mrglubaum

I've been wanting a Citroen DS in 1/24 for years! A friend in England turned me on to these Quattroruote cars. They are some of the nicest die-cast models available for the price! In addition to the Citroen, I also picked up a 1958 Autobianchi Bianchina and a 1969 Simca! I just took these out of their package and haven't cleaned the tape off the doors or polished them up yet. Lee

Rick, The exterior of the cab is identical in every way. There are differences in the firewall and floorboard, and the dash gauges on some of the models. The most obvious thing is that the cab floor usually has less of a hump in it. Here are some pictures that I took for reference, maybe they'll help you. http://public.fotki.com/mrglubaum/truck-pi...c-cement-mixer/ Lee

Rick, The truck in your picture is a '64 -'66 GMC. The '60-'63 had a wrap-around windshield with the windshield posts angling the other direction. The cab itself could be sourced from the R/M '64 or '65 Chevy pickup kit. Someone did cast the "B" series parts in resin, but they only made a few copies. Evan Hermel had one of the conversion kits and built a really great weathered old dump truck. I don't remember who actually cast the parts. Lee

The only correct engine six for this kit would be the one from the AMT '60 Chevy stock pickup kit. The '51 is close, but has the wrong valve cover. The '60 pickup air filter is wrong, but a correct one could be cobbled together fairly easily. Lee

Aaron, A few years ago I took a series of pictures of one of those FWDs with the Budd cab. I just found the negatives recently, and plan to take them in and get them transferred to digital media. Give me a few days, and I can share those with you if you're interested. Lee

You can also use the same site above to find the Texas Apportioned plates. Just go to the top of the page and click on the US and CA tab. If the truck you are building (based in Texas), ran into Oregon on a regular basis, the front of the truck had to carry an Oregon PUC plate as well as the Texas Apportioned plate. Oregon was the last state to require their own separate plate. That requirement was dropped around 2001-2002. The numbers on that Pete Legacy were all required in the late '80s. Now all you need is the DOT number and the last 8 digits of the VIN for U.S. trucks. Hope we're all helping instead of confusing! Lee

Bill, Outstanding work, as usual! I'll never look at this kit quite the same from now on! Thanks for taking the time to explain the things you do! You're a great source of entertainment and inspiration! I know for a fact that you've made me a better modeler, just by your example. Thanks!

I got my Camaro kit a few days ago. I did the subassemblies on the road, and now that I'm home, I'm trying to get the thing built. I had a couple of very small sink holes on the hood, so small I was able to block sand them off without filler. The rest of the body seemed fine, just a couple faint mold lines and a tiny bit of flash. Everything fit like it was supposed to throughout the build! Even though it's probably incorrect, I painted the engine orange, for a nostalgic touch, and to give the engine compartment a little color. I dullcoated all the chrome, it was just too shiny for my taste. The plating was nice, though, if a person wanted to leave it that way. My biggest complaint was the instruction sheet. They give you a big color key on the front page, but there isn't a single color call out in the sequence! Also, there are parts that shouldn't be glued, like the ball joints and the inside sleeve on the spindles. But the instruction sheet shows nothing indicating this. Neither is a big thing to an experienced modeler, but it could be discouraging to a novice! I'm painting mine with Testor's Model Master lacquer, Hugger Orange, I plan to put the stripes on it, but haven't decided whether black or white.

That's the new Revell Charger! I just picked up one of those. It appears to come from a die-cast mold that they shot plastic into. The body sides are 1/4 inch thick! All in all, it's not a bad kit. I'm not going to use the scissor doors, though. I considered re-hinging them, but I finally decided I'm just going to glue them shut.

This thing looks like something I'd actually drive! I wanted to build a shop truck for chasing parts and maybe to tow a race car some time in the future. The wheels and tires came from a die-cast "Road Rat" kit. Seat covers are out of the R/M '29 Ford "Rat Rod" pickup kit. The engine is a Dodge "Red Ram" hemi, but I made it by using the heads and intake from the AMT '29 Ford roadster kit, and put them on the Chevy block that came with the Ranchero kit. Hey, it sure made the engine fit easier! Paint is Dupli-Color dark grey primer.

This kit is an all-around nice kit! I built one of the pre-painted ones. I build pre-painted kits sometimes because I do a lot of building in the sleeper of my truck, where I can't really do any painting. The drawback of these kits is that you can't do much modifying if things don't fit right. I was pleased that everything fit the way it was supposed to, and no repairs or fitting was necessary. There was a mold line on the rear roof pillar, but the paint was thick enough that I was able to carefully sand it away without going through the paint! The final result was a decent model that may not be show quality, but it looks good on the shelf!

Jah Bill, You're right! I'll remember that when I do my gas station diorama! LOL! Maybe someone will build a "gas station of the future" diorama using one of these new Camaros!

Bill, Thanks for a great and thorough review! I'll be getting two or three of these soon! A local police dept. has some Magnum patrol cars, gotta build a cop car out of one of mine!

Nice Road Runner! I like the idea of the Charger as a donor! The reason I stopped working on mine was I didn't like the undercarriage and engine that much. This will solve the problem! Thanks!

I've given a lot of thought to my model building hobby over the last few months. I have way too many kits to ever build them in several lifetimes! Many of these kits are what a person would consider "collector's items". I've decided to concentrate on these kits, deciding which ones I will actually build, and the ones that are just sitting there gathering dust, never to be built. The ones that I won't ever build will be sold off, so that another collector can enjoy them and I won't have to worry about them. The "collector" kits that I have always wanted to build, will be opened up and built at the earliest opportunity. No more "waiting until my skills get better"! In this day and age, it's relatively easy to fix mistakes made in the building process, so the chances of ruining a rare kit are fairly slim. So, I'm now working on my MPC '33 Chevy panel truck, and I've pulled out a Jo-Han '61 American! I'll continue to have current kits on my workbench, especially some of the recent reissues of kits that were hard to get up to this time! And I'll probably keep much of my collection of "current" and "common" kits to fill in the gaps, and be used for donors, parts, and trading.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were some Willys Americar military staff cars, but it would have been early on, and it would have been pretty much limited to what had been already produced before the war started. I doubt there were very many. Willys production from that point was concentrated on the Jeep. Thw Willys as a very simple and basic car, so I think it could be replicated pretty easily with a good spare parts inventory. Revell's 41 Chevy pickup kit might be a good source of suspension parts, even the wheels and tires would be close.

Wow, I'm glad I haven't seriously gone after one of those kits!

Thanks, Matt! I was just test fitting this and that and things kinda fell together! I still need to add a strip of .010 styrene around the front of the new fender to match the sides. The front bumper in the kit appears to be the same as the '67, but I'll have to make a filler panel between the grille and bumper.

I checked the Monogram '41 Lincoln and the Lindberg '48. The Lindberg is smaller, maybe even closer to 1/26 scale, although it's stated as being 1/25 on the box. It's considerably smaller than the Monogram Lincoln, which is supposed to be 1/24. I'm betting the Monogram kit is pretty accurate, scale-wise. I still think there are a lot of parts that could be interchanged. The Lindberg engine is a joke, and even though the Monogram engine may be a little large, I think it would work well. Sometimes I like to use 1/24 parts, especially engines, in 1/25 cars, because it fills out the engine compartment better.

I started working on this kit, and decided there were enough parts in the kit, that with a little scratch building, I could back date the Jeep to an older model. I started a tutorial for this in my fotki album. http://public.fotki.com/mrglubaum/current_...7-amc-jeepster/ I know it's not finished, but I figured there's enough there that someone else might get started if they want to. I'll add more as I go. I also plan to make a full top for it, since the back door and windows are in the kit. I can scratchbuild the rest from styrene sheet.

I have both kits, I can compare them sometime in this next week. I only have the '48 I plan to build for myself, but they are fairly common on the auction sites or from someone like Fred Sterns or Dean Sills. I understand that this kit is supposed to be reissued soon. Hobby Heaven shows it in their catalog, but shows it on backorder.

I got mine, and I think you did a great review, except that the engine is a Buick V-6. I can't remember if the Commando was available with the 304 V-8 or not. If it was, there are several kits it could be sourced from. Easiest to find is the old Jo-Han "pro-street" Rambler. I know the engine in it is supposed to be a 390, but all of the '67 and later AMC V-8s were the same externally. I'm planning to use mine for a tow vehicle for a race car and trailer. The kit includes a nice trailer hitch with a chrome ball!

The '46-'48 Lincoln kit was a Continental, not a club coupe. A person might be able to find a roof similar to a club coupe and graft it the Continental body. Here is a Monogram '41 that uses the roof from the AMT "Black Force" to make it into a Zephyr coupe. The Lindberg '46-'46 is the same kit as the old PYRO and Life-Like kits. I've seen it come out really nice with some work. The worst part of the kit is the wheels and tires! When I build my '48, I'll probably combine it with the Monogram '41.

Beautiful!

Dang, they're all great, but I had to go with that 612!