oldcarfan

Didn't get it but will go back, Hobby Lobby had a 1/24 Canadian Mail LLV Deliver Van. I didn't get it but now I want to see if they have a USPS marked one. It looked well detailed and at $29.99 it seems like a good deal.

Wish I'd gotten a picture, but on the frontage road today a Tesla Model 3 was in front of me. He went through a small puddle left from the rain and the car came to a stop. The puddle was only an inch deep. Is that a common thing? A couple guys in cars in front of me jumped out and helped push it into a parking lot. He said the water must have shut something down. He was waiting on a tow when I passed again.

I guess it goes to show we should buy stuff while it's available!

No picture today, but Charlie our new orange kitten went to the vet for his second vaccinations. He was not a happy baby and meowed loudly the whole 40 minute drive each way. Sounded like a kitty police siren. I nicely explained it was necessary to keep him healthy but he wasn't convinced.

Yes, many many layers of paint. I thought about that for a second, but couldn't think of a way to make it work.

I got the interior in the van and got it all screwed together this afternoon. How do you like the accidental denim seats? I added a matching backpack for the guys' road snacks.The roof rack and cargo box are glued on and the ladder is in place. I like the look. Still need to detail the headlights and cut some rear window glass. Maybe find some cargo for the roof rack. As for the headlights, the company went to the trouble of doing separate clear lenses with some detail and put a paper sticker behind them. I started adding decals, trying to keep it looking like something a local shop might be able to put together for a tow vehicle. A lot of these Sprinters are hitting the used market as they are retired from fleet service and they are usually cheap with a good service history, perfect for a low budget. I almost painted it Amazon gray but the yellow felt right. The only problem is the yellow chips pretty easy. Going to be hard to touch it up. I'm thinking it might need stripes or something across the middle, as it feels a little empty. There's a lot of empty real estate on the side of a van like this. Maybe an idea will hit. The exterior door handles are more like vague suggestions, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Great build of one of my favorite cars!

The white paint turned out nice and I saved the original green paint. I'll give it some clear as soon as I hit a hobby shop. I found a blue light off a damaged Alfa Romeo and a fender mirror that should work. It won't be a perfect as new look, but it's a fun change.

Worked on the van project a little, then decided to clean up 6 pairs of forceps that hadn't been cleaned in ten years at least. Took a lot longer than it should have! lol

Small progress to report today as I got distracted by another Jurassic World movie and then started on a Bburago Polizei 911 restoration. The Sprinter started as a toy so the interior is pretty sparse. The molded in seats were out of scale unless you have a six foot torso and three foot legs. Those got cut out and I built a new front floor. A little parts box scrounging delivered some replacement seats from an unknown pickup. I painted them blue, added the the plaid and then sprayed them with flat clear. I was aiming for a 70s German vibe. About the time I finished the paint, we got hit with another rain storm. The seats dried in the shop and when I went to check on them, the clear coat and the humidity had reacted to give them a faded blue jeans look. I kind of like it. For a toy, the company added some of detail kids won't ever notice. The steering wheel has a nicely done MB symbol that needed only some Baremetal foil. The dash is straight from the original toy and is decent if plain. I painted it and it needs some knobs and other stuff. I've decided not to finish out the rear interior of the van for now as I can't decide whether to do it as a work van or camper. The van screws together so no big deal if I want to do it later. That's all for now.

If anyone wants to build one of these, it seems Diolex makes a version. They also have some other really cool stuff. I think the file is available for download. https://diolexproduction.com/products/1-25-3d-print-resin-kit-1977-ford-b-250-carryall?_pos=5&_sid=be1ff5045&_ss=r

My opinion for whatever it's worth, is that the market for the AMT kit feels flooded to me. I wonder if they could do some retooling on the kit, maybe do an accurate short bed and generally freshen up the mold. I wouldn't say no if they remove the side trim too. The kit might reach a whole new bunch of buyers. Surely that would give them a 'new' kit to sell at half the price of a completely new one. I have several of the various reissues and don't need anymore. If not here's hoping Moebius picks up the reins.

On the topic of Fujimi kits, is there a definitive list of which are full detail and which are curbside? I've heard some of the full detail kits have been sold without the Enthusiast designation.

As far as kits, I many more than I'll ever build. I used to make a hobby of haunting Kay Bee Toys, Toy R Us, and even Walmart when they had kits for clearance kits. As a result I have an attic full. The problem now is how to unload them. My regret is putting off buying kits from ModelHaus, Fred Cady and others. It was just never the right time and now it's gone.

The tow truck beds could mostly be built of Evergreen sheet plastic, with maybe some Plastruct treadplate or basswood for the deck. As for the rest, this is a good site for inspiration. https://www.towforce.net/forum/19-vintage-equipment/ I don't build tow trucks but I've passed a couple hours looking at the cool stuff on the site. Not sure if these are the right kind, but it might help.

I posted this on its own thread, but I'm happy with the way it turned out so here it is again. As usual it took longer to plan and actually get started than it did to do the job. I built a photo backdrop diorama a good while back and wasn't happy with it. The foam core warps in humidity and it just didn't work right. I recently redid it in a new way. The metal is steel roof flashing and it is covered brick printed paper. Tiny neodymium on the back of the doors and other features so they can be swapped out to change the scene.

