Wickersham Humble

I began with aircraft models, ships and military until about 1958, when I got two of the Revell customizing kits ('56 Ford, and Buick -- still have some of the parts and decals, too!) and struggled with the multi-piece bodies current then. Even so, the idea of a load of fender skirts, louvers, finlets, and other kitch appealed to the 12-year old me! It was when AMT/SMP came out with the one-piece bodies (promo-based, but we didn't know that then!) that let a budding Barris or Starbird start hacking and filling from day-one that led me to give away all my other models, and concentrate on the 'restyling' feature of the 3-in-1 kit! About half the kits I have today are from 1959-1965, and some still unbuilt annuals! Duro 'Plastic Aluminum' was my hardware-store staple for filling in or building up the styrene, and Duco Cement the standard until the better glues came on the market. Who hasn't 'melted' a kit (usually aircraft) with too-liberal beads of plastic-solvent glues? I switched to AMT's little tubes of putty, of course, on the way to using real Bondo and Red-Cap lacquer putty. Plastruct or Evergreen: a '61 Lincoln 'sports roadster' kit I'm just finishing up has a solid tonneau made from a chunk of a family soap-dish, even yet! Pieces of ball-point pens, shirt-box plastic, and straight pins were stand-bys. I used Pal or Schick injector single edged blades, and a hunk of hack-saw blade (ouch!) for heavy slice & dice -- occasionally on my fingers. I still have a '60 T-Bird turtle-deck from when I tried to build a 'Bird Ranchero, from Dave Shuklis'(sp?) plan, and the like-new bumper/grilles. Also, what's left of a roll of 1-mm. wide foil tape that Auto World sold for chrome trim; and it still works! Spotlite Books small-format issue on Model Car Building was a revelation to me, in our tiny, isolated N CA town (oft said to be closer to OR and NV than CA!) and I first learned that Chevy make a fancy pickup called the 'Cameo' from it. Some of the kits featured even had opening hoods and engines; V-8 kit motors were hard to find in 1960, man! That set me to opening up all my older cars, and also hoarding engines from all and sundry. Another still have it: the mill from the Renault Caravelle kit I botched up! I have a model shops three-ring binder, acquired at a 1/1 swap meet, that has a solid inch of manufacturers sales catalogs and promotions. Boy, I never saw an Aurora car kit, but did they make some fanciful ones! ITC, Palmer, Pyro, and many others long gone; ooh, and that Renwal* 'Visable Woman"... Well, you shouldn't ask if you didn't want lots of reminisces! About those balsa and tissue a/c model kits... Ole' Wick *Or was it...?

Jim, always avoided 'Hogan's Heroes' so-called comedy series because of the mistaken impression it gave of Nazi prison life! "They knew notheeng!" MAD Magazine did a scathing satire on H.H. back about 1970. I was docenting at CAM when an older gent visited, and we got into a conversation about heavy bombers, etc. He asked if I knew the stories of Ploetsi in Rumania and the heroic/disasterous raid by B-24s there, which I had read a lot about. There was one Lib that crash-landed on ag land, and the farmer helped the whole crew hide from the 'cops' and later sneak into Turkey -- he said it was his grandfather! Some interesting stories come if one is ready to listen. A friend of my late Dad was a B-24 tail gunner (little, short guy) who had some interesting tales to tell! Thx! Wick

Our local (Chico CA) air museum has an awesome cutaway P&W R-4360 Wasp Major, and a salvage Wright R3350 which I wish we could spiff upig outside display on that one. We have a P2V Neptune that used them. Researching the 3350, I discovered that, being introduced prematurely because of the war, it had more modifications, upgrades, and 'enhancements' on record than the total number of engines C-W produced! Eventually was a very good mill. On the P&W, I just tell young 'uns that in displacement, it exceeds ten Gen II Hemis! Darn, none of our engines can be run, so no 'sound of round' noises! Also have a rare Fairchild-Ranger V-12, used only in a few a/c, and not a keeper. However, this one is inverted (regular v-configuration that we're used to) and is the actual engine that Art Arfons used to set the top time in the Nationals in 1957 in his 'Green Monster 1'. 770-cubes, SOHC, centrifugally blown. Crazy Bell SP-77 mini-fighter was design that tried it -- inverted of course. Also affiliated are a Travel-Air 3000 with Lycoming, and PT-13 with Continental (?), which get flown and are instantly identifiable, plus a PT-19 with Ranger I-44o six.

