Mike999

Mentioned this in "What Did You Get Today?" but will repeat it. Just yesterday I stopped by a Michael's. This store used to have a whole aisle of model kits. Now their selection fits on the end of an aisle. Maybe 10-15 kits total, all genres. The latest car kit was the new Revell Ford Bronco (the stock version, not the Baja).

At Hobby Lobby, just some embossing powder for making carpet - Dark Blue and Turquoise, 2 colors I didn't have. That will be easier than trying to "color" white embossing powder. This HL store didn't have the Revell '85 Olds, though I did see it at another HL recently. I keep going back & forth on that one. I already have the '83 Hurst-Olds kit and will probably try to build it as a plain-Jane "work car" Cutlass. So I might just get a resin stock hood from eBay. Or try to grind down the Turbo hood, though that looks like a challenge. (Engine fire damage!) Other store news: Michael's scale model shelf continues to shrink. The newest kit there was the stock Revell Bronco. Ollie's still had plenty of Piranhas and '71 T-Birds. No '29 Ford Mod Rods or '57 Corvettes yet. Online, Free Time Hobbies is having a close-out sale of stuff they will no longer carry. Some car kits, and lots of Model Car Garage detail sets (including the photo-etch set for the Revell '72 Olds, priced at $10.36). Also some 1/24 detail sets from KA Models and others.

Great work on a not-so-great kit (and car). I had a '77 Pinto Cruising Wagon in that bright screaming yellow color. But no stripes or other graphics. IIRC, it was the only Cruising Wagon at the Ford dealer without those. It had a black interior, 4-cyl. engine with 4-speed trans. As usual I'll be unhelpful and point out a couple of things it's probably too late to fix or just not worth the trouble: 1. The interior of the "CP panels" in my car were covered in black carpet. Or at least a short-nap cloth material that looked a lot like carpet. Looking around the internet I've seen cars with that stuff in them. A photo of a '79 C.W. showed the panel covered in semi-gloss material that looked more like vinyl. 2. These Pintos had catalytic converters in the exhaust system. IIRC, "cats" were required on almost all American cars after 1975. That thing I distinctly remember. It failed and filled the car with the aroma of burning rotten eggs, a pretty common problem with early catalytic converters. Fortunately the car was still under warranty so Ford replaced it free.

Not sure if this helps, but these headlight lenses are from the Japanese company "Modeler's." Bought these long ago but I have seen them on eBay. They include striated and clear round lenses, and some square ones.

Wow thanks, I didn't know any of that interesting history about the car. And I lived in Los Angeles for...well, a VERY long time.

You did a great job of replicating one of my favorite album covers. The photo must have been shot on Mulholland Drive. Our happy couple better move, they might get hit by a pair of flying Porsches in a race! Here's some plain but interesting box art, and an obscure kit, I just saw on eBay. Never seen or heard of this 1/24 scale dune buggy before, or the company that made it. The company was "Tokyo-Sharp," kit's name is "Go Back Buggy." The tires are white-lettered "Shelby Sixty." Even a 1/24 dune buggy would be pretty small, but this one appears to be motorized. The seller is asking $200 for it. OK, it's not THAT interesting...

You did a great job with what you had. A clean build with nice paint. And thanks for the warnings. You're right, those front fender braces are seriously out of scale. Usually I would try sanding them down to a more scale thickness. But doing that would make them very fragile and I'd probably end up doing your paper-clip trick.

Once I came across a website where California Park Rangers went to gripe. It was hilarious. They were always pulling SUV's out of dry washes, or pulling them out of suddenly non-dry, flooding washes in winter. The rangers said people gave them the same 2 excuses over and over: (1) "My SUV is only 2-wheel drive? I really thought it was 4-wheel drive." (2) "I don't understand. This SUV can go anywhere in the TV commercials!" The rangers said they had a special radio code for those kind of calls: "TNS" Which is short for "Thwarting Natural Selection." But the real topper was the woman who pulled up to the gate of Yosemite Natl. Park in California and asked to see Old Faithful and the other geysers. The ranger politely explained that Yosemite didn't have any geysers. The geysers were in Yellowstone Natl. Park, located mostly in Wyoming. The woman argued with him and kept demanding to see the geysers. She finally left. When she got home, she wrote an angry letter to the ranger's boss, asking why he wouldn't let her see the geysers.

Heads-up for those who like the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." It's playing tomorrow on Turner Classic Movies. That's Sun. Sept. 9, at 5:15 Eastern time. Warm up the VCR! EDIT: And if you like history and old movies, stick around for the next TCM movie at 8 PM: "Dawson City: Frozen Time." 2016 documentary about the collection of 500 films, dating back to the 1910s, discovered buried under the perma-frost in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, about 500 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The haul included some previously unseen film footage from the 1919 World Series. That was the famous "Black Sox Series," when Chicago and gambler Arnold Rothstein conspired to throw the Series. As seen in John Sayles' excellent movie "Eight Men Out." Say it ain't so, Joe!

