Casey

I knew someone was going to drop a Zager & Evans reference. People under 30 are like, "Who?"

We all know (or at least you should know if you're in the Big Boys section ) TDR is doing some wonderful things in 1/8 scale, and I recall Let's Get Small, (which is no longer in business IIRC) and Mike Gradis' www.edeuce.com , but are there any others producing 1/8 scale parts for the Monogram/Revell and Lindberg kits?

No offense, but I'll be blount- the way the "old guys" do business is twenty years out of date. I'm sure you remember a certain Bob Dylan song. Yes, the times are sure a changin', and the number of people with smart phones is increasing every day, which is just another way for MCM to deliver it's content. I'm sure advertisers would like to have their business listed at the top of every MCM forum page, with a clickable link that takes a person right to their website for a potential sale. I suppose a few people still send an SASE for a catalog or an order, but that way of doing business is near dying quickly. Note that I never said all MCM content would have to be paid for, just some exclusive features and info. There is already a ton of info on this and other scale model forums for free, so why do people still pay to get the information and pictures in magazine form? Because they want to. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I certainly like to see people thinking ahead instead of looking back at what worked twenty years ago. Magazines will never die, but they will never be as popular and numerous as they once were, and I think a strong and direct online editorial presence for MCM would be a good thing, both for MCM and the people who are about it, be they readers, subscribers, advertisers, or contributors.

Maybe MCM should take the next step, go exclusively to an e-zine format. People who prefer having paper in hand vs. reading the mag on their computer or device could have the option to print it out themselves for a small cost, and there would be no more delivery issue in the traditional sense. Yes, their would still be downloading and other issues, and I'm sure the cost of upgrading the website isn't cheap, but advertisers and subscribers who wish to view exclusive content could cover the costs of the website, and it would eliminate a ton of headaches for the MCM staff.

You probably won't find anything as a few years ago Chrysler really tightened up it's trademark and copyright enforcement, sending cease and desist letters to several websites hosting images of engineering drawings, etc. I forget which company was going to be the official liscensee and be allowed to re-print and distribute many of these documents, but AFAIK, it never happened. Maybe try over at http://wwnboa.org/ and http://aerowarriors.com/cgi-bin/banxner/home.cgi

Let the votes speak for themselves.

"COMPLETE INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR" I hope so!

I did some checking a few years ago, and even the three error cards I have (one blank back) were still worth only $3.00 or so. Good luck to you!

Unless you have an error or rare card, the bottom pretty much fell out of the card market a decade ago. I suggest you pick models you like and want to build/use, instead of kits based on what they'd re-sell for.

I think we were pretty lucky to get the '66 Chevelle wagon a few years ago from Revell, and we're getting the '65 Chevelle from Round2 again this year, but I think four-door wagons are a tough sell in general. Yes, they've become quite popular with the 1:1 crowd in the last decade, and that certainly helps, but I think new '55 and '57 Nomads are realistic expections in kit form.

Have a look here for lots of pics of '71-'77 Mopar vans: http://moparbvans.proboards.com/index.cgi? Having owned a '77 shorty for a few years I can guarantee you there's no way on a 1:1 you'd be able to tuck the tire up that high in the front. Now on a model, anything is possible, but the pic you posted of the late model Japanese van is about as low as you can realistically go in 1:1 without cutting the wheel wells up and taking away the remaining foot room for the driver and passenger. Looking good so far, Rodney.

Even better the MPC '77 as 109" wheelbase shorty with side cargo doors.

I think it's more of the middle of the country and the Northeast which are going to feel the brunt of this storm. Here in SE WI we are on the edge of the snow, and though we will get colder, teens and single digits at night is no big deal here. Make sure you have alternate heat plans in case the electricity goes out. Last winter we lost power for a few hours one January day and were lucky we hav ea wood burning stove to provide some heat. It can be scary with no power, no furnace, and kids/pets to worry about.

Good news (well, that may be a matter of opinion ), from Round2's 'site: 1:16 Scale General Lee Charger Item No: MPC752 Release Date: February 2011

Take some pics and post them. There is a huge base of knowledge here and most people like to play the "what is this" game, especially when it comes to model parts.

"Pay it forward" This is a reference to the title phrase of the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde. In the book the phrase is used as the opposite of payback: when someone does a good dead for you, instead of paying them back, pay it forward by doing a good deed for someone else" I know where you're coming from, and I'm sure I've forgoten to let someone know a part they sent arrived, etc., but I look at it the same as holding a door open for someone. You should do it becasue it makes you fell good, not because you expect a "Thank you" in return. be happy with what you did, and if you get something back, be it a "Thanks", some parts you can use, or just a note letting you know they got it, consider that a bonus.

