Erik Smith

That's cool - didn't know there was a 1/24 Pontiac overhead cam engine. Thought the only styrene version was from the MPC Firebird annuals. Cool.

Love the two tone paint and color choice. See you at the beach bro!

Great looking car. Only complaint would be the busy looking turn signal/fog light area of the front end. I like both the Miata and this Fiat.

Those steel wheels look outstanding. Separate lug nuts? Dust cap/axle end? I have a few things from Fireball Modelworks and they are top of line aftermarket products.

Really beautiful model. Great work.

Great looking model. The paint is beautiful.

Thanks! Grill was stripped, cleaned up, headlights bored out, painted with Alclad II, then a wash of future tinted with black acrylic paint.

Thanks! Spark plugs are just a slice of hex rod and two sizes of brass tubing. Here is a photo of the inspiration box

Here is the first model I've finished in quite some time... Inspired by an old AMT box... 1965 Chevelle wagon, straight six from a Trumpeter Nova

1962 for GM and Ford...it took Chrysler/Dodge until '63. I don't know why, I've just always like to simple, long lines of the era, expecially the Pontiacs.

Cool compilation of photos Aaron - saw way too much of all this summer. There was even a shower unit that lost control on a way to a fire and was totalled. I never think to snap photos of the camp and logistical support vehicles...

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts" Bertrand Russell

The link goes to an AMT 1968 El Camino for $89...? There is one directly below for buy it now of $22.59.

To make one in actual scale, I think just a layer or two of BMF at different heights would suffice on a thin piece of music wire or insect pin.

Very big shoes to fill. High quality products with high quality service will not be easy to reproduce. Congrats on the retirement, though!!!! 35 years is plenty.

Definitely a more difficult decision. Many built kits don't have a lot of resale value, even if built very well. I have considered just giving them away to family and friends before passing on... Also, I don't know about "burdening" my kids with my models - they might feel obligated to keep them even if I wouldn't be offended if they got rid of them.

If you have a big collection, sell them all now or anytime before you die. Then put all that money in a savings account. If you want, pretend eBay is YOUR personal stash, only you have to pay storage fees. Then, when you want to get a kit from "storage", pay for it on eBay from the savings account. Chances are, you will have a lot more money and less pressure on your family to rid a garage or storage room of all those models. Plus, you can constantly post about all the kits you "have" "in storage".

Racing white body, white white roof...

Very cool. Great work. There is one of these (1:1) for sale in the states...$200k. Yes, that many zeros.

We won't be bragging out west when our summer skies are obscured by thick layers of smoke...

Tamiya paints are very forgiving. I have found you can apply wets coats, so wet that they appear to obscure details, but not enough to run. After it dries, it's magically thinner and all the details are fine, along with a smooth paint job. As for mist coats, I just move the can faster at about the same distance if doing a wet coat.

Those slot cars were earlier in this thread or someplace else...very valuable collectibles in the Japanese market. Just the bodies sell for three figures, complete kit, well, you see...

It's Climate change... Come up to the pacific northwest. We have 0-40 percent of our usual snowpack. I work outside so see what's going on and this is the least snow I've ever experienced. Temps have been above normal for a month and we've set a few records. Will we regress to the mean in March? Maybe. We'll see.

In Spokane, we've had just the opposite. Record stretch for days over 50. Snow pack is abysmal. Hasn't been below freezing for a couple weeks. Very unusual for us this time of year. Not complaining one bit.

I think there was a mini dark age at the end of the 90s and through the early part of the century. AMT, after making nice models of just about everything (Pontiac Catalinas to Ford Explorers) crashed. Other makers had a few cool things, but lots of reissues. I think, looking at what's coming, this year is a global push - and somewhat unbelievable at that. I know I won't have nearly the time to build all the cool models slated for 2015.