DaveM

I just took a job in Africa. They said, "Kenya start tomorrow?"

Cuando omni flunkus moritati. The only other Latin I know is of the porcine variety. (Although the statement above may come in handy as a tactic in a couple of threads on here lately.) We really need some automotive words in Latin it would make it more interesting. The only exposure I have had to Latin is working with fish and plants. I used to deal with a lot of aquarium fish, and we always dealt with Latin names for positive identification. I got fairly decent at pronouncing them, and I even understood what a lot of the root words meant (Nigripinnis = black fins, nigriventris = black belly, miutifasciatus = lots of stripes etc...) I was at a major national club's annual convention and fish show several years back, and I was volunteered to help run the fish auction at the end of the weekend. There were almost a thousand bags of fish and plants, so if was a long day and we were going in shifts trying to keep things moving as fast as we could. I was learning my lack of Latin quickly, as I held up each bag of fish and read the lot number, quantity, size and sex and scientific name of each lot. I did pretty well, and faked my way through my first hour shift. I took another shift in the afternoon, and got a bit too confident I was handed a bag, and got terribly tongue twisted on Heterotilapia buttikoferi. I never made any pronunciation that would get me censored, but nobody could keep a straight face! I still get teased about that one several years later. Learning a bit of Latin, even if it's just a few tapes, or an internet course, is still a bucket list item for me. Just an interesting question; Lots of cars have Italian or Spanish names (Including the topic of the thread, the Del Rio) Did any cars have Latin names? I don't know of any, but maybe a European model did. Just wondering.

I like the Anthem too. I had a Badger 150 that I bought back in the late eighties. I managed to drop the needle while cleaning it. (The day of the Oklahoma City Bombing IIRC) and had to replace the needle. Other than that, it has been a solid performer. I ended up letting Cathie's Son in Law take it with him when he moved out East. He uses it for model airplanes, and for stenciling ID info onto bull's horns! I decided to try the Anthem when I replaced it. No regrets. It's a little tougher to clean acrylics out of than my 150 was, as they seem to really stick the nozzle parts together a bit more, but it's not that much of a hassle. I am no Rembrandt, but I get pretty decent paint jobs out of it.

Probably sold out the latest run. When they run out of kits in the pipeline, they drop them from the catalog. Ugly box art, hiding a pretty darned nice kit!

Nice, Tim. When I first saw that, I thought you had posted a real car for reference! Are those tires from the Rat Roaster? Not only is the model nice, but the photograph is great too. It has been a couple of years since any companies have released a "Sweep the bench" kit for me. One of our local modelers coined the term a few years back for a kit that is so cool that you run home from the hobby shop and go straight to the workbench. You then use your free hand (The one not tearing the shrink wrap off of the new kit) to sweep the other projects and parts off to the side of the work area so you have a big open space to do the new model. This kit will be one of those kits. Everything else on the workbench will get set aside when this kit gets in my hands. Actually there are two "Sweep the bench" kits coming out this year, as I plan to drop everything the second I get my hands on a Moebius Ford Ranger too!

Thanks, Tim. I was just thinking of a basic, traditional, fenderless sedan (Not chopped or channeled) sometime in the future. Mainly I wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing some secret difference in early and late frames. I tend to do a lot of hacking and mixing if parts when I build hot rods. They are much more free form than musclecars, where there is a "Right" way and a "Wrong" way to build. Just like real life hot rods, I just keep adding stuff until it looks right to me!

Thanks for all of the info and history, Tim. I have built a few of those Monogram coupes. I have combined them with the hot rod chassis from the Touring car, I have chopped them, I went through a few back when the ssp reissues came out. I will contact Replicas and Miniatures and get a couple of the coupes ready to go. I will have to figure out how to unchop one of them. If I am building without fenders, can I interchange late and early parts? If I get a hankering to build a sedan, can I drop the body and cowl onto the early chassis, or are there other parts that are specific to the '28 and '29 cars? I would probably use the firewall from the '31, as well as either a late grille shell, or a '32. I can't wait for these to come out. If we export a boatload of Jolt Cola to China will we get our kits more quickly?

