2002p51

The Car Craft article shows the headers both ways. In the black and white photos and in the cutaway illustration, the headers are the funny car style. Also the "Hot Wheels" logo and other markings are different on the museum car than they are in the Car Craft photos.

I like that, nice job.

Oh, I totally agree. It comes down to how much work are you willing to do to get an accurate replica. This particular car is one that I've wanted in my collection for years and I've looked at modifying each of the generic wedge cars that we've seen over the years with no result. That's the reason I fired off an order as soon as I saw that this one was available. I did have what I now see was an unrealistic expectation that this one would be better. At this point in my modeling, I'm just not in the mood to completely rework a kit to get a reasonable result.

Well, that's always a possibility. However, MPC's DNA is all over this kit and can be seen in the seat, roll bars, the rear support for the non-existing wing, etc. etc. The bottom line is this frame is all wrong for the Prudhomme car and to make matters worse it scales out to a 209" wheelbase while the real car was 220". That would be easy enough to fix wwhere it not for the full body. Stretching that is a whole other deal. I'm not as excited about this kit as I was when it first arrived on my doorstep.

Just now comparing the kit body to the Car Craft cover photo and I think the kit wedge doesn't taper from rear to front as it appears on the actual car. May or may not be able to fix that effectively. After measuring it, the body is 4/16" narrower at the front than the rear although, visually, that doesn't seem like enough.

I did a search and didn't find anything on this new kit so I hope I'm not going over covered ground. I got my hands on this kit yesterday and have been digging in to it. The frame, engine, etc are all from the original MPC Garlits mid-engined Swamp Rat 1R. That makes the frame incorrect as Prodhomme's car was built by Lil' John Buttera and didn't use a Garlits' frame. I don't see this as any problem however on a full body car like this because the only part of the frame that really shows is the roll cage. It's different from the kit but that difference is easy enough to correct with some Evergreen rod. The body, which on the 1:1 car was built by Nye Frank, appears to be an all new piece. It's very close in my initial inspection although the coming around the cockpit may be a little too high, but we'll see. The engine is typical for MPC and would probably best be replaced by one from the early Revell funny car and dragster series kits. The valve covers and injector from Revell are much closer to correct than what's in this kit. Anyway, that's just my first impressions upon opening the box, so here are some reference photos so you can decide for yourself.

I've been a Tenax junkie since I first discovered the stuff years ago. So I was heartbroken and battled severe depression when it became so hard to get recently. (Okay, that's a little overly dramatic, but I did miss it) So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that Micro Mark has a product just like Tenax. In fact it's so much like Tenax that they named it the "Same Stuff"! So I ordered some and it arrived today and after a few quick tests I can tell you with confidence and great joy that it really is the same stuff! It comes in 2 oz. bottle (twice the size of Tenax) for $5.95 plus shipping. And no I don't work for Micro Mark and I don't get a kick back on every bottle, I'm just glad I found the stuff and wanted to share. That's all.

It's a common thing on the local TV news around here. You hear things like this: "A 25 year old man was killed yesterday when his car went out of control and ran off the road. And I can't help thinking; what was he driving, Christine? No, the driver ran out of skills and crashed all by himself.

All these modern amenities and electronic gimmicks on new cars is the main reason why I prefer old cars. The last new car I bought is my 2002 Mustang and I have no plans, or desire, for anything newer. Last year I had reason to drive my sister's brand new GMC SUV and I hated it. That blind spot warning thing in the mirror was actually more of a distraction than a help. (And I'm a mirror watcher) Of the six vehicles we own four don't even have a radio. And in fact I don't always listen to the radio in the ones that do. It's just another distraction. (Plus the music stations around here suck! ) I normally carry my cell phone in the pocket of my jeans which means, when driving and belted in, I can't get to it anyway. So if it rings, it rings, I'll listen to the voice mail later. And yea, I'm an old guy. Got my first license in 1964 and the driver's ed program in my high school was really good and actually taught us how to drive defensively. So I agree, no such thing as a traffic "accident" and cars don't "go out of control" all by themselves. The only reason cars crash into each other, as previously stated, is due to incompetence (low skills), inattention, or both. Stay safe out there folks.

Thanks for the link to the earlier thread. Surprised I did a search before posting this and it didn't come up. Thanks again.

Okay, I know I've been paying very little attention to the model car market for the last several months (maybe longer) but what's up with this: Did I miss this? Has it been out? Is it gone? Is it coming soon? Some body educate me please.

Before we look at the photos of the completed model, click on the link to see the under construction thread. Go ahead, we'll wait. Okay, here's the finished product. As you can see (I hope) the custom mixed maroon color shows better here. Nothing unusual or trick in the final assembly. I didn't spend very much effort in the interior because, as you can tell, you can't see very much in there. The only thing not out of the box is the license plate which I pulled off the web, resized to scale, and printed it on glossy photo paper. Done! I really like 1:1 scale Model A coupes so this kit is a natural hit for me. I'd like to get one or two more but I understand they're already in short supply and most retailers, even the on-line ones, are waiting for a new shipment. I think Revell has a hit on their hands.

