Mike999

A great "daily driver" version is the '92 Cougar XR-7, with the half-vinyl top. Exactly the car a Swingin' Grandpa would have bought when he retired to Florida, to impress all the hotties hanging around the swimming pool of the condo complex. Or the former hotties hanging around his retirement home. The "Low Rider" box art is pretty awful, IMO. But all the stock parts are lurking inside. Including a set of the rare XR-7 wheels, which would look good on many modern hot rods. These kits seem to go for pretty high prices on eBay right now, but patience might fix that.

MegaHobby has the Packard for Pre-Order, price is $49.49. 1941 Packard Clipper Military Sedan 1/35 Roden (megahobby.com)

"Get me to that bus stop and forget you ever saw me!" Leachman's first movie part was the bonkers 1955 film-noir "Kiss Me Deadly," directed by Robert Aldrich. TCM shows it pretty often and it is DEFINITELY worth watching. Lots of vintage cars. Ralph Meeker tools around in a '54 Corvette. His friend owns a garage specializing in foreign cars, so lots of MG's, Triumphs etc. are sitting around. Also many scenes of pre-freeway Los Angeles, especially the old Bunker Hill district with its former mansions cut up into seedy boarding houses.

Anyone looking for Monogram '26 Macks...years ago, Depot G Hobbies released the Stake and Tanker trucks in one box. A quick scan of eBay "Completed Items" shows that original '26 Mack kits sell for about the same as the $32.99 MSRP for the re-issued Log Hauler. The eBay sellers asking >$50 for their Log Haulers probably aren't too happy about that re-issue...

This article identifies the car in the B&W photo as one of the Packards. Also with pix of the '41 Plymouth that carried plutonium to the test site. http://nuclearsciencemuseum.blogspot.com/2008/08/first-planes-no-trains-now-automobiles.html

I found this Rustoleum MATTE Clear in Walmart last week. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Has anyone else used this stuff?

Fantastic weathering! Just the right amount and not over-done. Stealing ideas! Hasegawa makes a whole line of interesting and oddball construction vehicles in 1/35 scale. They even make 2 sets of construction worker figures, one set inside a warehouse with a vending machine, and the other road workers. Both sets include 1 female worker. Since the kits are 1/35, there's already an unlimited number of figures, accessories, tools etc. from Armor World that can be used with them. I couldn't resist this 1/35 scale Yanmar Combine. It looks like something out of a Mad Max movie.

Yes, FROG ("Flies Right Off the Ground") was a British company most famous for its huge line of 1/72 aircraft kits. Here's a short history: https://www.collectors-club-of-great-britain.co.uk/articles/spotlight-on-the-history-of-frog-kits/

And here's an eBay listing for the 1/16 scale XKE. With a starting bid of Canadian $300. Vintage 1964 MOTORIZED.. model kit FROG 1/16... JAGUAR E type w/ orig. box WORKS | eBay

I've never seen that 1/16 scale FROG Jaguar XKE. But to go along with it, how about the FROG 1/16 scale Dennis Ambulance? With driver, attendant and patient (on stretcher) figures! It's motorized, so it steers, reverses and has flashing lights.

That's some incredible work! Thanks for posting. Are all the figures 1/35 scale or 1/16? And who made them? Or are they scratch-built. The medic reminds me of a metal figure from way back in the 1970s. Maybe Valiant Miniatures. It had a "companion" female medic figure.

I was in my closest Hobby Lobby today and it had one new 1/25 scale car kit: the '70 Ford "007" police car. Also the 1/16 scale '55 Chevy convertible, which I haven't seen in this store before. Because I'm an ancient geezer who has been hoarding for a long time, I already have several '70 Ford Galaxie kits. An original AMT, a couple in the Model King "white box," and a couple more of the last AMT/ERTL issue. The kit was Unobtainium for a long time and 4-doors are hard to find, so I would pick them up when they were available. But the new decals/light bar don't do much for me, and neither does the "molded in vintage police cruiser blue."

I stopped at the closest Hobby Lobby yesterday and this kit was finally on the shelf.

OK, who wants to take on this project? A Packard Clipper converted into a 15-passenger limousine. The Manhattan Project used it to haul scientists and VIP's around the Trinity Site at Los Alamos, NM. In the black-and-white photo, that looks like another rare vehicle sitting beside the Packard - a Dodge Carryall.

