Tom Geiger

that's a really nice job! You took the time to do it right. I like the way the rust is in all the right places and the cut radio wires.

A great build on one of my favorite kits!

I saw Al at our club meeting yesterday. I'm happy to report that upon seeing the '62 Fury, it's as good a build as many of us take months to produce. Al has the knack of getting things done quickly and getting good results!

And you didn't give your coupon to some hot chick buying a big item??

I see the differences now! I could live with the vertical bars, but the detail on the outboard of the headlights just changes the character of the car.

My two car garage is full of junk and my four cars sit outside in the driveway!

I'm with Casey on the interior. I rarely do black interiors since they get lost inside a model. I always go with something light. I'm known for my gray, red and light brown interiors, if for nothing more than the reflective values and being able to see the details inside a model car body. I'd be happy to see the white interior! As far as the exterior, I don't know if factory colors are a requirement, but I like a color in between the two shown: It's Duplicolor. I can look for the number if interested.

Lookin' good Rich! That yellow and black paint scheme really does it for me!

There's a good chance we'll eventually see the Chevette. Of course it would be the later version sold as the "Bear Bait". To get back to the early 1977 era version is easy. The only difference in the kit is the hood and grill. I got a yearning to build a Chevette a while back. My wife's sister is 7 years younger than her, so I was there to help her buy her first car. We wound up with a lime green '77 Chevette with a four speed. I taught her to drive the clutch and she's had stick shift cars for most of her life. So I thought I had a Chevette kit in my hoard. I headed down to the basement and to my horror, I only had the Bear Bait later version. So I hit eBay and found that unbuilt kits sell for $30-40 and old built ups in the $20 range. I wound up with a built up and when it arrived it was a bit 'gluey'. That's when I discovered I could use my Bear Bait kit with just the grill and hood from the eBay purchase. And no, I haven't started it yet. Doing a bit of research, I found it would be fairly easy to create some different versions. For instance the even later version of the Chevette could be done by scratch building the larger tail lights. Once you've done the tail lights, it's easy enough to create some Pontiac emblems to buld a T-1000. I also saw there was a Vauxhall Chevette that just had a different grill and tail treatment. It looked easy to do, the toughest part seemed to be the right hand drive conversion. And if you are ambitious, a 4 door Chevette conversion is also possible. So there's much that can be done!

My local Michaels has kits, but never the very latest. Even with their 50% or 40% off coupons, I'm better off buying my kits at shows or club meetings. I realize a lot of guys don't have these options, so they'll buy kits. I do print out the coupon and check out Michaels occasionally. I did buy the new Mustang convertible snapper there with the coupon, which made it $10 and worth it to me. Other times, I'll use the coupon to buy paint (Testors Dullcote or flat black) or Zap-A-Gap glue rather than waste it. There have also been times I don't need anything and I see someone in the store with a big item or a basket full of stuff and I'll give them the coupon.

Dave, I think the modeling community appreciates your efforts in getting it right. Your company has earned that reputation and we will all patiently wait until you get it to market. Expect great sales!

It can be done, but is pretty ambitious as a first try at BMF. You will need to cut a pretty large piece, enough that it will wrap around the entire fuel tank. take it off the backing and put it glue side up on a clean surface. Plant your fuel tank in the center of this and pick the whole thing up. Now start smoothing from the center of the front, wrap around the sides in that direction. Kinda like wrapping a Christmas present. If you are patient and take your time, a good result can happen. I've done entire bumpers and even the complete back panel for a low rider '64 Chevy for a friend. Roger is correct that there are better ways to chrome the tank. Alclad will give near kit chrome results if done right. Most folks airbrush it, but Alclad also sells a spray can that I use with good results. I've never tried the Plasti Kote paint he mentions.

The grill is done in resin and is part of the '67 conversion set I mentioned above. I have it and it looks good!

I'm surprised nobody here is using it as a screen name!

