Phildaupho

This was their reply on Nov 10 2020 - Thank you for contacting Fine Scale Modeler Magazine. This item is out of stock and has been discontinued. Unfortunately, the only Scale Auto DVD ROM we have available is the "Scale Auto: First 35 Years DVD ROM".

There is a very nice feature called Birth of Cool on the Hirohata Merc - surprisingly in the current Road & Track magazine

Road & Track is like a completely new print magazine. The current issue has a wide ranging custom car theme which includes an article called Birth of Cool about the Hirohata Merc as well as an article on Roth's Orbitron and for sports car fans there are many custom Porsche 911s featured

The 5 year collection was advertised for sale in the June 2020 issue of Scale Auto so I assume those 2014-2018 issues and 5 years of Contest Cars were scanned and the DVD made but when I contacted Fine Scale I was told only the first 30 years was available. If the scans were indeed made it seems ridiculous and a big waste that a DVD would not be made available because I am sure there would be sales. The only positive thing I can say about the situation is that there is a good Mark Jones article in the current FSM. Attachments area

Extremely well built.

Great project well built !!

Great looking IndyCar. One of my favourite liveries. I built the Paul Tracy version. He did donuts virtually in front of me when he won in Vancouver

Great looking model of a very striking racing car. I am not sure what scale yours is but I did build one many years ago from maybe an Academy kit that if I remember correctly had incredibly thick and hard plastic and could be battery/electric motor powered.

This is beautiful. Maybe the ultimate hot rod.

Great to see such an attractive 65 but maybe I am partial seeing as I once owned a 65 V8 4speed hardtop

Thanks carl -It was a fun a fun build that turned out how I hoped it would.

No this is regular chrome. It applies just as usual - conforming well to irregularities and stays stuck. I was not impressed with the ultra bright except for absolutely flat surfaces.

I bought some Bare-Metal-Foil Chrome this week and it appears it has changed. The back side of the foil is now a brass colour and in certain light the top surface seems to have a yellowish glow. So far, the only place the brass back side has been an issue for me is doing windshield and back window trim with the inside looking like brass. This is a photo of the back side. The foil on the right is the new stuff This is the top side with the new stuff on the right

Very well built and photographed

Yes they are a little small and the A-pillar is too thick so there might be some room for improvement maybe by using the vent windows from the Revell 49 ?? I have got to be careful this does not turn into a work in progress !!

If it wasn't for your finger I would think this Shelby was the real thing.

Very well built Woody

Although I will not be starting construction of the Hirohata Merc until sometime next month, I have been been thinking about it a lot and looking at many photos. I was about to install a divider on the Revell 49 Merc windshield for my Sam Barris Merc when I could not resist the urge to open up the resin Hirohata windshield area to the size of the Revell windshield. I made a masking tape template and started cutting and grinding. Once it was to size I realized how flat the Revell windshield is compared to that of the AMT on which the Hirohata model is based. Fortunately I had a spare AMT windshield which I trimmed to fit. I think this simple modification makes the resin Hirohata Merc look much more like the real thing.

You are a lucky man Randy. I would be very satisfied to own Danbury Mint models of iconic cars such as the Hirohata Merc, Ala Kart, Kookie Kar, and California Kid to name a few but I don't and likely never will so I will have to be content with building models of them although they certainly will never be as accurate.

As far as I know there were three cars - the Hirohata Merc, Gypsy Rose 63 Impala Lowrider and the McGee 32 Ford Roadster Hi-Boy

Another one hit out of the park. Very inventive and well executed

Great restoration Russ. Really like your colour choice. As someone else mentioned - not familiar with MG wheels

Extremely realistic

The Hirohata Merc was on display in Washington DC in 2017

This looks like a very impressive kit. I have an built Model Factory Hiro version with driver and decals to build a James Dean replica. This USCP version looks superior in many respects like the interior, headlights, extensive photo-etch and chassis bottom detail. I like how you can see the spare tire under the louvers.