Thanks! That is great news about the Toyota BJ-44. And with both tops! The last reissue with the machine gun was called "Armed Pickup," probably to avoid licensing hassles. Looks like they might have solved that problem. It had no top, hard or soft. I built the "Armed Pickup" version as a "technical" used in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil Wars. It's finished but I don't much like it and am still fiddling with it. Here are a few issues I dealt with: 1. The worst part of the kit is the interior, which doesn't have a firewall. You'll have to make your own with sheet plastic. This is not such a big deal if you use one of the roofs. But it's really obvious without the roof; you can see straight into the (empty) engine bay. If you want to go a little further, it would be pretty easy to use Evergreen square plastic and build the heater ducting attached to the firewall. 2. There are no brake, clutch or gas pedals. The seats are pretty nice and the kit has 2 different rear seat options: a pair of facing bench seats or a single bench seat, facing forward. The "Armed Pickup" issue of the kit didn't include a speedometer decal for the dashboard. Earlier versions had that, so I hope Italeri includes it. To balance all that out, sorta, exterior details like hinges and emblems are VERY well done. All the lights have separate clear lenses. 3. The doors are molded to the body and have NO interior detail. Cutting the doors off is pretty easy, but wait until well in the build before you do that. The body is very weak without the doors and will break in the middle. Don't ask how I know that... 4. If you want to build a BJ-44 "technical," you can go to Shapeways and buy an excellent 1/24 scale M2 machine gun from several vendors. Shapeways vendors also sell 1/24 scale AK-47s, jerry cans and other useful stuff.

While I was working in Egypt, my house in Los Angeles had a drastic water leak. It was a tri-level townhouse, the leak originated in a top-floor bathroom and came straight down to the garage...where my unbuilt model kits were stored. One of the insurance adjusters, a young woman, called me a few days later to let me know about the clean-up progress. She said, "I told them to be careful with your Tamiya kits, those things are expensive." "Thanks. But how do you know that?" "Because my boyfriend builds them."

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That's the very old, 1/24 scale kit, released as the "Street Rat" and several other names. It can't be built stock. Not without a LOT of work, anyway. What you see on the box top is what you get.

The 4 Beatles figures have been re-popped in resin over the years. Here's a link to a Worthpoint sale for all 4 of them. You're right, that is a great build. Complete with the Academy 1/8 scale Ludwig drum set! https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/beatles-revell-complete-set-resin-1793855142

You're right, there won't be many! But Revell's WWI aircraft kits, first released decades ago, are in 1/28 scale. I think they're still being released today, and aftermarket companies like Tom's Modelworks make photo-etched spoked wheels, machine guns and other parts for them. I've also seen non-aircraft modelers use those spoked wheels for 1/25 scale motorcycle wheels, dragster front wheels and such. I've never seen those 1/28 scale Revell car kits before. When I did, I wondered if Revell was trying to tie them into the aircraft kits, since they're all from roughly the same era.

Nichimo did a whole bunch of 1/8 scale musical instruments, even a banjo. Also a "Hawaiian Band" set IIRC, with several different instruments including a steel guitar. I got these electric guitars and amps from eBay long ago, just because they're neat and weird. Goofy Japanese girls not included.

Sorry, but I haven't built it yet! Here's a review of it from armor modeling expert Cookie Sewell. http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/usa/roden806reviewcs_1.html

The good news: there was a 1/24 scale '41 Packard Clipper done in resin, years ago. The bad news: it was done by TKM and is blob-tastic. I have one. I started working on it, with the first job being removal of the molded-in fender skirts. It's gone back and forth from the Shelf Of Shame a few times.

Not yet, but thanks! I didn't even know that was available in 1/35. Gotta get one! Roden's a Ukrainian model company. They often do subjects nobody else has ever done in 1/35 scale, like the Dodge M-37 trucks and a whole series of Opel-Blitz WWII buses. Their vehicle kits are FULLY detailed, with engines and chassis where everything is a separate part. Their kit of the massive WWI Holt tractor drew some fire for missing/incorrect details. But the only other way to get a Holt tractor was a very expensive resin kit. On the Packard Clipper, I hope those fender skirts are separate parts and not molded to the body. Those were usually left off in the field, as shown below on Eisenhower's Packard. MacArthur's Clipper was air-conditioned and the A/C equipment took up most of the trunk. Wonder if the Roden kit has that?

Yep, that's the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber. A much-hated aircraft whose crews said "SB2C" meant "Son of a B**** Second Class." It was supposed to replace the Douglas Dauntless, but had so many bugs that the Dauntless soldiered (or sailored) on till the end of WWII. The Monogram "Pro-Modeler" kit of the Helldiver comes with a photo-etch sheet that includes perforated dive brakes and other useful parts. If you want a more unusual build painted Olive Drab instead of blue, the Helldiver was built for the US Army as the A-25 Shrike. The French Navy also used them in the First Indochina War, with some colorful markings.