Art Anderson

For farm tractors in diecast, being as those are the core of the "Farm Toy" collecting hobby, the scales tend to be 1/64, some 1/32, and many in 1/16 scale--the last one having been very much the standard scale for diecast toy tractors when farm toys became very popular in rural America back in the early 1950's. Art

Traditionally, AMT never did number the parts in their kits--certainly not those done many years ago. Which AMT '57 Chevy kit do you have? Is it the one with the opening trunk lid, or is it the older kit which dates from 1962, having no opening trunk? Art

While I certainly respect (and admire) the modern technology of 3D printing AND some of the stuff I've seen coming out from that technology in the way of model car stuff--frankly it's going to be a good while before that replaces such as resin-casting. This, for the simple reason that most all the model aftermarket is "cottage industry" sized, with not a lot of capital being available for seriously high-technology products. Art

What slowdown in the model car aftermarket? I mean, really now: Beyond Modelhaus, there are more model car aftermarket producers now than at any time before--of course, none of the sheer size that Modelhaus attained. What did change over say, the past 36 years since Modelhaus began offering reproduction replacement parts for promo's and 1960's 3in1 kits has been the vast expansion of such as detail parts, new versions of existing styrene model car kits, decals (Fred Cady may well have been the largest model car decal printer in the late 1970's until his retirement about 10 years ago, there are many more aftermarket decal printers now than ever before--from what I have seen. Add to the mix all the various aftermarket paint suppliers--where once it was just MCW, there are any number of small entrepreneurs selling all colors of paint for model cars, in both lacquer and enamel forms. Were you in a position to be able to attend an NNL East--that is a bigger gathering of model car aftermarket vendors than ever showed up at say, the old Toledo Toy Shows. As for "Toledo", that show began its decline with the coming of eBay, which took the majority of the top collectible toy dealers out of show halls, and put them online--same with dealers in OOP model kits. Simply put, they no longer had to load up cars, trailers, and vans to drive what often would be a full day each way; all they had to do was put stuff up for auction on the Bay, then when sales happened, box up the item(s) print out shipping labels, and off to USPS, United Parcel, or FEDEX locally. Art

Yes, it would--either the brass or the copper wire. For ease in working it, simply anneal it (take a piece of the stuff, hold in a pair of smooth pliers, and run the wire through the flame of your kitchen stove--just to red heat, let cool down--it becomes nearly as soft as solder--not to mention the very wide range of gauges that are available. Art

Realize that the actual Love Bug (Herbie) began life as Walt Disney's daily driver--a 1963 VW Beetle--and no model company has ever kitted that model year of Volkswagen, as far I've been able to determine. The Polar Lights VW is a '66, and makes a reasonable facsimile--but there are a few minor detail differences in the body shell. Art

An interesting footnote here: This kit CANNOT be built as a correct 1939 Ford, as the hood is a 1940 Standard hood, quite different in shapes and contours from the '39 Deluxe Fords. Also, it comes with only the 1940 Deluxe instrument panel, and the new-for-1940 molded acetate plastic steering wheel. The last omission is a set of 1939 Ford "wide five" wheels with their two piece hubcaps. Art

