Mike999

That reminds me of a comment about another British car: "Triumph Stag owners stood by their cars. Usually because they couldn't get the doors open." Back on-topic, thanks for letting us know the R2 '60 Chevy Pickup is out. I've been haunting Hobby Lobby looking for that one. Just last week I was in the closest HL and it had the '70 Chevelle and Old Pro Nova, so the new stuff is showing up. The Michael's closest to me seems to be re-stocking the model shelves, too. On my last visit Michael's also had more Testors paint and accessories than I'd seen previously. Stuff like the Weathering Markers, etc.

x1000 on the wonderfulness of this site. After checking the news and FB in the morning, this is usually the first place I come. When I lived in Los Angeles I could find the mag at several hobby and book shops, but subscribed to make sure I got it. Now I'm really glad to have the sub, because I live in a place with no close hobby or book shops. The only big bookstore is Books-A-Million, about 25 miles away. They do carry The Other magazine, The Other Other magazine (FSM), and some British military and aircraft modeling mags.

I posted this somewhere else in a similar thread. Hey I'm old and don't remember so good any more. Anyway, I think AMT was cranking out so many Trophy Series kits in the early Sixties, they used whatever color plastic they had on hand. All the original '36 Fords I've ever seen were molded in gray. I've seen the '40 Ford Coupe and Sedan, and the '49 Mercury, molded in black, grey and light blue plastic. I have an original '40 Sedan molded in blue. At least I'm guessing it's original from the decals and instruction sheet; the instructions say "these cars are 20 years old now." Which REALLY makes me feel old. There are some original Trophy Series kits I've seen that were always molded in the same color: black plastic for the '32 Ford Coupe and Roadster, white for the '57 Chevy, Ford and T-Bird. Never seen those in any other colors. But it wouldn't surprise me if somebody had those molded in different colors. I've also seen several original '58 Chevy kits molded in light blue.

The old Speed Channel ran an hour-long documentary once on the Cobra coupes. It was great and I wish I'd recorded it. A guy interviewed in the show had a chance to buy one of the coupes for $4,000, IIRC. He went to his father and asked for a loan. Dad said something like: "No, it's just a beat-up old racing car. You'll never get your money back out of it."

"First getting shot, then getting married. Bad habits."

Beautiful day here too, after several days of cold and heavy rain. When I went out to get the mail, the whole neighborhood seemed to be out enjoying the day. A new neighbor was cutting bushes in her yard, so I went over to introduce myself. Kids were chasing each other on their trikes, also chasing another neighbor's goofy dog, who was having as much fun as the humans. We live on a little dead-end road, so they can do that safely.

Maybe an expert can give us a better answer. But I'm not sure there was a "timeline" or "1st" when it came to AMT plastic colors. AMT was pumping out so many kits in the early Sixties, I suspect they just used whatever color of plastic they had on hand. Some totally worthless anecdotal experience: I've seen several original AMT '36 Ford kits molded in gray. I've seen an original '40 Ford Sedan and Coupe, and a '49 Mercury molded in light blue. But most original '40 Ford kits I've seen were molded in black. The only original Trophy kits I've seen with consistent color are the '32 Ford Roadster & Coupe, which I've only seen in black plastic. But it wouldn't surprise me a bit if somebody has one of those molded in a different color.

I tangled with an Open Road camper at a young age. As I remember, the panel inserts fit pretty good, as Greg's photos above seem to bear out. The big problem was cutting out the roof panel for the camper. Which I tried to do with a dull utility knife (box-cutter). Epic Fail! Between the open side panels, the hood cut-out and removing most of the roof, the body cracks and breaks very easily. There's just not much plastic left holding it together. Couple of years ago, I found an Open Road Camper at a local flea market for $5. It was completely unbuilt and complete, except for one side curtain. Somebody tried to paint the body with some kind of weird epoxy-based paint, which so far has not come off with all the usual solvents. I may sacrifice an original Rescue Van to get a clean body, I have a couple of those in the stash. And this time I won't use a box-cutter...

