Mike999

Back in 2009 I took the (deep) plunge and got an Iwata Studio Series Power Jet Pro compressor. Expensive but it had everything I wanted, like built-in water traps and dual regulators to run 2 airbrushes at once. It's fairly quiet and hasn't given me any problems. That was after several years of using a cheap "run all the time" hobby compressor, followed by a Craftsman with a tank. The Craftsman worked fine, but seized up after several years in storage while I was working overseas.

A few months ago at a local flea market, a woman was selling off her late father's massive 1:24 die-cast collection. She came for several weeks, with a different batch of cars every time, until she sold them all. At least I'm guessing that's what happened, since I haven't seen her at the flea market for a while. One morning I caught her just after she arrived, and was still setting up her table. She pulled out 2 of the Tucker die-casts - a gold one like yours, and another one in Waltz Blue. I grabbed both and hid them until she was ready to take my money. I'd been trying to find one of those Tuckers for years, without paying crazy eBay prices. That day I bought a couple of other die-cast cars and she gave me a good "volume discount" on all of them. None of her cars had the box or Styrofoam, just the axle tag. I don't care. These will probably not be sold until my own estate sale...

"One to one" here. I sometimes search "1:1" on eBay, looking for the best known model kits in that scale - full-size scale model guns. AFAIK, the first 1:1 kits were done by Pyro and Revell in the 1950s. Most Geezer Modelers probably built a Pyro Western .44 or Revell Pepperbox pistol as a kid. The idea really took off in the 1970s, when the Japanese company LS started releasing its 1:1 scale guns in ABS plastic. LS did an incredible range, from Derringers all the way up to M-16s and AK-47s. The models worked just like the real thing and came with brass-colored "bullets." According to Mr. Internet, LS went out of business in 1987. That was shortly after ultra-realistic toy guns were banned in several countries. After LS disappeared, some of its gun kits were re-issued by the companies Academy and Crown. I went to Asia on several business trips in the 1990s, and those 1:1 gun kits were still being sold in hobby shops in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Not too many years ago, Lindberg re-issued the old Pyro 1:1 blunderbuss and flintlock pistol with a "Pirates of the Caribbean" tie-in.

For some reason, that '58 Edsel kit has been fairly common at the local Wednesday Flea Market. I've found 3 of them there: 1 "Pro-Shop" pre-painted version for $5.00, and 2 of the regular kits for similar prices. One had the frame partly painted, but was complete, so no problem. I needed one for an Amblewagon ambulance conversion. As others have said, it's a very good kit with lots of useful parts. So I'll pick them up when I see them reasonably priced. Today was a bust at the Flea Market. A few overpriced modern NASCAR kits, and a Revell 59 Impala convertible, shrink-wrapped. Seller was asking $20 and went into an annoying pitch about "rare, hard to find, brings more than that on eBay." So I passed. Didn't even make an offer, since I already have the kit. And if I want one, I'll wait for a seller who doesn't check eBay. :-)

MPC 75 Datsun pickup re-issue, courtesy of the 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon, in Anderson, SC. HL was dumping the Barris Surf Woody for $10.79. That was the only model car I saw on clearance in this store. Still don't have the Revell 66 Suburban, though a space is ready for it in the aisle, with an ID sticker. They had the "Gasman" 49 Ford and a few other newer kits. In other news... Michael's was having a 50% off sale with coupon, but saw nothing tempting. Last year they had some of those "spooky village" diorama things, with skeletons that looked close to 1/24 scale. None of those this year that I saw. Ollie's only had a few Lindberg ships and armor kits. Didn't even see a single 64 Dodge or Crown Vic Police, and this store always has those.

I have one of those. Pretty sure it's a lavatory for the 1/32 scale Japanese bus kits. Verlinden and some other companies have done actual 1/35 scale wooden (resin) outhouses. The one you posted reminded me, I also have a Fujimi Japanese telephone booth. They've done a lot of unusual accessories. In 1/24 scale, they did an accessory set with a Japanese hot/cold vending machine, a teddy bear, cologne bottle and...a pack of cigarettes and lighter! Plus other useful stuff. That one was sold as a stand-alone kit, but was also included with their 1/24 scale Austin Mini. And probably some other kits.

For unusual...how about a scale model kit of the machine that makes our scale models? Also in 1/20 scale, the Nissei NEX-80-9E Electric Injection Molding Machine. I've seen several versions of these over the years, in different boxes, always from Japanese companies.

I also bought some of those Jacquard Metallic paints on sale at HL. I've only experimented with the Yellow so far. They're pre-thinned for the airbrush and worked well thru an Aztek. They are acrylic, and cleaned up oK with Tamiya X-20 thinner or 91% isopropyl alcohol. One thing I noticed: the Yellow was sensitive to the primer under it. Which I guess is common for any yellow paint. Sprayed over white primer or bare white plastic, the color came out as a nice bright metallic yellow. The metal "flakes" even looked in scale, not the lumps you see in some metallic paints. But sprayed over grey primer, the color shifted to more of a darker gold, not bright yellow. So far, they're fun to play around with and I think they'll be useful.

