MrObsessive

Now you know Art, knowing me-------if it's made before the '50's, I'm lost!! At least in those days, especially from the late '40's and arguably through the mid '70's models, GM at least tried to make their cars appear distinctive with different shaped fenders, doors, etc. They got lazy (or outta money) in the '80's with hardly a distinction between the makes, save for a grill/tailight shape. Oh, and they gave you a different dash to spruce things up on the inside but little else. Long gone were the days you could tell a make coming up the road from literally blocks away. Yeah, it's true that the more you shrink a car down, the less room you have to make something distinctive.......it's like trying to tailor a suit for a dwarf! That's been one of my biggest beefs with the so-called "aerodynamic" styling. They shrunk down the frontal area of the cars so much that there's not much room anymore to make significant styling distinction between the makes. That's starting to change a bit though due to the new "pedestrian" regs that are starting to be foisted on designers now. Interesting though that folks bought those blocky trucks and SUV's by the droves for so many years---------I always thought they were the replacement for the type of vehicles the Big 3 used to make but were no longer willing to build to be more appealing to the masses.

You ain't kiddin!! A more compelling reason I've stayed single!

GM's biggest downfall with their diesels when they tried them back in the late '70's early '80's is they based the diesels on a gasoline block. Once again GM tried to cut corners in manufacturing, so instead of tooling a brand new thick casting block for a diesel because of their ultra high compression (My Mercedes Diesel was 21:1)--------the blocks were cracking after only about 50,000 miles on them. In some cases a lot fewer miles than that. It's one of the reasons you never see any on the road------a lot of 'em were taken out and scrapped and replaced with a gasoline engine. Couple that fiasco with the Cadillac V8-6-4 engine of the same time period and you have what nearly killed Cadillac back then which took them YEARS to recover from! Then they followed that up with the ungainly Cimarron, and that really put them in a world of hurt! It's what gave GM (among other things) the reputation for junk which unfortunately too many folks still remember. Anyway, I like diesels...........even the older ones, the noise notwithstanding. Wanna keep a tailgater at bay?? Rev up your smokey diesel at a stoplight and see how far they stay back from you when you leave! :lol:

Back over a year ago, Darin Bastedo gave a pretty good how-to on fixing this "kit". I use quotes because frankly, this thing should have never hit the stores in the first place as it's still not right from the first time. I COULD fix this one, but I won't when there's much better bodies to start with. (AMT/MPC and better yet, Johan) You can check out the thread here to see what he did, but it's not for the faint of heart!

Jeff, I've seen the Fujimi Ferrari up close and personal-----and it's got it all over the Protar! In looks alone, the Fujimi is more accurate as it represents an actual original and not a "restored" car such as the one Protar modeled. This is evident in the Protar version as it represents a car that was restored after a crash..............but not to what it was originally as the back end isn't up to snuff to my view. As Chris said, the Protar can be built with some work, but for the money I'd go with the Fujimi one. You should be able to get one less than $60...........If you click here, you'll see that HLJ has one for MUCH less! That should leave you with some change to upgrade to Harold Bradford's wonderful resin V-12!

This is something that has plagued GM terribly, especially since the '70's. They pulled it off a lot better starting with the '59 models which started the body sharing across all divisions------and at least each division had its own engines. During the '60s each division had its own styling "cues" which one could tell immediately what was what, but the downward trend started to hit major stride when the engine sharing started. Anyone remember the major lawsuit that occured when a couple bought an Olds and thought they were getting an Olds engine? Turned out to be a 350 Chevy............(happened in '77 IIRC) but it shows that GM could stand to get rid of another division or two. They already dumped Oldsmobile..........I wouldn't be surprised to see Pontiac and Buick given their last rites in the near future. Buick does well in China, so that may be their saving grace.

I just made a comment on there about that ala Lyle Willits! I do get tired though of seeing the name "Camaro" misspelled! The name has only been on the roads for over 40 years for goodness sake!

