Faust

When it comes to armour, I prefer the smaller scale stuff. However, I assumed that meant 1/72 or 1/76! A few years ago, I ran across a two-pack of 1/144 tanks from Dragon. They reminded me of Micro Machines, and I thought they looked fun, so I bought them on impulse. I’ve been picking them up ever since, whenever I encounter them! Since there are no model shows this year (thanks, Covid…), and the Canada/US border is closed (in Ontario, at least), there’s no real chance to get “hauls” at shows or hobby shop runs. However, I decided to create a “pseudo haul” by getting all my 1/144 tank kits together. They’re actually pretty cool! Check them out at the link below, and vote for which one you like best! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/dragon-1-144-panzer-korps-collection/

Well, to be honest Bill, let's face it; it would be two people going kinda fast-ish, or four people going slower. Those late '70s and early '80s Vettes weren't "Warp 9"-capable or anything like that. They were, like everything else, just boulevard cruisers. Of course, the America IS the boulevard, but that's besides the point, right? And yes... Chevy seems to be a good answer, or at least good enough for government work! WHAT?? Models in Kroger's? That's awesome! I remember them in the department stores like Woolco, Zellers and K-Mart, but I don't recall them in grocery stores. Heck yeah!

Yeah, I think I've seen where CCC made something like 6, or maybe 8, of the Americas. I think 4 or so are left alive now. I just can't get over how long it is. I mean, a Panamera does the same thing (just as sexily) but with less ridiculous length! I can't see any reason to go the route they did, other than wanting the T-roof thing, and that's a silly reason, if you ask me!

If you believe that too much is never enough, then you can probably understand what GM was thinking when they let California Custom Coach create what is perhaps the most excessive Corvette of all time, the four-door Corvette America! The idea was to create a four-door, four-seater Corvette that would, uh, well, I don’t know what. It would be long, and expensive, and not really compete with any other sporty car since it was slow. Does that work? Beacause I love the losers, the odd and forgotten, I clearly have a super-big love of this weirdo. I mean, it’s a FOUR-DOOR Corvette!!! How much more forgotten loser does it get than that??? I consider it a miracle that Monogram got suckered into making a kit of this thing, and I consider it an even bigger miracle that I was able to snag one for like, $10 still sealed a couple of years ago. Of course, I could have just sold it, but I really do like the Corvette America, and that means I had to pop it out of the box and revel in all the late ‘70s bad ideas I could handle. Lucky for you guys, I also decided to share it! (That makes you lucky, right?) Check out this completely bonkers Vette at the link below, and remember: it was the ‘70s. If that’s not an excuse, it’s at least an explanation! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/monogram-1-24-1980-corvette-america-oob/

I was really excited to get that Tamiya Sierra, and was really intrigued to see how a Japanese kit’s engine went together. So, it should come as no surprise that I ripped into the kit pretty hard and fast once I got into it. The pressures of work may slow me down some after this, but I was able to make some good headway on the Sierra, and wanted to share it. The engine is nice, and the chassis on this thing is even nicer! It’s like a smaller version of my G8’s chassis (I’ve been under that car enough times to know) in a lot of ways. This was one kit where what you don’t see is sadly likely going to be one of the best parts! Check it out so far, and let me know what you think! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/sierra-update-1-all-things-go/

See, I think they're hot-looking. The didn't sell worth beans though, no. I've not seen one on the roads since about 1990.

Yeah, that's a great way to put it... they're like Grilled Cheese sandwiches. They're not what you feed your inlaws when you're trying to impress, but they're great for just kickin' back. I seriously am tired of some of the lame-arsed box art we're getting lately. Fix this stuff up, and let's have some action, grit and excitement back!

Let’s face it. Most of the cars in the early 1980s were pretty sad. Hey were either little econobeaters or gutless throwbacks to a better time, simply shambling sadly to their graves and awaiting replacement by smaller, less interesting cars. This is what I was surrounded with when I was growing up; the last messy bit of the Automotive Dark Ages. However, there are a few cars from the mid-‘80s that were pretty cool, and some that were actually innovative in terms of both styling and execution. So many cars wanted to pretend to be European, but most just assumed being small and ugly was enough. There was an interesting exception, though, and that was Ford’s Sierra XR4i. In North America, we got it with a Ford Turbo 4, as the Merkur XR4Ti. However, in Europe, it was just an XR4i, but it got a 6 cylinder. This was a two-door, rear drive sports sedan, and it ACTUALLY was European. With aero styling and a double wing at the back, it was pretty futuristic looking, and I’ve always loved them. Trying to find a kit of one, though… that’s another matter altogether! Thanks to my brother, though, I finally managed to get my mitts on one of the rarer Tamiya kits – the XR4i Sierra in it’s non-racing guise! Check it out at the link below – this is one I can’t wait to get to! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/tamiya-1-24-ford-sierra-xr4i-out-of-box/

