Mike999

For those too lazy to sand down the hood...like me: Missing Link sells a resin flat hood for the Revell '68 Firebird on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Resin-25th-scale-Revell-1968-Pontiac-NO-SCOOP-firebird-hood-by-missing-link/293178537584?hash=item4442cd7670:g:tQAAAOSwKDBdJLsC

Good luck! That Hobby Boss kit gets great reviews, for being easy to build and looking good when finished. Though several Bv-141 kits were done in 1/72, AFAIK, only one regular plastic kit was released in 1/48 scale. That was from the Czech company Historic Plastic Models (HiPM), back in the 1990's. It was a short-run kit with photo-etched parts. It had a reputation as a...challenging...build, with all the parts butt-jointed together - no locator pins etc. The whole cockpit was molded as 2 big pieces of clear plastic. So after gluing the 2 massive clear parts together, a seam ran right thru the middle of all that glass, and had to be sanded/polished out. For nostalgia, here's a review of the HiPM kit. http://www.olddogsplanes.com/141.html

Thanks for the update, David. I was hoping to be surprised with a new Series II, but expected exactly what we got: a re-hash of the Series III with the Fire Jeep parts. This might make a good kit-bash with the new Revell 4-door LWB Land Rover...if that one ever gets released. Simple but nice curbside kits. The chassis is one piece, unlike the ESCI Range Rovers. But it has a lot of detail added, like separate springs, axles, shocks etc. So make sure all that stuff is square, and all 4 wheels are sitting on the ground, before adding the body. The back door of the hardtop is molded in, but its join line is "pre-thinned" and easy to cut out. The ESCI instruction sheet for the Safari Rover even showed the builder how to do that.

AMT's 1996-97 Ford Explorer full-detail glue kits are pretty common on eBay. They also did the '96 Explorer as a Snap-Kit. From what I've read, they didn't sell very well when new, so not sure a re-issue will ever happen. Maybe if Round 2 threw in some police markings and equipment along with the Coke decals... https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=amt+1%2F25+scale+ford+explorer&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1

Great job! I have a couple of books on "Cuban cars" and might try my hand at something similar. I saw a lot of old American cars when I worked in northern Egypt. They were not for sale at any price. One of my Egyptian co-workers had been trying to buy a '55 Chevy for years. No deal. Like the Cubanos, many of these cars are running with Russian truck engines. Or parts of those engines. Egyptian blacksmiths are very inventive, and can grind valves and other internal parts to fit. One 1950 Chevy was in daily use as a taxi running between farm villages. I saw it nearly every morning on my way to work, crammed with people. Here's an Egyptian '55 Chevy 4-door. Probably used as a taxi, with that big "aftermarket" luggage rack on the roof. The detail on this one that tickles me is the chrome "surfer foot" in the lower right corner of the trunk lid.

Revell sure hit that bull's-eye with the Porsche Junior Diesel farm tractor, IMO. It's simple enough that a kid can snap it together in a few minutes and be rolling it around on the floor. But detailed enough to interest the rest of us, with optional parts and decals, plus kid-friendly stickers. And it's reasonably priced. Quite a change from the days of the James Bond movies! EON Productions wanted to use an XKE in "Goldfinger," but Jaguar turned them down flat. Then they asked Aston-Martin if they could borrow a new DB-5. Aston replied that they were not a car-rental agency. If the movie producers wanted a DB-5, they could buy one like everybody else. After much negotiation, Aston grudgingly loaned them a DB-5 prototype/test mule. That was the car modified with the ejector seat and other Bond toys. After all the Goldfinger/Thunderball hoopla died down a couple of years later, Aston rebuilt that car and removed all the 007 gadgets, including a whole new roof to get rid of the ejector hatch. Then they re-painted it and sold it as a used car.

Here's another Hallmark Christmas special, a Harley trike. I found this one at a flea market.

Here's the LAPD on a busy Hollywood night, in their '54 Ford 4-door cruiser.

I remember those Hobbytown stores. I grew up in the Upstate but lived in Los Angeles and overseas for quite a few years. I'd stop by all those places and go kit-hunting when I went back to SC to visit relatives. You probably remember another small but good hobby shop: inside the Great Escape bike store in Greenville.If you bought 3 model kits, they gave you a free kit. Unfortunately when Trek Bikes took over the store, they kicked out the hobby shop. Now I'm back in the Upstate. AFAIK, the only thing close to a local hobby shop is the Hobby Connection in Easley. It concentrates mostly on R/C cars and planes, and seems to have fewer and fewer kits every time I go in. I'm not sure how long that will last, since there's a Hobby Lobby just a few miles away.

Here's a link to a 2015 thread about the Heller Citroen H van. On-topic: the local Hobby Lobby finally got in a few new kits. Used the coupon for a '65 Buick Riviera.

The old 1/24 scale Tamiya "Campus Friends" figure set had a simple but nice Vespa-style scooter in it. And 5 figures in regular street clothes. That set is often available on eBay for reasonable (and unreasonable) prices. Here's a link to a build thread on here, showing exactly what the scooter looks like built up:

Sad news. Most obituaries mention that he wrote (or re-wrote) the famous "tears in the rain" monologue in "Blade Runner." He was also great in the HBO movie "Fatherland," from the Robert Harris novel. Hauer plays an SS officer in Alternate-Reality 1964. Adolf Hitler, 75 years old, is trying to negotiate a treaty with U.S President (Joseph P.) Kennedy. All history/information about the Holocaust has been memory-holed, and people are being killed to keep it that way. Fans of the novel really clobbered HBO, but they probably did about as good as possible on a cable-TV budget.

