16 engines on a brass frame, but using the Cad wire wheels and tires. I tried to find some real scale-size Firestone Speed Sport style tires, but everything seems small on a 1/24 based kit. I have my original-purchase Strombecker Scarab 1/24 (also a car that could have been battery powered) that I hope to build into a reasonable scale model -- after saving it so long! -- but I've lost the kit rubber tall-profile tires, and one of the excellent Halibrands has a broken outer rim. I tried resin copying (using surface casting; I'm a novice) with unacceptable results. I have one Comet 'Fireball' (?) or maybe 'Panther' racer rubber tire and slot-type rim in my junk box... Gees, what could I have done with those cars?? Knowing I was getting caught in the draft in '68, I packed all my car kits, built and unbuilt, in a big carton, and stored them in the attic, but somehow someone set something heavy on it, and broke a lot of them. OC, I let my younger bros destroy all the ships, tanks, and a/c with fireworks, so... Wick

Very pretty; impressive factory hot-rod! I first imaged on the Comet 1 of my youth; the cursed airliner that was also beautiful! I hadn't built an a/c kit since the late 'fifties, and bec the IPMS shows are so a/c loaded, decided to try my hand again. Two Brewster Bullaloes, one RAF SEAsia (doomed, of course, vs. Zero!) and one an interpretation of the unbuilt Buff racer from 1938. Then I did the two conversions from prop-pusher to jet: Kyushu Shinden and Curtiss Ascender; both swept-wing fighters evolving in parallel by Japan and US. I made them into a diorama, just to make things extra-complicated (&/or complex) but I'm almost eighty, and a lot of tech and goodies have passed me by since 1958; the IPMS a/c builders aren't assailable, I find! But it was fun, and when I get it repaired (accident in packing box coming home in the Camry's trunk -- vibration, I guess) and the landing gear axles repaired, I'll take some pics and post them. I can't see so well, nor hang on to small parts -- even with a loup and tweezers, man -- and it's not perfect. However, I put in some historical kinks that made it interesting. However, I think I'm really done with a/c for the above reasons and more: the tiny, fiddley parts -- especially those cockpits, even with PE stuff! -- defeat me. And a/c judges look for open cockpits, too. Kustom Kars and drag machines continue to be my comfort zone; also 'thirties phantom cars like dual Cad V-16 Bonneville racers and Harry Miller street roadsters! Wick

Glen, my dad was a depression-kid, dust-bowl in W KS, and when his dad was killed in a construction accident when he was 14, he inherited most of his responsibilities and the family 1914 Model T touring. When I was a kid, he'd just gone from Principal in his old (tiny) high school in KS to Asst Co Supt in N CA, and didn't have enough time for a car (and airplane) famished kid, but decided that we'd hunt up a T Ford to restore together! Well, sadly, he passed away (coronary*) when I was 12, and we never got to do that experience, but I was set upon the 'right road' toward being a hot rod/sports car guy, and enthusiastic modeler! I don't know why I didn't inspire my kids or grandkids to do modeling (my son says it was because 'they could never do it as well as Grandpa' which is sad!) but I have a nephew who does fantastic models (cars, truck, even RR) and I'll leave my stash to him, I guess! I like your upbeat comments; good on yer! Good choice of kits, too! Wick, almost 80, retired Kinder teacher, Vet, lunatic... *Dad was drafted in WWII at age 29, a HS English teacher, and fought as a T-7 (SFC, now) in the Battle of Okinawa; he started smoking Luckies then, and 13 years later they made him a belated casualty. I'm thankful I had a Dad like him until seventh grade, anyhow, but have sure missed him for many, many years!

Those Trophy Kits were a treat! I learned some car stuff along the way, too, as there were no (well, one)* street rods in our little N CA burg! I still have all my Trophy kits, and some not even built yet from 1960; mostly '40 Fords. Long before I had a motor tool, I was trying to sand the dumb exhaust manifolds from the flathead blocks so I could cobble together some kind of headers -- or scrape them away with Pal Injector single-edged blades! Carving that old skool styrene was like working in ivory; it was so thick! Very forgiving for a 14-year-old using Duro Plastic Aluminum for filler! After 1960, my model stash competed with my saving for a 1/1 car, which I got at the first of school my Junior year: '55 Chevy Delray 2-door 'post' with all the goodies, including red wheels/big moons and lakes pipes! On about $50 per month, I paid a $26 dollar loan payment, gas (at 32-cents a gallon), insurance and registration, numerous u-joints (!), and model kits. Oh, and some corsages when absolutely necessary... *My wife's cousin (married in '72) had a '34 Ford coupe (rear fenders, but cobbled cycle-fenders in front) and what he endlessly touted as a very healthy flatmotor: 'It'll blow the doors off that Chevy, soon as I get it tuned up right!" It usually wasn't running, which made tuning academic, I thought. And the Chevy, which could cut a quarter in about 16-seconds at 88-mph, would have had it for breakfast, in reality! Our country was so cold that old skool street rods just weren't popular -- or practical. Wick

