MrObsessive

I see a 'bout perfect 1971-72 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser on Shapeways that someone is offering. While the price IS steep ($127), it is the absolute best rendition I've seen of that car! What I don't know is if the bumpers and whatnot are separate, or if they're printed along with the rest of the body. I'll have to drop him a line and ask, as that WILL be a real PITA to try and get chrome plated. I've felt the same way about 3D printing for some time now.........it is the next wave in our hobby because let's face it------resin casters are not getting any younger, and the kit manufacturers can only do so many subjects in the future that'll bring the best bang for the buck. How cool can it be to someday when the technology becomes more user friendly, to make whatever you want right in your own place, and not wait (or hope) someone makes it for you?? EDIT: Here's the model in question............

And yes, I just ran into a situation where PB has struck even the search engines! Just a bit ago, I was doing some scouring of the 'net to look for pics for a future project. I type in what I'm looking for, and I see what looks to be a nice pic. The pic shows for all of a second, and then I see this........................ Soooo........I go to the URL where the pic was was linked to, and sure enough-------there's a whole long string of pics that the OP would have to go back and repost those pics as PB has sent them to their hostage basement. A ton of work that most folks don't want to do, and I can't blame them.

Yup...........look no further than iHeart Radio and iTunes. While iTunes is free to download on your PC, the services that were once free are no more. I get into the alternative music scene, and I was once able to listen to the Top 50 Of The Week countdown that iTunes once hosted. Now, they've changed up and got rid of that channel, as well as made it so you have to pay to listen to music like that on your system. Same thing's happening to iHeart Radio. While I can for the time being listen to music for free, they're starting to offer more and more "pay stations" as you may have read stories where they're getting into a severe money crunch right now. Even YouTube which has pretty much been free to post videos..........is now offering something called "YouTube Red" where you can pay if you don't want to listen to ads, and you can listen with your phone on the lock screen. Since I do a LOT of multitasking on my phone, I may not want to sit and watch a video------I want to just listen to the audio. Sooooo, I sucked it up and now pay the 10 bucks or so a month to NOT have to listen to ads, and can shut the screen off my phone (battery saver) and listen to a YouTube video. That's the way the world is going.

Great work Jim! Those flares and tires give it one SERIOUS attitude!

I'm a big fan of Fotki! Sure, you pay to keep your pics there, but for $25 a year-----you can post and link pics all you want, and there's no storage limit there as far as I know. I'm not a big fan of Google's pic service as I have/had a blog there. It's just not as user friendly to get pics to post here as others. Don't get me started on Photobucket! The ads and pop ups are HORRENDOUS, and I had something come from their site that literally shut my laptop down. I try to limit going there as much as possible! And no, paying $249 a year to host pics there is simply outrageous! I'm sure they have cheaper rates------that might be an attempt to "upgrade" you knowing that most people will balk at that, and then they offer you a much cheaper rate. No thanks!

Really Greg?? I think those kits are some of the best to be had in 1/12------I'd hardly call them toylike, but then I wouldn't build them as is either, and I have all of those. Wait! How 'bout Revell backdate that '67 'Vette into a '63 Split Window? Now THAT would be something to see! I agree that the Charger would be nice to see in that scale--------Daytona anyone?

It would be pretty much hidden anyway, as the gas tank was sandwiched between the chassis floor and the console "hump"/shifter mechanism.

Monogram's kit has the gas tank separate?? That's interesting as the couple MPC kits I built years ago didn't include that detail. About that tank..........It took awhile when that car was new, and after I drove one especially for me to realize why the shifter sat up so high! The tank is right below it. I guess that's the safest place for it to be as both the front and rear ends are too short to place the tank. A side impact I don't think would affect it much since it sits smack in the middle.

Jim, your paint jobs are second to none! That color is so fantastic looking especially in the sunlight! And yes, that roof graft could certainly have passed for stock if Studebaker would have had the guts and taken GM's lead in offering that back then.

First, I want to give many thanks to Doug Craig who asked me to build up the test shot of this engine! I feel flattered that he asked, and I've been eager to get something that's much better in appearance than what the AMT kit gives you. There will be some changes made to the final product before Doug lets this loose for you guys to gobble up! Please keep in mind that I'm no Mopar expert, and what I'll build here won't be absolutely spic and and span perfect. Of course, like I do with anything I build, I'm treating this just as if it were a kit in itself which it certainly is! So follow along with me, as you'll see what I've got done so far. The following are a few of the parts that'll be in the kit. These are the poly heads which were unique to this particular engine. The heads in the AMT '58 Belvedere kit don't even come close to having the right shape. Engine block............. Oil pan and intake manifold. The oil pan I'd eventually strip the silver paint off and clean up the "graininess" of the surface a bit. The heads didn't quite lay flat on the block, so some filing is in order......... OK, that's much better! I'm using 5 min. epoxy to set everything together. Here's the water pump........ I drilled a hole in the top of the water pump for the coolant inlet in the intake manifold. A preliminary fit of the inlet..........not quite right in position on the manifold.......I've since re-drilled a new location for the inlet. The water pump now epoxied on. Oil pan now stripped and cleaned up, and now epoxied on the block. While I was at it, I drilled a couple holes in the fuel pump for the gas lines. My engine when it eventually goes into the '58 Plymouth Fury I have planned, I want to be fully wired and plumbed. Here I drilled a provision for the distributor. This is Norm Veber's offering and it's worth the trouble to me to wire it accordingly...........proper firing order and all! OK, I went ahead and primered the whole works with Plastikote T-235 Gray. One thing I forgot to do is to make a provision for the generator bracket. I can always add this later as I'll need to see exactly where it'll place on the engine once I get the pulleys and whatnot attached. That's all I have for now. I'm going to next paint the block silver, then set it aside. While that's fully curing, I'll get started on cleaning up the valve covers, carbs and air cleaner. The valve covers and air cleaner will be painted gold for my example per the 1:1 '58 Plymouth Fury. One question I do have is this.........the transmission in the '58 Belvedere kit-----is that at least a reasonable facsimile of what it should be? Or do I have to look elsewhere for a proper tranny for that too? Thanks for following along guys......hopefully I'll have more to add tomorrow and certainly during the upcoming week!

