Chuck Most

I've had a similar idea bubbling around in my brain pan for years, so I'm definitely going to be copying your homework on this one, though I'll be using a '55-57 cab if it goes to plan.

For 1:24 the only in-scale choice would be the Tamiya Wrangler engine. Two problems there. First, being fuel injected it's way too new for the CJ (unless you want a resto-mod kind of thing), so you'd need to make or modify a carbureted intake manifold and an earlier valve cover for it. Second... good luck finding one of those kits for a price even approaching "reasonable". If you're willing to fudge it, any of the 1:25 engines listed could be made to work. Personally, I would go with the MPC '78 Pacer engine. It's relatively well detailed, and doesn't have a notch or hole for clearing a wire axle. You'd need a different air filter, and if I recall you'd need to fill a hole in the valve cover (for locating the Pacer-specific air cleaner assembly), but it's a pretty good engine for a late '70's tool, and holds up pretty well by today's standards.

No, no... it was the Flareside that was too rough for me. The 250 was right on the edge. The good part is that if I change my mind on the Flareside the guy seems to have it out for sale every couple of months. ?

I guess it's kind of a tradeoff in some people's minds. Sort of like when BMW M5 owners go on and on about how great their car is, how it's the perfect performance sedan and it's so well balanced and comfortable to boot... then casually mumble something about the fact the main bearings need to be replaced every 50,000 miles or so. ? I've had the "difficult to position" problem with Revell decals, but so far I haven't torn one. (Knock on wood...) I haven't tried anything like hood stripes but I've always been happy with Revell's smaller graphics (badges, gauges, underhood labels and so forth). My technique is soaking the backer and taking it out of the water. Then I'll set it aside and put a few drops of water on it, just enoug to where there's an even coating of moisture. I don't touch the decal until after it's floated free of the backer. If I think I'll have any problems getting it positioned, I'll brush a little solvent onto the area where the graphic is to go. I try to keep the surface under the decal wet until it's right where I want it, then soak away the water with the edge of a paper towel or cotton swab. I DON'T touch the paper or swab to the decal itself, I do it adjacent to the graphic. I'm just trying to absorb the water and solvent under the decal, not move it some more. That technique hasn't failed me with the thinner decals. Well... not yet, anyway...

My idea was the Caballero was the owner's personal project car, and at one point he figured why not use it to plug the business, and possibly even take it to smaller jobs where the bucket truck and/or a bunch of tools aren't needed.

This has been pleasing me in an "amusing me" kind of way... Round 2 has started mentioning the fact that their models are "fully paintable" in product announcements and descriptions. It's like... yeah... I hope so. Makes wonder why " assembly required" isn't in there, either.

Hudson Hornet #35 is... well, it's a long time coming. I started this not too long after the '52 Convertible version came out. The idea was to do a stripped parts car that had been left out to the elements. For many years scrap dealers wouldn't take Hudsons because the car crushers of the time couldn't compact the Hudson unibody, so unless you wanted to kill a can of acetelyne or two with the torch, many of them just sat around for decades, either waiting for rust to eat enough of them for the crusher to handle it or for crusher technology to catch up. Much of the firewall structure was scratch built. The hydraulic lines for the top are coated wire. Oh yes, the power top on these was hydraulic. If I'm not mistaken so were the optional power windows. Fairly common for the era but went away as the '50's wore on. The interior features bare inner door structures cut from thin styrene, and the interior bucket was crammed full of spare parts... there's a couple tires, a '54 Hudson hood, a '52/3 Hudson quarter panel, a '72 Cutlass rear bumper, a '50 Ford F1 rear fender, and a milk crate in there. At some point this will join two other worn down Hornets as part of a little display idea I have in mind. Maybe at some point I"ll add the skeleton of the top bows and some tattered fabric. Or maybe not. I bent in the windshield header, perhaps decades ago, a tree limb came down on the car or something. Perhaps that damage was the final straw and ultimately led to it's current state? Who knows. Mounting holes for the absent trim and handles were added, along with a bunch of rust damage. I would have taken the rocker off altogether, but I did that on the other side and I just couldn't have it be perfectly symmetrical, now, could I? The trunk lid came from another Hornet, It's just laying there inside the trunk cavity somehow. The passenger's side tail light lens has a chunk broken out of the middle, revealing the reflector behind it. The paint is Tamiya pink mixed with flat white. The '52 Hornet wasn't offered in pink, but it looks period perfect so I went ahead and used it. The hollowed interior now serves as an ideal storage container/dumpster/what have you for any manner of things. Note the missing head unit for the radio- in reality I should have also removed the speaker grate in the grille, as the AM mono-speaker radio was all one unit on the actual car. Meh. I think it's convincing enough as is.

Absolutely gorgeous! I hope that, much like the '59 Imperial, one day they find the molds for this (more likely the '60 version though) laying around and reissue it. A boy can dream.

