[1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale [1/24 Fujimi Enthusiast Series]]

16 minutes ago, peteski said:

Thanks for the info e30lover. I might look for the Hasegawa kit.

The Hasegawa kit doesn't include an engine, if that's important. However, there is a resin engine kit from Reji Model that can be used: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/reji-model-sp992-lancia-stratos-hf--278995

[1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale [1/24 Fujimi Enthusiast Series]]

Not that hard to find, but they go for around $70-100 on Ebay regularily. I got mine for 35 Euros from a fellow modeler. 30-50 is the range for most Enthusiast kits if you take your time.

[1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale [1/24 Fujimi Enthusiast Series]]

Admirably done!

I have that kit sitting on my stash waiting to be built along with four other Enthusiast series kits.

[Completed Stingray]

Good job, turned out much nicer than I thought it would!

In Germany we call them bonanza bikes, although "Bonanza" was just one of the brands which sold those types of bikes. They disapperead rather quickly with the BMX hype.

[What did you get today? (Model Car Related Items)]

Got my Iwata HP-M1 today.

I never got to like "traditional" shaped airbrushes, especially double-action types. I had the chance to try out an M1 the other day and immediately fell in love with it. For me, it feels much more natural and "part of my hand", and I prefer pre-dialing the amount of paint with the thumbscrew instead of having to use a single trigger for adjusting both air and paint flow.

[Pochar Bugatti 50 T]

https://springs.mrspring.com/viewitems/extension-springs/extension-springs-3

https://www.thespringstore.com/catalogsearch/advanced/?search=stock-extension-springs

These have several springs which come close to your measurements.

[pics of antique jacks.]

Not sure if this helps (it's focused on British cars), but it might give an idea:

http://www.classic-british-car-jacks.uk/Ford_Jacks.htm

[Painting Raised Lettering]

What has worked for me in the past is painting it with a stamp.

I either use a piece of firm sponge rubber glued to a wooden stick or just the eraser tip of a pencil, if I have one that wasn't used too much. I paint the rubber/eraser lightly with the intended color and carefully stamp it on the raised portions to be painted. It's important to not use too much paint, better 10 thin runs instead of one that used too much paint which might fill the little recesses.

[DIY Airbrush the MacGyver way]

5 hours ago, peteski said:

But will he actually dump his "real" airbrush for painting his models in favor of his home-made one?  I somehow doubt that.  As others said, the results will likely be less than optimal.

No, he probably did it just for fun, out of curiosity and to share something else than "hey look at my 976th scale model build!". But other people might be tempted to build and use it, for whatever reason.

I can already imagine the conversation when someone who painted his model using this DIY airbrush shows a build:

DIY airbrush guy: "Hi, look at my latest scale model build. It's a '69 Olds 420"
Other guy: "Nice! What airbrush did you use to paint the body?"
DIY airbrush guy: "I used a insert expensive airbrush model here."
Other guy: "Thanks. Really nice! See you."
DIY airbrush guy: "No, jk, actually I used this cheap DIY airbrush."
Other guy: "Oh! Now that you say it, I think yout paintjob turned out semi-optimal. Look at that... and this spot... and..."

 

[DIY Airbrush the MacGyver way]

C'mon guys, it's nothing worth arguing about. It's the result that counts, not the tools you used to achieve it.

It doesn't matter if you used a $300 airbrush, some $50 China copy or a DIY tool for even less because it's all you can afford or because you just want to do it for the fun of it.

[DIY Airbrush the MacGyver way]

A bit crazy, a bit dangerous but still fun: Building a DIY airbrush using disposable syringes, a lighter, cotton swabs and some other cheap stuff.

 

 

[Hello from Germany]

Hi all,

I'm a 42 year old guy from Germany who wants to get back into the hobby after a long hiatus of more than 20 years.
My main interest are street cars from the late 60s to the early 80s. But as my main hobby are flight simulators, I'd also like to build some aircraft, although unfortunately the range of kits of civilian small aircraft is much smaller than of military types.

I already got a ton of great info and inspiration by digging through the forums and I'm looking forward to sharing my first "getting my skills back up" builds soon.

 

Take care and stay healthy!