SSNJim

My guess is deer hunting. There's a deer stand on top, complete with lights for shining , and a couple of beer drinking seats up front. I guess there's room for a cooler between the seats. Maybe they're actually scouting seats. You sit a couple of people in the front seats, turn on the lights, and drive around slowly with them looking for deer signs. Once good signs are found, you stop, turn off the lights, wait for sunrise, and move to the stand. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

That's pretty much true. I used to go through Scranton, PA on a fairly regular basis between 1978 and 1982, and finally managed to stop at the "store". I expected the coolest store ever, but it was just exactly as you heard - a couple of guys behind a counter. They would get you want you wanted. I was quite disappointed, and didn't buy anything.

We're pretty well infested with Car2Go here in DC, but not all are Smart cars. I've seen Mercedes CLA cars too. They are typically all white with the square logo on the doors. I don't know what it costs or how to rent them, but they're out there. Apparently they have Mercedes GLAs also. Every so often I'll see two Car2Go Smart cars parked nose to tail in what you would think of as one parking spot. Not all street parking has marked spaces here.

Curiosity got the better of me tonight. I did a test disassembly of the car. The 4 screws came out, but they've been out before. They were kind of stripped-ish; just pretty loose fitting. Once removed, the grille, bumpers, chassis, interior and front windshield fell right out. The dashboard came easily out of the interior, but I didn't mess with the steering wheel. All the windows aft of the doors are still in the body. Apparently the whole window assembly was one piece to start with, but became two pieces at some point. The remaining windows are glued in pretty well along the runners that go along the roof, but don't seem to be glued along the lower edges of the windows even though there are glue marks there. I did some stabbing and jabbing at the rear windows, but they didn't budge, so I didn't push the issue. Just exploratory surgery, I'll button it back up soon until I'm ready to proceed with the rebuild. So, it looks like it shouldn't be too bad once I get the rear windows out. This definitely isn't the first time the car was rebuilt. Some areas are very nicely done, others not so much.

I do watch most of your rebuilds/refreshes, Tom. It's amazing the creativity that goes into some of these models. That one particular post was a little long-winded. I totally agree, this is a fun thread. Lots of interesting information and models have come out of the wood work.

I was thinking that myself after I discovered it is glue on the ribbed panel and it was painted over. Maybe it was rebuilt/refreshed somewhere along the 50 or 60 years this car has been around. It would be interesting to know its past, I'm sure.

Thanks for the info, Steve. I had no idea that there were separate chrome ribbed panels. It doesn't look like they were glued on after painting and came off. It looks like the glue was painted over after the panels came off. Trying to save those stickers would be cool. I remember the wood grain wagons. Thanks for the information, Tony. I'm not going all out on this, but it is nice to know that the front grille will fit. The grille and bumpers aren't wonderful on this car and will need some work. Maybe I'll paint it a color close to the molded color. A buddy of mine had a 64 Galaxy 4 door in a similar color which I liked. Thanks for the pictures, Steve and Tony.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. It doesn't seem to be in bad shape; I looked at it carefully and there wasn't any noticeable warpage. If there was, the seller would have taken it home. I know what an issue that was for models of this vintage. The ribbed panel issues seem like more of a bad paint job than glue issues. I'll see what they look like once stripped. I'm thinking a sand and scribe job will suffice, if that. They are definitely molded into the body, and not separate. All the "damage" appears to be after the wheel wells. Maybe the builder was going to glue the skirts on, and pulled them off prior to them drying? Who knows? There aren't any marks on the wheel well forward of the ribbed panel. The glass appears to be molded in a very light green - I guess the car has A/C. I did consider using the glass from the AMT kit, but I will probably vacuform new front and rear windows if I can get them out in one piece. The side windows are easy enough to replace with clear plastic. There are some slight depressions in the roof where the windows were glued in; they can be filled easily enough. I probably won't do any significant improvements to the kit; the chassis, and to some degree the interior, will not be changed. I actually like Craftsman-style kits with no or little engine/chassis detail. I'm more into the body. There's no joy for me in putting together a 37 piece live axle assembly and so forth - in fact, that's the quick route to the shelf of doom. Jamming a solid steel axle or two through the chassis makes me perfectly happy. I had the AMT 60 Ford in mind for replacement parts when I bought it; now I'm not so sure since they are different scales. I'm pretty much with Tom - a clean coat of paint and BMF would be perfect for this car, and that is the target for this. I think I'll go with the shave and a haircut option: paint and BMF. I bought it with that in mind, but I know there are people here who like to keep models in near as -found condition, and thought I would get their advice. One more quick question - there's the technique of freezing parts to break glue joints (think windows). I haven't had much luck with it so far. Maybe not enough water in the bag? Should the entire body be submerged? Is this the right technique for the windows? I know I seem pretty leery of the windows, but I've taken chunks of the body out with the windows before. Fortunately nothing too rare or irreparable. I'd like to avoid that with this if at all possible. I do appreciate everyone's advice. Sorry for the length, but I'm pretty excited about this project.

