highway

Well, Mick, I don't know the reason for all the different lines, but I'd be willing to guess it probably goes no deeper than marketing. That's just like those horrible "Donks" editions, and one in particular I remember seeing from that horrid line, the Buick Grand National. Even though I never bought the "Donks" version, as I would NEVER have those idiotic wheels in anything or anywhere near my collection, I would say it is a safe bet that kit is identical to the newly issued Grand National with the Monogram trademark and "Monogram Muscle" on the box, with the exception of not having the horrid "Donks" modification parts. As for the Black Widow kit, I don't know how new the tooling is for it or if it's even a brand new tool, but again the "Special Edition" branding on the box really doesn't mean much in my opinion. I have found with the 09 Challenger kit, though, being a complete brand new tool, it has some very nice, and tight, fit tollerances and does go together very nicely, at least what I have completed on it so far. On the other hand, I also have the 70 Mach 1 Mustang and the 64 Fairlane "Special Edition" branded kits and have seen that the newly tooled parts in those kits look much better than the nearly 25 year old kits they are based from. That's clearly apparent, in my opinion, if you compared the newly tooled parts in the Mach 1 kit, the frame is even stamped with the 1981 copyright date from the original release, but the Mach 1 parts are new tools. The new interior tub has separate door panels that it's 30 year old counterpart does not, as well as much better engraving. The same is true with the new 351 Cleveland engine, with the biggest thing other than better detail being the separate oil pan compared to the 302's split down the middle pan. In my honest opinion, I feel that the "Streetburners", "Californa Wheels", and "Special Edition" branding is just like I said, for marketing. When it comes down to the buildability of the kit, no matter the branding, if it is one that has been through the molds a dozen or more times and had issues in previous versions, you'll more than likely to have the same problems in the newer issued kits. The more modern toolings, whether fresh new tools or even tools from the mid to late 90s, will tend to go together with less issues and probably have much tighter fits between the parts as well.

Mike, I don't know if this will help you much or not, but a friend of mine used regular automotive tint on a model and didn't have any problems with it. I'm sure VW Dave's friend, being a professional in the field, probably is not wrong about it breaking down over time, but I know at least in my friend's case with the pickup he used the tint on, the tint has held up for about 10 years at least and the tint is fairing much better than the rest of the truck! If you do choose to try it, follow Mark's advice and apply it just as you would on a 1:1 car.

Oh, no problem, I still have to get back on my T-Bird for your CBP, not counting all the others, but like your Mustang, my big Ford eats most of the time.

I've listened to all forms of country for years, and lately I've been listening to the older 70s trucking songs from Jerry Reed and Red Sovine. There's just something about those types of songs that get me inspired to work on my trucks, since most of the kits are 70s trucks too! Of course, there was many a long night "East Bound and Down" or "White Line Fever" kept the big wheels turning while I was still pounding the pavement!

Welcome back Dingo! I know you can do nice work in plastic, too. How's that red Holden coming along? You should know what I'm talking about!

Welcome to the forum, Landon, I hope to catch more of your builds on the flip-flop!

Nice! I'd like to see more of that rollback in the background, too!

Yep, I remember them, and they are still around! I don't know if Testor's is still selling them, but I seen some in the model railroad section of my LHS for scenery and rolling stock weathering. GUILTY!!! VERY GUILTY!!!

David, even though I edited your post down some, these are the most important points that everyone needs to understand. The fact of the matter is, and what Jeff was wanting this thread to get across, if any of us buy thousands of dollars of lathes and other machine equipment and everything in Detail Master's and Model Car Garage's catalogs, how does that make a better model? Does all of that fancy high dollar stuff build the model for you? Of course not! My opinion, and the way I have always judged at contests, is if you DO NOT have the basics covered, i.e. mold seams, glue mars, sink marks, etc., and have not spent the time on those basics, it does not matter to me if you have $100 of photoetch or tons of scratchbuilt do-dads made on your $1000 lathe, I'm passing the model by! My simple thoughts are this, if you put $100 of P.E. on a pile of junk, you have a $100 pile of junk!!

That's so funny I'm going be up the rest of the night laughing!!!

...if you can catch it after the gas pedal sticks!!

You're very welcome, and I know it's been a LOOOOOONG time since I seen anything on your W900! Of course, I know what you mean though, too. It's also been a LOOOOOOONG time since I even did anything on my big Ford LTL 9000, and I have 6 other projects for 4 other CB's to finish (read START!!) too!

Well, Bradley, the 19.5 wheels would be what you would find on a drop deck, also called a step deck, like this one. The double drop, though, would use the standard larger diameter wheels like the older 20 inchers, the 22.5, or 24.5 wheels, like in these pictures from Hank's Truck Pictures. I even found model truck pics there! I know must of us here in the Truck Section know these sites, but Bradley admitted he doesn't know trucks very well, so these will help fix that. Bradley, these are two sites very valuable to us little big riggers! Hank's Truck Pictures, which is where I found all the pics in this post: http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/trucks.htm And of course I can't leave out our (and Model Cars Trucker's Corner) very own Tim Ahlborn (mackinac359) and his great site: http://timstrucks.site.aplus.net/tim.htm

Either that Louisville is out of place in your collection or your going to put a danged DOT cruiser behind it! Either way, it would look better in my collection!!