First let me mention that I haven't touched my model work bench or done any model car work at all for at least the last six months, maybe longer. There's no real reason for this other than a general lack of interest and my time being filled with other hobbies and activities. It took Revell's new '30 Model A coupe to get me back. So with that being said, take a look at the progress so far. Using the '32 frame I dropped the front about 2 scale inches improving the stance. The engine is a Chevy 409 from the AMT '62 Bel Air kit with valve covers and air cleaners from spare parts. All of the paint is Testors Model Master. Although it looks brownish in the photos the main color is really a dark maroon made by mixing some Gloss Black into Guards Red until I got the shade I wanted. The interior is black and Sand. The wheels are just Gloss Black. The engine is Gold. I'm not as bothered by the size and shape of the roof opening and the visor as some others have mentioned. I only have two real criticisms of this kit. One is the small block Chevy engine. It looks too generic to me. Just doesn't really capture the "look" very well. The other is the decal sheet which is a complete waste of paper. Other than that I really like this kit, mostly because I really like Model A coupes, and I'll probably buy several more. Now, the question is; who's going to be the first one to use two bodies and make a stock height roof?

My wife and I moved to East Tennessee ten years ago and I have allowed myself to pick up some of the lingo and accent. I use y'all all the time and I have a decided twang in much of my speech now. There are also some parts of the language here that you hear all the time. For instance if someone thinks it would be possible to do something they will say; "you might could", or "I might could". If you have a choice of routes to your destination they will tell you; "Ever which way you want." I let those slip out of me once in a while too. One thing I have not been able to do is to drop the beginning of the second word in a phrase like they do here. For instance instead of saying; "I'm going over there." You hear; "I'm going over aire." I just can't say it like that. They have a popular soft drink here called "Co-Cola" instead of Coca Cola, and most here drink sweet tea, not iced tea. Super markets don't have shopping carts, they have buggys. When somebody wants to know what year your car is they will ask you; "What model is it?" And those cars don't have manual transmissions, they have a "straight drive". There is a wide range of accents here in this part of Tennessee, in part because we are also very close to southwest Virginia. Some are mild and some are very strong. Not long after we got here my wife and I were at a local car show and this good ol' boy walked up to us and was talking to us about our car. He talked for about 3 or 4 minutes and after he left, I turned to my wife and almost together we both said "I have no idea what he just said!"

Is it funny that, throughout this entire thread, everybody was bringing up different things that bug them and it was fine. But all of a sudden so many are coming to the defense of the incorrect use of the word build! Amazing. You know, using incorrect speech, no matter how accepted it may be, says something about the person who uses it. And it usually isn't something good. But I've noticed through many many years on forums like this that any time you deviate from the accepted paradigm it starts trouble.

I have scanned through this entire thread (Yes, I have no life and nothing better to do!) and I can't believe nobody has mentioned this. Well, actually I can because it has become so ingrained, especially on modeling forums and those annoying car shows, that nobody seems to even notice anymore. The word build. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Build is not a noun! It's not, really. There's no such thing as a build. It's a verb. You can build something, you can build a model, you can build a car, you can build a building, but you can not build a build. I have well over 250 completed model cars in my collection and there's not a build among them. So stop it. Please. Another one? NASCAR. There's no such thing as a nascar. NASCAR is an acronym that stands for "National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing". Just like build, it's not a noun and there's no such thing as a nascar. The vast majority of models in my collection are NASCAR race cars, NASCAR Monte Carlos, NASCAR Ford Torinos, etc. There's not a single nascar anywhere in the room. Stop the carnage, please. There, I'm sitting down, I feel better now.

Sometimes it works out. I built this Dodge Demon a few years ago. The body is an MPC orginal, molded back in the '70s. The chassis, interior, and engine all came from the AMT '71 Duster 340 kit of much more recent vintage. Everything fit surprisingly well.

Since my wife and I are empty nesters in a 3 bedroom home space is not a huge problem. (Although no matter how much you have, you could always use more, right?) So one of the extra bedrooms has been turned into a model room/office. I built a long work surface against one wall that serves as my model work bench and my work-from-home space. And the other end is my wife's "office" for her rental home business. Then there is a central peninsula that holds the shared printer and my photo scanner and some other computer "stuff". My airbrush station is out in the garage.

Thanks. I thought about what you're saying and I'm not going to hang it right up against the ceiling but a little lower and in a bank so I'll see lots more than just gray and props.

I'm calling it done. It's far from IPMS ready but it will look just fine hanging from the model room ceiling so I'm happy with it. I'm also glad to be done with it. It took up a lot of room on the workbench and there were times when it was tricky finding ways to hold it and move it around while working on it. No more "big" planes for me!

Decals are done. These just might be the best decals I've ever used on a plane or a car. They're super thin, very opaque, go on easy, and snuggle down perfectly. There are about a hundred little small stencil decals like you usually see on military planes but since this will be hanging from the ceiling I think I'm going to save my eyes and my nerves and skip 'em!

Took a break for a while (vacation to Florida actually) but today I got the heavy lifting part of the paint job done. Masking off the de-icer boots took 3 or 4 times longer than it took to actually spray them. Next I can start adding some the detail parts, gun turrets and such, then it's decal time. Man this thing is huge!

Well, years ago I did this using a disc of clear styrene on which I airbrushed the spinning prop effect. (it looked better before being coated with years of ceiling dust! ) The plane is positioned as if turning on to final, gear down, flaps down, pilots head turned to look where he's turning, etc. I'm not planning on doing this with the B-17 however because, well, there's four of them and I've gotten lazy in my old age!

Because I don't have any room for a display that would be that size. From the beginning I planned to hang this thing from the ceiling. I guess I always knew that most of the interior would be impossible to see (especially hanging from the ceiling) but it was fun and interesting to paint detail it anyway.