Revell-Monogram reissued the '30 Model A Coupe kit at least 3 times, in their SSP program within the past 20 yrs or so. The way SSP worked was, Revell sent out a list of subjects they were willing to run in this program (SSP stood for "Selected Subjects Program"), with a limited time frame for retailers (Hobby Shops only) to pre-order the kits. Once the deadline was reached, Revell would run the kit(s) to fill those pre-orders, with probably a few more just to have a small supply for re-orders. I get to several model car shows a year, and I can't remember anytime within the past 10yrs or so that I haven't seen at least one 1930 Model A Coupe kit on a vendor's table--often several scattered throughout the vendors' area, and generally not at high collectors' pricing. Add to this that IF Revell saw a market for another production run of any existing model car kit tool, they'd do it, and fairly quickly. Keep in mind though, that a company such as Revell (whose plastic model kit history goes well back into the early 1950's) likely has several thousand sets of tooling--perhaps most of the tooling that either Revell Inc. or Monogram Models had cut over their history, but also has to "mind the store" as well--just because they might have all those tools, more than likely their capital budget is far more limited than most modelers might imagine--one simply does not just pick up a model kit tool, pop it into a molding press, hook up all the lines, and push the START button--a lot has to happen before any reissue comes about. This is not the 1960's anymore, when in any one year, there might have been just a couple of hundred model kit subjects (of all kinds of subjects, including model cars) on the market at any one time--today, in 2016, I suspect the total available subjects from manufacturers all over the World might be in the low thousands--which presents another "barrier" if you will: It takes a lot of square-footage in a retail store (and in a wholesaler's warehouse) to stock a truly full line of just plastic model kits, not to mention the capital required to stock in anything like a truly full line of kits to appeal to a wide range of model interests (and both the labor force AND the capital ($$$$) to to stock anywhere near a full and comprehensive line of model kits. In addition, at the manufacturrr's level, similar limitations exist--requests for capital to fund new projects will always compete with requests from upper management (if nobody else, then the "bean counters) for more of existing product--and all that in the face of a necessarily limited production capacity in whatever factory is going to run the kits. And last, but not least, there is the human factor--any company,making and selling any product you may think of, does have a somewhat limited staff of people at least somewhere along the line at some level who are called upon to bring not only reissues to life again, but to maintain the availability of existing long-running subjects, AND put into production the new products we modelers all love to see. So, at every level of a model company and it's products, from concept to new tooling to maintaining the supply of existing "staple" items, to bringing back something from their past faces limitations--if you ever took an Economics class in high school or college, that's the limitations of the legs of the 3-legged stool--land, labor and capital--each one has its limitations. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see this particular subject come up for air at some time (IF indeed the people who are charged with making such decisions feel as you do!) Art

Most, if not all, model car kits from the 60's onward well out to even today, if they had pedals, they were molded to the underside of the instrument panel. It's only been in the last 10-15 years that a FEW kits of 50's or 60's cars had separate foot pedals. in my experience. Art

FWIW, AMT released the '49 Ford Coupe in September, 192--I was there, with my $2 in hand, at Abbott's Hobby Shop in Fairfield IA to snag one. Art

One problem that has dogged me on this model, is just how to airbrush the black interior color into the upper body and headliner area, WITHOUT getting black paint on the tan body color. The rolled edges of the window openings, so very typical of cars from the mid-30's until well into the 1950's make this a critical step. The window openings are so very tight and small, masking tape (both Tamiya, and Frog Tape just would not work-not nearly tacky enough, and I was concerned about commercial grade masking tape's high tack adhesive possibly pulling some of the custom-mixed paint off. So, I decided on Bare Metal Foil. It wasn't all that easy, but it did do the job perfectly. Without further ado--all masked and ready for Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black:

Almost all of them were destroyed during WW-II--many were apparently commandeered for use as staff cars by the Japanese Army and air forces. Only a handful of the some approximately 3,300 or so that were produced survive today.

My very first model was a Strombecker solid wood Aeronca Champion that an Aunt & Uncle (who owned a neat small town general store (building was constructed in 1867, but that's another story). My big brother (8 yrs older than my then 7yrs) took me to a hobby shop, where we got the wood glue,some fine sandpaper, an Xacto knife (which I still have, along with all my fingers!), and AeroGloss Dope--chose red, because the label said "Aeronca Red" (!). I sat at our kitchen table on a Saturday, literally all day (clearing everything away for lunch and supper), on a mission--I was gonna build it myself--NO input from my brother, nor from Dad who had no clue as to what to do with a model kit of any sort. It came out pretty nice, as I remember, had a lot of fun taking it to school the following Monday, for 2nd Grade show & tell. My plastic model car hobby began in the summer of 1952, when I'd been down for weeks getting over rheumatic fever with a heart murmer, and was beginning to understand that my confinement to home and bed would go well into my 3rd grade year. Sensing my disappointment and frustration with all of that, Dad stopped at Kresge's on his way home from the office one Saturday in late August, and came home with two Highway Pioneers kits, and a set of model paint colors. The next day, Sunday, while Mom and my two sisters were at church, Dad got those kits out, and we built both of them that morning, and into the afternoon, on a bed tray table. I still have them! Art