That's a requirement, isn't it!?!? Welcome to the forum, Will!

If you ever thought Testor's Gloss Green was a nice color for the sunvisors of your 1/16 scale General Lee, you might be a young redneck model builder. And yes, before anyone asks, I did that!!

I think this is probably another one of Harry's 1/8 scale tricks. Hopefully he didn't fool me again, but I say model.

I figured there were, Gary. Believe me, I'd like to see O.V.S.M. come back, too, but there are only about two or three of us that I know of that are even still building. Maybe someday, though!

Mike, you give the term "closet modeler" a whole new meaning!

David, at first I was even trying to figure out what you were talking about until I seen the arrows! Sadly, I don't have a WIP thread started on that yet, I did some of it about 3 or 4 years ago long before I started posting on any forums. When I do finally work on it again, I will start posting it! Of course, I see you noticed my famous "levetating" engine for it, too!

Jeff, thanks for finally posting a positive topic on this issue! I've seen and replied to the other topics you referred to also trying to pound the point home you don't need a seven figure bank account to build well detailed models. Even some of the aftermarket products can be purchased on a working man's income. You don't need a huge bank account for this hobby, just some patience and the willingness to try new things. I look forward to seeing some of your tutorials this winter!

Donald, I really don't think it's a matter of misunderstanding, and please don't take this comment as an insult because it is NOT meant to be one, but a matter of your attitude towards the hobby. You made a comment in the thread yesterday that you weren't concerned with mold lines, but you wanted to build the best models you could. I did see later you did also say you were going to work on the mold lines on your next build, and I know from experience you will be happier with the results. Another reason I say that it seems to me it might be more your attitude towards the hobby is just in the post I quoted you made to start this thread. Please read through my opinions to some of the comments that I feel you might be misunderstanding that all of us have huge bank accounts that fund our hobby, which is NOT the case. 1- I agree 100% with you on this. 2- I feel talent and skills go hand in hand. You could be the most talented artist in the world, but without even the most basic building skills, you would not turn a model into a work of art. 3- I'm sorry, but you are way off the mark here! I have a collection of about 425 unbuit kits at the present time. Here's a picture of just a small sample of my collection. Do you think I bought all of them at one time? I WISH! I started this collection with just about the same three or four kits like you have in your collection right now, and as I had some extra cash after the bills were paid, I would add one or two more. The collection I have now has been built up over the past ten years or so, sometimes working long hours to get overtime just to buy some of the more expensive kits in the collection. You even say that 3 or 4 kits are all you can afford at a give time, but maybe instead of buying all at one time, buy one or two at each pay. You would be surprised how quickly your collection will grow. I'm unemployed at the moment and have been for a little over a year, and things get really tight most weeks, but I still have just enough after the bills are paid I can still be lucky enough to buy at least a kit or two each month. 4- I do not use much in the way of aftermarket products, but I do have some for certain builds. You really would be surprised how cheap some of those parts are. Some of the resin and photoetch parts I have were less than $10, and some were less than $5. 5- I used to feel the same way, but through the help of not only asking questions here when I want to know something, I had the help of the builders I had the honor of being in a local model club with before the club folded. Also, as with anything, the more you practice, the more you will improve. The more you build, the better the quality of your models will be. 6- I feel again you might think everyone's workbench and supplies were bought at one time, and again in most if not all cases, they were not, and they don't have to cost a lot, either. This is how mine looks today. The most expensive part of my desk is the hutch on top of it, which I bought at an auction new in the box for $25! If you look close by the cutting mat, you will see a crack in the middle of my desk. That is because I pieced this workbench together to be want I wanted, I started with just the small student type desk that is to the right of the crack, and I bought it at a church rummage sale for $1! The part to the left is an old TV stand that my in laws were going to throw out and I sat the two beside each other just so I could put the hutch on top of it. As for supplies, it is just as I said with building your collection size. If you get a tool here and a set of files there, you'll have a well stocked desk in no time! These are my opinions on the subject, and as you said, everyone has different opinions, but please take my opinions in the way I intended them, to hopefully helpfully become a better modeler in the future.

Yes, because as far as I can tell from what I've seen, Revell and X-acto must have merged or something. I've seen X-acto products in Revell packaging at Michael's.

Steve and Jim, by some strange chance do both of you have internet though Frontier Communications? They just took over Verizon here in WV, and for the past three weeks, even though it's not been the same as the problems both of you are descibing, I've been having problems with internet too! Since Aug 9th, I've lost service completely for a total of 6 days and it was out an hour or two today. That's why I just hooked up my Comcast internet today!

Thanks for the info, Don, but I think you might have misunderstood me a little, too. I do, if you didn't already guess from my avatar pic, build big rigs, and if there would be something not available from the other aftermarket companies, I'd see what you could do, but everything I mentioned was for the 1/2 ton to 1 ton pickup builder. That may also be a "niche" market, but I know I've seen quite a few pickup builders who would just love to see diesel engines offered for kits like the Monogram Ford F250 and F350 kits, along with other trucks.