mrmike

Dominik, I plan on leaving the vinyl roof as is in the color I painted it with. I may add a clearcoat of semi-gloss clear before it is completed. The Story McNally returns to Boston in time to meet Caitlyn for dinner. He tells her about his day and his trip to Springfield. Caitlyn tells McNally of her desire to return home to visit with her folks and friends someday soon. With the weekend almost here, they both can travel to Springfield and she can visit with her parents and friends while McNally investigates Derek Parregrin further, including a late night visit to Derek's house and a closer look at the flatbed wrecker. They leave the restaurant and head for McNally's Charger Daytona parked just down the street when McNally's cell phone rings. The call is from one of McNally's longtime informants and he answers the call and says, "Zachy, what's up?" Zachy replies, "Meet me at the diner. I'm in trouble." "Stay there. I'm on my way!" The Build I know, I know...it's been a couple of weeks since an update on this build. Well, here's an update...the interior is underway. I detailed the side panels using chrome silver and metalizer paints and installed them along with the seats. McNally Will Return...

Thanks guys! John, I have about 25 blue painted models in my collection of about 200 or so models. Jamie, I did not prime the body. Just to move things along, I cleaned the body and painted it when it was dry. I have completed the engine. I was going to use the dual carb intake until I lost one of the carbs, so I will use the single carb intake instead. The chassis is done. Since all the components are molded into the chassis, detail painted is all that's needed. The interior is done. More to come...

I can understand that Derick. I too, wished I had pictures of all my cars over the years, but many of them have disappeared somewhere along the way. I detail painted the Torque Thrust wheels and picked out a set of tires from the kit. The tires are the Goodyear L60-15's. I painted the body, hood and valance panels with Tamiya TS-54 Light Metallic Blue. This is only 2 light coats of paint. I have also painted the chassis in red oxide primer and the interior pieces in Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black. More to come...

I have this kit and this is the first time I have seem one built up. Yours came out looking great! I now have something to reference to in the future for my build. Great job!

I was looking at the picture and noticed the TV Guide in the holder. They haven't produced a digest size TV Guide in quite some time. That holder must have been some old stock that you would find in a discount store. Great idea for re-purposing!

WOW! I had forgotten about this thread and I am very surprised to see that it had resurfaced on Christmas Day. While it has been questioned about why this thread was originally posted, I just wanted to know how other people felt about their collection of kits and why they have so many. This isn't a psychological examination of collecting or storing of kits, I am more curious of how others feel about why they collect. Isn't this why we start a conversation? I have bought kits in the past thinking that I am going to build them, write down my ideas for building the kit (photos, color options, extra parts) and put that kit into the stash for building at a later date. Over time, that kit fell to the bottom of the build list, being replaced by other kits that I have acquired. I suppose I could call it Modelers Short Attention Span (MSAS). This isn't a debilitating condition, unless you are spending every cent you have on model kits. My wife doesn't watch Hoarders anymore, so that phase has come and gone and has been replaced by watching all the shows on HGTV. This means she'll be coming up with ideas for home improvements around this house. Like I've got time for that...

Thanks guys! I have finished my '40 Ford Street Rod and it is posted in Under Glass. I would like to thank all those who took the time to view and to comment on my WIP.

My '40 Ford Street Rod painted with Testors Guards Red, built mostly OOB, and painted with Testors Guards Red.

I started on the engine this morning and I am using the dual carb manifold. I have ditched the front metal axle in favor of two small pins for the front wheels. This will allow me to fill in the sides of the oil pan with some scrap styrene. Bye-bye hole! I plan on wiring the engine. More to come...

I know this kit is junk, but it is a challenge for me and I do need to challenge myself from time to time. I didn't like the stance and my first thought was to just glue the wheels on and be done with it. Well, the modeler in me said to do it right and I started grinding away at the rear spring and the spring mount on the chassis with my Dremel and a sanding drum. Now, that's more to my liking! I am going to try and finish this '40 Ford today! More to come...

