Mike999

I sent Eric Macleod a few parts he needed. He repaid me in spades, with a box full of great stuff. Will trade with him any time!

Flea Market Day! The Tom Daniel "Bad Actor" '60 Chevy panel is the 1980 issue, all inner bags still sealed. It looks shrink-wrapped but is not, the wrap is slit along the bottom. I'm not sure what I want to do with it, so it may end up in the Trading forum. One vendor had a table full of old bagged FROG 1/72 kits. I don't build many airplanes, but do appreciate oddball kits like the Fairey Firefly. And that bag marked "I. M. Models?" That's the even odder Fairey Gannet ASW plane. Appears to be the FROG kit in a different bag. The header card says "International Models, Las Vegas NV." The FROG Handley-Page Dart Herald in Jersey Airline markings appears to be pretty rare, from a quick internet search. It has optional standing or sitting pilots and flight attendant. The kit also came with 2 glass bottles of paint and a tube of glue in the box. The paint and glue are missing in this one, which might be for the best... The 1:1 scale Walther P-38 is in an AHM box. But appears to be yet another re-box of the good old LS Models kit from the 1970s. And another vendor had a whole table full of old aviation books. I had to really restrain myself and my wallet, though his prices were pretty low. Settled for a history of Republic Aviation, another of Northrop 1929-39 and a book about American airship bases. The 2 small kid books were published in 1952, and have many photos of the weird experimental Air Force and Navy aircraft, missiles etc. of the early Fifties. The vintage Harley tin sign was cheap and should look good in the model cave.

I wanted to try building/painting a 1/16 scale figure, something I haven't done in a long time. I also thought I'd put the figure in a mini-diorama. On-topic: I do have a couple of car kits nearing completion. I hope. And yes, I do know my photography skills are non-existent. I'm working on it... FIGURE: This is the excellent TAMIYA 1/16 scale figure of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. It comes with optional arms, either holding binoculars or folded behind the back. Some very nice touches are the separate shoulder epaulets, Iron Cross and Pour le Merite medals. As separate parts these tiny items are much easier to paint than if they were molded onto the figure. Here's a weird thing: nobody seems to know if Rommel had blue or brown eyes. Online photos of him are often colorized and show both colors. I went with blue because of something Rommel himself wrote: as a little kid he had platinum blond hair, which darkened to reddish-brown as he aged. So blue seemed a safe bet. Rommel wore almost as many different uniforms as his nemesis, Gen. George Patton. The kit shows him in either a khaki field coat, or a white coat that looked too much like a dinner jacket for me. I painted him in a "working" uniform: faded khaki coat with Reed Green shirt and trousers. The red Field Marshal stripes on the trousers were done with decal strips (from an airplane kit!). The Afrika Korps cuff title is from an ancient Verlinden 1/16 scale decal sheet. The skin was painted with a base of Tamiya Flesh, overlaid with mixed/blended oil paints. The hair stubble and "five o'clock shadow" were done with pigment powders. The uniform was painted with a mix of different Tamiya acrylics, with Lifecolor Dirty Black for the boots. DIORAMA STUFF: The 1/16 scale fuel drums and jerry can are from the Chinese company Classy Hobby. The set includes four 200-liter fuel drums and eight 20-liter jerry cans. The jerry cans have a separate photo-etched metal seam for the middle. Unfortunately the fuel drums repeat a mistake made by almost every company in every scale: WWII German fuel drums only had 1 cap, in the center. There was no cap on the end. Easily taken care of, just put the "capped" side on the bottom. The jerry cans are neatly engraved with the correct "Kraftstoff" (fuel) and Wehrmacht stampings. I heavily weathered one fuel drum with dents, bullet holes etc. The other is still useable but chalked with the word "Leer" (empty). The jerry can is painted with a white cross, indicating it's used for water. The 1/16 scale North Africa WWII maps are from Peddinghaus. The ones in the diorama are scans because I wanted to age them (with coffee) and beat them up. And I wanted dupes in case I goofed. The "field desk" is just 3 well-weathered planks of thin scrap wood. In real life, they would have probably come from an ammo crate. The map case is from the old Dragon 1/16 scale WWII German Accessories set, with straps added from paper.

