Mike999

My Dad had a '54 Skyliner as a beater "work car" for awhile. It was old by then and starting to rust in the rockers and quarter-panels. The glass panel in the hood is not stock, but you knew that. Somebody must have added it to match the roof. Which is a pretty clever idea. Another interesting thing about those Skyliners: they came with a snap-in "aluminized nylon" sun-shade for the Plexiglas roof. The snaps ran around the inside of the clear roof part. The cover was long gone from Dad's old beater, and in a Southern summer, it got HOT in there! Even though Ford claimed otherwise. Here's a good article on the Skyliner and its sibling, the Mercury Sun Valley: Green Sky Above: Skyliner and Sun Valley offered a tinted perspective. | Hemmings

Here's a thread on the sequence of painting and weathering scale-model armor, at Fine Scale Modeler magazine. It should give you some tips. http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/p/39232/411268.aspx

I'll have to keep that in mind. Last year I had a "Buy It Now" only eBay sale. No auctions. I priced a Trumpeter Nova convertible at $99.99 and a MENG F-350 (shrink-wrapped) at $109.99. Both kits sold very quickly, within a couple hours of the sale going up.

Here's the Herb Deeks '28 Lincoln conversion. It's only 3 pieces: the body, bed and a big diamond-plate rear bumper. I can open the bag if y'all want a closer look. At the risk of releasing that possibly toxic old resin-infused air...?

MANY years ago, Herb Deeks sold a resin '28 Lincoln tow truck body to fit the MPC Gangbuster Lincolns. Just like your photo, but without the hardtop. It's one piece of resin, the stock body in front and the service body in the rear. Herb suggested that it could be used to build a "tow truck, service car or gentleman's hot rod." I have one of those Deeks bodies and can try to get a photo of it later, if there's any interest. Don't have time right now. Tow-truck conversions like that Lincoln were popular, especially in the Los Angeles area, where movie stars and other rich people provided a steady supply of big, heavy luxury cars past their prime. Even rarities like Duesenbergs, Marmons and Pierce-Arrows were just old cars by the 1940's, many of them custom-built and almost impossible to repair if their bespoke bodywork got damaged. IIRC, one of the rarest Duesenbergs was sold off a Hollywood used-car lot in the late 1940's for about $200.

The Shelf Of Doom has a nearly-complete '40 Ford coupe on it. I used the great Flathead from the Revell '48 Ford Custom Coupe. It's a pretty close fit. The engine mounts on the Revell engine will almost drop right onto the mounts molded onto the AMT '40 Ford frame. That engine comes with Navarro heads and dual-carb intake, complete with "Navarro" lettering, and some nice exhaust headers. To make the engine fit, I had to cut the driveshaft and sand down the '40 frame cross-members and the back of the transmission. Flathead fans often yanked their old, tired '40 engines and replaced them with later Flatheads. So the Revell '48 engine is a natural swap. If you don't even want to do that much fiddling, the AMT '50 Ford includes some Flathead speed equipment like chrome finned cylinder heads. Those parts will probably fit on the '40 engine block, without having to cut anything.

Got the new Revell Jaguar XKE coupe at Michael's, with a 20% off coupon.

You've probably checked for this already. But I recently took out an old kit with a metal frame for a quick build. (HA!) This was the 1/24 scale Praga Beer Truck, made in the Czech Republic by the MAC company. The frame was badly warped. Not sure how a metal chassis gets warped. Maybe taking it out of the mold too quickly, cheap metal, old age or some combo of all those. It sure was annoying. The kit is on the Shelf Of Doom until I can straighten it out.

Not a sit-com, but one of my favorite car-spotting shows is "Adam-12." It was on from 1968 to 1975, some prime years for the car industry. I have every episode of the show on my obsolete WD-TV box. Just the other night I caught a later episode in the run where Malloy buys a brand-new AMC Matador. It immediately gets dented, and there's a sub-plot about him trying to find a cheap body shop. Along with vintage cars we see a lot of vintage Los Angeles. Back before downtown got redeveloped to the clouds, and the tallest building was still City Hall. (I lived there for many years and still miss the place.)

All you Sherm-a-holics in here have inspired me to rescue a kit from the Shelf Of Doom: the Tamiya M-51 "I-Sherman." That's the modified Israeli M4A3 Sherman, with the big honking 105mm French gun that required a counterweight welded onto the back of the turret. It's a great kit that just fell together, like most Tamiyas. Not sure why I gave up on it. Maybe because I dithered around adding extra details etc. and got bored. It was ready for paint, so I got the base coat on and it should be ready to finish. (Famous Last Words...) If you want to build an early M-51 from the 1967 Six Day War, Tamiya's the way to go. This is the only kit of that tank. The Academy and Dragon M-51's are later versions. Typical for them, Tamiya simplified the complex E8 suspension into just a few parts that still look good. The Dragon suspension is a nightmare that uses a bunch of fiddly little parts, including brass tubes. Tamiya's also the only company to nail another complex M-51 part, that big muzzle brake on the end of the barrel. According to Der Experten, Dragon's muzzle brake is too small, while Academy's is the right size but missed the shapes.