Autoblog has posted a story on the new '10 Mustang. I dunno.................to me the jury's still out on the facelift. The front end is nice, but what the heck did they do to the back end?? I long for the day when a car (especially American) used to look good from every angle! Not just the front or the side. Take a peek here and judge for yourself.

GM posted this yesterday of what could happen if they along with the others collapse. Very interesting...................

Hmmm..............I'm gonna guess real. Just has a real "feel" to it. BTW Rob----your avatar is comical! My cat did that to me years ago when I tried to blow in his face!

One of my most vivid childhood memories as a kid was an apartment building fire my family was involved in. Back during the winter of 1965-66 my Mom got a small apartment right after her and my Dad had separated. We lived on the 13th floor (yeah they gave floor #'s a "13" back in those days ) and one night a fire broke out in an apartment down on the 5th floor. Needless to say, that was a terrifying experience to have to come rushing down from the 13th floor and having to fight through smoke..............I can still remember my Mom telling me to cover my nose and mouth as she tried to carry my sister (she was 2 at the time) and cover her face. I don't remember seeing any flames as the apartment on fire was on the side, and we came down a middle exit. We made it down to the ground floor to the outside...........and my Mom was just thankful to just get out of the building! What caused the fire?? Kids playing with their Mother's lighter/matches! They had caught the couch on fire and all of them died from burns/smoke inhalation. IIRC there were four kids ranging in age from 10 down to a baby. The Mom wasn't home...........who knows where she was. I can still see the firemen dumping the smoldering smaller rugs/blankets out the windows............that's just one of those memories that never leaves you-----even after over 40 years. I don't have an all out fear of fire, but it is one of those things that I worry about as the house I'm in is a duplex, so I gotta worry about the folks next door. It's funny though, because when I first moved in, my next door neighbor asked me if I smoked! I told her no, so she seemed to breath a sigh of relief as she might have had some fire trouble too in the past! Her kids smoke though, but she makes 'em smoke outside where it belongs!

Hey I like Pinto's Mark! But I get what you mean-------I guess I was always a car guy, but I didn't start building models until I was 17 and a senior in high school. Yeah, anyone who was a kid in the '60's got to see some neat iron roaming the road! Although we may not have known exactly what they all were...........by the late '60's there were wide and varied types of cars on the road. You still had the befinned and totally chromed out beasts of the mid/late '50's-early '60's around, to the oddball foreign car (Renault Dauphine anyone?) up to the latest and greatest muscle cars of that era. The hobby and toy market reflected this..........how many of us 45-50 were totally enamored by Hot Wheels when they first hit the scene in 1968?? I'm still hooked on 'em as I got a bunch of 'em that are in pristine shape! Slot car racing also came to be during the '60's if I'm not mistaken. I wish I still had some of those first models I built during the late '70's...............unfortunately, they were given to younger cousins that immediately crashed and burned them somewhere along the line.

Jairus, if you remember.............you did a post about this very thing. It was a good thread-------that's one thing that's bugged me about that kit for years and in the reissue, they did nothing to fix it! Click here to see folks........it's pretty good.

Well said Peter!! The problem is the printing presses won't be able to print the money fast enough! You think the auto market is bad...................they haven't gotten to the coming problem in the commercial real estate market yet! Fasten your seat belt folks, it's gonna be a very bad 3½ years...............and not because of who was/is in office.

First Chrysler, now GM! I don't even know where to begin with the mistakes GM has made since the '70's, as well as the other car makers. I don't know if it was arrogance on their part------thinking that "well that's the way we've always done it" mentality, or just plain naive thinking that the American consumer would always put up with junk! Harry, you're right-------GM was on top of the heap post WWII, all through the '50's and '60's. I can't help but think the government itself had a big hand in getting GM to where it is now. What with all the safety regs, emission mandates, etc, GM (as well as the other makers) have had to fight the government on all fronts to stay in business. Now it's ironic that GM is looking to the same government that foisted all these regs on them-------to bail them out with BILLIONS of our dollars! I know styling can be subjective...................but here's a thought------when (or if) the carmakers go back to styling their cars as American cars, and not import wannabees, then they might see some turnaround in their fortunes. They've made some strides, but much more work needs to be done..............but hurry------time's running out! Just my 2¢.

