charlie8575

Gee, my dad disappeared for the day. Ended up spending most of it with my mother in Boston while she's staying with my grandmother. A good parent is hard to be; I've worked with too many examples of what happens with bad parents. Too all of you who've taken the challenge, I salute you. Charlie Larkin

Cool little Plymouth, Ed. Any idea who made that body and what did you use for interior, chassis, etc.? Charlie Larkin

Very nice work! That looks incredibly realistic. Charlie Larkin

That does look good, Ryan. I'll check the craft stores up Worcester and Framingham way; if not, down to Wareham or Dartmouth I go! (Gotta go make a lingucia/chourico run, anyhow!) Charlie Larkin

I believe they're out of production right now, but they get re-issued periodically. I built all five when I was a kid. Boy was that trim fiddly, but they looked great on my layout! They're based on a real row of houses in San Francisco that plenty of pictures exist of. I want to say it's Telegraph Hill, but I'm not sure. Nice work, Dave. Charlie Larkin

Crown Checks? I'm guessing this was an early form of a gas credit card? Charlie Larkin

Very nice work on the gas station. That'll be a fine model when you're done. I may copy for it for my train layout once I have it back up and running. Charlie Larkin

Now that the computer and con-sarned digital camera aren't fighting (and people ask me why I still insist on film for 99% of my photography...)the previous-promised pictures. I might have to give one more pass on the hood to deepen it a little. I'll see in the morning with daylight. Mike...thought occurred to me with that '67 you want to do. You might be smart to use the MPC '67 GTO body and interior tub as a base and mate it up with the Revell running gear. Having been around the Buicks a lot, I can tell you that there are a lot of subtle differences between the 1966 and '67 A-bodies, and the '67 shell might be the better starting point. From what I remember, the shell, except for the core support (radiator wall) is pretty good, and you could actually make it really nice using the under-hood details from the '66. Charlie Larkin

I see that St. Louis likes very simple color schemes, but the graphics make them look nice. Nice work, Wayne. Charlie Larkin

It does build up nicely with care. Through the Buick Club, I can probably dig up a photo or two of the Sport Wagon scripts to get made into add-ons for it. $256?! Wow. I am in the wrong business. Charlie Larkin

Actually, Mike, that was at my cousin's house (he's a manager and senior tax preparer for H&R Block,) so I borrowed his desk. I was over watching a movie and brought the Goat along to do the wet-sanding while I was waiting for his girlfriend to show up. I ended up blowing one more coat of paint on, as the finish on the body was still a bit rough, but that smoothed it right out. I'll just clear it and call it done. Maybe a LIGHT pass with 12 000-grit sandpaper to make sure, first. Pictures will come once the new-fangled electronic junk decides to play nice with each other. Cripes, I wish I could develop color film myself.... Charlie Larkin

That looks very good, Ron. Nice color scheme with it, too. Charlie Larkin

What a cool project. I wish someone would re-pop the Meteor in resin. I like a little different. To replace those S-33 scripts, you might want to search online to see if you can find pictures of them and either try to create decals as was explained in a recent issue of Model Cars, or if you want to go all-out, perhaps see if someone would be willing to photoetch them for you. I'll enjoy watching this come along. One note, though. Although the paint chips at autocolorlibrary.com are badly yellowed, from what I remember seeing, Sultana/Corinthian White is a little less creamy than Wimbledon White. I think some of the more recent whites in Dupli-Color/Plasti-Kote touch up come pretty close. You might want to start with something closer to Ermine White. Charlie Larkin

Marcos... 1) EXCELLENT work. 2) Thanks for the tip on that Pontiac Engine Turquoise. That color is correct from 1955-around 1965-66-67, somewhere in there. Although for those daring to be different, the six-cylinders in the 1964-65 Tempests were a slightly darker blue, about the middle shade of the interior blues... 3) On that note, I got a bit lost- what did you use for interior paints? Very nice work, I'm enjoying watching this. Brett, the AMT annuals from 1962 were Bonnevilles and I believe a Grand Prix, so they had different interiors than the Catalinas. On the Bonneville, leather-upholstered bucket seats were an option. Morrokide buckets with the console came on the Grand Prix. Charlie Larkin

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, - Sir Robert Burns, To a Mouse And, as with the little mouse, my plans to finish the Goat prior to the end of the build didn't go quite as originally envisioned. I took advantage of today's very late sunset (almost 9:00) and low humidity and squirted on several very light mist coats of paint to fix some sand-through I experienced with 4000-grit sanding sheets. These are some pictures prior to the touch-up. The chassis had proved rather fragile, and is now re-assembled with superglue, as that seemed to be the only thing I could get everything to hold together with. The red-line decals proved so troublesome, I decided to go with black-walls, and I think they look pretty good. They'd look better if the tire companies wouldn't try to bankrupt the model manufacturers on royalties. These are some pictures shot about 7:10 P.M., after misting on several very light coats of paint from the can. I did these in super light coats, with one medium-light coat to finish up and cover the sand-through. It's still out back drying, and I think it looks pretty good. I ended up putting an almost-invisible coat of primer on the hood to touch it up. (Note: while typing this, some portion of soft/hardware decided not to cooperate. These pictures will come in later.) I may have to re-do the interior. I'm just not happy with how it came out; way too glossy. I might also try a more satin-finish paint, which is too bad, because the Chrysler Engine Blue is very close to the blue Morrokide Pontiac used. It was suggested that I might have been a bit close with the airbrush. I'll try doing that differently, as well. Charlie Larkin

