DaveM

I'm working with the shaky camera and no lights set up. I will just post a couple of basic shots right now. Then I will try setting up a tripod, and light stand before sending pics of the body and stuff. The body looks pretty nice. The side trim has the "Futuramic" lettering engraved in it. The "Globe" logo for the hood is on the chrome tree, and looks pretty nice. The decals look great Here is the decal sheet http://i69.photobuck...sdecalsheet.jpg This is the tire http://i69.photobuck...50oldstire2.jpg and the engine sprue. http://i69.photobuck...enginesprue.jpg

I just picked one up on my way home for lunch today. It had just hit the shelves as I was walking into the store. (Glad I had an early shift today!) Looks okay. Probably better as a custom, rod or race car than a factory stock build. The body looks great. The parting lines are well located and should be very easy to clean up. There is a huge undercut section on the rear wheelwells that is really well done. I had thought that they would have to make that a separate piece, but it is molded right into the body, and is really nice. The hood has a couple of sinkmarks on it where the hinges attach to the inside, but they will be easy to deal with. I was going to jump right on this one, but I noticed a couple of details that will probably put this kit behind some others on my "To Do" list. No emblems on the body. (They are on the decal sheet.) The dash looks great. It should be a lot of fun detailing the interior on this kit. The wheels look good, and the tires have the right basic look, but have no sidewall details. (The tread is nice though) The motor parts look great on trees, and should build up into areally nice motor for street rod projects, as well as looking great in the Olds. Based on the 15 minutes I have before I run back to work, this looks like a pretty decent kit. I may wait to see if somebody is going to do etch for it though, as the decal emblems don't really look that good. (Please MCG, do this one and the 62 Impala!!!) I can come up with a lot of uses for the motor! First one is going into my '29 "A" Roadster Pickup! I'll be back in a few hours with more details. If nobody else can stick photos of the parts up, I may be able to do that after dinner tonight. Some nice surprises here, like a rear seat insert, roll bar and an "American Stock Car" decal version as well as the Pan American winner. Looks like a pretty good kit that could be made into a great model with a couple of minor additions.

Great build! I love the overall look of the model. You have a knack for making all of the parts work together well. The interior and the gauge pockets on the center console are too cool. Isit going to be a two seater, or will it have four bucket seats in it? Great job!

I think it's cool to let people start taking second shots at songs. I think the rule served its purpose, but it would be fun to open it up. (Especially where the first model never got built.) BTW, speaking of not built... My microbus is staring at me from the project table every day, but it isn't putting itself together. I have had a very hectic Holiday at work, but I do intend to start working on it later in the week. It will be a very slow build, as I will probably rough out one figure at a time, then I will need to figure out how to stuff them into the van. (I think it might be best to assemble the body around the interior and figures) Many of the figures will be hands and heads on scratched bodies. I will certainly have to add some facial hair to a few of them to get the true Hippy Vibe going.

That looks like the old Monogram '53 Chevy. It is a really nice kit for its age, and builds into a neat model. It also has a straight six that goes well with the '39 Chevy kits. (Although it would represent a later engine than the actual '39 would have, but you can just call it a swap .) The old revell 53/54 kit had opening doors, a V-8 and lots of Gasser parts. It was 1/25 scale. It was also a cool kit, but took a bit of fiddling to get everything together.

I am glad to see this back, even if ti is not up to today's standards. It is the only kit out there of a great car. I will also probably make a 61 Starliner from one of them too. I have the last reissue from a few years back. I hope that Round 2 keeps bringing back some of these oldies. The only really bad part about the older reissue is the sink marks are huge. Some of them are in hard to fix places too. I guess it just adds to the charm of the building experience. I would still rather have these old kits, even in limited numbers with their little glitches, than to see them go by the wayside. (And I will build a couple of them stock too!)

