62rebel

outstanding!

a good possible subject for a beat-on Merc would be Goodie's car from "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"..... it's a key character prop in several dynamic scenes.

all the AMT platform chassis kits had two or more sets of axle settings, stock, lowered, and sometimes raised for race cars. Johan followed the same formula until they dropped metal axles. the producers of "Thunderbirds!" used a LOT of AMT kits for their program, they slotted the axle holes and slipped pieces of foam rubber inside to act as "suspension" for making the cars appear to "drive" along their roadways... whatever, though; that's a strong looking Ford.

i've been a fan of the AMT 289 kit since i started building models; a hand-me-down gluebomb was one of my early practice builds. it was molded in a nearly translucent creamy ivory color; i do remember that clearly, as well as brush-painting it with Testors Lime Gold metalflake from the bottle.... my Fujimi kit resides next to two other AMT 289's in a box in the closet. it built up exactly like the two AMT's, excellently.

yeah, i'm not overly impressed with them, either. if they could restore the torq-thrusts to it, that'd be nice. i like the moons, though. it would be nice if they attended to the growing flash issues with it, too; otherwise, i love the kit. always builds up nice.

i have a Fujimi, i think; it had the exact same chassis and running gear as the AMT 289 Cobra, just a 427 body. of course, i may be wrong. it's a good kit but might not be accurate for a 427 car outside having the wrong engine of course. Fujimi might have corrected or updated it since then.

leave the body off the Hot Dogger and put an A, T, or '32 body on the chassis.

ebay a box of junk thirties kits and pic-n-pull until it looks right.

my job pretty much consists of making, checking, and rechecking "lists". that's why i get paid to do it. it's "work", and doesn't mix with my hobby time. i have a closet full of kits, many finished, some wips, some bought just for parts. no idea how many; i don't care.

Jada makes full size cars now? wow. abomination brought to life.

it looks like a pile of horse manure. well; in my honest opinion, anyway. the movie car was more thought out and better executed.

drat. another 1:1 i can't replicate.

specifically the series 1 and 2, preferably short ("standard") wheel base. Airfix must have done one... maybe Heller? anybody?

completely. the distributor sits at the back of the block behind the intake. the tube in front of the intake is the oil filler. FE's have "split" heads, half of the head is part of the intake, and there is no open "valley" to use a cover, such as the Y-block has. FE's mount the oil filter up front either horizontally or vertically from an oil filter bracket, not a filter housing bolted directly to the driver's rear of the block. FE's have internal oil pump plumbing where Y-blocks have it externally plumbed. FE's mount the water pump via four bolts over the timing cover and separate from it, and their distributor nestles snugly up front of the intake.

replace the straight-up distributor mounting post so it will angle correctly.

the basic design of a vacuum forming machine is a box with a lid that has lots of holes in it, and a hole in the side for sticking the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner into. bingo. vacuum forming machine. nothing Harry Potter about it.

vacuum forming works great for rounded contours but can't recreate crisp edges, and the parts are fragile compared to injection molding. they also require a lot of planning to eliminate undercuts, as they're also extremely difficult to recreate with the technology. the parts often vary greatly in thickness due to the variance in temperature and "sag" of the stock used, and small details are virtually unrecognizable. if scale edges are the issue, then thin the edges of your fenders, hoods, etc. making parts that can handle the process of building, painting, sanding and polishing almost precludes "scale thickness" in most cases. the process has been used for decades by aircraft modelers, though, and provides options that often simply are not available any other way. those builders have a tried and true system of reinforcing the inner structure so that they can complete their models without the risk of crushing it, usually by adding cyano glue and baking soda filler or similar methods to back up and thereby thicken the form. still, they're very susceptible to solvent damage from cement, primer, and paint, and can be short-lived in comparison to resin or styrene molded kits. i do think, however, that certain types of parts might be done well in vac form, mainly inner door shells, trunks, inner structures for hoods and decklids, especially where a builder might want full opening doors, etc. cementing these parts to thicker kit parts would impart added strength greatly needed.

considering the builder and the customer base, they were fairly successful in their day. not as eye-stabbing as a Panhard Dyna; it actually looks kind of Rambler-ish.

what were we talking about?

Gramma and Aunt Peg probably put more kids off model building permanently by buying Palmer kits and this stuff because they don't know the kid's real area of interest or level of ability. i cringe going to the hobby shop near the holidays, overhearing kindly-intentioned but completely clueless people trying to buy gift models. at one time, if i'd been given one of these, i'd give it a fair try at assembling simply out of respect for the gift-giver... today, it'd be an instant re-gift.

Harry Harry Harry... isn't this 152 now?

the Panzer IV looks a heck of a lot more convincing than the Tiger, with the tracks pointing off in every direction except correct.... they keep these at the checkout counter so Gramma or Aunt Peg can grab one for Jimmy when it's near his birthday.

of course, there's the option of simply gluing the wheels to the fender.

a four wheeled dreamsicle, and just as sweet to look at. i'll have to google the designer(s) of this one; it has clean lines and flows like water. i'd sell my house and live in that car.

just wondering why a Corvette would rust. except their frames, of course.