Which kit(s) or tooling would you like to see modified to produce another variant(s)? For example, a '71 Dodge Demon based on the AMT '71 Plymouth Duster 340 kit, or a '56 Chevy Nomad based on the Revell Tri-Five tooling. Have at it.

Not trying to rub it in, but your pictures remind me why I'm all too happy to have a small stash of kits and why I don't have a ton of tools and supplies on hand. It makes everything much easier to move, store, and keep track of. Good luck on your move, and remember "It's not the heat, it's the humidity".

Thanks, Harry. I haven't decided what to do about the chassis and interiors yet, as I was originally planning on only making one one of each of these...but I think that plan has changed. I'm not going all out, full detail, but I think a simple interior and chassis plate would satisfy me. I made a bit more progress later tonight, adding the left roof section, filling the center gap with a piece removed from the van roof, and giving it all a rough sanding: It's starting to look like a pickup now, but I have some work to do on the rear wall/window area....and maybe the bed, too:

The "face" of the wheel into which the slots are cut is less concave on the above wheel compared to the Monogram '55 Chevy wheels, of which I do have a few. I thought the Early Iron series kits included the same wheels as the current Revell (ex-Monogram) '55 Chevy Street Machine, but maybe they don't? I'm still hopeful the color of the plastic will be the key to identifying the source.

I decided to drop the pickup half of this project into gear, so here we go. First, I marked a preliminary cut line just above the upper body line and broke out the saw: Done.: Now comes the test fitting and sanding until it looks right. I was hoping to use part of the rear roof section I had just cut away to form the rear third of the pickup's roof/cab, bit the rear door/rear window angle was not the same between the pickup and van, so the angle had to be increased: To increase the rear wall's angle, I cut away most of the B-pillars, leaving only the rear wall of the cab. You can see the vertical cuts I made in the B-pillar here: I had to make a horizontal relief cut to allow the joint between the roof and rear wall to open up, so out came the saw once again: Once that was complete, I matched up the roof sections, and traced the hole on the underside of the van roof section: I then followed the same steps as on the van above, fitting and sanding until the two roof pieces fit together well. At this point I decided to cut the van's donor roof section into two pieces, as I would needed to widen the rear roof section slightly to match the front roof section. Satisfied with the fit, I again used CA cement and accelerator to bond the two roof sections together: Here's where things stand now:

I think they'd be a bit large as this body is 1/43 scale. Fortunately, AMT included a few varieties of "mag" wheels in their 1/43 scale kits, and I've found a few more in various 1/43 (thanks to Dave Zinn) and 1/50 scale die cast vehicles, so finding wheels is the easy part. Realistic street tires is a bit of a challenge, as most tires are either of late '60s origin, or are very modern low-profile tires.

I got the quarter panels back to where they should be and started re-opening the rear wheel openings back to the stock dimensions: I did a bit more sanding to increase the diameter of the upper corner curves after taking this pic, but it's close to the final shape here: I also deepened the rear door panel lines and flattened out the bulging tial lights, but I haven't started filling in the tailgate depression yet: Some rolling stock ideas. First, a set of pie crust slicks on 5-slot wheels: This one's for Dave, 'cuz I know he likes white vans and Cragers :

I've done more test fitting and found the wheels fit best inside Monogram's Goodyear Steel Belted Radial tires very well (depth is near perfect) as well as a few of the narrower (front) Monogram Goodyear Rally GT tires...but not all of them. I've tried them inside the Goodyear Rally GT tires included in the '33 Willys kit (at least the '70's light blue version) and the wheel are too large in diamter to fit those tires, and IIRC those wheels had a slightly flared lip/rim outer edge to keep them from falling inside the tire- these wheels do not have any lip: Rear shot, showing the "step" and now-flat back, as well as a good idea of the plastic color: Diameter measurement of ~.709":

The newer Revell kit? Not possible, as these are molded in color, not white. I was hoping the (somewhat?) unique color of the plastic would be a tip-off as to the orginal kit, which is why I don't think it's from any Monogram kit. I should've mentioned there was a mounting stud/stem on the backside of the wheel (which has now been sanded flat), but it was broken off, so I can't say for sure if it was originally used to mount a metal axle rod at one time or not. Anybody have a close-up pic of one of the Lil Red wheels?