Boy, that's choice! Wish I'd done it!! My dual V-16 streamliner uses a gas stove lighter 'body' with brass chassis; pretty interesting look. Caddy wire wheels & tires, so far... So-Can; I like that, eh?! I remember trying to build the Challenger (and Ivo's Show Boat) back when first issued; defeated me, but left lots of parts! I 'm doing two phantom Miller roadsters, one with Bugatti spokers, which Harry M. did first, btw! Ah, 'the life so short, the craft so long to learn!" Wick

Only just tipped off to Cults; I'd like to build a bellytank racer, with an off-beat mill -- like the SOHC Pontiac resin I just bought! My publisher, the late 'CA Bill' Fisher, was a B'ville regular and member of the Inliners Club. I believe he and my editor Tom Monroe built a L-series Datsun Z (G-nose, etc!) for the 'Flats in the late 'seventies and set a record; have to check. We used to have belly tanks all over our rural county in N CA; surplussed and sold to folks to use as fuel-oil tanks for their home heaters; very common! Also knew of some put side-by-side and made into pedal boats, to rent. Exciting shape, to we kids listening (not yet watching) Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and Space Patrol shows! I have no way to 3D print, but someone might do some for sale. I seldom see the kit version available. I still build nostalgia drag beasts, but salf flat/lakes cars are very interesting, and have a considerably longer history. Thx again! Ole' Wick

I am building several Bonneville phantom contenders: 1,) 'Big BIrd', a '62 Bullet-Bird (AMT Styline kit, begun in '62!) with apocryphal CAT V-16 Diesel, dual turbos, 2.) a streamliner powered by two Cad V-16 engines (Monogram, tail cockpit from old Mono Indy-car kit, rest scratched) called the 'Catholic Comet' -- vs. the 'Mormon Meteor' Deusie, and 3.) a '53 Stude with scratch-imagined NOVI V-12, full belly-pan, Kamm fastback, etc. I tried Indycals Firestones, but they look undersized, even on the 1/25 T-Bird; though nice on my BBC/Avanti. I've had a hard time finding good speedway or B'ville looking tires in 1/25-1/24 (even posting some time ago in this topic) for them. I have one soft-rubber from a very old (lost) Comet 'Panther' racer kit which looks good, but no luck finding more. Now, I'm trying a new tack: using Harbor Freight firewall grommets with the 'slot' filled with neoprene O-rings and 3M weatherstrip adhesive (black death). They fit a regular stock wheel backer pretty well and have a tall profile. No sidewall detail at all, of course, but that can be added. With Parks scale 16-inch spun aluminum 'Moons' and a coating of 'salt' on the tread area (new white glass-beads) they should look about right! Maybe I'll try Good*Year lettering on them, just to be iconoclastic? Thx for any help! Wick

If I weren't so bogged in other kits (some begun over sixty-years-ago!) I'd dive into my Cyclone! I planned to build it as a derelict sitting on bamboo logs or an old pallet on some Pacific Island; maybe on cylinder removed, some bullet damage showing, and a puddle of oil on the sand below. Something different! Maybe from a Brewster F2A Buffalo after the Battle of Midway... I always felt that the Buffs got a raw deal from the USMC historian (Sherrard? Can't find his book...) when the mostly green Gyrene pilots waded into 60 seasoned Japanese pilots and lost over half their number in the little Cyclone-powered fighter. I would think that even guys in Hellcats or Corsairs would experience some trepidation taking on twice their number; advantage usually going to the attacker, also. Finnish Brewsters scored over Tomahawks, MiGs, Yaks, Hurricanes, and Airacobras over their border, and one Buffalo apparently holds the world's record for most enemy a/c destroyed by one ship -- flown in turn by two aces! Lack of R-1920's eventually drove the Finns to using salvaged Rooshian license-built Wrights in their fighters! It was obsolete, no doubt, but good pilots liked them, especially (like the P-39 and P-40) at mid to low altitudes. I wrote a novel that was on Kindle Vella, now closed-down, soon on Kindle eBook/paperback, that is centered around a Cyclone-powered naval fighter I call the Brewer Bison, and a hard-luck pilot/engineer whose life is linked to it. Begun in 1991, I've done a lot of research -- including Smithsonian A&S Archives in person -- on the beast. The book is called "Bird of Ill Omen" and is inexpensive; eg, not very profitiable! Wick

Suggest a source for 1/16 scale turbochargers (2) and ancillary plumbing, etc. so I can finish a MPC 'Dukes' Charger kit that my son and I started in the 'eighties! Not wanting to do the TV show car, we got a lot done toward a Bonneville competitor (who knows what class!) but need to put some pressure on the hemi to make it seem reasonable. Lift-off front end, big wing on the back, single racing seat, and the Centerlines and tires from an AMT Nomad kit we built. We were thinking Moon discs for the rims, actually. I don't suppose there are Halibrands and Firestone high-speed tires available? There must be a resin or 3D source for twin turbos that would look appropriate on a 426 Elephant, but I don't know where -- so I'm asking. Mom always said "How are you going to know if you don't ask?" You guys haven't let me down yet! Thanks X 10! Wick Oh, yeah: have two Accel turbos from Nomad kits, but they look all wrong, huh?