I remember back in the day, my father and I would buy used company cars from his company. He'd drive them home to look over. One was a Nova hatchback like the kit, it was a salesman's car. This had to be maybe 1980-1 and the Nova was so rusty that the hatch mounts were nearly off the car. I'd love for someone to modify that body into a 4 door sedan. Local towns used those for police cars back then too!

My new model kit warehouse!

Try some 1/24 scale fenders. The scale difference may help with the width.

I agree. Work this nice is a shame to cover with paint! That's why I love these build threads as well as the primer table at model shows!

On weathering the bed -- you can stain it with a number of things, from the muck in the bottom of your thinner jar, to products specifically made for this. I've used actual Minwax stain as well. Another thing I've done is taken a jar of Polly S acrylic flat brown and just used the thin stuff on the top of the bottle to use as stain... you know, the stuff at the top before you shake it. And a final thought, some guys were using soy sauce for stain. You could probably do that with one restaurant packet! Keeping in your theme, I think your farmer would have made the bed from old wood. So I'd mess up the edges and give it some gauges. You can add knot holes by drilling a hole and inserting a tooth pick in it. Cut it off and sand it flat, and you'll have a convincing knot hole. Keeping with the used wood theme, I'd paint at least one board red, as if salvaged from an old barn. Oh, and nails can be fudged simply by adding a Sharpie black dot where they should be! Cool model, great save and I'll be looking forward to seeing what you do with the bed!

It's pretty much the same car. The big difference is the grill and tail lights and there is a vendor who makes a resin conversion kit to do that. I believe the vendor is RDSXFAN2 on eBay. You also show a two door sedan rather than a hard top. The same vendor offers the sedan body. I just checked on eBay and he's not offering the Dart items this week, but check back. Beyond that, you will need to flatten the bumps on the '68's hood and change some trim.

My entire life has been divided into two themes. 1. No money, lots of time for hobbies 2. Lots of money, no time for hobbies. And never the two will meet!

Hmmm. Any photos of the '74 V8 car? The US '74 has a unique nose which they modified for '75 so the V8 would fit. I'd be interested in seeing what they did in Mexico to get the V8 in there. It's very interesting to see how the US manufacturers produced different varieties for other markets. For instance, in the USA there was no '67 Valiant hardtop, just the 2 door sedan to deflect buyers to the new Barracuda notchback. In Mexico they sold a Valiant hardtop!

A bit of background. The original Surfite kit became pretty rare before Revell reissued. I believe it was only out for one release. The rumor was that it had a short shelf life because Ed Roth got associated with Hells Angels and Revell didn't want that association since kits were marketed mainly to kids in those days. So I spoke to Bob Paeth, who was a product manager at Revell back then. He confirmed your quote that the Surfite got dropped because it was a poor seller and nothing more. Bob also relayed an interesting story about the release of the kit. All model boxes are a standard size due to shelf space and the size of the cases they are shipped in. Everything in the system, from kit assembly onward depends on the uniformity of the box. So when they got the test shots of the Surfite, it was very small and looked miniscule in that big box! The fear was that people wouldn't perceive it as a good value so they needed to do something to fill the box. Someone came up with the idea of the Tiki Hut, mainly as a way to fill up that box, and history was made!

I got this! I went to a conference and they had a vendor auctioning autographed memorabilia to benefit the foundation. Lots of sports figures and music folks. Everything from balls, helmets to guitars. I was just looking until I saw this one that just floored me. It's a wonderfully matted and framed set of Who autographs. Roger Daultrey and Pete Townsend, each on a CD along with a nice album photo and the words to Baba O'Riley, one of my favorite Who tunes. It was a silent auction so for the three days of the conference I watched it, wanting it more every day. I was just watching to see who got it and how much it would end up. I figured it would bring bigger money than I would spend. I happened to be there when the auction ended, and the lady announced that anything without bids could be bought for the minimum bid. Seems nobody else bid on that specific piece, so I dove on it! Another guy was right behind me and moaned when he saw me grab it. I paid more for it than I have a model car if that's a hint. But it's sooo cool!