oldcarfan

We spent the weekend in San Antonio, Texas and I took the chance to hit some hobby shops. There is a new HobbyTown and I got one of my wishlist kits, the Tamiya Honda City kit which includes the little MotoCompo motorbike. I had one of these back 20 years ago traded it away. Been halfway looking ever since and there it was on the shelf. Also stocked up on weathering supplies, washes, and paints and a can of Tamiya Cobalt Green which looks like a dead ringer for Porsche Vailant Green. Also spent some money at Dibble's Hobby which is one of the old school hobby shops. If you're ever in town please stop by there. They had another kit from my wishlist, the Audi 90. Don't know why, but I've always had a thing for those cars. They also had a Tamiya 1/35th accessory set, which I plan to make use of with another 1/24th Overlander in the near future. And finally, my son and I found a place called Anime Tokyo. He's really into Anime and this place is nirvana for that set. They stock kits from various anime shows, lots of Gundam kits, and plenty of collectibles. No Initial D cars, sadly, lol. But I did get some paints, and some more Gundam decals which are great for adding little pops of detail to builds.

Thanks, I've been trying to go out of my comfort zone. lol

I completed two four day mini builds this week. One is the Aoshima 1/24th Suzuki Carry food truck, done a different way. I painted it a year ago and forgot about it in the box. The Suzuki is now a tiny Overlander with a custom trailer, and the Abarth is a Euro style beater with 1/32nd Welly Alfa Romeo wheels and tires. The 1/32nd wheels work out to about 13 inches in 1/24th scale. The other is a Fujimi Abarth A112, also 1/24th.

I'm taking a break from my Cannonball entry this week, and decided to try something else. I built two kits side by side, one being the Fujimi Abarth A112, which is in the Completed cars section. The other is this Aoshima curbside Suzuki Carry Food truck, done my way. Since the 1:1 trucks are four wheel drive, I decided to jack it up and take it off road. If you notice in the second picture, I asked Dale Earnhart to stand by the truck to give an idea of how small these things truly are. The decals are homemade and are a nod to one of my favorite movies. As for the truck, I used a combination of things to make it look the part. It carries enough lighting to make any night brighter and has a radar dome for sketchy weather. The added parts are from 3d print vendors, scratchbuilt, or from 1/35th Tamiya Military gear kits. By the way if you're looking for cargo for your pickup or van, check out 1/35th gear packs. Some of them work just fine for 1/24th use. The body is pretty much stock, but I added a roof rack to carry gear, along with a Plastruct ladder. The wheels and tires come from Walmart 4.5 inch scale toy trucks of the type below. The wheels measure out to around 13 inches in 1/24th scale, perfect for a tiny truck like the Suzuki. The toys come in several styles with different racks and features as seen below. I did some minor weathering while I was building and may add some more, can't decide. Finally, what good is an Overlander without a trailer? This one started out as the back half of another of the Walmart toys which I modified into a trailer. And that's all I've got for the moment. I plan to get back on the Cannonballer soon!

I'm taking a break from my Cannonball entry this week, but not from building. I took on two four day projects simultaneously and finished them within an hour of each other. First is this Fujimi Abarth A112. Its based on the rat rod style popular in Europe and England and is my first try at building a true beater. A lot of my builds look like beaters, but this is the first one done on purpose. LOL The weathering is mostly Tamiya Panel Liner and craft paints. I reused the roof rack from a 1/43rd Walmart toy truck and loaded it up homemade driving lights and a cargo load with a cooler and some Tamiya 1/35th scale army covered gear. The wheels and tires come from a 1/32nd Welly Alfa Romeo and the decals are parts box and a few homemade. These cars are truly tiny. The A112 is a fun curbside kit but it's smaller than even a Beetle.

I really hope this is the 1/25th plastic kit. I missed out on them originally and the last few years I wanted to build one.

I don't have any interest in 1/64th diecasts, but I don't begrudge Round2's emphasis on them. Judging from the collectors I've seen in stores searching for cars they don't have I suspect that those little cars are the backbone of Round2's business model. They may well subsidize the model kit line.

I grew up across the bay from Corpus Christi and the refineries always let you know when the wind was coming from the north!

That's some fantastic work!

I needed more of some parts so I did a mold using Hobby Lobby mold rubber and I'll try to cast some parts tomorrow. Wish me luck, last time I had a reaction to something, probably sanding dust. I'll be more careful this time.

