Vince Nemanic

I just wish I had a local shop owner who cares as much as Justin. The owner of my local Hobby Town is into trains and his son is into RC. If they had their way, train and RC is all the shop would stock. Their Evergreen display is stashed behind a shelf positioned to look like an opening to the back office. My guess is they only have models and kid's toys because HT requires it for their franchise, and the models were last restocked before Thanksgiving. Their answer if you ask for something is "No, but you can order it and we'll have it in a couple of weeks" I ordered two of the then-new Revell AAR Cudas, and the son lost my contact card that he personally had me filled out. Four weeks later I had my models that I had pre-paid for.

I have no interest in the new Bronco, but when I mentioned it to a friend who doesn't read the boards, his first question was" Does that mean a promo is coming?". interesting thought.

If you have ever seen a technique demonstration at a model show, you know that the spectators move closer to the presenter as the demonstration progresses. Many years ago, the late Bob Paeth did a demonstration of sprue soldering at GSL. The smell was so awful that the spectators moved away from Bob. At one point, Bob (a fire fighter before he worked at Revell) aet the sprue on fire, and calmly stood there holding the burning plastic before he blew it out like a match. I think many in attendance thought like me that there was no way we were going to stink our homes up like that. A friend of mine uses this technique a lot and told me he only does it in his garage and he has a "big fan" venting outside his garage and sprue welds directly in front of the fan. I have never been to his house so I can't describe the set up better. The impression I got is that he has a room fan with a hole cut in one of the exterior walls of his garage. This is something you can do in warm Santa Rosa, California that you can't do where you get snow.

A modeler friend and his wife ordered a Maverick in July 2021 and it just was delivered about three weeks ago. They love it, but Ford's supply problems are continuing.

Dave was always friendly and open with everyone. A great guy. I miss talking to him.

Dave lost his house in the Loma Prieta (San Francisco World Series) earthquake, along with at least one full size car. Thankfully he and his wife were uninjured. Were all of these models lost, too? I haven't seen him in ages.

After cleaning the lid, I put a straight pin through the hole, then feed the washer on top through the pin, start the ball on top and snug it all up. I remove the pin and tighten it all up. I have also used a scrap section of a guitar string to align the holes.

The original Tom Daniel drawings were in a Rod 7 Custom Sketch Pad some time in 1964. I think it was two pages and one of the pics showed a GMC blower with top mounted injectors and dragster wire front wheels.

Since owner (and Scale Auto Enthusiast founder) Gary Schmidt passed away, I suspect that all plans are in limbo. I assume that his heirs will eventually make some sort of deal for the molds and rights at some time in the future, but that could be very complicated. I have no inside information. These are just guesses.

Although I am unlikely to buy this kit, I cannot say enough about the effort Moebius put into correcting the body. This shows that the company really cares about giving the customers a quality product. Close enough just isn't good enough. Bravo to them.

The last time I saw him was at a show in San Diego. He and David Dale joined my wife and I for burgers at lunch. Albert and Dolores talked gardening and David and I talked models. A thoroughly enjoyable time with two nice guys.

One thing is being ignored here. Mercedes had the opportunity to pit LH for new (or at least less worn) tires but chose not to. You make your choices and live with them. Most of their strategic choices over the years have worked out for them- this one didn't.

The body is in the bag that is between the box top and the instructions.

Thanks for the reply. Good advice. The dark wash really made a difference. Hope to see you at GSL!

Steve, do you have any pics of the Tiki Hut and any hints on painting it? Thanks.

A friend and I are both more interested in the '64 production version than the '65 A/FX car. We have a question for the Nova experts. What are the trim/grille/badging /whatever differences between the '64 and '63 cars? I know the kit will be far more detailed than the AMT annuals and have a V8, but how different is the actual car?

I vaguely remember reading that the Revell models are molded in Poland since the German takeover. Would shipping from Europe be less expensive than from China?

The military guys put on coat of gloss clear, apply the decals and then put on a coat of flat clear. This prevents decal silvering.

Any guesses bout the "glaringly missing" TV/Movie car? My guess is the Norm Grabowski "Kookie Car" from 77 Sunset Strip. I have no onside information, just a blind guess.

I think it was in response to the Jaguar XKE 2+2.

I use a hot glue gun to attach a drinking straw to the paint nozzle then spray the paint into an airbrush bottle. You need to let the propellant gas out for a couple of hours afterward. I then mix in a little thinner and spray. I do this with Tamiya primer and paint and have had great results. Tamiya is about the best spray Pint around. It also works with other brands of spray paint. I polish my primer with 000000 steel wool and wash before shooting the color coats.

Hello! Do you know about the NNL Western Nationals at the Santa Clara Convention Center next to Levi's Stadium? It was a virtual show this year but in February it is supposed to be back in person. There are usually over 1000 cars on display with around 500 people attending. It was founded in the early 1980s by Roy Sorenson who also founded Plastic Fanatic magazine (which evolved into Model Cars Magazine when Gregg took over the reins). Hope to meet you there. There is a pretty active model car community in Northern California mostly centered in the Bay Area and Sacramento.

There is a difference in the fender units. Aside from the difference to allow the different year grilles on the sedan, there are openings in the rear inner fenders to make room for the rear seat of the sedan. The Coupe inner fenders are like wheel tubs. I think one of them has an Olds engine and the other has a Buick. The kits are basically the same, though.

About 10 years ago, Dave Burkett came to a friend's house here in California. Another friend and I went to see them and talked models for a couple of hours. I asked Dave how he came up with an offer on a collection and he said it was very simple- he would count the kits and offer $5 per kit, But that meant he also took junk kits, partial kits, broken built ups and all that , along with the scarce sealed 50 year old treasures. One of my friends passed away about a year ago and another friend bought his stash. My late friend had a habit of cutting up parts trees so he can get two kits in one box- and not necessarily two of the same kit, either. How many of us are guilty of that? The buyer now has to sort out all the loose parts and separate the kits. He has been at it for more than a year. Sure cuts into the model building time. I know a person who sold a collection of 1200 kits last November to a dealer for $15,000- an average of $12.50 each. So if a dealer buys 1300 kits at $12.50 a kit, that is $16,250, and the seller probably wants cash or a cashier's check. How many of you can come up with that much money on short notice? A dealer probably had to take out a loan for it. And then have the time for transporting, storing, and reselling all of the kits. The dealers are often enthusiasts, but also are in this to make a living. I think they should not be harassed for that. I don't recall Model Roundup, Spotlight Hobbies, or any other dealer sharing such a video, so thanks to Andy for that.

The casual builder would never spot errors in the box art. And probably half the production run will go to Mooneyes stores and be marked up to $50.