Chuck Most

I think the "dark era" ended in the mid-to-late '80's. Iffy, simplified kits seemed to have become the norm in the late '70's, and the hobby all but completely imploded in on itself in the very early '80's for a variety of reasons. It wasn't until that "second wave" of modeling popularity came about in the '80's when those grey skies finally blew over. But as far as new stuff and subjects more esoteric than your typical muscle car being released... let's just say I hope that 2015 isn't some kind of fluke. Maybe it is, but hey- what a magnificent fluke it is shaping up to be! It seems to me that the hobby product industry has become much more influenced by the "hardcore" modelers the last decade or so, rather than by the wants of big-box retailers. There may not be as many new releases each year, but when there is a new release, the quality is much better now than at any point in the past, generally speaking. It just seems like the model manufacturers are finally listening to the "lunatic fringe", and realizing that if they can make something that'll make THOSE folks happy, it ought to make the other 99% of hobbyists happy, too. Subject matter plays into that too- people are still buying endless Tri-Five Chevy kits, but at the same time, even those diehards seem to be getting cynical. I've seen a lot of "left field" stuff announced for this year, and even though I'm not interested in every single one of those subjects, I hope that they do well. The kit manufacturers seem to be a lot more open-minded about potential subject matter these days, and there's still plenty of ground left to cover.

I'm not the type of guy who counts his eggs before they're chickens, but... I could get behind that!

I'll say the same thing I've sad the last few times such a feature was suggested. "I don't care one way or the other." Add that choice and I'll gladly vote on it!

Well, it seems like everybody wants to bring manufacturing jobs back from China. In the off chance that happens, who needs education? Who needs to be able to spell complicated words like "I" when all they're doing is sewing tags onto Pokemon plushies, right? *sarcasm font*

Just curious- but couldn't you "plug" the hole with a plastic patch and smooth it out with putty? That would seem more simple than looking for a hood, buying/working out a deal to get it, and waiting for it to show up. Not knocking you for looking, I'm just curious.

Very nice! If the clearcoat were peeling off the fenders and roof it would be small-scale twin of my neighbor's '97- narrow whitewall tires and all.

Same thing as a hunting blind, but with a hole in the floor.

In my ongoing saga to build some of the Revell '97 Ford truck kits in the stash, I just finished this. It started as the SuperCab Flareside kit. The frame was stretched to accommodate the 8' Styleside bed from the regular cab kit. The truck was converted to 4 wheel drive- the transfer case and the majority of the front suspension came from the AMT '78 Super Stones Ford, and the rear springs came from an AMT Monster Truck. The wheels and F350 decals came from a Maisto die cast kit, the tires are BFG Krawlers from Fireball Modelworks. I also made a K&N intake, scratchbuilt the bumpers, and made a dual-outlet exhaust. The spotlights came from a SATCO Nissan Pathfinder, and the rear hitch was pirated from a Revell Kurtis Midget kit. Paint is Testors Lime Ice.

Yellow plate is Nebraska, the off-white plate is "A.M.T", and the black plate is Michigan. The two "sideways" plate at the lower right are Missouri (red) and Nevada (yellow). All plates on the sheet are dated 1953.

Ah... I should have a set of those kicking around. Thanks!

What Robert said. Use the '62-vintage "Trophy Series" kit, or any of it's numerous reissues. Do NOT use the 1998-vintage kit with the opening trunk.

That's true, but the AMT '53 F-100 (which came out a year after the Revell '56) nailed the proportions of the 1:1. And Revell had brought out quite a few proportionally correct kits prior to that. It was possible, but there were times when they just slipped up and put out something that missed the mark.

Pondering what to stick on the back- perhaps two or three 4x6' hunting blinds?

David- is yours the earlier stock version, and are those SATCO tires I see on it?

Meh... any company with a back catalog as extensive as Revell's is bound to have a few junkers. But they had weird proportions on some kits as far back as the '62-vintage '56 F-100, with it's blobby fenders and weird greenhouse. Then there's my "favorite"- the "somehow slightly blockier than the 1:1" Jeep J10

Hard to tell where the Peugeot ends and the dumpster begins... ditto the Chevette.

I remember stumbling across this a few days ago on another site. Love it! Are those front wheels from the Silhouette trailer?

Well... know this- the things he says in interviews are rarely (if ever) meant to be taken seriously.

Unlike the '15 Mustang GT, this Build and Play kit actually has some chassis detail- but it would be hard to get away with a flat plate on a vehicle that sits as high as a Wrangler. I'm told the chassis from the Rubicon will fit under the body from this one with minimal work. if that's true you could probably use the Rubicon interior too, though you'd need to modify the inner door panels, as this one has full doors and obviously the inner door panels differ. This kit also has a separate hood and proper five-bolt wheels (the latter correctly shown in the pic).

In Tremors 3, Burt's Ford Explorer Sport Trac plunges over the side of a ravine and explodes, but when they get to the wreck it looks an awful lot like a Dodge Caravan.

What Steve said... you don't have the rub strip all the way gone yet. That being said, ghosting is a problem with these- something I learned when I built my Michigan State Police Crown Vic. Any of the solutions others have posted will work, I've also had good luck going over the primer with a sealer. I use DupliColor primer, and then go over it with their line of primer sealer once the bodywork is finished.

Nice! I've got the 1:24 Airfix version kicking around somewhere, I'm hoping it'l turn out half as nice as yours did.

Nice! I'd toyed with doing one of mine as a Park Ranger unit. 2/5/2015... the day of the Expedition.

Add a couple more cylinders and it would be perfect. Gonna have to steal that dual-plug Hudson idea...

If it'll be seen, I paint it. If it won't, I don't.