Old Buckaroo

I got to hear a 10 minute rant from my wife when she told me a dozen eggs were $7.90 a dozen at the local store here in Montana. I would've thought she had served in the US Navy...😲

My oldest car models - JoHan Olds, ever so often I see the dash and steering wheel turn up in another kit box. This was built before I was married (34 + years) The Monogram Z28 was a gift from my wife our first Christmas together.

In these parts we refer to that as "French Toast Alert" when everyone races to the store and buys all the bread, milk and eggs - but you didn't get eggs.

Very nice build up , even has the KC lights everyone had back then. Love the color 👍 I had a 73 CJ 5 with the 304 in it. I never spent so much time stuck in bad places as I did on those old undiscovered mining roads in Colorado. I had 4wd so I was gonna see where it went - also I was 21 at the time.

Wow that purple '66 is cool !! Thanks for showing those pictures.. Years ago I saw a purple T Bird at Good Guys in Spokane WA, it was like "plum crazy" purple and it carried it rather well. When I dug '66 kit out yesterday I noticed the custom parts. In all my years modeling Ive never used those extra items - beings it is such a plain kit the thought entered my mind to use them and maybe even a extended rear bumper to put a spare tire like the old Lincolns ??? That would be a definite "get out of my comfort zone build"

I'm old school and approach would be to dry brush the high spots with a aluminum or chrome enamel paint from Testor's. Dry brushing this with a artist paintbrush that is soft, flat tipped and no bigger that a 1/4" wide and same for length. load the tip of the brush with minimal paint like the residue in the lid and brush it out on a paper towel to where it is just making shadow marks. Then use that to lightly paint the raised areas with a horizontal pattern (across the ribs , not up and down with them) repeat till the finish you want is achieved.

Seeing this old stuff brought back to life and used is way more impressive to me than the DCC modern layouts can offer. Transformers with rheostats - were talking now haha

I still have an old catalog that was given to me as a kid. My first mail order kit from them was a " Jo-Han Petty Belvedere" I'm sure I drove my mom crazy asking every day if it had come in the mail. @ Greg - I found out that the old "Durhams" wood putty that had a muscleman on the can and mixed with water made good modeling putty also !

I like the engine - it looks great magnified by the pictures which sometimes doesn't work to a persons favor. I'm also partial to items made from bits and whatever, to me "That is Model building"!!

What a beauty and I love the opening console door. I hadn't seen that applied in any of the model car build threads Ive ever looked at. I have seen that idea in a old model car magazine from the '60's along with flip down sun visors. I have to say this build is really inspiring, Ive got a ancient '62 Bird kit I was keeping around as its probably as old as I am. Never figured Id touch it - but now I have seen what a classy car they actually were and how well this kit builds up.. Correction - my AMT T Bird is a '66 model.

Little Timmy is a great guy to trade with, done multiple trades and each one has been awesome.

These look great, cant wait to see them all with decals. Mike - I never followed ford cars like I should have as I was a Chevy guy Ive got a MPC 73 Mach 1 kit - do you have any suggestions for a good drag car to replicate with this one ?

I bought this because it had an Jo-Han interior tub and dash with this assortment. No need for any of the other stuff really (or read to lazy to sort) there is a bit of everything. Street rod and custom era parts, stuff and more stuff , a pound and a half worth of plastic parts. This fills a 1/25 model car box to the top. Things I like - Hood scoops, decals, any parts to build SS and early 70's pro stocks. Unbuilt Chevy big block engines , even looking for a Ford engine with a tunnel ram setup. If you like lots of parts to sort through - this is for you.

I ran into the fan / radiator on other kits but cant remember which ones. I sawed it off and lowered it - It was either leave it off and look funky or have it offset and look even worse 🤷‍♂️

Love the interior work , its looking really Sharp !

Nice, it has the Landy figure. All the ones I bought off the 'bay they were mia.

