Mike999

LOL! That "looks kind of old" is just typical HobbyBoss. All of their box artwork looks it was done circa 1974, by a kindergarten class with very limited artistic skills. I don't know if the kit is still in production, but a quick search shows the T-26E4 kits are easily available. These kits don't have any interior detail, but they did have a nice surprise: a complete engine and transmission under the rear deck, that only needs some wiring and piping. And the rear engine grilles are all separate parts.

My haul from the SCMA show today in Simpsonville, SC. The thing way up there on the top right is an AMT '60 Lincoln hardtop. The seller even tracked down a 3D printed hood ornament on eBay to make it complete. I've wanted a Marlin for a long time. That original flat-box kit wasn't cheap. But it cost less than some of the "USA Oldies" Marlins that have sold on eBay recently. The Heller tractor is the recent release of the Landini 16000 DT. That was a license-built version of a Massey-Ferguson tractor, so I'm sure it's a close copy of the recent Heller MF 2680 kit. That's OK, I like tractors and Heller kits can be hard to find here in the USA. The Hasegawa Kubelwagen has all the extras of the previous versions, like Panzerfausts and jerry cans. Plus a "Blond Girl's Figure!" And what is the off-topic X/YB-35 doing in there? It's missing the decals and was cheap. I have an Anigrand resin kit of Howard Hughes' XF-11 recon aircraft - the one he crashed into Beverly Hills. That aircraft had 8-bladed, contra-rotating props, just like the XB-35, but they're not very well done in resin. So I may steal 2 of the XB-35 engines to improve it. And maybe build the rest as an XB-35 being scrapped.

That looks great! Nothing wrong with out of the box, the building and painting are both very clean. HobbyBoss also makes an M-26 kit, but they went a little further and also did the upgunned T-26E4 prototypes, Pilot #1 and #2. Pilot #1 is a really interesting tank. It was armed with a longer and more powerful 90mm gun, which required adding a recoil recuperator to the turret roof and a big counterweight behind the turret. It also had an extra chunk of frontal armor, which was cut from the hull of a Panther tank.

I've been working on one of those, on and mostly off, for years. Always thought I might put it into a diorama of the thing crashed somewhere in Manhattan. Maybe with a crushed hot-dog cart under the nose, and the crew surrendering to a crowd of irate citizens.

You did a great job! And so did the author, of course. Here's another interesting B-17 version, the X/YB-40 "escort bomber." It was crammed with 16 guns and had the bomb bay converted into ammo storage. Before long-range fighters became available, the idea was that the B-40 would escort and protect the bomber formations. But with all the guns, ammo and new gunners, the B-40 weighed 2 tons more than a stock B-17 and couldn't keep up with the formations. Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress - Wikipedia

They did fix the windowsills, after the initial run of the Cameo kit. Later issues of the Cameo and the '55 Stepside "Street Machine" had straight windowsills. I have one corrected and one uncorrected Cameo kit. The uncorrected kit will be used under an AAM resin '55 Chevy panel truck, one of these centuries...

Here's how I did it, on a diecast kit of the very car in your photo: the Model 68 '55 Buick built only for the California Highway Patrol. I found the diamond-shaped antenna base in the parts stash and made the hold-down clip on the rain gutter from a tiny piece of photo-etch metal scrap. I drilled thru the antenna base and added an antenna made of stretched sprue. That let me add the "ball" on the end, by simply heating the sprue. The antenna is painted with Molotow Liquid Chrome. I also added the rubber boot at the base of the antenna, but don't remember where that came from.

Thanks, good news! Here's the decal sheet from the previous issue, the Toyota "Armed Pick-up." Nothing but 4 sets of license plates, though at least they're unusual and interesting. One set from Lebanon, 1 from Somalia, 1 from Somaliland, and the "TCB" license plates from Chad. The small writing at the bottom of that plate advertises "Diagnose Auto," with a street address in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad.

Great review, as always! I always wondered about that kit, but the struts and rigging scared me off. I'm sure you'll do a great job on it. Speaking of struts and rigging...this month's "Aviation History" magazine has an article covering the history of the Pan Am Clipper aircraft. One of those was the Sikorsky S-40. When Charles Lindbergh flew the S-40, he said it was "like flying a forest through the air."

