What to build Next?

[slusher]

I decided at the end of last year that I was going to build more AND finish them. I now have 6 builds waiting for me to figure out how to make seat belts for them (or get someone to let me use their credit card).

I went to my local hobby shop (Panther Hobbies) today for paint, aluminum and brass tubing, razor saw blades...and another kit to build.

Bob

Thats one thing l don't have a problem with is finishing builds. l think no matter how many kits and projects we have we will buy more kit.

[chevyfever2009]

Back on June 20 of this year I made a promise to myself to not start another build until I have finished all of the in-the-works stuff that I have. There's an awful lot of them and some of them date back to the late '90's. Several are "projects", many aren't. And I have close to 100 kits on the shelves (including aircraft, armor, naval vessels, starships and cars). Yikes. Each day I can think of ideas for many of them. I have to write it down or when I get to a particular kit, I'll have forgotten what I had thought of. I have more notes on current and future builds than you might think (right, Rich?)

Carl, if you're not sure of what to build next, I think Dean Milano's jar pick is a good idea- but you gotta keep an open mind, be firm and not return any slips of paper back to the jar. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

I thought i was on the only one who did that start one kit and then get it to the roller stage and start another. Im trying real hard to finish my current projects before i start another one but the kits keep telling me to start them so far i have resisted the temptation and cone sunday im getting 12 more kits and two ive been after a while the john deere 4430 and 310

[Tom Geiger]

. I now have 6 builds waiting for me to figure out how to make seat belts for them (or get someone to let me use their credit card).

Seat belts can be very easy to make. I've done them a few different ways.

These seat belts are just ribbon with buckles made from Evergreen strip. Ribbon will shred and have frayed edges if you try to cut a standard piece. To avoid this, take the ribbon and coat both sides with white glue. Make sure it sinks in and doesn't sit on the surface. Then the ribbon will cut nicely. They also make ribbon in the right width, probably hard to find in the real world, but the aftermarket does sell it as seat belt material. Of course at a premium.

To make the buckle, I just took a length of Evergreen and round off the edges. Once I had the look, I cut the buckle off the stick. It's easier to work it with a longer length so don't cut it to size until you've got the shape. Spray with silver paint. Note that seat belts are more convincing if they're random like in my picture.

Here's another way to do seat belts... in this case, I took those hokey plastic seat belts that came in 1960s kits and cut off the buckles. Note that I would have been much better off if I had sanded them thinner first. Then I used the premade width ribbon to make the belts. They are way thick in this photo, but once in the interior you can only see them from above so they look a lot better.

I'm amazed that I didn't take interior photos of this one prior to it's final assembly. Anyway, another way to make seat belts is with masking tape. Take the tape and spray the sticky side with Testors Dullcote. That completely neutralizes the glue and now you have nice thin material to make seat belts. Just spray paint both sides what ever color you need, cut strips to the right width and go for it. This was the first model I did shoulder belts on, using this technique. You can see the belt hanging near the B pillar in the photo.

I've also used aftermarket photo etch seat belt kits. With those I don't like the buckles as I think they are way too thin (you could back them with some plastic to get scale thickness) but the male ends are really perfect! And work with any of the belt techniques I mentioned above. I bought a Detail Master photo etch seat belt kit for something like $5 and there were enough buckle parts in it to do several models. So it wasn't overly expensive. Still, I got the idea you were looking to do belts with available materials, thus the info I posted above. Hope this helps!

[Greg Myers]

It's all in your mind, you're not trying hard enough. Every build I do is first a nugget in my mind like Plowboy and Tom Gieger said. Ya gotta get to thinkin' model cars. Every time yer out and about lookin' at cars going by, cars in magazines, cars at shows, cars here on the board, broaden your outlook and think, what can I do different, what can I do that brings this more into the realm of what I'm interested in? Make it YOUR build idea. You can do it.

[turn1wonder]

Carl, I have maybe a dozen builds that have bodies and/or everything painted and others that have been built but something did not satisfy me and are now stripped.

Tom, I'll have to give your tips a try, thanks. Four of my waiting builds need 4 or 5 point belts and I have looked at many of other peoples builds for ideas.

Bob