Exotics_Builder

If you remember, tell them Gerry Paquette says HI!

Thanks for that. Revell AG is not clear on year and the limited research on it lead to an early 60's, so I assumed 61. Seaside Oregon, eh? Our favorite Oceanside haunt is Cannon Beach where we like to stay at the Hallmark Inn near Haystack Rock! Are you tied in with the SABA folks in Portland?

Chris's company is in England. He has a website and Facebook presence. He does some very nice work and stands by his products. http://www.c1-models.com/

Well I finally had a chance to photo the completed model, even though it debuted at the CARS in Miniature annual banquet of January 10. A missing window and incomplete surfboards remained to be done. Also, to get it “done”, I didn’t go through a final round of paint polishing, so the paint job is only adequate to me. I am not a van person, so this stretched me out of my comfort zone. I am told this is a circa 1961 VW Samba and I tried to do something early 60’s with it. To go with that theme, I decided to do a “Woody”. Now Woody’s of that era were generally plastic appliques on station wagons. I decided that was the approach to take. To do that, I used Evergreen strip and quarter round to generate the ribs. I then drilled out spots and applied Callibre 35 round head rivets to simulate mounting hardware. I then applied Fred Cady woody decals I had in the decal stash to finish the effect. As this was not a factory option, the appliques is asymmetrical. There were enough door hardware intrusions without trying to figure out what to do with the gas cap cover and side air vents. As this was to be a van for surfers, I kept the rubber floor mat; did a tan vinyl seating and added a wood deck in the trunk area behind the seats. I also excluded the center seat and added a table for use at the beach. I dug into the parts box and pulled out an old AMT record player (49 Merc perhaps? Need to check on that). I also photo reduced surfing record album covers and included them along with some coolers and bongo drums (again the early 60’s theme). I looked online and found some early 60’s rendition of surfboards. I chose the wood styles (to keep with the woody theme), graphically manipulated them and created custom decals to cover. I used ACME license plate site to create an early 60’s license plate VWOODY for an extra touch. And finally, what is a surf van without a wahine? Anyway, this year’s theme is anything goes, and I am looking at doing a 32 Hi Boy for that. Much more to my mind set, other than what engine to use. Thanks for looking!

The Tamiya kit looks great. I had the old AMT 300 SL but gave it to Bill Lastovich of Revell along with the Cheetah from Mini Exotics so he could build it. Bill was a member of a model club to which I belong and, besides being a great guy, was very helpful to me. The AMT kit was good, but the Tamiya looks better. Got mine on order from HLJ.

Its Sturmgewehr. Sort of inspiration? They just basically copied it and changed some pieces. Thank goodness they didn't really mass produce and we had the M1 (rifle and carbine) as well as the Thompson and BAR.

Just really can't get into these things. Lots of current subject matter that would have been more exciting. But this is good for lovers of these cars and I hope they enjoy when they get and build them.

Do you have any better photos? I only found a advertisement and the attached photo (partial?) that is difficult to discern what the decal should look like.

I remember building this kit back in the day. I did the Universal Construction version for a Hobby Shop display. I remember it being a fun build and interesting being a 4 wheel drive and with good suspension detail. I became again interested in the early 70’s Chevy pickups from watching the quality pickups in various auctions. So, when the Blazer was announced for reissue at the 2014 IHOBBY, I was hooked to get a couple. One will contribute its running gear to an AMT GMC Stepside and the other to combine with the snow plow from the Revell Pickup and these Snow Trax from Shapeways to make a snow moving “Monster” So, what is in the reissue? It has the Blazer kit with “street” or off-road 4x4 options. You can either build it as a street, construction truck or updated decal Boondocker. The contents are arrayed below: AMT also includes a box art insert and a guide to make it easier to cluster your parts by color for painting. There is very little flash on the parts or trees and the chrome tree looks to be nicely done. Street and off road tires are included and they have sidewall detail. The “glass” is packed in plastic in multiple compartments to minimize possible scratching. Only three things concerned me. This is not to disparage the kit, but something to think about in building. First, the instruments in the dashboard appear a bit soft and could be hard to detail when painting. So gauge decals may be required here (none are included on the decal sheet). The same softness is apparent on the body sides, such as the side marker lamps and door handles. This is true to the original issue and not uncommon in AMT kits of that era. So consider that as you plan your painting and finishing. Finally, the textured top had a couple of spots that the texture was much finer. I doubt it will matter much when painted black, but if you want, consider doing a textured spray finish as well to augment this. I am looking forward to getting into this after we have moved. If you want more detail on this. Let me know. But I am sure that Tim Boyd or Larry Greenburg will dissect this very nice reissue in more detail.

There are resin manufacturers that do some components such as popular engines, transmissions, drive trains, intakes, carbs, etc. Some good ones are VCG Resins, Morgan Automotive Detail, B-N-L resins, Fireball Modelworks, Scenes Unlimited, Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, etc. Other options are sites like Boneyard; swap meets; model club auctions; etc.

It is coming out 2nd QTR likely. There will be a Snap version and the simple build version (like the Camaro ZL1). Originally, it will be pre-painted. Revell should soon be announcing their 2Q 2015 release list. The interaction with the Chinese parts of the business appear to be affecting all the model manufacturers' timelines.

I sure hope they will be very competitive this year, although I believe Formula 1 is trying to emulate NASCAR with all its rules games. I wish Ferrari would seriously get back into LeMans and other Sports Car racing.

I got a replacement window from them today for my VW Samba bus. Even though it made its debut at our CARS in Miniature club banquet, this will give it the final polish, along with the two surfboards that I just did the custom decals for.

Thanks, beat me to it.

Two of the reissued AMT 72 Blazers.

You do great work!! Another nice addition to your product line

Mattel no longer has the exclusive rights. They lapsed last year. Was mentioned at IHOBBY

Manny is on Facebook. It looks like his site is down. I have to run out, but someone could give him a ping on FB to let him know.

None of which I am aware. You're thinking of the AMT Escalade kit. I guess you could try adapting to Revell's 99 Silverado, but that would be tough project.

Thanks, I've been experimenting with their paints but have yet to apply. I was looking into a combination to make the Tobacco leather color seen in some classic Ferraris.

I always meant to ask what color you used to replicate the interior?

They all have pluses and minuses. The old IMC (Testor and Union variants as well) are not bad, but require a good bit of fitment as everything opens. They are 1/25 scale. The LeMans Miniatures is 1/24 and also everything opens. It requires lots of fitment, and is resin. That kit is lower right in attached picture. Less finicky are the Fujimi kits, even with the HRM transkit. And yes, there also is a HRM Daytona Coupe and Cheetah there as well.

It varies. I use a headset magnifier with LED lights for very detail work. For general work, I use over the counter reader glasses in 3.0 magnification to do general detail. Just don't look up when wearing these things and look at anything a few feet away

How about pins with coated heads?

Agree with the quality, but HD is a Chinese company that does aftermarket for a lot of the Japanese kits as well as some Revell of Germany. They also have a lot of aftermarket resin including wheel sets.