Missed these earlier, Dave. Nice work. Being the purist I am, I can see someone doing something like that to let us rep-stock builders have some fun, too. All we need is a suitable chassis, suspension and engine. I always enjoy watching your builds. Charlie Larkin

Who knows, Chuck, as Revell seems to really be listening to the serious builders as much as it can afford to, I wouldn't be real shocked if they did one of those for us. Of course, I'll buy a bunch. One to modify into a Cutlass Cruiser/F-85 Wagon, and the other to mod into a Buick Sport Wagon, although that would only work if they did a 1968-69, which are different in shape somewhat. Barring that, I'm not above making a Special Deluxe wagon! Then again.....with a little creative stretching and some careful hacking of plastic and other pieces....B-body Buick/Olds wagon, perhaps? Charlie Larkin

Great thread. I remember when I was a kid (3rd grade to about Sophomore year in high school,) we had WSRO AM-1470 ("Great Radio- WSRO") Which was a good example of a small, full-service local station before some dunderhead bought them and sent them to seed. Anyway, from 6:00-Midnight, we had David Meuse, who did a big-band show and almost every night, he did an old-time radio show. David's shows are what got me kinda interested in radio- I grew up listening to big-band and classical music, with a lot of Middle Eastern music, too. (My mother is Armenian,) partially because of that, and partially because my parents didn't approve of what was pop music in the 1980s (you DON'T want to know what they think of what's there now!) I never really acquired a taste for most contemporary music, and probably never will for most recent contemporary music. I also have a bunch of shows on tape, including The Shadow, Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, and Abbot & Costello. I used to like Baby Shnooks, The Bickersons and Amos & Andy. It's good to know these sites exist, I'll be checking them out. Charlie Larkin

Blue Oval resins is working on a 1988-91 LTD Crown Vic, with options to build a cruiser or a civilian car in the more common LX trim. The master-in-progress looks good. He's also putting the finishing touches on a 1978 LTD Landau 4-door pillared hardtop. I'd say it's about 90% there and looks very, very good, hidden headlights, vinyl top and all. It'll be a full-detail kit. Kenny seems like a very nice guy and is receptive to ideas, as long as it's a Ford! He's also converting one of the 1978 LTDs from AAM into a full-dress Country Squire. I ran the idea of a 1979-91 wagon by him and from what he said, he's considering it once he gets a few other projects off the bench. I'd love to see a 1967 Chrysler Town & Country so I can build a Mass. State Police "Turnpike Cruiser." These were special-order T&Cs the staties got with air, heavy duty suspension and a 440 6-pack. FAST! For newer cars, the Modelhaus has the 1991-93 Caprice/Roadmaster wagon. If I could figure out how, I'd buy a Roadmaster and convert it to a Custom Cruiser. I'd like to see a Lincoln Town Car myself. Or a Taurus/Sable wagon. How about one of the new Cadillac CTS wagons? A foreign car, perhaps? The new Volkswagen Jetta wagon seems to be very popular. Not a bad-looking little car, either. Other nice picks would be a 1995-99 Olds Aurora and any of the 1991/92 Buick LeSabre/Park Avenue. The 1997-2005 Park Ave is an especially nice-looking car, I think. For the record, I'm open to resin or styrene. If the price and quality is right and the money present, I'll buy one. Charlie Larkin

Mr. Mild Retarder??? That sounds like the butt and/or source for entirely too many junior high jokes. (After attempting to teach at that level, I can make that remark as an expert.) From what I've been told, these paints are very, very nice. They flow out and cover well and look really good when they're dried. A word of caution: use ONLY their thinning agents based on the reports of others. Attempting to use anything will cause disaster. Were it not such a closed (and expensive) system, I'd be willing to give them a shot. Charlie Larkin

Very nice! How did you do that? And how are you approaching the interior, as that was totally different? Next to the the Cutlass, the GPs are my favorite G-Body. Hmmm....resin Cutlass. That'd be a good seller. Charlie Larkin

Add wheels/tires and any 440/727. Ooohhh....very nice indeed. Inspires me to dig out my Jo-Han '68 and give it another go after 20+ years of improving my skills. Don't worry Jeff, I'll probably still pick one of yours up along the line, too. Charlie Larkin

I buy models of cars I like and will get around to building them eventually. I continue to buy models of cars I like (or ones that I can use as a base for something I want) because it's important to keep the manufacturers encouraged to re/issue tools and sometimes to get parts I want. I have duplicates of some. Some for basis for resin conversions I want to do sometime. Some because I can't decide how to finish it (i.e., color scheme,) so I'll buy two and do the two versions that appeal to me. Some I buy for parts scavenging, and perhaps to practice on, such as a spare body for practicing painting. Will I build them all realistically? I don't know; I honestly don't know. But I hope to. What's most important is you're happy. Oh...and perhaps this is just me as a single guy speaking, but if your wife/girlfriend/constant source of vexation gives you grief, remind her that you could be gambling, drinking, doing drugs or chasing other skirts with all that money instead. Charlie Larkin

Nice build. I've considered buying one of those kits, and just may. Anyone know how to make the Chevy suspension the correct leaf-spring setup without destroying the chassis plate? Charlie Larkin