For anyone interested in more unusual B-17 versions...here's a great book about the B-17s that survived WWII and what happened to them. They were used as fire bombers, in movies both in front of and behind the camera, as transports and in many other jobs. One of the more unusual versions was the SB-17 search and rescue aircraft, with a radar in the nose and a big lifeboat under the fuselage. The lifeboat was stocked with supplies and could be air-dropped to survivors at sea. Academy did an SB-17 in 1/72 scale. "Final Cut: The Post War B-17 Flying Fortress, The Survivors" https://www.amazon.com/Final-Cut-Post-War-Fortress-Survivors-dp-1575101564/dp/1575101564/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

If you want to hear "Hot Rod Race" by Jimmy Dolan, you'll find it on this album. Along with other neat, hard-to-find songs like Robert Mitchum's "Ballad of Thunder Road." The Wikipedia article calls Dolan "Little Jimmie Dolan," so maybe he upgraded his name by the time this album came out. Weird Trivia: Capitol Records put together "Shut Down" as a budget compilation album, with The Beach Boys songs being the big draw. That caused the Beach Boys some trouble later, when they wanted to release their own album named "Shut Down." Capitol said no dice, that name has already been used. That's why The Beach Boys album was named "Shut Down, Volume 2." That confused fans, who wondered why they never saw "Shut Down, Volume 1." Which was this album.

That happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was watching a Jo-Han '59 Olds chassis, Buy It Now for $10. The seller sent me an offer for $7.50 and I bit. I have a resin Olds flat-top 4-door body and interior, and vac-form glass. So I just needed the chassis. Buying anything Jo-Han for less than 10 bucks on eBay seems like a deal these days.

Thanks for the info! Looking forward to it!

Found 2 chassis I needed on eBay. Years ago I bought a resin re-pop of a Jo-Han '59 Olds 4-door flat-top. I think it came from Model Roundup/Model King. It had the body, interior and vacu-form glass but no chassis. I was "Watching" that chassis on eBay. The seller sent a message lowering the price and I jumped on it. Those old Jo-Han chassis are hard to find and often expensive. This one was reasonably priced. Also long ago I got a stock resin '63 Nova wagon, with the hood molded in. Again with the body and interior but no frame. I had planned to swap in a '66 Nova chassis. But one of the eBay parts sellers came thru, offering a '63 chassis complete with the engine bottom plate and axle pins. It probably came from the new kit. I plan to pick up the future release of the Nova wagon, with engine. But the resin kit should be a fun quick-build, maybe of a drag strip tow car with the gas cans and accessories from the "Boss Nova" in the back.

First visit to the big local Flea Market in months. Almost had a heart attack when I saw the box for an AMT '62 Nova sitting on a table. But it was just the box, empty. The same table had an original AMT '50 Ford box, with some random glued and painted parts inside. Not even worth haggling over. I did pick up recent issues of "Collectible Automobile," "Hemmings Classic Car" and "Hemmings Muscle Car" for $2.00 each. So the morning wasn't a total loss. And I got some badly-needed exercise.

Great project! If you ever wondered about the Acetylene Tank mentioned in the instructions...and who hasn't?...it generated acetylene gas for the lights. Here's a period flyer about it, and a photo of the tank on a restored 1911 Model T. You can see the supply hose on the left side. Which you could add along with the clamps etc., if you're in the mood for some super-detailing.

Buyers, be aware that Revell modified the hardtop kit at some point. The original kit in the big box (blue car below) had a vinyl top molded in, complete with seams and fine grain detail. Nothing wrong with that. A vinyl top was an option on the '59 Eldorado Seville hardtop, just a very rare one. Revell removed the vinyl top in later issues, like the "Calif. Wheels" version shown below. One more thing to beware of: the hardtop kits in the later small boxes often have bent/broken top posts, because of cramming all that plastic into such a small box. I got one cheap at a Hobby Lobby because of that.