Great build! A few months ago Hemmings Classic Car covered Oldsmobile's 2-seat factory-built hot rod, the 1912 Autocrat. A lot earlier than your roadster, but it might inspire somebody to do something with an MPC Stutz Bearcat and the Hillbillies kit. Hmmm... https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2018/01/Autocracy-of-the-Avenues---1912-Oldsmobile-Autocrat-Roadster/3751379.html

Revell '05 Impala police car. Snap-Tite curbside with no engine, but good detail including an interior security barrier and shotgun. Revell-Germany reissued it at a higher price, with a real decal sheet instead of the stickers in the Revell version. But for a youngster, the Revell kit should do fine. Testimonial: I was in Ollie's when they had the last big kit sale. Non-model guy came up with his 2 kids, a boy and a girl probably aged about 7 and 9. Asked me about a good kit for them (since I was standing there with a shopping cart full of kits). I showed them the Revell Impala and both kids thought it was great. He bought one for each of them.

I bought a Touch Tone Terror at a kit swap meet years ago, long before Lindberg made the A100/LRW kit easy to find. It was missing some parts so I got it cheap. One missing part was the pay phone from the booth. The kit had all the other clear parts for the phone booth, and even the "TELEPHONE" red and white decals. I have many phones from old 3-in-1 kits, but no pay phones. Fujimi has released several pay phone booths but they are modern Japanese. Then Round 2 re-issued the Sunbeam Tiger, which still has the pay phone from the "Get Smart" version. I think that will work! And maybe it was just my kit, but the Touch Tone Terror was a terror in other ways. Mine was molded in an ugly translucent white, and some parts had so much flash that I had to carve them out of the sprues. Poor quality control is nothing new in the model biz.

From Fujimi, here's a box full of geegaws for 1/24 (Japanese) police cars! Recently posted this in "What Did You Get..." but here's a bigger pic. Along with 3 different types of roof lights, the set includes 2 traffic cones; a radar gun on a tripod (easily modified into a camera or whatever); helmet; night-stick; some interior control panels/gauges; ticket-book; and a set of CHROME-PLATED handcuffs!

Well, that's weird. One of the US vendors, where it had disappeared, is now showing it as In Stock. I should start using Hobby Link Japan again, at least for the more exotic kits. Used to order from them pretty often.

Delivered yesterday from Japan. WARNING: that Ebbro Citroen H Mobile Kitchen has disappeared from the websites of 2 big online U.S. vendors. It was there a couple weeks ago, showing as "Out of Stock" (future release). Now it is gone completely. Another vendor still shows it as "Out of Stock," but I've been checking and it was never in stock. So I guess it's a limited edition or something??? Some eBay prices for it are already north of US $100, even from foreign vendors. So if you want one, maybe you better hurry. The "Patrol Car Set" is for Japanese police cars, but stuff like the traffic cones, ticket caddy and handcuffs (!!!) are pretty universal. I got both of these from Tokyo-Hobby via eBay. They have very good prices. Delivery is usually about 2 weeks. I ordered these on March 23 and they were delivered on April 10.

I've used Molotow pens over unpainted plastic. Also tried them over a base of Tamiya X-1 Gloss Black. I couldn't see any difference.

