Jim Gibbons

Neat video. A few days ago, I was sitting on my north facing front porch in Poughkeepsie, NY, and happened to look up to see a large jet aircraft heading to the east. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a passenger jet, but then I saw four much smaller aircraft in formation to the rear. Even though it was at high altitude (I'd guess about 35,000 feet,) I could see that it appeared to have a tail mounted engine in addition to the ones on the wings, so it was probably a KC-10 tanker. The fighters were way too distant (and small) to see what they were. I thought it was neat, as I had never seen what appeared to be an aerial refueling before. It's a good feeling to know the USAF is around, along with all the other US Armed Forces. My niece's husband just returned from his third deployment in Afghanistan; I believe he was part of the formation that President Obama honored at Ft. Campbell recently.

John, you are either A.) Fearless and can create anything out of anything, or B.) A modern day alchemist, who rather than discovering how to turn lead into gold, has invented a machine that miniaturizes anything to any scale. If it weren't for the bodywork photos, I'd be voting for B. Even then I'm not so sure!

I hear you; I can't say I'll be buying cases, but how tempting is it to have three C-300s displayed side by side in white, red, and black? I don't even want to think of the Hudson possibilities! I can feel my wallet lightening already.

It's also good for the planet; many new diesel engines use urea injection into the exhaust gases to lower NOx emissions. Pee is now green! (Maybe they should name green boxes Greenpees? )

Thanks for the info; I may have to get one. I keep kicking myself for not getting a built original JoHan at an old car show swap meet for $10 about a dozen years ago. I wanted to see another vendor first, went back for it about 5 minutes later, and it was gone. There were hardly any glue smears, it was completely unpainted, and only had the kit custom decals on it. Doh!

Whoever did the song "It Drives me Crazy" had it right. I do wish the model companies had a bit more of an accurate grip on release dates, but I think that's a result of global marketing. A U.S. model manufacturer, all those years ago, also knew what was up in the machine shop, and knew realistic expectations of when it could hit the shelves. Today, FedEx, virtual reality computer conferences, and numerous phone calls dictate "projected" release dates. That and spoken promises half a world away. I do, wish, however, that the manufacturers would have a tight control over leaked marketing information. If it's given in stone, by all means, let it be known. The prototype pics that were out for the Moebius Hudson and C-300 are an excellent example. I haven't stopped drooling for these kits since I found out about them, but Moebius has to deal with international production issues. I wonder where the boxes will be printed? Getting back to leaked marketing info, I remember quite a while ago (early '90s?) that a 1960 Ford Sunliner (convertible) was to come soon. One look at my '60 Sunliner avatar should give you an idea of how thrilled I was. (I had a 1:1.) However, that didn't come to pass. At least the '60 Starliner got produced (way too many years later,) so all was not lost. At one point in my life, I sold Volkswagens ('85-'87) There weren't a lot of engineering/drafting jobs available in my area, so I found a way to pay the bills. I really liked VWs before I sold them, and drove them most of my life. What would drive me crazy about VW at the time, is that they would start the marketing hype way before the product was available. This was the time of VWs first 16V engine in the Scirocco and GTI, the all wheel drive Synchro Vanagons and Quantums, the Fox, etc. There wasn't a day that went by that someone wouldn't ask about the new stuff. Sorry for the dissertation, but as a former engineer who also had to deal with marketing departments, I have to recommend that you follow the engineer's opinions and projections! I do still want to hear about the new models, though. Hope is a good thing.

Great to see you back! You have to post a video when you fire that monster up; full volume!

Very nice build! I really like the early '60s Mopars. They certainly didn't look like anything else on the road.

That's it! I had no idea this was ever done in resin. I'll have to track one down.

That I don't know; if there is one, I'd like to find it! I also have this truck in 1/43 that I got about 20 years ago.

Figured I'd add a few more pictures of this remarkable truck. Sorry about the poor picture quality; I have to do a good photo session with this soon.

