Mike999

My copy just came in the mail. Thanks a lot for the interesting backstory!

Done! "I had the great fortune to encounter a hole bunch of very awesome car kits." Is that a typo, or a Freudian slip?

I've seen a couple of kits with a price difference. IIRC, one was the Heller Ford farm tractor. The price diff wasn't much, a couple of bucks. But it struck me as very weird. I think I ordered it using the lower-priced listing and that's what HobbyLinc charged me. So no real problem. That price of kits changing drives me crazy. Never figured that one out. A kit might be deep-discounted today, then back to regular price tomorrow. I also keep lists going and compare prices. Recently saw a 1/35 scale military item from one vendor at $24.99, which they claimed was 30% off MSRP. Sprue Brothers and HobbyLinc both had the same item for $19.99.

Thanks, that was fascinating. Here's the layout of another (in)famous German model railroader, Hermann Goering. He's at left in the pic, enjoying a cigar. Pretty sure I read somewhere that this layout included a model Stuka dive-bomber on a wire; it could swoop down and simulate dive-bombing the trains. https://marklinstop.com/2011/12/marklin-at-carinhall-hermann-goerings-miniature-railway/

Link below to Chuck Most's excellent article from April 2015, "The Sad and Sordid tale of Monogram's Land Rover." TL;DR: "Astoundingly enough, this was the only example of a full-detail short wheelbase (88") Land Rover ever done as a 1:24 plastic kit, and the only one with a complete engine and opening hood...There is some SPECULATION that the tooling was scrapped, perhaps only a couple of years after the ill-fated kit's debut." I was looking for research material on-line years ago, and came across a guy who said he had worked on the real vehicle that Monogram measured to make their kit. He said the Land Rover lived in Burbank, CA. He remembered it very well because the kit, like the real car, had a U.S. spec carburetor and a couple of other minor differences from a British vehicle. I have no idea about the truth of that claim, but thought it was interesting. http://chuckmost.wixsite.com/madhouse-miniatures/single-post/2015/04/07/The-Sad-and-Sordid-tale-of-Monograms-Land-Rover

Paranoid here too. The only glitch I got was when I foolishly clicked on a link in e-mail from a friend who had been hacked. My only FB friends are in a Secret Group and all my signup data is fake. I may create a public account or two just for this hobby. Maybe. In general I hate FB. It was, is and always has been about data-gathering and marketing, IMO. Like that "tracking/follow" thing you mention, which is downright creepy, but I get that in here too. Anything I've viewed on eBay or Googled for the past few days follows me. It's like trying to shop in a store, but having a weirdo clerk follow you around waving stuff in your face, asking "Do you want to buy THIS?" No. A couple other programs I like are Malwarebytes, to scan for stuff anti-virus might not catch. And CCleaner, to take out the trash, wipe free space and keep the Windows Registry tuned up. Both are free programs, but will nag you to buy the full versions.

No, you're right. I just clicked and now the Torino kit is $16.92. As I mentioned above, HobbyLinc is like that. Sometimes they change their prices very quickly, which I find annoying. A few times I've seen good deals, went back later and the price had increased. I guess they do that to encourage us to buy stuff right now and not wait.

It's a Tamiya 1/12 scale Jagermeister Porsche that's partly assembled, and includes a mirrored wooden display base. Here's a link: https://www.hobbylinc.com/tamiya-porsche-turbo-rsr-934-semi-assembled-plastic-model-car-kit-1:12-scale-23208 I sure wouldn't pay that, but somebody might. FYI, HobbyLinc has a "clearance sale" every Friday. Get on their e-mail list and they'll send you a reminder every week. Sometimes they have some good deals, other weeks not. This is one of the "not" weeks for me.

Just hit the Ollie's and Hobby Lobby in Anderson, SC, for anybody in that area. No kits on clearance at HL. Nothing new at Ollie's. They still had some '75 Corvettes (with the metal injector stacks), '71 T-Birds, Stroker McGurk, Danica Patrick/Harvick/Lowe's NASCAR kits. And a big stack of the "Art Box" Man From UNCLE Piranha. Plus the usual Lindberg dregs, ancient aircraft/armor/ships. No '29 Fords or 57/60 Corvettes. If anybody needs a Barris Surf Woody, I have one still sealed. Will trade it for a '29 Ford Mod Rod or '57 Corvette. PM me or respond right here.