Heh! I needed a 4-inch hole saw once. Almost bought a set of 4 different-sized hole saws for a very low price at Harbor Freight. But as I stood there, I contemplated whether or not I really wanted to go for the lowest price, for something with teeth that would be rotating at 1200 RPM near my body. Went to Lowe's and bought a name brand. I did buy an airbrush stand and airbrush cleaning jar at HF, and they work OK. But that follows your general rule of avoiding HF stuff that can kill or maim us. (Had some bad experiences with hole saws already. In Egypt we were cutting cable holes in the floor tiles of a data facility. That's the 2x2 foot, metal-sheathed tiles for the raised floor. The hole saws we bought locally were Chinese imports and didn't last more than 1 or 2 tiles, even though they were marked and priced as metal-cutting saws. We finally gave up and had the company buy a bunch in Calif. and ship them to us. That let us finish the job within our lifetimes...)

From personal experience, I can recommend Freetime Hobbies, Hobbylinc and Megahobby. All carry big lines of hobby paint and tools, and all ship orders very quickly. Never a problem with any of them.

I've had that problem a few times. Air but no paint means something is blocking the paint from coming out of the nozzle. It can be something as small as dried paint on the needle - I had that happen with a SOTAR 20/20. Or dried paint stuck inside the nozzle where you can't see it. If you're seeing bubbles inside the siphon bottle, that means air can't get out the nozzle and is being forced back into the bottle. Had that problem with an Aztek airbrush once. That one was paint stuck in the removable Aztek nozzle. With that airbrush you can probably try backflushing to make sure it's clean. With the siphon bottle full of plain thinner/cleaner, turn the compressor to about 30 psi, close off the nozzle with your finger, and pull the trigger. That will force cleaner back into the airbrush.

I found one of those Mark II promos at a flea market for a decent price. It has the friction motor and a two-tone interior (blue/cream). Pretty straight except the roof and rear window, which are both warped. I'm thinking about cutting them off and calling it the prototype Mark II hardtop convertible. These promos had die-cast metal bumpers/grille.

Nice clean build! That's the Italeri M107 175 mm self-propelled gun, originally issued way back in 1988. It was re-issued a few times over the years, but recently got very hard to find. Just a couple of years ago, it was fetching pretty high prices on That Auction Site. Tamiya re-issued it in 2016, in their own box (but with the Italeri logo also on the box, in small print). In recent years, Tamiya has re-issued quite a few kits from other companies in Tamiya boxes: Italeri and ICM (Ukraine) are two that I know of. Tamiya usually throws in figures and/or accessories (and doubles the price). Some armor modelers complained about the ICM kits in Tamiya boxes. They expected Tamiya's "pour in glue and shake the box" build quality. But ICM kits can be a lot more...challenging to build than Tamiya or Italeri. Here's the Scalemates timeline of your M107: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/137620-italeri-6248-m107

Here's another solution, closer to scale. Had to look in the stash and jog my memory. This is the PREISER #45207 G scale (1:22.5 scale) "Market Accessories." I bought one many years ago, and wasn't sure if it's even still available. But it is! HobbyLinc has it in stock right now for $23.52. So don't fall for any RARE! VTG! HTF! expensive listings on That Auction Site. The Mayberry Street stuff at Hobby Lobby is $3.99 for a small bag of loose fruits/veggies, with no baskets or containers. So this may be a better deal, as well as being closer to the "right" scale. You will have to do some painting. This kit is molded in light tan plastic for the crates, medium tan for baskets/bag, and dark brown plastic for all the fruits/veggies. The umbrella is molded in white.

Hearses For Sale! (dot-com). Including this rare beauty: a 1972 Pontiac Bonneville Superior Ambulance/Hearse combination, powered by a 455/2-barrel engine. http://hearses-for-sale.com/

Hobby Lobby sells a range of dollhouse accessories called "Mayberry Street." It includes some bananas, tomatoes and other fruits/vegetables. These items are 1/12 scale, but they can pass for large 1/25 scale specimens. (Or since this is Halloween Month, maybe giant mutant fruits and veggies from another planet). I picked up some just for the AMT Fruit Wagon. You'll find them hanging on the wall in bags, with the other dollhouse stuff.

Does anybody else remember this? When the new-tool, state-of-the-art AMT '57 Chevy came out (opening trunk etc.), I remember reading somewhere that AMT wanted to retire the original '57 kit forever and hoped everybody would forget about it. So it's pretty funny that they're still re-issuing that old 1962-vintage '57 kit, here in 2017.

