Mike999

I may have to get one of those myself, even though I already have some Trabbi kits. That display is nice. Here's an early start on your engine detailing. This Trabant is a "gate guard" at Statue Park outside Budapest. When I visited Hungary in 2008, Trabants were still a pretty common sight. Quite a few were parked on the streets, both sedans and station wagons.

Looks real enough to jump on and ride away! The wheels are especially nice. Could you tell us a little more about it? What's the scale? Is it totally scratch-built or a modified kit? Thanks!

I wasn't quite sure where to put it myself. Decided on this group for all the trucks in the article...including that big truck with a 7-ton BRDM-2 armored vehicle (barely) loaded in its bed. I figured the mods would move it if they decided this wasn't the right place.

The photo below looks like it came from WWII, with a crew relaxing on their ISU-152 self-propelled gun. But the photo was taken in 1986 at Chernobyl. They say desperate times call for desperate measures, which sure was true at Chernobyl. One of the most desperate measures: using the old ISU-152 to fire a 152-mm, 53-G-545 anti-masonry round and punch a hole in the concrete reactor building. Then the plan was to run a pipeline of liquid nitrogen thru the hole, and just freeze everything inside the reactor. That didn't work. But the ISU-152's were useful for another job: knocking down buildings. One ISU-152 had its gun removed and replaced with steel strips, turning it into a sort of mobile wrecking ball. The linked article has many photos of trucks and other vehicles buried at Chernobyl. Some of the ISU-152s are still there and shown in their current condition. It's a long article, which includes a pre-meltdown history of the Chernobyl region. If you like to build dioramas, you'll find plenty of inspiration here. I found the article on the Missing-Lynx armor website. https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2019/09/08/why-there-is-a-wwii-vehicle-at-chernobyl/

If the Sea Fury is 1/48 scale it must be the old Hobbycraft kit. The photo date is 2008 and I think Hobbycraft was the only 1/48 Sea Fury available back then. The Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury wasn't released until 2018.

To quote some famous person whose name I forgot: "James Dean was an actor. Jimmy Dean makes sausage." ? A local used-car lot had a Palmerism sitting in the back row when I was a kid. It fascinated me. A '62 Corvette with the roof of a split-window '63 coupe grafted on. A real class act in ugly. And the closer you got, the worse it looked. You could see patches of Bondo and raw Fiberglas flaking off along the seams where the roof section was attached. They were white and gray, and really stood out against the new coat of red paint. I hoped that the roof came from a wrecked '63 that was a total loss. Still, it was a horrible abuse of 2 great classic cars.

In addition to the Plague, last Monday morning this area got slammed by an EF-3 tornado, winds estimated at 160 MPH. I woke up at 3:30 AM with my phone screaming "Tornado Alert - Take Shelter Immediately." Poked my head out the bedroom door to lightning, thunder and buckets of rain. I heard a roaring noise that I thought was a train on the nearby tracks. But was probably the winds from that twister. It scored a direct hit on the high-voltage transmission lines serving this region. Over 30,000 people had no power for several days, and some still don't. The little town closest to me looks like a war zone, with trees, power poles and pieces of buildings scattered around. Only one person was killed as far as we know, a security guard in a plant that had its roof torn off The weather experts are forecasting more of the same for today, from East Texas to the Carolinas. Heavy storms, possibility of tornadoes. So if you live in that area, keep your head down!

Thanks for the heads-up. This is useful knowledge right now during the Plague, for those of us who don't have a hobby shop nearby and need to order our paints. It's great that Tru Color fixed your problem. HobbyLinc has some...quirks. A couple of days ago I made up a list of stuff I wanted to buy. Placed the order today, but several items had completely disappeared from their site. It was like they had never existed, and couldn't be back-ordered. These were all AK Interactive products. So I guess they've dropped that line as well. But on the plus side: a while back I ordered a weathering paint set from HobbyLinc. It was supposed to have 3 different paints in the box, but only had 1 bottle. HobbyLinc sent me a whole new set and told me to keep the 1 bottle, not to bother returning it.

That's exactly what they are. The 1/25 scale Aurora kits originally issued in 1962-63, re-released later as the "Battle Aces." Then re-issued by Monogram in the late 1970s. It looks like one of the Aurora 1/25 kits didn't get the "Battle Aces" treatment, and AFAIK was never re-issued after its original run: the Studebaker Avanti. Like all original Aurora kits, it had really eye-catching box art. I wonder if this was one of the molds lost in the Famous Train Wreck. Or if Aurora, and maybe then Monogram, just decided it wouldn't be popular enough to re-issue and junked the molds or something.

