SSNJim

Yeah, I don't know either. Just kind of odd they all of a sudden appeared in two unrelated chains. It could just be a glut of inventory, but I dunno.

There are a few left in the DC area. This one local chain, that once had 4 or 5 stores is down to two. All the other stores (chain and independent) in the DC Metro store are gone - there used to be quite a few. The national chain is Hobby Town USA; there's one about 50 miles from me. There's one more independent I haven't checked yet. It is very close to a bridge that is very heavily used as the gateway to the beaches in the summer, and it can be difficult to get to on the weekends.

In the last month or so, the hobby shops around here have been getting a bunch of Italeri and Fujimi cars. They've always had the military kits, but only rarely the cars. There are two chains (one national, one local) that I'm seeing it at. Both these chains have had only AMT, Revell, Moebius and the occasional Tamiya up until recently. Any ideas on why the sudden plethora of Fujimi/Italeri models? Don't get me wrong - I'm thrilled. I'm just curious as to what is going on.

I was going to mention Submarine Voyage, but apparently it came back as Nemo's Submarine Voyage so I guess it is possible the Flying Saucers could come back. I was in submarine training at the time, so it was a pretty cool ride. I could have ridden it all day. It turns out that the Disneyland ride wasn't anything like the Navy ride. Were the Flying Saucers like an air hockey table?

The 1957 Thunderbirds had an available pale pink color called "Dusk Rose". Nowhere near as loud as that box art bird. Reminds me of my grandparent's bathroom. In the early 70's. they wanted to paint it a very pale salmon pink, so they ran up to the hardware store and bought the paint. They applied the paint, and it was about the hottest pink you could imagine. "Well, it's because the paint is wet. The color will probably be right when it dries". Twenty years later, you still broke a sweat going into the bathroom. Still a very hot, vibrant pink. The same thing may have happened with the box art .

Nice Caddy, but the Fordor Thunderbird behind it is what intrigues me.

Why does the dragstrip have a curve in it?

The two I absolutely cannot stand are Pepto-Bismol and Charmin. Those are the most disgusting commercials on TV now. Mr. Whipple must be spinning in his grave.

It sounds to me like you have an MPC annual. One of the options was a "station wagon" which required removing the trunk lid and interior package shelf. They provided a station wagon roof and interior bed for it.

It sounds like this is what you are talking about: No. it's not my car (though I do have a model of it in progress), just something I found on the internet. This particular car has an airbag suspension which can be adjusted in height over a pretty good range. IIRC, it goes from ground level to higher than stock, and can be adjusted while driving. The hydraulics often found on traditional low-riders work pretty much the same way. Things are not always as they appear. I do tend to like the "driveable" models better.

I didn't know what it is either. Interesting product and company - nothing like a 850-1300 HP boost. Turbonique - Wikipedia Check out the second External Link in that article. Lot of ads and tech manuals.

"It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters." - Motel Hell, 1980 This is the first movie I saw on HBO, and the plot is very similar to your documentary.

OK, I'll buy that. I thought it was added later in the run, but it was there from the beginning. Apparently it did reduce the tendency to do a stoppie.

Wouldn't those old Econolines do that stock by just slamming on the brakes?

Tamiya also did a full detail Jeep Cherokee kit about the same time or a bit before. Very nice kit. I think they did a Wrangler also - I can't think of any other American cars done by Tamiya.

That looks great and very smooth. I like it a lot.

Perfect! Thank you so much - those were a huge help. What I should have done is to rotate the top part (that converts to the pallette). What I did was to lift the catch straight up. I'll try again - the right way this time.

So I picked up some Revell steel spray and acrylic paints today. I've tried the Revell RBR Blue spray, and I was pretty pleased with it, so I decided to try the steel spray. I picked up a steel acrylic "box" too to try the brush paints. I pretty much figured out the spray can without too many problems (hint: it's like all the Testors cans), but the little box thing kind of confused me. It's got a little flat cap on it with arrows on it, but no obvious way to turn it. There are little diagonal dashed lines printed on the side, and a catch looking thing on the front. I cut along the diagonal lines, and ended up opening it like a ring or watch box. Paint went all over the place. Apparently there is a little tube (meaning thumb size versus fire hose size) inside that contains the paint, and I managed to spill it. So what did I do wrong? Anything? What is the right way to open them?

