modelercarl

I was going through the instructions for the truck, motor and suspension kits in anticipation of receiving my order.. I noticed that the assembly of all three is meant to be concurrent with various steps eliminated in the truck assembly and replaced with steps from the engine and suspension assembly. I originally ordered just the truck kit but added the other two after thinking it over for a couple of days, glad I did seeing that some modifications would be required to add the engine and suspension to a built truck kit.

I bought a 1957 Fairlane 500 convertible in '58 when I was 17. White with a black top, 312 engine with 3 speed shift on the column. Made some money with it drag racing from the traffic lights around the Detroit suburbs. Always been my favorite vehicle out of the many I have owned. I altered the AMT kit by cutting the top off and I found a boot for the down top look at Modelhaus, see attached pics. As you can see it was sold as a boot for the '57 Mercury. I have had another build in process for a while now because I was never satisfied with the first build, it was done years ago when my skills were not that good. As Modelhaus is no longer in business your only chance for finding one of these boots is probably Ebay or a specific post here on this board or on the "other" model board. Good luck.

I have the 36" Deluxe model with internal light, motor and fan with switches for operating all. I have it set up near a window on a "homemade" bench and vent it out a nearby window with 4" flexible metal duct. The noise is not a problem, fairly quiet for being used in a small room. It evacuates fumes very well, I leave it running for about 5 minutes after finishing painting (MCW lacquers) but this may not really be necessary, just a habit with me. It also evacuates any overspray very efficiently but I wish the filter was larger. I use the 12"x20"x1" recommended size and find that it requires changing regularly due to paint buildup. I may be contributing to this due to the way I paint, I like to lay down "wet" coats and am not very good at minimizing overspray, just not that talented. I am not sure how long I have had this booth, at least 5 years, and it is by far the best investment I have ever made for my model building hobby. The quality of the build is excellent! BTW, as a retired engineer I have a 36" wide x 50 yard roll of mylar that I "inherited" when the company I worked for closed and I line the inside of the cabinet with this to capture overspray and I replace this about once a year, keeping the cabinet in like new condition. Based on my experience with this Peace Keeper cabinet I would strongly recommend any of the cabinets built by (Bob) Pace.

I got this 1951 Chevrolet kit today, saw it on eBay last Saturday for a good price, and as I have been looking for another one for a while I bought it. In front of the kit is a build I did about 20 years ago after returning to the hobby after many years away. This represents the exact car that was my parents first NEW car ever. I was 10 years old when they bought and it replaced a late 30's Ford that I remember being a sedan. I have wanted to build another model to replace the first and hopefully improve the quality. I definitely have better painting equipment and skills, can do better on the BMF and will try to do more detailing.

This is the perfect response, although I think "very few" might be off a little.....

Just a note for you....back in January this year I decided to sell off some of my stash of resin kits and listed 2 Tom Coolidge kits that I had. These were kits that I bought for friends that wanted replicas of the cars they had after they graduated from high school in 1959. I bought these about 8-9 years ago and I just never got around to building them as the guys just seem to lose interest. I listed them on eBay with starting bids of $90 each and 2 guys got into a bidding war and the winner ended up paying me $642 plus shipping for the 2 of them. The info you got from others for listing is all good, I would suggest taking and posting 2 or 3 pics at least though. Good luck!

Part 136 the steering wheel noted above is "excess" to this kit as noted in the instructions, part 61 is to be used in the build of this kit. That doesn't negate the poor sprue attachment, but eliminates any concern for now.

I think there are already some "self driving" trucks on the road. We regularly have incidents around here where semi trucks plow into traffic that has been stopped for previous accidents or road work killing people who had no chance of getting out of the way. I-75 between the Ohio border and Detroit is notorious for one semi plowing into another one in front of them.

Technically "not on the road" but close. Living near the GM proving grounds in Milford, MI, I always see GM products both in camouflage and not but this is probably the first time I have seen so many in one group. They usually travel in groups of three and are not supposed to gather together like this. One exception seemed to be the 2020 Corvettes travelling in a group of 4. That might have been because they only 4 road ready prototypes. Have been seeing a lot of Cadillacs in the past month or so, way more than the pickups.

I have to confess that I have no interest in building military models but reviewing your pictures very closely, I am in awe of your build! The detail in this kit is excellent but your paint choices and the weathering are masterful....really create a model that will be difficult for other builders to duplicate. Curious about how many hours you have in the build of this kit.

You turned what in my opinion is a so-so looking kit into something very impressive. The colors and detailing are excellent, but doing a rather simple alteration like changing the stance is a real game changer on this kit. Going to pay more attention to the stance on my future builds.....thanks.

Shapeways should be able to just reverse the image and print one for you....

My oldest grandson will be graduating this coming Saturday from Western Michigan with his pre-med degree. still deciding where to enroll for his medical degree but has started the process with application to about 6 universities. In addition, my #3 grandson received his acceptance letter from the University of Michigan for enrollment in their pre-med program in the fall. These two guys have worked hard for this and I could not be prouder of them for achieving their goals.