A while back I posted my black '79 Diablo, an ex-El Camino MPC promo with Ray's Kits decals. This time around, it's the actual one-year-only MPC kit. I added Firestones from the AMT Courier, 1995 Sonoma wheels, an LT1 swap (MPC block with heads, intake, and timing cover/belt from an AMT 1996 Corvette), a scratch built hitch receiver, and some various parts box junk. It's the third addition to the RJ's series... First came the 9500, then the 72, now this. I'll include a family photo of all three at the end. The RJ'S graphics are from the AMT 1959 El Camino, while the Construction part came from the Moebius 1965 Ford service truck. Paint is Tamiya pearl blue. If you're so inclined, here's the '72... And the 9500...

Nice! Currently working on this same kit (want to deplete my stock of these before I start tearing into the 4070a) though mine will probably be a bit more run down looking.

Very cool! I built one back in 2019, and picked up a cheap one (assembly started) just four days ago. I have a mind do do this one as a dump truck, but I guess we'll see how that goes.

As weird as it is (to me) to see *this* kit of all things released with Rat Fink graphics, it works. The color scheme gives off old school Ceasar Romero Joker vibes for some reason.

Bumping this for a couple reasons. It now has two little sisters (thanks to the recently completed '79 Caballero), and also to honor Dave. Now if you will pardon me, the RJ's GMC General that I started right after doing the '72 service truck is calling me...

Did you get an e-mail? Mine was about to lapse but I recieved an e-mail last week with a link to renew.

Update on the site... I noticed I could see it on my phone but not my laptop. I cleared my cache and cookies on the laptop and now it comes up no problem, so it may be a technical problem on your friend's end, like it was with me.

Long story short... one day my reply to "What did you get today" will be "the basement sealed". ?

Here they're fairly common in colder climates. Not so much in places like California or Texas. Or so I've heard. I have the basic "creepy Michigan dungeon" style basement. Years ago, such an affair would contain a water cistern (mine is still there but it's been blocked off since the 40s) and a place for cool storage of perishables. Fairly common in rural areas, but obviously those two purposes don't really apply in the modern age. I even have an "ice house" on the property, which was basically the pre-electricity version of a walk-in freezer. Mostly my basement is dedicated to the plumbing (water pump and heater are down there), laundry, and the house's HVAC system, which is pretty typical. Also typical is having that stuff somewhat elevated, for those times when flooding occurs. ?

This might be the second one I've seen lowered, counting the one I built. It's weird how good an old Jeep J-truck looks lowered, and in a world where Mustang II clips and air suspensions exist I'm a little surprised there aren't more.

I can't say enough good things about Joel's products. Always fantastic quality and quick order turnaround. My biggest gripe with them is personal- my budget doesn't allow me to buy at least five examples of everything he makes. ?

Friend of mine had his basement flood (and I mean REALLY flood, as in, all the way to the first floor) so I got off pretty easy. I have a habit of not storing anything I care about and/or can't replace down there for a reason, the bad part is the unused upstairs bedroom looks like the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark at this point. Serves me right for buying the house in a valley next to a pond anyway. ?

Not really model car work, but my basement started flooding for the first time in several years, and naturally my sump pump decided to take a dump sometime during 11pm and 7AM on Wednesday/Thursday, so I moved a few large UHAUL boxes of models up to higher ground. Water never got much deeper than 3" or so but it's definitely gonna be damp down there for a spell. Fortunately none were on the floor (a few were last summer...) . May have lost some decals but no big deal, nothing in those boxes rare or impossible to replace (hence why they were in the basement to begin with).

Pure speculation on my part but he may be swamped with orders, and/or having problems getting material. I haven't even been able to access his site recently. There's another notable caster in a similar situation right now. I had Chris' cell number at one time but naturally I didn't save it to my current phone.

Metallica- Motorbreath Metal Church- Badlands or their cover of Highway Star Morbid Angel- Opening of the Gates Jerry Reed- Eastbound and Down Pantera- Strength Beyond Strength Megadeth- Hangar 18 Iron Maiden- The Trooper AC/DC- A Touch Too Much Six Feet Under- Manipulation Pretty much anything from Danzig-era Misfits On the other hand, No Stranger to Love by "Black Sabbath" is a good slow burn for lower speed cruising.

This guy's name is Dinner. He showed up one day as a stray bag of bones, and I was making dinner and he kept pouncing my foot. I told him if he didn't knock it off he'd be dinner. He didn't... So now he's Dinner. That was six or seven years ago and he's stuck around. I thought he was a girl the first year because he was neutered. ?No longer a bag of bones either. He likes falling asleep in weird contortions...

It's rare that I listen to music while building. 95% of the time I'll have something from RedLetterMedia playing in the background, usually Best of The Worst. When it is music, it's normally the same sludge and death metal I would be listening to any other time, or the occasional grunge, prog rock, or even Enya album depending on mood.