Jim and Tim been posting on what's going on so figured I would keep the Island spirit going. Gonna be a sunny day today so getting itchy fingers to get out on the road. Soon I hope. Friend was out yesterday in his 62 Nova Blower car, yup kinda crazy but his alway the first one out. Going for something slightly different this year, only half done so won't say anything yet, just a production picture.
Ive always liked the looks of the old mopar dashes, some of the most interesting made, but this one from the E model F car family is quite a piece, including the push button transmission in the wheel.
63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Truck really starting to take shape, looks great Jim!
Tim, excellent job on the grill. She's got a face again, looking good.
All I'm playing with is is 2x4 and water pipes....
2x4's and pipes...sorry... u got the wrong site......
And to make matters worse, My Dad took over the shop this weekend to put together a small blue F motor....for his new Meteor project which will invade my shop next week. Oh well quality time with Dad, at least when I'm, not playing with 2x4's and pipes out at the farm....
I decided to build a model this winter. It's been a lot of years since I built one. I picked up this Tamiya 1/35 scale Jeep a couple of months ago. The quality of this kit was very good. It came molded in light tan. I finally used the airbrush and compressor I bought about 8 years ago. I enjoyed the build and am going to pick up another Tamiya kit to build. These were 1/3 the price of a 1/25 car and aren't a quick build. The detail was excellent. That driver was 7 pieces for example. All that's left to do is a bit of weathering and melt a bit of the sprue to make an antenna whip.
Wow, Im impressed! Its been decades since Ive done a model kit and decided to try one they dont make a 1969 Pontiac 2+2 convertible. Looking for all the parts is the fun part! Eventually Ill get there. Again, very nice job, Todd!
-- Edited by gtodrive on Monday 20th of March 2023 03:46:43 PM
I'm thinking maybe somebody should start a CP model building thread?
BTW, the model building world has become more interesting these days. Round 2, the company that now owns the old AMT and MPC brands, has recently started to use digital technology to remake some of their old kits. In some cases where old moulds were missing or damaged, they have found pristine examples of their old kits and dealer promos and used digital scanning technology to recreate new moulds, often with improvements that make them better than before (like separate clear headlight lenses vs the old chromed headlights, etc.). Recent reissues include '64 Cutlass convertible/442 hardtop, '63 Nova wagon, etc.
They also apparently found 2 mint condition GTO promos, a '65 hardtop and a '68 hardtop, in the bottom of some box on their site, and have recreated those as new model kits. The '68 has just been released, and the '65 is coming. Also there have been some non-GM items like the '68 Coronet R/T convertible (with a hardtop coming later), and there will also be a '60 Ford pickup done that way in the future. It's very cool to see the old stuff coming back like that. Some of them had become very scarce as only original issues were made, and collector prices had gone through the roof, to the tune of several hundred dollars in some cases.
Agreed Mark. There are a lot of great kits. The little hobby shop in Stratford PE has a great supply but man the prices! Some of these 1/25 cars are $65-$100! I saw quite a few I wanted but couldn't justify the cost. I may bite the bullet as I have the bug again. Too bad someone wouldn't embrace a Canadian Model lineup and release all of the cool Canada only cars we had- from all the automakers.
I'm tryimg to get the siding on my garage. It's not a hard job, if it were not for the cold temps and the mounds of snow occupying the locations where I want to erect the scaffolding.
As to the modelling hobby, I have collected plastics since I was 10. But it has been at least 30 years since I built one and I don't have the time (and/or maybe the patience). Plus I won't buy the current kits at $50-$100.
I've diverted my interest to 1/18 diecast cars. The quality is excellent and all I have to so with those is put them in a cabinet. A great way to collect Mopars when you can't manage to get the real thing.
Had 1 of those fans back in the 90's. Might want to pick another...went flat as a sheet of paper. How'd it cool for you? Think they were also the ones that would break off and project through your hood....
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Friday 24th of March 2023 02:03:22 AM
Had 1 of those fans back in the 90's. Might want to pick another...went flat as a sheet of paper. How'd it cool for you? Think they were also the ones that would break off and project through your hood....
-- Edited by hawkeye5766 on Friday 24th of March 2023 02:03:22 AM
I'm thinking maybe somebody should start a CP model building thread?
