Aaronw

I was just curious what modern cars you want to see that are not available. I see a lot of comments about how all the new kits are of old cars but when I look I see a pretty nice range of modern cars available from the environmentally friendly mini cras and hybrids to modern muscle cars. Understand about the Japanese kits, but like it or not I think the fact they cover so many Japanese subjects so well (even if many are curbside) that I doubt you will see much from the US kit makers. I have always found the Japanese habit of ultra detail except for including an engine odd, and I'm not even one to detail the motor much of the time. I think the US kit makers completely botched their "tuner" efforts, and like trucks mistake their half hearted efforts with won't sell. As a result they seem to have given up on most foriegn subjects (except for supercars like Ferraris). I'm not into the tuner thing but even I can figure out they should have been doing those kits like they have done the various hotrods with tons of options and nifty parts. I wonder how people think the ever popular '32 Ford kits would have done if sold as curbsides with no or very limited options. The tuner guys are into customization as much as the hotrod guys, but tooling up some jumbo size speakers in an older tool import kit does not make it a tuner. Where is Revell's tuner version of the '29 Ford truck? Those kits have so many optional parts I can build a stock truck and have so many spare parts left over that it looks like a complete kit in the box. I agree with you that failure to bring in younger builders may come back to haunt them in 15-20 years. On the other hand I have seen some suggestion that more people are getting into modeling for the first time in their 30s and 40s as they have disposible income and are looking for a hobby, so maybe they will do ok. Now I don't think that is completely fair, the 70s brought us the Pacer, Gremlin, Pinto and Vega... wait what was I saying. No but really there are some notable exceptions, largely non-US. Eh British and French cars have been notably poor quality long before the 70s, many collectors of those cars hold the fact they own a car that may or may not start as a badge of honor. I remember a Herb Caen column from the 80s lamenting the fact his new Jaguar was trouble free taking all of the adventure out of owning a British sports car. On the better side of things, in my opinion the 1970s Porsche 911 was the peak of that cars styling. It left behind the sportified VW look, and had a more elegant look than the later cars with the big spoilers and such. The 70s also brought the Lotus Esprit which again in my opinion was one of the better looking Lotus cars (although I do like the looks of the Elise too), very super car looking but without so much of the "rich dude with a midlife crisis" look like some others. Mercedes had a very elegant sport coupe in the SL350. On the more mundane side, the Japanese makers owned the 70s and 80s, with good economical cars and Toyota's Hilux introduced in the late 60s has set the standard for compact trucks ever since. Toyota and Datsun did manage to include some style too with the 240Z, 510, Celica, and Supra. I do agree that tthe 70s and 80s were not a high point in US auto manufacturing, the Delorean and Pontiac Fiero probably being the high points except for the mid 80s introduction of the restyled Corvette, and Pontiac Firebird / Trans-am that maintained a little bit of the 60s through the 70s.

Very nice. I've been getting back into a rally car mood but didn't know there was a kit of this car other than Tamiya's 1/20 kit. I'll definately have to add it to my list of kits to watch for.

After sitting neglected in a box for 3 years I thought it was time to finally get this one finished. It is Tamiya's Alpine Renault kit. Typical Tamiya it pretty much fell together. Paint is Tamiya metallic blue. The A110 was popular with rally racers in the early 70s, taking 3rd place in the Monte Carlo Rally during 1969 and 70, and sweeping 1st, 2nd and 3rd in 1971 and 1973. In 1973, the first year of the World Rally Championship, an A110 placed in the top 3 in 8 of the 13 events, and won the Manufacturers award this year as well (the only time Renault has won this award). The Lancia Stratos arrived in 1974 and dominated the WRC for the next few years leading Renault to work on a replacement for the A110. Tamiya also offers this kit in full rally garb.

Ok here is the Lancia after 3 days of decaling and about a gallon of Microsol. This is definately a kit to test ones decal skills, everything that is not white is a decal, if it is white there is still about a 50% chance it is a decal. and the Model T. I started this last spring, just a few bits to go but like many of my projects it kind of stalled at the last minute.

Agree with you on this one, big changes coming, most for the good in my opinion. In some ways I see the future as going back to the old days of guys carving model airplanes from wood, only with much higher detail. Technology is going to open up some really neat options for those willing to embrace it. Just think in a few years we will be able to design and print out our own custom wheels etc (actually we can now, but it is still a bit on the pricy side).