I built my own custom acrylic display cases for displaying my big rig builds, all car carriers, because I could not envision fighting the dust devil all the time. They also serve as excellent display cases for cars, etc. that I build. I frequently rotate or change the models displayed as my mood changes. The cases are permanently bonded on all sides except for the front cover which is a slight interference fit that I can slip in and out for access to the models.

The latest irksome habit I have noticed in grocery stores.....shoppers walking beside their carts, instead of behind, guiding it with one hand and taking up about 3/4 of the aisle. I am tempted to take a pic and show them how stupid they look, plus how obnoxious the practice is.

Well said..

x2

After retiring at the end of 2002, after working 50-55 hours a week for almost 30 years, I had a hard time adjusting to so much idle time all of a sudden. One of my daughters found a program run by Hyundai/Kia out of their engineering center in Sumpter Twp., near Ann Arbor, MI. They had 2 crews, one days and one nights, that road tested all of their new and future model vehicles on a variety of roads in southwest Michigan area. They usually had 3 test routes that they ran where they tried to include 15% gravel, 15% urban (during rush hour), 10% through unincorporated areas, 25% expressway and 35% suburban/urban roads during non rush hour. These routes were revised or replaced with new routes about every 3 months. Every vehicle was driven at least 100,000/year before being scrapped. There usually was 2 versions of a model vehicle being run at all times, except for hand built models of future offerings. Hyundai/Kia used standard corporate forms that each driver was responsible for filling out during their daily shift that documented a variety of inspections and tests that were to be performed and the drivers were often tasked with special inspections and tests that were required on a daily basis. When issues or problems were identified by the drivers, they were addressed by the mechanics and the vehicles were then put through a rigorous test drive to address whether or not the problem was resolved correctly. In addition to this facility doing vehicle testing, Hyundai/Kia had warm weather testing in Arizona, cold weather testing in Colorado and Canada. This testing program is still being run as outlined above by Hyundai/Kia.

WOW! That is the best build I think I have seen of the Trumpeter kit despite it's shortcomings. The paint and foiling are excellent, the interior is spot on and the photography has captured every detail magnificently. I bought a '60 Catalina when they came out so these have always held a special place in my memory....had several friends who bought them that year, Catalinas, Venturas, and Bonnevilles. Again....an excellent build of this kit!!!

US Army E-5, 1961-1964. 513th Intelligence Corps Group, HQ Oberursel, Taunus Mountains, Germany. Was a great experience with a variety of TDY postings in West Germany, Berlin the best and Heidelberg a close second. Almost re-enlisted but had not been back to the States in almost 3 years and a lot of those who did re-enlist found themselves heading to Vietnam.

Well, I ordered two of these last week. I have two grandsons who are somewhat interested in building (have built 3 kits each so far 1/25 scale). They thought this bigger scale would be neat to try and for the price, I thought this was an ideal time to get them one. Surprise, surprise....I got two kits in sealed bags in one box with zeroxed instructions! Looked through everything and I have to say the styrene looks very good, not much cleanup should be required and the chrome is some of the best I have seen in a kit. Thinking I should have got one for me.

Mike, It kind of surprised me when he said 4 inches. I probably should have taken a picture from the side and lower because it does look lowered, but I would have guessed 2 inches max, it sits down over the wheels real nice. I told him that I build 1/25 scale models and that there are kits for 1965 Galaxies and he got pretty excited about it. I told him I could do a search on them and let him know for sure. He wanted to know if I could build one of his car and what it would cost. I did a quick search on ebay and there are several kits listed so I might think about it.......I have built 4 kits for friends of their teenage cars, but never for money.

Spotted this very nice looking 65 Ford Galaxie 500 at the local Walmart this afternoon. Most significant thing about it.....painted bumpers. He also removed the side chrome. Lowered 4 inches in front and then lowered the rear to achieve the stance he wanted. The rims are a perfect complement. Claims it is a real chick magnet!

I have attached a picture from the 1960 Pontiac Dealer Brochure that spells out the stock interiors offered for the Bonneville that model year. As you can see the picture shows the tri-color interior as a stock offering (five colors available) and then in the word descriptions it say that you can get an "all Morrokide in four colors" So both a tri-color and a solid single color were standard options.

In 1957 when I was 16, I owned a '53 hardtop, there were 3 of us in town that had them. 2 of us had the standard full wheel factory hubcaps and the other one had dog dish hubcaps. During the next year we all added bubble skirts on the rear and Oldsmobile spinners on the front. We lived in the metro Detroit area and I don't recall ever seeing wire wheels on any Fords back then. Your models are always top notch in every respect and I usually search them out when looking for ideas on how to improve my detailing skills. The cars we kids drove during this period were almost exclusively Fords and Chevys. Usually when looking at your models I can say "oh yeah Bill or Terry or Mike had one of those!"