Hobbies & History, at Lebanon IN. I'm well aware that the Monogram '30 A Coupe is OOP, but it's been done 2-3 times over the past 20 yrs in Revell's SSP program, so it's not exactly unobtainium. H&H stocks not only new and current kits, but also has a large inventory of OOP kits as well. Art

Oh, about 3 weeks ago (a hobby shop that also stocks a lot of older, OOP kits. As others have stated, that Monogram kit is the ONLY way to get a stock Model A coupe body. But if one doesn't have to have a stock one, what the hey? Sure, it would be cool to have an all-new state-of-the-art kit of this subject, but unless/until that happens, I can more than make do with this one. Art

I suspect that if Paul's customer base wants fully detailed, he'd do it. But why do I detect a bit of unwarranted criticism? Art

Exactly Bill! How many times have we heard that advice: "You get what you are willing to pay for?" I'm taking a break from masking the exterior of my Tamiya Toyoda Model AA--and I'm I'm already cursing Frog Tape--the stuff will just NOT stay down as I would like. But, for masking those rolled edges around the windows, strips of BMF (albeit from an almost used up sheet are the berries for masking in those window reveals. As you well know, and have shown, it pays to experiment some times, and at times "BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH the Torpedoes--FULL speed ahead!" is great advice. For those reading this, DON'T be afraid to experiment a bit--try things, see what works for you and what does not. It's not very possible to indulge Champagne tastes on a beer budget most of the time--sometimes, to achieve the look, that "degree of perfection" it does take risking that extra $10 bill or so--but in the end, if the project comes out at or beyond your wildest dreams--wasn't it worth it, for all the pleasure and satisfaction (and hopefully some accolades from your peers in the hobby)? Hmmmmm? Art

Frankly, I don't understand why anyone should denigrate someone such as Paul Hettick for doing what he does, nor should anyone diss the person who wins his latest auction! Sir Gerald Wingrove, over in the UK, during his yeas as a professional scratchbuilding modeler, reached the point where there were collectors more than willing to pay well over $10,000 for one of his incredible 1/15 scale models that were scratchbuilt down to the last detail. If it's jealously, then go look at the lyrics of that late 60's song, Desiderata--"Do not compare yourself with others, as there will always be those greater or lesser than you....." If it's a mater of your not wanting to sell off anything you build--well that's a right we all have--but why criticize someone else, because they do? What is the true $$ of anything we have ourselves (either bought or something we ourselves ave created)? It's really quite simple actually: It's what two willing individuals decide on as a fair price--not something for any of the rest of us think it should be. When last I spoke with Paul Hettick--I think at NNL-West in either 1998 or 1999, he was at best semi-disabled, due IIRC, a work-related back injury that never could be fixed completely. So, he gets busy, figures out how to turn his abilities as a model car builder into something that at least supplements whatever disability income he has, and some other modelers take issue with that? I thought that in My Country, the USA in which I grew up, such initiative was to be honored, not shamed--or has something changed that I missed out on hearing about? Art

