charlie8575

Nice job on this, Tony. Charlie Larkin

Very nice job on this, Casey. Even if you don't get this particular unit cast, you can make another now that you've learned what to (not) do and let those of us lesser beings build these, too! I've toyed with grabbing an early S-10, and I wouldn't mind a long-box at all- just that much more utility. One of the V-6s and an automatic, and I'd be quite happy. Charlie Larkin

Tom, A couple of ideas re: a straight 8. 1. You could, with little trouble, cobble one up out of two of the Plymouth 6s, to replicate the Chrysler unit. 2. Ron Royston (username here ronr) and Ken Kitchen both offer a nice variety of straight-8s in resin. Ron has a Buick, and Ken has a Buick and Pontiac. You might also be able to make two of Ken's Olds Big Six magically morph into the 257 straight 8, see if he might be willing to include an extra block/head/intake/exhaust manifold. The blower would work well with any of those engines, and would add a special touch of wonder, especially if used with the Buick engine, which was a fairly powerful motor and that would make it especially so. The supercharger used on the Graham is actually pretty close to the ones that A-C-D used on their straight-8s, and I think the Auburn kit has one already, so if it does, you're in luck. Charlie Larkln

I think that's a good sign. I've been saying for a long time that if the model manufacturers want to expand their sales base, start showing up around the 1:1s. There will always be people who are creative and love cars, but can't afford the real thing. There will always be people who want to make replicas of their cars, and there are people who simply love cars that, for whatever reason, never gave much thought to building a model, at least recently. I think tha'ts a very smart move on their part and heartilly endorse its replication amongst the other model companies. Charlie Larkin

Very nice. When you guys drift out east, either MassCar if you decide to do our show again, or NNL, I'll plan on having the funds (I hope) to grab one. Charlie Larkin

Those are cute little buggers. I tried one in a showroom- roomy, but the seat wasn't too comfortable for me. I might go get a kit at some point and build one. I'll be interested to see how yours comes out. Charlie Larkin

The black doesn't look bad, Mike, but if that color is actually a bit darker than it photographs, may I suggest a lighter shade? I went back through and re-checked our discussions on color scheme. This might look nice, too: paint that molding in a non-metallic grey, perhaps plain old Testors gloss gray, maybe with a touch of black to darken it a hair, and then an interior in roughly the same shade of gray overall with a slightly darker gray accent. If you do decide to do black, it might be wise to balance the dark colors with a light interior color, such as pastel gray or perhaps even white with red accents (I'd use Testors flat red for those, with their metallic in the square bottles (not the Ruby Red Metal-Flake) for any parts you want to represent metal. Another good option would be my original suggestion of a cream stripe with a cream and brown two-tone interior, or solid cream or light tan. Charlie Larkin

Excellent. Charlie Larkin

This is pulling together very nicely, Mike, car and story alike. Charlie Larkin

Looking very nice, Pat. Charlie Larkin

Gardner...one of my favorite little cities. Welcome aboard, Pat. I have several friends who belong to Hope Lodge (Masons) and a few friends from my days at Fitchburg State College (it's not a "university," I don't care what they want to call it now). Classic Plastic in Lowell is a convenient club for you. One of their members lives in Templeton (East Templeton, specifically, I believe), and you could probably arrange a car-pool. You're also welcome to check out MassCar, to which I belong. I'll send you a private-message with details if you'd like. Charlie Larkin

A vehicle you would probably see at a local livery service or funeral parlor. Nicely done. Charlie Larkin

I agree; this would make an interesting article. So much has changed since one of these types of articles was last done, that it would be interesting to see what's new and what's happening now. Charlie Larkin