Great inspirational thread! Must keep it in mind when I stumble down to the shop later. I have that problem with starting out full of enthusiasm, then "hitting the wall." At some point I not only lose the enthusiasm, I start to actively hate the kit I'm working on. And it goes onto Snake's well-named Shelf of Shame (and Incompetence, in my case). Example: right now I'm ALMOST done with 2 builds. Both started as "quick, fun 2 or 3-day projects." And both have dragged on for weeks, without quite hitting the actively-hate phase. But it was close. Example of why I fail: one project is a diecast. The steering wheel had a flat back with no "finger grooves". So I found a wheel of the same diameter in the parts box, sanded it down flat and glued it to the kit part. Then I noticed the steering-wheel center hub was wrong and fixed that by hacking up a different parts-box steering wheel. The hub center needed an emblem but was way too tiny for a decal. So I recreated it, sort of, with red and gold paint over a black base. Etc. Etc. And since the car is a hardtop, most of this detail will be nearly invisible when done. I should probably see a shrink, but am afraid of what we might find...

That was a great review of a not-so-great kit. If Adam wasn't such an entertaining writer, I probably would have fallen asleep. I bought the "Baywatch" pickup very cheap, just for the decals and a few parts that looked like they might work in 1/25. Like the flotation devices (no, not the ones in that inset photo... )

A fun article about the "My Mother The Car" kit, from a real fan. The one part I like in that kit is the separate trunk. Though along with much of the rest, it doesn't look quite...right. "My mom says I was, and am the only fan of this show." http://jayveejayaresjunk.blogspot.com/2012/11/amts-1928-porter-from-my-mother-car.html

More fiddly, at least. An old saying: "Heller never uses 1 part when they can use 5." At least the instructions are usually clear line drawings that list every part by number and name. Their car kits often have clear parts, like side-windows, molded as part of the door panel which is also clear - a masking and painting challenge. e.g., their Hispano-Suiza K6 kit is a limousine with a partition window between the driver and passenger cabins. The partition includes some very nice wooden storage cabinets which are also molded in clear.

Some of you probably use Grandt Line nuts, bolts and other model railroad parts to detail your 1/25 cars. Most of their stuff is HO and other "train scales," but a 2-inch bolt/washer in HO scale can look right as a smaller item in 1/25. They also sold packs of nicely-detailed plastic parts for detailing train cars and buildings that worked on other kits. The late Shep Paine used tons of Grandt Line products in his "imagineering" of 1/35 scale armor kits. According to their website, Grandt Line is going out of business in June 2018. They will be taking orders through May 1. http://www.grandtline.com/

This guy built a 1:1 scale Wallace and Gromit motorcycle\sidecar. "Some of the details are guaranteed to raise a smile; for example...low-warning lights for the supply of crackers and cheese." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/8466940/Real-life-Wallace-and-Gromit-a-cracking-combination.html

Swung by Hobby Lobby today and picked up the Revell 1/24 scale 78 GMC Big Game Country Pickup. It has a gun rack and jerry can. And what the heck, I can always do something with another pickup truck. This is the HL in Anderson, SC for anyone in the area. Looks like this store has finished its latest model "reset." It had the Baja Bronco, '65 Lincoln and the other newbies other people have reported for HL. One other thing I noticed: when I bought my Molotow Liquid Chrome markers at this HL some time ago, they were in the same section as all the other "art" markers. I guess HL figured out who's really buying them. Today the 1 and 2mm Molotows were in the scale-model aisle. WARNING for those who might want to build their first 1/35 scale tank kit: the Lindberg 1/35 scale Russian T-55 kit from 1989 is back and in HL. Even the box art is the same as the first issue. Ugh. Back then the Lindberg kit won Squadron's "Model of the Year" award, but only because nobody else made a T-55 at the time. The molds for the Lindberg T-55, T-80 and BMP-1 1/35 kits originated with a company called Twentieth Century International (TCI). They showed built kits at some hobby shows, but apparently went bankrupt before they could release the kits. Lindberg bought the TCI molds. If you wonder how bad this kit is, just do a search on it. You'll probably find "square gun barrels" mentioned. At today's prices, even with 40% off, there's no reason to waste money and time on this turkey. The excellent Tamiya T-55 has been around since 2002 and often goes for reasonable prices. Takom recently released some real state-of-the-art T-55 kits in several different versions. Even the old ESCI/Italeri T-55 is better than the Lindberg, though it has its own problems. And currently goes for about $25-40 in an Italeri box, which is pretty outrageous too.

