oldcarfan

I actually found a Holy Grail that I'd been watching for for a long time and as it happens, ended up with three. It is the Otaki 1/24th Porsche 911. I kept an eye on them on eBay for years, but they were always too rich for my blood. Back in the COVID days, I was laid up and came across one sitting at $20 and put it on the watch list. No one seemed to notice it and I got it for $20 plus shipping. A few months later, I got another in the same sort of situation, and then finally found one with a little damage for $10. I consider myself lucky!

Maybe since the 1:1 car has now been found and is going to be restored, someone will be inspired to find the original kit tooling, or maybe to clone it?

If you reversed that body, it'd make a really cool Bonneville racer!

I've been looking for one of these a long time. I love Euro wagons. Here's hoping they'll rerelease it someday.

I haven't watched any NASCAR in years, so I might tune in to one of these, but we'll see. Can't you just imagine the pitstops? The guy swoops in off the track, they jack him up, drop the battery pack like a couple of oversized AAs, pop in more and off he goes. If nothing else, maybe it will lead to some advancements in roadgoing EVs. They could probably try a hybrid too, can you imagine the cheating opportunities that would give the teams?

O'Reilly's didn't have anything, maybe doing a restock? I found a can of the Antique Bronze at HL yesterday and will give it a try. Thanks for the ideas!

I'm looking for a good silver to use for a build I'm planning. I've used some Duplicolor before, and one worked well, and one didn't. The main problem with a lot of brands is that the flake is really coarse and out of scale. As I said, one Duplicolor worked really well, but when it was empty, I threw away the can and couldn't remember which one it was. Anyway, I'd like some ideas for spray cans. Is Tamiya a good option?

I've read a few times about using Bondic in place of clear lenses. I'm thinking about giving it a try. One thing I worry about is it discoloring. I used two part epoxy to make lenses on an instrument cluster and sometimes on headlight lenses, but I've noticed it tends to turn a sort of amber or brown color after a few years. I know Bondic may not have been around that long, but I'm wondering if this might be an issue. Any input would be appreciated.

Finally, I have a small update. After several days of uncomfortable temps, it was in the 60s today. That being said, I got off the couch and did some work in the hobby room. My can of DupliColor sandable primer decided to go all Rustoleum on me so I had to get another one. Didn't realize how much it had gone up in price. $12.99 a can is pretty steep for me, but it's still the best I've found. I got another coat on and did some more cleanup on the body. Since the chassis is the base, I refined the fit of the Lindberg F-150 frame to the Expedition's interior bucket. Also modified the Lindberg's rear suspension to lower it and added the front suspension from a Monogram Mustang as I didn't really want a 4WD. Not sure if that will work, but it'll do for now. I'm trying out my new hole punch to make a skid plate. Again, not sure it will work, but we'll see. Working on stance is not one of my favorite things, but this is about as low as I can go without some serious cutting. The rear probably needs to come down some more. I'm kind of liking these wheels and tires though they are kind of low profile. Trying to decide if they make it look too Donk. They were generously donated by a Welly Porsche 911 GT2 that I broke down for parts. The Expedition needs something big to fill the wheelwells and these should work. I may also use the seats and possibly some of the scoops from the Porsche's front if I can make them fit somewhere. I'm starting to think about body color, can't decide whether to go stealth or bright. So far I'm leaning towards Destroyer Grey for a low profile. Either that or go the opposite direction with maybe Acid Green, but that would be cop bait, right? Also, I looked at the engine I hope to use, it's a twin turbo Boss 302 from Texas 3D and it doesn't seem to need much clean-up. Once I get the chassis set, I'll have to figure out how to shoehorn that engine in.

Finally, I have an update. After several days of uncomfortable temps, it was in the 60s today. That being said, I got off the couch and did some work in the hobby room. I refined the fit of the Lindberg F-150 frame to the Expedition's interior bucket. Also modified the Lindberg's rear suspension and added the front suspension from a Mustang as I didn't really want a 4WD. Not sure if that will work, but it'll do for now. Working on the stance is not one of my favorite things, but this is about as low as I can go without some serious cutting. The rear probably needs to come down some more. I'm kind of liking these wheels and tires though they are kind of low profile. They were generously donated by a Welly Porsche 911 GT3 that I broke down for parts. The Expedition needs something big to fill the wheelwells and these may just work.

This is really shaping up! I did one for the Run a few years ago. Wish I'd had that conversion kit.

