Mike999

That's weird. And so is this: I just checked a big U.S. vendor. The Porsche tractor is not in stock yet, but the vendor has TWO different "place-holder" slots for it. With 2 different kit numbers and prices for Revell USA and Revell-Germany: Revell-Monogram USA: Kit #85-4485, price is $22.95 Revell-Germany: Kit #07820, price is $26.95 ??? I wonder what the difference is, if any. I know the 2 Revells sometimes release each other's kits with minor changes. Like the '05 Impala police car, which Revell-Germany re-issued with a real decal sheet and not the useless stickers in the U.S. kit. But that more than doubled the price of the Impala kit in the U.S., IIRC. Can't figure out what would cause the $4.00 difference on the tractor.

Sadly, Handsome Police Officer eventually quit the P.D., grew a beard and started wearing fringed buckskin duds and bell-bottoms. He also stole his Harley trike and customized it into something he called The Gladiator. It is believed that drugs were involved. A LOT of drugs...

I snapped a quick pic of the police officer. Also found a pic of him painted on the internet. Maybe he's chasing Mabel From Accounting on her "Surf's Up" bike...

Good old PYRO! I like their kit #M-165 Police Cycle, also released under the same kit number as "N.Y. Police Cycle." It has a blurb on the box side reading: "Harley Special 3 Wheeler with handsome police officer figure..." (Pix found on internet)

True, I just looked in those 2 kits recently (planning an eBay sale). The custom version has a non-stock engine with Ardun heads and triple carbs. Revell usually gets around to putting all the options into one box eventually and calling the kit a 2-n-1. But I don't believe they've done that yet with the 50 Ford pickup, though I could be wrong.

This one is NOT "in my stash," but it sure is weird. And there's a girl in it. From an eBay auction that ended a few minutes ago. The seller provided very little info: "Vintage Japanese Anime Kit #25 by Aoshima, 1/30 Scale. Made in Japan, parts in sealed bag, w/japanese girl figure, all paper work included, box in very good condition." It looks like a cross between Ed Roth's Orbitron and a Martian War Machine from "War of the Worlds:"

That's a great build, with a very realistic finish. It looks better than some armor models I've seen with all those expensive name-brand products used on them. TL; DR, Usual Tedious Rant: I've also done some comparison shopping and can't believe the mark-ups. On an armor board once, I saw A Famous Vendor Himself defend the price of his weathering powders by saying they're "scientifically ground to be consistent." Or words to that effect. But we use those things to show dust, mud and other natural stuff that is NEVER consistent. That seems weird. Reading a lot of the weathering-type magazines, it seems that one guy comes up with a new technique with a spiffy new name: filters, zenithal shading, Black-And-White shading etc. etc. And lo and behold - in a week or so, there's a whole new, expensive line of paints, powders or whatever! And you must buy the new products to accomplish those effects. It almost gets to be like some goofy religious cult. Well, baloney. Most of those "new techniques" aren't new at all. They're the same techniques Shep Paine and Verlinden were doing decades ago, they just have new names. Shep Paine used cheap tempera paints when he started out because he couldn't afford anything else. Having said that, I did buy a few "name-brand" products. I like some of the oil paints because they save some mixing, but I also have some cheap, basic art-store oil paints like Burnt Umber (great for simulating 1/25 scale engine grease). I bought one expensive "Mud" product. That stuff dried up in its jar and became useless very quickly, even though I was careful with it. So I'll go back to my regular mud: spackle-type plaster mixed with cheap acrylic craft paint. That's more fun anyway, and I can make it look exactly the way I want. /rant.

Mold, mildew and fungus. Often seen here in the USA in flood-damaged cars. Not surprising in that poor Opel, which has been sitting thru extreme temperature changes for a long time. Good beater work, and another comment sounds promising: "I'm also making a base for it, sunken in to the ground with leaves and branches and some moss-like look to it." Here's some inspiration from Per Olav Lund:

When the kit arrived and I saw the unplated parts, I went looking. Found a couple of likely candidates: Alclad II ALC-109 - Polished Brass, if you have an airbrush. I really like working with Alclad, but some people don't. No thinning needed, and being lacquer, it dries fast and hard over a base coat of Tamiya Gloss Black acrylic. Sometimes I even brush paint with Alclad, even though we're not supposed to do that. Rust-Oleum #1936830 Metallic Brass: 11-oz spray can. The ads say "made with real metal leafing flakes." Never used this, but I've used the Valspar metallic silver spray bomb and it worked OK (for a bare-metal racing car interior). I'm wondering if those "real flakes" are in scale. And it's always easy to spray too much with a rattle-can, unless it's decanted and shot thru an airbrush. But I'd rather use Alclad than hassle with all that. My biggest worry, looking at the parts, is getting the seams out of those headlights before painting them.

