Only two new detectives in the past month

Lionel Twain's House ?

 

 

And why was he known as "Lionel?" Did he really have a huge layout in that cavernous basement of his?

Lee;

Love the detectives all about your layout.

And I totally Agree, Sir Connery did it right.

No Starsky & Hutch and their Gran Torino?

 

No Columbo and his Peugeot?

 

No Magnum and his Ferrari?

 

No Sipowicz and his Caprice?

 

No Scooby-Doo and his Mystery Machine?

 

 

 

What about Mannix?

I was never that big afan of Mannix, and not sure what car to model.  He had a customized Tornado I think, and drove a Challenger convertible, too, in various seasons.  There are way too many detectives to put all on the layout, so I have to leave some off.  He's likely to be one of those.

 

I did break down and order the only "correct version" of Columbo's car. Its the right year ('59) and body (403) Peugot from the rear of the doors forward, but a panel van to the rear.  I will have to cut up and modify the car.  Haven't wanted to do it - a lot of work and no doubt just as I finish a proper convertible 403 will come along, but . . this is Columbo - he was one of my favorites and its time he was on the layout.  

There's to much competition for any new kids on the block

Got room for a houseboat ?

 

Since you have '77', you might consider some of the 'WB clones' of that show:

 

 A.  "Surfside Six" -- Troy Donahue and Diane McBain "....in Miami Beach !"

 

 or B. "Bourbon Street Beat";  I know neither the house/office was memorable, and I don't recall a car -- but you could have him in front of a theater with his stripper girlfriend, played by Nina..... .

 

Best, SZ [ betraying his age -- and questionable taste in TV shows......]

 

Oops, it wasn't a Nina, it was a Nita -- Nita Talbot

How about Marshall Matt Dillon on his horse? 

I don't see Charlie Chan. Don

how about "Foyle"...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foyle's_War

 

perhaps you already have and i missed the post...

 

howard

 

With that mountain lake (which looks great BTW), a secret rocket base ala Dr No would be cool. Of course, the surface would have to slide rather than move vertically as in silo 1.0 prototype.

Lee,

 

Don is right... you need a Charlie Chan!!!  (But then you'd need a Rickshaw for him to stand next to).

 

If you do Charlie, then you HAVE to do a "plump" version of Charlie and call him Odd Job; but then you would need a 1937 Phamtom III Rolls Royce....

 

Lee, I'm always amazed at your creative talent and wonderful literary expertise in describing what you have done to "capture the moment" - keep up the great work!!!

 

Best,

Dave

Our favorite TV detective series, period.  I posted it in early August, but it was probably easy to miss. 

 

Christopher Foyle is on the layout twice.  

First, in our favorite scene in all the Foyle"s War shows, from episode The German Woman, where Sam stops the villian cold with a trash can lid in the face.  This is a slide from a posting I made showed how I had to correct this scene - I had painted the figures from memory and got colors wrong, etc.  I still don't have the right model Wolseley but make do with a '35 Ford I modified into a pretty close match. 

Secondly, Foyle likes to trout fish.  So, in his own series, does Inspector George Gently.  The time periods of their respective TV shows could have overlapped (Foyle joined MI5 in 1947 and thereafter, in the latest season, Gentley worked in Scotland Yard until transferring to the country in the late '50s.  Anyway, I have them here, as friends, trout fishing together in my country stream.

 

Finally, someone asked about Magnum.  He was never a favorite like Gentley and Foyle, but he drove a Ferrari - reason enough I suppose.

 

 

Lee, Love your responses! "ugh, no"! ha!

 

Ok, seriously now, Leroy Jethro Gibbs drives a yellow challenger convertible (NCIS).  Tony has had a corvette and a mustang in the past, and Abbey drives Dragula in one episode!  Ziva drives a Mini...

Lee, have you forgotten:

 

And his car(s) according to Wikipedia:

The car Smart is seen driving most frequently in the show for seasons 1–4 is a red 1965 Sunbeam Tiger two-seat roadster.

