charlie8575

Dunno, Harry, most politicians and a lot of major corporations have done a pretty good job at the last one. Charlie Larkin

Actually, I wouldn't mind a canteen truck model, just for something different. Christian- do you have a picture of that Hudson hearse? Any conversion like that would've been very, very rare. I didn't even know such a thing was made. It would've been either a Commodore or Super Six/Eight, as the Hornet didn't get introduced until 1951. Charlie Larkin

R&R does have a Checker. Although I haven't inquired or seen one in-person, from the appearance of it in Steve's pictures, it looks pretty good. The shape is certainly right on. Star Models Charlie Larkin

I'd be interested in hearing about experiences, too. I'd like to get a spray booth that goes beyond a cardboard box! Or outdoors in the backyard, especially as the weather starts to cool down. Charlie Larkin

I'll go for all of those with the addition of: The 1971 or '72 Matador from Adam 12. Mac's Belvidere, Satellite and Matador wagons from Adam 12. Dennis Weaver's Valiant from Duel. The pre-downsize Ford LTD wagon used in Quincy. Frank Cannon's Lincoln Mark IV. The Chevy Suburban and Panel Truck ambulances used in Emergency! Oh, and Wayne... Kojak drove a Century, not a Le Sabre. Charlie Larkin

This is coming along nicely, Jared. I'll look forward to the finished product. Charlie Larkin

Done. Please keep us posted. Charlie Larkin

From our family, cars I'd like to see kitted and they might actually sell... We had three 1977-90 GM B-Body wagons, a 1977 Buick Estate Wagon, a '78 Caprice and a '79 Pontiac Catalina Safari. I'd love to see the B-Bodies of that vintage out in wagon form. I still have the '77. A 1978-88 Olds Cutlass Supreme (C'mon, Revell, just do it and make it so we can do a stock one! We had two 1986s.) A K-Car. We had a 1983 Aries. I don't care what anyone says, that was the best little car. We got a long time out of it and might still be driving it had it not got wrecked. A Fiat 128. They're cute little cars and Dad loved to drive ours. A 1995-2001 Chevy Lumina. I had a 1996, my mother has a 1998 now. Both Garnet Red in/out. Great cars. I inherited my great aunt's 1966 Buick Skylark 4-door hardtop and bought a 1966 Special convertible in college. I could be quite happy with those; I might try modifying one of the extant resin bodies to match. A front-drive GM A-Body. Those are great cars and we liked ours. We had a 1982 and '87 Celebrity and a 1995 Olds Cutlass Cruiser. Other cars we've had that would be personally satisfying to see, if not real "marketable" are a 1987 Dodge Shadow, 1994 Buick LeSabre, and a 1980 Chevette. When I was very young, my parents had a 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 wagon and a 1970 Pontiac LeMans Safari. The LeMans was an especially nice car and is something my dad really misses. Charlie Larkin

The grille shape reminds me of the Buick Y-Job. The overall flow and feel of this is great. Very nice work, Curt. Charlie Larkin

Those pictures look great, Dave. And the conversion looks good, too. Great job. Charlie Larkin

I do cars and trains...I guess I'm really heading down the road to trouble. Brett- good pick. Charlie Larkin

I wonder if they're borrowing queues from Ferrari or Maseratti now, given the Fiat connection? I've seen nothing, but I'll keep an eye open, now you have me interested. Charlie Larkin

We actually just studied that case in my criminal law class. The teacher is friends with one of the forensics guys that did that and he said it was some little bone in the back of the head they used to identify her, not so much the tooth, although it helped. All I can say is that when your marriage or relationship gets that bad- MOVE ON! It'll be better for you both. Charlie Larkin

This will be interesting, Mike, particularly in how you address those missing door handles and their recesses. The CTS, while not really "attractive" to me, is one of Cadillac's better efforts of late, and a car I certainly wouldn't object to for myself. I like how you addressed the doors, too, that's been the one major thing that's stopped me from buying that kit. It's unfortunate no factory wheels are available or supplied, they're actually not bad-looking. Hey Revell- open to suggestions? What's next Mike, Quirk's Gran Fury? Charlie Larkin