Here's one of the most famous. The 1:1 scale AIRFIX Spitfire built for the TV show "James May's Toy Stories" back in 2009. The Spit is still on display in the U.K., I believe. That pilot figure was sculpted to resemble...James May! You can easily find links to the show if you've never seen it. It was both sad and funny when May talked to modern kids about the founder of AIRFIX; how he believed building replicas would encourage kids to learn about the real things. One kid asked: "Was he mental?"

I saw Napoleon once at a KCI/Keller show, mint/boxed, but that was a long, long time ago. The vendor might even have been the very-rare-kit dealer from Fullerton, John Green, but I'm just not sure. Old age and all. Here's some info from "Classic Plastic" by Rick Polizzi. Published in 1996, and his estimated values back then were: Hitler, boxed $140, built-up $65; Castro, boxed $70, built-up $35; Napoleon, boxed $85, built-up $35: "These three political/military ne'er-do-wells were the only models ever released by a little-known company named Parks Plastics. The 1/10 scale series, which hit the shelves in 1965, was fairly detailed and had an unusual sense of humor about it. A common element in all three kits is a mysterious hand seen rising out of the ground - Hitler's gives a Nazi salute, while Napoleon's seems to be trying to drag him down into the murky unknown. A fourth kit of Caesar was to be added to the series, but the Roman Emperor got the thumbs down due to poor sales of the other three. These were re-released by a Mexican company and sold in the U.S. in the late 1980s."

If you'd rather get ICM kits quicker from a U.S. vendor, HobbyLinc and Megahobby both carry the line. I ordered that Light Delivery Car from HobbyLinc back in October. Their price was $47.86. It has some nice detail, like all the "wood" framing inside the roof.

Wandering off-topic since it's a slow week...one of your former colonies must have copied your Customs procedures: Egypt. I worked there from 2005-09. An Egyptian driver who worked with us had a newish Ford Escape that was always breaking...something. To avoid him having to pay the outrageous import duties, we used to carry stuff for him in our luggage when we came back from the U.S. Bringing stuff in was free. But shipping it...ouch! Our employer once sent me a polo shirt with the company logo on it. ONE shirt. By the time I finished paying all the "special import duties" etc., shipping that shirt cost the company nearly $100.

Here's a tip on Perfect Plastic Putty that I just read in A Fine Scale-Modeling Magazine. If the PPP seems to be thickening or drying up in the tube, use an eye-dropper and put 3 or 4 drops of tap water straight into the tube. Then close the cap, shake it up and let it sit for a while. Since PPP is water-based, the water will un-thicken it. Haven't tried this yet myself, but I plan to. I have a 2-year-old tube of PPP that appears to be getting a little thick, though it's still useable. I just used it a couple of days ago to fill some small gaps and it worked fine. I sure like PPP a lot better than Squadron or Testors solvent-based putties. No smell and being water-based, it doesn't attack plastic. It stays where you put it and can be easily smoothed with a damp Q-Tip (or even a damp finger). When filling bigger gaps, I use Tamiya White or Gray putty. The Tamiya seems to dry a lot quicker than the others and, again, just behaves itself better.

Fujimi released 5 or 6 different Astro-based van kits, starting around 2002. Versions included several 2WD and 4WD Chevies, the GMC Safari, and a couple with wild custom decals. A quick online search told me something I didn't know: the Astro was a very popular vehicle in Japan, approaching cult status. That Other Model Car Magazine gave the kit a good review, way back when. Their only complaint, IIRC - the price was pretty high for a curbside kit. It has no engine detail. (Not too useful in a van anyway.) The chassis is very well-detailed with lots of separate parts. So is the interior, with separate armrests for the seats, decals for the instruments, etc. Here's a thread from a real Astro/Safari fan forum, with pix of some different Fujimi kit boxes: http://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?p=8590 I checked a few U.S. vendors and none have the kit in stock. (Just noticed you're in the U.K., sorry.) Tokyo-Hobby on eBay does, with one currently listed for $19.70 + $12.80 shipping. (Link below.) That's a good price. These kits usually sold stateside for $40-60, I think. If you've never dealt with Tokyo-Hobby, many people on here have, including me. Never had a problem. They're one of the best Japanese sellers I've ever used. https://www.ebay.com/p/Fujimi-Rs-87-Chevrolet-Astro-LT-4wd-1-24-Scale-Kit/2254472321?_trksid=p2047675.m4097.l9055

Me too. I even remember the first time I saw those early-1980's reissues: at the GEMCO store in North Hollywood, CA (where I lived at the time; GEMCO was a big membership store that sold everything from shoes to groceries, sort of like an early Wal-Mart). It was like seeing old friends again: the '58 Chevy, '40 Ford coupe, '32 Fords, '41 Plymouth etc. etc. I still have some kits in those boxes, that I've been dragging around for several decades. As for that W engine, I'm guessing it's the same as the engine in the Revell '64 Chevy. Just yesterday I went looking for a 1/25 scale Chevy fuel pump, needed for a project where the engine will be visible. Recently I found a box of random parts at a flea market that included some Revell '64 Chevy stuff, with no body or chassis. But it did have a beautiful Chevy fuel pump. Along with a separate coil and other useful bits.