Try Intermediate Blue (FS35164). I was happy with it on my 97. I don't think it's too far off. Tamiya AS19 or Testor's Model Master Enamel 1920 (both spray) are two of the matches for it. I've never tried the Tamiya; the Testor's is what I used, but it may be getting hard to find. There are a lot of FS to hobby paint conversion charts on the internet.

Bring on the snappers! Shoot, I'm in my 60's and I really like the series. I just finished the Street Fury and Street Heat, customized to suit my tastes. The Fury had the blower hole filled, and the top part of the side moldings removed. The Concorde had the spoiler and aero bits removed. Very simple, fun models, and I'm anxiously awaiting other releases in this series. In fact, the last two of the four models I have finished recently are a Snap Prowler (fenders and bumpers removed), and a Smyth Performance-ish VW Snap New Beetle. You'll never hear me complaining about snap and simple models. I build more detailed models too, but few get finished, especially with any real underhood or chassis detail.

Yes, the white car is completely mocked up, and nothing is permanently attached except for the interior to the chassis. I sidestepped the whole trying to figure out how to lower the kit suspension thing by simply not using it. That is one of the horrible things I did to the suspension and chassis, along with some Dremel clearancing to get it to sit like the car in the my earlier post. Like I said, it's a curbside. The rear wheels use a metal axle which sits on the frame rails. I'm considering notching the frame rails in the rear to get the car a bit lower and more level. In the front, the metal axle sits between the notched on top frame rail and fender wells. Nice work on yours.

Here are the pictures I promised. The white one is the 93 LX, stiil a WIP. It needs a repaint for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is I seem to have lost my ability to brush paint trim. The gray one is the notchback. It seems to have lost the mirrors, and needs some coat hanger wire to hold the exhaust up. I'll fix them after I move.

I did make it to Simpson's in August. It's just down the road from where I was working at Foulk and Grubb. I always had a hard time finding them open. I was pleased when I did. Very nice shop - they had a pretty good selection of model cars. Here's what I found in DE after a Google search. I'm going to check out the ones near I-95 on my trips to Philly, some of the others on my scooter. The only two I've been to is the first and the last, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. It's been a few years since I was at Hobby Stop, but they had a good selection too. Simpson's Hobbies Inc 709 Foulk Rd, Wilmington, DE 19803 Trains, Toys & Hobbies 2505B Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, DE 19703 HobbyTown Dover 96 Salt Creek Dr Unit 1, Dover, DE 19901 First State Hobbies 600 Peoples Plaza, Newark, DE 19702 F&N Hobbies 1398 Blackbird Forest Rd #1214, Clayton, DE 19938 SeaSide Hobbies 15 Daisey Ave, Ocean View, DE 19970 Aeromarine Laminates Inc / Hobby Stop 22762 Sussex Hwy, Seaford, DE 19973 There used to be a HobbyTown in Milford, I believe. I would pass it on my way to the beach areas in DE but I haven't been that way in several years. It's not on the HobbyTown site.

I was back in Philly yesterday, and managed to stop by Capelli's. The doors were locked when I visited at 2:30 Friday afternoon. No signs on the door or anything; it could be they're on spring break. Maybe next time.

No, no pictures yet. The notchback has a Cougar body. I had to modify the Cougar trunk to make the top edge of the TBird taillights match, and used the Cougar interior tub. Everything else is TBird. That's one thing I love about these SC/Cougars - everything swaps nice and clean. That's the only one I have completed other than a stock SC with the aero wheels. The 93 LX is one I modified the rocker panels to remove the aero skirts, and used half round to make the body side molding. For the rocker panels, I glued sheet styrene to the lower inside of the body, and started filing. As I progressed, I rescribed the door lines and lowest character line to maintain the depth, then when I had the outside shaped as I wanted them, I contoured the inside of the rocker panel to give it a stock appearance. I also had to slightly narrow the chassis. This will definitely be a curbside - I did a lot of horrible things to the wheel wells and chassis to get the ride height I wanted. It's almost ready for final assembly, but I'm having trouble painting the roof and window trim. This is what I am shooting for, and yes, I have these wheels. The others are in the very early stages. The convertible is just a Cougar body with the roof removed, and will be similar to the notchback. The fastback Cougar is a TBird with the C-pillars removed, and they will be replaced with a more straight C-pillar. I will use the Cougar front and rear fascias. This is the look I'm going for without the pillar at the rear edge of the rear door.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Sable#/media/File:Ford_Taurus_1990_Mex.JPG I should have some pictures of the notchback and the 93 LX this weekend.