Tom Geiger

That's pretty cool! And I love the way your 1:1 background works into the photos

If I remember correctly, the original of that Vega kit had side panels to convert it to the panel van. If you can find and cast those, you'd have two versions to sell.

As said above, large manufacturers give us kits in plastic, which is a heat process, in which the plastic is melted to liquid, injected into a mold and dried quickly by cooling. Resin is a liquid that is made into a solid by a catalyst (hardener) rather than heat. Depending on the resin manufacturer and type of resin used, the casting art has gotten so good that there are bodies and parts you would swear were injection molded plastic. Resin casters give us repops of older kits that are no longer available and / or cost prohibitive to acquire. Or they give us cool varieties of injection molded bodies and kits that we wouldn't see from a manufacturer, due to limited appeal of the subject matter. For instance, Revell gave us a 1950 Oldsmobile business coupe, A resin caster will take that and give us alternative bodies like a fastback or 4 door sedan.

Back when kits when kits were $5, it cost me $10 to fill up my tank. Now I pay about $50 to fill up my Caravan, so if kits are around $25, they're the same cost to me. LOL

This Lindberg series is very cool because it has a lot of cars that were never done any other way. Some of them are pretty common and can be bought at shows for $10-20. Some of the others are fairly scarce and command $50 or more when found. That would include the Granada, Monarch, Cordoba and Charger. I'm sure we could add others to this list. I also like the 1/32 scale Maverick I believe is Monogram, and the Chevelle Police car. Whenever I'd list one of those Mavericks on eBay, there'd always be a bidder war and I'd wind up shipping it to Brazil. Mavericks were made much longer there and are very popular collector cars. Now the big question... is there a market for a resin caster to produce these? Or are those of us who want them few and far between? 1/32 is the big scale in slot cars, so would resin bodies be welcomed there (or would resin be too heavy?)? And it will be interesting to see if Round 2 has any of this tooling.

I remember reading that the 20th century had more technical advances than the previous FIVE centuries combined! And we're already off to a roaring start in the 21st. I don't believe there are limits to what we will see in our lifetime. I'm never shocked, but always pleasantly amazed at new things that come out. As cars have gotten more complex, many of us feared that they'd become unserviceable and needing repairs on expensive systems regularly. The opposite has happened. As complex as they are, cars require much less service than the older cars we love. The life of the average car has been extended from an expected 100,000 to at least 200,000 and going on towards 300,000 these days. We'll probably see 500,000 mile cars in our future. Science will figure out longer range batteries for full electric vehicles. And the cost differential between gas, hybrid and full electric vehicles will fade. And as they become more mainstream, fueling will be more available. Whether stations will have quick high volt charges that take as long as filling a current gas tank, or we'll swap out our fuel cells like we do propane tanks today, electric cars will work the way we need them to work in our lives. Cars will be more automated. Already we have cars coming out that stop instead of plowing into the car in front of them. That alone would eliminate half the rust hour accidents. Add in fully automated driverless cars, and traffic will be able to flow bumper to bumper at high speeds. And there will be no drunk drivers. The car will lock out the user controls and take the drunk to his home. The fun part is that we cannot even imagine some of the things we'll see in our life time!

I think it's accurate to say Revell never gave a date for announcing new issues. As Casey pointed out, we have just deduced it from their prior announcement dates. I believe that Revell, like the other model companies, is run on a shoe string with minimal employees these days. Nearly everything from design, to tooling and manufacturing is contracted out. Sometimes outsourced services are difficult to work with and control to deadlines. You may not have an established process, or be familiar with the people you are working with on a specific project. The contractor's schedule may put you behind as they push a job for a better client in front of yours. For instance on my construction projects, when I brought in a new contractor, every detail needed to be explained and on the blueprints because they just didn't know all my expectations. Once working with a contractor a few projects, you can say, "With the usual level of detail." and it gets done the way you want it. And think about Chinese designers and tooling folks trying to get details right on cars they've never seen in person from notes supplied by folks in the US. As far as Revell attending the hobby show, that's an expensive event and they may not have had the time and resources to support it. The cost to benefit may not be there for them. I know in my own industry, several large companies were missing from our annual event this year. And does it make sense to announce your new products at the show where everyone else is doing the same? Your news can get lost. It may be more effective to do their announcements at another time.

what do you need Lee?

Congrats Mike! That's a heck of a truck. But note that those wheels won't fit on the truck!

Thanks Charlie, but this one is mint in the box and never used, so I think I'll just keep it new and put it on my old camera shelf. Besides, I haven't been able to find the USB port on this thing yet! My father was a big photographer his whole life and put himself through college doing weddings. That's how he met my mother, she was a guest at several weddings he photographed. He died in 1999 a few months before I got my first digital Sony Mavica. I often wonder what he would have thought of the digital explosion. Funny thing, I was waiting to get my flu shot last night at the local pharmacy and saw they were selling a digital camera for $19.95. Same one is probably $15 at Walmart. It was a 1.5 megapixel (better than the original $600 Mavica) and held 150 photos internally. Amazing!

