BSAC NEWS March 2002 Volume 20, Number 3 ************************************************* IN THIS ISSUE President’s Message Last Meeting’s Minutes BSAC Website Kit Reviews Editor’s Comments 2002 Themes Plastic Tires and no Chrome Coming Events Classified ************************************************* PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE From the Desk Of the President, (Why are all the drawers glued shut?) It's been a hectic month for me. We have gotten ALOT busier at work and there has been many things going on in town to keep me busy on the weekends. I hope that some stuff will calm down soon, so I can get some models done. (But as we all know, spring is approaching, and that brings about all those things that need to be done "outside"!) There are a few points I'd like to make this month. As I was walking around at the IPMS show at Capital U. I noticed an abundance of automobile models on display. Why aren't these people in our club? Where do they hide? Do they live in town? Do they know that the Buckeye Scale Auto Club exists? Which brings me to my first observation. I don't think we 'advertise' our club enough. I think that we all need to make an effort to promote our club and get attendance up. I am going to get together some flyers and some business cards to drop off at the hobby stores. I'll bring some rough drafts to the meeting and get some opinions/ ideas from you guys on what else we could do. I remember when club attendance was around 35- 40. We're lucky to get a dozen people to show up now. I understand that a lot of people have family and work obligations. Which brings me to my next thought. Maybe Thursday night isn't the most convenient time to have our meetings. I'll open the floor to discussions on this one because this would be a major change that would require everyone's support. I know that the local IPMS meetings are the second (or third?) Sunday of each month @ 6:00pm. Just give it some thought. Thirdly, I'd like to discuss changing our meeting location again. I know that it was brought up before, and nothing became of it. I remember when we met at Iacono's, and we had a great time. You could get a drink or a pizza, and you could bring your family out for a nice night "on the town". If we start getting more people to attend, we will need a bigger place to meet. I will get some information on a lead that I have on a new meeting place, and we can discuss it further at the meeting. Also at the next meeting, we will need to discuss how and when to get our same kit night vehicles. Bob has mentioned that we should get our order together soon for Hobby Heaven, if we go that route. There also has been talk of obtaining them from LS in Lancaster. We'll need to decide at the meeting. One other thing. If you haven't all ready done so, P A Y Y O U R D U E S ! ! This is the most important thing you can do to keep our club running! That's all I have for now. Until next time, some words of advice, as seen in a Japanese Kit's instructions; " Small plastic bits can cause suffocation if swallowed, and may cause poisoning if licked or chewed." President Mike ************************************************* LAST MEETING'S MINUTES Chief Honcho, Mike Newport opened the February 7, 2002 meeting promptly and 8:00 pm (sort of). A discussion of the Same Kit Night took place, and the choice of AMT 58 Plymouth was finalized. Gary Omen was given the floor. Gary mentioned that he has been contacted by several would be participants of the Goodguys upcoming 2002 show. Gary has apparently been listed as the Columbus area contact for the show, not just for the model contest/show. It was suggested that Gary refer future contacts to the Goodguys website for information. There was no other new business or old business. Winner of the monthly theme, Wagons and Woodies, was Bob Mako’s ’56 Ford station wagon. (Photo of station wagons) Winner of the Miscellaneous, Favorite Car award was Gary Omen’s 67 GTO, complete with 6 cyl DOHC. This was a replica of a car that Gary had owned at one time. (Photo of Omen’s GTO) Back by popular demand, the 50/50 raffle was won by Tim Fox, who took home about a bazillion $$$. And that concluded the February meeting. ************************************************* 2002 OFFICERS President: Mike Newport President-Elect: Tom Dillion II Treasurer: Carl Rees Secretary-Editor: Bob Mako ************************************************* BSAC WEBSITE http://bsac.topcities.com/ Okay, okay, I know it’s been a while, and I seriously apologize for not relaying improvements performed on our website or the finding of