Chuck Most

No, no... not the 'good' one from a few years back. This is the original 1990 version. HIGH POINTS: It's a Trabant Not many parts, so no chance of getting bogged down trying to superdetail it. Cool box art. (Nothing to do with the kit itself but worth mentioning). Won't see 60 of these at the next show you attend. Decent molding quality overall. LOW POINTS: It's a Trabant. Not many parts, so no chance of having fun trying to superdetail it. Chassis has roughly the same amount of engraved detail as a typical Hot Wheels release. Tires have sidewall lettering, but NO TREAD. Wheels are also molded into them. Extremely shallow panel lines, nonexistant upper door (window frame) cut lines. Frail roof pillars almost guaranteed to be broken or warped if you order it by mail... and that's before you cut out the Y-shaped support. Same deal for the optional roof rack. OVERALL: If you want a Trabant model and don't want to expend a ton of effort, go with this one. It's almost laughably crude in some areas, but I've seen a couple of these nicely painted and detailed, and they're pretty good shelf models. And it has most of the basic visible elements right, and just enough detail to not look too toylike. If you want something a bit more involved, go with the newer Revell Trabant kit, the 601 'Limousine' (?). A simple Google image search will bring up all kinds of potential Trabant projects- everything from art cars to tuners, to one that's been cut in half and turned into a horse-drawn buggy.

First few coats of Duplicolor Malibu Mist. I found a few blemishes and pinholes (in the filler putty) I missed during the endless series of bodywork sessions on this thing. Like the golden oldie says 'too late to turn back now'. Fortunately most of the rough stuff will be covered up- the rest I'll just not worry about. Humidity must be down in my area, too- no blushing of the paint. Hopefully no clear will be needed in the end, but that remains to be seen.

Might put a handlebar on it now. Just a couple more wet-sand sessions away from the paint booth now.

I have one of those grilles in my stash- plan to use it on the '76 reissue. Anyway- that looks awesome! Try not to bang it up too much racing it.

Already looks great in that color combination.

Indeed they do- forgot about the aftermarket side cover. Forgot about the Woody variant, too. Being a Model A guy you'd think I'd be up on all of this.

Might skip the bumperettes after all and try the bumper from a Revell '48 Ford- it needs a bit of reshaping to fit better but I think it looks pretty decent. Starting to kind of resemble a Checker Marathon up front.

Bill mentioned the hop up parts and shared tooling for the this and the '31 A, but just to clarify- the '29 A comes with a Winfield head, while the '31 2-door has a Riley (going by memory here) F-head conversion. The balance of the engine parts are the same though- two carb manifold with separate Stromberg carbs (with the air cleaners molded in place) and a very nice sweept-back header. The stock engine parts are included as well.

The bubble top still stands a fighting chance at this point- the trouble is I just have to find one that won't make the car look like a Homer Simpson design.

Most of the required butchery on the body would be covered up by the top boot. If I recall the '55 Hardtop comes with some spare convertible parts (windshiled frame and wing vents, and probably a few others), combine those with a '57 kit and a little light scratchbuilding and that should do the trick.

Love this kit- this is the first convertible conversion I've seen of it. Very nice!

I'll repeat Liam... being as there are two Avantis in the running, I'll try to do something really out there with mine.

I've been wanting to see this.

Sheesh, Rob, you a freakin' mind reader or something? Those were among the first pieces I tried on the front end. Might need a bit of filing to fit, but might be workable, if not I'm sure I can find something. Also trying something a bit different with the wheels. And yes, I'm planning on making it sit this low- I might even keep the wackiness going and not install any rear tires at all.

Trying for something different with the grille...

Art is right, but there is one other thing, regarding the movie Duel in particular- Steven Speilberg wanted to suggest that the driver of the truck had killed other motorists during his travels, and the plates on the front of the truck implied his other victims.

I don't disagree, but it does seem odd that a somewhat esoteric subject like a salesman's car (NASCAR possibilites notwithstanding) would be kitted before the drop top. It may be true that closed cars outsell convertibles, but Revell already had Tri-Five droptop tooling in their banks (Monogram '55), and a '57 of any sort is pretty much a surefire bet for good sales. Come to think of it, it's weird Revell started there with their new '57 kits when you'd think there'd be more demand for the Bel Air hardtop version. I still do think a '57 Chevy convertible would sell well. As well as a closed version? Maybe not, but the simple fact it's a '57 Chevy above all else would help move more than a few of them.

I'm in the 'tired of '57 Chevys' camp myself, but I'd think such an animal would be a very hot seller. Its kind of suprising we got a 150 Utility Sedan before the drop top, now that it crosses my mind.

A 200 is no further than an e-mail to Ken Kitchen away- any Fox-body Ford variant could fill in most of the blanks.

One of my favorite things about aircraft models is the one thing I suck at, and the main reason I don't build them- doing those subtle paint fades. This one came out great.

Seeing stuff of this caliber makes me wonder why I even bother! I'll have to show this to my neighbor. He owns a 1:1 '66 Toronado in that same color... and his name is Roger Zimmerman. (Cue Twilight Zone music.)

THIS one is dead, but parts of it still have some life.

This one's officially dead- the iffy parts of the AMT body (which made me not want to finish it) and a close encounter with a heavy box full of spare parts (which crushed the roof like a potato chip) did this one in. I'll be using some parts from this in a Revell '72, but this is the last you'll see of this particular '66 body. Handy tip- don't store heavy boxes full of spare parts on a shelf over the corner of your workbench- if you knock one off, bad things happen.

Well, 'aero' for a Paystar, anyway. It's the later-style, somewhat more streamlined front end International used in the '90's. The hood is similar to the one in the link, but has single headlamps. That one might be workable if I can't find the R & C kit, and don't feel like modifying the Ertl kit parts.

I just turned 30 in April, and my rates have gone down- though they're a bit higher than they would have been had I not had a minor fender-bender back in 2009. So it isn't just young drivers who get into fender-benders. And from what I hear, Michigan is kind of screwy with regards to the auto insurance policies it allows anyway, so maybe I'm not the best guy to offer advice! All I can reccomend is to ask the insurance agents about any discounts you may qualify for. Being a new driver, your options may be a bit limited but it never hurts to ask. Barring that, keep yourself out of trouble and wait a few years- age and a clean driving record will help keep your rates down. I would suggest going with a deducable you can actually afford, though, even if going with a higher deductable would help keep the payments down significantly. You'd be paying less per month with a $1000 deductable over a $500 deductable just as an example, but if you are in an accident and can't come up with $1000, is it really worth it?