With a pair of the '62 Buick kits we can build something rare and interesting: a '62 Electra stretched limo. Want to go even bigger? The Flxible Coach Corporation also built 1962 Buick ambulances and hearses: "With the info that came with car, it looks like the Flxible coach corporation produced 2 of these for GM for a cost study feasibility. All the rear area is trimmed similar to a 75 series Cadillac with jump seats and rear a/c heater controls but no radio controls. It has a divider partition but no glass." https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2008/09/30/lost-and-found-overflow-electra-limo/

At Freetime Hobbies on Sat., I picked up "The Weathering Magazine #15 - What If?" (Cover pic below). I was going to post this in another thread that got locked, where Snake45 said: "I have one foot in Model Car World and one in Model Airplane World. Things are a lot freer over here, I assure you. Over there, everything's about accuracy accuracy accuracy. A "custom" model airplane is almost unheard of." This issue of The Weathering Magazine has a 5-page spread of full-color aircraft "profile" drawings. Only these are...strange and interesting aircraft profiles. A few of them are: Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt II, California Highway Patrol (my favorite!) A-64D Apache helicopter, Thames Valley Police Force (UK) X-Wing fighter T-65B (from Star Wars), VF-84, US Navy B-17G Flying Fortress, Vatican City Air Force Focke-Wulf FW-190, Mexican Air Force Sikorsky Sea King helicopter, Jurassic Park patrol

A few weeks ago I missed a T.M. Resins body I meant to bid on (62 T-Bird hardtop). Contacted Jeff thru eBay, and he said he was putting another one up that same night. He did, I placed a minimum bid and won it. Luckily, that one doesn't start bidding wars like the Lakewood. Which I guess is another sort of "eBay Tip:" on common items like that T-Bird, sometimes it may be better to bid at the start of an auction than at the end. Most people aren't going to start a bidding war. They'll see that it already has a bid, and wait for next time. At least that's what I often do. Funny story I read about eBay on the internet, so it must be true. Or should be: when Meg Whitman left eBay and the new CEO took over, he announced that he was going to drive the business toward more eBay Stores and Buy-It-Now items. He said eBay "looked too much like a flea market." He immediately got several thousand angry e-mails, saying: "It IS a flea market, you idiot."

Today I went to the Freetime Hobbies open house/model contest in Blue Ridge, GA. If you're ever in the area, that's an awesome store. Literally a warehouse full of model kits and supplies. They recently changed their hours. The store is ONLY open the second weekend of each month. Next open house day is Nov. 11 2017. I got some supplies, a Revell '66 Suburban and some off-topic 1/35 armor kits (including the Trumpeter SA-4 Ganef SAM missile tracked carrier, which looks like it should be in a Godzilla movie). And I couldn't resist this Greenlight die-cast 1/24 Shasta Airflyte trailer, with full interior. It would look good behind that Suburban, and it was on sale at a good price:

Back in the 1990s, I went to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan several times for work. Some South Koreans bragged that they had "stolen" the steel and shipbuilding industries from Japan, and were now #1 in those areas. When I mentioned that to Japanese, they LTAO. Said their govt. and manufacturers decided to greatly reduce oil-dependent heavy industry after the first OPEC embargo in 1973. So what the Koreans saw as a Japanese surrender was really part of a long-term rational plan. One place I visited in Japan was the Mitsubishi aircraft plant in Gifu Prefecture. Walked in the front door and saw a huge, wall-sized display case full of scale-model aircraft - models of every aircraft Mitsubishi ever built or subcontracted on.

That WC-54 Dodge Ambulance has been re-issued many times. Italeri has re-issued it several times, most recently as a "Limited Edition." (They jacked up the price on those.) It was first released back in the 1970's by the Japanese company Peerless-Max. The Czech company Bilek re-issued it a few years ago as a radio truck, with a resin antenna mount. I just checked on eBay and they're available. Just be patient and don't pay collector prices. Here's an article on the kit and a build-up that fixed the errors. http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article/the-italeri-1-35-dodge-ambulance/5949

Kit Form Services in the UK does a pretty big range of 1/24 resin military trucks and vehicles, including some really cool stuff like the Saladin armored car and Stalwart. Also 1/24 resin trans-kits for vintage British and American big trucks, like Atkinsons and early Macks. Bring lots of $$$! http://www.kitformservices.com/ I've never seen a good answer for why 1/35 became the standard military scale. In prehistoric times (the 70s), Bandai and Tamiya did military kits in all sorts of weird scales, like 1/30 and 1/21. One story says that 1/35 started out as a "box scale" for Tamiya, and everybody else just followed suit, like Italeri. Most of the early Monogram military kits were in 1/35 scale. Maybe just from luck. To confuse us further, some of those kits were later released with 1/32 scale on the box (the M-48 tank and Jeep). But some Monogram kits really were 1/32, like the Lee/Grant, Sherman and the German armor kits.

The Bedford TD series (I think) is still in use all over Egypt. The one that looks like a '50 Chevy. Those things will be running forever. Egyptians love them and there are junkyards full of donor trucks to keep them on the road. That's also true for the Peugeot 504 station wagon, usually seen as in the photo below - crammed full of people with a big load of luggage on top.