My plan is to build this one basically OOB and add some detail to the engine and change the wheels and tires. This kit is from old tooling so the chassis is what it is...almost promo style with minimal detail. That doesn't bother me much as long as I can paint detail the chassis to my liking. I am not trying to build a contest model, just a representation of a car I once saw with a few changes to suit my soul. Sometimes I wonder if my builds bog down due to all the extra details I add which sometimes slows down the build. I just want to build a few kits now without too much fuss and bother. Just get it built and looking good! I'll save the extra detailing for other kits like my '59 Caddy.

I happen to be sitting at the bench the other night and I started to think about a Mustang I saw at a cruise night many years ago and I looked over at the stash and decided I had to build my version of that 'Stang. It was made for handling and performance with 4-wheel disc brakes, a built-up 289, 4-speed trans, and rode on American Racing Torque Thrust wheels. The kit I am using is an AMT/ERTL '66 Mustang kit No. 31542. I bought this kit from KB Toy and Hobby before they went out of business several years ago. My paint is going to be Tamiya TS-54 Light Metallic Blue. More to come...

Thanks for the invite, Rob. I'll consider it. Well, I have been plugging away at this off and on during the day and this is as far as I have gotten. I've gotten the interior assembled. The chassis has been assembled. The engine has been assembled and installed into the chassis. This is as far as I am going tonight. So far, it's not too bad, but this is still a crummy kit. I did a mockup and the wheels are not centered in the fenders and the instructions are vague in some areas. Plus, the paint is still not cured since it is enamel and not lacquer. I used enamel since I thought that if I had used lacquer, the hot paint would have eaten the translucent plastic. More to come...

I decided to challenge myself today with a special project...building a '40 Ford Coupe Street Rod. The kit is Lindberg's '40 Ford Coupe that I have been told to be almost unbuildable. My goal was to get see just how far I can get building this kit today without getting into too much detail. Here is what I am starting with... There is a lot of flash on this kit. I spent an hour removing flash and mold lines. My paint is Testor's Guards Red. I had trouble with this paint not spraying correctly. I had set it back to Testors for testing and they said there was nothing wrong with it, even thought there is paint all over the top of the can. They sent the can back with another nozzle and now it sprays OK. Hmmm... Well, it did spray OK, not 100% happy with how it sprayed though. The wheels are being assembled. Steelies and hub caps. More to come...

Thanks guys! Jamie, I use wrapping wire from Radio Shack It comes in 50 ft. rolls in either red, white, or blue. Charlie, how can you not like a nice set of tail fins?!!

Hmmm, I'm still here and enjoying a Sam Adams Old Fezziwig Ale. So far, so good! It makes me wonder about all this coming from a race of people who no longer exist. If the world does end, I hope they have beer and a hobby shop wherever we end up!

The Story Once free of the railroad crossing, McNally turns his Charger towards Rt. 91 and Connecticut to meet with the collector, a gentleman named Wayne. He arrives at Wayne's collector car business and walks into the showroom and is greeted by Wayne himself. They sit down in Wayne's office to talk about the Caddy and the sale of the car. “Where is the Cadillac now,” asks Wayne. “It is the Boston Police Impound Garage as evidence.” “I don’t suppose they’ll be releasing the car anytime soon, will they?” “Not until after the investigation has concluded and maybe after the trial if someone has been caught,” says McNally. “How unfortunate. I may have a potential buyer for the car. I guess it’ll have to wait,” replies Wayne. “Probably. Has anyone approached you about the car besides your potential buyer?” “No, no one. Just the one buyer whom I have known for years. I can’t divulge his name, but I can forward any questions to him if you have any.” McNally says he doesn't have any questions for the potential buyer at this time, but he will call Wayne if he does. McNally decides to leave before he spends money he doesn't have on an AC Cobra that is on display in the showroom and get back to Boston for dinner with Caitlyn. The Build Chassis assembly is underway! The distributor and coil have been wired. A mockup of the engine and chassis. McNally Will Return...