Bob, I used Detail Master PE Borrani spokes and rims for this one. That was pretty much the only game in town back when I built this car in '98-'99. The MFH wheels are NICE!! If I were doing this car again now, I'd definitely check those out as well as Technomodel's. I recently got a PE set of wheels for the 250 Testarossa, (KA Models?) but I don't think the offset for the wheels is correct for that car especially for the rear. I'll probably spend the other 20 bucks and get the Hasegawa set that they made for it, and use the KA wheels on something else.

Great score Bob! I agree with you about the 250 GT SWB..............that is the best proportioned one out there, and puts even Gunze Sangyo's to shame (I have that one). Esci's version is not even worth looking at! You all have seen this before------I built this years ago. This was modeled after the '61 Sterling Moss car from an article in Road and Track back in the late '90's.................. I've got another one (like Bob's box art) that'll get the road going version treatment someday.

Nice and clean as usual Bill! That interior is lookin' extra sharp! Everyone seems to worship the '68-'70 cars (I like them alot as well) but this first gen model seems to be the ugly stepchild, as they don't get as much praise for whatever reason. I think the styling still looks sharp today, and Chrysler could learn a thing or two today from their own past eras in how to style a car!

I ditto what Rob said in his first reply. Something I'd like to add though is you might want to keep your paint and primers compatible (same brand and type if possible)..............this can lead to the paint not "biting in" as well if it's sitting on something of an off brand. What I like to do also is sand the primer with a 600 grit paper to give it some "teeth" for the color coats to grab onto better. You're adding color coats just the same, so there should be no problem with scuffs showing through your color coats provided you put on enough coats. I use parafilm M which is great for masking off areas you don't want paint to reach. I use this in combination with the Tamiya Tape which I think is the best for separating colors for paint. Here's a pic of the parafilm in action................. Parafilm is sold on the 'net through Micro Mark................but it can also be found on eBay. Here's a pic of the roll from MicroMark's site........if you click on the pic, it'll take you to their web page where you can order it if you'd like-------but I think through eBay is cheaper (if they have it). Hope this helps!

All of those are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I especially like this one............. This looks like a Volvo P1900 circa 1956? A precursor to the P1800 which I once owned (a '65). Thanks for sharing!

I must be "old" too 'cuz that's definitely pre oil crisis (the first one) in the '70's. It was 33-35¢/gallon for regular here in PA back in 1972-73. I can remember very distinctly my Dad having an absolute fit over the then "high" cost of heating oil during/after the fuel crisis! If only it were that cheap today!

Robert, you want to go to My Controls> Board Settings> ..............Make sure the section where it says to view members avatars (including your own) that it says "yes". Hit the "Change My Account Options" button, refresh your page, and you should be able to see yours and everyone's avatars. BTW, I don't see yours in your post.........

Love that little 'Bird Dave! I built one too based on the '56 Monogram years ago..........Same color! BTW, the 1:1 you based it on is painted "Thunderbird Blue" which is really a sort of aqua. '55's are my favorite T-Birds with the '57's next in line. The '56's aren't bad, I just don't care for that continental kit hanging out in the back. It seems like everytime I saw one on the road, the front end was sittin' up too high for me!

Funny thing is...............I read the book years ago, and "Christine" was described as a four door! The book was a TON more horrific than the movie! I guess when the movie was being done in '83, there just weren't that many four door '58 Plymouths of any type so they went with the two door hardtop---------which were actually a bunch of Belvederes gussied up to look like Fury's coming down the assembly line.

:lol: