ZTony8

That '63 Impala was one of the Nebraska Chevy dealer auction cars so I can see where it wouldn't have had too many miles. I'm surprised that you didn't see some of us,Nick.We had spread out,each guy going his own way until we met up to leave.

A model doesn't have to come from an old tool to have flash.I bought a Revell '67 GTX kit when it first came out in the nineties(the blue metallic plastic version) and I was surprised at how much flash the kit had in it.

This was the first time that I,along with some of my fellow D.A.A.M. club members,attended this show.My impressions follow: 1)It was interesting to see all the cars,some variations of which I hadn't know about before the show(how about the only'65 Shelby Mustang with a periwinkle blue vinyl top?Yes,Shelby installed it.And to see it you know why there's only one.) 2)Some folks try WAAAAY too hard to document and preserve everything about their car.Case in point:a 722 mile '86 Monte Carlo Areo coupe.The 3rd owner changed the engine oil and filter and the transmission oil and filter-and kept the old filters!!!!!!WHY?Without photos taken at the time of service no one can prove that those filters were removed from that car anyway.Even then the old pieces would have to be somehow marked before removal and photographed with those marks(and filters) in place while still on the vehicle and THEN removed. 3)A lot of these cars look even beyond over restored-they look fossilized.They've become the ultimate unusable things.The owners won't drive them for fear of damage or showing wear on the car.Silly.They're cars, they were meant to be driven( and the first 5 owners of many of these things didn't worry about preserving anything).One of my model buddies and I were looking at that $3.5 million '71 'Cuda convertible and we agreed that if we owned it we'd take it on a dirt road and do donuts with it(BTW,we wondered what happened to this 'Cuda's convertible top and framing.The boot was only loosely fastened and looked like it was partly sunken down into the well.The boot was held up in the middle by a brick or a block of wood or something.Was the mechanism missing?). 4)There was a section of "barn finds" there.Many had photos of the cars when they were purchased and removed from their resting places and they had more dirt on them now than when the photos were taken!Hmmmm.Guys,it's nice to score a barn find but,please,wash the things so no one needs a hazmet suit and tetanus shot to get near them (Read Ezra Dyer's column in the December 2014 issue of Car & Driver magazine about this very subject.It's a total hoot.). 5)This is a show much like the Detroit Autorama minus the street rods,customs,and rat rods. 6) I'd attend again but I wouldn't go every year.Every 3 years or so would suffice.

Snow? Hate it. A.K.A. "white trash".

The D.A.A.M. club will be coming to Chicago(Rosemont) for the muscle car show this weekend and we may do some hobby store exploring.Any good stores we should try to hit?

We'll be there at least part,if not all, of both days.Saturday's arrival time will depend on what time we leave Detroit and how traffic conditions turn out.Some of us may also go hobby shop hopping part of the time.

I've got one of these in my stash and I'm still debating on what form the build will take.It's down to being slammed low,or raised up like a Dub,or a short track stocker,or maybe a Pro Streeter.

I've got one I partially started years ago.The black window trim isn't so hot on it so I have to re-do it. It's interesting to compare the kit to the Fujimi offering and see just how different they are(The Tamiya being much more accurate). And,yeah,Tamiya seems to enjoy leaving out major portions of under hood detail(take a look at a Soarer kit with engine,for example, and then look at the illustration on the box top-most of the fuel system is missing).

About a dozen of us from the D.A.A.M. club of metro Detroit are attending this year.Normally our NNL and toy show is always the same weekend as this show but due to a schedule change for our show this year we're able to do a club trip.This will be the first time for me to attend this show.Look for us there in our spiffy gray and flamed shirts and/or hoodies!

I never realized the kit has six lug wheels.

Rally drivers are sort of the decathletes of motorsports in that they must drive under several different possible weather conditions on several different surfaces during the day or night.No other form of motorsport requires that adaptability.Some forms require some,but not all,of them. BTW-Loeb's Pikes Peak record run was aided by the fact that the course was fully paved for the first time.

Those photos are from a time when rallying wasn't controlled like it is now.Spectators are now kept from being the road and stages have been cancelled for lack of crowd control.

