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Lighting Gels on eBay auction 271241483024 Anyone know how thick these are? Would be great if they are the thickness of the colored sheets that Revell used to put in their kits. Check the available colors, this is more along the lines of the stuff I'm looking for.

if you have a theater or movie lighting supply store you can get "gels" that they use to color their lights for stage work.

Take it that you have used the Lighting Gels on a model before, what is their thickness?

For ease of workability 0.010 ( 1/4" = 0.250 so 0.250 / 25 = 0.010 ) or 0.015 ( 0.015 X 25 = 0.375 or 3/8" thick ) both are stock sizes for plexiglass and would be ideal. Measured the clear sheet in a K. S. Pittman Willys kit and it is 0.006 thick. ( 0.006 X 25 = 0.150 or 5/32" thick ) might be a little thin for a race car. Oops, sorry the Engineer in me pops out every now and then!

Starbucks, Barnes & Nobel... any Gift Cards. Once they are tapped out they become putty spreaders. I think I've got a stack of 20 of them, people even give me theirs when theirs are done. Once people know that you use them for something it seems like there is an endless supply, and that's just from family members!

I also agree with using styrene to fill major holes and gaps. You wouldn't use putty to fill holes in the metal on a real car would you? Well, some of the old cars I've worked on sort of indicate some people would!! Do the job right and make some sort of patch panel when it's too big for Bondo alone.

I know some people don't like it and it's a holdover from monster, Roth's Monsters and Weird-Oh's kits. I like using Zap-A-Gap thick super glue and tinted Baking Soda as a filler it can fill some pretty large voids. The other favorite that's good for seam filling is Zap-A-Gap and Zap-Kicker. I have models in my collection and other's collections that are nearly 20 years old without cracking, flaking or distortion using super glue. It primes just like the base styrene. I use a small hypodermic needle to control the application of the kicker. I've used the super glue, baking soda and kicker over primer before with no ill effects on/in the paint. It doesn't stink up the hobby room and half the house like Bondo either, don't get me wrong I still use Bondo. Like tools fillers have their uses, strengths and weaknesses. Match the filler to the application. Some people are intolerant to CA Glue fumes too, just be careful with any chemical in your modeling arsenal you can become sensitive to almost any chemical with enough exposure.

World's first donk? 

Nope, that's MPC trying to cash in on the "Street Freaks" running around then. That one is a little far fetched, Street Freaks for the most part were recycled Race Cars that found their way back on the street. Thankfully that look went away when we learned to narrow rear ends to put wider tires and wheels under the fenderwells where they belonged.

Terry, Great story, being a prankster at heart I loved it!

A spider nearly got me fired once! Long story but it involves several bored engineers, a six inch Hairy Plastic Halloween Spider complete with suction cup on it's bottom and fishing line strung through the dropped ceiling. We waited until the boss had her morning cup of joe, engrossed in email.... Spider drops from the ceiling... Boss Lady proves unassisted human levitation is possible while screaming loudly. Peeing her pants on the process then attempting to convince everyone said liquid was coffee!!! (At times the office coffee has been classified as swill but never that liquid!!!) Lucky it was April 1st, even better the Boss Lady went home early, claiming she had an errand to run.

Years ago I remember seeing an article in Fine Scale Modeler about polishing out future. I think they used a polishing kit, even burying the decals between coats. The article was on a P-51 Mustang Air Racer, they came out with a miles deep finish that looked like the finishes seen on aircraft.