SSNJim

Raptors are present-day birds of prey, in addition to the dinosaurs.

There was one other - an Academy Minicraft RS3100 in racing trim. It's another of those motorized kits, with a shallow interior, flat chassis and positionable steering. Academy-Minicraft http://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=176588 Doyusha http://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=143019

Very nice - yours is the first one I've seen built. I've got one in my stash for a future project, so I know what you went through. For starters, there's no hood bulge and the body sides are quite slab-sided. I've heard that the kit was intended as a slot car. The model is a mix of early Capris - IIRC, it has the 71-72 side trim (where the twin indentations forward of the rear wheel are), but the 73-75 tail lights. What did you use for the interior and chassis? I had a 1973 Capri from 1978-1982. What a fun car. 2 liter four cylinder, 4 speed, manual everything, no A/C. Only the 74 and later Capris had the big, body colored bumpers in the US. The 73 and earlier had nice, slim chrome bumpers. Again, you did a nice job on the car. Thanks for showing it!

So it is. Thanks!

The front end doesn't look any worse than a typical 50's custom. The fins are what kills it for me; even the rear bumper isn't all that bad. No one else noticed the matching E-series van in the background of the first picture?

I'm a huge fan of 69 Thunderbirds. My dad bought one brand new in 1969, and we had it into the 80s. I've bought 2 or 3 of this kit just for the body. As pointed out, the body is pretty much the annual kit body. It has almost all the stock trim except for the T-bird on the C-pillars and the custom grill/headlights/splash pan are included. Taillights are not included, but are available from Modelhaus for a couple of bucks a set. The kit has molded in taillights, but they are for the custom option on the stock kit. It has a separate hood. I've been kitbashing the body from this kit with the ModelKing 71 Thunderbird to come up with a stock-ish 69. It's not the most accurate representation, but the 67-71 bodies were all the same beneath the skin. I need to try foil casting the C-pillar emblem from a 68 I have laying around.The 71 body will end up on the funny car chassis. Eventually.

I thought that the full size Chevy was available in plastic for model years 1951-1976 from various manufacturers. Now some may be difficult to find, but they were produced. I always thought that it would be a pretty cool display/project.

I think it's a mechanical thing. I'm not sure that scale thickness plastic hangers could support the car especially if handled. Quarter-inch thick spring hangers would be about .010" in 1/25 scale. The way the kits do it is secure, positive and durable. Of course, there is one way to find out - convert a kit rear to proper hangers and see what happens. It would be worth trying with both plastic and brass.

You can also hook up a desktop keyboard and mouse, and use it sort of like a desktop. You may want/need to make a change in the setup so that the laptop won't shut down or sleep when you close the lid. That's the way I use almost all my laptops, except for this one. There won't be any issues. This one has only an external mouse. I positively hate laptop keyboards and touchpads.

My only question is where do you get Gotta Have It Green paint?

I initially thought those have been reissued by a company called Atlantis, but I think I'm wrong. I currently have the Black Bear and Cubs kit, but there's a bison, and white stallion kit. The Atlantis bear head is quite a bit different from what yours looks like - http://www.atlantis-models.com/blackbeard110modelkit-1-1.aspx I remember there was a white tail deer and bear from way back when - don't remember the manufacturer. Now that I've poked around on their site a bit, these are reissues of the Aurora kits. Atlantis tends to be oriented more toward sci-fi and figures than cars. A little more info about the company: http://www.atlantis-models.com/about-us.aspx

Nice job with the roof transplant - very subtle. It took me a while to figure out what was phantom about the Cougar. That's a good looking car.

Thanks! It was a great bike. It certainly drew a lot of attention.

This is my old BMW. It's a 1983 R80ST - basically an R80/GS with street tires and an R60 (I think) front end. It was probably the most fun to ride motorcycle I've ever had. This one has been repainted by a previous owner - they only came in metallic red or silver with a silver engine. Since then, I've owned a 88 Kawasaki Concours and my current ride, a 2007 Gold Wing.

I'll second the Model Warships forum - I'm a member there. I'm fairly new to the ship modeling scene, and my main interest is mainly submarines. (That's where my screen name comes from - SSN for nuclear submarine, Jim is my given name.) The site is quite useful and active, and the other users helpful and friendly.

You're welcome. Mustangs weren't; Mustang was. Apparently the Tope team was the only team that raced the 71-73 Mustang in Trans-Am. I believe the car is still racing in historical races, at least up to a couple years ago; the one I am thinking of was painted red.

The 73 in one of its early incarnations was boxed as Warren Tope's racer, which most definitely existed in real life. It wasn't wildly successful, but it did race in SCCA Trans-Am for a couple of years. I would love to get a set of decals from the kit for the last issue of the AMT kit. See the bottom of this page: http://www.ponysite.de/transam_tope.htm

The TBird has a pretty nice stock 1969 body with most of the trim and emblems, but it doesn't have the stock red taillights or the emblem on the C-pillars. The funny car-type chassis is pretty simple. I don't think it is a replica of any particular car. The Allison motor is the same as every other issue of the Allison - chrome plated and reasonably well detailed. I do have one in progress, but it is in the stalled projects pile. I am swapping the body with the 1971 TBird, so I'll end up with a stockish 1969, and an Allison powered 71.

An old fashioned hand drill sounds just like what you need: http://www.micromark.com/hand-drill,10284.html They come in various sizes and prices; a standard 12" or so should cost only a couple of bucks at Harbor Freight.

Very cool. Just downloaded the zip file which contains one print.stl file. It was a pretty quick download over my cable internet connection - maybe 2 minutes if that. I don't have a 3D printer, but I'm holding the download in reserve for the day I have access to one.

Very cool - my best friend lived out there. Lots of good memories. Welcome once again!

I've heard mothballs and peppermint also will keep the mice away. I've been trusting in hardware cloth to keep the mice out. I can't put it everywhere I need it, so a more comprehensive method is in order. I'm trying to figure out how to keep those deterrrents long-term on my outdoor stored scooter. Chasing the mouse around my trunk while she was dropping a series of little mice was the last straw.

Welcome aboard. Where in Louisville? I was born and raised there, mainly the Hikes Point and J-town areas.

This was one of those problems that a lot of people had for a while here, and then it just went away. The official solution for this problem, as with all problems on the forum, is to install and use Firefox or another off-brand browser. What worked for a lot of people was to not use the Post button, but to use the More Reply Options button next to it, then click the Add Reply button at the bottom.

Tesla seems to be doing pretty well. They fit that mold - independent, very good performance, one good model, and are adding to their lineup.