PeeBee

Just saw this old thread. OK, what the heck: JoHan '67 Eldorado (bought it factory sealed, no tire burn!); JoHan stock '69 AMX (bought it factory sealed, tire burn on the hood); I guess my Etzel's Miller 91 is getting kinda rare; HRM Miller is already rare, I imagine, and; I have a pre-production AMT Pro-Modeler '57 Chevy with inspection/comment checklists, etc. I suppose that's rare. PB.

My taste in customs pretty much aligns with Bill Engwer's. In that era customs had context. Taking cars that were available and affordable and making them look sleeker; more modern (and, most of the time, knowing when to stop). Just as hot rods of the '30s through the '50s looked the way they did mainly to improve their performance. Except for a handful of rods from the early '60s (the Doyle Gammell Coupe comes to mind) and some retros from the '70s (California Kid, Jake's '34 3-window, etc.), I've always felt that hot rods had become irrelevant by the time the pony/muscle car era rolled around. As far as customs from from the mid-'50s through the '60s go, I don't think I've seen one that can top what the Detroit factory stylists were up to in the day. Not that all of their designs were tasteful or right-minded IMO, though; '58 Edsel, '59 Lincoln, the "Square Birds," certain early '60s Mopars are a few I can think of. Well, I could go on all day about this subject, but back to work... PB.

Thanks for sharing, Greg. This collection was consolidated with the Briggs Cunningham collection, BTW (years ago). Thus the full complement of Cunninghams. PB.

This was one of my old favorites. Five floors on 5th Avenue.

Hey Ron, I take the Metro-North Harlem line into the city several days a week and we pass an NYPD parking lot in Yonkers, or the upper Bronx(?). In that parking lot is parked a '65 or '66 Fury NYPD patrol car in green/white livery with the bubble gum machine up top, etc. I've seen a cover on it from time-to-time, but it otherwise sits out in the weather year-round, unprotected. Strange, it looks like somebody spent time and money on a restortaion, unless it just happens to be a survivor, but that is doubtful. Body looks to be super-straight. Of course, I've only seen it through the window of a moving train traveling 30-40 MPH (depending on the day) from abot 60' away. Yeah that regarding the Jo-Han kits. Last one I bought, about five years ago, was the '67 Eldorado (a holy grail), facory sealed, for $70.00. Luckily there was no trace of tire-burn, and the chrome is some of the best I've ever seen on a kit from any era. These days, I reserve the $200.00-$300.00 model purchases for must-have, limited-run kits of interesting subjects ('50s-'60s sports cars, sport racers and F1, mostly).

You never had to work at getting the right "stance" with the simple chassis-with-metal-axles in these old kits, apart from perhaps adjusting the track width. And, lowering or raising ride height could be simply and quickly achieved by selecting one of the three axle holes that were often provided in these kits. I don't display my models upside down, however if the chassis is interesting and perhaps part of what defines the car, like on an old ford w/dropped axle, halibrand QC, etc., or an F1/Indy car, let's say, then I do go for good and accurate chassis detail. But, yeah, mid-year Corvettes and early Mustang (Falcon!) chassis were pretty mundane.

The announcement for the release of the RMX '30 Model A Coupe in the "Coming Soon" section of Modelroundup is dated July...2016. This section of the site hasn't been updated in years. I would love to see them resurrect the tooling on both Model A kits and while they're at it fix the rear ends so that they have proper "buggy springs" w/banjo diffs, and Halibrand QCs, of course, as an option. That's the only thing about both kits that disuaded me from buying them. And, did the roadster come with an up-top?

Throw it away. Move on. Life is short. Buld the good stuff. Don't waste your time with such drivel.

‘99 Miata.

