HotRodaSaurus

Nice colour combo. Makes a change from the usual 'Elvis' pink. John

To me the Rat Rod looks like a cross between early Lakes cars and low buck hot rodding as read about in the Albert Drake books. I dont like it myself but at least it's different. In the UK I have seen some awfull real 1:1 scale cars. One a md 50s Mercury, the top chopped at home,just slice it across and down , put in the filler strips and paint it mat black. An awfull waste of a car. Another known as the McCord Special(I may be wrong on the name) was a bucket type roadster that fell apart while being driven around a campsite. Saw these at the Hemsby weekender. As earlier not my scene at all but can be fun model projects to use those odd parts in the parts bin. J

I would like to see some new British saloons such as the Vauxhall Cresta PA, Ford Zephyr or Zodiac MkII, Jaguar Mk X, a decent Rolls Royce Cloud, even a Ford Sierra Estate car. Some Europeans now Mercedes 600(1960s), Citroen DS, Iso Griffo. Back in the USA I think a few more 4 door sedans please especially some early to mid 50s Cadillacs. John

Kids are like that though these days,My son loved action films,so I showed him some old Bruce Lee films. The other guys, Arnie, Van Damm, Cynthia Roth Rock,etc are all big action films and can be realexiting. I know Arnie isnt exactly into martial arts but you guys know what I mean. With Bruce Lee though the emphasis is on the Kung Fu etc. After watching the Nunchuk scenes he was spellbound and took up Karate. Not just a 5 minute wonder, he started at 8 years old and carried on, winning trophies and came 4th in the junior world championships. Well he is 19 now and has taken a breather as he has discoverd other things like partying and girls. He also did a bit of modeling, building a Flying Fortress bomber a couple of fighters but his favourite thing was a box of 1/25 parts and a couple of my old builds. He glued this bit to that bit to make some crazy designs. Again this is on the back burner now but I am sure that when he has nothing to do or is just bored he may take up Karate again and with a bit of luck get back into modeling. John

Well I dont understand was his problem was. I have in front of me now a copy of Rod & Custom from 1957. The magazine features one of the first model contests and sponsored by R & C magazine and Revell Models. Revells Bob Hoeppner, chief engineer of the model shop is holding a model by Jim Savage that went on to gain the first prize. The model is clearly a 1/32 custom built from Revells Ford, Mercury and Cadillac kits available then. On the table there are many more custom models , the vast majority being 1/32 scale. A couple of Monograms BIG Cadillacs and some even smaller models(1/48?). The article states the most popular kit to customise was the small Ford pick up by Revell. I would think this is the kit with the motorcycle and police rider. So there! Tell Mr verbal that if it was good enough in 1/32 to win back then it is good enough to show for a bit or reminising now. I did post this magazine feature under the title of, if I remember correctly, 'Oldest Models contest' So, there we are. I still have a couple of early builds but not my first, a Tamiya Kubel Wagen painted metalic pink made from mixing red, white and silver enamels.

Compared to what they cost new you can pick a good one of these up for around £5000! Complete with RR servicing might be a bit more. I have even seen a roadworthy but rough one for £2000. Now what can you get for that these days? an old Volvo estate or a decent Mondeo? J

Compared to what they cost new you can pick a good one of these up for around £5000! Complete with RR servicing might be a bit more. I have even seen a roadworthy but rough one for £2000. Now what can you get for that these days? an old Volvo estate or a decent Mondeo? J

Compared to what they cost new you can pick a good one of these up for around £5000! Complete with RR servicing might be a bit more. I have even seen a roadworthy but rough one for £2000. Now what can you get for that these days? an old Volvo estate or a decent Mondeo? J

Yes but not in silence

I asked this question because I saw on another forum(not models) that someone was posting some old hot rod pictures. They were obviosly taken by a staff photographer for that mag nearly 50 years ago but the site owner had grouped lots of pictures of a particular vehicle and overprinted(watermark?) his copyright onto them. Surley this is a breach, even if the magazine title no longer exists? J

To be honest now would that really be a fair assumption. If the guy bidding is a collector he may want an original kit. As an example would a collector want my original AMT Munster Koach box with a grey plastic kit inside? What is that kit worth in, A original condition, B a recent re-pop, or C a mixture of original box & re-pop parts How many on this board think it is a great kit from a modeling perspective rather than a nostalgic thing? I will surley build one of the new kits but only for those nostalgic reasons as there are vitually no usfeull parts for kit bashing other than to build other light hearted themes. Yes it was a great kit in it's day and holds lots of memories, tooling up for something like this must be made to pay for itself so is it a limited eition of say 10,000? with views to re pop at a later date? If I was a collector I would want the original. If I collected Picasso paintings I would not really want a copy Much as I love Tom Daniels designs I don't know if I would build the Taxi other than for similar reasons. Barris's Bathtub again, I would not build but might buy only for the engine If I collected Picasso paintings I would not really want a copy Just thoughts, John

