And yet another returning modeler

[Tim W. SoCal]

  Hi to you all! I started building model cars in 1966 or 67, when I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember the first body I spray painted when I was about 10 or so. At that time, a local paint shop chain called Earl Scheib, who would "paint any car any color for just $39.95", was pitching his "Baked On Diamond Gloss Finish". Apparently, this was achieved by placing the vehicle in a large oven. So, in my infinite wisdom, in attempt to achieve an Earl Scheib Baked On Diamond Gloss Finish, I turned the oven on to 275 degrees and inserted the freshly painted and gassed body straight onto the middle oven rack. About 10 minutes later, I turned the oven light on to check my progress and, to my surprise and horror, saw a puddling blob of dripping styrene plastic. I had to get that mess in the oven cleaned up before my Mom got home from work or face the dire consequences. Many of the kits I built between '68 and '76, such as the original AMT '66 Mustang Fastback, (poorly) brush painted metallic red with silver racing stripes, Revell '57 Nomad, AMT Gas Rhonda Long Nosed Mustang Funny Car, Revell Baja Bug, the AMT Meyers Towed, AMT "Here Comes The Judge" '57 T-Bird, the original AMT MPC '68 Olds Toronado and Chuck Miller Fire Truck Show Car, AMT '68 Shelby GT 500 (the one with clear tear drop hood and the record on the box), AMT ACcelerator '68 Corvette drag racer, a 1:20 scale MPC T Bucket kit called the Baja Bug that could either be built as an Altered style drag racer or a blown Hemi powered sand rail type dune buggy, 2 MPC Switchers '25 "T" Hot Rods in burgundy, a full fendered version for my girlfriend and a highboy version for me, to name a few, have never been re-released. I was around 12 when the teen-age son of a friend of my Mom's decided he was no longer interested in model cars. He gave me a large box of built kits including original issues of the  Mooneyes Dragster and Sanitary T Bucket, the Beatnick Bandit, the Bill Cushionberry Silhouette, the Python, the Stone-Woods-Cook Willys, the Ala Kart, the AMT '65 Bonneville and others. When I went out of state to attend college, my younger brother, with whom I shared a bedroom, dumped all of my model cars into the trash. I could have killed him when I returned home, but he's still waking this earth. I continued to build during my college days and early adulthood until an unwanted divorce knocked the wind out of my sales in 1983. After I recovered from the divorce, life just got in the way for many years. I had collected a pretty good stash of kits before my divorce and have held on to them. I also have been buying kits since the early 90s, intending to start building again, but just couldn't find or make the time. I continue to buy new kits and have pages and pages of plans for these kits stored in the Documents Folder on my PC. I have also moved a couple of times in the passed few years, so the vast majority of my kit stash, as well as my model building tools and supplies, are still boxed up in storage. Anyway, the newly updated release of the Revell '32 Ford Tudor Sedan has stoked my fire. My passion is kit bashing, so I have a really hard time just building out of the box. My first '32 Tudor Sedan kit will be a Highboy with a chopped Jimmy Flinstone body, a supercharged Ardun Flathead from Texas 3d Customs and the Halibrand wheels from the Revell '29 Ford Model A Roadster. I have plans for more builds of this kit, as well as many others. I am also a member of the San Diego Model Car Club, but my work schedule has been preventing me from attending the meetings. I enjoy the posts, the creativity and the camaraderie on this forum and am honored to be able to participate.

[PappyD340]

Welcome to the forum Tim!

[Street Rod]

Welcome aboard, Tim!

[Rattlecan Dan]

Welcome Tim. Quite a story you had to tell. Hope you will find all the help you need here, to post up some good builds.

[Zippi]

Welcome back Tim.  I had a truck painted by Earl Scheib back in the day.  

[Bainford]

Welcome to the forum, Tim. A great place to get some of those kits built.  Enjoy.

[Gary Chastain]

Welcome aboard, had to laugh at the oven story because I did something similar in my youth. Painted a model on a box in my bedroom on the carpet. When I picked up the box there was a perfect outline of the box on the carpet. 

[happy grumpy]

Welcome to the forum Tim.

[slusher]

Welcome aboard the Forum,, Tim!

[SpikeSchumacher]

Welcome, Tim!