Looks fantastic, was this the ole Spalding Trading co resin cab ? You're inside cab detail is top notch ! Ill give you a tip on displaying these heavy cab resin models , make a small wood block or use some "leggos" made to fit right under the front axle to take some to the weight off the front wheels.

I really like seeing projects like this and these old once sought after items being recognized again. Sampson, Bowser, Varney was some of the best stuff offered until the mass import plastic took over. The work you've done to that streamliner will have it looking great again. Do you plan on using an "Alclad" type paint to finish it off? I always look forward to your postings as many of the subjects are "blasts from the past".

Ive bought multiple collections over the years since I retired, cherry picked out what I wanted and sold /traded the rest. these collections have ranged from R/C airplanes, Armor, Model Rockets, Model airplanes, Model cars and Model Railroads. First collection I bought was in southern Nevada while I was working at a Hobby Shop part time. A widow came in wanting to know if we bought "model kits" I could not answer that as I was the weekend clerk. I asked the owner the following Monday and he wanted no part of them. He suggested I buy them and resell since I was retired. It takes having money not earmarked for living, a place to sort and store them and a very understanding wife. Second collection I bought was in Spokane WA, I watched a guy walk through the parking lot with a handful of kits into a hobby shop and walk back out with them. I struck up conversation and he was trying to sell them for a elderly lady who wanted her garage and spare room cleaned. This collection took me three trips with a full size Dodge Ram 4 door truck with a topper. The front passenger seat and floorboard was full as well as the back seat, the bed was filled all the way to the height of topper. This lady was something else , she negotiated me down to a 1/4th of what I offered as she felt my original offer was too high. My advice is put out flyers on community billboards, hobby shops - and this one was a coveted secret " beauty shops" if you're serious about buying collections. I use to sell a lot of kits on ebay until the fees and cost of shipping got too unreasonable. Being in a club such as your local IPMS can give you leads on collections for sale also. The cold hard truth is we love collecting and buying plastic but we don't live forever. Ive seen old polariod pictures of model kits hauled to the landfill as people wanted the house cleaned out to put up for sale. The pic attached shows only a 1/3 of a purchase. The walk in closet off to the right was known as "The Tomb of Doom" and was referenced many times years ago when I was active on Fine Scale modeling Forum. Good luck and if you ever need model rockets , well I think I have 15 , 30 gallon totes in storage still 🙄

I'm pretty impressed with the AMT chassis myself - Ive converted them to go under the MPC Cuda's by shortening them 2mm as they are way better than the molded in exhaust / rear end offerings. The AMT's resemble the ones under my real cars pretty well as plastic goes. For a direct to the nuts and bolts replica having one 3D printed would be the only way.

This is how I would paint Dayton wheels - Id spray them with the spoke color I wanted. Once that was good and dry I would mask the center with a round disk of tape cut out for the center cap , Then take a another piece of tape and cover the inside of the rim being careful to leave the outer ring exposed for the next color. Those circular templates sold at art stores are worth their weight in gold for making circular patterns.

The "Mod Tops" had floral print vinyl tops with matching seats, they were marketed towards the ladies Ive got a upper back seat out of a '70 Cuda with this design. I'll get some pics of it, I keep it around just for a conversation piece.

These trucks never looked right with highway tread, they need something a bit more aggressive. I cant wait to see what you do with this. I have one that I stalled out on a decade ago that I was putting a Detroit Diesel 12V-71T in.

A bit more progress on the Monza, I'm using a new release Grumpy Vega for the chassis and other parts. Hood scoop is out of same kit - not sure if I will use it though. Thanks for looking in!

Dan, I tried calling the place in Laramie, just got a message machine. Looks to be only open by appointment. Meanwhile while you are in Cheyenne - I highly recommend the Union Pacific museum. Upstairs there is a model railroad built by an old cowboy (Harry Brunk) over the span of decades. Its modeled loosely of the old Colorado Southern narrow gauge line in the early 1900s mining era. Even if you are not into model railroading this is a sight to be seen as it is all pretty much scratch built.