Modelmartin

A little story I remembered is very typical of Detroit's blundering. When the Vega and Pinto came out, GM and Ford were hoping to sell them overseas. They forgot to do basic research about other nations auto regs and taxation. Pinto was too wide and would be taxed at a higher rate and Vega engine was 2.3 litres and also taxed higher making both cars uncompetitive price wise. The story may not be true but it sure sounds typical. Harry, the wind thing is good but it should be one of many approaches to energy. The craziness with the "corn " is more of a solution to a political problem rather than an energy problem. Wind doesn't blow all of the time and you need to store it somewhere when it isn't. It isn't THE solution but PART of the solution. I believe conservation should be the highest priority out of many priorities. What would be the sense of developing all of these new sources of energy if we are going to waste those too! Also, I am a liberal but I believe in capitalism and I do not believe in our government bailing out badly run companies. All of these financial and auto company bailouts make me crazy. They should have let Chrysler go in the 80s! It would have saved us from being subjected to a lot of ugly, crappy cars. What is really disappointing is that it looks like the bailout money in many cases is just more loot for a lot of high end thieves. The government should be demanding and getting a pound of flesh. And so it goes..... Andy

My thoughts are that the American car companies failed because of three things - product, product, product. Bad design, bad quality, behind the curve. I feel bad for people who don't know enough about cars and still buy GM and Chrysler products. People will always need cars - let GM fail! We will buy good cars made by other companies who have figured out how! I believe a lot of our production has moved to Canada and Mexico anyway to escape wage and health insurance issues. As far as our economic system we are a variation of capitalism. Fascism- where the government serves the corporate interests and not the people's interest. The corporations run the government. Look up the definition! Fascism is often confused with totalitarianism which we are not so far. I don't believe the CAFE standards have been raised for several decades. Emissions standards haven't changed much either. But these standards made Detroit and the other car companies come up with more efficient, longer lasting, BETTER engines then they would have on their own. How come Honda's engines meet California's ULEV standards which were meant for electric cars! They now have a hydrogen car in production! (It is losing money but that will change with time). Detroit! Anyone home? Andy

I like rotary wing aircraft too. At one point I had almost 75 different 1/72 Helicopter kits. I got rid of them when I decided to focus only on cars. There is too much cool stuff out there! Andy

Enough of what?

Oh Fudge! Andy

Hold your horses, guys! I have done this several times. It mostly requires patience. I soak the decalled body in water for AS LONG AS IT TAKES. I would say 4-6 weeks will do it. I then lay the decal on some clear decal sheet and brush some super film over that. It goes back on like a normal decal. With all of the Alps and replacement decals being made today it would take something unusual to go through all of that effort to save it but it definitely can be done. Andy

My question is this - what is the story behind the Testors HSO Releases of the S&M Cuda, Maverick/Comet and Rambler American in the 90s? Those tools must be around I would think. Second question is are the tools really that bad or are they just in a shambles like the the AMT stuff. All these years later and someone who knows what they are doing discovers all kinds of long thought lost kits still exist. What is the real story of all the Jo-han stuff? Is there anyone out there who can actually tell us what the state of Jo-Han tooling is devoid of rumors and 3rd hand stories? Inquiring minds want to know! Andy

Just superglue some brass rod to the bottom sides of the a-arms. Brass strip is too flexible. I have soldered a lot of white metal over the years and it is not for the faint of heart but if you do it you will be glad you did. I have been able to make really nice models out of poorly engineered kits because I was willing to solder them together. By the way - with white metal you are actually welding it since the solder and the white metal are essentially the same and they are fused together. Andy

You are correct that those tires are way too big. I think they could have done a better job on the nose, too. I have never been impressed with MG's kits. You did a great job building it. I love the Belgian race cars(yellow was Belgium's national racing colors). That is one of the coolest shapes on an early Ferrari. Andy

Unwind those undies, guys! It just said "preferred" not "only" and notice that it did not define efficient. A locomotive is the most efficient way of hauling things per pound. Efficiency can be defined many ways. That is more of a bumper sticker message than parking rules. Andy

