Art Anderson

It's not newly produced product. Before he sold Lindberg out to Round2, Jody Keener had his factory run the heck out of every usable tool in the place. When Round2 bought up Lindberg, there was a ready made stockpile of kits to be sold off. Doubtful that Round2 is taking much of a bath on these. Art

More than you think! 1934 was the last year for a Ford roadster pickup--and the 1934 Ford pickup cabs were a carryover from 1932-33. Art

Scientific Models (Known years ago for their wooden sailing ship model kits) put out a 1/16 scale kit of a 1909 Maxwell Roadster that was well done, all the wood parts were a mix of either thin birch aircraft plywood, or every nicely milled spruce parts, with--get--this, a real brass radiator (in kit form, to be soldered up). Art

I've had the HSM Locomobile "Old 16" Vanderbilt Cup Winner kit for a good 50 yrs--one of these days! Art

Most of those old solid balsa car model kits were made by Berkley--who started out using very high-grade balsa. But, by the mid-1950's, Berkley cheapened all their product line, using some of the worst grade balsa they seemingly could find. These were solid balsa kits, with cheaply cast white metal detailing for bumper & grilles. Perhaps the best of the non-plastic model car kits of the early years were Hudson Scale Miniatures, 1/16 scale multi-media model car kits, Materials were Strathmore board (a hard fine-grade card stock, with spruce for making up the frames, and injection-molded acetate plastic wheel/tires, radiators and such as headlights. Bits of wire stock were provided for making up windshield frames and the like. All the HSM kits were of horseless-carriage and/or brass era cars. Most today have never heard of, nor seen an HSM kit, but many here in this forum (and other model car message boards) have heard of Oscar Kovaleski Sr & Jr--the founders of the original "Auto World", the model car kit & supply mail order hobby shop. It was Kovaleski Sr. who produced Hudson Scale Miniatures kits. Art

Nope, wrong engine for any Chevy from 1955-62 (full size Chevies). As Bill Burmeister said, the only correct Chevy 6 for those years is the one from the AMT 1960 Chevy pickup.

I've used the three most common 2-part clear resin compounds over the years to make such as headlight lenses: Epoxy, Polyester Casting Resin, and Polyurethane resin. Of the three, a clear epoxy works, but for best results, check the jewelry-making sections of say, Hobby Lobby or Michael's--there are water clear epoxies made for use in jewelry-making. It will harden against say, an RTV mold. Polyester casting resin is the stuff that smells like fiberglass resin, but is water clear--the big problem with this is that it relies on a highly evaporative watery catalyst, which when the mixed resin is eposed to air, will evaporate off the surface--leaving a sticky layer that simply won't harden. Some mold-making compounds, particularly silicone RTV rubber, allows this extremely thin consistency catalyst to "leach" or soak into the RTV rubber surface just a bit, causing the same stickiness. Polyurethane resin can be had in "water clear" form, but it's the most expensive of the three types of catalyzed resin. It sets up just fine in an RTV mold, and is what most resin casters use/have used for making transparent parts such as headlight & taillight lenses--some have even used it to cast reproductions of clear styrene winshields. Perhaps, as Bill suggests, your best bet would be to find headlight lenses from another kit? Art

Yes, by all means match the "Material Control" (that is what this unit is called by Paasche) needle with the correct sleeve, as mixing these parts can result in your splitting the hollow sleeve out at the tip (ask me how I know this!). It's easy, as each set of Material Control parts is ID'd very easy for you: #1 needle and tip each have a single groove around them, #3 have three grooves, and #5 has, of course, five grooves. If you damage the tip (the hollow tapered sleeve) by getting a split or crack in it, paint will "puddle" there briefly, before being "spit" off and into your paintjob as a little blob--and that WILL show, trust me. Art

Essentially, the Corvette chassis remained the same (probably some detail differences) from 1953-62, basically a shortened Chevrolet sedan chassis in planform. The basic bodywork was the same from 1958-62, with the change to the Stingray-inspired rear end being used in 1961-62. 1961 carried over the recessed side "cove" almost identically to that of 1958-60, with a chrome (actually polished stainless steel) and "teeth" in the fake reverse air scoop behind the front wheels. So, to do it in model kit form would require some new body mold slides, possibly a new grille & front bumperettes, might have been some interior detail changes, perhaps new wheel covers. Who knows if Revell has this version up their sleeves yet? '61 is my favorite of all the C1 Corvettes. Art

Well, who knows? Revell has done several C1 Corvettes that we thought we'd never see new kits of, so a '61 could well still be on their dinner plate. Art

I've heard the "death knell" of this hobby for more than 40 years now, Guys! To paraphrase a legendary Mark Twain quote: "The demise of this hobby (and the industry that supports it) is greatly exaggerated!" Now, go BUILD something! Wringing hands is best left to the sink, with soap and water! Art