Another weird hunting car. Especially with those GLASS gun racks mounted on the running boards. Obviously this thing wasn't going too far off the roads. But it does have huge spotlights for flushing out game. And I guess it doesn't look any weirder than the Rolls-Royce "shooting brakes" also built for Indian maharajahs. Some of those also had the glass gun racks. This is a 1927 Hispano-Suiza H6C. Located at the World Vintage Car Museum Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Powered by a monster 6-cylinder engine of 8000cc (488 ci), making 160HP. And power-assisted drum brakes, a trademark of Hispano-Suizas.

Small haul from today's flea market. The 310 backhoe has the engine glued together and painted silver, not a problem since I intend to build it. The Italeri 1/24 scale Jeep is in a ratty box but complete and untouched. And the off-topic 1/35 scale M35A2 truck is still shrink-wrapped. The December 1961 issue of "Custom Craft" magazine has 16 pages of model car articles, including a long review and build-up of the Monogram Green Hornet. The April 1957 copy of "Rod & Custom" has the winners of its model car contest...long before the first 3-in-1 kits hit the market in 1958! There are lots of customized 1/32 scale AMT/Revell Buicks, Mercurys etc. And hot rods made from the 1/32 "Highway Pioneer" kits. Amazing stuff. Later I may scan that article and post it.

When I worked in Egypt from 2005-09, I often saw MiG-21's flying around. I think they were all Reserve aircraft by then, but they were pretty common. Also Mi-8 helicopters, SA-2 missiles and lots of other Russian gear. The Northern Defense Sector headquarters in downtown Alexandria had a pair of deactivated BMP-1's guarding its gate, up on plinths. Tourists would sometimes try to take pix of the BMPs, despite all the signs warning them not to do that. "Active Military Base - No Photos, No Approximations" (drawings).

Thanks for the pix and info, Joe and Vince. I went on vacation to Berlin in 1990, just a few months after the wall came down. They were still taking down parts of it. Street vendors were selling all sorts of East German military gear, flags, border guard hats, tanker helmets, uniforms etc. One vendor had a Russian tech manual for the radio gear in a T-55 tank. I thought that would be a neat souvenir and bought it for $5. The seller said, "For $50 I can get you the radio. For $500, the whole tank." He was probably joking...

Along with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, this year is the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. So I got a Berlin Wall! In 1/35 scale, anyway. AFV Club kit #35317. It comes with 3 sections of the wall, and decals for colorful graffiti. No figures, skateboard or dog, unfortunately. According to internet reviews, it does have a good, rough "concrete" texture. I picked up 2 of these, thinking I may join them for a bigger Wall diorama. As online experts have already pointed out: this kit won't work for a diorama of the 1961 face-off at Checkpoint Charlie. The AFV Club kit has the later, standardized "modular" wall sections. Back in 1961 the Wall looked a lot different. Mostly concrete block and barbed wire, I think.

Checking the weekly HobbyLinc sale today, they have these car & truck kits on sale: Revell 1968 Chevelle SS 396 $16.33 Lindberg Little Red Wagon $14.50 Moebius '65 Ford Service Truck $25.04 Revell Greased Lightning '48 Ford $16.33 Revell Datsun Off-Road Pickup (1/24 Scale) $9.58 Revell '68 Charger $16.89 Revell '69 Yenko Nova $17.86 Revell '69 Camaro Convertible $14.89 No connection to HobbyLinc other than being a customer. Their weekly sales often end quickly, so just providing this as a heads-up. The weekly sales also include paints etc.

Great finds! I have to hit more estate sales. All I've found at estate sales so far are useless knick-knacks. And board games, which look a lot like model kit boxes from a distance.

Finally! Been trying to find one of these at a reasonable price for a LONG time. Revell #85-7625 '32 Ford Highboy Roadster. Got it for $15.00 and shipping. The seller was pretty close to me, so shipping wasn't bad. I don't like the modern rear suspension, but have enough AMT Phaeton and Vicky parts to fix that.

Thanks! I guess they're a sort of "market report" on old models. Hopefully sometimes helpful to other people.

I'd guess "maybe" on the Coke machine and a big "nope" on the girl figure. Though getting the girl would be nice. I think this issue is mostly aimed at the Coke memorabilia collectors. The box art is really eye-catching and will look great on the shelf. Or in the display case. Long ago, I think an eBay seller offered a resin '54 Ford body with the clear roof. Whoever they were, I got a '54 Mercury Sun Valley from them. It came with the body and piece of clear vac-formed plastic for the ceiling. Here's a resin '54 Ford hardtop, if you can cut your own sunroof. Not sure if it's still available, but you might find one on eBay. http://www.rocketfin.com/resin_product.cfm?id=3512

And if you go crazy and buy several of these kits...build a multi-door airport taxi!

I'm afraid I'll have to join you, and I have a couple of old AMT-ERTL issues. The rack and surfboards, plus new decals, are tempting. I hope they don't take out those nifty service ramps to make room! The only issue of this kit I don't like was the one from 1987 or so. Molded in bright yellow plastic that was hard to cover with a thin coat of primer/paint.

In his autobiography, Keef had a warning for parents: as a kid, he was both a choirboy and a Boy Scout leader.