What a great bunch of finds! Some of the real aircraft were new to me, let alone the model kits. I share your enthusiasm for the weird and ugly, so that was a really fun read.

Unexpected find for me too, about a week ago, in the only hobby shop for MANY miles around here. The store had 2 of those '70 Galaxie Taxis on the shelf and I bought both. I really like the luggage and the decals. Between the old Model King Police issues, the AMT-ERTL Police re-issue, the 007 cop car and this one, I think I have 8 of those '70 Galaxie kits now. I've always planned to use 2 of them to build a Russian Embassy mini-limousine, as seen in the movie "Falcon and the Snowman." I even found some info about those cars on the internet. They were stretched and modified by a company in Mexico City that also built airport limos and other custom jobs.

Revell also did the Mercedes wagon as a German Fire Chief's ride. Maybe my third strike for this kit will be the winner... Strike 1: When I was working in Saudi Arabia, I often overnighted in Zurich, Switzerland. There was a toy and hobby shop right down the street from my hotel, and it had this kit on the shelf. Don't know why I didn't get it right then. Strike 2: at the big KCI swap meet in Buena Park, CA years ago, somebody was selling this kit in a bundle with the Tamiya stock Volvo wagon. Before I could throw my money at the seller, somebody else grabbed them. I hope Strike 3 happens at a flea market, and the kit is priced at around $2.00...

? Something tells me that is a HUGE understatement. Sorry you had such a fiasco with them. I have a "Buy It Now" only sale up now, but I don't think I'll be selling on eBay much longer either. I'm at the point where I would almost rather part out kits or trade them on here, instead of going thru the eBay hassles.

Mr. Cardtable must love the AMT-ERTL '67 Mustang kit. I've found several in local thrift stores. Mr. Cardtable usually gave up after gluing the engine together. But in one case he brush-painted the body Gloss Black and left the engine/chassis alone. A good deal, since those are the parts I wanted to improve an AMT '66 Mustang. So now I have the remains of several '67 Mustangs cluttering up my cardtable, er, uh, workbench. Based on other thrift store finds, Mr. Cardtable also likes the Plymouth Prowler and the Revell '68/69 Corvette.

Today in Easley SC I hit Hobby Lobby, Ollie's and the only hobby shop for a LONG way around here, The Hobby Connection. Nothing new at Hobby Lobby. At Ollie's I got a '69 GTX hardtop and the Custom Pumper Fire Truck. And from the Hobby Connection...

Today I had other errands to run and hit the Ollie's in Easley, SC. Their model kits were at least neatly arranged and findable, but displayed on 2 different aisles in the Toys section. Toy Aisle 1: '69 GTX hardtop; '72 GTO; Gremlin; '05 Chrysler 300; VW Sirocco Toy Aisle 2: '49 Mercury Police Car; Custom Pumper Fire Truck

Here's a great diorama idea. Ten M-24 Chaffees took part in the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu. Because the French had no aircraft that could carry a tank, the M-24's were broken down into 180 parts for transport. Then they were re-assembled by mechanics, right on the flight line at Dien Bien Phu. Chaffees at Dien Bien Phu – Part I | For the Record (wot-news.com)

Went to the closest Ollie's today. Anderson, SC, for those in the area. This store still had a few '72 GTOs, a few Gremlins and one lonely '69 Olds 442 that I could find. Finding the kits wasn't easy. They were crammed in the toy shelves along with everything else. In the Paint section, I found one can of Krylon ColorMax Flat Crystal Clear and grabbed it. You can never have too much Flat Clear. The Book section had "Steve McQueen: The Life" in hardback for $3.99. Lots of stuff about his car life, including an interview with Stirling Moss, info about "Bullitt" and "LeMans," etc. Also a great large-sized photo book for aviation fans, "Storm Of Eagles" for $12.99. About WWII Allied and Axis aircraft in every theater, including Russia, the Mediterranean and CBI. Big clear photos and lots of interesting info.