I started this hobby way back in 1956 with just two tools! I had a little pen knife I bought at a souvenir stand with allowance money (Dad taught me how to sharpen it!) and a fingernail file that Mom let me have--I was 10yrs old in 1954!. Those two tools carried me out to about 1960, when I sprang for my first Xacto knife when I was 16. Shortly thereafter, I got my first package of 3M 400-grit sandpaper. So sophisticated tools were not a part of my early modelbuilding years. Down through the years since, I have gotten far more tools, a lot more sophisticated, but even today, I still go back to a #11 knife, 400-grit sandpaper (augmented now with finer grits, down to Micromesh polishing kits), more Xacto knives than I care to inventory, along with tweezers and such, even an airbrush. In short, it't been an evolutionary process. getting tools along the way, as I saw a need, saw a tool that might fill those needs. Art

Well, given your desire to use a V8 engine available from say, 1946 to perhaps 1953, your options are quite limited: Ford flathead V8, Cadillac (you can get away with the engine from Revell's 59 Eldorado--it's basically the same engine as introduced in 1949, and the Oldsmobile Rocket V8, introduced in 1949 (the engine in the Revell '50 Olds kit). An early Chrysler Hemi isn't really available, although they were the same basic engine as appears in a Moebius '55 or '56 Chrysler 300, the AMT '57 Chrysler 300, and in numerous AMT kits, starting with the '53 Ford pickup. Art

Block, heads, intake manifold, oil pan, waterpumps, bellhousing, and air cleaner were all metallic bronze.

Yup, the rear doors are different from the fronts--they had to clear the rear fenders. I've half-thought about doing mine as a Canadian-built Model T--with a functioning (at least the cut door lines) driver's side door. A Google Image Search for 1923-1925 Model T Touring Car should also give you lots of infomation--more than I could have found online back in 2001. Art

Jim, I've seen it, and yes, the body shell is hollow. However, as others have noted, most "Bookmobiles" are at, or nearly the size of a city bus, although here in Tippecanoe County, the public library uses a 35' gooseneck trailer and duallie pickup truck to tow it (Galaxie Ltd. trailer would be a perfect match for that one) Art

This sounds like the '48 Ford Sedan Delivery I cast for several years back in the 1990's. It was done, then, using the IMC/Testors/no Lindberg '48 Fords (either coupe or convertible, and does fit that series of kits. Not too sure that it would mate up to the much later (and possibly more accurately scaled) Revell '48 Fords. Hope this helps! Art

The car in question was, however, a one-off, not repeated by the coachbuilder for any other customer. Art

For starters, the clear plastic used in model car kit "glass" is pure styrene, which itself is very brittle! You can drill holes in it--I've done that in years past, but it takes PATIENCE! I'm not sure just how large a hole you want to drill, but as others have stated, for holes larger than what you can drill with a pin vise, it does take PATIENCE, and drilling consecutive larger guide holes. This is NOT a job for your Craftsman electric drill though! Twist drill bits tend to PULL themselves into the work--pretty simple as their cutting edges are in fact a "wedge". So, TAKE your time, start with a small bit, do not force it, let it gently cut its way into the plastic, and once that hole is drilled clear through, and you want it larger, repeat the same process, with successively larger drill bits, all the while letting the drill bit do its thing with NO pressure from you. Doing this by hand will allow you to control how fast the bit drills or enlarges the hole, and trust me, it can be done with absolutely NO cracking of the surrounding clear plastic! Art

Mark, correct on the clutch and brake pedals! Those can be had from just about any model kit of a pre-war Ford kit though. As for Model A Ford gas pedal, that was merely a "button" on a post--with another, smaller "button" to the right of it, that was fixed in position (think a straight pin in 1/25 scale). This one was the accelerator "foot rest", which allowed the driver to simply "rotate" his right foot to the left to press the gas pedal button! (I know this, having owned and restored a '29 A Tudor in the mid-60's, and also having owned, at the same time, a 5000 mile perfect original '31 Deluxe Roadster!). Art

I second that! With researching to see what the real car undersides look like, GOOGLE is my BFF (Best Friend Forever)! Simply Google the car you want to know about, and when the listings come up, click on "Images". If you don't find the exact year of car you searched, search again a year newer, or older, or a different body style. This is how I find my first references for most any car I build. Art

Radiator support rods. Art

Exactly!

One thing to consider: In real life (as on real cars), chromium plating is darker than any aluminum, polished or anodized--as Aluminum is a very whitish if silvery color, Chromium is slightly bluish in color. Model car kit plating is actually aluminum, plated on by a vaporizing process in a vacuum tank. Art

Eric, I did this conversion almost 16 years ago. If you need any help on it, please ask--I've got some in progress pics still. Art