Brothers--after reviewing your input and having some gems fired at me by Rob and Gunnie, my dream model would be a Duplex Drive Sherman Tank like those used for the invasion of Normandy. Awesome!
DJ

I think it would be a nightmare to scratch build and if a manufacturer made it, the skirt would probably be made of styrene. Maybe if someone made it and used the model sailing ships sail material? I agree it would look awesome.

Rob--where have you been all day? Working? A diorama with DD Shermans would cause the heart to flutter.
DJ

Bought the wife a new microwave at the BX, ran some errands, downloading IE 6.0 right now. I'll work on the Tiger I in a little bit. Sorting through the Aber PE set. You would not believe the quality of the cables, it looks like they took an actual tow cable and shrunk it down to 1/16 scale. Looks like it would pull a small car too. Instruction manual for the PE is a 54 page spiral bound manual. This is a dream detail set, includes a small block of wood for a chock block, hinges, pins and a ton of PE parts.

DJ - Resicast makes a resin version of the Sherman DD Mk.I. On Brookhurst Hobbies' website they list #35121 for $114.98 - which is the DD Mk.I. with the screen, and #35116 for $95.98 which is the DD Mk.I. with a partial screen molding.

I haven't seen these model kits in the raw, so can't testify to their value as related to asking price...

Gunnie

Gunnie--what is the scale?
DJ

Rob--I hesitate to ask how much that Tiger I ran you.
DJ

Ps--how much did it cost?

They're both 1:35th scale.

Gunnie

Nothing, nada, zilch, no money. I won it from the Kit Hobbyist site. It was the year end grand prize. Just a random drawing. Funny thing is I also won a couple of the monthly drawings too. The first was the Tamiya Leopard 2A5 and then the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 P-51 Mustang. Both outstanding kits. Shipping invoice had $719.99 as the price paid for the Tiger. It is the full RC kit with sound, recoil, LED guns, rotating turret, elevating gun. Well worth the money I didn't pay

Rob--can we get an insight into which religious group you belong to in order to "win" this type kit? I prayed and the best I do is get close to the winning number. I lead a clean life. Where did I go wrong?
DJ

LOL! A friend once told me "Good things happen to good people." I'm always in the right place at the right time, timing is everything. It works in land navigation too, I never get lost, even when I don't know where I am, I'm always in the right spot. One time in the NTC under zero illum and freezing cold, I told my driver to just pull the convoy over and we'll bed down for the night. I was lost, cold and tired. At daybreak we found ourselves 200m from the A/LOG, everyone was amazed at my skills. My driver told them it was luck, but no one believed him. Similar things have happened in Germany and SWA.

Heck my CW2 won't even sell me raffle tickets for his warrant officer association's raffle. He wants other people to have a fighting chance to win.

Rob--the next time you feel this run of luck please substitute my name for yours'. Spread the wealth.
DJ

Hmmmm, dream kit...

O.K. Non-Armour choice would have to be (if anyone even remembers this vehicle, much less the movie), the 'Land Master' from the film 'Damnation Alley'. The movie was one of the 'B' sci-fi reels originally, but has found an underground cult following. The vehicle itself was VERY cool. Had THREE wheels per ground contact point in a trianguar configuration that would 'rotate' when traversed over an uneven surface, very interesting indeed.

Armour related choice........I guess most of the kits I would want are already available, (although there are some hybrid, experimental pieces (especially german) that I would like to tinker with). For me it's not a matter of choice, as much as scale. I am a big fan of larger scale kits of all kinds, aircraft, ships, etc, etc. I would like top see more larger scale availability. Which brings me to my next point; Sabot. That 1/16 scale Tiger I you're building. I will be building one also, (for the local R/C armour chapter club) but I will be paying for it unlike some other lucky buggers we all know...humph, humph.
Anyway, I've been catchin little tid-bits about your Tiger, plus your new PE kit. I'm wanting to kinda super detail mine as well because the other 1/16th kits I saw belonging to the other members seem 'washed out' to me. There seems to be a fine line there between it looking like a toy and looking like a smaller version of the real thing, if you know what I mean?