Good work! Here's a short, fun article about the fuss over Revell's Polaris submarine kit in 1961. Adm. Hyman Rickover himself griped that the kit was too accurate and might give away secrets to the Russians. Includes a great photo of Revell founder Lew Glaser holding up a built model of the sub: http://belatednerd.com/revell-sells-secrets-to-soviets-for-2-98/

And for the ultimate sleeper...that Pro Street chassis is almost a drop-fit under the AMT '77 Dodge 4-door police/Batman/etc. I think it just takes a little fiddling at the front end. I mocked up that combination a long time ago and it didn't look hard at all. Christmas in September here. Thanks to the heads-up in the Ollie's thread, I came home with 2 AMT Deoras and a '71 T-Bird, plus an MPC '75 Vette Roadster. All for $9.99 and all great parts fodder at that price. In off-topic 1/35 scale military, the fe-mail carrier dropped off a Free Time Hobbies order: the AFV Club M-54A2 5-ton truck, and the Roden Opel Blitz Bus "Staffwagen." Roden has done 2 other 1/35 scale Blitz buses, both with regular bus-type passenger seats. The Staffwagen interior is configured as a command bus, with radios, map tables, Enigma machine etc.

AMT '61 and '62 Buick Special station wagons, packed with lots of bonuses including a really nice U-Haul type trailer. The Buicks were curbsides with no opening hood or engine. To make up for that, AMT threw in an early Chrysler Hemi with multiple options and an A-frame hoist to hang it from. I wonder how many of us hacked open the Buick's hood to try and make that Hemi fit? Many of those bonuses were also in the original '63 Nova wagon kit. The fuel cans, fire extinguisher, tool box, racing helmet and Hemi engine were still around years later in the "Boss Nova" '63 Chevy Nova wagon dragster. I think the A-frame hoist and trailer are gone forever, though.

Oh yeah, I liked it a lot. That "Pop Music" scene cracked me up, too. "68 Kill" reminded me of some other black-comedy movies I really liked. For one, "Drop Dead Gorgeous." "To Die For," the fictionalized version of the Pamela Smart murder case with Nicole Kidman. And going way back, "The Loved One," with Liberace in the perfect bit part as a casket salesman in a mortuary.

Thanks for the heads-up, guys! Just visited the Ollie's in Anderson, SC. That store had the kits shown above, except for the '57 Corvette. None of those. But it did have these for $9.99: AMT Deora - 2016 issue with corrected bed cover, gold-letter tires, booklet etc. AMT '71 T-Bird, "Bird of Paradise" MPC '75 Corvette roadster, with the metal fuel-injection stacks. MPC Stroker McGurk "Ghost of America" Salt Flats car - with Stroker figure, Spandau machine gun and Allison V-12 The store also had the Dodge L-700 with chrome fuel tanker trailer.

An 8mm bolt yesterday. I needed to replace the battery tray on my '08 Mustang . Ordered the tray online but they don't provide attaching hardware, which is only three 8mm bolts. Replacement should be simple, right? Anyone who's ever worked on a car knows what happened next. 2 bolts came right out like they should. That's just to sucker you in, and give you a false sense of security. The third bolt froze, and no combination of sockets/wrenches/lube/profanity would move it. I finally got it out with the Redneck Universal Tool & Emergency Steering Wheel - Vise-Grips.

I saw it late one night on a cable channel. LMAO, but I'm a big fan of movies with dark humor/crimes gone wrong. I don't want to give away any *spoilers* but here's a hint - if you stuff a dead person into the trunk of your '94 Mustang, make sure that person is really dead. Speaking of spoilers, try not to read any reviews before watching it. It will be a lot more fun if everything comes as a surprise. It did for me. I'd never heard of this movie and only went to ImDB after I watched it. Sort of surprised they didn't use the obvious song on the soundtrack: "Bad Girlfriend" by Theory of a Deadman.

"Boogie Nights" has to be a very close second. He just nailed that part, right down to the powder-blue polyester leisure suits. Much of that movie was shot in my neighborhood at the time. Places like the old Reseda Theater and the church with the big mural were right down the street. The street being Sherman Way, one of the major streets thru the San Fernando Valley. For others who know the area, I lived almost at the corner of Sherman Way & Corbin Ave. Funny story about Ned Beatty's big scene in "Deliverance." Beatty told director John Boorman that he'd better get that scene in the first take. Because Beatty wasn't doing it twice. It always tickled me that Bruce Springsteen gave Burt a shout-out in "Cadillac Ranch." One of the best driving songs ever, IMO. Over & out, Bandit, and RIP.