So I picked this up today at a toy show today, and here it is in "as found" condition. Body is painted, interior looks unpainted except for detail on the dash and floor, the only things that seem to be missing are a portion of the right fender ornament, and the aerial. There are some glue spots on the front and rear windshields. It's not real obvious from these pictures, but the front bumper seems to have been repaired with silver paint. I guess the question is, preserve or restore? I'm kind of leaning toward restore, but I'm worried about getting the windows out without damaging the body. I'm not sure I would do anything at all with the interior, chassis or wheels. Preservation is a good option too; it's pretty clean for the most part.

Maybe they did, and we didn't hear it. I certainly didn't hear the original announcement. I've only heard second-hand. Maybe the hoax camp is wrong, but there is certainly a lot of doubt among those in this thread who want to believe.

I'm going with hoax, too, despite the fact that all 61 rivets are accounted for.

Based on the number of projects I have going, their status, and the number of kits/parts, I think I would just buy a junkyard and call it even.

A couple of years ago I found a factory GM AM/FM/CB in-dash radio in the junk behind an antique shop near me. I think it's the only one I've seen since the 70s.

Try searching for it with the Lindberg brand name instead of AMT. I don't think the AMT branded ones have been out very long.

One I always visit when I'm in the area is the Strasburg Train Shop. The address I have for it is 226 Gap Rd, Strasburg, PA 17579. As the name implies, it is mostly a model RR shop, but I have seen a few 1/25 plastic models there, plus lots of 1/43 and some 1/24 diecast. Some of their diecast is customized for local agencies - I have seen Strasburg PD cars in 1/24, and a 1/43 Ford Transit Van marked for a local restaurant chain called Isaac's (more on that in a bit). There is a model RR museum in the same strip mall along with one of the aforementioned Isaac's restaurants, and Strasburg RR is just down the road,. If you're into railroads at all, it is worth a visit. Strasburg is maybe a 5-10 minute drive from Lancaster. Isaac's is a restaurant chain in SE PA; they have several stores in the region. I've never been disappointed with the meals at any of them. I think they are definitely worth a stop: https://www.isaacsrestaurants.com/ . No affiliation, just a happy customer.

They used to have a series called Tamtech years ago - I had one or two of them. I know the Porsche 961 was a part of the series; that's where the static model kit came from. I don't remember what others there were. They were fun and matched the scale of model cars, but they weren't anywhere close to the 1/10 or 1/12 cars in performance....

I like the second revision a lot. I've got a couple of projects where that could be quite useful. I've been thinking of a kluge involving a guide and a #11 blade or maybe dividers, but this looks much better. Thanks!

No cold shoulder:

I'm definitely enjoying your project - you're doing great. Really looking forward to the finished product. I guess I've always been worried about getting the A-pillar/cowl interface as nice, solid and smooth as yours.

I think the drawing has the top chopped a bit more than the model. Either way, it looks great - nice work. I've done a lot of body modifications including roof chops, but never a roof swap. I'll be following along.

I had a hard time coming up with a screen name for AOL Instant Messenger way back when. One of the problems with having a very common name - most of the variations are taken. I finally came up with SSN (the ships I rode in the Navy - nuclear submarines) and Jim (my first name). Not the most creative name, but it's served me well since then.

I've always just cut the license plate out with a pair of scissors, and glued the decal (with backing paper and all) directly to the appropriate place on the car using white glue. It looks quite realistic to me. Placing the decal on plastic in the traditional way never looked right to me because the plastic is way too thick.

You're welcome. I'm still looking the kit over; I've been pretty pleased so far.

I just picked up the MPC Mount'n Goat kit, and it does have the earlier CJ-type grille in it. It seems that all you would need to do is fabricate/source the front fenders and maybe modify the hood. I'm no expert on Jeeps, but it appears that the front end is the only real change over the years. Based on earlier comments about the interior, perhaps the front end was the only change that MPC made when updating the kit. Either way, it looks like a mostly factory stock 72 Commando is possible from the kit, and that's my plan.

"Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat - a Studebaker." I'd be in for a bullet-nose Studebaker.