I always thought that copyrights existed to the original photographer until death or 100years. Yet I see some sites use photos and put their own copyright on ithem, though it is obvious it is not their picture they are showing. I won't go into any particular sites but if I were to photo copy a picture from a page of, let’s say a 1950s copy of Rod & Custom and post it here on this site, would I not be infringing on the photographers copyright unless I acknowledged at least where I had taken the photo from. Now if I had a collection of pictures from various sources on my site I could not overwrite them with my copyright, could I? Not picking on anyone here , just curious because I am as guilty of posting pics from mags myself, but I would never build a site and put a copyright on the pictures in it unless they were my own. Cheers, John

I would like to see more models with moulded headliners, I am not a super detailer but this is an interior part that can add detail. Why not a vacform insert? We get under hood detailing even on some of those old AMT kits(I think)and who actually looks at the underside of the hood when viewing the engines. Thanks, J

A Mercedes 540K crossed with a SdKfz WWII Halftrack = Rommels Rod. Able to leap tall sandunes in a single bound. Great cars us Europeans used to build eh! I have been to the Schlumphf Museum there are some great cars there, where is this one ? Sparreholm castle? Thanks, John

Great to see that fadeaway added

Looks like a Figoni & Filaschi Delahaye driven by some mysterious heiress in a 1930s Batman comic. I love it Just a shame it's not possible to fabricate some speed lines into the diorama somehow! A superb improvement on a kit I would not consider building staright out of the box. Wow. John

I have not seen many models with a moulded headliner, do many kits have this moulded in? or does anyone ever bother with this part? We usually view or photograph our models from above so who bothers and who doesn't. Quite a few of the older kits have the 'glass' connected by runners in the vehichle interior and I have to admit i have not worried about this but am considering detailing an interior to include it. J

Is it for building or collecting? As someone who started modeling military vehicles of all kinds there is never a problem with these kinds of interest. Unfortunately quite a few military modelers I have met seem to look down their noses at us car guys. I experienced this when visiting a show put on by the (I hope I get this correct)International Plastic Scale Modelers club(or a similar name). When I asked where the car/transport table were the guy I spoke to said, and I quote, "On the little table over there" said in a very demeaning manner. Well I love planes, copters, ships, tanks and just about anything made of plastic that needs glue. My favourite copter is the one from M.A.S.H. , dont know what its spec is but it typifies the era. John

The Talbot was originally kitted by a company called Merit, they made a lot of European race cars including the Mercedes Benze, a Maserati, a Vanwall a Lister Jaguar etc. Most are quite collectable and even in built form can fetch a good price. I had a big bunch of them in September and sold them to a Dunhill widow dresser for a display in Dunhill's London(Bond Street) store. Dunhill, apart from making cigarettes, sell gentlemans accsessories and have done for many years. I think they included: Talbot Lago, Mercedes Benz, Alfa Romeo, BRM, Vanwall, Pontoon Ferarri, and Aston Martin. Some have been re-released by an Eastern European company,Yugoslavian or former I believe with all the original parts and decals. I have not built the slingshot but have a Long John someplace. John

Well the knickname for this car is definately Peanut in the UK. It never had an official name like the Devon, Somerset or or Cambridge.

Well it's got to be an A30 or A35. The 35 has a larger grill and a better engine. Not too clear at the angle but I am going to go with A30. J

Yes I can see the speculation here, I can only go by what the seller told me. If you look carefully at the Cal Charger front tyre there is a remnant of polystyrene peanut still stuck to the tyre I did not buy them as they were a little expensive at £30 each(starting price). They sat on his table all weekend but I think they sold as a lot including a Prudhomme fueller in the glass case just visible and an Army Funny for around £50 for the lot. None were in tip top condition and the chrome on the Tony Nancy is to the usual 70s Revell standard. I have seen these tyres disintegrate into pieces of rubber, also the motorcycle tyres from the same era are prone to cracking. J

Neat classic. What kit is that please? J

One of the things I did notice about these two kits(Tony Nancy & the California Charger in the pics) were that only some of the rubber parts are melted. The rim of the rail dragster is virtually untouched, you cant really get a good view of the Nancy rear wheel but that looks the same. I have had a couple of kits with tyre burn or tyre melt on built ups but the styrene is usually also melted. One make of kits I dont know if this affects are Monogram, well the old ones at least. I have most of those classics plus Rommels Rod and Li'l Coffin, they have the styrene whitewall inserts and are all ok, some after 40 years, don't know about modern Revell/Mono but I had an original Mickey Thompson Challenger 4 engine car, on that the tyres were ok but the wheels were melted J

Saw these models for sale at a swap meet. They had been stored only 3 years but in boxes using polystyrene 'peanut' packing. You know the stuff, I send models through the post using it, you have probably got something from the 'Bay' packed in it. Sure its safe but look at these tyres. They are original kits from the 1970s but were stored only within the last few years. The tyre melt has not affected all the parts or indeed all the rubber parts. Look but beware. John