If anyone has and can spare the stock hood, grilles, head-lites and front/rear bumpers for the AMT '65 'Grand Slam' Pontiac kit, I could put them to good use saving this unbuilt kit. Availabe are some of the 'custom' parts, or other thing to swap. Thank you! Wick

Bill, Tim, et al, I hope you sourced an unbuilt example of your first kit, and exorcised your demons with an accomplished build! I did two multi-piece kits in the 'nineties from the past, both Revell: the '60 Corvette kit (two, actually), and the '57 Ranchero (with the '59 front bumper, no less!) and both were still aggravating inasmuch as the interiors were molded integral with the body center section, etc. The AMT '59 ragtop kit got renovated before I presented (back) to my brother, but all I have of the '60 Edsel is the chrome tail-lites, somehow. Did anybody ever make the Hubley '60 Corvair sedan kits that could be ordered with fifty-cents and a cereal box-top? Found an instruction sheet the other day! They weren't at all bad, and I bought four of them before I was exhausted by the U.S.-V.W., and got the AMT Monza coupe version. Still have some headlights from them in my junk drawers. But, what happened to the models I have no recollection. Four-doors don't feature much in my 'collection' since then! This proves I can write a short comment, huh? Once upon a time, I got paid 'by the word' for car articles... Wick

The 1/24 Mono kits were great; i didn't have the Black Widow, because it seemed to similar to the Green Hornet kit, but had Sizler, Model A Phaeton, and several other -- not Long John or Slingshot, the latter I bought at the IPMS Dragonlady show last year, and built finally. The Mono instruction sheets were good, one exploded drawing and the rest photos. Those big tires were great, mostly natural rubber, right? My Strombecker Scarab is 1/24, and had similar meats; now lost. I have one from the Comet Panther kit, with slot rim --why only one who knows? I tried the Outlaw, along with the Orange Crate, and while Revell got the fine detail very nicely, they were so fiddley and fragile -- and I was always in too much of a hurry! Wish we'd had CA glue with accelerator back then! Though, I suppose I would have gone to school with multiple fingers glued tightly together! Wick Have some Bandit and Ala Kart bits left, if anyone needs them; not the little Dodge hemi, tho!

I stand newly-informed! I recall the movie "Iron Giant" where the kid hero, Hogarth Hughes (?) was fantasizing about being a soldier and the artists gave him a Desert Storm, etc., style helmet; not appropriate for the mid-fifties --my kid era. Thx for the correction! Very nice model; and not a bad subject! Wick SP/ Did you google the poster that came out a few years ago with MM standing next to an F-84 on that tour?

Figures like this deter me from even trying them! Q: if MM was wearing combat boots in that year, wouldn't they have been black? Army never saw those sand-colored suede-looking boots until at least the late 'seventies, or I don't think so. Most of the grunts in 'Nam eventually got the looser tropical fatigues and OD/black jungle boots with the steel instep and nylon fabric panels, but I don't think they ever were issued camo uniforms, unless it was the Green Beanies, or maybe right at the bitter end. That's an outstanding figurine, by any standards. Wick