Same here. I don't want to ride off into the sunset without a '61 Starliner in the stash. Monte Carlo Red...

Make sure you post pics as you build that 26-27 T roadster! I want to see how that one goes together. I have been looking at some "A"s the last few days, and I am hoping that the new Revell kit will play nicely with the old Revell RPU and '31 Sedan kits. With two sets of frame rails, and the need to scratchbuild at least some of the suspension parts to make a traditional hot rod, I am thinking that one of the new roadsters will be built on the "A" rails, leaving me a set of '32 frames to build a killer '31 sedan. (I have pics of a few really killer sedans on '32 rails, as well as a couple of '29 pickups.) Tim, I'm taking your word that Revell got all of the basics right on this kit and ordering a few extras. I hope Revell does a coupe soon. I am not the kit historian you are, but I don't know of a 1/25 coupe body. The only coupe I have dealt with is the Revell '30 coupe in 1/24. The only coupe body I know of in 1/25 is the Jimmy Flintstone resin. One last thought, inspired by the T roadster talk. I really like the Revell '26 Sedan delivery (Which can be made into a sedan easily) and the '27 touring bodies, but the IFS and the "Modern" '80s chassis prevent older or newer style rods from being made with these kits. Did anybody ever stick a '26 sedan on '32 rails? I can see it working, maybe even the '27 touring car. Vintage flattie, or even a Y block or '55 T-bird motor? Never mind me, I'm just dreaming up more projects than I can afford!

I have both narrowed and widened dozens of hoods, but it is easier when you have a hood to start with! That's why I was hoping that there would be a hood in the kit of some type. As it is, I will just scratchbuild them until a later release includes one. "A" hoods are pretty simple. I will be chopping a couple of '32 shells down as soon as I get my hands on the kit. I am not in a place where I can do any casting, as I no longer have my equipment, or a place to use it. (Taking care of a relative, and building on a TV tray...) This kit would be a fun place to jump back into casting if I could. Grille shells ('32, '34, tracknose) hoods and sides to match each shell, a couple of optional interiors, Duvall style windshields, a vintage rear suspension, a coupe body, a chopped coupe body and a really chopped coupe body would all be fairly easy to master. As it is, I'll just build some for myself. The more I look at the info on this kit, the more I am going to like it. My first moves will be to snag a Nailhead for a '31 Sedan I am working on. Then I will mash a 409 into the Roadster, with some fatter tires and a '32 shell. (Maybe with a Duvall style windshield) I would like to change up the interior too to make a more modern rod, and build a traditional rear end for a more traditional rod. The kit looks like it should handle all of those variations.

Just looking at the selection, I wonder if the seller is related in any way to Lucas Decals. He does the Mod Tops, the Iaconio Banana and the Scotto and Blevins cars, along with most of the others shown. Even uses a lot of the pictures. I don't have personal experience with them. I have been looking at doing some of these cars, so I may order these if the feedback holds up.

I just dug out a reissued '26 Dump truck. I have some ideas, but I also have some things I am going to have to figure out before I can build any of my ideas. (Mostly replacement wheels and tires) I may also need some history lessons to keep my build realistic! Just waiting for April! (Although, if the MPC DM600 is out by April, I might change my mind...)

One last one for today. Here's a great cover of "Maybe I'm Amazed" by the late Ruby Starr.

Here's a case where the cover is better known than the original. This was a big one hit wonder in the Eighties. I know there were some pretty serious controversies, but this is the MTV safe for all ages video. Here is the original, with no underaged, underdressed women. Surprisingly, the older Strangeloves versions of this song are just as creepy as the '80s rehash.