Thank you guys! I am so glad that this one is off the bench and the end result looks pretty good. If this kit hadn't fought me so much, I would have finished it sooner and displayed it for the Classic Plastic Model Club Challenge back in September. Oh well...life goes on! While looking at the pictures of this A100 again, I noticed that the passenger side of the instrument panel was falling off so I went and reglued it back into the proper position.

Thanks guys! I have been wondering about the chrome decals in this kit. I may try one and see how it goes. If it fails, then I'll use BMF. The Story McNally drives up to the corner and takes a left onto a side street, quickly does a 180 degree spin and pulls up to the corner and stops the Charger. He didn't have to wait long when he sees the old truck, a flatbed wrecker, pull out of the driveway of Derek's house and drives off in the opposite direction. McNally pulls back out onto Shanna Road and hangs back far enough to keep the old truck barely in sight. McNally follows the truck for several miles until he comes to a railroad crossing and the gate come down stopping traffic. He loses sight of Derek's truck...one of the downfalls of tailing a suspect alone. It is just as well as he needs to start heading down to Connecticut to interview the buyer of Walter's old '59 Caddy. The Build I spent some time painting small parts today and I'm about 95% done. Some parts require more than one color and some require a second coat of paint. McNally Will Return...

Thanks Phil! I'll keep that in mind when I start back working on the body again. The Story McNally arrives at the slightly run-down looking home of Derek Parregrin and parks in front of the house. He goes and knocks on the front door and waits until a man pulls back the curtain and angrily says, "What'ya want?" McNally identifies himself and asks to talk to Derek Parregrin who reluctantly lets the PI into the house, but keeps him in the foyer. His responses to McNally questions about his parents surprised him as Derek is quite angry and answers the PI's questions with short and rather vague answers. Derek then tells McNally that he has an appointment to get to and ushers the PI abruptly out and slams the door behind him. McNally gets into his Charger and as he drives away, notices the old truck parked in the driveway. The Build After two weeks of not being able to work on the Caddy, I was able to start working on the engine again. I drilled out the heads for plug wires and painted the engine block with Testors Gloss Dark Blue enamel paint. I had previously glued the intake manifold onto the block and removed it to paint under the manifold and the valley cover. With the manifold painted, I reglued it back onto the engine. McNally Will Return...

Thanks guys! Tony, I just had to get this one off the bench since I don't have a "shelf of broken dreams" like some builders do. If I didn't finish it, it would have been an albatross hanging around my neck!

Great job on your Judge, Shane! The Chrome T's look just right on this car. Excellent!

At the Classic Plastic Model Club Christmas party, I got the Revell 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 RS in the Christmas Swap and a Revell 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Yenko/SC 427 Coupe in the monthly raffle. Plus, an Nikon L310 digital camera...an early Christmas present from my wonderful wife! Thank you honey!

A fabulous looking Scout, Tony! I like the work you did on the suspension which raised it up to a good height! Fabulous!

Thanks Steve! Several years after the Spenser For Hire series ended it run on ABC, Lifetime cable network ran the cancelled series and offered Robert Urich an opportunity to return to the role of Robert B. Parker's popular literary hero. Four made-for-TV movies were produce from 1994 to 1996 and were based more on the books than the TV series. In the first two movies, Spenser's ride was a lowly and uninspired Ford Probe. In the last two movies, Spenser drove around in a '67 Mustang GT and this is clearly not the same car as used in the TV series. In Spenser A Savage Place, Spenser's old girlfriend comments about the Mustang to which Spenser replies, "Same old car, new paint job." Any fan of the series would know that this is not true. Different car altogether since this production was filmed in Toronto, Canada and not Boston, Mass. and the Mustang used in the movie was sourced in Canada. For whatever reason, Robert Urich decided not to continue with any further movies as Spenser and A&E cable network picked up the francise and offered the role to actor Joe Mantegna who continued for another three movies.