I built my first model kit in 1953 (yep, 'fifty-three) and it was an Aurora 'Famous Fighters' Curtis P-40 Warhawk. That's when I met Duco Cement, much to the despair of a lot of styrene! Followed quickly by the Spitfire, Me.109 and Zero kits from that source. I imagine I specialized in glue-fingerprints on clear canopy plastic! I built kits from ITC, Palmer, Hawk, Revell, Renwal, and other sources, and slowly improved. Testors and Pactra paints, and one set of Aurora colors which brushed nicely. But, I left all that for car kits when I got my first 3-in-1 promo-based 1/25 scale auto in 1958. Actually, I'd struggled with two Revell kits, the '56 Ford and Buick, but the curse they carried was the multi-piece bodies; the AMT/SMP kits avoided that hurdle; it was harder to mess them up! First AMT kits were '59 Ford ragtop (which my bro still has; artfully 'kustomized' and a '60 Edsel ditto, which I had so much fun modifying that it basically 'died under the knife'. I was saving for a 1/1 car, but kits (at $1.39) kept eating into my bank account. In 1961, I discovered Auto World, and ordered batch of 1960 kits because they were reasonable and I could get hard-top bodies, which the local 'five & dime' stores never carried: '60 Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, and T-Bird. The Poncho is the only one that survived, as I got Dave Shuklis' instructions for converting the Birdy into a Ranchero, which I botched sawing the deck away with a hack-saw blade! I still have the dasboard, front and rear bumpers, etc., if anyone needs them desperately. Our '88-Cent Store' always sold JoHan 'curbside' kits for their advertised price, mostly MoPars, of which I still have three, OC with opening hoods and engines, now. Also, Revell ut out a lot of MoPars in '62, which I bought and gave to my younger sibs as Xmas presents -- I'm soooo generous: offering to do the builds for free; my sisters probably loved that! Two of those I still retain, rebuilt with better engines, the box mills being 'way to small for B-blocks! I tried to build the Revell '56 F100 truck, but the body warping feature of that era almost won the match; still have it, in parts. Lots more Pontiacs, because I really like them. Vettes too. Of course, I bought the Monogram 1/24 race-car kits, which were really fun; I took the 'Sizzler' kit apart so many times it finally succumbed, but still have components! And all the 'hot rod' and dragster kits from AMT: Double-Dragster, etc, plus all the old Ford numbers: '27 T, Deuce coupe and roadster, '36 coupe, all the '40 permutations (some still in-progress!) and more. I thought I was brilliant when I experimented with not painting the '32 Coupe, built as a full-fendered hemi-rod, and used a liquid shoe-polish that I had (for my black penny-loafers, de riguer wear for young bucks in the pre-hippie 'sixties (check out Wally Cleaver and Bud Anderson on TV) which is still holding up! What was your first build? And which one is more ancient than my McCarthy/Korean War-era attempt? I'll post a pic of our Cub Scout Den with a diorama of oil exploration that was supplied by Standard Oil about 1955 soon as I find it. Mom was the Den Mother, and we five nerds look very proud. Wick Humble

I'm not only building three of the kits (on a resin of our two-door sedan) but am finishing >ta-da< our '51 Styline 1/1 for my son; was grandpa's car. Lost from 1957 to 1980, we located and bought it back; finally got it's complete restoration, or should I say 'restomod'. 350, 5-speed, 4-wheel discs, all the stuff; plus down to metal refinish with PPB Duracryl Lacquer that I bought in 1993! I gave up on finding a Mustang II front suspension; faked it on the sedan kit, which is near completion; likewise a T-5 trans, etc. You, of course, are right about the cowl/hood interface, and even the shape of the windshield; looks wonky, compared to the 1/1 real deal. I used the '51 BelAir hardtop body that sacrificed it's running gear for the sedan to make a 'Drag Week' street freak, with Arias BBC-hemi, etc. I'll post photos of all eventually! Wick

I liked the one-off Harry Miller V-8 roadster in "Charley Chan Goes to London' (1936?) because the incredible car was later destroyed, and it was equal to any Bugatti or Rolls -- only faster! The Miller books say it was a very loud car, and in the movie scene, the engine is noisy! "I got one-hundred-twenty out of her" was a line that Ray Milland delivers, and that bomb was probably good for more. It was apparently a studio car, when it turned out so rasty that the original financier/customer rejected it, and eventually was modified in some silly way (Eddie Paul's grandpa, probably) and later junked! I'm making two 'Miller roadsters' from R-R and Cad kits, neither are really this one because I'm doing V-12's, one from the old HAWK M-B G.P. car engine, and another from a resin-copy pulled from it. Also, a 'NOVI-1953 Studebaker V-12 coupe with full belly-pan, fastback, etc. Love those DOHC V-12's! Wick

Pretty sure I have the portholes; I was hoping to find one stick so I could make eight, four per, ala Roadmaster! Let me look in the box! Wick

Jason; Well, that could happen... let me make sure I have a pair.. In '62, I was a mad Kustomizer, and tried to put Revell '56 Ford tail-lites on the body, but later realized how off the wall that was, and went back to stock. Send my your address, and if I can I will. Mine is 3191 Coronado Rd., Chico, CA 95973 Wick Humble

That's the one, if you can spare it! Paradoxically, I do have those lights, but they're for a Buick I began in '62, and am now finishing as a nail-head powered 2-door sedan delivery. Anything else? Wick

Thanks! I'm not very familiar with that particular engine, but it has a longish scroll-like intake (silver aluminum) that rises over the intake manifold. Not vital, oc, but be nice to have if available. Let me know what trade stuff you might be looking for, tho. Wick

