charlie8575

After returning home from my inspection for Eastern Star, the chili I made for the pot-luck dinner we had ended up on the floor mat in the kitchen, and the crock-pot containing it broken into several very big pieces. And a new stoneware insert is as much as the cheapie crock-pot I totaled. Oh well, off to the store for another one. Charlie Larkin

Cool. Charlie Larkin

Good to know. Sometimes, errors slip through,and there's a centralized correction area. Despite Revell's hiccups, things like this point to an inherently well-run company that needs to work on the fine points of making a truly first-class product. Charlie Larkin

Looks like a lot of well-kept, but used, garages. As before, it was too sterile. Very nice job on that. Charlie Larkin

Great job for a first attempt. Charlie Larkin

I like that. Charlie Larkin

RAGDTOP- love the play on words on the license plate. Not a bad job at all, Riley. Charlie Larkin

Very nice job. If you run across that Cav wagon again, let me know. Charlie Larkin

Very nice. Those seats are remarkable. Charlie Larkin

Very nice. Charlie Larkin

Nice, Sam. Like your gas station, too. Charlie Larkin

I love my new car, see, I'm smiling!

They're making these as new-production?? Cool! I'll have to see if I can find a Shasta dealer around here someplace. Charlie Larkin

The AMT underpinnings, combined with what is said to be a very nice new Revell body would have interest to me, as it appears that body is stock. I wouldn't mind another A in my library. I'd love to see some resin bodies for the AMT A, like a Tudor, Fordor or phaeton. I even remember seeing a picture of a factory-built town car. That would be cool- rep-stock guys would like that, and I can see some very interesting rods being done with that. Re: new tools. AMT has done some new tools, mostly unassembled-promo-style, but they're out there. I'd like to see them do a new glue kit- perhaps they'll take on a full-detail pickup that won't cost $75? The new Silverado seems to be selling very well, and I've not seen a lot of the new F-series around here, perhaps a new full-size Chevy pickup? Charlie Larkin

454s were red-orange in '76 from what I can tell, yes. Medium Lime Met. with the white and lime interior. Hmmm....polyester clothing, anyone? May I recommend a white vinyl top and white body-side mouldings? Mine will probably end up being Dark Green with a Buckskin vinyl top and interior. Charlie Larkin

Very nice paint work. That color is still in production, but as we know all too well, the quality of what was there once is much lower for whatever reason. Did you use a primer or shoot right on the plastic? Charlie Larkin

Been looking for one of these for years; if I ever can actually build my house and go with mid-century modern instead of Craftsman, like I want, this could be quite usable. If nothing else, it looks like a lot of fun. Charlie Larkin

Drawing cloth? I've think I've only heard mention of that. Wow. Charlie Larkin

But that takes all the fun out of it! Charlie Larkin

I have a designing program, too. It's about five feet square and has an arm-like apparatus with these really cool sticks demarcated in inches, called rulers. And I use this really neat stuff that you can draw on with a pencil! It's called drafting vellum. Charlie Larkin

One of my favorite shows. Sad to hear, so many stars of shows entire family could (and would) enjoy together being replaced by...The Bachelor and similar wastes of film? Question for Dan or Wayne: I saw 10-10 was "off duty," and 10-7 was out of car/break? When I wrote up a note on Facebook, I went with 10-10. Did I goof? Eternal night-watch clear. Charlie Larkin

I like to warm the paint in a saucepan with about a 2 cups of water, to just warm enough to be a little warm to handle comfortably. Wrap in a paper towel and shake like fury. Spray while warm (the other reason for the towel wrap.) That seems to get the most stubborn of paint cans to work well. Charlie Larkin

I've had a couple of people suggest applying a very small amount of mineral spirits to the parts, disassemble and quickly wash as a possible way to fix the problem. I'm going to give it a try on a couple of parts and see what happens. I would venture you don't want it sitting on the plastic too long, maybe a few seconds to a minute; essentially enough to soften the joints, disassemble and rinse clean ASAP. Charlie Larkin

I started noticing problems in the 1990s. I learned about my senior year of high school (1993,) that in order to have optimal coverage for any paint, primer is almost always a necessity. Blacks, particularly the black spray paint, cover well without it. I still like Testors flat black for a lot of chassis stuff. Goes on nicely and dries pretty quickly- handle-dry in a a couple of hours, fully dry in about a day. I usually stir and shake all enamels to make sure they mix well. Humbrol paint is very good, worth looking for or ordering online. You'll like it. Model Master is also very good, there is some difference in quality to me. Pla enamels (square bottles) are good paints if you use them over primer and make sure it's mixed thoroughly. For faster drying, a lot of people have mixed in either auto enamel reducer or lacquer thinner. I have heard from a few people that the last round of tinkering Testors did with both Pla and MM, that lacquer thinner may not work well with it, it seems to turn to little globs from some reports. I've not had that problem, but I also tend to only use the lacquer thinner in my airbrush. Testors Model Master Acryl and Tamiya paints (also acrylic) are also very nice. You might want to try them if you can't get Humbrol easily and want to try something else. Charlie Larkin

When my dad was working at AVCO-Lycoming in the 1960s, several of their test pilots were actually ex Komet pilots! Dad remembers one pilot in particular named Willie, who, learning from several of his friends literally going up in flames with Me-163 mishaps, that anytime Willie would take any of the AVCO planes up, whether one of the test mules or the company chopper, the one or two-hour long pre-flight check, as he became deathly afraid of even the slightest problem. Agreed, short of the purpose-built Kamikaze planes, the Komet was probably the most deadly-to-crew aircraft ever used by any military force. Charlie Larkin