Harry P.

Where's the Bluesmobile? Where's Ecto 1? The Munster's Koach? Drag-ula? Monkeemobile? Black Beauty? My Mother the Car?

That's a beautifully done woodie!

You're going to get a million different answers, because there are a million different brands and types of paint out there, and everyone has their own favorite. Since you're a beginner, I'd say keep it simple... you always have time to experiment down the road, but for a beginner to have the best chance of success I'd say try Tamiya sprays. I have also had good results with DupliColor automotive touch-up sprays (found at auto parts stores).

1966 Batmobile should be #1.

Or you could go with actual Petty Blue from MCW.

I'm not too sure you would have seen anything like that super bright green back in the day, but a very nice model.

How about Hobbytown USA? They carry a wider line of paint, including Tamiya paints.

Jonathan... if you have Hobby Lobby out there by you, I suggest you buy your paints there. They have a 40% off coupon every week. Nope. 1905 RR.

The paint looks good. Nice model.

Nice. But where are the taillight lenses?

Venture Hobbies has been slowly dying for about 25 years. They used to be a jumping place... Saturdays the place was packed. They had a huge selection of plastic kits, RC stuff, diecast models, model RR department, etc. It was about as perfect a hobby shop as you could imagine. You could easily spend an entire Saturday afternoon browsing the store. Then Don, the owner, decided to sell, and the new owners either had a really hard time, or they had no idea how to run a hobby shop. Shelves were half empty, the entire diecast department disappeared, no more model RR stuff... the place was a shadow of its former self... it was actually sad to go in there and see what it had become. Then Don suddenly reappeared. Don't know if he bought back the business, or was just there as some sort of an "advisor" or what... but things seemed to pick up a bit when he came back. But by then the writing was on the wall... even a "new" name (from Venture Hobbies to AdVenture Hobbies) couldn't stop the death spiral. So what was once one of the biggest and best (if not the best) hobby shop in the Chicago area is dead. But on the bright side... the variety of model car kits and related materials has never been better... on the internet, which is where the hobby will eventually completely migrate to. I've been shopping online for many years, not just for hobby stuff, but for all kinds of things. I even bought our dishwasher online! I'll miss Venture Hobbies... for a while. But I just received another new kit the other day that I bought online, and I'm busy working on it.

Most people don't post their work in progress, they only post the finished product. "After the fact" comments are the only ones possible.

Judge for yourself:

And as cranky as ever!

No. BB had a bubble top. That looks more like the Outlaw.

I have to agree with the rest of the guys... that color combo is very attractive! Nice work!

Probably because it didn't fit?

My guess would be yes. Whenever you have an item that's considered "collectible" and they're not making any more of that item, prices for the ones in existence generally rise. Look at Pocher kit prices. They used to sell for $200-300 when Pocher was still making them. Now, depending on which particular model you're talking about, prices range from $400 on the absolute low end (1907 Fiat GP car) to nearly $3,000 for an unbuilt, complete Bugatti kit.

As far as I know, FM is still around. But their models weren't nearly as well-done as the DM models.

I have one, and it's a real beauty. Every bit as good, if not better, than the best DM has ever made. But it's not sure if they will ever get back to offering dozens and dozens of different models the way they used to. Tooling up that many models would take a huge amount of time and money. My guess is that if DM decides to stay in the diecast model car game, all we'll see from them is the very occasional new model. The glory days are definitely over.

We already have a feedback section: any of the Workbench or Under Glass areas. No need for a "special" section for feedback when feedback is perfectly appropriate in the areas we already have.

That would work if forum members actually paid attention to the rules and followed them. As a moderator here for several years, I can tell you that ain't gonna happen. Besides, the whole point of a forum, IMO, is interaction among the members. I don't see the point in having a special "look but don't comment" section for the thin-skinned and easily offended. I've said this probably dozens of times already, but I'll say it again: When you post photos of your work on a public forum, comments–including critiques and/or criticism–are to be expected. It's part of what makes a "forum" a forum. If you are the type of person who cannot handle that, do not post your work. Simple as that.

From their Facebook page: Earlier this year (2012), our primary factory for die-cast replicas abruptly closed. Since then, we have been working to restart our die-cast business, essentially from scratch. This is a long and difficult process. We wish there was more encouraging information, but as of right now, we simply don't know when or whether we will be able to produce more cars. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

His last post was over a year ago. Not exactly the most active forum member...

How about this one? The answer: REAL!