I love this color on wheels and am looking for something close to this. I've found a Rustoleum that's a little too dark and Behr has one that is a little lighter but is a hammered finish. Living in a small town, I need something available either from a big box store or maybe from Amazon or Ebay. Any ideas?

I resisted "modeler's math" just before Christmas. If I'd spent $10 more, I would have got $25 off the entire purchase...which meant I'd have got more stuff for $15 less. And I kicked myself all the way home. I think the lesson is that it's always the models you don't buy that you regret! LOL

We live in a small semi-rural central Texas town and there's this one guy. I don't know who he is, but he has the most amazing cars! I've seen him in an Aston Martin, two or three Porsches and I think a couple of other things.

You did a great job on a tough kit! I have a couple of these in the stack, but I'm a little chicken to tackle it.

Neither of those represents a legitimate stock dually, but the Chevy has some nice wheels on it that might be good for a project!

Have you heard of Girl Math? That's where she rationalizes a purchase, I think. How about Modeler's Math? So, yesterday we went down to Austin to see our first grandbaby and I had to stop at the nearby HobbyTown. I got the supplies I needed and looked at the car kits for a while. I love German stuff, so I got the Mercedes. That brought my total close to almost $90. That's where Modeler's Math came in. I remembered I had a coupon for $20 if you spend $100, so I got some more Plastruct I might need some day. Now I had a free $20 to spend so I picked up the GTR kit I'd sort of wanted for a while. With Modeler's Math, it only cost me $7, right? The Lamborghini came from my wife's stop at Hobby Lobby for yarn. I didn't need it, but it was too tempting to pass up. I can resist anything except temptation.

I built all the 88 Mustang versions back when they came out. I'd sure like to get them again.

That is looking good! For a grey interior I use the primer as the base and add different shades to give it interest. How is the Plasti-Kote different now? I've been using the Dupli-Color for a long time and didn't know Plasti-Kote had changed.

I think there are some that come fairly close in spray cans. Color Shot makes one called Clear Skies, Krylon makes or made one I think called Bahama Blue(?), Montana Gold has a Baby Blue, and Rustoleum has one called Maui Blue, though I'm not too impressed with Rustoleum. I used the Krylon on a GT40 a few years ago and it looked right to me.

By the way, I did a quick eyeball test and it looks like the Texas 3D engine will probably fit without a lot of mods to the frame.

Baby steps! It warmed up a bit today, so I got to do a little work. We whiplashed from 7 degrees with a some snow on Monday, to 68 today so I went out to the shop. I sanded the primer on the body and checked for mold marks, then decided to beef up the frame a bit. Since the Expedition is a Snaptite, all the undersides are molded as one piece. I came cross the frame from a Lindberg F-150 a while back and it has the same wheelbase as the Expedition so it's going under it. I had to cut away a bit to fit the SUV's interior bucket and sadly, took too much off. To keep it from breaking I added a bit of L shape Plastruct for strength. That's about all I got today. It's going to be in the 40s tomorrow so we'll see if anything else gets done. Just a side question, but my Hobby Lobby is slowly getting some Testor's Extreme sprays in. The color choice is limited, but it's better than nothing. The question is, has anyone used these new cans? Are they good paint? I recently unpacked 16 cans of older Testor's lacquers that I bought about three years ago and so far only about 5 of them are usable. I had 2 can each of their Mopar muscle car colors and they all leaked from the bottom seam, and some other cans seem to have lost their propellant.

Since it's Canonball season again it's started me thinking, which is never a good thing! This idea could apply to Revell or to Round2, but how about a duallie Chevy/GMC 4 door truck? Revell's has released Monogram's old tool Chevy and GMC many times over the last few years and it seems to be a consistent seller. Maybe they could do one of this as well. Maybe they could do it like they did the F-250 and F-350 getting a straight side and a duallie out of the same tooling. If they made it compatible with the Monogram 1/24th GMC, I can think of a lot projects this might spin off. We could even use the long bed and combine it with the regular cab and a stretched frame for a long wished for Fall Guy truck to go with the old series and new movie that's coming out. I'm sure it's more complicated than I make it seem, but this is sure a good looking truck.

I've started a WIP thread for my entry, not much action yet, but here's hoping I'll have something to show soon! Apparently, when I bought some parts bags a few years ago at a model show, there were some of the Expedition police parts from one of these kits mixed in. I don't know if I'll find a use, but the mesh interior guards might be a good idea for keeping stuff in place at high speeds. At least that's my theory.