styromaniac

Sorry...youtube link from my android won't link.

Favorite obscure music? Think 1972-73....Blacksburg Va. Jethro Tull was booked to play Cassell Coliseum at Virginia Tech. They were touring on the strength of their "Aqualung" LP...which every frat boy and jock was blasting out of their dorm room at the time. I liked Tull's earlier effort "Stand Up", but had lost interest in them in favor of other acts. But then I heard that a protege of Frank Zappa...Don Von Vliet aka Captain Beefheart was to be Tull's opening act. Having been blown away by prior exposure to this guy I just had to check him out live. Anyone familiar with his unique brand of music knows what I'm talking about. Should've seen the faces on the Joe College crowd when this band of eccentrics took the stage and bombarded the arena with the Don's gravelly voice & harmonica , odd ball lyrics, maniacal slide guitar solos and their odd time signatures. One critic described it as "a truck rolling down the highway on four different shaped wheels". I just had to have their "Clear Spot" album, wrapped in clear vinyl. It's perhaps his most accessible L.P., moving from the sublimely soulful "My Head is My Only House Unless It Rains" & "Too Much Time" to the frantically psychotic " Big Eyed Beans From Venus". Great lyrical content too..." men let your wallets flop out, and women...open up your purses!" Or ..." Women like long neck bottles, and a big head on their beer." Like somebody posted once...if Carl Sagan had put Captain Beefheart on his Voyager record that sailed out into interstellar space...long after we are all gone as a species the alien race that spins that music would say " this guy was a head of his time". http://youtu.be/UB6N4y1ZB-Y

Glad you could keep this place humming, hate to think what it would be like without some outlets for us homebound hobbyists!

There's an IPMS Region 2 Convention at the Salem Civic Center in Va Oct 16-17 that will hopefully take place and draw a good crowd, followed by the TAMS ( Tidewater Automotive Modelers Society - theme Rat Rods ) the following weekend in Norfolk. Other than that the only other event I know of is the Sept 26 consolidation of the NNL East and TriState shows in N.J. ( bit of a long haul for me ). It any case starting to sound like at least a 5 month wait to get in any good shows in our area....the way things are going.

Sponsored by MAMA ( Maryland Automotive Modelers Association ) , was to be held at Harve de Grace Md . The club newsletter has posted the notice that the officers just cant pull it off this year given the health restrictions and possible conflicts with other rescheduled shows down the road. Bummer.

Nice benches guys. Dang J.C.!....a lot of good work has come out of your tiny work space!

I think that might be the problem, if I recall correctly given time MicroSol will actually start to make the decal soften to the point it easily breaks.

Magnifico! Love the color....and the 60's custom look.

Is this the hard to find Revell '30 coupe that is supposedly making a comeback some day? Couple of questions...where did you source your flat head, and what paint co. provided Washington Blue? The Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. S.C.o.T. blower is a dandy piece. The Revell '37 pick up is a good source of period parts too.

I have a couple of the original issue kits from the 60s....I will be watching your progress.

If the popularity of the hobby is measured by the presence of neighborhood hobby shops I'd say it is in definite decline....I live in Northern Virginia....outside DC...a major metropolitan area. In the last 25 years I've seen several hobby stores close up shop...we are down to just one now and it's out near Dulles and caters primarily to radio control. Hobby Lobby has taken up some slack , they carry paints and some modeling tools but their kit selection is very narrow...mostly a handful of truck and muscle car kits with a smattering of military subjects. What gives me some hope that the hobby survives is the attendance at the local model contests, here and in Richmond and the surrounding "ruburbs". Participation remains strong. And yes, Gundam is a coming thing. But attendance of the shows is holding the hobby together. Guess everybody is buying their kits and paints online.

Agreed. I managed to acquire two of the three Revell double kits...the Mooneyes dragster and the Fiat kits...although I had to supplement them with parts pack parts as one was pretty much a glue bomb kit. The Bantam Bomber Scarlet Screamer eludes me to this day.

Great shade of blue....nice finish. What paint is that? Or is that the kit color?

https://images.app.goo.gl/d5QEg6nBT8xsfVad6

Since the 1964 Monogram Little T was the first model car I ever entered in a competition when I started this hobby a half century ago I was curious to see how much my skill set had improved so I purchased 2 or 3 original issue glue bombs off the internet. Every one had disintegrating front suspensions and glue stained windshields. I managed to create the survivor shown below. Most of the deteriorated chrome I deplated and painted. Some black washes helped bring out the details. Funny how my first Little T won me a second place junior division trophy back in 65, and more than 50 years later my salvage job won 2nd place at an IPMS show in Fairfax Va.

Wow Casey...looks like you nailed it! Thanks again for your assistance.

Sounds logical. At first I thought it had to be a Woodie kit but the drag racing type decals didnt seem to fit, the scenario you cite makes more sense.

Thanks guys...I knew there might be one or two modelers with a good grasp of our history out there. I'll PM you Casey.

Found it on Ebay , seller simply listed it as "Static Model Wahini Wagon Cowabunga Unused Decal Sheet Vintage 1/24 Scale"....what a mouthful, but seller didn't know the source kit. This link to the image works on my computer but given the way this is going probably won't work here. https://www.ebay.com/itm/15380726012

Tried posting a photo from the model contest showing the Fiat, same problem, wouldn't upload. And this website was shut down shortly last night for maintenance....wonder if that has something to do with it.

I had no problems posting pics of the IPMS Model show in Richmond Va in the contest section from my smart phone. All I get now when I draw from my photos is a triangle with an explanation point and a negative 200 number. " Upload Failed".

Dang....cant get the image to upload.

Can't remember the source kit, I might've acquired it off a vendors table box of decals. Pretty sure it's either an ancient AMT or perhaps MPC kit. Maybe a fellow modeler who cut his teeth like I did in the early 60s can identify it. ( I used the Iskenderian parrot Polydyne decals on a recently completed 1/32 Monongram Hemi Fiat kit and one of the decals began to disintegrate as I placed the model on a contest table....shouldve coated it with clear but I tested the others prior to application and they held up well ).

Really captures the look and feel of a 60's quarter- miler.