There was a discussion of this a year ago or so. Apparently the original issue didn't sell well and they may have scrapped the tool. Now with the modern four door version they probably wouldn't go to the trouble.

I guess the title tells it all. I made some decals a few years ago and I want to try some more. For the previous decals I used Word and screen shots to set up the design and printed them on a commercial laser printer. This time I plan to try using inkjet paper and my home printer. Is there a fixative for the finished prints. For the laser printer I used MicroScale paper made for laser. They also make inkjet paper. Is that what you guys use or is there something better?

I liked and lost the Daytona kit back in the day and will be looking for another. As for new kits of newer cars, I'd like to see some SUVs and maybe even some of the newer pickups. They could maybe do it like Round2 has with the 88 Chevy trucks, and set it up as a curbside with the option of doing a full detail later if sales make it worthwhile. Since AMT now has the Charger as a police package, how about an Explorer with a police version? Maybe a Subaru Forester and Outback as well?

Looks like it will be a fun build, and coming up with the backstory is half the fun to me.

Models is one area that I have covered. I was a bargain hunter for twenty years. Not for resale, but as a hobby. But now I'm at an age I need to start selling some of them off.

As far as I'm concerned, Round 2 could start reproducing every model in this ad!

Keep it up! Looking good.

A long time ago there was an article in a magazine, probably Scale Modeler or something. I think it was an interview with a designer for MPC or AMT, maybe. The guy commented on the differences between models of the same car. He said something about how you could a model exactly to scale or you could make it look like the prototype. He said it was more of an art form. He also said they tend to make the engine fifteen percent larger and the tires wider than on the real vehicles because it looked better to the builder.

I have the two-speed Dremel battery unit and even on low, it's a bit too fast for some uses. It melts the plastic if I'm not careful.

Glad to hear you're signing up for a build. The more the merrier.

Beautiful day for car spotting. Sunny and temps in the 80s. Sadly, I didn't get pictures of all of them. We went to the Costco at the Domain in Austin, Texas and it seemed like everyone had their weekend drivers out. The place was packed and we circled for ten minutes to find a parking spot. Right in the front was this huge BMW SUV. I'm not familiar of all the models anymore, but it looked a lot bigger than my RX350. Over in a corner was a spotless red and white Austin Healey, top down and a big bundle of paper towels sticking up from the passenger seat. I circled this orange Porsche twice to get a good look. I thought it might be a Singer, but couldn't tell for sure. There was also a perfect JDM R34 GTR doing grocery hauler duty and a couple of old Chevy trucks, too. Of course, there were the obligatory Land Rovers and Range Rovers. We got on the highway and this silver Porsche was in front of us for a couple of miles.

The sub assemblies are pretty well finished, so I did a test fit. Late last night I shot the wheels in gold and this morning I gave them a wash with Tamiya black wash then some dull coat.

I've been making a push to get as much done on my entry as possible. Last year I made a good start and then got sidetracked so November saw me trying to get it all done. The more I get done now, the better off I'll be, right? This morning I got the sub assemblies pretty much done so time for a test fit. Now I can take a breather while some parts come in and not stress. After consideration, I went with the wheels from the Monogram Porsche 924. They had to be modified as they're designed for a plastic axle curbside kit but the look is perfect to me. After stripping the wheels to bare plastic, I shot them in gold, did a Tamiya black wash and then a coat of flat to get a proper vintage feel. They still need some detailing but they fit well. The tires are from the original Esci Golf kit as the Pirelli Continentals that come with the 924 are a bit wide. The decals are a combination of parts box and homemade. I think the decal paper may have been old because the decals are pretty brittle and don't stick well. Here's the engine in place for a test fit. It'll need a little more work, but I'm happy to say it fits without hitting anywhere. Still having trouble with paint chipping on the body. I'm pretty sure it's the AMT yellow plastic that's causing the issue. I prepped it exactly the same as with the Esci original parts but the paint just doesn't stick to that yellow stuff. Fortunately, it's minor and I should be able to decant some of the Go Mango and do touch ups. That's it for the moment. Stay tuned for the next fascinating episode!

Making great progress. That paint is super shiny and the interior color really looks the part.

I got my Cannonball into subassemblies to see how it will look. Happy with the progress so I can relax a little and work on other projects as I round up more parts I'll need. Official notice, Little Debbie did not pay for the advertisement! LOL