SSNJim

Very nice build. Is it powered? I haven't seen Reddy Kilowatt in years.

True. Apparently Coke won the drink concession on Amtrak trains, and this is a sort of a celebration and to let people know. Just thought it kind of fit in with the Coke branding spree that AMT has been on. I certainly didn't expect to see something like this on a federal government-owned locomotive.

Apparently, Coca-Cola is going through the alphabet looking for corporate sponsors. I was standing on the Metro platform right next to the Northeast Corridor, and I saw this AMT-rak locomotive go by on its way to Washington, DC. Yes, it's in revenue service - you can book a trip on a train pulled by it.

The AC Moore in Bowie has been going out of business for a while. In the early stages, I was pleased to see their models were 40% off, so I took a look. All their run of the mill AMT/Revell stuff was marked at $44. Yes, $44. That would have brought them down to about regular market price. No, thanks - I'll pass on that.

I've seen that Allison at my local HL, but didn't have any interest. I just googled the model number, and it is a pretty interesting engine. It's powered some of my favorite aircraft (C-130, P-3, C-2), and a marine variant is used as an electrical generator on all American cruisers and destroyers. If I can get anywhere near the mall this weekend, I'll pick one up with the coupon.

True now, but a few locations did have service departments. The one that used to be at 11th & K St NW in DC did have a service department with a lift at one point. The service department was closed a year or two before they moved to 9th & H NW in DC's Chinatown. They had a bare Roadster rolling chassis with the dual motors in the showroom that was pretty cool.

Lindberg released a 1/25 San Francisco Cable Car a few years back. I assume it's the old Hawk; I think Lindberg bought Hawk a few years ago.

I've got one or two of the R/C versions (no external antenna!), and am always on the lookout for more by this manufacturer. The Bentley has a decent if shallow interior, and the Porsche 918 is better detailed than most model kits - the 918 is almost indistinguishable from a model. Nice cars, almost always under $15, and available at Tuesday Morning, Ross, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and the like. Sometimes you will see the friction cars, too.

Interior looks pretty good. Attached (too late for some, too early for others, but a handy comparison) is the blue dash of our 69 Thunderbird. The white square above the gas pedal is part of the key ring. Sorry for the picture quality, but 110 cameras were not known for their impressive pictures.

Agreed. I always stop at the Teays store on one of the legs of the trip - well worth it. I've only been to the Nitro store once or twice. Thanks for your reply.

Where was the hobby shop you visited in WV yesterday? The two I know of is one in Teays Valley, and the other is in Nitro, though I haven't been to the one in Nitro lately. I'm getting ready to go through WV on I-64 soon, and like to make sure I see everything there is to see.

Yes. That is the standard 69 rear end. The 67 was the only one with a Thunderbird script on the quarter panel at tail light level above where the rear side marker would be. As far as I can tell, the only two doors between 67-69 that did not have the emblems on the sail panels were the ones with a vinyl top. The four doors without a vinyl top still had the Landau bars.

Yes, the 69 Thunderbird had the emblem on the sail panel. It was always a mystery to me why all the other 67-71 Thunderbird models had the emblem except the 69. My dad bought a two door 69 Thunderbird brand new, and it definitely had them. Other than the lack of the emblems, the 1969 model body is accurate. The only place on the car that says THUNDERBIRD is on the panel between the tail lights - no other scripts. I'm trying to dig up some pictures that show the rear end of the car in particular.

Those 917s were called the secretary cars. The sanctioning body wanted to see 25 cars in order to homologate them, so Porsche pulled almost all available employees into building them in a short period of time regardless of their title or position. All started, ran, and were driveable, but were rebuilt prior to racing/delivery.

Love these cars. My parents bought a 1969 two door brand new, trading in a 68 Galaxie for it. I got to drive it a bit in the seventies whenever I was home from the Navy - what a blast. The power was very smooth. I've got a couple of the Allison kits, one of which I'm combining with the 71 T-bird to come up with a stockish custom. I also have an original kit I'm going to do as our car in Brittany Blue. The Allison kit and the annual kit do have different bodies - the Allison has the tail lights filled in with some "custom" tail lights. The annual has holes for clear red tail lights to be inserted. I did manage to get a couple of tail lights from Modelhaus for future use. Interesting that neither kit has the T-Bird emblem on the C pillar, even though the 67-68 AMT kits/promos do. Sorry for the rambling, but these are my favorite cars. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. Nice work so far.

I think the front fenders on the blue car were pie sectioned. Maybe a 1-3" cut where the fenders meet the nose, and nothing at the firewall. It seems to be very smooth from the front edge of the Daytona nose to the windshield. I, not knowing anything at all about the prototype, would think they lined up the bottom of the Daytona nose with the bottom of the Chevelle fenders, then pie cut the Chevelle fenders/Charger hood to meet the top edge of the Daytona nose. Either way, the Chevelle hood works fine with it. I'm pretty sure Dodge didn't tool up a new hood for the Daytona, they just used what they had laying about from a design perspective. It was the same hood as on your grandmother's 6-cyl Charger, maybe slightly modified to fit the new nose. I'll be watching this very interesting project.

Very nice. I've got a couple of MPC and Airfix Boras in progress - they're tied for my absolute favorite car along with the Countach LP400. What paint did you use for the stainless steel roof section?

That makes three of us - you and me too.

True about legacy programs. Office 97 runs just fine on Windows 10

I would check the GM Heritage Center. They have a lot of detailed information on almost all GM models, and should be the first stop for model reference: https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html

Tamiya also does a Yamaha TMAX scooter (with a rider) in 1/24. https://images.app.goo.gl/m8QQGMqYNZMpMyJT7

I just paid $10 + tax for a can of paint at the Hobby Works in Laurel, MD last weekend. I paid $7 + tax for a can of the same paint tonight (sucks getting old) at the Hobby Town in Frederick, MD. The Hobby Towns I've been to recently have pretty decent prices, but not much of a kit selection. The one in Frederick has moved 3 times in the last 10-15 years. The second location was very nice, with an indoor r/c car raceway. At least it's still in business - all the others have closed around here. I do wonder how long it will hold on, or if it will just move again.

You might want to look at R/C airplane wheels and tires. I did a quick search and they come in most sizes from 9" to an inch or so. Some have very nicely detailed aluminum wheels, others have a plain plastic dish. They might be a pretty good option; I think they're sort of similar to salt tires and could be modified to be even closer.

Before the 961 was a Snap-Loc model, it was a Tam Tech 1/24 scale R/C model. The body and decals are unchanged between the two with the exception of the Tam Tech having an antenna hole in the roof IIRC. All you should have to do to make it a slot car is to figure out how to mount the body on the chassis. The body is designed so nothing will fall off, even after a fairly severe collision.

With the Prowler, if you ditch the front fenders (with a razor saw), bumpers, and front axles (use a small screw to attach the wheels to the lower A-arms), you've got a pretty nice basis for a pretty decent modern hot rod. I've built two so far. One (the yellow one) is posted on here somewhere, the other (black) is not yet posted. I'm huge fan of (what used to be called) Snapfast Plus models. Lots of neat things you could do with them without worrying about minor details like whether there was a possible power path between the engine and rear end. I may go and see if there's another one at HL....