Fast Friday: Emerson Fittipaldi 1984 March in 1/64

I actually finished this a while back, but never got around to posting it. Like the Danny Ongais car I posted earlier, this is a 1/64 resin body from Fast Bodies. Alas, I have since heard that he will no longer be producing these. Another valuable hobby lesson, there kids: Buy it when you see it. You may never get another chance.

Anyway, this car represents Emmo's first Indy car ride. The F1 world champ drove a car that was ... pink? Yup. Indy didn't go all that well for the talented Brazilian that year, but there were bright spots over the season. And of course he would go on to win the 500 twice, taking out Little Al once. And drinking orange juice once. Not that anyone noticed that little faux pas. Ahem.

Unlike the Danny Ongais car, I put the road wings on this guy. Paint is straight up Tamiya pink. Yes, I bought a can, and used it again on another project I will share one of these days... Decals are from Indycals.

So why this car? Two reasons, really. You never see this one modeled. And I have two daughters, remember? The love the pink car. :)

We Had to Destroy the Mustang in Order to Save It

Well, not exactly "destroy." But it definitely had to be torn apart. Here are some photos my body man sent this morning on progress. That blurry one is a HUGE mouse nest that was up under the cowling. I know I removed a lot of mouse "evidence" prior to this, but hadn't gotten up under there. I lost count of how many mouse skeletons I pulled out of the seats and the carpet. Did I mention this spent a lot of time in an old country barn?

I ordered a new outer wheel well and trunk drops last night, so hopefully he has them by the weekend.

Long-time readers may recall the saga of last year, where the engaged "body man" did absolutely zilch. This guy did more in a week than the previous bozo did in seven months. At this rate, I'll have a rolling chassis ready to work with by Christmas. Guess I better get busy on getting that motor back together!

Los Conquistadors

As a follow-up to the Tlaxcallans and Mexica, here is my humble collection of Spanish conquistadors. For God, gold and glory, and all that. Not many, but an interesting mix of Monday Knight and Foundry. These were all painted some time ago, but they still look pretty good to my eye. Though you can see I never quite got around to adding banners to the command group. I do have a few more of these lying around in the "to paint someday" pile. I especially like the poor fellow with his hands tied, undoubtedly off to some grim end...

Let's Try This Again

I mentioned last week that I would provide some updates on multiple hobby fronts soon. It's been quiet, but not completely quiet. For instance, the Mustang project has finally started to awake from it's slumber.

Slumber may not be quite the right word. More like I was so irritated and frustrated with the whole thing, I pretty much ignored it for a while and secretly hoped it would maybe just go away. I seriously considered putting a number on Craigslist - you haul it away.

But, after months of searching and talking to various candidates, I finally found someone who I think will be able to do the necessary body work I can't do. Believe it or not, I found him on Craigslist, which gave me pause, and I was a bit hesitant at first to contact him after my last experience with that. But I did, he came out and looked at it, and said he could do everything but paint at a reasonable hourly rate, and a reasonable hourly estimate. If you remember, the last guy gave a number that was too good to be true, and it was. This guy's number was more in line with what I was expecting. Some other guys gave some numbers over the last few months that were just too much for what I wanted to get out of the car.

Plus he is the service manager at the local RV dealer near where I work and have had service done on my camper in the past, and a few people I talked to vouched for him. So I went for it.

Anyway, he lives about 35 miles away, so that necessitated some creative transport once again. I recruited the same assistant from before (who must be getting sick of hauling this stupid thing around), and off we went. No snow storm this time. :) Just a beautiful early fall day. The good part is he works about five minutes from my work, so we can exchange parts and things easily.

We dropped it off with no problems, and he said he's anxious to get started on it. He looked at what the previous guy did (basically some light sanding on the quarters) and couldn't figure out what he was even trying to do. He knows the story, and all he can say is it's a big shame. He couldn't make any promises on when he would be done, but I don't really care if he keeps it until April.

Oh, and it's not a big deal that he can't paint, as one of the other candidates was interested in doing that, but not the actual body work. So it should all work out. Everything just costs money! In fact, I already ordered $200 more in inner aprons and cowl sides last night, with more sure to come...

I'll post specifics on what is happening as events warrant.

And in This Corner...

Of course, the Mexica need an opponent. How about these Tlaxcallans? Rather an interesting bunch. They hated the Mexica/Aztecs so much, they sided with the Spanish conquistadores. Some speculate the Mexica let them continue to exist so they could continue to have an opponent to fight. I.e., a steady stream of potential prisoners to be sacrificed on the bloody altars to their gods. I really need to read up more on this period.

Not a huge collection here. All minis from Monday Knight Productions. The Tlaxcallans can be distinguished by the red and white head bands. Pretty cool idea. Plus the fellow with the crane on his back just screams elite, doesn't he?

Alas, these have never seen table top action and have spent all their painted life in a box. Except when it's time for a photo shop. I suppose it's too early in the period to say "queso"?

Meanwhile, South of the Border

Holy cow. Summer is officially over. The wife (a teacher) went back to work today, and the kids are in full-time day care. Big changes, and it will take a while to get used to the routine. But hopefully the change will allow some additional hobby time. Fear not, all has not been completely quiet on that front the last few weeks, and I shall strive to provide some updates on the various happenings the next few days.

Anyway, to today's topic. So what if there wouldn't have even been a border in 1521. At least not one we would recognize. But that was certainly an eventful year in North American history, what with the Spaniards conquering the Aztec empire and all that. Once upon a time, I had delusions of gaming this period. I had visited Mexico, and loved the culture and history (and the food). Colorful troop types, different levels of technology, what could be better?

Oh yeah, I forgot about the multitudes of Aztecs to paint, with all those colors. And the terrain, yikes. So much urban fighting, and building (and storing) all those temples and pyramids was daunting at best. So it never went beyond a handful of Monday Knight Productions and Foundry minis.

Today, I can't make up my mind. Sell them, or perhaps hold out hope that suitable rules may yet come along that allow small scale pre-Spaniard battles. The so-called "Flower Wars" between the Mexica and their enemies still has potential, in my opinion. Saga, perhaps?

It should also be noted I bought my wife a new camera this summer, so hopefully the quality of the photos here will improve. I may not use it all the time, but this collection was shot with the new camera with natural light, and I think the effect is quite good. These are the Mexica, a various mix of basic warriors, some suited warriers and, of course, the big fella, Moctezuma hisself.