incredibly interesting car / model related websites to you. Hopefully, this year I will keep on the straight and narrow and keep you informed. Recently, I went through our website and performed minor improvements, many of which wouldn’t be noticed. The major items to tackle were this year’s Schedule and the Favorite Links page. The Schedule page has been updated to what was printed in the January newsletter. The Favorite Links page took considerable work. Many of the links no longer worked or have new addresses. Before deleting a link I would do a web search. If I found the website, the link was updated. If I didn’t find the website, the link was removed. Many of the websites that have been removed were photo websites that were located at Photopoint. They started charging for the space on their server and apparently, everyone has said no to paying for the space and have moved their photos somewhere else. Three new links have been added to the Favorite Links page. The links were supplied by Mike Lomaka Jr., Carl Rees and Mike Newport. Mike Lomaka Jr. supplied links to his photo pages at Webshots at http://community.webshots.com/album/18952200IIQzYlmhCv. Carl supplied a really neat link to a website that includes only station wagons at http://www.stationwagon.com. And, Mike Newport supplied a link to Arrowhead Aluminum Accessories at http://www.arrowheadaluminum.homestead.com/CustomWheels.html. Their products include wheels, engine pulleys, brake sets, hubcaps, etc. Check these websites out. For those of you that still cruise the internet and happen upon unique websites that you think the membership would enjoy viewing, please pass their links on to me so I can add them to our Favorite Links page. Thanks… Tom ************************************************* KIT REVIEWS We have no “official” kit reviews for this month, so I will briefly describe some of the new kits out (at least the ones I’m familiar with). AMT appears to be re-issuing a good selection of their oldies. On the shelf at this time are the ’57 Ford Fairlane, ’36 Ford, ’64 Cobra (Buyers Choice), ’66 Mustang, ’67 Mustang, and ’68 Roadrunner (stock and pro-street versions). New kits include the Ala Kart and ’58 Plymouth. Polar Lights has issued a new kit of the Petty NASCAR 74 Charger. I have purchased the ’58 Plymouth, Ala Kart, Cobra and Petty kits (and I had been so good!) and I can say that I do like these kits. The Plymouth is comparable in detail and quality to the Chrysler 300 kit and should build into a nice replica should you go that route. I have also tried some of the components under an original issue JoHan ’59 Dodge body and this looks like a natural kit bash. The chassis appears to fit with minimum alteration and would be a good start for detailing a ’59 Dodge (which are supposed to be available again soon). There has been some discussion on the Hobby Heaven website about incorrect interior pattern and “crooked” molding but I can’t comment on the accuracy of those statements. Only that I have research pics of 1:1 Plymouths that show crooked trim pieces. There is a reason we don’t see too many of these cars anymore – quality was terrible! So crooked trim was probably the least problem encountered on the real vehicles. I like the Ala Kart kit also. Again, questions as to the accuracy of the kit components, specifically the engine and grill/hood shape and the decals, have been raised elsewhere. There is a very good article in the current issue of Model Cars magazine that could provide more insight as to the “problems” with this kit. I like the kit because I had built several back when I had to stand on my toes to open a paint can and always enjoyed the model. It is good to have a model of this car back. Parts fit and quality seem to be good and from what I can tell, this should build into a nice replica of the Ala Kart. Also, I can foresee these parts as fodder for rods of all types. Having the Cobra kit back is great, if you like Cobras. This has always been one of AMT’s better kits. Unfortunately, this kit only includes parts for a stock version, except for the wide Goodyear Polyglass tires that are included. And these tires are showing their age, with very soft detail. It would have been nice to see the racing parts and the fastback top included in this kit, especially since it is a “Buyers Choice” kit. And speaking of Model Cars magazine, there is an excellent pictorial on the history of the Cobra. Gary McNutt has built a collection of significant Cobras and the article provides some info on these cars. Also, for us Cobra Daytona fans, there is a detail article on the car that