HotRodaSaurus

Online translator programs can be a bit awkward and sometimes translate literally what is written. When I use one I usually translate it sentence by sentence and also include my original English translation. This can sometimes cause confusion due to other forms and spellings of English, ie American, such as colour=color, boot=trunk, dolls house=doll house. Not to sure about the picture, without trying to stir up political things here, the image and the script look to be a pre-war Hitr youth type thing. i would definitely buy some though. Didnt a member post a topic on painting wood finishes. J

I would think there is a promotion going on here with the Olympic Games coming up later. ' Get them on the shelves, the tourists wont be bothered that the Routmaster isn't in general service anymore, those stupid foreigners wont realise the FX4 cab is getting rarer now it's being superseded by a more disabled friendly version. SEL SELL SELL' shouts Boris and Sabastian. This whole Olympic thing is one big profit bag, even the parents of British athletes cant get tickets. But I bet Boris and Sabastian will have prime seats. Oooooops! sorry it's a model forum, not an anti Olympic debate. Ahmm!... I have seen the bus in the shops, very reasonable price I thought at £40, the taxi? not really looked at that but probably around £15-20 and looking at the kit contents, the back(boot-trunk) looks too vertical. John

I have had a few bad sales, usually not a too expensive item (under £30) but also a not high enough to really to have to have a signature. Many buyers are put off by high postage fees. I have also read reports of the dreaded paypal replying that proof of postage is not proof of delivery even if a signature is obtained, refunding the buyers 100%. I also think it unwise to leave positive feedback for a refund as unscrupulous scammers could think 'A Ha! they give refunds too easily' and could encourage this sort of thing, so I always request no feedback for refunds. last year I knew I had a scammer, Zero feedback bidder, bidding on an item with no bids, in the last 3 seconds and with a sexually explicit eBay I.D. So when I received a non delivered item query I was already prepared, and emailed giving a list of all the ways I had been scammed over the passed few years and never heard another thing. I then abandoned that eBay account till all payments were cleared, then closed it. I honestly thought at the time that some buyers looked at the account with its 100% 4000+ positives was getting open to abuse as more and more non delivered items were being claimed. I now have a new account, always ask extra £££$$$€€€ for tracked postage and progress a lot lot slower with fewer responses and bids mainly due to higher shipping. When I have tried adding shipping to the start price, this also puts bidders off. Ebay makes more and more money through devious methods such as maximum postage for certain items. In the UK a large book that costs £10 for postage due to weight, you can only charge your customer £3.75, including any packaging you may need to purchase, the alternative is to find a specialist courier. To post a CD, eBay gives a maximum postal price listing as £1.25, the fact that postage is around £1.50 with tracking then add 50p for a padded bag make selling a cheap CD or DvD not worth the effort so many of my collectable CDs, DvDs and old magazines have been put into the bin(trash to you guys in the USA) Other than that I have had to cheat a bit myself and say to send things by courier but send them normal post. So there we are, eBay has a pretty good slice of the cake, but like everything, one day it will probably destroy itself through it own greed. I now try to sell most of my items through other sources but do agree that there is a whole world looking for your item, but at a cheaper and cheaper price. Thats why when it comes to things of real value in the collectable market, like a Picasso painting or an antique motor vehicle, lets say a Bugatti(a proper one that is) you usually find things like that at real well established proper auction houses

And a Merry Christmas from England, however you enjoy your holiday. John

I believe this model is based on the Romeo Palamides car featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine for November 1956.

Iv'e not seen the kit yet but looking at the photo of the instruction sheet the front door shut, where it is hinged to the body, when the fadeaway is fitted comes straight out of the bodywork at 90degrees. Is this just me looking at the wrong angle? I recall reading someplace a big problem with fadeaway's is when opening the door the door shuts would foul. Would this need to be re-scribed? Sorry just noticed it, I think the feature was in one of those Dave Featherstone 'Barris' books J

Looks supriseingley accurate(well, almost) for a Premiere kit

Just in case anyone was confused.............. the party was next door to the old people

I love the story of the guy here in the UK who went to a Halloween party as Eminem, complete with hockey mask and petrol driven chainsaw. So he knocks on the door revs up the saw just as the door opens...... by two pensioners. Pretty obvious really but it made a great story. The neighbours called the police of course but were amazed why anyone would want to take a chainsaw to a party, so confiscated it till next day. Too many brews and what may have happened I wonder.

I thought the body panels were Aluminium. ?

Thanks, was looking to see what other car kits they did just the majority appeared to be monsters etc. Cheers, John

Just looking on the old 'Bay', I noticed Moebius make lots of those old monster and superhero models. I was just wondering are they the same kits as the old Aurora and Polar lights issues from a few years back? J

Never really got into Spongebob when my boy was little. Buy HEY! Spongebob is Manic, wow. About time I saw a little madness on tv once in a while.