Sorry, I certainly didn't mean to offend you.

Welcome and have a great visit! Pegasus Hobbies is in Montclair, not too far from Pomona. Try not to miss that one. I used to stop at Pegasus on my home from the Pomona Swap Meet. Home then was Los Angeles. If you can get to L.A., some great ones are Burbank House of Hobbies in Burbank, Smith Bros. Hobby Shop in Reseda and Kit Kraft in Studio City. All 3 of the last ones are within a short drive of each other. Link to Pegasus: http://pegasushobbies.net/catalog/index.html

I had the last issue of the Aoshima "Uretane" (sic) bumper MGB. (Sold it on eBay). It wasn't mentioned on the box, but that kit also had the older chrome bumpers and grille on the parts tree, marked as "unused" on the instructions. Not sure what else you would need, but it looked like you could build an earlier version right out of the box. Except for fixing that "4x4" ride height. Another nice touch: the kit included an up-top molded in frosted clear plastic, with an unfrosted clear back window. It also had a boot cover for the top-down version, and a racing-style tonneau cover that only left the driver's seat open. I hope Aoshima leaves all those parts in the re-issue. They usually do.

Just found an interesting eBay sale. A complete, built and partly painted Show Trailer. With the Sad Sack, Wolf Wagon and Beatnik Box, all built and/or incomplete. Auction ends Saturday at 11:47PM. https://www.ebay.com/itm/AURORA-1-32-SCALE-MODEL-CAR-HOT-ROD-SALVAGE-YARD/173554939037?hash=item2868ae349d:g:42sAAOSwCMVbqa2v

Probably so. But my last HobbyLinc order was 5 kits, a book and a can of Testors spray paint. I used the cheapest shipping option, and it was only $8.81 to ship all that. The bigger problem is: many of us don't live near a HobbyTown or any other hobby shop, so we don't have that option. Whenever I post these heads-up messages, someone usually says they can get the same kit cheaper elsewhere. Out here in the boondocks, there is no "elsewhere." We have to shop on-line for most stuff. So I just wanted to let people know these kits were available at fairly reasonable prices. You'd better hurry - HobbyLinc prices often change quick, and these may be back up to a higher price soon. That's just the way they operate - discounted today, full price tomorrow. I chased one military kit for months; HobbyLinc kept cutting the price, then bumping it back up. I finally found it on deep discount from one of their on-line competitors. And Casey, thanks for the tip on the Royal Rail. But I can't think of a single useful part from that kit. Maybe the front wheels, or that spiffy Maltese cross on top of the crown for a surf buggy. That kit would be a Nostalgia Build for me...meaning, I would glue it together unpainted, then blow it up with a firecracker. ;-)

I was just over at HobbyLinc ordering the Italeri (ex-ESCI) Police Range Rover, which is finally out. Noticed these other kits on sale, and thought some in here might be interested. Usual disclaimer: I have no connection with HobbyLinc, other than spending too much money with them. The link below goes directly to the Torino: Revell '70 Ford Torino $13.29 Revell '66 Chevy Suburban $16.33 Revell Foose 64 Chevy Impala $15.11 Round2/AMT Opel GT "Art Box Series" $14.17 https://www.hobbylinc.com/revell-monogram-1970-ford-torino-gt-2n1-plastic-model-car-kit-1:25-scale-854099

Thanks. It sure is! I just ordered 2 from HobbyLinc, which has them in stock (or at least said they did). This re-issue comes with decals for 3 different vehicles, 2 British from 1979-80 and 1 Dutch.

