fumi

Because the sedan has more sales potential than the Ranchero? Plus they can turn it into a Custom 300 or a '58 without too much change to the tooling, and the Ranchero and wagon can also reuse most of the sedan underpinnings. A new tool 1957 Ford has always been very high on my wish list and I'm glad Revell is doing it. AMT's 1957 Ford is very long in the tooth and I really don't care for its opening doors.

There is a problem with American SATCO's business model: they made resin LHD dashboards for Aoshima kits, whose subject matters by the mid-to-late 90's have turned to primarily cars that were only sold in Japan, hence no LHD version to speak of. Of the few ones that also had export version (like the Lexus GS and the Miata), Aoshima produced a special LHD edition with the correct badges in-house.

It doesn't look like the wide fender Gunze/Testors Pantera at all. If anything it looks like the resin kit Fujimi commissioned MFH to make a few years ago. I really hope they would release it in plastic this time. The Marui kit is workable but is hard to find, and the Gunze/Arii/Imai kits would take a lot of work for them to look right.

I was looking at Rainbow Ten's All Japan Model Hobby Show report on Facebook, and noticed Fujimi has a reference model of a Pantera. Maybe we should start writing them for its release?

With a properly run public transportation system you wouldn't face that problem, at least in urban centres. Our subway service is on a 4-minute schedule on regular hours, 2-minute during rush hours. Buses are on a 5-10 minute schedule. Combined they can reach most places within the city. I'd be far more likely to be bound by my car should I take it instead of public transit, with all the congestion and the need to find a place to park and what not. It's not subsidized by the government neither. Combined with property developments and consultancy services provided to other countries' transit systems, it is making a profit every year. It's probably the mentality of "car equals freedom" that makes it so hard to implement in North America. When your gas costs as much as ours (roughly $8/gallon as of now), that "freedom" of driving to anywhere no matter what will suddenly lose its appeal. Like others have said, nationwide rail service should be viewed as an infrastructure, for the reasons they have already mentioned.

53 Stude and 57 Plymouth hubcaps were also popular choices back then. RMCM makes both.

Rail system may not make sense for coast to coast connection but they are perfect for connecting the suburbs to the city and within the city itself. Yet it is constantly facing opposition from the public. I've lived in Toronto for ten years and the one thing that really sticks out is its public transportation policy. People are constantly fighting against subway programs, transportation union is constantly arguing for more buses, and the antiquated subway system remains in limbo. Meanwhile, the traffic congestion is getting worse and worse as people insist on driving to work. I don't really know what freedom is being endowed to the people idling on the highway for an hour trying to get to work, when it'd take half as much time with the subway. Freedom of getting stuck in traffic, I guess.

Funny I never have this problem with newer cars. On the other hand cars from the 50's and before all look pretty much the same to me.

You should consider the Fiesta as well. I have one, and I love it.

True, but when too few people want a certain product to make it profitable, the manufacturers will just skip over them. The full size coupe just falls into that category. I do believe the sports sedan offers the best of both worlds, a fun to drive car in a practical package. Back then you could only have the hottest version in 2-door form; now that the car companies are offering high performance sedans they are really killing the coupe market.

What baffles me is that these same people who said they "wanted a muscle car" passed over them and bought a family sedan or SUV instead. Then they turn around and complain about the manufacturers not making the muscle cars they want. As for the two door Charger: how many people would buy a full size coupe? If you need a full size car to haul the whole family all the time, wouldn't it make far more sense to have 4 doors? If you don't need to carry 4-5 people in your car most of the time, why buy a full size car in first place?

Rainbow Ten is having it in stock for 1350 yen per package right now. http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/R10/R10gelinktool.html Search for gin.

What has the Probe done to you to warrant all that hate? They might not be the right car for you but they were not bad cars neither. The first generation was actually quite competitive in its market segment.

There is a set of supplementary decals you can use if you paint the pink and yellow sections, that are without the painted colours. If you paint those sections, you are supposed to cut the main decal as stated in the instruction, and use the supplementary decals in place of the parts you have cut.

You can e-mail him at ReplMinCoMd at aol dot com.

Imai also made a 1/24 Pantera GTS-S with the Lambo wing, fender flares and huge front splitter not unlike the Gunze GTS. And then there is the Fujimi resin kit, which I believe is actually cast by Model Factory Hiro.

I have had no problem ordering from Hong Kong. Give Norm a e-mail, both his casting and his service are top notch.

You are in Osaka, right? I found metal foil from Hasegawa and Good Smile Racing in Joshin last time I was there.

For the trim you can use Bare Metal Foil, it looks much better than silver paint. Hasegawa, Modelers and Good Smile Racing also make similar product. For the badges it's easier to just sand them off if you are going to use decal.

Lindberg's 1953 Ford Victoria has them, complete with handles.

I have 2 Marui Pantera kits, one of them has perfectly looking tires, but the other one's tires have melted into a complete mess. Definitely toss them if they have started weeping. It will only get worse.

Both versions of Pantera from Testors were reboxed Gunze kit. I had built the Gunze versions when I was a kid.

Yeah and it makes a lot of sense to play football in a blizzard, too. While I'm rooting for the Canucks the key to this series will be goaltending, and I'm not sure if Luongo is going to hold up under the pressure. This series is going to be close and exciting.

Aoshima also makes the 1994 and 1998 Accord wagon, in stock, custom and Mugen version. These show up on eBay quite frequently. You can kit bash the 1994 wagon with the Tamiya JTCC body for a stock Accord sedan. Right now Rainbow Ten is having this kit in stock: VIP-AMERICAN 30 1/24 ACCORD WAGON CUSTOM WAGON(1997)

Mine was great, until the battery died within several months of purchase. There was an issue with the charger, at least for the 7.2V version. While the instruction says you should always charge it when it is not in use, in reality the charger does not cut out when the battery is fully charged but will always charge it at a fix amount of time. If you follow the instruction it will always overcharge your battery and greatly shorten its life.