The 1989-90 Caprice SEDANS had an TBI 305. The 1985-88 Caprices and Impalas also had the 262 V-6 with TBI. The 262 could be ordered as a credit option in 1989-90, mostly for cab fleets. I can attest that the TBI 305 is pretty good on gas; even the TBI 350 returns decent mileage. The 1986-90 wagons used the Olds 307 (VIN Y), which was carbureted. Warning: finding people who know how to work on the TBI systems is getting tough, and the aftermarket support for them is craptacular, as I found when the TBI unit in my '91 Caprice started to go wonky. If you get one of those cars, I would recommend very strongly that if problems begin to happen, that you'd adapt a similar vintage TPI system to your engine, a product for which both GM and the aftermarket have good support systems. The coupes were made from 1980-82, and again from 1984-87. They're quite rare, as you noted. I'm glad to see you actually want to make some effort to preserve a car rather than turn it into a "car"toon or worse. For speakers, the Bose speakers used as options in the 1991-up cars will probably work fairly well in anything you buy. Pioneer's speakers are also nice and they have direct-fit replacements for the front and rear speakers. Try the radio before replacing it; if it works well, keep it in there. The Delco ETR-series radios are very well-built and can stand up to a lot of abuse, much less fragile than any of the after-market units and still sound good. If you want an improved sound, they did make a couple of them that were of a higher-degree of sound fidelity. You might need to change the plugs, though, so check that out first. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone that makes white/gold tires anymore, except for possibly Vogue, and they're expensive. For a good all-around tire at a reasonable price, I like Cooper Trendsetters and Uniroyal Tiger Paw AWPs, both of which are available in whitewall. Wire discs or genunie wheels? The discs are getting hard to find in good condition and tend to be pricey when they can be found in nice shape, even though they were quite common, and the aftermarket ones generally look terrible. I actually like the standard covers or couple of styles of optional wheelcovers- I always thought the "sport" wheel covers were pretty neat-looking. Dayton makes a nice wire wheel that will work well on a Caprice looks-wise. I believe they were also the original supplier for Cadillac, which offered genuine wire wheels as an option (at a princely sum of $1000) on the Broughams. Charlie Larkin

Tom's assessment regarding cost is probably fairly accurate, but, as we've all seen, sometimes costs of raw inputs and their accessories (in our case, the 3D printers, computers, scanners and so forth) can drop dramatically over time, and while other factors (cost of plastic, design and production labor, etc.), might go up and balance out any of those savings, the actual cost of the product will probably stay fairly stable. Does that mean that as these advanced products come into more common use that prices won't drop? Not necessarily, but there are too many other factors to count in, including a degree of uncertainty about the future of some of the devices and the industry we propose they serve to be able to make meaningful predictions. Realistically, the best we can hope for is stabilizing prices, perhaps with a slight down-tick. Charlie Larkin

The B-bodies are wonderful cars, they're almost all I've ever driven. As Rich said, they're comfortable, decent on gas and generally pretty easy to repair. The stock Delco stereo system is pretty good, especially the receiver unit. I'd install a CD changer in the trunk and put some good speakers in at the factory locations- don't cut holes or anything like that. You might also be able to adapt a connector for one of the solid-state music players into the wiring harness- I know it can be done in the newer cars. The radio chassis itself works well and has good reception for the radio portion. It's also much easier to use than the newer chassis/head-units you can get as after-products. I was thinking of putting one in my Roadmaster, and the new radios are too complicated to use- when you actually have to go through half a dozen menus to change the clock or alter pre-sets, I don't need that kind of aggravation. Charlie Larkin

Having studied scanning fairly extensively, the answer is it's a little bit of both. The scanning tool will get the dimensions and most of the shapes quite exact. However, the end product MIGHT need some adjustment from a pattern-maker. As we have seen on this topic, though, http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69078, a perfect or near-perfect replica can be made from the scans alone. I think some of the contours might present a bit of a challenge to some scanners, but the proportions and general shapes transmit themselves right into the computer file with little or no trouble. In the long-run, this will save a fair amount of money and time in designing kits. I suspect we'll also see changes in how parts are designed over time, too, perhaps moving to one-piece engine blocks and transmissions, with the other parts to be attached, suspension assemblies might change, and so forth, but we'll see as this becomes more commonplace. Charlie Larkin

Very nicely done, Rich. Everything works well together. Charlie Larkin

Nice work on the Volks. You'll enjoy it here. Charlie Larkin

That is a nice color. I need to find something I can use that on. Perhaps one of my capital-C classics. Wouldn't look bad on a mid-30s Ford, either, as Coach Maroon was pretty close to that. Charlie Larkin

I recently started my introduction to Clive Cussler with Atlantis Found. I'm in about 8 chapters, and it's really good. His writing style reminds me a little of mine, so perhaps I have a bit of a bias. Charlie Larkin

For twenty years off-duty, you did a very good job, Amanda. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you've (re)learned for the future. Charlie Larkin

Carl, you have some of the cleanest building I've seen anywhere. Nice work. Charlie Larkin

LOW detail??? Ron, you don't do low-detail. That looks fantastic. That's one if it were offered in resin would probably be a very good seller. I'm seriously considering giving this a try myself. I can see a light blue coach on Federal Hill now.... Charlie Larkin

A very interesting concept well-executed. Charlie Larkin