oldcarfan

That's the way I look at it. The majority of releases are actually re-releases of old kits. Even a lot of the new tools are modern, better versions of cars and trucks that have long been out. Camaros and such. It would be nice for those of us who like 'history' to replicate a kit the way it might have been done in 1963 or whatever. Trans Am sets for Camaros and Mustangs and CHallengers and Cudas? Freds Cady used to have this covered, but no one does this anymore as far as I know. It would still take a lot of scratch building, but at least the decals would be available. Also with the release of a lot of the 70s MPC kits, it would be nice to build some Pro Stock cars for which we could use decals. Finally, I know it's a different manufacturer and all, but I would love to see the Hardy Boys, Charlie's Angels and Kiss decals reissued for the Revell Chevy Van as well.

Sure looks like it.

Hello from Austin Texas to Sweden!

Welcome and have fun!

I hope the RX7 doesn't get canceled. I've been haunting eBay off and on for the last couple years looking for good deals on the Monogram European exotics kits. So far I've got 3 of the Porsche 911s, a 924, and a Mercedes SL. I just won a bid on another 911 and another 924 and almost got the TR7 and the 280Z. Maybe next time. These aren't detailed kits, but they are fun kits and for the most part they are well proportioned and designed. Somewhere on this site I posted a letter from the guy in charge of this line of kits. It was fun learning about them!

Welcome to the hobby, I hope you'll enjoy it! Tamiya kits are some of the best as far as ease of assembly. If you want to practice painting and detailing on something less expensive you might get a couple of Revell snap kits. They are easy to assemble but respond well to paint detailing and look really nice sitting on the shelf. They are a good way to practice techniques. A friend's daughter wanted to start building and so we got her a Jeep and Mustang. It gave her a lot of confidence to move on to more detailed things.

I put my suggestions in to them, but there are some pie in the sky ones that would be cool too. I know the licensing would be a nightmare and there's probably not much of a demand for it, but I would love to see some classic racing liveries, Ecurie Ecossie, Martini, Gulf with their blue and orange markings, stuff like that since retro seems to be cool in street outlaw Porsches and others. Decals of the less common Nascar race drivers and teams for current as well as old cars would be cool too, in fact it would be nice to have decals for currently available kits to give alternative versions...

I figure the hobby industry will adapt in that I can see how there could be companies selling a file with say, a few car bodies, engines or maybe a whole kit on it and you purchase the file, download it and print it out for assembly. I imagine it would also be a boon for the tech savvy hobbyist who knows his way around a CAD program. He could design a conversion kit or recreate the parts for some long gone rare kit and sell the files online rather than having to make the parts and sell them by mail or at shows.

Before we moved here, we owned our house. It was in a rundown west Texas town and they're dirt cheap there. My wife got her dream job teaching at the University here and the school system is sooo much better for the kids so we had to move, but didn't anticipate the crazy market and more importantly, her student loans are basically about the size of a house. We have a friend who is a realtor and she is keeping an eye out for a foreclosure or such, but Austin real estate is still at the point where for every house that pops up there are 3 bidders. We are also currently biding our time until the kids graduate because they love the school they're in.

That is the mark of technology. The price decreases as the quality increases. Eventually it will be just like a paper printer, the machine will be cheap and they'll make all their money on refills! LOL

Really good use of space! I looked at those magnetic tool strips at IKEA and also at Harbor Freight. I also really envy you the parts you have hanging there as well!

