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What did you get today? (Model Car Related Items)


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Flea market day!  A few model kits were lurking there but none I wanted.  Mostly aircraft kits, but a few of the usual NASCAR kits that seem to be there every week.

I did find an on-topic book: "The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher: Creator of the Indy 500, Miami Beach & The Lincoln Highway"  by Jerry M. Fisher.

Looks like an interesting read, written by Carl Fisher's last living relative. Fisher was a self-made entrepreneur in several fields.  While developing Miami Beach, he crossed paths with another developer down there - Al Capone. 

Fisher also became an early civil rights advocate. When one of his African-American workers fell into a vat of boiling tar, Fisher drove the man to a hospital in his personal car. The hospital informed Fisher that it wouldn't treat "his kind." En route to another hospital, the man died.  Fisher was outraged and spent the rest of his life fighting for equal rights for all Americans.

The seller of the book cracked me up.  I asked, "How much do you want for this book?"  He said, "I want twenty dollars. But I'll take two."

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35 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

Flea market day!  A few model kits were lurking there but none I wanted.  Mostly aircraft kits, but a few of the usual NASCAR kits that seem to be there every week.

I did find an on-topic book: "The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher: Creator of the Indy 500, Miami Beach & The Lincoln Highway"  by Jerry M. Fisher.

Looks like an interesting read, written by Carl Fisher's last living relative. Fisher was a self-made entrepreneur in several fields.  While developing Miami Beach, he crossed paths with another developer down there - Al Capone. 

Fisher also became an early civil rights advocate. When one of his African-American workers fell into a vat of boiling tar, Fisher drove the man to a hospital in his personal car. The hospital informed Fisher that it wouldn't treat "his kind." En route to another hospital, the man died.  Fisher was outraged and spent the rest of his life fighting for equal rights for all Americans.

The seller of the book cracked me up.  I asked, "How much do you want for this book?"  He said, "I want twenty dollars. But I'll take two."

I've heard of this guy.. I think I might be distantly related as he has the same last name and grew up very close to my great grandfather.  At least it would be cool if we were :)  Wish I would have known about him when I lived in Indiana as a kid and went to the 500 every year.  Also wish I would have known about him when I was a young man and worked on a RCCL cruise ship out of Miami.  We sailed by Fisher Island twice a week and I always wondered about it.  Thanks for posting this as I didn't know there was a book.

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3 hours ago, ewetwo said:

Just picked up this 1957 Chevy ProShop kit. Also bottles of Testors flat gray and gloss wood paints along with a Testors red gloss paint pen. 

image1.jpeg

If you would, try and post up your opinion of that kit. I've got 5 (I think) of the ProShop kits and have one on my bench right now. I'm on hold waiting for an order of paint I put in a few days ago. I've got the '57 Chrysler on my bench. It kind of surprised me with the level of detail and crispness of parts. I almost pulled the trigger on the '57 Chevy just a few days ago. I'd really like to know what you think of it.

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5 hours ago, ewetwo said:

Just picked up this 1957 Chevy ProShop kit. Also bottles of Testors flat gray and gloss wood paints along with a Testors red gloss paint pen. 

image1.jpeg

I loved these pre-painted ProShop kits. I bought and built several. I wish they would have continued on with the series.

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48 minutes ago, unclescott58 said:

I loved these pre-painted ProShop kits. I bought and built several. I wish they would have continued on with the series.

I have the green Duster I need to build one of these days. I also bought several prepainted Phantom Vics just for parts and kitbashing when the K&B Toys closed them out cheap. 

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49 minutes ago, unclescott58 said:

I loved these pre-painted ProShop kits. I bought and built several. I wish they would have continued on with the series.

Me too because I don’t have the steady hand I did when I was young. :)  I have two models i’m Working on and have repainted sections because of trying to paint the silver trim. Ugh!

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2 hours ago, smhardesty said:

If you would, try and post up your opinion of that kit. I've got 5 (I think) of the ProShop kits and have one on my bench right now. I'm on hold waiting for an order of paint I put in a few days ago. I've got the '57 Chrysler on my bench. It kind of surprised me with the level of detail and crispness of parts. I almost pulled the trigger on the '57 Chevy just a few days ago. I'd really like to know what you think of it.

I will post but I’m not a pro builder. That’s why I love these kit. I bought a second Edsel at an estate sale to rebuild even though I already have one built. Odd thing with the one a bought is whoever built it. Used some kind of glue that was like a stretchy glue. Don’t know what they used. Most of the Edsel parts either just fell apart or had that streatchy glue. Elmers maybe?

Edited by ewetwo
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11 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I have the green Duster I need to build one of these days. I also bought several prepainted Phantom Vics just for parts and kitbashing when the K&B Toys closed them out cheap. 

Yes Snake. I love these kits because i’m Fairly good with glueing. But Silver trim? Not so much. Lol

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Just now, ChrisBcritter said:

I have the '62 Catalina in metallic green; I two-toned the roof in a darker green and had it clear-coated (thanks Tom P.!) since the AMT green isn't very glossy.

I have the green and maroon 62’s. I’ll be doing them soon.:)

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In a fit of temporary insanity, I started building a ProShop '78 Trans Am as a junker.  (Will finish one day, honest!)  I have the black one with gold striping and accents, and it's very well done.  I wanted the paint and striping to look weathered, not just painted over with Dullcote.  The answer turned out to be a Scotch-Brite pad, one of those things you scrub dishes with.  It was coarse enough to flatten and scratch the paint, but didn't sand off the gold striping and other decals. Except where I wanted it to, by bearing down and sanding harder.

Also wanted real open grilles, which is one of the weak points of that kit IMO.  The answer to that was some brass mesh that I found in a hobby shop long ago.

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1 minute ago, Mike999 said:

In a fit of temporary insanity, I started building a ProShop '78 Trans Am as a junker.  (Will finish one day, honest!)  I have the black one with gold striping and accents, and it's very well done.  I wanted the paint and striping to look weathered, not just painted over with Dullcote.  The answer turned out to be a Scotch-Brite pad, one of those things you scrub dishes with.  It was coarse enough to flatten and scratch the paint, but didn't sand off the gold striping and other decals. Except where I wanted it to, by bearing down and sanding harder.

Also wanted real open grilles, which is one of the weak points of that kit IMO.  The answer to that was some brass mesh that I found in a hobby shop long ago.

I’ve used the scotch bright pads after soaking models that needed purple power. Helps clean off the old paint but the body ended up being pretty well set afterwards for primer. 

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3 minutes ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Nice! How's the gloss on yours? (Answering ewetwo)

I haven’t taken it out of the package yet but looks so so. It will need some help as they’ve been around for a while. Paint ages and I’m sure the company wasn’t concerned about that. The Proshop Edsel has the best paint so far for me. But I have two Proshop Chryslers and will have to check them out.

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