Here's the latest. I took inspiration for the color and name of the team from Carroll Shelby's Terlingua Racing Team. Hence, Pecos Racing Team. The blue Pecos decals I made a few years ago for a Mustang project wouldn't work for this so I went another direction. A few hours on Word delivered some stuff that should do the trick. I remembered the 'Porsche Font Generator' from the last time I tried making decals. https://fontmeme.com/porsche-font/ You put in any text and it comes out in Porsche style letters. By the way, they also do fonts for other famous brands. I considered the Rothmans or Marlboro font but the Porsche style looked the best for this project. I didn't have any decal paper left from the last attempt so I printed them out at the UPS store on plain white sticker paper. Not the best option, and not having clear sticker paper is limiting, but it should work. I'll give them a coat of clear to seal them soon. Word isn't the best platform for designing decals, but years of college paper writing left me familiar with it, so there's that. I did some screen grabs and sized them to make other stickers as well. The Cannonball one came out pretty good. Next up is the front bumper guard with a winch and three big lights and the steps for the sides. Those look simple but took forever to get done. The next step is to find some seats for the front. Probably going to leave the cargo area empty for not. The paint is frustrating me as it chips very easily. That's it for today, as we're doing a Jurassic Park/World marathon in preparation for the new movie. Oh, and I noticed in the second Jurassic World Movie, there are a couple MB Sprinters used by the commandos.

Are the clear parts 3D printed? I was wondering how clear they actually were. Also, where did you get them? They look great.

I've heard good things about it, so I hope to see it soon. When they first mentioned it was being made, I was afraid Tom Cruise might be involved. Not a big fan of him, lol. We haven't been to the movies much since the lockdown, but there's several movies coming out that sound good.

Pretty sure the Revell kit is a Series III which would be 70s-80s era.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I recently found the second of the Polizei Porsches. I wanted to do something with them in 2023 then lost interest. I just decided to redo one of them because none of us have enough projects going on, right? That being said, I was surprised how expensive paint stripper is these days. Of the two, one still had decent paint on the hood and trunk, but the rest of the paint was in poor shape. I wrapped the good parts in plastic bags and stripped the rest. Surprisingly, other than the police parts, the rest is still there. Even the chrome is good. I think this one will get the full treatment, seam removal and such. I have Fuchs wheels, so I may swap some in place of the standard Bburago offerings. Here's hoping I can come up with a Euro blue dome light, siren. Not sure why restoring it appeals, but it should be a fun thing to do. Here's one still in the packaging. They are going for a lot more than money than I expected.

I jumped in to building this one last year and almost instantly found several changes I wanted to make. It's now on the third and hopefully final version. Also, if you want to use the magnets like I did, make sure it's steel and not aluminum you're using behind the paper walls. I grabbed some metal signs without checking and got it all done only to find out it wasn't steel. I built another one during the lockdown that was easily disassembled so it would fit in a box. Ended up giving it away to a friend. Also, on eBay or Etsy there are lots of different printed brick, stone and even wood look paper sheets. They work well for the walls and there are plenty of G Scale fittings out there to add detail.

I originally built it on the fly so I never measured it. However, I just checked and it's about 20 inches long x 12 1/2 high x 13 deep. I was aiming for something small enough for a desktop sized that would still allow for any sized model.

Well, first of all, a weather report. we had clear skies today and the ground is practically steaming in the sun. It seems the rain has finally passed our area. It was hot and humid, but that's better than what we had the last few days. I did have a leak somewhere in the shop yesterday. I was working and looked down to find a stream of water at my feet. I think it probably built up outside and found an entry point. No damage really done except for a box of old magazines. With the A/C running full blast today, the shop was comfortable so I got a few hours work done on the van. Being the impatient sort, I had to do a test fit to see how things looked and am pretty well satisfied. The chassis is a simple flat casting with rudimentary drivetrain details cast in so it'll stay a curbside. I did raise the ride height to sit more like a 4x4 Sprinter. No big deal, just lowered the axles in the chassis. The wheels are a set of Pegasus Spiders found in a box and stripped of their chrome. They were painted white to look like something you might see on a rally car. The label says they are 22 inch and they fit perfectly on a set of off road tires from a totaled Maisto 4x4 diecast. The push bar on the front and the roof top cargo are about where I want them. I'll need to scrounge up a ladder somehow. By the way, the roof rack is a 3D print by Hooligan Scale Models from Etsy. They have some good products at a good price. The rear box is an Apple Airpod box repurposed. The auxiliary lights are made from a mold I made. I tried some UV resin and they aren't perfect, but not bad for a first try. Definitely need something stronger to cure it than a small UV flashlight. I hope to have the van finished soon. Still looking for ideas for the headlights, but everything seems to be falling into place.

A while back I stumbled across Etsy while looking for some 3D parts. I usually go through eBay, but Etsy seemed to offer several things I'd been searching for. The site is easy to use and I mostly just search 1/24 and whatever I'm looking for. Here are some vendors I've had good luck with. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MeanMachineModels https://www.etsy.com/shop/HooliganScaleModels?ref=nla_listing_details https://www.etsy.com/shop/JackModelling