I don't think anyone can dispute that old Johan kits are cool and the bodies were very accurate since most of them started out from car manufacturer prints and were supplied to them as promotional models. A few things... there has been mention in the past of mixed year trim on I believe some of the Ramblers. And a few of the cars that made it into the Oldies series had mismatched interiors etc. Even the last Johan, the 1959 wagon Okie released, had a later date interior. Over the years there have been jokes, one about Johan drivers having very short legs referring to the interior depth, and my favorite was Johan Motor Oil that won't leak out the axle hole in the engine block. Some of the chassis used were nothing more than a promo type plate. As said, the AMT '68-69 Mopar chassis is a good change out. I also like the Lindberg 1964 Dodge / Plymouth chassis and interior that should slide right under some of the Mopars of that era. In fact the Lindberg '64 Dodge is a 2 door sedan while the Johan one was a hardtop, so we even got different versions out of it. As said, the Ramblers were all unibody so also look at Mopar chassis. I haven't researched that part yet. And don't overlook Johan promos of 1960s Ramblers! There's a whole series of Ramblers and even 4 door sedans and wagons up to 1966. You can find damaged ones on eBay for reasonable prices that would make a good start at a detailed model build. I believe 1963 and above are regular kit plastic and don't warp. Both of these were sold as kits way back when but also were sold as promos. The '62 Rambler is plentiful as the taxi snap kit. An example of the broken promos out there. I think we can all fix a few posts on this $10 purchase. I also have wagons from '63 to '66 and sedans through '66 as well.

You did get a good deal on that one, a lot of vendors think they're gold! They're sitting in eBay Stores for up to $100. I love those old Heller Citroen trucks and cars. They all build up off a common platform and require good modeling skills. They are very nicely detailed. I had some issues assembling the multi-piece body on the Bordon's Milk Truck. The common chassis on them all, builds up as part of the fender unit. Some of the chassis parts are fragile, ala old Revell kits. I do have an album of research photos of stock versions if you need. If you are planning on rodding it, the AMT '34 Ford chassis seems to fit under it like it belongs there!

He did move to Utah and established a rural shop there. Ed was to appear at the Greater Salt Lake Championship (GSL) in 2001, but died just prior to the show date. I attended that show and was looking forward to meeting him, something just not meant to be.

Interesting guys! I never looked at '57 Fords at all until I got into modeling and my club did a build on that AMT kit. I did a bit of research and now I may just prefer a '57 Ford over Chevy! Mainly because they stand out since there are so many more Chevys at shows and such. Here's mine, man can that build really be 25 years old? And the other funny part. My favorite Tri-Chevy is also the '56. Again, the least seen year. I had a '56 2 door sedan back in 1976.

Looks good, especially since I know just how crude that kit is! I also had a '77 Monarch, mine a V8 silver 4 door sedan with a light blue interior that had bucket seats and the same console / floor shifter that came in Mustangs. I got mine fairly cheap since a friend's father got transferred to England and had to sell the car. A few years ago there was a 1976 or so red Granada two door for sale on Long Island through eBay. It was very low miles and perfect. I had a hard time not hitting that "Buy It Now" button.

Part of replacing the chrome finish with Alclad is the ability to remove imperfections from the chrome. Many kit bumpers had big seam lines in very visible places that most folks would take care of prior to sending out for rechroming, or now a days Alcladding. For quick repairs I have shot Alclad from my spray can right onto kit chrome and it's worked out well too. I've done that on a few parts that had yellowed clear coat over the chrome or chrome that had oxidized but the part was otherwise good to go.

Okay I'm spilling the beans... All New Tool! 1966 Valiant station wagon All New Tool! 1979 Ford Fairmont 4 door sedan Modified Reissue! 1966 Chevelle 8 door wagon airport limo

Guess that seller learned a lesson and won't be doing it again! I'm amazed at how few people actually know how to wrap and mail stuff. I just take it for granted! And on the other end of the spectrum are the folks who wrap stuff sooo good that you can't get it out without destroying it!

Thanks guys! You get why I do it. Picture back in 1962 or 1963 (the 1961 Ranchero customizing kit came out in '62) some kid or young adult put their imagination and enthusiasm in building it. Who? We know it was someone who had never seen a Mustang or Camaro but was influenced by the custom car trends and model car magazines of that era! And where has it been? Was it entered in a hobby shop model car contest? Was it ever in a magazine? And how did it managed to get tucked away and saved for 50 years? AND, what would that person say if they saw that model redone today? That's the fun of it.

Thanks guys! Ed, yes I do research my rust and damage... with a passion! It drives me nuts when I see model beaters with rust in places no vehicle would ever rust, while the real rust out areas are left pristine!

Cool. Someone needs to set these clowns straight. Many years ago I bought a built up Chrysler convertible on eBay. It was shipped to me in a bubble mailer with no protection and the windshield frame was shattered into pieces. When I emailed the seller his response was "You're a modeler, fix it!". I left him negative feedback and he left me negative feedback in response. This was before Paypal and eBay had no guarantees so I was SOL and his negative against me stood. It stunk!

First time out, I'd look to the aftermarket to buy the items you need. Once you see the products, you may want to seek alternative (and maybe cheaper) sources. Go to eBay model car section and search for wire/hose. I found this starter set for $12: I don't have experience with this vendor, but this gives you an idea of the different sizes we use. Also, I bought radio diodes from Radio Shack (many in a pack) that look like clear glass fuel filters with line attached. You may also look for prewired distributers, which are a little more money, but save you a lot of time and effort.

It does use polaroid film. I don't know anything more.

someone who shouldn't be selling on eBay! I'd leave neutral or negative feedback stating, warning- do not buy from this seller. Mailed model kit in bubble wrap, totally destroying box and product. Seriously - the box is half the product on a model kit. Yea, you got a buildable kit, but would have a hard time selling it if you had to.

Thanks Rob I will have to look into his work. Blue Highways was recommended to me by Dean Milano. I believe he wrote a song about it. BTW- I've always wanted to write the great American novel. I'm about two chapters into an interesting tale. Don't know how this will work out, or if it will be another of my unfinished projects... like half my models!