charlie8575

Works well for tea, too. Tonic/pop, water, milk, whatever. Enjoying mine. Charlie Larkin

That's a Maaco re-spray. Used to see that coming out of their shop all the time as their standard blue for people who didn't want to pay the extra $50-75 for an approximate factory match. Tamiya Brilliant Blue Metallic isn't too far off from that. Tamyia's spray paints are excellent- they cover well over primer (although you can use them on bare plastic-I have with good results,) and dry very quickly (about 30 mintues.) Be warned, though, that they (and Testors lacquers) are synthetic lacquer which use a kissin' cousin to nitrocellulose (I don't have a can handy, but I saw something that appeared to be a derivative of wood alcohol, and nitro-lac isn't too far removed from that,) and they are very, very pungent. If you're married or share the house, DO NOT paint upstairs with that stuff. I would recommend spraying outside or in the cellar with your door open and a fan blowing out. It would also be prudent to grab a spray mask. Most Auto Parts stores have good respirators for about $25 that are good for about 40-45 hours of work. Just be sure to store it in its bag and to press as much air out of the bag as possible while closing it. A 10-ream paper box makes a decent "spray booth." Charlie Larkin

On the subject of odd Macks, on this video of "I'm a Truck," there's a rather odd COE Mack at about 1:50. Charlie Larkin

Agreed. Very well-done model. Chassis is a great donor for a lot of resin or to dress up an old annual. Charlie Larkin

The correct interior would be red and white with red and white. You could probably have ordered black and white without too much trouble, too. Actually, I think the black and white interior would be rather striking with the red- and white paint. For a little extra pop, try a white body with red coves and roof. Accent will work nicely. Charlie Larkin

How utterly disgusting; property crimes, while not violent felonies against people, are still one of the most disturbing things to watch, especially when it's against a small business trying to compete with the Internet, big retailers and who knows what else. I do hope he has an alarm? But even with that, it illustrates how even with a fairly quick response, it's still not enough. If I were him, I'd almost be tempted to hire an overnight watchman. Charlie Larkin

Second that. The GTX/RR is very easy to do and looks very nice completed. I'd suggest skipping the vinyl top this go-around. Work on the basics- get an easy to do paint color (not black or any crazy pearls or flip-flops,) a simple color like dark blue with over a blue or white interior, or red over white or black (semi-gloss and flat black are okay- gloss black is easy to screw up,) would be a good practice run. I would suggest a few things. 1. Use automotive sandable lacquer primer. It's economical and works under all topcoats. 2. You might want to consider using auto touch-up paint. Again, economical and a wide color choice. Testors enamels have gotten all messed up since you last built. Their lacquers, however, are quite nice (as are Tamiya's.) With that said, hobby brush paints (Testors, Tamiya and Humbrol,) most certainly have their place in your arsenal. 3. Auto parts stores are your friends for engine paints. Good, wide selection. A lot of other paints (like Krylon or Valspar spray) can help fill in voids for missing colors (ex.: Buick green, Pontiac turquoise blue.) Charlie Larkin

The correct interior colors are dark blue, dark brown, and a medium gray. I have seen (somewhere,) mention of green, as well. The colors you have here aren't too far off from Symphony Blue-Green Light, a 1952-53 color. It is entirely possible Hudson would have built a car with that scheme on special order. I would use the blue with these, as that was a common Hudson practice. Testors Sea Blue is pretty good. The accents would be a medium blue. Sea Blue with a couple of drops of white will get you to the ballpark. The dashes were usually painted body color, at least on the older Step-Downs. From what I have been able to surmise, '54 matched the interiors. Although this is a Hollywood (and I'm not sure about the upholstery pattern itself,) the colors and materials are correct for Step-downs and will give you a general idea. http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=16150 Charlie Larkin

FIat refusing to license Ramblers (if that is in fact the case,) is very unfortunate. I think it's a slap in the face to AMC fans and modelers. I don't know what, if anything, could be done about it, but it's very unfortunate if that is in fact the case. Charlie Larkin

Well, I picked up my kit, and what to my wondering eyes should not appear, but the oil filler tube that was on the pre-production sample is not in the kit from what I'm seeing. It's an easy fix. But one I shouldn't have to make. Charlie Larkin

i have no problem with sharing tires; one tire could be (and usually is) appropriate for many cars. What I have a problem with is using the wrong style of tires. Charlie Larkin

I agree. I've accepted (grudgingly) that Revell is too cheap to spend the money for properly-engraved (i.e., branded) tires, and the other fact that Goodyear and Michelin (which owns the rights to Uniroyal and BFG) are monumentally expensive, but at least a decent set of radials would've been good. Looks like Fireball Models to the rescue. Charlie Larkin

I asked at NNL-East. June/July is the target on-sale date. Charlie Larkin

Not perfect, but a very credible job. I doubt I could do it that well. Manifold? No. Olds V8s have the oil filler on the front cover of the engine. From the pre-production sample I saw at NNL-East, it's where it's supposed to be. Mine just came in a couple of hours ago, on my way to go grab it. Our local distributor had 60. My shop made an error, and didn't get my order in, so we got it from one of the big wholesalers. Our local guy ordered another 60. They were due in Wednesday, and from he said, at least half of them were already sold. Charlie Larkin

I like it. Very good representation of the real thing. Charlie Larkin

And just as frequently as not, because of the market availability, the price drops some, if not a huge amount due to the old bugaboo of so many...supply and demand. I have the Missing Link resin- it's fantastic, and about a 95% discount over that. With that said, if I had a that much money to blow, I'd still consider it, and make a neat little display in my case with that as an unbuilt example, and then build Kevin's resin to display with it. Charlie Larkin

Try the big specialty yards in Arizona and California. Not always the cheapest, but they're a good resource. Many times, they also can supply other possible sources if they don't have anything suitable. Where the 88 and Special are both A-bodies, I'd say there's an excellent chance that the mouldings off a Chevy or Pontiac would also be suitable. Charlie Larkin

Most impressive. :I like how you addressed the interior. I generally build pretty box-stock, but I think a lot of the ideas I've seen here will be used when I rebuild my '62s. Charlie Larkin

They do a Pacer wagon, I'm all over at least one, possibly two. I'm actually rather looking forward to their full-detail 2016 Camaro kit that'll be out late fall. The mock-ups looked really good. I'm very happy to see them doing a new tool of a fairly current car that has a high appeal factor to all age groups. There will also be a snap-together for younger kids out in the summer sometime, if I understood right. Charlie Larkin

Great work on this. I really like the bumper rub-strip solution. I never would've thought of that myself. I'm keeping an eye open for a stock-build Matador. I always thought these were interesting cars, and this is definitely one I'd like to see AMT get fully restored to a stock option. Charlie Larkin

I think I've heard this guy mumbled about a few times. L.A. Noir? Sounds very interesting. I always liked Chandler, so I'll probably enjoy this. Charlie Larkin

Some schools in Massachusetts still assign it. If I ever open the high school I designed as part of my M.Ed., it will be required reading. Charlie Larkin

That's a sad commentary on life today. Charlie Larkin

That's a very pretty color. I remember seeing a lot of BMWs of that vintage in that color. Charlie Larkin

I had a Chrysler that refused to take gloss black paint. Stripped it a thousand times. I came to the conclusion it's either something in the plastic or a bad can of paint, as I had some trouble with a couple of other bodies. I'm going to try again with another can of paint (Tamiya TS-14.) That stuff seems almost impossible to screw up and it looks great. Charlie Larkin