Another impressive piece of work, Curtis. Charlie Larkin

That wooden bed looks excellent. This is coming out very nicely. Charlie Larkin

A. MUCH better photos. They bring out... B. Some very nice work. As a suggestion for a camera, go hit a good independent camera shop in your area, Salvation Army, Savers, church thrift shop, yard or rummage sales, and see if you can find yourself a simple, point-and-shoot 35 mm camera. Just make sure the flash works and you're all set. You can usually pick one up for around $5-10 and you'll get a nice camera that takes decent pictures. If possible, stick to a major brand, like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Vivitar or Chinon (the last two are mostly contract manufacturers but they make their own stuff from time to time.) Film can be processed and put on a CD for about $5-7 per roll. I usually use Walgreen's or Target, and the professional services for "important" pictures or the occasional contract job I do. If you want to get a little more fancy, you can get a nice 35 mm SLR kit for around $50-75 on Craigslist or the thrift stores, sometimes even less. Canon and Nikon are the two easiest to get extra lenses for. If you go for a Pentax, try to stick to a K or Ka-Mount lens (i.e., non-autofocus,) the AF-mount lenses are hard to find and expensive (I speak from experience.) A Minolta Maxxum is also a nice camera, and many of the Sony Alpha digital camera lenses can be used with them, as Sony bought Minolta's camera line about ten years ago so they could concentrate on copying machines. A Maxxum 5000 with a non-zoom lens (something like a 35 mm, 50 mm or a short telephoto, like a 28-80,) can be had for about $60 through private sale. A Canon Eos or Nikon of most descriptions and about 10-15 years old will be about the same, again, sometimes far less. Dad has a Nikon N80 and it's superb. You'll find you get really nice pictures out of a decent camera, regardless of medium and if you order a CD, you don't need to get prints all the time and it's ready to upload to Photobucket. And for a (very) few bucks, they're out there.

Atlas has a very nice Fairmont in 4-door and wagon form (no Squire, though,) in HO scale. They're not too expensive (around $10) and come in wide variety of colors. Charlie Larkin

I remember seeing that come along, too. I wished he had made that body so it could be built as a road-going car, too. It was a Fairmont Futura, which is a really pretty car. One I wouldn't mind seeing kitted in styrene; I'd buy a case so I could do all the two-tone variations. Charlie Larkin

Well, I started with the '60. Most of the parts are in the soap-and-water. Cab and box will have to be done separately due to lack of space in the tub. I'm still trying to decide on the paint color, but I'm leaning towards a solid. The two-tone looks like it's a bit beyond my ability to do and have come out well. If I do get adventurous, I'm leaning towards Imperial Ivory with either Sky Blue or Marlin Blue. Charlie Larkin

Or for any other paint for that matter, and it works beautifully. Charlie Larkin

What a neat project! They should have called it "Doro" (long "o" for the first o.) Which means "The Road" or "El Camino" in Japanese, as it appears to have been a similar product. Really neat model. Who made the base model you started with? Charlie Larkin

Does anyone have an Internet or Postal address for Little Motor Kar Co.? Charlie Larkin

I've used the coarse polishing compound. It works well, but you need to be careful, or you'll cut through the paint. I did. On the bright side, it eliminated the orange peel, so I'm not that upset about it, just need to save up enough again to order a little more paint from MCW. It did, however, leave a smooth-enough finish that I can foil, put a finish coat on top and polish out. I'd start with the fine-grit compound before going to the heavy stuff. Charlie Larkin

Personally, I've never had much luck with Bare-Metal. I find it's too fragile and I have a devil of a time getting it to cooperate. I recently tried the Micro-Scale foil adhesive on kitchen foil and had pretty good results with it. It took a few tries to get used to it but it works well, especially if you want to put small pices of foil on things like scripts prior to painting. You can foil all your trim prior and then buff the paint off with an eraser or fine sanding cloths while wet-sanding the body. Charlie Larkin