Due to the various custom features of Max's car, like the machine gun and ejection seat, the Sunbeam Alpine, upon which the Tiger was based, was used by customizer Gene Winfield because the Alpine's 4-cylinder engine afforded more room under the hood than the V8 in the Tiger.^[22][23] AMT, Winfield's employer, made a model kit of the Tiger, complete with hidden weapons. It is the only kit of the Tiger and has been reissued multiple times as a stock Tiger. The car used on camera cannot be located, but the personal car of Don Adams (also a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger) was restored in 2005 and still exists^[24] and the Alpine/Tiger was also recreated, in 2002.^[25]

In the black & white pilot episode (only), Smart drives a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT PF Spider Cabriolet.^[26]

In the opening credits (only) of seasons three and four, Smart drives a light blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, as Volkswagen became a sponsor of the show.^[5]

In season four (1968–69), Adams uses a yellow Citroën 2CV in the wedding episode "With Love and Twitches" (Episode 4.09), and a blue 1968 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 convertible with a tan interior and four seats (as required by the plot) in the episodes "A Tale of Two Tails" (4.07) and "The Laser Blazer" (4.10).

In season five (1969–70), Buick became a show sponsor,^[5] so the Tiger was replaced with a gold 1969 Opel GT, which appears in every episode.

 

Jerry

 

Lee,

 

Maybe  more bad guys is the answer 

 

Al Capone's armored Cadillac.

 

 

 

 

How about the inscrutable Mr.Moto? Who's career was ended by WWII.

Mr. Moto - I should - I have to - do Mr. Moto - I but I must take time to find an appropriate car - he deserves that.  I love Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto - heck I love Peter Lorre in anything, even the worst thing he ever appeared in -  that dreadful 1954 TV version of Casino Royale, in which he played Le Chiffre to Barry Nelson's "Jimmy" Bond.  That was a truly terrible show except for him, who a critic described as "the veteran villain working in full weasel mode."  He was always fantastic.

 

Ya, see, there's just one thing that bothers me....

 

If all of these crimefighters have converged on this one town, how can anybody still commit a crime? And then I thought wait a minute....

Yeah, Columbo has been on my list from the beginning, but it will be a month at least.  I've looked for six or seven months and just could not find a mid-'50's Peugeot 403 convertible - I ended up ordering a '56 Peugeot 403 panel van Monday afternoon- same body from the rear of the doors forward.  I will have to cut the top off, shorten the wheelbase and fashion a rear end and convertible top (I don't recall ever seeing the thing with the top down).  That will take only maybe three days, but I will only be able to do that once the thing, ordered from Germany ships and gets through US customs, and . . . well you know how efficient and speedy our government is right now.

 

Oh, and I have the Basset hound, too.

What about Paul Drake? he always drove dark Thunderbird convertibles on Perry Mason.

Here's a link:

http://www.perrymasontvseries....ex.php/Main/HomePage

 

Regards,

 

Tecolote

This might save you a bit of work. Season 1 Episode 5 "Lady in waiting".

 

 

Columbo and Leslie Neilson chillin' at a car hop drive in.

 

 

Columbo absent mindedly drives off with the tray after a bell goes off in his head when Leslie says something.

 

 

Columbo shopping on Rodeo Drive!

 

We have been watching the Columbo's from the start, and coincidentally the one we watched last night had the first appearance of the Peugeot with the top down.

Wow! Thanks!

 

It's nice to know the top did actually go down.  I will probably model it with the top of though, first because it nearly always was up, and second because the car looks so much worse with the top up, which is the whole point, of course: it's not nearly as pathetic a car with the top down.

Ya, the top was down up most of the time, and it certainly does look awful. When I was thinking about it, my thought was that it would probably be easier to sculpt a ragtop than an interior, too. Looking forward to seeing the "Disheveled Detective" on your layout, please keep us posted.

 

Edit to fix my up/down mistake.