With enough putty and spare body parts, maybe you could build a model of this Duesenberg... http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/03/duesenberg-even-hideous-person/

From Tom's article: "I was also influenced by the movie, "The Yellow Rolls Royce", so all my Chevys were painted a Testor's (19 cents) brush yellow and black two tone. These were also the two colors known to be as thick as honey right from the bottle and I know I gave it several good coats." Trying - patiently - to use that feature of old Testors Yellow, to fix a problem caused by impatience. (Which causes most of my modeling problems.) I got a couple of small runs while spray painting Testors Bright Yellow from a rattle-can. Let the paint harden, then leveled the runs by scraping with a single-edged razor blade and feathering with fine sandpaper. That left a couple of small dips. I'm using old Testors Yellow from a bottle to level out the dips. It is thick, and even thicker due to its age. Then I plan to feather/blend the dips, and LIGHTLY re-spray with the Bright Yellow. Yes, it's a pain, but the rest of the paint looks good and I don't want to strip the body. (Again!) Besides, I like to experiment with stuff like this, just to see if it can be done.

Thanks! I've never seen those. The scooters are a nice touch. Combined with food stands, they remind me of when I worked in Egypt. McDonald's and other fast-food joints there would deliver burgers right to your door. They used motor scooters like those, with an insulated box on the back. You just didn't want to think about how long your food sat in the traffic of Cairo or Alexandria, soaking up yummy hydrocarbons...

Thanks! Saved the pic to help with detailing. When I finally get around to that kit, about 127 years from now. Your photo is complete with nice hand-painted markings of the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit (ATAIU). Years ago, Hasegawa released a 1/48 Zero kit in a "Strange Insignia" version. It had markings for an American or British evaluation aircraft, TAIU or ATAIU SEA (Southeast Asia).

I don't know how much room you have. But Home Depot sells the workbench shown below for $80.21. It's 72 inches long x 20 inches wide x 35 inches high. A couple of years ago they put it on sale for less than $70, IIRC, so I got a couple of them. At that price I probably couldn't have even bought the materials to build it. PROS: lots of room; has that "backstop" to keep parts/tools from rolling off; the legs are hinged and fold out, so it assembles in just a couple of minutes and one person can easily set it up; very sturdy, made of 2x4 hemlock; bottom shelf has plenty of storage room. CONS: that bottom shelf also interferes with your legs, as you can see. You can't get your feet under the bench easily. I thought about modifying it, keeping just one of the 2x4's of that bottom shelf as a brace for the legs. But the shelf space for storing tools, books etc. does come in handy. Here's a link to it on the Home Depot site: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Signature-Development-72-in-Fold-Out-Wood-Workbench-WKBNCH72X22/203083493

Another fun and informative review! Crown was an "interesting" company overall. I think their 1/144 B-52 kit was original to them back in the 1970s (?). It came with a generous optional weapons load and decent box art. I believe it's still being sold in Academy/Minicraft boxes. When the Japanese LS company folded circa 1987, Crown in Japan and Academy in Korea took over their molds of 1:1 scale weapons. Academy box art for those kits was just boring: a shot of the gun against a wood-grain background. But Crown went for in-your-face box art, literally. As shown by the box of their 1:1 scale .44 Magnum, below.

Well, sorry! Since I broke the thread, I'll try to un-break it. How about a 1/350 scale Gamera from Bandai? Can be built in optional walking or flying modes. In flying mode you'll have to provide your own flames coming out of his "dual exhausts." The kit also comes with a tiny F-16 fighter to attack Gamera. The kit seems to be out of production for now, but they turn up on eBay occasionally at reasonable prices.

Dirt-track water truck or even just a trailer, behind a beat-up AMT '53 Ford, Lindberg Dodge L700, etc.? Local (residential) fuel delivery truck, behind...something? Anthony Hazelaar cut down a Monogram 1/24 Mack tank and built a Model TT tanker, link below. That might cross right over into your "oddball rod" idea. Speaking of leftover parts...when I started the old MPC '34 Ford Modified Stocker recently, I learned pretty quick to identify exactly which parts would be used. The leftovers I put aside in a plastic bag. That thing has 4 different hoods, 3 different firewalls and 2 different rear bulkheads IIRC, 2 or 3 different air cleaners, etc. etc. I know they did that to cover the several different versions of the kit. But it got confusing pretty quickly. Especially since almost every part number on the sprue had a sink mark right in the middle, making it really hard to read the part numbers. http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/tonhazelaar/wwwhome/25t-tanktruck.html

Ordered from him when I lived on the West Coast, and also after I moved back to the East Coast. Never had a problem.