I thought all the Lindberg motorcycles were Pyro re-pops, but after poking around the internet, I'm not sure. I've never seen a Pyro Honda, BMW or Triumph Tiger 100 kit, and Lindberg issued all those in 1/16 scale. I have the Pyro Harley Police Trike and Vespa scooter. Never compared a Pyro and Lindberg Harley to see if they look the same. Maybe I'll get ambitious and do that. I recently won a Lindberg V-1200 Harley from 1982 on eBay for a low price. It's shrink-wrapped and I'm not sure I want to rip into it yet. The Old Model Kits site has a long article about Pyro, with color box-art for many of their kits. FWIW, here's their list of Pyro 1/16 motorcycle kits: "1966 BSA, 1966 Yamaha, BSA Racing Cycle, Yamaha Racer, Lambretta Motorscooter, Vespa Scooter, Harley Davidson Electraglide, Harley Sho-Go, Harley Police Cycle, “Der Baron” Harley Custom Cycle, “Ghost Rider” Harley Custom Cycle, “Lil’ Corporal” Harley Sho Cycle, “The General” Lambretta Scooter, “The Diplomat” Vespa Scooter, “The Gladiator” 3 Wheel Show Bike, “Surfs Up” Bike With Trailer, “The Curler” Super Surfer Tricycle." https://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plastic-model-kit-history/the-kits-of-pyro-plastic-company-an-illustrated-guide/ Bummer: some time ago I bought a Pyro '66 BSA box at a flea market. Took a quick look inside, so I knew it was sort of a glue-bomb with one wheel missing. But I often buy these kits just for parts. Took a closer look when I got it home. It's a glue-bomb Yamaha, not a BSA. With BSA instructions. Oh well. It has a good windshield, hard saddlebags and some other useable parts. OTOH, I once got a Lindberg BMW-75 at the same flea market. It had 1 and a half kits, at least, stuffed in the box. In 2 different colors.

Good question. According to the Old Model Kits site: "In the late 1950s Adams entered into a joint venture with Revell, and several of the military kits were released under the Revell label, such as the Jeep among others. Around 1960 there was a disagreement between Adams and Revell and the agreement was terminated. Sometime after this, Adams quit the plastic model business and Life-Like purchased most of the Adams molds." Nice to see those old Revell missile kits back at (I hope) less-than-nosebleed prices. In May 1968 the USS Long Beach (may have) shot down TWO MiGs with a single Talos missile. The Talos hit one MiG and the debris field as it exploded took out a second one.

This might be a case where eBay is your friend. I just checked Completed Auctions for the AMT '40 Ford sedan and lots of the earlier issues sold for reasonable prices. In some cases less than the current retail price, even including the shipping cost. A "Diamond in the Rough" set recently sold for $40, which is a steal. One online kit seller has that one priced at $99. For those who've never seen it, the set includes the '40 sedan with damaged parts, '53 Ford pickup and a dual-axle (4-wheel) trailer. And even metal chains to hold the '40 on the trailer. It was released back in 1986.

Joining you on the Keeping-My-Money Bench. That new hood looks downright blobby, for lack of a better word. Because I really like this old kit and its new decals, I almost bought one at Hobby Lobby recently with a 40% off coupon, bringing the price down to about $19. Still not worth it. I already have an original mint-in-the-box issue found cheap at a flea market; a 90's AMT-ERTL re-issue; and 3 of the "Millenium" edition released in 2000. Those will keep me busy enough in the '40 sedan department.

On Sept. 3 (three days ago as I write), Scale Modeling News covered the Atlantis side of this story. Here's a photo showing a display case. Disappointing for car modelers, but lots of sci-fi, critters and figures. I wonder if this is what they have molds for and might release, or maybe some old factory in-store display build-ups. I'm wondering because of the figure kit at bottom center: the AURORA John F. Kennedy figure. Unobtainium for many years and very expensive. http://www.scalemodelnews.com/2018/09/revell-kits-go-to-atlantis-models.html#more

Looking forward to it! I picked up one of these at Hobby Lobby and wondered how it goes together. As discussed on another thread, it's really a Lindberg kit dating back to 1973. Not a knock against it. I have several original Lindberg 1/16 motorcycles and they all look good in the box. Lindberg managed to do wire wheels way back then that look pretty close to scale thickness. At least closer than the clunky wheels in Airfix, Matchbox and Revell bike kits. Here's the Scalemates timeline for the kit. The 1975 Lindberg box art is really close to that latest "MPC" re-issue: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/181037-lindberg-honda-super-hawk

Thanks, I also went and checked the Heller site when I saw the OP. Didn't check the shipping price, but noticed Heller has knocked $10 off their regular price. That will offset the shipping cost a little, I guess. HobbyLinc.com carries many Heller kits. (The U.S. HobbyLinc, not HLJ.) They're currently showing the Heller "Le Petit Gris" as Out Of Stock. But they do have the Ferguson TS20 & FF30 double kit in stock. No mention at all yet of the 2680 kit, though. Not even a "Pre-Order" listing. But sometimes they're a little slow adding new foreign kits, so maybe it will show up eventually. https://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi?str_s=heller+massey-ferguson

Same here. That kit has been Unobtainium for years and went for very high prices on auction and sales sites. Lots of the re-issue already up on eBay, priced at US $28 to $37. Now the real trick: finding a vendor who has it in stock.