Jantrix beat me to the punch on the moonshiners! (While I was typing out a novella on it, he posted it!) I am looking at potential kits for this build. I don't have Revell's Black Widow 56 Chevy, but it would probably make a great starting point. It already has heavy duty wheels and tires. It would have a no frills body with the top of the line mechanicals under it. The engine could be left as a Small block Chevy, or a "W" head motor could be dropped in. (The 409 would have plenty of power, but would probably require an extra fuel stop. It might also be possible to stuff much of the running gear under the Revell 58 Impala kit for a slightly updated body style. Any Chevy Impala, Bel Air, Del Ray, 150, or other chevy kits from the era would work well too. I have been staring at AMT's 62 Bel Air, thinking that that would be the perfect car for the trip, and the 409 would be up to the task. Revell's 59 or 60 would be great, and could have some of the equipment from the Black Widow added to them. The real cars held their own in stock car racing. Lindberg's '61 would require a bit more cutting, as the original design of the kit left a bit to be desired. It would almost require a scratchbuild of the frame to show any major modifications to the running gear. (Or a swap from the AMT 62 kit) AMT's 1962 Pontiac 421 SD would be a good starting point too, although it is set up for drag racing. It had the heavy duty wheels that were used in NASCAR, but with slicks on the back. There are some aftermarket sources for era correct NASCAR wheels and tires that would work for the 58-62 years. Not sure if the NASCAR tires would be the ticket for driving across the country, as even then, they were being made for grip rather than longevity. (Although they certainly would have held up to the straightline runs of 100 + m.p.h. better than most tires) The Pontiac also violates my suggestion on 61 and earlier to avoid the attention of a brand new car, but it is not a really fancy car, and if the cannonball is taking place late in 62, and the 62 model year starts in the Fall of 61, maybe it's not that new anymore... The 57 Chrysler would be a stylin' way to go across the country, and the Hemi would be up to the task, but it's a big car. It might need a bit more fuel than most, resulting in longer fuel stops to fill up those huge tanks. The 58 Belvedere could also make the run, and could be upgraded with some of the Chrysler parts. Not quite as noticeable as the 300, and smaller and more nimble. Ford fans, the 60 Starliner would be perfect for this, as would the 61 galaxie. Big cars, fairly common, lots of success in racing already... Lots of parts available. (Although if you have to stop for much of a major fix on the road, you won't win the cannonball) Just slide a shiny showroom body down on top of a Holman Moody prepped car, and you have the perfect runner. The 61 would require a bit more work, as you would have to open the hood, scratchbuild an engine bay, and build up a chassis for it. (or heavily modify the underpinnings from a different kit) The Thunderbirds are also an option for this, although the 55-57 might be a bit too cramped by the time you put the extra tanks and all of the spare tires in them. The 58 T-bird would make a great cannonballer, as it was raced extensively, and it had more room than some of today's mid size cars. The 1962 would be really new and stand out, but it sure would be a nice car to rip across the country in! Vettes would have the same problem as the two seat Thunderbirds. They would, however be very quick, nimble, capable cars. They would also be lighter and make it on a bit less fuel than a big car, with a bit more speed and less tire wear. (Being 6'7" however, I wouldn't want to make a 20 hour drive in a two seater!) The new Revell '62 coming out might be a fun starting point, but I am not even sure when it is being released. This gets us into modified sports car territory, but might be the smarter way to run the race. A couple more fuel stops, but a much more capable car without all of the extra weight. (In today's world, I would tackle a run like this with a sports car, but in 1962, it might have been hard to get gas at 3:00 a.m. in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. I even remember in the '70s we had to make sure were had a full tank on trips before night time because the gas stations all closed.) I really don't know when truck stops became 24 hour and sprang up on every major stretch of road. Other options, although slightly less stealthy, could be the '59 Cadillac, Johan Chryslers, 62 Buick, Trumpeter's Bonneville, earlier cars like the '51 Fleetline (Would look really cool in burgundy) and the 53 Stude. Foreign cars could get into the act here too. I wish I had a kit of the Mercedes 190SL from RoG, as that would be a sweet way to go. I am sure that there are Jaguars, Porsches, Ferraris, Triumphs, Austins, and many other cars that would take the trip in stride. How about a Lotus Seven. (Have to check the year out on that one) For the truly oddball, the 1961 Ranchero could be a fun build. Too many choices and not enough time to build them all! (Leaning towards the Starliner or the Pontiac right now though...) Dave (Now when did that Fiat 500 come out???)