George, I once told Steve Perry that he should enter one of his build books in the Miscellaneous class at one of our contests.He got a big kick out of that.

I have several shrink wrapped AMT and Revell kits from the 70s and they haven't pulled the boxes in like that T-bird kit.Most of my older kits,regardless of the company, are packed away tightly in large boxes in my basement. I usually open the kits I buy nowadays unless I've already bought a prior example.In that instance I usually keep the later purchased kits sealed. My intent isn't to collect the kits(who else wants a dozen Peugeot 206 WRC kits but me?) but to build them all.So they're my insurance policy.I calculate that I'll have to live to be 400 to build them all if I stopped buying kits today (fat chance!).So far,so good.

At the D.A.A.M show this past Sunday I bought a Tamiya Porsche Carrera and BMW Z3,A weird Gunze Sangyo Nisasan Skyline group 5 racer,two photo etch sets for Porsche 956/962s,and a Fujimi Skyline GTR R32 minus the wheels(for 5$!).I traded an extra Hasegawa 312T2 detail set that I had for a Revell BMW M3 DTM car and a photo etch detail set for the Revell '32 Ford .

The builds closest to done are a Nissan 300ZX,a 2015 Mustang(not so) quick builder,a '69 Coronet,an MPC snap '49 Mercury,and an AMT '25 T hot rod coupe.If I can finish those in reasonable time I can move on to doing a '40 Ford for a club challenge build,a Ramchargers Magnum wagon phantom Super Stocker,a box stock McLaren MP 4/5b rescue,a Moebius Hudson,a '65 Bonneville Street Machine, a Pro Street '67 GTO,another Calsonic liveried Nissan,and whatever else strikes a chord with me.I've only got about 1200 kits from which to choose.

The Buick is the one I got to sit in(it was painted gold back then). I was about 7 years old when it was on display at the Buick dealership where my Dad was service manager so I got a free shot one weekend evening.

Builders become "popular" through exposure in magazines and forums.These forums are free presentation areas for build photos.,flaws and all.Magazines have staff members who edit and decide what gets published.The magazine staffers need to be able to discern what a good model is and if there are glaring errors in the build not publish those photos.That would cut down a lot of criticism and elevate the perceived quality of the model presented. A personal note- a few years ago the other model magazine used a photo taken at the NNL Nationals of one of my builds.It was used on their inside back cover for drumming up subscriptions.There are obvious flaws in the model(more than the photo shows) and I was quite surprised that the most notable flaw(chipped tire lettering) wasn't photoshop corrected.

In my stash I have a Fujimi Nissan Micra Nismo version that shows a 2 door on the box but the kit body is a four door.Misleading advertising for sure.

Maybe start with a Lexus LF-A and go from there.I see elements of Ferrari F12,Corvette,Nissan GT-R,and Toyota FR-S in it.

Four days and counting. If you've never been to our show you're missing a great event!More vendors than Sylvania,more space to move around,lots of fine models in the NNL.If you're within a reasonable driving distance,make it a point to attend.You won't regret it.

It's the same kit,just the body molded in red.

Yeah.it cost big bucks.

Revell '67 GTX kit-a 2 door sedan with Belvidere level trim and a bench seat(same for the '67 Coronet). AMT '62 Chevy- a 2 door sedan body. AMT '67 Impala- a '68 body and interior. Revell '55 Chevy-a 2 door sedan in any trim level. Revell '56 Chevy-a 2 door hardtop( and scrap the awful Monogram 1/24th version) in any trim level. Revell '66 Chevy- a convertible or 2 door sedan AMT '71 Duster- do a Scamp hardtop or do a Dart Swinger hardtop or a Dodge Demon. Revell '72 Cutlass-a '70 or '71 SX hardtop or a 70-72 coupe

Your color coat may not have been fully dry or the tape adhesive was old. I've run into this problem when I used Tamiya lacquers(but not the acrylics).The lacquer is just hot enough to soften the tape adhesive if left on too long or a heavy,wet coat is applied.