SSNJim

They were available in the US - I've seen them in several hobby shops. There is a hobby shop near me that had one for a year or two until a couple of months ago. They ran in price about $100-125. I'm not sure if they're still being produced. If you search this board for cityliner, you will find many threads on them. Many are started, few are finished.

Yes, I am. Is it a radio promo or does it have an interior?

I wonder if that doesn't exist somewhere. AMT tooled the 67-69 Thunderbirds, and the 69 was the last of the run. By a lot of people's reasoning, the tools were modified year by year, so the last year may still be around. I'm not aware of the history of the Big Al kit, but they did come up with the body from somewhere. I doubt they tooled a new body for an oddball car for the kit. Why can't the chassis and interior still be somewhere in their mold storerooms? Did anyone look? I do have an original 69 Thunderbird kit. It was built once, disassembled, and stripped of paint, so it is hardly mint. The only difference between that body and the Big Al body is that the Big Al has some filled in "custom" taillights. The original has holes into which the red lenses are inserted. Neither has the T-Bird logo on the C-pillar; weird, because the 68 does. I'm a huge fan of 69 Thunderbirds. I had the pleasure of riding in, and driving one, between the years of 69-77. I bought a couple of Big Al kits and Modelhaus taillights for future use. I would also love to see a stock 69 reissued, but I'm sure that's just a pipe dream. I have had some test-fitting success with using the Big Al body with the chassis and interior of the AMT 1971 Thunderbird. The 67-71s are all the same under the skin. You may have to deal with upholstery patterns, but they are similar and hard to see inside the interior. On that note, my parents and an aunt and uncle went to Atlanta to visit some relatives in our Thunderbird. The men were in the front seats, and the women were in the rear. They went through a toll booth, then were shortly pulled over by the police. It turns out that two men and a woman had robbed a bank nearby, and made good their escape in a 69 Thunderbird. The toll collector couldn't see my mother in the driver's side rear seat, so he assumed they were the bank robbers and called the cops. Long story short, no one in my family went to court or jail. So, you're probably OK taking a few liberties with the interior.

That picture is the only reason I bought the model

Okay, Bullybeef, that 49 Mercury in your top picture fascinates me for some reason. It seems to be missing the trunk and the hood, but it creates an interesting profile - very sleek looking. Time to whip out one of my 49 Mercs, and get to looking at it a little closer.

I've been buying wired mice at Ollie's and other off-brand stores. When I see them, I buy them whether I need them at the moment or not. They are getting hard to find, but they are still out there. I've been using wired mice since I put a Microsoft Bus Mouse in my PC XT clone. Wireless mice are great until they're not. The batteries only last so long, and they can be somewhat subject to interference. I've used wireless mice, but have never been satisfied with the experience.

Mario, your Cougar looks great. Mercury did do a Cougar show car called El Gato. It was a metallic green fastback Cougar with definitely 70s styling for the grille and taillights, but easily recognized as a Cougar. I always wanted to build one, but it's way back in the queue.

I picked up a Henry J at my LHS on Saturday. I was surprised to see it.

They did do other scales besides HO, but HO was their core business. An early name of the company was "H.O. Train Company", and AHM didn't start in N scale until 1968, many years after the start of the company. They did end up with a pretty broad product range.

AHM was primarily a HO railroad manufacturer between the 1960s-1980s. They were pretty well known, and did locomotives, rolling stock, buildings and vehicles among other things. I've never heard of a AHM 1/25 scale vehicle, though.

I just picked up the 914 the other day, and I am very pleased with it. It's a nicely done model of one of my favorite cars ever.

Very cool project. The fire department in Lucketts, VA used to have one as a brush truck. It was awesome. I haven't seen it in years; the city quit holding their annual fair and I don't get out that way much anymore. I'm assuming this build will be a military version. Good luck. I'll be following along.

Thanks for the advice! I like the start with the least favorite part.

I did pick up the train kit at Hobby Lobby. I guess it was considered a boxed model kit, because they gave me 40% off. The train kit does come in a small box, not a flat pack envelope like most. Now to get it into the queue....

I use the "all activity since my last visit" stream, and I see all those type messages. I saw this one, and many other interesting ones. A lot of people wishing happy birthday, sending mailing addresses and the like. I haven't seen anything too private or embarrassing :). I don't do anything to see them; I really have no interest in the ones sent to other members, and I don't like seeing them. They just show up in my activity feed. There's obviously some confusion between the two message types. I for one would like to see the difference clarified.

That was a pretty weird storm, Xingu. We in Bowie got a bunch too - 10 inches on the trunk of my Mustang in about 9 hours. Funny it didn't seem to be forecasted until Sunday morning. It's clearing pretty fast up here - it was a nice, balmy 35 today.

Another good source for drawings and color photos is Wikipedia. Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module . It looks like they have pictures of all LM/LEMs.

Are you talking about the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module?

Very exciting. I'll be picking up at least one of these.

Thanks! I thought the bed was cork, but the track threw me. I thought it was wire. Clever work on the track and the grass. It came out nicely.

Nice job. I like the train. I've been eyeballing that for a while - I think I'll pick it up. There's a tanker ship that's caught my eye too. I've done a couple of the smaller Metal Earth models. Was the track included, or did you come up with it?

I've been considering that, but haven't worked up the nerve. I don't have the most steady hands. Is your Dremel variable speed?

Porsche 914.

Guilty as charged.

I didn't see any new parts, but I haven't looked at the original issue kit in a long time, and there are no optional parts. It seems to be a box stock Lightning with the F&F decals to me. All the stock decals are still there.