Yeah, it's a CMC 1/18 diecast, but I highly doubt this will ever be done in plastic. This has to be one of the most radical trucks ever designed; it defines "cab forward!" I got it at an incredibly good price that I couldn't pass up. This was one amazing vehicle; 170kph (105mph) top speed with a load. Not too shabby for a 3.0 litre 6 cylinder engine. (The same engine the Gullwing had.) I wish this were in 1/24 plastic; I have a couple of Monogram 300SLRs in the stash.

Unfortunately, the polishing grit cloths are a bit pricey. However, the better ones are cloth backed and will last a very long time. I'm still using a kit I got about 20 years ago. A quick check on Amazon had a woodworking shop that sell 3" x 6" sheets of it for $3.99 each, $6.95 shipping. You'd probably be able to combine shipping for multiple sheets. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=6461&utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=amazon If you're near a small airport with repair facilities, you might stop in and ask where they get theirs, as it's used for aircraft plexiglass windows, too.

Now that's the proper way to build an old British car model!

Electric motor, wiring, and battery box by Lucas? I jest, though; I had a number of A1 VWs with Hella electrics that were as bad as Lucas (though without carbon core wiring.) I got to the point where I could replace a relay plate (fuse box)blindfolded. Can't say I've ever seen this kit motorized.

Great work; looking forward to seeing this progress. I also saw an article of the original one you mentioned; way cool. The D Type and derivatives are among of my favorite cars. I dream of a D Type model as Mike Hawthorne's '55 LeMans car in plastic.

Beautiful!

I love this! Yes, I'm one of those twisted maniacs that love '61 Plymouths. I wish I had a 1:1; what better car for a driver of a Smart car to see in the rear view mirror eating up pavement at a rapid rate! I really need to build this model, too. Great work, and color choice. Totally diggin' it!

Love it! I built this kit when it was Pyro back around the time Nixon was president. Nice to see a brass era car model.

Great work! The only thing missing is oil oozing from the gasket locations!

Bruce, I humbly bow to your great work on this. The "stars" will make it complete. If you can accomplish it with decals, there should also be the V8 script on the rear fenders. I wish I had half of your scratchbuilding skills!

Congrats on 29 wonderful years. Just spare us the "boom chucka a waa waa" stuff!

This is a great conversion; really like the color choice, too. One thing that hit me when I glanced at the 1/43 Safari diecast I have, is you need to add the front fender/door "stars." This is kind of a crummy diecast, but the only game in town so far. I'm adding a picture of my Franklin Mint '55; they accomplish the "stars" with tampo printing. If you'd like, I can try to take a better pic with a ruler for scale if you can print decals, or know someone who can. What the heck; figured I'd add my 1/18 SunStar diecast to this. Needless to say, I have a thing for '55 Pontiacs.

Both are great projects, but I'm really diggin' the '61. I love Mopars from that era.

You've already received a lot of great advice and research links here, and I can't add much more other than to suggest you create a topic in the "On the Workbench" topic. This way, you can post photos of your progress and ask for suggestions and help along the way. I built this kit stock some years ago, and painted it overall dark metallic grey with a red interior to match a photo that was in Collectible Automobile magazine. I didn't remove the spare tire well from the chassis, as I had missed that detail. (Slap to the forehead!) Enjoy your build, and we'll be sure to follow it and help where we can. I wanted to add that Tamiya paints are my favorite; I don't have an airbrush, but with careful application and polishing, the end result is fantastic. If the color I use is not metallic, I skip using a clear coat. In my opinion, it looks a bit more prototypical if you're building factory stock. I do clear coat metallics before I polish, though. Be sure to get some good sanding film; I happen to like the mylar backed Testor's stuff. I also suggest getting a polishing kit. I use it two ways; after I sand mold parting lines from the body, I follow up with the polishing kit on bare plastic areas that don't require putty. Of course, the main use is to polish out the paint. As far as putty goes, I use two part automotive glazing putty. My '60 example had some bad sink marks on the top of the horizontal fins that had to be filled.