Since the advent of Aluclad II and Molotow, a lot of domestic ratcan producers have upped the shine of their aerosol offerings; some are impressive. Where were they all in 1959, when I was struggling with Testor's silver to make chrome trims and window moldings?! Two kooks in our little N CA town decided that Western Auto spray silver would fool us into thinking they had chromed rims, and gained it the name of 'Okey chrome'!* Wick * No slur on Okla, birthplace of my Pop!

Bruce; oh yeah; you're one of the bunch who take the trophies? Hope to meet! I wanted to come to your show, but couldn't find anyone else to share the trip with... I'm 79 & counting... Wick

Thanks, experts! I was surprised to note so much clear-coating on a/c; it seems like it would throw off the scale effect of the surface? I guess the main trick is giving the separate panels some texture/color differentiation. I've done some vol resto work at our local air museum; see all kinds of metal finishes there from over the eras. Our Aerovovodchody L-29 has a striated texture - tiny parallel mill marks that go top to bottom - and very hard to refinish, as after the USSR breakup the Czech AF scratched the red-star motif off with cold chisels, by the appearance! Who got to repaint them all? First guess! Even my Krylon bright silver ratcan gives a very chrome-like finish, but I'd rather have slightly weathered, like a/c not hangered get. I found an article also in an old Fine Scale Modeler that was somewhat helpful. Thx, again! The Shinden will have some bare aluminum replacement panels, and the huge lettering of the Allied Evaluation group. Ads for newer Tamiaya models show a weathered green finish. Apparently only three of either ship were ever prototyped. Wick

Everybody's seen products online that have a bargain price but the shipping (so called) is ridiculously high; one used book (Perry Mason paperback, not really collectible) was about five bucks, but the shipping was over twenty! The way the game is played, I suppose? On the opposite side, I used Marketplace to sell some 240Z parts a few years ago, and they put a five dollar shipping price on a forty-pound item that I advertised for thirty bucks; lots of unhappy customers there! I'll try craigs and MP and see! Thx! Wick

Yeah, I guess; this Ford was the cheapest today on ebay, because, I suppose, it was 'open, but complete.' If I swapped the Deusy, I'd expect something to sweeten it up. I have the 'original art' AMT '59 ElCamino (missing optional Cad engine) that I'd gladly trade, however. Shipping is the killer. I recently got a Olds resto retailer to cut his $18 ship charge in half by moaning that the product was a dozen small hub-cap clips (at $7 each!) which came in a tiny box. Funny, it's my gal child who's most into hands-on car resto, tho my son likes restomod cars; is getting Dad's '51 Chevy 2-dr (350, T-5, R&P, discs, A/C, etc. soon as I can finish it. I hope they drive the wheels off of them! Daughter wants to rebuild an early I-H Scout next; lucky her hubby is a gear head and welder! They're kids, but in their forties now! Wick

I haven't done airplane models since the 'fifties, but our local (Yuba City CA) IPMS annual show is heavily aircraft, at least half of all entries; so I'm trying a couple. I have Tamaiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver (rattle can) and the Krylon very-bright silver -- plus a number of PPG automotive silvers (which seem to have metallic too coarse for model scale) but wonder what else is accessible to get the finishes that modern builders achieve. The AS-12 aerosol (right out of the can) didn't look fantastically well on my Brewster Buffalo racer last year, actually. Not that I want to go to his extreme, but 2024 had a large-scale MIG-15 that had the most stunning 'bare aluminum' tones I could imagine; it was amazing! I'm tolerably good at airbrushing and masking, and probably will do some BMF low-gloss aluminum also: my turbojet-converted Curtiss P-55(B) needs to look new, but not pristine for a diorama with a jet-converted Kyusu 'Shinden' which will be IJAF green, with off-color panels, etc. and USAF/RAF insignia. This display hopes to simulate a post-war 'Ascender' at Itazuka AB alongside the Japanese experimental jet (as captured enemy a/c) for evaluation purposes, etc. Both were among the very few swept-wing a/c developed and flown in WWII, albeit as prop-pusher jobs; both make a fairly easy conversion to jet engines, the Kyushu looking more natural because of it being a radial-adapted fuselage, rather than the Allison V-12 fitment of the Curtiss. The P-55 looks awesome with tiptanks, ala P-80 (or P-90) though. I'll post some photos, if I'm not too ashamed of my re-entry into aircraft. I have both a/c with removable tail-cones on carts, like the P-80/T-33 birds. Ole' Wic