As Mark said, quite a few big differences. The biggest one being the solid side panels, which are molded in place on the new kit. The original kit had optional parts for a window van. Here's an old thread that discusses the differences:

Went to my local Michael's today, and sure enough, it did have a few more kits than last time. I think the newest was the Round2 '69 "Country Charger." It also had the usual mix of kits I've seen at different Michael's for a long time: R2 '70 Camaro (green plastic only), Firestones '78 Ford truck; Revell Ford Bronco (stock only), '69 Nova SS and '56 Ford pickup (the old 1/24 scale kit). Didn't see any kits that screamed "buy me!" But I did print out a one-day-only 50% off coupon. So I used it on a 3-pack of the Testors Weathering Markers (Earth, Mud & Grime). They should be fun to experiment with. Also picked up a can of Dull-Cote, since you can't have too much of that stuff.

That guy's losing money! How about an original AMT Chevy Rescue Van for only US $4,749.05. That's just $228 for 24 months! With FREE SHIPPING! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Unbuilt-original-AMT-Chevy-Rescue-Van-1-25-scale-model-kit-T516-300-NEW-SEALED/233030838147?hash=item3641b86783:g:jKoAAOSwcnJcBJ2i:sc:USPSPriority!29672!US!-1

Thanks! Excuse me if I've asked this before, I'm old...but are you familiar with the Ukrainian company Mikro-Mir? They do an amazing variety of oddball ship, sub, and aircraft kits in different scales. Including several German midget subs, like the Delfin and Marder, in 1/35 scale. Also a CSS Hunley Confederate sub in 1/35. And even the British K-Class subs in smaller 1/350 scale. The K-Class were steam-powered submarines, which sounds like a bad idea and was. They're all short-run plastic kits, which can be...challenging. Many come with a small sheet of photo-etched metal parts. Here's their website: http://mikro-mir.com/en/

Not sure if it's an exact match, but maybe a start. Fujimi sells a set of 1/24 scale skis, poles, racks (and surfboards). It's Fujimi #112527, Garage & Tool Series #22. Available from many different vendors, or eBay. (Pic stolen from internet).

Thanks for the updates. Will have to check the store nearest me and see if it has re-stocked. On my last visit, it had very few kits. That Michael's is right across the parking lot from a Five Guys hamburger joint. So it won't be a wasted trip, either way.

Wow, that was FAST! Won this pair of Heller Gullwings on eBay Sun. night, 12/30. They were delivered by the USPS today, 1/2. Pretty impressive, especially considering it was over a major holiday.

Found on eBay - a pair of old HELLER 1/24 scale Mercedes 300SL Gullwings. Both open but mostly still sealed inside. I went back and read the threads in here about the Heller Gullwing, which mostly compared it to the AMT 1/25 kit and the much better TAMIYA 300SL. I have both of those in the stash, but wanted the Heller kit for a long time. That box art is definitely suitable for framing in the workshop. One body has a crack just above the grille opening, shown in a close-up photo. I made the seller an offer, which he rejected, but the price was still pretty good: $25 + $12 shipping, so $37 all in. Or $18.50 each including the shipping. Hard to beat that at today's prices. I'm already thinking of building the broken one as a barn-find beater or weathered rally car. Or maybe put that engine into a hot rod...

And some people say there are no more bargains on eBay! Just a few minutes ago in "Ending Soonest," I saw this kit. It had 1 bid on it and less than 1 minute until the auction ended. I bid, expecting to get sniped in the last few seconds. Nope, I won it for $12.50 + $9.85 shipping, for a total of $22.35. The kit retails for $74.98, and online vendors usually charge $50-60 for it. It can be bought on eBay for about $40, usually from China with a high shipping price. The seller has a lot of good feedback, so it seems legit. I've wanted one of these for a while, but didn't want to pay those prices. The name on the box makes me wonder if Russian companies are starting up with licensing fees. The kit name is the generic "Soviet Six-Wheel Army Truck." In real life, it's a KamAZ-4310. I just have a thing for these big, ugly Russian trucks. They're fun to weather, and to fill up the bed with cargo.