Tried to get a better pic of this.........looks like a modded up Pantera with some serious flares and rubber underneath! This was on Rte. 283 West in Lancaster County PA. I eventually was able to catch up with him down the road (we were cookin'!) to get another pic, but dang if my phone was in video mode, and the pic came out super blurry! There are some local car shows today, so that may have been where he was headed. That engine sounded reeeaaally nice when he originally went past me!

Oooooh! That is soooo nice!! I've got a '59 that's been stashed away for years, crying for a resto. It's not a glue bomb per se, just in need of a couple of replacement quarters (which I have), and some missing parts replaced with Modelhaus items which I fortunately got also years ago. I LOVE your colors, and in fact that's one of my favorite color combos for '59-'60 Mercs.

I missed this when you first started..........nice to see this one back on your WIP! Interesting that Monogram modeled their '85 GT with those side air scoops, and not the black square "port" (driver's side) that was standard on all Fieros. Too bad that Monogram also didn't see fit to model the later GT which would come along for '86½. It would have been nice to compare that to MPC's GT which they did. I'll be following this one as this is one of my favorite '80's cars, and one of the few bright spots that the decade had to offer.

One of my dislikes of most FWD vehicles is because of their layout, I find my legs "splayed out" when driving and not relatively straight out as they are when I'm driving my Challenger. Once again due to the narrowness of a lot of them, and the front wheel placement. Around town it might not be too bad, but on a long trip (over two hours) I'm DYING to get out of it as I tire of the center console digging into my right shin because I have to drive with my legs splayed. I'm 6' 2" (with size 15 shoes) and a lot of my height is in my legs as others my height might complain about the roof being too low, as they're taller in their trunk area. True that no one can sit behind me however in the back seat of my Challenger! But the car is nice and wide..........perfect for me! And yes, I'd like to see this sort of tech spread around to more vehicles that aren't econoboxes.

The tech is interesting and of course styling is subjective. But to my eyes, why must it look so--------weird?? I've become fussy about car styling lately, and I absolutely hate the dashboard over the front wheels styling trend I see in many small cars today. As soon as I see that, I instantly think "no leg/foot room!"

Hmmm.............I learned something new today! I never knew that about the early Comets!

I've been to Norm's place several times, and he's got quite the inventory of molds! And yes, he's one of the nicest folks you'll ever meet in this hobby.

Rex, thanks for posting that! I see some things I'll be asking Norm about down the road next time I see him.

Very Nice! And I like your license plate as that's the absolute truth!

Brian, I don't want to be a killjoy, but I'd be suspect of painting over a surface that was once stable, is now compromised by the stripper that you used. Seems to me that the stripper leached into the resin (porous) and softened it up as you described. I'd be wary of those same chemical compounds which may still be "buried" in the resin, making their way through to your paint job over time. I've not built many resin kits, but this is more of a skeptical approach on my part as I've had strange things happen over the years with a paint job on plastic after it was stripped. It's up to you, but just a word of great caution where you might want to test your paint in a small area-------wait a bit to ensure there won't be any surprises later.

Super nice job! Those cars were real terrors on the road as they could beat many a unsuspecting driver in an impromptu street match! The AMC club I used to belong to I can only think of one fellow who had one, and he had no problem beating guys in 427 'Vettes and Mopar 426 Hemis.

BTW, I want to say that it's not too much of a stretch to see this someday on the model tables as a very interesting entry!

That car stopped me in my tracks! In fact, it won some kind of award there, but there was so much noise I couldn't here what it was. It was one of the last cars that I took a pic of as it blew me away how that was engineered. Here are some more pics of it........... Note where the radiator is..............in the rear where normally the engine would be! It's bigger than the whole stock engine would have been! I have to say that the driver of this beast would also have to be mighty short! Not much legroom in this thing!

Robert, the only place I can think of that might have the color you want is MCW. They carry most colors for American makes of the '50's-'60's, and they more than likely would have that color. You'd need an airbrush though------I think they do make aerosols if you don't have an airbrush. You can check with them by clicking here.............hope this helps!