Just checking: is $55 with shipping included too high for a Revell '57 Ford unbuilt kit? Or, does anyone have one they want to swap? My daughter and hubby are building one 1/1 (5.0 Ford, A/T, etc.) and since I'm painting it, I'd like to surprise them with a model, as alike as I can make it. 'Battle Ship Gray' if you can believe that; hope I can intice them into getting some striping done! She and my wife are doing the seats, etc. Very plain, as it was a 6B business coupe from Dearborn; but their doing a back seat just to be practical. My best trade item is a Hubley SSJ Duesenberg metal kit, complete in the box, but I think it's worth a bit more than the Ford... Wick

Once again, thx for the insights! I'm sorry I asked about availability; a quick ebay search answered that question fast! Another 4x4 I'd like to find (I've asked/searched before) is the 1960 Dodge Power Wagon 3/4 T fleetside pickup, to build a replica of the last USFS Class IV tanker I was Foreman on; though I have no pics; would have to be from memory! Not, incidentally, the old skool military type Power Wagon ( my USFS retired bro-in-law has restored a couple of these 1/1 Flintstone Flyers) but the new squarish Dodge with the dual headlites, etc. Our tanker had only about 50-gal tank, and a 1" live reel, plus side tool boxes, etc. And, only three man capacity, for a four man crew! Well, it was 1968! Our FS issued equipment consisted of one (1) only hard-hat, not like the turn-out gear that encumbers Smokeys today! Boots, gloves, all apparel were supplied by we crewmen, at our expense! I had a lead on one of the here today/gone tomorrow resin kits a few years ago, but... I had a lot more experience on the regular Class III 2-ton flatbed tankers, both Chevy and Dodge. The 265 Chevy V-8 was lively, but lacked torque, and the 318 Dodges were prone to breaking down, especially cracked intake and exhaust manifolds. The Slant Six was gutless for a heavy truck -- my fire-season experience anyway, as a Tank Truck Operator. I should bid on that $10 Scout, but oc the shipping brings it to $30 +-! Happy 2025... :-<) Wick

Clarity: is the Scout II kit still available? I went back and found the original AMT/Ertl kit announcement, etc. I'd get the half-cab, and then probably make the top removable. Making a 'slant four' from a parts-box V-8 wouldn't be too hard; FoMoCo probably, for dist location, etc. Or just SBC... I have a 1/24 DC 'Jeepster Commando' toy that I blew apart, and did a "4x4" graphic on, like the one we had in the late '80s. The Welly-brand toy has some nice features, but some drawbacks, as most DC prod do; I made a few changes, but... Ours was the ex-Buick V-6 with TH400 (shift-kit too!) and I put Jackman-type 8-spoker white rims with os tires on it; nice performer! The toy cam in almost the right shade of aqua metallic. Wish someone would resin-cast or 3D repro it. Thanks for the info!! Great group on the forums! Wick

Al (et al)*, "There never seems to be the time to do all the thing that you want to do -- when you find them!" Jim Croce? That's the exact reason I'm finishing up two 1961(2?) AMT Styline Kits: T-bird and Lincoln that I began as a Sophomore in HS! But, so far, they're turning out okay... One is now a Lincoln two-door 'sports roadster' I call "Hyannis' HotRod", with POTUS seals -- for JFK, with a V-12, no less. The other is" Big Bird" a pure streamliner for B'Ville, all painted Krylon Yellow (for 'Cat Yellow) with a diesel V-16 -- I know, I know -- with R-R P-100 headlites and (I claim) twin intercooled turbos in the trunk area, and a removable wing. Also, a rehabbed JoHan '60 Chrysler sitting on a Revell Duke's Charger chassis/tub as "CHIP'S Chizler" a door-slammer (hemi, oc) painted and badged as a CHP cruiser! Actually, I'm glad I waited -- while life got in the way for sixty years! As soon as I get better at photography -- and manipulating images on this #!%**&! laptop, I'll post some fuzzy, ill-lit pics on MCM forum. Thanks! Wick Amazing what I've spent in $$ and time on these!