Look for this version of the Revell kit.

That's called the "Art Box." Based on the art used on a vintage issue of that kit. The original issue with that box art was in the 1970's IIRC. Weird color too. "Molded in Orange." These kits were also available in white plastic. When I lived in Los Angeles, a big local hobby shop got in 2 stacks of these kits. One stack white, the other orange. The "molded in white" kits sold out instantly. The orange ones sat on the shelf for months, until the store put them on deep discount. Which is when I bought one. I didn't need another '40 Coupe, but it's one of my favorite kits. And I figured having another wouldn't hurt. The same thing happened with the Chevy Fire Rescue Van "Art Box" kit. They were molded in white or red plastic. The white ones flew off the shelves. Here in SC, the only hobby shop within 50 miles still has some of the molded-in-red kits sitting on the shelf. Right beside the molded-in-orange '70 Camaro...

You might keep an eye on HobbyLinc. They carry 4 of the Fujimi GT-40 kits, all "Currently Unavailable." But they're available for Pre-Order, which would seem to mean we can order them in the future. Here's a link to a "GT40" search on their site: http://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi?cat_s=&str_s=gt40

That reminds me of a clown who was operating back in the 1990s. He might still be ripping people off, so this is a warning. Not using his name in case he's one of those lawsuit-happy types. Let's say he had the same last name as a famous singer/actor. That should be enough to ID him, for anybody else who was unlucky enough to deal with him. I listed some old kits for sale in The Other Magazine. He called to say he wanted to buy a bunch of them, several hundred $$$ worth. I was delighted...until his check came and bounced. That happened 3 times. I finally called the Fraud Division of his local cop shop. That got his attention and he paid up. This guy was running a sort of model car kit Ponzi Scheme. He told buyers he had every old, rare kit ever made and took their money. Then he looked for sellers with those kits and "bought" them with his bad checks. I know that because on the Usenet group rec.models.scale, I asked about him. The thread lit up like a neon sign. LOTS of people had stories about him, none of them good. One poster lived in his area. He said the guy also claimed to have a hobby shop, and bought case lot kits from distributors at the wholesale price. Then he marked up the kits a few bucks and sold them out of the trunk of his car. The distributors shut that down when they got complaints from real hobby shop owners.

The sadly late Harry P. gave those Entex '37 Packard kits rave reviews. As I remember, he said they went together pretty easily and looked fantastic. I wanted both of them for a long time myself. A couple of years ago at a kit swap meet, a seller had the Packard Formal Sedan still shrink-wrapped for $40. I jumped right on that. Another seller had the Coupe Roadster. He was asking $75 firm but that was more than I wanted to pay. The Entex 1/16 scale Model T trucks are nice kits too. Wish we could get a re-issue of those and the Packards. The old Entex Model A 1/16 kits have been re-popped many times over the years, but not the others AFAIK.

Not too long ago, I did a trade with a guy on the West Coast. I'm on the East Coast. We were trading a couple of pretty big kits, and both had to go all the way across the country. When I shipped his box, the cost was $17.50. I thought that was a little high...until I got his package. He paid exactly the same as I did, $17.50. Wonder how many times that happens? As for eBay, I always take a good look at the shipping cost before bidding or buying. $8 to $10 is pretty reasonable, and I don't mind people adding a couple of bucks for their handling/supplies costs. OTOH, trying to charge me something like $35 to ship a kit across 3 state lines is price-gouging, and I won't deal with people who do that. No matter how much I want the kit they're selling.