Any help from other members regarding super detailing the larger scale armour pieces would be greatly appreciated!

Tread.

P.S. Anyone who knows of someone who actually built a 'Land Master' I would love to know about it.

I actually remember that movie. Giant wheeled creations, they start off with 2 and one gets wrecked. Kurt Russell right? I remember him riding around on a dirt bike with a kid and a lady interest. Who was the older guy with him that worked at the military base they escaped from?

I also enjoyed building the Halycon Aliens APC and the Drop Ship. Would have loved to see a drop ship in a scale larger than 1/72 along with an APC done in the same scale. That droid tank from Star Wars has some potential.

I would be thrilled with ANY modern US Army model in 1/15th. The verlinden M113 was a great start. I know there was a Ford Mutt, but those are no longer produced. A Hummer would be great.

And if I'm allowed to DREAM... it would be an M911 HET with trailer and an M88 on top. At 1/15th of course. Maybe I can scratchbuild all that when I'm retired. Only 25 years to go....

As always, envious of your memory abilities. But, Yes to the fact there was originally two of them. One did get wrecked. No, it wasn't Kurt Russell, it was Jan Michael Vincent. The head guy, a military Colonel I believe, was George Pepard. Yeah, it was a bit dated, but an enjoyable movie non the less.
Interesting tho', I didn't think you were 'into' sci-fi at all. A lot of military modelers I've come across, (mainly the IPMS crowd) generally look down their noses at the sci-fi genre. Glad you're open minded. Yeah, I really liked the Aliens APC too. In fact this whole 1/16th R/C 'thing' started out with me wanting to scratchbuild a 2-foot version of the APC. I also agree with the scale issues regarding the drop ship and the APC. There's a guy here at my local hobby store who has been working on a 1/35th scale drop ship for the past 5 years! One of these days he'll finish it I suppose
Also, Sabot. I would really like some input regarding that 1/16th scale Tiger of yours. As I mentioned in my previous post, the detailing issues are my main focus. To be honest, I don't want my tank looking like a toy ya know?

Tread.

P.S. Just remembered another really nice 'dream model' candidate...the Hunter Killer tank from the film T2! ( ya know, even my non-armour choices are really still armoured, aren't they? :-) :-) :-)

Yes, I have quite an extensive sci-fi collection. My first great modeling love. You should see my Enterprise collection, it made Gunnie drool. I have most of the Star Trek and Star Wars kits produced in plastic. I did the Fine Molds X-wing review.

You are right, I knew it wasn't Russell. Vincent is the right one. I even have his Airwolf too.

Hi Rob,
I guess you are the best person to ask about this . Back in the early 80's I remember building Darth Vader's Tie fighter, I think it was made by MPC. Is this kit still available? Back then I didn't know much about weathering, would love to build it again.

Ron C.
Ashtabula, Oh

Well, whadaya know.....Rob. Would love to see your Enterprise collection myself someday.
I've got a few myself.
Hey, that Airwolf kit is becoming a collector's item, believe it or not.

Tread

It's been reissued several times since MPC was absorbed by AMT/Ertl. The last version is issued with a big plastic disk with a cut out to put the fighter through. Called the flight display. These are readily available on eBay and should not have to pay more than $10 for it. Here is a build up review: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/ws_darthtie.htm

Here are a few of them: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1703699467
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1702589116
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1703702098

The first link is to an old original kit, the second to a reissue in a similar box, and the third is the new flight display version. All the exact same kit (except for the clear disk one). These are currently OOP, but who knows, they may be reissued once again.

For me, the DUKW. And,as soon as Italeri releases the kit, the GOOSE will move up to number one. (Did I get that right Rob? It is Goose, isn't it?)
Chuck

Damnit - Rob's Sci-Fi collection is STILL makin' Gunnie drool :-)

Gunnie

Then I won't tell you about my untouched Limited Edition Voyager and the regular one to go with it. Someday I'll even start my ProShop X-Wing.

Can someone explain the difference between the DUKW and the Ford GPA.
Thanks
DJ