For space frames molded onto floor pans (commomn '60s practice), try this: Spray the frame rails, axles, etc., in your favorite shade of gloss or semi-gloss black (or whatever color). When it dries, brush paint the floor pan with whatever color you decide upon, flat black, red or grey primer, etc. It's much easier and faster to sidle up to the frame rails with a brush (and, even flow the paint along the rails) from the relatively flat surface of the floor pan than it is to paint the three small sides of the frame rails with a smallish detail brush, attempting to get a straight bead where the frame meets the floor pan. Especially if your using gloss paint on the frame, which tends to be less viscous than a flat paint, and requires more coaxing toward the edges, creating a wider margin for error. This will save on hours(?) (lots of mimutes?) of masking, too. If you need an authentic body-color overspray effect, then you would have to go back and mask a portion of the frame. I use this technique on my interiors as well; spray everything down with AlClad (or, now, with Molotow "chrome") and then go back and paint around, and up to, all of the "chrome" with the interior color. Often (most of the time) I will thin some of the interior color and flow it around the "chrome" details for a first pass, and then go back and nudge up to the details with a final, opaque coat of paint. This technique works well for picking out contrasting upholstery piping, too. Generally a good way of dealing with raised detail if you don't mind using a brush from time-to-time. PB.

I remember talking my mom into buying the Wild Dream / Tognotti's T double kit for me in Woolworth's (remember them? Our's had a vast model section) in1963. I don't know how I pulled that off. I was usually denied. My wife opines that is why I have such a huge collection of kits today. Loved that kit, though! PB.

Hi Randy, I received my HRM order yesterday, thank you. As usual, Harold's products are still of the highest quality. The 250 GTO tires are a nearly perfect fit for a vintage set of Detail Master PE Borranis w/turned rims that I was able to bag on eBay; a great wheel set and a shame they stopped making them. You have a great looking web site, BTW. Let me see, you had the forethought to hire a professional graphic designer, or, like many other modelers it seems, you are a pro (or have been) yourself? Anyway, regarding your note, the D-Type will be my second Profil 24 kit (finally a full detail D-Type! Yay!), however I'm just starting my first one: the 1953 Porsche 550 Carrera Panamericana. They have nicely proportioned and cast bodies and parts, but, like most limited-run niche kits (I have done a couple HRM Ferraris and the LM GT40), it does look to be a challenge (half the fun of it!) and requires a good amount of clean-up, etc. And, for instance, the Porsche has separate, "opening" doors, decklid and bonnet, however no provision for hinges; if they're to be operable it's up to the builder. Anyway, good luck with your new endeavor, and we'll certainly be doing business in the future. Best regards. PB.

Aaaah hah hah! Saw this coming :) Power generation, of course, which isn't going to go away, anyway. Yep, coal can be cleaned up. I was drafting/modeling up scrubber installations for coal plants back in the '80s. I guess the fines for not being in full compliance aren't high enough, though. Cheaper to pollute. Nuclear is the most efficient power source, and very clean until you have waste product; we were working on all kinds of whacky solutions for the DOE (and, more nefariously, for the DoD) back in the day. And, the public is afraid of nukes (thank 3-Mile-Island, Chernobyl and the Japanese tsunami), although there are very advanced redundant cooling systems such as those that we were designing for, ahem, production reactors, before the end of the Cold War put the kibosh on those programs. Don't forget hydro power. Totally renewable and very clean. Not cheap to build, though, which has always been a problem. But, you don't have to dam up rivers, create reservoirs and displace communities. We dug a channel into an elbow of the Mississippi 30 years ago and floated in a huge (it was almost as large as an aircraft carrier) power house (I think it had 10 or 12 turbines) and plugged it in. The river runs through it. It did cost a fortune, but not as much as a dam/reservoir and huge real estate acquisition and relocation. And then you have all the new renewables coming along. Not all are totally clean though. Solar and wind rely on storage, so the whole battery thing enters the equation (Yes, like electric cars. More engineering to do). I think the biggest challenge to powering up for a paradigm switch over to electric cars is distribution. The power grid is way over-taxed and has been for a long time, like the rest of our infrastructure. Lets's see: Obama wanted $500B for infrastructure (laughably naive low estimate for what was needed even "back then") and was shot down. Trump more realistically wants a trillion (still way too low - we need 2 trillion just for starters) and the republicans don't want to hear about it. Oh, well. So much for that job-creating idea.