Ace, the art and science of injection-molding plastic did have its beginning here in the US, way back in the 1930's, and the start of the plastic model kit industry was here as well, with injection-molded detail parts being included in otherwise wood and card-stock model car kits shortly after WW-II, so in a very real way, it began as a uniquely American thing. Now, as for test shots of model kits being done by 3D printing, that is not true at all. When we see a 3D printed version of a model kit, that is what is called a "tooling mockup" which is not unlike the old hand-carved 1:10 scale mockups that used to be used as patterns to be reduced with a 3-axis milling pantograph when creating the actual steel tooling. Today, with everything about model kit tooling being done in CAD, the same CAD files that will ultimately be used to cut steel can be used in to create a 3D printed set of parts, which mockups are then sent to the person(s) responsible for checking out the correctness and accuracy of the model kit itself, BEFORE any tooling begins. As such, the 3D tooling mockups are done 1:1 with the scale of the final model kit. Test shots, on the other hand, are literally the plastic kits themselves, being molded from tooling that while basically done, has yet to be approved, the tooling polished, hardened to be ready for mass production. Even the process of cutting the steel tooling is no longer one of a toolmaker moving the stylus of a 3-axis pantograph mill over and over again, on the tooling mockup of the actual mold (which used to be done in wood and resin in 1:10 scale, to be reduced to 1:25 scale in blocks of steel--today that is all CAM (Computer Aided Machining) and virtually no rotary cutters are used--it's almost ALL done by EDM (Electro-Discharge Milling), controlled by the final-approved CAD files. As for all the reference work going into such projects--that does involve a ton of human input--the soon-to-be-available '65 Comet Cyclone came about from several hundred photo's of a real car, with only perhaps a dozen pics showing the complete car--the VAST majority of those hundreds of pics were taken of small areas of the car in question, many as closeups with a measuring tape, even a common, ordinary ruler in the picture to illustrate the important dimensions of that area of the body shell, as well as the even smaller details needed to be reproduced, such as scripts, badging, and the like. Such simple techniques as photographing, with measuring instruments in the scene, of the edge of an open door happen, to get the curvatures of the side of a body. It's not simply a matter of shooting a few pics, and somehow magically have a perfectly scaled model kit magically appear with a few keystrokes. Art

Unless MicroScale has changed something, their MIcro-Mask is little more than liquified latex rubber--the same stuff that can be used to make rubber molds for pouting Plaster of Paris in, and that stuff has been around for literally decades. This material, in various forms and consistencies, has been sold and used as a paint masking medium for almost as long as I've been building plastic models (and that goes back to 1952 and Gowland & Gowland Highway Pioneers kits. While I almost never use the stuff anymore, I did learn that for those pesky bits of the stuff that seem to defy removal with fingers, a sticky piece of fresh masking tape will get it off a surface. Art

I'm with Bill on this, that 220-grit is awfully coarse for preparing a surface for painting. I've used 400 and 600 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper ever since I got my first AMT Styline Customizing kits way back in 1961--those came with a small sheet of 400-grit. I figure that with surface prep, I worry more about roughness in the surface, sink marks that need a bit of filler, to be far more important than just about anything else--the smoother the surface of the body shell prior to any primer or paint is by far the most important issue. Art

No pressure gauge, as my compressor is a diaphragm unit, but I'm able to reduce the air pressure by bleeding off air at my moisture trap (as I described) down to more than an acceptable level, giving me approximately a quarter inch or so wide spray fan with my airbrush about 1" from the surface being sprayed. This is where the "Thin" part of my technique comes into play, as the thinner the paint, the less air pressure is needed. I guess I would call it "reducing" the paint spray pattern to something close to 1:25 scale. But it was a "try it and see how it works" sort of thing, that turned out to be a fast learning--it just was never hard to learn to do. BTW, I do all my painting with a Paasche H, with #3 material control nozzle. Art

The '29 Coupe is markedly different in shapes than the '30-'31 in real life though. Art

I've used grey Carpet Thread on several cars, for emergency brake cables--it's very convincing for new cable, and has little, if any loose fibers, so it takes paint in case one wants to weather it. Art

One thing I've noticed in a recent search for gel pens--they seem to have lost their luster as far as retailers are concerned. Just a couple of years ago, they seemed to be everywhere, both individually and in sets. However, now, Michael's here no longer stocks them at all, nor does Hobby Lobby. Even Office Max has dropped them. I did find a set at Walmart, but that is about it. Art