I recently hit the point of "UUUGGGHHH!". We live in a small 2 bedroom apartment with the idea of saving for a house and paying off student loans. Austin is big on "Tiny Houses" and making use of available materials. My workspace is what I call a "tiny desk", a modelers version of a tiny house. I took over some of the shelves from an IKEA storage unit that we bought for extra storage room. It is 32w x 24d x 24t and is tucked into the utility room beside the washer and dryer. It's small, and is stand-up with no room for a chair, but it beats using the kitchen table and having to move everything to eat. The space is fine, but it has gotten more and more jammed with unfinished projects and well, junk. Tools and model parts would get buried, stuff would fall off the side or back and get lost, and you know... Anyway yesterday at work, (it was quiet) I redesigned the area in my head. When I got home I spent 2 hours boxing up unfinished projects and cleaning up and dusting. I ran a power strip for electricity, bought a phone holder and charger so I can have tunes or watch a movie while working and put in two very bright LED light strips for these tired eyes! They may be a little too bright. Then I started rebuilding with the idea of making my tiny space work for me. I used a bunch of leftover 1/2" foam core, balsa and basswood from one of the kid's last science fairs and enclosed the back and sides with it to keep everything contained and made racks for paint, a place to hang tools all from scrap foam and wood. I basically made a place for everything with the idea of getting it up off the desk having a clear work area. I also turned the shelves below and above into kit storage and also I have room above the stacked washer/dryer for most of, well some of the kits I've bought and not built, the rest are still in storage at the MIL's. It was also inexpensive in that the only thing I really had to buy was a power strip, two $15 LED strip lights and a new cutting mat and that was 40% off! Now I have to make sure I keep the area clean and uncluttered. We'll see how long I stick to that! This is pretty much the area I'll have to work in for the next couple years unless I hit it lucky with the Lottery or something. If anyone has ideas, suggestions feel free to toss them in!

I came across the Revell Lightning kit on the LHS shelf. I want to do one as the F&F parts truck. Has/does anyone made decals for The Racer's Edge? Google has failed me on this search!

You might put Japanese license plates and street legal lights on it. Apparently it's a thing among wealthy Japanese to turn old race cars such as this into street driven vehicles.

Is there a website?

Can someone re-post the info on the fund here? Never mind, I just saw it! https://www.gofundme.com/2pndgj5w

You are what I call an aspirational builder. Guys like me read your posts and it makes us think, "I want to do what he does". Then we start to build and remember, "Nope, he's got skills I lack." Oh well, as long as we have fun!

Interesting idea, can't wait to see how it looks!

My thanks to Toy Shop Japan Hobby One in Tokyo. I placed an order, my first from another country, through Amazon with them last month. I was going to just get a set of wheels and some anime stuff. I ended up buying more. The order arrived in the mail a couple days ago, no damage in about three weeks. All together I spent less than $35 and it came with free shipping. I prefer supporting local business, but in this case the LHS said that if they could get it, it would be $60-70 dollars and they couldn't be sure of delivery time.

Just an update, I received a package in the mail this week from Tamiya with a new body in it. Not bad at all, $4 for the body and $5 for shipping. I'm really happy with the service and speed that they got me the replacement body. Also thanks to all those who suggested contacting them. I always forget that these companies sometimes have replacement parts available. I was on the verge of buying a whole new kit and consigning the rest of this one to the scrap pile.

I went to the site but some didn't list a size. If they are 19" that's cool because that's the size I need! Also, my LHS said they are having trouble getting Pegasus products and wasn't sure if they were going out of business. I sure hope not since I've just discovered their good stuff. That would be just my luck!

Your post has reminded me of some fun stuff! I have a Black Widow finished and on the shelf, a Long John in the works and a Blue Beetle sitting in the to do pile. I also have several Tom Daniels kits waiting including almost enough of two Poison Pintos to make one.

Really good save. It would be fun to do a series of builds using the re-releases starting with the Blue Beetle all the way down to the last reissue before the parts were restored!

I've grown to love the Pegasus wheels, but there is no longer a hobby shop in my area that stocks them. I have ordered some online but have trouble guessing scale inch sizes. Some of them will say for instance 19" or 21" which helps, but a lot of them have no size listed. Does anyone know of a listing that gives the sizes of all their offerings?

I have the latest couple of releases of this kit. I will eventually build one as a 70s Fad T, but I would like to back date one to look like the original release. A lot of the Monogram kits recycled parts such as wheels from one kit to another. Is it possible to find the 6x2 intake or the wheels in another kit that is easily available? Maybe use parts from the Blue Bandito or some other kit?