Andy

Beautiful model! Paul is good. Detail level not near yours though, Bill! Models like your 58 Impala and 57 Corvette could easily fetch several thousand dollars from the right buyer, but how many hours do you have in them? Take it from me because I have tried and making it in the model car business is not easy. The paydays are erratic and sometimes far apart. I would say that if you don't have good business and marketing skills do not even try. If you want to supplement your income or pay for your hobby then dive right in but keep the day(or night) job. It's a great ego boost to have someone buy one of your models for a goodly sum and see them treasure it. It's a great way to meet people all over the country and the world. Andy Martin

There were many, many companies at that time. Aside from the big French 3 of Citroen, Peugeot, and Renault you had Talbot, Delage, Delahaye, Bugatti, Panhard(one of the oldest), French Fords and dozens of very small specialty builders like Hispano-Suiza, Rosengart, and on and on. I am just doing this from memory so it is quite incomplete. Most auto manufacturing nations had a similar variety of makes. Andy

I barely use Epoxy anymore, maybe once a year. It does come in handy once in a while where I really need some strength. The strongest stuff out there is JB Weld but it is gray in color. I used epoxies alot about 20-25 years ago and once in a while I take a look at those old models and the Epoxy has turned dark amber! I used Devcon exclusively. I use CA, Crystal clear white glue, and Plexiglass type glue(similar to Tenax and Drumhead brands, essentially there are just hotter versions of tube and bottle glue but no filler agents). I use the plexi glue because you get a pint for the same price as a few small bottles at the Hobby Shop. I use the hot solvent glue and, rarely, the JB Weld for fabrication and initial assemblies before paint. I use non-fogging CA and Crystal clear almost exclusively in final assembly. It works very well for me. Andy Martin

Hybrid Rat Rods? Andy

His quality is kind of so-so. It's buildable but takes a fair amount of work to straighten out. It is not even R&R quality. Andy

Seeing Mark Martin ( no relation...drat!) win a championship at this point in his career would be awesome. It's hard to think of someone more deserving. He is still a ###### fine race driver. How long did he lead the series last year in a part time drive? Andy

It was a fine vintage year for many things. Andy

Who's the rookie, rookie? 54 Plymouth Belmont. Andy

Art and craft are somewhat intertwined, at least until the advent of conceptual art and performance art. I think models run the entire gamut from nearly pure art like Winston's customs in Model Cars a while back to examples of pure technical skill like Clay Kemp. Some can combine both very well and some can produce arty looking models that technically are not too well built. Some folks just assemble and collect and make no pretenses to artiness. It's all in the mix! Andy

Was Juha's model called the "L'Universelle"? That was a real GM concept vehicle and a very cool one. I never knew that Juha built that one. There is a very good article on it in old Special Interest Autos mag from the 70s. As far as the Thunderball goes -- BUILD IT! Andy

Very cool! Nice build. I saw that car race at Brainerd in 80 or 81, I think it was. It's funny because I recently finished an out of box build of the same kit with the Martini Lemans markings. 935s were and, I think, still are the coolest racecars ever to go down a race track. The only car that comes close or is superior would be the 917! Andy Martin

Hey Guys! Don't be hating on FWD cars, now! Ever since I bought a 78 Scirocco in 81 I have really enjoyed fwd cars. They are just different than RWD. I had my share of small and big block Chevelles before that and those were fun too. Gobs of horsepower and tiresmoke were enjoyed by myself many times. The most fun car I have owned was my 60 MIni with a 70 1 litre with twin SUs. It had 165 SR10 tires and I could get a little tire smoke off of them. With an open mind you can have fun with just about anything that moves. Andy

Izzy, Congrats on breaking open new territory! That was originally MPC tooling and dates to the mid-60s as the Gangbusters series. The tooling is really tired at this point and you may want to find an original issue of it to build before you get in too deep. There are lots more sinkmarks and flashing on these older tools. I know you can handle it but I just thought to offer the suggestion. They don't cost much and aren't too hard to find. Looking forward to seeing you finish it. By the way, they had pacecars back in the teens! Andy

Aw, Zeb! You're all wet! The cars will enter vacuum tubes and we will be sucked along at 300 MPH and then shot out into sidings filled with recycled packing peanuts when we reach our destinations! Andy