Ha! Not sure. The Trash Panda probably escaped and is still breaking into garbage cans. Here's a good article from May 2018. A ride in one of the last Crown Vics still in service with the California Highway Patrol: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a20879513/the-great-panther-extinction-this-is-one-of-the-last-crown-vic-cop-cars-in-service/

Story from a local deputy sheriff. This is a very rural county, with only a few full-time deputies. On a quiet night, this deputy was the only one on duty. About 3 A.M. he took a break and was just about to dig into his breakfast. Suddenly he got a call: a woman who lived alone, reporting a prowler breaking into her house at the other end of the county, over 20 miles away. He jumped in his Crown Vic and took off. While on the way, he got another call: now the prowler was in the garage. So he really put the hammer down. He said at times, the digital speedometer was reading 130 mph. When he got to the woman's house, the prowler turned out to be a raccoon.

In an even bigger scale...many years ago the Japanese company MARUI did a Cessna 172 and a Piper Cherokee in oddball 1/36 scale. Two Cessna 172 kits were released, with either wheels or floats. These sometimes show up on eBay. A Skyhawk recently sold there for $93.10, with 18 bids.

This old gal just came in. Saw her on eBay for a very good price with free shipping. It's hard to believe, but this kit is nearly 50 years old, first released in 1970 as the "Russian Spy Fishing Trawler Volga." The kit I bought is probably an original issue, with a 1970 copyright on the box and instructions. The pic below was stolen from Mr. Google. I always loved that dramatic, red-sky box art with smoke pouring from the funnel and flocks of hungry sea-birds circling overhead. (But no visible fishing nets, which seems sort of strange.) I guess it's only fitting that a spy ship should be incognito. The real basic ship is not Russian but a standard North Sea fishing trawler. Revell has also released it as such; as the fishing trawler "Kandahar" in 1972, "Arctic Huntress" in 1973 and "Arctic Corsair" in 1998. I think the last issue as a Russian spy ship was in the 1992 SSP program. Revell has never listed a scale for this kit. The box just says "Full 14 1/4 inches long!" According to several Internet experts, it scales out at around 1:142 scale. Very close to 1:144, so figures etc. in that scale should work. The kit comes with two little spies...er, fishermen dressed in foul-weather gear. One detail I might add is some antennas and radar gear. Back in the 1960s/70s, among other jobs, these ships were tracking U.S. missile launches. So they would be loaded down with top-secret electronic stuff. These ships also seemed to always look beat-up, rusty and weathered, which should be a lot of fun to duplicate.

Great work on an unusual subject. Must add one of those to my build list, scheduled around 2037...

Sometimes on-line vendors heavily discount those kits. Just checked my Spend Log for the past year. Back in May, Freetime Hobbies had a sale with the ICM 1913 Model T Speedster going for US $19.95. I know your shipping to Canada will still be expensive, but a discount that steep might offset the shipping costs somewhat.

I went to a Michael's yesterday, a very big store in Greenville, SC. The few model car kits left had red "Clearance" tags on them. But the clearance prices on those tags was $27 to $29! Even the normally cheaper Revell Snap Kits were that price. So that may be useful for the 50% off coupon, if you want an AMT '51 Chevy HT, Revell '64 Chevy Lowrider or a Revell Snap-Kit Ford Crown Vic police.

Well, this was weird. I just went to a Michael's in one of the biggest cities around here (Greenville, SC). They still had the Testors paint rack, no discounts I could see. But EVERY model kit had a red "Clearance" sticker on it. And they didn't have much - one AMT '51 Chevy hardtop, one MPC '75 Dodge Dart, one Revell '64 Chevy lowrider and a few others. Here's the punch line: the "Clearance" prices on all those kits was $27 to $29! Even the Revell Snap Crown Vic police car and a couple of other snap-kits had those high prices on them. And I'm pretty sure they retailed for less than that at full price. I remember buying the Crown Vic at Michael's and I think it was around $12 without the coupon. No, I didn't buy anything. It was like the old joke about the kangaroo walking into a bar: "We don't get many kangaroos in here." "And at these prices, you won't be getting many more."