Favourites are those really old uns from the 1930s and 40s Betty Boop, especially her take on 'Cab Calloway's Minni the Moocher, a lot of that old Fleischer stuff, Old Bugs Bunny(The one with Herman Goring). A fave is Hollywood Steps Out. OK some are not really 'politically correct' even the Jewish producers were racist back then, and another fave, the old Tom & Jerry are not shown now due to the violence depicted, though the Simpsons(hate it with a vengeance) have Itchy and Scratchy. A bit like model kit box artwork, the old animations simply look better than todays computer drawn cartoons. But cartoons are not really aimed at us who appreciate that sort of thing, most are made to entertain the kids at tea time and just look at the popularity of some other old 'uns, Transformers, He-Man and of course anyone in the UK must love Rhubarb and Custard. John

Had to post my bench, yes its a mess but thats how I have always worked and it works for me. I'm just a messy person. Lots of half done projects of all kinds using similar tools etc. John

Makes you wonder what happened to all those old customs, not just Mercs. How many got scrapped when they went out of fashion or are still hidden in garages like the Hirohata a few years back.

Saw this chopped bus and had a look around it.. Upstairs was made out a bit like a lounge but you could not stand up and had to go about in a crouched position. The Taxi looks great but the back end(boot to us, trunk to you guys) had a lot of uneven filler in it. Apparently there is no age restriction on London taxis at present but Boris the mayor hopes to introduce a cut off date as soon as possible. The whole of London had got 'Olympic' paranoia and Boris Johnson is scared of anything that may spoil his perfect summer for 2012. Even this message could fall foul of regulations as it contains the word Olympic as this is not an IOC(International Olympic Committee) sanctioned email Expect to see more old Routmasters dug out of the woodwork by next August for the Olympic tourist £££

This is the Routmaster bus. No longer in general service but a couple are used on nostalgia services. We called them Hop on Hop off due to the rear decki/platform. really their demise came about from a number of issues but mainly environment and their unsuitability to be converted for disabled passenger use. There is one running an open top seaside special in Scarbourough. John

Great work Hope to see this in the Beaulieu Autojumble car park J

I didn't realise there were extras in the box. just read that the Munsters duo has a booklet with it. Hmmmm, yes Harry I guess if you plan on re selling at a later date you could hope to make something though I dread to think how much stuff I would have stored up if I hoped it would make me a fortune on all those limited edition things out there. John

I I spotted a Rommel's Rod in our local hobby shop at a bargain price(for the UK) so had to have it. Non are advertised on the 'Bay' here in the UK so this was a pleasant surprise. A little lower on the shelf was the much awaited 60s TV Batmobile kit by Polar Lights in a tinmarked up at £50!!! (about US $80?) I pulled this out to find tucked behind it, boxed versions for £24.99. Then I realised it was not the 1/25 scale kit but the 1/32. Now I don't know what was in the tin but was it worth double the price? Not to me, even the boxed version was way too much. This got me thinking though, so how much would the 1/25 scale Batmobile cost boxed or tinned? about $100!!! And what about all those other collectable kits, the Munsters double kit tinned, I saw the Red Baron in a tin some years back for £12, that was the same as the boxed version would have cost, now they sell for well over that. Would a collector really buy anything if it was released in some fancy packaging, the Rommel's Rod in say a plain sand coloured box with text and no pictures like the old Blueprinter AMT kits because only 5000 were produced. Judging by a few magazine articles I have read over the years and some TV progs, Yes they would buy the kits for that reason. The Polar Lights 1/32Batmobile to me is definitely poor value for money tinned or boxed. So is the initial cost of the produced kit high for these or is the mark up put on by the distributor of the store aiming at collectors. As a comparison a tin of biscuits I received last Christmas had an embossed design of a 1930s ocean liner on it, the tin of a similar size to the Polar Batmobile cost no more than £15(I hinted I wanted it). So my guess is there must be something special in these boxes.....or is it just a ploy to spend your £££ or $$$ Ok, bit of a rant but I wanted that kit,the 1/25th not the 1/32, nearly spent my cash but common sense made me walk out with just a Rommel's Rod. John

Superb detail, as said already, hard to tell it from the real thing. Building a Tamiya Hayabusa myself so like to see more bikes on this site......even if it is called Model Cars John

Here's a couple of mine: First up is a 1/32 Gunze Sangyo 1959 Seville converted to a 1960 flat top sedan. Next is an AMT ECTO 1 , I boxed in the rear panel just to see what it looked like and fabricated a rear bumper centre section. Never really finished it. Another Gunze 59 but this time strengthened up and made into a slot car. Get the back end to swing out on the curves and you are guaranteed to wipe out the opposition last, yet another Gunze 59, this time converted into a coupe. The hardest part for both of these was removing the Seville moldings and leaving smooth sides. Hope you enjoy, These were fun builds years ago when my son helped me with many projects John

Hey, whats wierd about England? We drive on the left dont we John