oldcarfan

I would love to have a copy of the MT Challenger.

I've heard of using a sealer to keep red or yellow plastic from bleeding through, but never tried it.

You could also get the inline six out of the AMT 50 Chevy's or the Caddy engine out of Revell's 59 Cadillac.

This Hobby Lobby kit is pretty good to practice with. Be sure and use the 40% coupon though to save money. I bought one a while back to make a copy of a wheel that I only had three of. The only thing about it is that the RTV was very hard, so it wasn't very forgiving when taking out the molded parts. Use plenty of mold release and try not to have any big undercuts...

You took me back to my youthful modeling days with this! Love it..

Looks like a good start. I have a couple of these some where in storage that I should build some day! Have fun with it!

I use Krylon whenever possible rather the smaller hobby cans. As for clear coat, I buy a large can of Duplicolor clear from an auto parts store, it has 3 or 4 times the amount of paint. Hobby Lobby has aforementioned 40% website coupon and you can use it once, but there is nothing to say you can't put your purchase in the car and go back for another purchase and use the coupon again. Also to that point, Michaels will match Hobby Lobby's coupons, so they will let you use it there. If there is a discount beauty supply near you or a Walmart, they have finger nail sanding sticks that are a lot cheaper than the hobby sanding sticks and work the same.

This may be a slightly later era, but as a kid I had a friend who had a collection of 1970 or so cars that had come as a prize in his mother's soap flakes boxes. They were probably 1/43 or so and quite detailed. They looked like little promos, Fords and Chevys and I think an Olds or Pontiac, I can't remember, all molded in color and with chrome. I don't know who made them, but could it have been a similar thing?

I seem to have a weird reoccurring problem. In my laptop, sometimes, but not always, when I go to the website and try to reply to a post I find that the reply area is greyed out and I can't type anything. It seems to work alright on my phone. I've tried logging on and off and even turning the computer on and off to no avail. Anyone else had this happen or am I just that special?

My theory, FWIW, is that modeling will decline a bit or hold steady about where it is and then in 10 or 20 years a new era of hipsters will discover it and make it their own. "Yeah, it's a scale model of a 2016 Toyota Camry. I painted it in Sandy Beach Metallic. It's pretty obscure, you've probably never heard of it,"

I'm aiming for something along the lines of a modern version of the original BRE Baja car. Sort of a Prerunner style with a modern drivetrain and such. And the Landie is the original Monogram kit. It has been my arch nemesis for years. Every time I think I have it coming along nicely, something goes wrong. It has been stripped 3 times because of bad paint and it broke in half twice. I'm currently trying again...

Sorry to be unclear, I meant the 1950s era Barchetta.

I got busy with work and then we went to the coast for a couple of days, so I haven't made much progress, however I did get the wheel wells opened up. It looks like I can just flip the entire rear suspension and it'll be high enough fornground clearance. Probably I'll stick with 2wd like the original.

I'm from Austin, Texas and we see a lot of European cars here driven by hipsters. For me, off the top of my head, I would like to see kits of most anything European priced affordably for US consumers. Also something other than the same old Ferraris, as much as I like them. Maybe a Barchetta? How about a series of the Panamericana racers? I would love to see a Turbo Brick Volvo 242 in sedan and wagon forms and maybe even Fujimi's old 740 or Tamiya's Volvo wagon in stock form. A rally Saab 92 would be nice. A pre-Cobra AC Ace. A kit of the VW 411, a 2nd gen Van, and a re-release of Revell's Vanagon. A Capri would definitely be appreciated in optional American trim, as would a good BMW 2002 and some generations of the 3 and 5 Series.

In response to the idea of companies producing kits of current era cars and trucks, I understand that this is probably a risk for them. So how about this? There are producers in Japan and Korea and China making kits of modern day Japanese and German cars. They are rare here and when found they are expensive. Couldn't one of the American companies make a deal to act as importer, re-box them if necessary and bring them to us at a more reasonable price? Maybe tool up for left hand drive and other US specific parts if necessary. They would get more product and the producing company would get wider American market distribution. I seem to remember that Testors and maybe Revell or AMT(?) did this at times in the past with some Fujimi and Aoshima kits. That would give them some modern day kits to sell at a relatively low initial investment. Most of our companies are already producing and importing their current kits from China anyway. This would probably be more complicated than I think, but it's an idea.

I would love to see a resin body made available. I looked at doing this a long time ago and decided that it wasn't in my skill set. Good job, you've really created something special!

I wonder if we could talk them into releasing the trailer that came with the Midget a couple years ago as a separate kit? I can see it as the basis for a lot of interesting projects, i.e. small time drag or Bonneville teams, local short track racers hauler, utility trailers and such. I would guess the mold is already paid for, so maybe just the cost of packaging.... Just a thought!

This is one of the kits I have been chasing for years. I have finally resolved to maybe just go for broke on eBay next income tax refund. I love these trucks!

Just came back to Austin from Corpus Christi. Apparently there was a car show down there this weekend. There was a steady convoy of hotrods, lowered pickup trucks and muscle cars all the way up I-37. I didn't realize there were so many 32 Fords around. I was driving, so I didn't get pics, but some of them looked pretty nice.

Maybe Delorean'll be like Avanti. They kept making them for years after Studebaker went away.

I like step side trucks and wanted to build a Chevy to go with my Fords. unfortunately they have been out of production for a while so prices are getting high. I came across a box in storage that had parts of several Monogram GM and Chevy truck kits including a step side bed that is I don't know how old. I combined them and came out with a whole Chevy except for the engine and the mirrors. I'm gonna call it done for now!

If it's not too late, I'd like to join in. I have a couple of these unbuilt from a while back and have some ideas on an offroad version. Something like the second picture.

No problem, and looking forward to seeing it!

I bought a sheet of white Inkjet decal paper to make some stripes and it is very brittle. I know that there is a Microsol and a Microset product. What are the differences and which is used in what situation? Will one of these help the brittleness or do I need to spray a coat of clear on it before? I thought there might be a tutorial on these things, but didn't find one. Any ideas are appreciated.

Is the body painted as well or is it just shiny plastic? If painted do you want to keep the paint intact and just get rid of the graphics? I would probably just put it in Purple Power and let that soak all my troubles away. That would strip everything off. An alternative might be to use oven cleaner but it is pretty messy. If you use either, use protection. Skin and lye don't mix well. If you just want to remove the graphics, fine sandpaper, a light touch and patience are your best bet.