oldcarfan

I caught that same clearance sale. I went in to get one of this kit on the 40% sale and they were all marked down. They had seven of them and I bought four for later projects.

It's also cool that a Gran Torino wagon competed in 1975!

Nice! If I were to win the lottery, a resto-mod Fiat 131 would be on my wish list!

I can see some uses such as parking or close quarter maneuvering, but it's probably more of a gimmick than anything else. The Rivian and I think the Ford EV truck can do a 'Tank turn' like an old Army tank. The wheels go different directions and let the vehicle turn around in place. That could be cool!

I'm taking you're advice for the new year. While looking for something I realized I have a bunch of boxes with sprues and loose parts. Maybe I can get organized in the New Year!

That's a good idea! I can see how those smaller tractor tires might work for a mud bogger. Also, some of the 1/32nd-ish scale Fast & Furious diecasts sold at places like Walmart have pretty large for the scale tires and wheels. Some of them work pretty well for those smaller 1/24th scale kits like the Mini and such.

Just in from Japan. I ordered some stuff from Hobby Search and am really happy. I've been wanting the Mitsubishi for a long time to build one like was used in Cannonball Run 2. Ironically, I have an Abarth already that I forgot about. I think I got it around 2000. Obviously I found it again after I'd already paid for the new one. A few years ago I put the old one together quickly but with some new tires. The ones in the box had cracked I guess from age. Not sure what size the Asuka wheels are, but they look like 15 inch or so.

Some really nice choices so far! It's shaping up to be fun!

I bought quite a few this year, but I was surprised when closing up my parent's house was 11 big boxes of unassembled kits I bought over the years. Way more than I'll ever build. I thought they were thrown away long ago, but my dad put them away for me and forgot about them. I need to go through and thin them out. What's fun is finding kit's with clearance sale tags from places like Kay Bee Toys and Toy-R-Us.

I have the AMT, the Revell, and an MPC EXP kit. I bought them when they were cheap with the idea of making an American Escort GT like I used to drive. Decided that my skills weren't up to it. Now, I'm thinking of building them up for fun. Are the AMT and Revell kits the same? Were they tooled by ESCI or someone else?

Ollie's related news at least to me. Big Lots is closing down and my wife wanted to see what was left at our store. The lady at the checkout said there's a rumor Ollie's is planning to take over a lot of the closed buildings. That would be good as the closest one to us in central Texas is about 60 miles away.

You reminded me of something! About twenty years ago a friend did resin casting. He always put the silicone in a vacuum chamber before pouring it to force bubbles out. That way when he pressure casted the parts they didn't have those bumps.

The included engine might work, you could do it up as if it had been pulled out of a retired NASCAR racer. The Revell Cobra has a pretty decent 427, and I think the recently reissued AMT Torino has some sort of NASCAR style big block.

Thanks for the information. I noticed Harbor Freight has a paint pressure pot, maybe that would work for casting.

Would you be interested in showing some of your molds? I've tried casting parts and am no where near your quality.

This build was based on an original issue, but the AMT 53 Ford kit's frame and bed work well with the 60 Ford kit.

I crawled up into the attic above my shop and went through the boxes of stored kits and finally got inspired to pick my Cannonball entry. I've also been arguing with our puppy, she's 9 months old now, a Corgi/Jack Russell and she thinks every toy she has needs to be in the back yard and every stick in the back yard needs to be in the house. Here she is hanging out upside down with her sister, a Chihuahua/Jack Russell.

My dad had an early '68 notchback in this same color. I'd love to see AMT do a new body for their fastback version. I think this is a model that needs to see some light.

I've picked my contender for this year. I plan to enter a first generation Volkswagen Rabbit/Golf. The car just barely squeezes under the wire, having been introduced in March 1974 as a 1975 model. The base kit will probably be an ESCI Rally Golf. I have this kit along with the AMT and Revell versions and also an AMT Scirocco so I should have enough parts hopefully to make an interesting entry. Edit: I just went out and opened the boxes to see what needs to be done for my entry. You all may know this, but it was a surprise to me. The ESCI kit and the AMT kit are the same except that the AMT version's parts trees were cut down to fit the smaller box. The racing parts for the ESCI kit seem to be missing from the AMT kit as well. Guess they wre trimmed off in the molding process. Also, the AMT kit has a lot of flash whereas the ESCI kit was molded in the 70s-80s so it's a lot cleaner. In comparison, the Revell kit looks like a much newer tool and offers both the left and right hand dashes.

I bought a sanding pad assortment from Hobby Lobby yesterday and tried it out today while watching A Christmas Story. I think I made some progress. I got the swirl out and the paint is smooth. I'm not great at high gloss polishing so I'm not sure it'll get a whole lot better. I'm thinking this may be my Cannonball entry this year. This is the old Italeri/ESCI VW Golf Rally kit.

I found my kit and it's the same one. Got it at Wild Bill's Hobbytown in Dallas last year for $39.99.

I was raised in a Ford family, not sure what family drama caused that. My dad's parents were Chevy folk but under my dad's influence I hated that brand. Nowadays I don't really dislike any brand except a certain electric brand.

I've been going through my stash looking for a Cannonball entry. I pulled out my VW Golfs, I have a Revell, an AMT and this one which is an Italeri. When I opened this one I remembered I painted it a couple years ago and then lost interest. When I painted it, I was pretty proud as it was smooth and without scratches, a rarity for me. The paint seems to have developed some sort of swirl since being put back in the box. The paint was either Krylon or Tamiya, I can't remember which over Duplicolor primer. I've never had a reaction like this. The swirls are just deep enough i can feel them when I run a fingernail over them. Nothing was touching body so it wasn't from contact. I suppose it could have been a reaction from within the plastic, but it's only in this one area. If I build it I'll try to sand the damage out or put it into the Purple bath and start over.

Maybe he wants to be comfortable at the drive in movie tonight!

I'm hoping to see some new stuff there. I rarely shop there anymore because I've already bought the kits I want from there. I wonder if they would respond to a campaign to have them carry different brands? In the early 2000s they carried some Tamiya kits for a while.