oldcarfan

My dad said he bought a Chevy truck for that very reason. It was a mid-trim C-10 with the 454. He's always been a Ford guy, but he crossed over to the dark side that time. He liked the power, but a year into ownership it started leaking oil around the heads or valve covers, somewhere in there. The dealer didn't fix it so he cleaned up the engine and traded it for a Gran Torino wagon/walrus. I really wanted a Trans Am or Corvette, but that wagon became my car years later when I learned to drive. We called it the loser cruiser.

We bought a 65k mile Jeep Patriot or Compass, I forget which a few years ago for our son to drive to school. It looked spotless. 91 days to the day, the CVT transmission went out. The dealer said, 'Oh well.' Took it to a repair shop and they said the CVT was listed as non-rebuildable. Ended up selling it for a big loss. Also, a my FIL had a Ram diesel and the transmission went out. I don't remember all the details, but the local mechanic tracked the problem to a bad sensor of some kind. It looked simple enough to fix. Then word came from Chrysler parts. You couldn't just buy the sensor, it was part of a larger component. Turned out the price went from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.

I've never tried this, but someone told me onetime they put their tires in a rock tumbler with a fine abrasive to remove the shine. Seems a little aggressive, but who knows?

You've just answered a question I've had for years! I worked for a company for a while that made resin cast ship model parts. We had a vacuum chamber for de-airing mold rubber and a pressure tank for pouring resin parts. Glad to know there is a way to use the vacuum pot for pouring parts too,

Me too! Weathering is something I'm just starting to explore, so I'll be doing a lot of fussing and cussing probably!

My ADHD brain doesn't always hold to one track the way I'd like. While working on the CannonBall Golf I remembered I needed to make some driving lights. I used to rob lights off other kits, but that gets expensive after a while. I did a tutorial about making lights last year about this, but here's an updated version for anyone wanting lights on their entry. A quick trip to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, or maybe Walmart, yields some self adhesive half round pearls to serve as the body of the light. This brand comes in a pack of assorted sizes. The largest works out in 1/24th to about a 9 inch light and the smallest is about 5 inches so you can make several sizes of lights for different uses. They also sell a faceted gem style, too, but these are the the ones you want. Drill holes in the edge and glue a piece of paperclip in for the mounts. A quick shot of primer and some gloss black and they are ready to go. You could also shoot some of your favorite chrome finish over the black for a nice chrome look. The biggest gems are close to Cibie's 9 inch Super Oscars to my eye. The next smaller gem works out to be about 7 inches and the smallest are around 6 inches. These measurements are by eyeball so your mileage may vary. The store I went to also had the different sizes sold separately if you only need one size. The push part of a thumbtack works as a 9 inch light cover with the pointy part clipped off. For the seven inch lights I use the round part of a standard paper brad with the brad part removed fits. Probably you could make covers with a hole punch if you want a flat cover instead of the slightly domed kind. Here is a look at the finished product. SpotModel sells the Marchal and Cibie decals. I saw some KC Hi-Liter decals a while back but can't find them now. Let me know if you have them. The larger white covers are thumbtacks and the smaller covers are from the brads. Now I need a hack to make clear lenses. Hope this is helpful and if anyone has a different method for making auxiliary lights, please chime in!

I sorted some kits up in the storage area, found a couple of treasures, then decided it was too cold and went back in the house! At least I have some projects mapped out for the next few months. In the longer term, I've had a violent cough that is starting to fade. Got tested and it wasn't COVID or Flu. About a week and a half ago, I had a particularly bad bout and felt a sharp pain in my chest. Finally got to see the doc on Monday and had an X-Ray. Turns out I broke one rib and fractured another coughing. Not much to be done for it but to wait for it to heal while the industrial strength cough suppressant does it's best. At least now I know why I hurt so bad putting up the metal storage building last weekend.

In our house, my wife has a revolving list of movies we watch when she's bored. Mamma Mia is one of them. Back when Hobby Lobby was doing one of their close-outs, I got four Revell 1/24 Landies for $8.94 each. I planned on doing a total off road, beat up one, and a mall crawler version some day. That's still in the some day category. Eventually, after the thousand-teenth watching of Mamma Mia, I decided one would be converted to Donna's SWB from the movie. Yesterday I brought one of the kits out of storage, but then I found this in a shoe box. It's the old Monogram SWB from the 80s. I got it in a junk shop mostly complete and painted it back around 2000(?) to make a fun weekend build. Then the windshield and one of the side window surrounds broke off and wouldn't re-glue so I put it back in the box. As Donna's version doesn't even have a windshield, this should work in my favor. The color is an unknown sage green and should work well when weathered and sun bleached. I'll Ineed to find a good match for some unpainted pieces, but we'll see. It'll probably be a simple curbside and will be a part time project, but Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again!

