Tom Geiger

Are on strike

Congratulations Steve! I’m pleased to see you recognized!

Looks good! I know you were having issues working with Tamiya clear, but that semi gloss look works on this one!

If you cannot find plastic or resin, Motormax does this 58 in diecast 1:24 scale. With Round 2 doing modified tools these days, turning their 55-57 pickup into a 58-59 would be very successful!

More power to him if someone ponies up that amount (it’s not happening!) I’d be happy to sell my Modelhaus 58 Plymouth wagon for that! But not a penny less! ?

Better mouse trap

A better option. I understand that the Aurora kit was lacking.

Selling rare parts

I cringe when I see a rare old model sold to a poor builder. I once knew a guy who would pay for rare kits, then show up at next meeting with it built as a mess.. brush painted with glue on windows like a 10 year old would do. People begged the local dealer not to sell to him!

To small boys

Great work! I love to put the Duster chassis under Barracudas and Valiants. Here’s an illustration of the necessary cut. The exhaust is separate. Cutting here results in a great joint that requires very little if any cleanup.

It smiles too! ?

The PDF version

Count me in! Still plugging along on the Studebaker. Got over some of the major hurdles, let’s see if I can push it over the finish line this round!

Been playing with the Valiant speedster to see how low low is.

Those colors are very doable on an inkjet printer. The caveat is the paint color you wish to apply them over. Inkjet decals are opaque, so dark paint colors will show through and overpower the yellow especially. They’d be fine over white paint. Red and black would work over lighter colors.

I agree that the Volare V8 isn’t an ideal engine. The transmission was made to fit under the kit’s interior bucket. A normal size trans won’t fit as I learned when I put a slant six in the Volare. There was no Mopar V6 in that era. Along with the chassis I recommended earlier, one of the best small blocks is in that Duster kit. I know you are trying to work with what you have on hand, but there’s a real case to buy another Duster kit!

Your wife’s Amish?

Funny thing.. I’ve been home a bunch of months and discovered I cannot work on models all day every day. I burn out, take a few days off and then I need to trick myself into getting back upon sitting at the bench. This past week I was doing like a step a day, getting frustrated and walking away. Today? I sat down and made some decent progress on one model.. and one step back on another!

I always get a kick out of regional phrases.. you call it “takeaway”. We call it “takeout”! You say sweets, we’d say candy. And Lord knows what a carrier bag is! ?

I went there on Saturday because I pass it during my errands. They were busy, long lines at the two registers open, so I made note they’d have to have something special to stand on those! No new kits, no sales, no coupon... walked out empty handed.

Never find them

Seems OP was going for the best / rarest kit in your collection, but it’s gone off into your most significant / favorite builds, which is actually more interesting.. so I’ll play.. I built this pair back in late 1990s. Still my two favorite builds. Where they reside today..

I’m desperately trying to push a few projects towards the finish line. My Red Chariot was my 24 Hour Build but I wasn’t happy because when I glued the interior side panels into the body shell, the clothes pins in used to secure it while drying dug into the not totally dry exterior Tamiya red. That led down the road to no good... I think I messed it up worse than it was! There are others on the bench that are frustrating me for one reason or another.. as Tarik says, “Time to find another house to flip!”

Color looks great. If you wish to have more detail under it, you could swap in the AMT 71 Duster chassis and engine bay.