Magazine polls have just as frequently been used to point out massive flops (Monogram 1/48 PBY, Hasegawa 1/48 Seaking). Mobieus comes along and takes a risk with the Hudson which seems to be doing well, and now we have Revell doing a 1950 Oldsmobile, so there was obviously something there. Five years ago I am quite sure I would have seen many comments like yours about the trucks being directed at these two kits (if they were a good idea they would have been done years ago). Obviously trucks can't be money losers as too many have been offered over the years (and I'm not talking about re-issues). The problem I see is where the kit makers put their efforts. The Shortbed 1/2 ton was popular with hotrodders into the early 70s, that doesn't seem to be the case today, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the '99 Chevy 2wd shortbed 1500 wasn't a run away success. People shouldn't confuse lack of effort with lack of interest. Are the cars Trumpeter chose to do failures due to being bad subjects or a poor effort? Do you think the Monte Carlo would have sold better if done by Revell?

it was listed in one of the what's coming next year threads. Does anyone have an example of the AMT Westernstar, the only one I've seen is the Italeri "Wildcat" Westernstar kit which I assume is a more modern version.

and which of this could not be said about a 1953 Hudson?

I'm just curious to know what you would like to see that is not being addressed, because when I look at the hobby shops I see lots of new cars, "new" Fiat 500, Smartcar, "new" Mini, (did the Prius kit ever make it to market?) recent versions of Camaro, Corvette, Mustang, Charger, Challenger, Audi A8, Ferraris out the wing wang, Porsches, and a variety of sporty imports. Not a lot of cars I could actually buy, but are you really looking for a kit of the Toyota Yaris? (and actually I bet Tamiya or Fujimi have one or are working on one, so I probably should have picked something domestic as an example).

This is pretty much how this kit has sat for a couple years. I painted the body and started building the interior, then just ran out of steam on it when the Rally Race GB I was participating in fizzled out. By coincidence I broke this out and started working on it again a few days ago so perfect timing for this build.

That has been the rumor the past year though. First Testors was just going to drop them, then the last I heard they were reconsidering. Floquil sounded safe for now, but not sure about Polly Scale. There are a lot more colors for the WW1, interwar and WW2 period aircraft under Polly Scale than Acryl so I'm hoping they don't go away.

Ok, I thought it looked about the same. If it is a base model I wonder what the chances are we will finally get a Ford I-6. I'd buy it just for the engine if they did.

So how would this new '57 Ford be different from the old AMT kit (other than being new).

Any word from Testors about the fate of Pollyscale and Floquil paints? I'm hoping at the very least they will be wrapped into the Acryl line even if not continued as their own line.

Thanks, I'll definately be picking up a couple then, maybe even build one as an Ecto-1.

It's nice to see the model car genre catching on. Aircraft and armor has had a nice little revival going on for the past 4 or 5 years.

As long as I don't have to stop and take a photo every inch of the way I'm in. I will include photos just maybe not as many as usual for these things (stopping to take photos has been partially responsible for many of my not completed builds). I've been on a clean off the bench thing recently anyway. I'm not even going to try and list everything (it would easily reach double digits), but I've got 4 currently being finished up (I hope). Hasegawa Lancia Stratos, 1975 Safari Hasegawa Datsun 240Z, 1971 Safari AMT 1959 Chevrolet El Camino AMT 1925 Ford Model T This past weekend I finally finished a Tamiya Alpine Renault 1600 I started almost 4 years ago.

It would be nice if they included both the Chevy and GMC grills allowing a choice of either to be built. Hopefully this will get Round 2 to bring back their 1984 GMC (Fall Guy) truck too. Those are asking crazy prices on ebay now and I only have a few left to build.

What are the 5 old truck kits on the left hand side of the second photo?

So it looks like this Ecto-1 is the AMT glue kit, not the Polar Lights snap kit? I've got room for a few more either way, but I'm hoping it is the glue kit, I already have 4 or 5 of the Polar Lights version.

Does the turbine car include a detailed turbine? Its nice to see some of these old kits coming back, not terribly excited by any of them in particular but I'll get at least 1 of each. I'd love to see an AMX, the old kits are way beyond what I'm willing to pay for one. I'd love to see some of the other AMC cars too.

Some of the Fujimi Porsches have engines. I've got a '73 911 Carrera RS kit with a fairly decent engine and opening "hood" (trunk?) to show off the engine, it can also be left out and mounted on a stand. Kind of annoyingly they also have a detailed under hood (front) area but you have to cut the hood open if you want to show it off.

Monogram had a "High Rollers" series of 4x4 trucks, I think this is probably from that but with more practical wheels. I've got either a Chevy or a GMC from the series and other than really oversize wheels (maybe 44", these look far more practical for a snow plow) it is a pretty nice kit. They also did a Ford in the 1980-96 body style and I think a 4x4 van. I hope we see the Ford for the second half of 2012 or for 2013, I'll definately get a couple of the GMC trucks.

Cars always seem to know when you have a little spare cash and they want it spent on them.

I would have two concerns with venting out through the roof or attic. The length of the duct and gravity, both of these would work against you, and would require a larger fan to vent properly.