We may as well be driving appliances, anyway. It seems like like everytime I get into the car nowadays I get stuck in traffic no matter how rural the setting, time of day, etc. Great that my LaGonzo XYZ can do 240 MPH, eh? I like hot rods, muscle cars and sports racers just as much as the next guy, but there's too many cars in regular use pumping exhaust into the atmosphere, all day long, everyday. Internal combustion automobiles are the largest producers of CO2 after power generation. Time to switch over to electric cars, walk more, get a bicycle, use mass transit, etc. Things change. That's life. It's simple. "They" will figure out the technology, especially as it get's more widely accepted and adopted, and there's a market and money to made, just like anything else. And, higher electric bills will be offset by what you no longer spend on gasoline. That's the way I see it. PB.

I've got the D-Type on the way. I contacted Profil 24 the other day about future availability of the Maser 450S and the Aston R1; there slated for re-release in 2018. Profil 24 will inform you via e-mail when a kit(s) is available. PB.

Outstanding work, as usual! May I ask how you made the top? Never mind. I found the answer. Sorry

Monogram Type 35 Bugatti; AMT '53 Ford F100; Monogram Blue Beetle; Monogram Little Deuce; AMT MB Gullwing. There's more, but these come right to mind. PB.

Great paint, great build. What brand of acrylics did you use? PB.

Yes, definitely throw them away. You can't sell them; they're not accurate renditions. Seriously though, I recently bought the Gunze w/engine knowing that the rear fender cut-outs were way off (for any GTO). The kit I picked up was significantly cheaper than the PE set w/wheels I was considering for my Fujimi GTO, so I figured "...what the heck?," maybe I can use the wheels and PE from the Gunze on my Fujimi. As it turns out, the Gunze "Borranis" are way too small for the Fujimi Avons so I ordered the Fujimi "15-inch" PE Borranis (you can still get them) w/turned aluminum rims (the Gunze rims are plastic). And, maybe I'll just go ahead and build the Gunze, anyway, after I fix the rear wheel cut-outs. The rear valance is much wider than on the Fujimi, too, and I'd have to say that the Fujimi is the more accurate body, by far. But the Gunze body has a voluptuousness to it that I like. These Gunze kits were released, what, 35-40 years ago? It's my guess that the masters of Gunze kits from this era were eyeballed and measured from photos. It really seems doubtful that they had access to drawings or actual 1/1 cars; other Gunze kits from that era are inaccurate as well. I have the full-detail XKE and though it's reasonably accurate, more so than any other XKE kit that I've come across, there's still issues. Funnily enough, the most glaring inaccuracy on the XKE is the upper back arch on the rear fender cut-outs! Happy modeling! PB.

I remember purchasing the 1/8 Jag with S&H Green Stamps when I was a kid. Yep, the redemption outlet actually had them in stock. I'll never forget how excited I was when I had enough stamps saved up. That kit built up real nice, too. PB.

Tenax no more? Rats. I've been using that stuff for years. Still have an un-opened bottle, fortunately. Oh, well. PB.

Yeah, that was a great road course. Now it's a golf course. Sad.

Yeah, I've been advised that the CA works better if you sand it before it's had a chance to fully harden, but my life is chaotic and bench time is often abruptly interrupted... PB.

I always thought that the Squadron green was courser and meant for broad coverage, while the white was finer and meant more for "finish" filling and sanding (could swear that I read this on Squadron's web site, though I could be wrong). I used both for years and never had a problem with either, shrinking or otherwise. When Tamiya introduced their product I switched over and found it more to my liking, just as I prefer their masking tape to other's. I have tried CA as a filler and found that it dried much harder than the plastic, which, for me, caused problems when feathering, etc. I only bother with 2-part when putting a finish on metal bodies, but I really don't do much heavy filling/sculpting. When I do have large areas to close up or modify on styrene I prefer to "weld" in stretched sprue with Tenax 7R. PB.