Pete; yeah, and there is very little cure to that tonneau cover thing; I couldn't get much with styrene sheet, not using heat, etc. Sure was a disappointment when it occurred; took it to show anyway just as historical curiousity. I have a stash shoe-box of my old, old Mono rods kit bits, and along with some Evergreen rectangular tube frame, it is just an almalgam of those parts. Like I say, the Torq-Thrusts from the Sizzler kit were not introduced, they say, until 1963, so would be a bit newish for that style roadster comp car; crazy straight exhaust stacks, etc. Oh well... Wick

Pat Buttram as the horrible, surreal con-man, Mr. Haney! That was a pretty good show, and often very off-beat, to the point of theater of the absurd level. I mean, when Oliver Wendell Douglas was the only sane character... they say that if you're the only sane one, and the rest of the world is crazy, it means you're the nut!! I think Buttram was on some Roy Rogers movies, or his radio show to which I listened faithfully (sponsored by Dodge Royal Lancer, source of some very steal-able hub-caps!) but he also had a character named Pat Brady, who drove the famous Jeep 'Nellybelle' which had a plywood windshield. Petticoat Junction, and ?? Mrs. Ziffel, Barbara Pepper, was originally a Goldwyn Girl (where she became friends with Lucille Ball) and a reasonable facimile of Jean Harlow in her prime -- which was obviously long before Green Acres. Wikipedia says health problems forced her to leave before the show expired, and she died in 1969. I always assumed that the teen actress Cynthia Pepper was her daughter, but not so. I began to lose interest in GA when they featured the cute piglet Arnold too much! Wick

Billy Gray on Father Knows Best had two rides, one the Model A tub with the 'genuine wool carpet uphostery; wears like iron, Dad!' and later a (I think) '48 Ford ragtop. In one episode, he falls for a local rich gal (who has a heart of gold, as it turns out!) with a black Jaguar 120 (or 150?) roadster. The A-bone was 'hand painted' with flames, which I am still going to try to emulate (c. 2025 -- long term project!) but I cut out some 'Persian' rugs from an old Architectural Digest' mag for the seats; white glue and paper towel backing, etc. Here's Lumpy's 'forty and axle. My son was five years old when we watched a re-run of that show, and I thought we'd have to give him CPR, he laughed so hard and long! OC, that (or the later 'American Graffiti' chain scene) would break a driver's neck, like as not! Wick

My daughter (and here 'get'r done' hubby, Thane) are building up a '57 Ford business coupe for her, and have swapped in a Ford 5.0 eight and A/T from a possibly a Mustang/Cougar with the distinctive fuel injection ram manifold that arches over the valve covers, etc. I have a couple of the kits, and since the final bodywork and paint* are going to be done by old me, want to build a replica for as a surprise gift. If anyone knows the engine I mean (not photos) and can spare an example, I have a lot of VERY OLD parts to swap?! Thanks very much! Wick *It's a new era: they are doing it in Summit 'Battleship Gray', like their Toyota 4x4 in the new color fads! Easy to shoot, anyhow!

Forgot to mention, tho everyone probably knows this: apparently, she was an employee at a company owned by Brit actor Reginald Denny which (as I recall) was begun by his father, an early expert in R/C model airplanes. Brought to LA area to work for US aircraft suppliers, and eventually the technology integrated into target drones -- like the Culver Cadet, etc. -- but that's just what I gleaned... The studio shot, dark hair and all, was done posing with a wooden prop, probably from on of those McCulloch-opposed-4 target drones both Army/Navy used. I have a brand-new condition example that I bought in about 1955; for about eight bucks (long time to save with a fifteen-cent a week allowance; must've gotten a five-dollar birthday gift!?) out of the treasure-laden back pages of POP SCI or POP MECH mags. I have an ad from one in about '51 or so where you can buy low-timed Allison 1710-V-16's for around a grand each, right hand or left hand spin, FOB New Orleans LA. I'm trying to get a car buddy to donate a McCulloch 2-stroke bangers to our local Chico Air Museum; I'd detail it, and donate my nice prop for a display. My bro-in-law was a USN Aviation Machinists Mate in the late-sixties (eventually on the USS Hornet) and he was trained in servicing those drones. They were also featured in an article in 'National Geographic' magazine, on the CIvil Air Patrol, c. 1957 -- as I recall; still have it somewhere! Ole' Wick Always liked Reginald Denny: 'Algy' in Bulldog Drummond, later perfect in 'Cat Ballou"!

Neat work! I suppose you have the poster art of her posing with an F-84 in Korea? I have an uncredited photo from an article in Air Trails or some other monthly aviation pulp that shows Norma Jean posed 'bedding down' in a sleeper airliner. Still brunette, but undoubtedly her! Sorry they're rotated! Wick