Ain't it great? Happy Holidaze, all! Ho ho hooooo...

"For what it's worth" Something happenin' here... what it is ain't exactly clear... So far, in my latest usefullness-check of my Testor's bottles, every single one that went 'curds and whey' on me had my infamous B.B. treatment! And in all cases, the copper covering on the B.B. had been neatly stripped off... so chemists out there...?? No more B.B. agitators for me! Ole' Wick

No man is an island -- he's a peninsula! Jefferson Airplane I know that there were other brands too, but don't have any left -- probably just as well! Five cents was about in my budget, in the 'fifties! Thx! Wick PS/ Due to a hacker, I had to change my email address, so my forum status is back to rookie Jr, Woodchuck!

Yeah, sad to say, but I guess when the clock starts ticking on paint, it has a finite life left. I was mostly just speculating on the addition of the B.B.'s since so many of those have tanked. Outsmarted my ole' self?! I've rebottled a lot of colors and paint types, having done the mixing job (along with delivery route) at our local PPG outlet, Martin Auto Color: my wife saves those tallish square spice jars for me, and with a big sticky label to spell out all the details of the paint (type, source, name and application -- if known -- and whether catalyzer required, etc.) paint-stain-proofed by a wrap of clear shipping tape, and mostly it's been okay. The spice jars usually have a poly-ethylene perforated shaker lid beneath the cap, so I trim that out leaving the perimeter to serve as a cap gasket. OC, they go through the dish-washer first. Until the gasket seal tactic, those often leaked or dried up, I must admit. I have lots and lots of 1/1 car finishes, naturally, and almost overwhelmingly they work okay on styrene models if they're primered properly first; eg. so far no failures in forty years! Doing 1/1 restos, I just accumulate them. Anyone want a pour off from a gallon of PPG Hemi orange, slightly metallic? Before y'all jump on this as bogus (as I was inclined to do) the store manager, a life-long MoPar guy, said that it was a rare exterior color one year... I dunno. I even have most of a gallon of USAF-issue o.d. (olive drab, to you civilians) lacquer that I got from CA state surplus. If you're ever in town...? I even have a few of the very old Aurora rectangular paint jars left; the paint long defunct. Surprisingly, when I used it c. 1962, it brushed-on gratifyingly well, dried slick and fast! Actually, I did my MA thesis and show on using air-sprayed paint for sculpture, etc. Mine were mostly - not surprisingly - race and custom-car, aircraft, and truck shapes and colors. I'm too 'senior' to convert to water-based stuff; it's a whole different world. Thanks again for the enthusiastic responses; count on MCM Forums for a helping hand! Wick in N CA

Reasonable strategies; sorry you're having problems with them too. I wasn't sure many avid modelers still use them with all the well-publicized alternatives. I just bought a little jug of lacquer (Japanese WWII a/c) from MCW, and a Pontiac OHC six which fascinated me, but I have no kit for; maybe a street rod? Yeah, I've had some issues with Tamaiya colors too, but usually not until the jar gets past the half-used level; I like 'jet exhaust' for carbs, m-cyls, stuff like that. Also, I need 'stop light red' fairly often, and the 'smoke' hue. I paint my kits with mostly PPG auto colors, bec I used to work for them (retirement job, got laid off at age 71) and I had/have access to a lot of mis-match colors, even in gallon lots!! Never had a problem on styrene; knock on plastic! I do toss the old Testor's jars and lids into my gallon soaker of lac thinner, and rebottle some colors in them; not always successfully, I'll admit. The little craft store glass jugs seem to leak air; noticed a number of mine had gone away already, darn. But no info on B.B.'s causing problems, so that's good. Wick

Thanks for the ref; I couldn't resist ordering one! Now to find a kit for it? Pontiac fan Wick

I wish my folks had bought that in '62 instead of our Catalina -- nine-passenger wagon! Nice build! Good color! The 2x4 manifold I assume came with the SD 421; it's obviously not the same one that came with the annual '62 AMT Bonneville kit; it had impossibly low, unauthentic Carter AFT carbs more or less indicated. I made a bunch of pretty good resin copies of it, but as a bare manifold to accept other realistic carbs. Pontiac made a crazy 2x4 set-up before GM pulled them out of racing in 1963 that fans now call 'the bathtub' manifold. Wish there was a version of that one! I have photos, but... Pontiac fan Wick