I'm calling the interior done, except for a bit of clutter that remains to be added. Because of the small size of these cars, the seats are in, and the CB is between the seats. The Fuzzbuster is on the dash and the inside is just about ready to go. I just received the 1/24th Thermos and binoculars and a couple other things. Still trying to find a tiny Rand McNally Atlas and some 1975 fast food!

Good choice, I wonder if am AAR 340 would fit that?

I think I'm about done with the interior. The dash is mounted, the seats are in place, and I think that's about it. I didn't realize how small these car's interiors were. It's tough getting everything in. I added a spoiler to the back and am working on one for the front too. The CB is in between the seats and I think that's the permanent location. On the dash is the Fuzzbuster and to the right is a panel of switches.

Love it!

Don't think I've shared this. It's my 'new' Lexus RX350. Last July we passed the old RX350 to our son and his new family and found this one. It's a 2019 with 48k miles on it still with some warranty and full maintenance done when we picked it up. We looked at Highlanders and such but they were strangely about the same price. Two weeks after we got it we drove from the Hill Country in Texas to Orlando for my wife's business convention, then on down to the Keys, before heading back to Texas. The car never missed a beat in that 4500 miles.

Back in the late 90s, I was stationed in Norfolk, Va. A company in town sold and installed these tops on almost any car. They were thin fiberglass shells made to the shape of an individual car. When you ordered one, they would have it shipped in and then they'd upholster it your chosen shade of vinyl before installing it. Monte Carlos and Buick Regals were popular recipients, But one of my shipmates had a new Mustang GT and he took it there and had one added. The car was black and the top was white. Not my taste, but he liked it. Another guy got his Eagle Talon done in a similar fashion. I sometimes wonder what happened to those cars.

I found the cab for probably the original stepside kit. Notice the alignment holes are different than the ones in the standard kit. The more I think about, the more I remember buying several Silverado kits in a clearance sale at a Toys R Us or KayBee Toys. So that's probably where they came from.

Those things are getting expensive now. I drove a similar style Ford truck for a while. These things are so long it takes a couple of days to make a U-turn! lol

The cat remains unworried.

That Blazer kit might be a good way for Revell to stretch their budget. They could do up a nice 6.2 diesel, add some tow points and stuff and they have a pretty decent 1/25th Blazer M1009 CUCV!

I figure some interior clutter is always a nice touch. I ordered this set and the binoculars should look pretty nice when cleaned up and painted. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1043220018/124-scale-hiking-boots-binoculars-and?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=1%2F24+binoculars&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&sts=1&content_source=359427c130e3851647cb6bae2d11a4cd5302a2a9%3A1043220018&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1&logging_key=359427c130e3851647cb6bae2d11a4cd5302a2a9%3A1043220018

That color with the blacked out trim kind of gives off moonshine runner vibes!

Something else I came across: Sears police scanners were rebadged Regency scanners. Though Cobra, Motorola and Regency made their own Citizen Band Radios, there was an RCA design (cybernet) that found itself in low-end brands like Hy Gain, GE, JC Penny and Kraco, but were often found in Midland units as well.

Testor's did two Chrysler high impact colors, Green Go and Sublime. The Green Go is definitely darker. Here is a picture of a Porsche I painted in SubLime over white Duplicolor sandable primer. You can find it sometimes on eBay, this color really pops! I really wish someone would pick up the mantle and release all these colors again in packaging you could buy anywhere.

I'm sure there are those with more direct knowledge, but these are my long-winded thoughts. Counter surveillance methods were in their infancy in the mid 70s. To get ready for a Run, there were several thing you might want. For electronics, there4 would be a CB radio, a police scanner, and a radar detector. Because of the 55 MPH speed limit speeding became the national pass time. Your local K-Mart, the Radio Shack in the mall or sometimes in the local supermarket, CBs seemed to be sold everywhere. Here is a vintage ad: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-consumer-electronics-hall-of-fame-electrolert-fuzzbuster-radar-detector Fuzzbuster, Bear Finder, set the standard for radar detectors, and copies were coming out. From old TV shows and movies, it seems radar detectors and CBs were every where. Radio Shack, K-Mart and other big chains had them and they often sold store brands as well. You'd also want a police scanner and a booklet listing the frequencies used by the police agencies in the states you passed through. Definitely you'd want a pair of binoculars, and a Rand McNally US Road Atlas. Other items might be a bottle of No-Doze, a couple of Stanley coffee Thermoses, sunglasses, and probably a Coleman Cooler in the back. Here's some pictures I found while researching. The first shows some 1975 competitors stuck behind a helpful Smokey. The Porsche seems to have the classic dual CB antennas mounted to the drip rails. The Volvo probably has two CB antennas and a police scanner antenna. The next pictures are of vintage radar detectors. Next is a vintage CB. Someone said a CB and antenna are included in the recent reissues of AMTs Pinto runabout. If anyone has this kit, chime in and let us know. Maybe other AMT kits have them too? This last one is a Police scanner and antenna, not sure of the year, but it might give an idea of what they looked like. Okay, everyone can wake up now, sorry to bore you! LOL