Here's one I have in the stash, the REJI 1/24 scale 1999 Skoda Octavia rally car. REJI is in the Czech Republic and does a lot of "local" cars in resin. Their kits are very clean and come with photo-etch and decals.

IIRC, the Palmer '72 Dodge Challenger is the same one released by Lindberg and was one of their better kits. I know nothing about that 'Cuda, though. I did find a slightly different picture of the box art. Looks like Palmer also released this one with an electric motor. Which is probably good if it's like most Palmer kits, since a motor might ensure it got destroyed quicker.

The end of the story... "Stringfield died in 1993 at age 82 from complications surrounding an “enlarged heart.” Though her doctor had advised her to stop riding, “I told him if I don’t ride, I won’t live long. And so I never did quit.”

Searched on "1928 Indian Scout" and you're right, the one in the photo looks later. But I'm sure she went thru quite a few rides. When I was a little kid, one of our neighbors had an old Indian Chief motorcycle with the lighted Chief's head on the fender. I loved the motorcycle, but that head really fascinated me.

OK, I'm always happy to confuse things further... Here's one of the most famous cane work cars, the Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8A Transformable from the 1950 movie "Sunset Boulevard." That looks like real cane work in the big photo below, since its flatter than the paint and appears to have highs and lows. One story says Paramount Pictures commissioned Coach Craft of Hollywood to "transform a 1927 Isotta-Fraschini with a dull 7-passenger limousine Willoughby body into this exotic Landaulette. Accoutrements include wicker caned tonneau, gold-plated hardware as well as genuine leopard skin upholstery." OTOH, other sources say it's a 1929, and Billy Wilder, who directed the movie, just said they got the Isotta from a rental company. Coachcraft (one word) was the Hollywood customizing company founded by employees of Dutch Darrin. In model form, the Heller 1/24 Hispano-Suiza K6 has cane work very similar to the Isotta. It's done with decals. One way to replicate real cane work might be with a very thin layer of epoxy putty, then use a 1/35 zimmerit making tool (or a razor saw) to create the patterns. Getting it consistent would be a real nightmare. Here's a link to the Coachbuild forum about Isottas. There's one mention that "the cane work was removed during restoration" on an Isotta. http://www.coachbuild.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=625

"Born in 1911, Stringfield got her first motorcycle, a 1928 Indian Scout, while she was still in her teens and taught herself how to ride it...at the age of 19, young Stringfield flipped a penny onto a map of the US then ventured out on her bike alone. Interstate highways didn’t yet exist at the time, but the rough, unpaved roads didn’t deter her. In 1930, she became the first Black woman to ride a motorcycle in every one of the connected 48 states - a solo cross-country ride she undertook eight times during her lifetime." https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/qvxke7/bessie-stringfield-first-black-woman-motorcycled-across-america-jim-crow?utm_source=vicefbus

I never expected to see this monster in plastic - the World War One era Holt Tractor used for towing heavy artillery pieces. Expected release is next month, April 2018, from the Ukrainian model company Roden. Roden has done quite a few interesting vehicles in 1/35, like the Dodge M37 3/4 ton series and the Russian KraZ heavy trucks. The only other Holt Tractor in 1/35, AFAIK, is the very expensive resin kit from Resicast.

Also available at Wal-Mart under that name, or at least it was some months ago when I bought it there. Appears to be exactly the same as the previous product. I've used my most recent bottle for all the usual jobs: adding a gloss top-coat; making "glass" in dashboard gauges; dipping clear parts and aircraft canopies to remove scratches and make them look better. And on larger-scale figures, adding a drop in the eyes to make them shiny. No problems at all.