Harry P.

Remember, don't post any hints or answers here. PM me with year, make, and model. The answer, and who got it right, coming FRIDAY!

It was nice to hang with an Uptown Girl...

The Bears won!

You did a nice job, but MAN, that body has some serious issues with proportions and contours.

Smashmouth's version of "I'm a Believer" is pretty cool... but the Monkees did it better. Actually the original isn't too shabby...

Agreed!

I don't exactly know what it is about these cars that turns my crank (pun intended!)... Maybe it's just the sheer honesty. What you see is what you get. No power this or that, no heated seats or cupholders or GPS or talking dashboards or backup cameras or self-parking... just pure, honest, simple mechanical machines with the "guts" exposed. I think that's what I like about these cars... the fact that the mechanicals are so simple and pure. Also... my favorite part of building is adding small details, and brass-era cars have so much exposed detail, which is fun for me to do. As far as how I decide which particular kit to buy, that's easy. Whatever I see on ebay!

Dave Mason does a killer version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower"... but for me this is the ultimate cover of that song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMx1w25ohPU

Nice cover of "Cats in the Cradle." That Susan Tedeschi cover was also really nice.

Not me. Had dinner with Christie Brinkley. She was delightful.

I think the lens is distorting the car a bit... it's not that big.

1905 what? Itala. Not exactly a household name. Italas were built in... you guessed it... Italy... between around 1905-1935. They built passenger cars and race cars, which this kit is. Like most brass-era model kits, and for some reason I don't understand, this kit was released under various brand names over the years, including Bandai and Imai. I happen to have the Bandai kit: And here's the real deal. Pretty sure the hot babes are aftermarket items: More to come...

Looks like a Toronado front end and a completely different "rest of it." The styling of the unique Toronado wheel arch/front fender totally doesn't match the rear. Pass. Looks like a bad Frankenstein hack job to me. Toronado was a "personal luxury" car, not a kid hauler. Besides, they had the Vista Cruiser for that.

That's cool! I love "old school" dragsters.

No problems... you and I are "sympatico." I hope I can say this without coming off like some sort of egotistical jerk, but you're right... I can turn it up when I want to. In this particular case I just don't want to. Also... don't sell yourself short. Your skill level is at a point where most modelers would love to be. Your only problem is that you're too modest.

It all depends on the specific car you're dealing with. For example, most cars from the '30s-'40s have flat windshields, so if you chop the top, you can trim down the windshield to fit the new shorter opening. On some models with curved windshields, like a typical '50s car, many times you can still get away with just trimming off the bottom of the kit windshield. It all depends on the specific car and the shape of that car's windshield. If the top chop makes the windshield opening so different that the kit windshield can't be used, no matter what, you can make a new windshield using clear acetate (found in art supply stores or the art aisle of Hobby Lobby) if the "glass" curves in only one way (not a compound curve), or you can make a buck and vacu-form new "glass," but that gets to be a major project in itself. Also, a lot of products come in clear plastic "blister packs," sometimes the packaging can be used to create the new windshield.

One thing I know for sure... you take this model building thing way more seriously than I do. That's not meant as a "commentary" or some sort of snide remark... just a fact. You just take this stuff way more seriously than I do, and that's perfectly ok. For me, I like the process of building, I like adding little details and scratchbuilding and noodling around, but to be honest I just don't get into it that seriously where I would re-spoke wheels or go to that sort of level of perfection. When the finished model is sitting on a shelf and you see the "whole package" visually, the dozens of hours of time and effort it would have taken to recreate six spoked wheels at this scale just isn't worth my time. Maybe in 1/8 scale I'd do it, but at such a small scale, the visual effect just isn't worth the time and effort to me. That's a decision I make based on where I'm at with this hobby, and what pleases me. I don't know if that makes sense intellectually, but I guess the bottom line is we all decide for ourselves how far we want to take a particular project... how far we want to go with it... and for this one I just don't want to take it that far. I save my all-out efforts for my 1/8 kits, and even then, my all-out effort doesn't come close to yours. You set a higher bar for yourself, but I'm perfectly happy with mine set lower. We all go at this in the way that makes us happy.

Here is the finished rear end with trunk rails and folding luggage rack:

A guy is watching the game on TV when his wife comes in the room. "You said you were going to paint the house this weekend, and here you are sitting on the couch watching the game!" "But this is the playoffs! I can't miss this game! I promise I'll paint the house next weekend." Next weekend comes and the guy is watching the game again. His wife says angrily, "You promised you'd paint the house this weekend!" "But this is the final round of the playoffs! I can't miss this game! I promise, I'll paint the house next weekend for sure!" Another week goes by, and now the guy is getting his snacks ready for the championship game on TV, which he plans to watch later that day. His wife sees what he's doing and says angrily, "That's it! No more excuses! You will paint the house THIS WEEKEND!" The guy can't take his wife's nagging anymore, so he goes for a walk. As he nears the corner he sees a hooker leaning against the lamp post. She eyes him up and down and smiles. "This is your lucky day! I'll do anything you want me to do for only fifty bucks! The only catch is that you have to be able to tell me what you want in only three words." The guy smiles and says "Paint my house."

A woman has twin babies and gives them up for adoption. One of the twins is adopted by an Egyptian family and they name the baby "Amal." The other twin is adopted by a Mexican family and they name the baby "Juan." Years go by without the woman ever hearing from the adoptive parents, yet one day she receives a letter from the Mexican family, and there enclosed with the letter is a photo of Juan, now a 10 year old boy. The woman runs to her husband excitedly. "Look, we have a photo of Juan after all these years! Isn't it great to finally see him! Gee, I wonder what his twin brother looks like?" Her husband looks up from his paper and says, "Well, if you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal."

Two Eskimos were out fishing in their kayak, when they got cold... so they started a fire in their kayak to get warm, but the fire burned a hole in the kayak and the kayak sank... which proves the old saying "you can't have your kayak and heat it, too."

The tape finally came...

Wow... this gets more confusing as we go on! Art... I never noticed the fact that the model is RHD! Must be some sort of export model. I'll have to do some more digging...

So first Buffalo gets hit with 7 feet of snow in three days!!! And now it's supposed to be 60 there this weekend! Can you say "flooding?"