There are kits we all want because we think they’re amazing from an engineering standpoint. You know the kind, they’re big, impressive and the box is packed so full of styrene that you can’t even figure out how to get it all back in there. Sometimes, it’s a subject we’ve always wanted, sometimes, it’s just because we can’t resist the lure of something so impressive. There are lots of kits like that. However, I’m sure most of us also have kits that we’ve wanted just because they look fun. Maybe they’re funky, or different, or classic; there can be a million reasons why a specific kit just “calls to you”. For me, one of those kinds of kits is old-school Matchbox LRDG. This Orange Range armour kit always just looked “fun” to me. Lots of “stuff” like Gerry cans, bags, boxes and the like, lots of machine guns, and a cool, almost “Mad Max” survival vibe, really sold me on it. Sure, it’s 40 years old, but so what? Thankfully, through the kindness of a friend (Thanks Alan!) I was able to finally get my hands on one, and it’s an old Matchbox, not Revell reissue! I’m really pumped to build this one, and will be starting it very shortly. Check out this classic take on the famous Long Range Desert Group of WWII fame at the link below. Get ready, because there’s always all kinds of awesome in a Matchbox armour kit! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/matchbox-1-76-lrdg-oob/

Just knowing what’s going on in a battle can make the difference between victory and defeat, literally life or death. Because of that, finding out what the enemy is up to, and making sure you apply your resources in the best way possible, has always been an important part of warfare. With the maturation of aircraft as viable spotting and recon platforms during the 20th century, the art of battlefield recon rose (sometimes literally) to new heights. However, not every important machine was a high-tech wonder, festooned with cameras and other sensors. Some were more workaday planes; tough, rugged front-line spotters that would fly out over the battlefield and report directly. One of the less-famous of these kinds of planes is the Henschel Hs-126. With long, fixed undercarriage and a surprisingly bulky-looking fuselage hanging under a rarely-seen-in-frontline-planes parasol wing, the -126 was really not a beauty queen. However, it did its job well. I’m quite a fan of odd and lesser-known aircraft, so I was very happy to get my hands on one of the original Matchbox kits of this particular bird! Check out the out of box review below – maybe you’ll want one of your own?! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-hs-126-out-of-box/

No, I'm not a truck guy either. But a customized minitruck from the '70s WITH crazy UFO decals is pretty cool. Add to that they all have rusted away long ago (well, most of them at least) and it's an everyday loser car as well! I can't resist that! 🙂

Sometimes, it’s fun to go a little wild and crazy. Real car owners have been doing it for ages, and model kit companies were generally not too far behind when it came to customizing trends. When something became cool on the street, it was typical for the model companies to start producing kits in the same vein, whether that meant modifying existing kits or just issuing new ones that were already customized or could be. A perfect example of this was the mini-truck customization phase that was big in the mid-‘70s and lasted until the early ‘80s. The vannin’ craze and the show rod world spilled over and merged on the light trucks of the era, resulting in the Street Truck, a customized micro-van more for cruisin’ than bruisin’. Well, now that everything retro is cool, Revell as dug deep into the Monogram side of things and brought one such road warrior back to life. This thing is wild and better than ever, thanks to new decals! Check out the new repop of the Monogram Chevy LUV Street Pickup at the link below. https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/monogram-1-24-chevy-luv-street-pickup-oob/

Wow, they have these at Hobby Town? Sadly, here in Canada, we don't have any big Hobby Store chains, just small shops. Good in a way, bad in a way. From what I've seen, I'd say get this kit if you want to - it looks pretty epic!

If there’s one thing I have a lot of, it’s robots. I grew up in the ‘80s, when Transformers, Voltron and Robotech were the big things. I glommed onto those and never let go. As I got older, and discovered Gundam and the other great mech animes, I was astounded at the number of awesome robots that were available as model kits! Since then, I’ve amassed quite a number of mech kits, and I generally love them all about the same. However, when Flame Toys brought out their “Furai” model kit line, which are models of some of their third-party Transformer designs, there was one that blew me away. That one was the Autobot Drift, a design that melded the best of Transformers with the best of more “traditional” Mobile Suit design. I wanted one, but couldn’t find a lot online about how the kit was as a model. Regardless, I was ecstatic to be able to get one, and now we can all see how this new type of mech kit measures up to his competition. Check him out at the link below! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/flame-toys-furai-model-drift-out-of-box/

Spring has sprung, and that means that it’s wet, muddy and generally kinda crappy weather-wise. Add in all the craziness that’s going on in the world, and it might be enough to make you pull the covers back over your head and just wait for better times. However, there’s nothing to brighten a dull day like some good old-school MPC craziness!! In order to brighten everyone’s spririts, and to thank everyone for helping my little site get to 300,000 views, I thought something different should be done over at the Sprue Lagoon. Thus, I decided to put my four MPC Monzas head-to-head and see just how similar, or different, they are! So, if you want a trip back in time to a more badge-engineered, parts-reusing, mix-and-match era, where bad customs and crazy decals were the norm, then strap in and check out the link below! H-Body shenanigans a-plenty await! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/mpc-monza-parts-comparison/