When I made aircraft kits back in the '80s and '90s, I had one thing figured out pretty quickly. It is far easier for me to fix a mistake once, in my master, than it is for 100 customers to all have to fix the mistake in the final product. I bet Revell makes more than 100 copies of each kit. I don't expect a perfect kit because the perfect kit doesn't exist. That does not mean you can't at least try to make it correctly. I applaud Moebius for showing their test shots, as the back and forth tends to give us better kits. I can see where they really fixed the bigger glitches in the Ford Pickups, and that will get them a couple of extra sales from me. (I am buying at least 3 of each, and I don't buy that many kits any more.) Revell needs to earn my trust again, as I have been burned on a few of their recent kits. I may buy one of the Del Rios if I think the worst flaws can be reasonably fixed. I will probably not grab the first one off the boat like I used to. I will wait until the kit has been reviewed and vetted on this board before parting with my hard earned money. The '57 Fords were not terrible kits, although they aren't in the running for "Kit of the decade" either. I bought one factory kit, and one NASCAR version. I have the factory one on the bench now. It is a pretty nice kit. The fit, so far, is really nice and the molding is fairly crisp. Details are well molded and pick out easily with paint. The motor is going to be a little jewel! But, they have made some basic shape errors. Revell has tooled some of the best kits in the business and many of their reissues are must haves. (I am up to 4 of their '70 Torinos!) I have bought many multiples of their '55 through '57 Chevy kits from their new tools, and I buy the '69 Camaros as fast as they can crank them out. I also have multiples of their '59, '60, '64, '65 and '66 Impalas, lots of Thunderbolts and enough Chevelles to fill a rowboat Hopefully their next couple kits will get me trusting them again. (Pretty stoked for the '29 "A" roadster)

I have been working on a '39 Chevy since the Fall of 1988... Darn thing just hasn't cooperated. I took two kits that I butchered as a kid and tried to salvage something out of them. I had a '39 Chevy street rod that a neighbor's kid brother had "driven" across the carpet, busting up the wheels and suspension pretty badly. It was molded in dark maroon and had the Pontiac "Honeycomb" wheels on it (Also described as "Snowflake" before the ones that really looked like snowflakes came out) I took a Tom Daniel's California Vette that had been painted Lime Gold Metallic, with stripes taped off in the bare orange plastic! that I had built back in fourth or fifth grade. The body was beyond gluebomb, and the glass was trashed. I decided in my best late 1980s style to combine the two kits and make one good model. I filled in the sunroof, chopped the top (A bit harsh on the angle, as the front is lower than the rear) and I started to figure out how to fit the two together. I filled in the hood scoop, as I decided to use the Vette engine. I smoothed out everything on the body that could be smoothed. (Late Eighties, remember) and I had planned to paint it in a monochrome pink pearl scheme. (Late Eighties again) Every year or so, I stick the pieces together and look at it and think I should finish it. I was going to scratch an interior for it using a couple of Vette seats as a starting point, I have thought of redoing it to modern standards with big Torque Thrusts and a Ross Gibson motor of some type, but now, I think I should just follow the original plan. I'm not so sure about the pink paint, but I think I will just use the "Vette's slotted wheels and sink some headlights into the front fenders. Truth is, it will probably sit on my "to do" shelf for another 27 years, at which point I will be too old to care about it. Maybe one of my girls will have a kid who builds models, and it will get completed a couple of generations down the line. It is definitely a stalled project.

My one wish for this kit is that a hood would magically appear. I'm looking at pics of "A"s I want to use for inspiration and well over half of them have hoods. I'm not even going to be greedy and demand sides, although it would be nice. Hopefully Revell will make a series out of this tooling and offer us a coupe and maybe a sedan and fenders and a nice vintage flattie and some different hoods and sides with each version. Different wheels, tires and an Olds Rocket, or the like would be welcome too. The basic concept worked pretty well for the '32, and I think Revell has sold one or two of those kits. The neat thing about the '32 kits is that all of the pieces swap out pretty easily, meaning I can take the Highboy kit, build it with fenders, the Hemi from the 5W, the hood from the Speedwagon and the wire wheels from the sedan, or any other combination I can dream of. I'm pretty sure that a hood will happen in one of the future releases, but starting now would give them a chance for an extra variation. If not, I will just have to scratch out a hood and sides for it. (Too bad I don't have the casting gear any more, as I would probably do well with a couple of hood versions, some alternate interior pieces and a couple of different grilles and shells). I know I will be hacking a couple of '32 shells for it as soon as it is released. It looks like somebody will make a track nose or two... This is gonna be fun! (and expensive$$$) If this kit is pretty good, I can see myself getting a half dozen or so. This kit should work for anything from slightly traditional rods to rat rods to '60s style show cars with enough massaging. Hopefully, this kit ends up being as nice as Tim's previews make it sound, and there won't be too much to fix on it. (Aside from the rear suspension) I think Revell could really have another winning franchise on their hands with this kit!

