charlie8575

It might be wise to do the following. 1. Spray the body in one color. 2. VERY thoroughly mask off the surrounding areas. 3. Decant a small amount of the maroon and a small amount of gloss black (enough to noticeably darken it) into a solvent-resistant jar and mix them, and then either airbrush or hand-brush the molding. The idea is intriguing. Charlie Larkin

Good to see you here, Scott! Fellas- great guy, great builder, and a heck of a photographer; definitely an asset to the board. Charlie Larkin

That's what I keep hearing about the Town Cars. Best car ever made, or pretty close to it. I have a good Lincoln story from my family. In mid-1970, after the new Continentals were released, my Uncle Al, who was a tile installer, and would literally travel to his job and back the same day, no matter where it was, needed a new car. Fore River Lincoln-Mercury in Quincy had a 1970 Continental that was owned by a mobster. Apparently, nobody had exactly what he wanted on hand (Fore River or any of the other nearby dealers), and he bought a car that was pretty close to what he wanted while his was on-order. I mid-late May, the wiseguy's car arrived, and Fore River give him full (or pretty close to it) credit back on the car he drove for a couple of months. However, as it had just enough mileage on it to not be able to be sold as new (along with previous registered ownership- no titles in Massachusetts until 1971 or '72), Uncle Al was able to get that very slightly-used Lincoln for less than the new Mercury he was planning on getting. Uncle Al put tremendous mileage on that car- well in excess of 300,000 in about nine or ten years, as his jobs literally took him all over New England, and always back home to Wollaston Beach (a section of Quincy) every night- no matter how far away. He had once told my dad that aside from the gas mileage, that Lincoln was the absolutely most economical car he'd ever owned- never needing anything aside from regular maintenance. So, yeah....I think the next car will be a Lincoln. Charlie Larkin

Okay, so to re-cap what's in the box to make sure I was following right.... 1. Pretty-easy-to-get-stock engine with Hydra-Matic. 2. Lowered suspension- are the stock parts still there? 3. Custom interior- same question as above applies. Charlie Larkin

1 foot in 1/25= 0.46875", or 15/32". Divide that by 3 (4/12=3, or 1/3 of one foot). That would be 5/32", or JUST over 1/8". It might not sound like a lot, but it's noticeable when you put the bodies next to each other. One other quick conversion: 1"=0.040" in 1/25 scale. To make the stretch accurate, you should place it right behind the back seat, as the extra space went into the rear seat area. I would suggest assembling the interior tub, body and floor/frame together (without gluing), mark up the cuts and then saw everything in one unit. Fill the gaps with prorperly-sized Evergreen or Plastruct. Not 100% sure of yourself? Transfer the profile of the body to a piece of foamcore by tracing. Laminate a few pieces together to make it more "body-like" and practice on that first. Charlie Larkin

I remember Tom Sheehy did a really nice '62 Biscayne Maryland State Police car, and he used Tamiya Champagne spray paint. I'd say it looked REALLY good. That was absolutely the closest match I had ever seen to Fawn anywhere without getting it mixed by someone. Charlie Larkin

Tamiya and Testors liquid cements (they seem to work a little differently, depending on what I want to do), Testors clear parts cement (great stuff) and Testors tube glue for fiddly, difficult, major PIA assemblies that I want to play with. I also keep a tube of whatever superglue I can get at a reasonable price around for things that I find require it. Charlie Larkin

Nice job making the sedan body. You did remember to stretch it out? The 4-doors had a longer wheelbase (116" vs. 112" for the coupes). Even if you didn't, that's very clean body work. If you did, how much arm-twisting would it take for you to do it again and send it to a resin-caster? Greg Wann, D.R.A.G. and possibly The Modelhaus may all be interested in that. I can see police, taxi and grocery-getters all being built. Charlie Larkin

That sounds like a lovely machine. If the ship ever gets righted for me, I have every intention of buying a late Town Car for myself. Charlie Larkin

I absolutely second Randy's thoughts and encourage you to follow this path. If you would really rather get an actual item, either the specific want-list or "go Christmas shopping" with him to the hobby shop of choice is the safest route. Charlie Larkin

I've been able to get links to work through a computer before. How you do it....no idea, but you sound like you're a lot better versed in it than I am. Charlie Larkin

About the only I'd do is add a set of VinylNation whitewalls. Other than that, sheer perfection. Charlie Larkin

Generally, if something is particularly rare, I advocate leaving it alone, but this is nicely-done and looks really good, Al. Charlie Larkin

Nice job on this one, Mike. Charlie Larkin

It looks good in profile, too. Peter, it really is a pleasure to have you in our midst again! Charlie Larkin

I'm sorry I missed this the first time around. Very nicely done, Mike. I remember Granadas well. They were all over the place well into the early 1990s around here, and almost all of them in either silver or red. Charlie Larkin

Very nice, Al. I was toying with two-tone blue for mine, settled on Garnet Maroon. I plan on buying enough of these for the resin bodies out there, so there's at least a few more color variations I'll be doing. Charlie Larkin

1961-66 'Birds are my favorites, and this is a lovely rendition, Bruce. Charlie Larkin

Peter, I'd like a side-shot, too. A most interesting creation with your superb talents. I like the taillights- remind me of the ones used on 1984-85 Buick LeSabres, which I always thought had one of the better tail designs of the downsized B-bodies. Great everything on this. I hope you bring it to NNL next year; I'm planning to be there and would love to see it myself. Charlie Larkin

I think I finally got my car fixed. About time! I'll know for certain over the next couple of days. Charlie Larkin

I'd call Enterprise Corporate and file a complaint with them. Or the police and request a tow.... Charlie Larkin

VERY nice brick work, Chris. Charlie Larkin

Welcome aboard, Heather. Charlie Larkin

There is a rather strong irony in that, isn't there? Charlie Larkin