Seems like these cars would need a few traits to do a 1962 cannonball trip. They would need some straightline speed, but not like a dragster. They would need to be able to run at 110 or so for an extended run without blowing up or overheating. They would need some handling abilities. (We ain't running no roadrace here, but they need to operate on the streets and take an occasional evasive maneuver.) Reliability, durability and the ability to take a dirt or gravel road in a pinch would help. Good lighting would help. Spare tires, a jack, tool kit and the like would be necessary. Long range is a must, either through efficiency or large fuel capacity. Since we are talking 1962, radar, gps, cell phones and Garmins are all a ways off. If a car carries a police radio, it is going to take up a bit of space, weigh 40 lbs or so, have a huge antenna and suck a lot of battery power. On the other hand, the police don't have all of the fancy equipment either. You won't be dodging radar, choppers, etc. The other thing that would really help for a cannonball run is stealth. If the car looks like a racecar, or is readily identifiable, it will probably get chased down and stopped. If it looks like any other car on the road, it could probably get itself lost in a crowd pretty quickly, even if it was hot off of a chase. (" Sorry, Captain, I didn't know which of the three light green Biscaynes in that traffic jam had just blown by me on the highway five miles back. Sorry about roughing up that priest"). Now that I am thinking about this (I had written plans for a more modern Cannonball entry over the Holidays, involving a modern vehicle with large fuel tanks, oil, tranny and rear end coolers and wrapped it into a package that could blend into traffic.) in 1962, we were still in the early days of stock car racing, There were still a lot of bootleggers with fairly recent experience. The technology of the day was pretty much old fashioned mechanics and mechanical engineering. The electrical systems were pretty simple, and probably best left close to stock. (Beefed up coil, and bigger battery?) Seems like a bootlegging vehicle would be a good starting point for this project. Replace the "'shine" tank with some fuel capacity and you have already beefed up the frame and suspension for the added weight of the tanks. I would guess that the challenge of a coast to coast race would be mighty appealing to a bored bootlegger in 1962. Somewhere between the beverage delivery business and the early NASCAR and USAC cars (Still built from production type cars) we would find most of the design and engineering work already done for us. Now, it's just a matter of deciding which bits to keep, and how to adapt it to 1/25 scale models. I might try to get in on this build (With a whole year, what can possibly go wrong.) Maybe a 1956 through 1961 car, so as not to draw too much attention to a new car. Top of the line motor in a slightly more mainstream body style. Beefed up suspension, stiffened chassis, all unnecessary equipment removed, spare tires, toolkit, extra fuel filler so that you can use two pumps when refilling the tanks. (That was the stroke of genius on my modern project!) space for the co driver to sleep, and a good cooling system, combined with a few extra gas tanks. This would be a good start towards making it to the other coast in one piece. Good luck with this build, and I will have fun watching it whether I participate or not. Dave

I am thinning out my 35 year collection. Too many kits, and not enough years left to build them all. I will probably sell off a few hundred of them, along with a bunch of other things over then next year or so. Then I will use the space I have made to set up the slot car track that is sitting in storage!

I know I'm jumping in a bit late, but I have a fun idea for a music build. I would like to do one of the vehicles from C.W. McCall's "Convoy". I just got a Revell T1 Samba model, and now I need to hit the bay for a few sets of Tamiya's Campus Friends, and a few driver and mechanic figure sets. Anybody got an idea which one I want to build? (Boy! This one isn't going to be easy!) I'll start mixing up the flourescent green and yellow paints tomorrow to see if I can come up with the right shade. (About three steps brighter than "Sneeze Green"!) Now if somebody builds a Dynamite hauler, we can display them together! I hope that I can have fun with this build, and that you all won't laugh too hard at my follies trying to paint and modify eleven figures and stuff them into a VW bus! Mind if I join? Dave