I wonder if it would be even possible to restore the Nova and the '66 Barracuda to stock. Either of those kits would pry my wallet open for a few copies. I bet I'm not the only one, either.

Half plane half truck = pluck?

If he casts another batch, I will grab a couple. I have a couple of drag cars on the "to do" list that need the good front ends.

I had a similar experience. I worked at a shop that made parts for the aviation industry, along with other customers. We were pretty used to dealing with the F.A.A., and Military Specs. We got a bright, shiny, new manager one day straight from running a local restaurant chain into bankruptcy. He was a "Too good to pass up" hire for the owner, because he had two business related Masters degrees and a PhD in Management. Before he killed the restaurants, he had run a group of car dealerships that went bankrupt. After we folded, he ended up running a Medical center into the ground! I don't know where he is now, but I bet it will fail. On his first day i the shop, he asked us what everything was called, not understanding even the basic tools, let alone the types of parts we made. The second day, he was telling us how everything we were doing was wrong and how we needed to change all of our procedures. He streamlined inspections down to writing the target number down on the inspection sheet and signing it. He banned process control charts (Waste of time and perfectly good parts) He made the machinists turn up their speeds and feeds to the highest speed where they could still cut. (Woe to the guy who was making precision grooves in threaded stainless on a lathe adjacent to the guy who was turning a piece of scrap aluminum rod down to make a quick and dirty handle for a shop fixture. He was told to "Match that guy's speed or go home!") I agree management has its place, but Managers and the College educated guys usually manage to talk their way into jobs they aren't qualified for, and proceed to prove their worth to their bosses by making all kind of changes. It can get pretty ugly when the "Pretty little certificate" is allowed to trump actual relevant experience. The entitlement culture of management is one of the big reasons America is in the sad state of affairs it is in right now.

Looks like the third picture is newer. Also, did the air cleaner change in the third pic? This version changes my interest in the Piranha I was uninterested, although not unhappy to see it. Now, I NEED this kit. (This is how my stash got so huge) I love the racing version, and I would try to duplicate the look of the first two pics. (Looks like they are from the '60s) That thing is sweet looking, and Corvair powered. Like most model builders, I am better at buying and dreaming than I am at building... and the stash grows!

Firecrackers are available in Michigan again... Must explain some of the recent releases

That's funny, because I switched from IE to Chrome well over a year ago for that very reason. (To post pictures of the '50 Olds and '57 Ford when they were released, IIRC) and when this happened, I tried both Chrome and IE on two different computers. After trying to make a post for well over an hour, I gave up. The next Mornng, I jumped on and made a perfect post using Internet Explorer. (The one that I ditched because it would never post pictures here) but Chrome took four or five tries before it worked. Like I said in my apology edit of the post I was trying to put a picture in, "Somebody must have moved a couple of electrons since I last posted here!" Now, Chrome seems to be perfectly happy and compatible again. IE doesn't want to play well with the board again. I just don't get it... I may have to add a line about internet browsers to my (in) famous slot car racing axiom, "There are three things men were never meant to understand; Women, cats and T-Jets."

Fantastic build, Tim. I really like that one. I might be biased a bit, though. On the aircraft boards, and photobucket, my handle is "Cougdave". In the '80s, I used to use things like "1970XR7" and "351Cougar" for passwords, and I still have one Cougar in the garage needing restoration. (Waiting for life to allow me to get back to it) Great looking model.