Great work! Those air racers are colorful and fascinating. As a heads-up: the Czech company Dora Wings has released a whole series of 1/48 scale P-63 King Cobra kits. One is an air racer in Sohio Handicap markings. They include photo-etched parts. I got the French Air Force/Indochina version and they look nice in the box. Sort of an "upscale limited run" kit is how I'd describe them. Here's a review of the P-63E kit and a photo. NOT my build (I wish!). The photo is from the Dora website. http://www.hyperscale.com/2018/reviews/kits/dw8004reviewbg_1.htm

Make plenty of room on your workbench! And name your poison: A-Model does a 1/72 scale Mars in plastic, and Anigrand does one in resin. Here's the A-Model kit: https://www.scale-model-kits.com/products/Martin-JRM-1--Marshall-Mars--AMO72038.html

Archer Fine Transfers has some better decals. Here's their generic set of 1/35 vehicle markings. Bison and Echelon are other companies making modern 1/35 vehicle decals, but I didn't see any on-topic markings from them with a quick search. Description of the Archer decals: "Sufficient markings are included on this two-sheet set to cover most of the major items carried on US Armored vehicles from 1945 to present, to include Korea and Vietnam. Also, bumper numbers are included for most vehicle types and applications. Typical nomenclature is included for vehicle dashboards, inside and outside hood applications, tire pressure markings, and basic warnings for tactical vehicles. Comes with instructions and history." https://www.archertransfers.com/AR35001W.html

Thanks, I hoped somebody would mention that trick. It was a "customizing" suggestion in early AMT annual kits: to simulate leather, paint the interior with enamel, then over-paint it with lacquer. Testors Dullcote should work for that trick, but I'd use it from a bottle thru an airbrush, so you have some control. Unless you're very careful, blasting Dullcote from an aerosol can might melt the enamel paint, not wrinkle it. Lacquer will also melt/deform unpainted plastic. Don't ask how I know this...

Same here. I saw the Spruce Goose several times when it was parked beside the Queen Mary in Long Beach harbor. Like the Pyramids or the Empire State Building, it's hard to judge how big that thing really is until you're looking at it, one-on-one. No photo or video really gets across its sheer size. When I lived in Los Angeles, I knew a guy whose Dad was an engineer at Hughes Aircraft long ago. A favorite family story: one weekend morning, their phone rang at around 3 A.M. His Mom answered, and heard a voice say: "Hello. This is Howard Hughes." His Mom said, "Yeah, and I'm Jane Russell." Slammed the phone down. It immediately rang again: "Lady, this really IS Howard Hughes. And if you want your husband to have a job on Monday morning, you had better put him on the phone."

That is a gorgeous ragtop that Steve built. Looks just like the real thing. The '62 Fords are probably ho-hum for many people. But my family had a '62 Galaxie 500 4-door sedan, Wimbledon White with red interior/trim. My best friend's family had the same car in a tan color. So I spent much of my kidhood in those cars and have a lot of affectionate nostalgia for them. This is a great kit, especially the razor-sharp body emblems. But the accessories seem a little boring. The standard AMT tape recorder, record player and stuffed animal. Plus an exciting...rear seat armrest? Puh-leeze. We demand bongo drums!

That's amazing work, especially the hood. Stealing some of your ideas!

Thanks! I helped develop interactive electronic training and tech manuals for the HEMTTs and other military trucks. One of our first projects was the M984 HEMTT Wrecker. An impressive beast. If that thing can't get your vehicle going or haul it away, it's probably staying where it is. I worked as a civilian in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 1989-92. So I had a ringside seat for all the materiel pouring in during Desert Shield/Storm. Jeddah's on the west coast, so not near the fighting. But it's a major port and air hub, so a lot of stuff came thru there. And went out. I could sit on the deck of my house in an American compound, and look up into the wheel wells of B-52's taking off.

Not that I want to give you any expensive ideas...(cough)... But I'm pretty sure a resin company makes a 1/35 scale kit of the Navy's Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS). Combine it with that HEMTT and you get this monster, which looks like something right out of a "Mad Max" movie. Several countries have similar anti-aircraft systems, including South Korea, China and I think Saudi Arabia and a few others.

I don't know if this bothers you, but it bothered me: the decal sheet in the Revell '55 Chevy Pace Car is incomplete. It should have "Official Pace Car" lettering on the trunk, as well as the doors. The sheet also has an error on those flags for the doors. It's explained in this link to the Other Magazine, where you can see photos of the finished kit: https://scaleautomag.com/how-to-models/kit-reviews/2020/02/revell-germany-1955-chevrolet-indy-pace-car The weird thing is: Revell re-did the decal sheet for this new release, adding gauges etc. While they were doing that, why on earth didn't they fix the error and omissions on the decal sheet? Fred Cady did a correct decal sheet for the Pace Car. I think it's long out of production,, but turns up on eBay occasionally.