gave the US and Ford its first (and only?) World Manufacturers Championship in 1965. I had not purchased any of the Polar Lights kits yet, mostly because of the bad reviews given on some of them, though Mark Harmon’s ‘Cuda funny car looked great. From what I can discern of the Petty Charger kit, the body appears to be a little soft on the detail and the shape is little different from the MPC version I have. I don’t know which is more correct because they both look similar to the pics I have of the 1:1 car. The chassis and running gear of the PL kit appears to be the kit’s strong point and should find its way under any number of vintage NASCAR models. Engine detail is a bit weak, but from what I’ve read this may be the case on many of the PL kits. I guess the bottom line here is, if you like the subject matter, these are all decent kits, with a few tweaks here and there that could make them a little more accurate. Since I rarely nit-pick a kit to death, I don’t see these as quite the problems that other reviewers might. Bob Mako ************************************************* EDITOR'S NOTE I hate to bring up the money thing, especially since Mike mentioned it in his message, but I need to say that this will be your last newsletter if you haven’t paid your dues yet. For $1.666666 a month, you get a pretty good newsletter (compared to many club newsletters), a model kit. and a pretty decent Christmas party at the end of the year. And I haven’t even mentioned the great camraderie we enjoy every month. Not a bad value! Ok, I’ll leave the rest of the money stuff to Carl Extra theme for March will be the old standby…..Green Cars!!!! You all just knew that was coming , right? Of course, any and all models are welcome. It should be interesting to see how many of us have models of the cars we drove in high school. In another note, let’s all give a rousing round of applause for the return of our prodigal member, Frank (is there a color other than red?) Belcastro!!!! He had heard that the club voted him President elect in his absence a few years ago so he came back to finally serve his unexpired term, though we will have to check the constitution to see if the statute of limitations has run out. ************************************************* 2002 THEMES Mar - Cars you drove to high school (or wish you had!) Apr - Niners any vehicle year ending in 9) May - Class of 1960 Jun - Mercs and Dueces (Saw this one in an old Scale Auto Enthusiast) Jul - Goodguys Drivers Aug - Mopars Sep - Tri-powers Oct - Vintage Race Cars Nov - Same Kit Night Elections Selection of Themes for 2003 Dec - Christmas Party ************************************************* Plastic Tires and No Chrome by Gary Omen Growing up in Germany during the early `60's, I lived in a kind of "Model Builder's Purgatory". This period is now known as car modeling's "Golden Age" by those of us who lived through it. For me (and others like me), it was more like brass - as in close, but no cigar. We were able to get all of the latest magazines like Car Model and Model Car Science on the local racks but we weren't able to feast upon the array of new kits we saw in them. These were made by well-known companies like AMT, MPC, Revell and Monogram. If we were bitten by the car model building bug, our only source of gratification was the model shelf in the toy department of our local P.X. (Post Exchange). For some strange reason, the only manufacturers of model kits that they carried were Aurora and Lindberg - and nearly all the car kits were 1/32nd scale! As far as paint was concerned, all that we could get were those multi-packs of Testor's enamel in the little square bottles. Red, yellow, blue, green, brown, black, white, and silver; all gloss with a little bottle of thinner. Despite these limitations, we managed to get by, dreaming of the day when our father's tour of duty was up and we could get back home and get a hold of some REAL models! Yeah! So we built those little kits, every one we could get, and we made do with shiny black tires and hand-painted silver trim. Pretty soon, we had built nearly all the cars available and now and then we may even have built a few airplanes to fill the void. It was sad. Every now and then a model might show up in 1/25th scale (usually from (Lindberg) and this was generally cause for great rejoicing, as it was more like building a "Real" model car. These moments were few and far between. About now you're going to say, "What about ordering from someplace like Auto World, Dummy? All I can say about that would be that it would have taken good sense to do that, something