BTW, the model building world has become more interesting these days. Round 2, the company that now owns the old AMT and MPC brands, has recently started to use digital technology to remake some of their old kits. In some cases where old moulds were missing or damaged, they have found pristine examples of their old kits and dealer promos and used digital scanning technology to recreate new moulds, often with improvements that make them better than before (like separate clear headlight lenses vs the old chromed headlights, etc.). Recent reissues include '64 Cutlass convertible/442 hardtop, '63 Nova wagon, etc.
They also apparently found 2 mint condition GTO promos, a '65 hardtop and a '68 hardtop, in the bottom of some box on their site, and have recreated those as new model kits. The '68 has just been released, and the '65 is coming. Also there have been some non-GM items like the '68 Coronet R/T convertible (with a hardtop coming later), and there will also be a '60 Ford pickup done that way in the future. It's very cool to see the old stuff coming back like that. Some of them had become very scarce as only original issues were made, and collector prices had gone through the roof, to the tune of several hundred dollars in some cases.
It does seem like perhaps a revival of modelling may be underway if Round 1 is putting these models on the market. But I wonder who is going to buy them? I'm sure we are all seeing the reduction in value for certain formerly high demand, costly cars and parts that now see reduced demand due to demographic changes wherein those that wanted this stuff are now aging out of the various hobbies, and/or the supply has either dried up or found long term homes. I assume there will be some residual demand for plastics, but I wonder if there will be enough to sustain that business.
One would have to think that with all the electronic scanning tools to develop new models and overseas plants for production it likely costs less to produce these models than in the 60s'-90's yet they cost 4x more. Maybe I'm wrong. It's just hard to justify $45-100 for a model car. The associated supplies are expensive too. Back in the 80's I could buy a jar of Tamiya acrylic paint and I'd have enough to do 2-3 models. The Olive drab I bought was just enough to paint this Jeep and that is a smaller 1/35 scale model. Price was no less than the larger jars were.
Rather than reply to each post about model kits above, here are my general thoughts on the matter:
- Kit cost. Yes, I agree that model kits have become more expensive recently, and I'm not happy about it. That said, most everything has gone up in price due to inflation, and model cars is one of those, unfortunately. In my opinion, if you keep it in perspective, a $65 model kit is still just a drop in the bucket compared to the car hobby with $15,000 basket case project cars, $50,000+ finished cars, $10,000 paint jobs (or whatever they cost now), etc. Other hobbies can be expensive as well, so IMHO, it really depends upon what you want to do, and what's worth it to you.
- Model kit market. I suppose the demographic has always been shifting, as younger people these days seem to be more interested in gaming or other activities that don't involve building something with their hands. Surely the model car market must be shrinking, which is perhaps why they are putting forth efforts to bring more interesting kits to the diehard hobbyists. Perhaps it's part of the reason in the cost of kits increasing as well - supply and demand, etc.
As far as the real car market shrinking and prices going down... I'm not sure that is happening? It seems to me that I've seen prices double or triple since the start of Covid. Good deals pop up on the internet from time to time, but they disappear quickly (and sometimes reappear at higher prices). I kind of gave up on the car hobby once prices shot up, so if they have started to come down I may not have noticed...
- Canadian kit subjects. If the size of the buying market is decreasing, there is probably zero hope of Canadian cars being modelled by the major companies. That said, a lot of 'cottage industry' people are using digital printing capabilities to produce models of cars that would never be touched by the major companies (example: "Too Many Projects" model cars). They can be quite expensive, as there is a lot of work in converting a digital file into a buildable model car (apparently it can be quite time-intensive), and the total unit production is small. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody out there is producing models of Canadian cars, though, but I haven't seen any yet.
- In the end, it's just a hobby, and like other hobbies there are probably cheaper ways to do it (like scan your second hand shops, yard/garage sales, etc. to see if cheap kits can be found)... but really it's a personal decision one has to make. There's no "wrong" answer, it's just knowing what the costs are and deciding whether it's worth it to you.
It's all about fun, enjoyment and relaxation, and it's a personal decision on which hobby you choose to achieve this with. Or maybe no hobby is required (for example taking daily walks on the beach or listening to your favourite music might also create those feelings but will be much less expensive).