Went by the local HL yesterday and found 1 "new" kit: the Round 2 '60 Chevy pickup with go-kart. Grrrr! I waited MONTHS for HL to get that kit when it was first released, so I could buy it for 40% off. None of the 3 HL stores near me ever got it in. So I finally gave up and bought it online. That also happened with the Revell Porsche Jr. tractor. I waited and waited, ending up buying it online. About a week later the kit showed up in HL. As with so many things HL, there seems to be no rhyme or reason when new kits will show up. This local store already has the '66 Buick Wildcat, 007 Galaxie and Mustang, and a few other very recent releases.

Thanks, I forgot all about that re-issue! Some of the accessories aren't that great, especially those square, LEGO-looking jerry cans. But most 1/25-24 scale jerry cans over the years have looked like that, for some weird reason, whether they came from AMT, Revell or whoever. Shapeways has some much better 1/24 U.S. jerry cans. Also 1/24 scale British "flimsy" fuel cans, for those who want to build an AMT '41 Ford Woody as a British military vehicle in North Africa.

MENG has plastic nuts and bolts in different sizes. You only have to "shave" them off the backing sheet with a chisel blade.

MPC also did that clear trailer as a stand-alone kit, the "Super Trailer." Back in the 1990's or so, AMT-ERTL released it as the "Display Case Trailer." All the neat accessories like the compressor, chrome oil/fuel cans etc. are still in it. I just checked one in the stash. These go pretty cheap on eBay, if you're looking for one.

Thanks for the vintage ad! I've been trying to score that Lambretta scooter for years. Got the Vespa from eBay a LONG time ago. For their time, those 1/16 scale PYRO bike kits were very well done, especially the wire wheels. One of these centuries, I might try swapping PYRO wheels with the clunkier wheels in the 1/16 scale Airfix Ariel Arrow kit.

Anybody need an excuse to buy another book? "The American Hot Rod" by Dean Batchelor has a wealth of information about vintage speed equipment, who made it and how it was used. Batchelor writes from personal experience, he was hopping up cars and driving on the California dry lakes from the 1930s. The first chapters of the book cover modifications and speed equipment for the Model T, followed by the Model A, the Model B '32 Ford 4-cylinders and of course, the Flathead. A lot of old-timers didn't care for the Ford V-8 when it was first introduced, and kept hot rodding their Ford 4-cylinder engines. I've had the book for years and only looked at the pix, but recently read it for the first time. It's a great read. Batchelor worked the night shift at Lockheed in Burbank after WWII. He and his friends would get off work, eat breakfast, then drive to the dry lakes north of Palmdale/Lancaster and spend all day Saturday there. Then Batchelor would drive back to Burbank, take a shower and go dancing at the Hollywood Palladium. Meaning he was doing some serious driving in those pre-freeway days, and didn't sleep for the whole weekend. The American Hot Rod: Batchelor, Dean: 9780879389826: Amazon.com: Books

Hi all, I haven't posted for a while. My elderly Mom is going thru some serious health issues right now and I'm spending a lot of time at her house. Computer-less but with phone, so I can keep up with the topics at least. I hate trying to respond to lengthy posts on the phone, so I'm mostly reading. The docs say Mom is doing "remarkably well," so I hope to be back soon.

Seen on TCM recently: "The Killers" from 1964. (A re-make of the 1946 movie starring Burt Lancaster.) What a great car movie! (For a while anyway.) Many scenes were shot during a race at Riverside International. A Shelby Cobra is definitely the star of this segment and there's plenty of other vintage iron (and fiberglass). Also scenes at a garage on Ventura Blvd. in the Valley, where we see a Maserati and some other classics. Look close during the Riverside sequence, and you see a '60 (?) Falcon Ranchero panel truck, white with blue Shelby stripes. Great cast includes John Cassavetes, Claude Akins, and Angie Dickinson. With Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager as two of the meanest hit men ever. Also Ronald Reagan in his last movie role. TONIGHT on TCM, Feb. 1 2021, there's a trifecta of 3 really bad movies! Starting at 8 PM EST, "Plan 9 From Outer Space." Followed by "The Swarm." Then "The Conqueror," with John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as the hot-blooded (and red-headed) Tartar princess.