Since I'm just hanging around anyway and have all this irrelevant trivia in my head...here's a quick guide to the different Sherman types by their engines. All these are available as plastic kits, except for the ultra-rare M4A6. Cromwell Models made a resin conversion kit for it, using any DML M4A4 chassis. M4, M4A1: the earliest Shermans, like the M3 Lee/Grant before them, were powered by a Continental R975 radial engine. That was a license-built 9-cylinder Wright Whirlwind aircraft engine. M4A2: powered by 2 GMC 6-cylinder Diesel truck engines. To avoid supply problems, the US Army wanted to standardize on gasoline-powered tanks. It didn't use the M4A2 and the tank was fobbed off on the British, French and Russians. And the U.S. Marine Corps, which liked the M4A2. It could be re-fueled "right on the beach" by any Navy vessel burning Diesel. M4A3: powered by the Ford GAA 8-cylinder DOHC aluminum engine. The most common Sherman in US service, and the only model the US Army kept after WWII. M4A4: powered by Chrysler's monster 30-cylinder A57 "Multi-Bank" engine, which was basically five 6-cylinder car engines on a common crankcase. It required the Sherman chassis to be stretched. The US Army feared a maintenance nightmare and (again) dumped it on the other Allies. In actual service the M4A4 turned out to be dependable and easy to fix when it broke. M4A6: the rarest Sherman, with only about 75 built and restricted to Stateside training. It used the stretched M4A4 chassis, mounting a Curtiss-Wright 9-cylinder radial aircraft engine (same as the B-17 bomber). Caterpillar modified the engine to run on almost any fuel, from Diesel up to 100-octane gas. But by the time the M4A6 was built, the US Army had standardized on gasoline and lost interest in multi-fuel engines.

Oddball's tank was an M4A3E4 Sherman, re-manufactured post-WWII in the former nation of Yugoslavia. "Kelly's Heroes" was shot in Yugoslavia, partly because of those available Shermans. The resin specialists Formations used to make a detailed "Oddball Sherman" conversion kit complete with loudspeaker etc. And Jaguar used to make figures of Oddball and other crew members. Unfortunately, both companies seem to be dead now. Here's a build of Oddball's Sherman with crew, using the Formations and Jaguar kits. It might help if you're building one: http://www.arcarm.com/Gal01/201-300/gal263-Sherman-Duddy/00.shtm

Me either. I'd love to see a stock Henry J. Especially if it included decals for the plaid interior, and a small sheet of photo-etch with "Allstate" badges to build the Sears-Roebuck version. And Allstate decals for the battery etc. Sigh, we might as well dream big...

Great job on that oldie! And a real nice touch with the helmet! I built one years ago and remember the problems you mentioned. The M-24 is one of my favorite tanks. Besides US WWII, they were used all over the world and often played German tanks in war movies. Even parts of them were used all over the world. The French in Algeria mated the M-24 turret to their AMX-13 hull. (That version is available as a model kit from TAKOM.) Two other companies have also released newer M-24 kits, AFV Club and Bronco. According to reviews, the Bronco kits are very fiddly and never use 1 part when they can use 5. Both companies have released multiple versions: US WWII, British WWII, French in Vietnam etc.

One of my few bad eBay deals was a guy who didn't mean to deceive. But who was clearly not a "model person." He listed a Peerless-MAX Dodge WC-54 Ambulance (1/35 scale) as complete, with a low starting bid. Back then eBay sellers had to provide their own photo hosting, so he only ran one pic, showing the box. At the time that ambulance kit was very hard to find. It's still the only WC-54 ambulance in 1/35 and still brings pretty high prices on eBay, whether it's in a Peerless, Italeri or BILEK box. I won the auction, eagerly opened the kit when it came...and saw instantly that the whole chassis and running gear was missing! Messaged the seller, who apologized and said he "didn't know much about models." He told me to keep the parts and refunded my money. One of these days, I may try to combine that old body with the chassis from a Skybow/AFV Club Dodge WC kit. Those kits have much better detail, including an engine. But they haven't made an ambulance yet.

The other three are: --Model Cars Mag, October 2001. The issue with the giant club diorama, "GFD Auto Sales." --Car Modeler, July 1998 --Model Car Journal, October 1991 The vendor had quite a few more old modeling magazines, like Scale Auto Enthusiast. He also had a big stack of AMT and Monogram NASCAR kits, all dating from the 1990s. It looked like somebody got into the hobby for a while and gave it up. Then probably stashed all their model stuff in a barn and forgot about it. Other than that, no car kits at the Flea Market today. I bought a partly-built/painted Monogram 1/48 scale B-17. I think it's the first issue from about 1975. Not much interest in building it. But it was cheap and I wanted the crew figures, bomb cart and some other parts. Or maybe I'll hack it apart and do a "Best Years of Our Lives" diorama...