Thanks for asking, but don't want to trade it just yet. Still drooling over it. EDIT TO ADD: Those are some great builds of the little Auroras! Really enjoyed looking at them. Here's a link to Thomas Graham's fantastic book about Aurora model kits. It has pix of all the 1/32 scale hot rods along with history and background. That book is where I learned that all but one of the 1/32 hot rod kits had Chevy 409 engines with minor intake/exhaust changes for variety. The one exception was the last 1/32 kit issued, Snap Dragin IIRC, which had a 390 Ford. This is the 2017 edition of the book, which includes Aurora re-issues from Atlantis, Moebius, and Polar Lights. Of course, it's already out of date... https://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Model-Kits-Moebius-Atlantis/dp/0764352830

A quick shout-out for Aurora's competition in 1/32 scale hot rods: the Monogram "Forty-Niners" series, so named because they sold for 49 cents. The "Pickup Ford T Hot Rod" is shown below. It was re-issued at least 2 more times, once in a Mattel box with the original art and again with a photo of the built model (which didn't do it any favors). I found this kit at a flea market recently. The original owner painted the top and interior brown, then lost interest. He didn't glue anything. Parts like the triple carbs are pretty sharp and well detailed for a cheapo kit, and I'm thinking about building the little monster. The same seller had an untouched Aurora 1/32 scale Show Trailer that I also grabbed.

Here's some good research material. I want to build a couple of abused Vette kits myself. First link is to a 35-page thread on the Corvette Forum, "Patina Corvettes." Second link is to a company that specializes in "project car" C2 Vettes. It's kind of heartbreaking... https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3621641-patina-corvettes-old-paint.html http://www.autosource.biz/Ad/1965_Corvette.htm

The R2 '55 Chevy Cameo pickup was also $32.99 at my closest Hobby Lobby. Same price for the "Art Box" '59 El Camino and we don't even get a Coke machine!

If the striped Cougar isn't stripey enough...Matchbox had a "sunset stripe" built right into its logo!

Agree and this is a great build. Especially the weathering and exhaust stains. It is amazing how well those old Monogram 1/48 kits have stood the test of time. One of my faves is their P-39 Airacobra, with its removable covers for the gun bay and mid-mounted engine and opening "car doors." A diorama in a box! IIRC, that was the only 1/48 P-39 kit available until around 2000, when Eduard started releasing its new-mold kits, followed by Hasegawa. In a few areas the old Monogram kit was STILL better (according to some of the Experten). Then Revell released the updated "Pro Modeler" P-39 kit with photo-etch and gun pods to make it a P-39Q. Plus some ground-crew figures and oil drums, I think. I have a couple of Monogram P-39s in the stash, bought cheap at kit swap meets. If I every see a low-priced original kit from 1964, I'll buy it just for the box art and hang it in my workshop.

That Elmer's Craft Bond is definitely not kid safe. The back of the tube says "Keep Out of Reach of Children." Plus all the usual warnings about not swallowing it. And it's flammable!

"Stretchy" glue sounds like the stuff shown below, Elmer's Craft Bond Metal & Plastic Cement. Found a kit at a flea market a few weeks ago and it had a tube of this glue in the box. Only a few parts had been glued but it was just like you described: I could pull the glued bits apart easily and the glue stretched. At least it didn't "craze" and melt the plastic like regular old tube glue. A quick internet search didn't turn up any mention of this specific glue, so maybe Elmer's doesn't make it any more. I just snapped a quick pic of it. MCG/PE is the Model Car Garage Photo-Etched Metal set for this kit. Here's a link to their Ford page, the Edsel set is at the bottom: https://www.modelcargarage.com/eshop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=21

PYRO originally made that one, back in the 1950's. Along with their similar Auburn and Cord kits, which are also still being reissued by Lindberg/R2. I guess my love-to-hate kits are the Revell Tri-Five Chevies. Like the Lincoln you mentioned, they can look great but you need 4 hands to build them. Recently found a Revell '57 Nomad cheap at a flea market. The late-80's "Skip's Fiesta" issue. I think the earlier versions of these kits are probably a little easier to build than later ones, due to mold aging, flash, etc. The Nomad will probably sucker me in at some point and make me hate myself...