we didn't have a lot of in those days. Also, back then the time lag between ordering and receiving was a little over a month, not good for fast relief. So we made do with what we had and I actually got to kind of like some of those oddball Lindberg kits. One of my favorites was called the "Four-Banger Dragster". Third was a little slingshot powered by a Model "A" four cylinder with an overhead-cam conversion! It was kinda detailed with wire front wheels (made from clear plastic) and open rear wheels with two-piece plastic slicks. It had separate radius rods front and rear and a roll bar, push bar, seat and steering wheel. Whenever one would show up I would get it because they were so strange and so easy to put together. Unfortunately, they were molded in a bright yellow plastic and no amount of brush paint would cover it. Today, I know of only 1 other four-cylinder dragster kit that was ever issued by any company; the "Attempt-I", by Revell. I could be wrong but I think that's it. It is still a nutty concept for a racecar and I've often wondered where the idea for it came from. Was there ever a real car like this? We'll probably never know. Every time I built one, I wondered what it would be like to build it with some REAL model parts, like black vinyl slicks, chrome parts and more decals than the little sheet of eight that came in the box. "BOY", I thought, as I would build another with plastic tires and no chrome, "What I couldn't do with this if I had some REAL model parts!" Eventually we did move back to the States and my Dad retired from the Army (after 35 years of service). As for me, I quickly got back into the world of REAL models again and didn't look back. I passed the time spent in "Purgatory" as just an unfortunate interlude, since I could now enjoy and build the REAL models I had been missing. I soon forgot about the days of plastic tires and no chrome. It's funny though, how things stay with you. Awhile back I wrote to the "Model King" to ask him if he had a "Four-Banger Dragster" kit for sale. It so happened that he did and I quickly ordered one to have a chance to look back at my past. When the model arrived, two things struck me right away. It was a lot simpler than I had remembered and the color of the plastic was a lot brighter. We're talking LEMON yellow here. I didn't build it right away, but put it on my workbench where I could see it and whenever I would come across a good part for it, like a matched set of slicks or a chrome "Moon" tank, I would stick it in the box. Pretty soon I had a nice little stash of parts and all I needed was the inspiration to get started on it. I knew that I wanted to make it into something very special, like I had dreamed about so many years before. Since I now had all of these additional skills that I've picked up over the years I knew it would have to be as detailed as I could take it. I just couldn't let it become just another model - it would have to be something rather special. It's taken some time and some serious parts chasing and kit bashing, but I think I've done it. Hey, some of the pieces on this thing are over 4O years old! Some of other ones are brand new. I don't think its "just another model" and it's really what I dreamed of doing-all those years ago. ************************************************** (Pic of Junker) I don't know if anyone in the club is aware of a small cache of late 30's to late 50's customs in the New Albany area so I thought that I'd pass this along. I was driving south on Harlem Rd when I happened to notice some old cars on a driveway. As I passed the house, between the tall brush on both sides of the driveway, were about 10-12 customs and street racers. They all seemed to be derelicts. Actually, they reminded me of a 1:1 version of my collection.(?!!?). I plan to go back to get a better look.....couldn't do it at the time. The location is on Harlem Rd abvout 1/4 mile north of E Walnut St. The easiest way to get there is to follow Rt 161 east to Lillte Turtle Way. Follow Old RT161 East about 3 miles to Harlem Rd. Turn left and follow Harlem north about 2 miles and you'll see them on the right (east) side of the road. I'm hoping that it wasn't some sort of junker rod run and they've all left for the next stop. Well, that's all for now. . . see you at the meeting. Rick Schneider ************************************************ COMING EVENTS... MARCH 2002 March 10 76th Toledo Collector’s Toy Fair Toledo, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. March 10 Fenders & Friends 8 hosted by Glass City Car Modelers Maumee, OH For info. send an SASE to: Glass City Car Modelers, 8247 Fawn Crest, Toledo, OH 43617; 1-419-382-1282 days; 1-419-841-0233 evenings until 9 pm March 23 16th Annual NNL East presented by Tri-State Scale Model Car Club Parsippany, NJ For info. send an LSASE to: Ken Walkley, 36 Lincoln St., Little Ferry, NJ 07643; 1-201-641-0344 after 6 pm. e-mail: TSSMCCKJW@aol.com; Please visit NNL East website at http://members.aol.com/nnleast2002/ APRIL 2002 April 13-14 Model Car & Toy Show Tiffin, OH For info. contact: Don Ziegler 1-419-983-5084; e-mail: fleamarket@tiffinohio.com April 20 Cincinnati Challenge 7 Model Car Contest, Gravity Drags & Swap Meet Cincinnati, OH For info. call Bob 1-513-858-6089 or e-mail Jace at BMITA8@aol.com April 21 12th Annual Butler Area Classic Plastic Model Contest & Show Butler, PA For info. contact: Daniel McEathron, 108 St. Mary St., Butler, PA 16001; 1-724-285-5720; e-mail: daniel@zbzoom.net April 28 71st Cleveland Toy Collectors’ Exposition Broadview Heights, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. MAY 2002 May 4 22nd Annual Swap Meet & Model Car Contest hosted by Hoosier Model Car Association Indianapolis, IN For info. send an SASE to: HMCA, 1019 N. Tuxedo St., Indianapolis, IN 46201 or call 1-317-264-9387 evenings and weekends. May 5 3rd Columbus Area Toy Collectors Expo Hilliard, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. JUNE 2002 June 7-9 14th Goodguys Hot Rod Nationals Indianapolis, IN For info. contact: Tom Nengester, 6309 Rover Valley Way, Indianapolis, IN 46221; 1-317-821-1110 or call Goodguys 1-925-838-9876; Please visit Goodguys http://www.good-guys.com/ June 9 Toledo Mini Toy Collectors’ Meet Toledo, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. JULY 2002 July 12-14 5th Goodguys PPG Nationals Columbus, OH For info. call Carl Rees 1-800-458-0975 or Goodguys 1-925-838-9876; Please visit Goodguys http://www.good-guys.com/ July 14 77th Toledo Collectors’ Toy Fair Toledo, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. AUGUST 2002 August 11 72nd Cleveland Toy Collectors’ Exposition Broadview Heights, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. SEPTEMBER 2002 September 22 4th Columbus Area Toy Collectors Expo Hilliard, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. OCTOBER 2002 October 13 78th Toledo Collector’s Toy Fair Toledo, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. NOVEMBER 2002 November 3 4th Pittsburgh Area Model Car, Diecast, & Kit Collectors' Meet Butler, PA For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. November 24 73rd Cleveland Toy Collectors’ Exposition Broadview Heights, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. DECEMBER 2002 TOLEDO, OH - December 8 (Sun) 13th Ohio X-mas Toy Collectors' Meet Toledo, OH For info. contact: John Carlisle, Old Toyland Shows, PO Box 1007, Lockport, NY 14095-1007. *************************************************** Classifieds Longtime BSAC member, Danny Thomas, is making a comeback in modeling. However, he needs some help in finding some parts. He needs several sets of Mopar Super Stock bucket seats, 4 hood scoops for ’65 Hemi cars, 4 hood scoops for 67 Hemi cars; 4 backwindows for the Lindberg Dodge 330; 65 Cuda front and rear bumpers and taillights, grill and grill insert; 4 64 Dodge and 64 Plymouth SS front grills; 65 Mustang teardrop hood; 4 65 Dodge SS grills; 4 63 Plymouth rear bumpers and taillights; an AMT 53 Studebaker kit and a Johan 58 Dodge. If anyone can help him out, contact Mike Clements at 268 – 2467. ************************************************** SPONSORS: (Picture of Hobbyland logo) Hobby Heaven ************************************************* BSAC News is published monthly for members and associate members of the Buckeye Scale Auto Club. Reprinting any part of this publication is allowable, provided credit is given to the author and it is stated the article was originally printed in the BSAC News. The opinions expressed within are the opinions of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Buckeye Scale Auto Club or any other member of the club. Membership in the Buckeye Scale Auto Club is $20.00 per year for those able to attend monthly meetings on a regular basis; Associate membership is $15.00 for those unable to attend meetings on a regular basis; Junior membership, for ages 16 and under, is $10.00 per year with adult sponsorship. Articles will be accepted for publication through the U.S. mail: BSAC News, c/o Bob Mako, 1721 Fallhaven Drive, W. Worthington, OH 43235 or through E-mail to: jbmako@core.com or to bsaclub@hotmail.com. *************************************************