roadhawg

I want to thank everyone for the great replies. I guess I'm going to attempt making hinges again......and if they don't work right, I'll just glue the doors open! lol! And Mr.O.....if anyone SHOULD be at GSL, its you! Thanks again, Y'all!

When one of my two kids "painted" the younger one with permanant markers, I googled it and found that baby wipes and alcohol are the best things to remove it, although that dry eraser sounds feasable. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Hard to believe they're MODELS!

Great tip! I've been putting off a 56 Chevy project for years because I couldn't figure out how to make a Diamond-Pleat interior......now I know! Thanks!

I think he's on to something here. It might be even more interesting to see not a body, but the IMAGE of a body wrapped in a blanket, with blood seeping through. Oh, btw....you KNOW this is disgusting, right?

Good ol' Gabriel Hi-Jackers!!! Man, those were the days! You really captured the day here, almost as good as being in a time machine! Absolutley great build!

I guess this is exactly what I'm trying to say. If we're building a model for a show or contest, instead of wasting time constructing hinges that may or may not work properly, what's wrong with just glueing one door open to show off the interior? If you've ever been to an IPMS contest, you'll see airplanes, tanks, and everything else with beautifully detailed interiors....with the canopies and hatches GLUED open to show the detail. If they can do it that way, what would be wrong with US doing it that way? Let me say here that I'm in NO WAY saying that beautifully constructed working hinges like Mr.O builds are a waste of time. I'm totally blown away whenever I see stuff like that. Its just that some of us aren't that skilled. I wish I COULD do that, but thanks to a little arthritis, I don't have that kind of manual dexterity anymore. lol!

I see lots of how-to's on making door hinges, and they all seem to be based on the same technique.....bending brass wire into hinge thingies. While it works, #1, its doesn't look that realistic, and #2, not that many real car doors swing out like that....the leading edge of the door swings INSIDE the front fender. I've opened doors in the past, and I've found that its difficult to make 'em work properly when they operate like that....which is probably why I said to heck with hinging doors years ago! This has got me thinking....other than personal achievement, just WHY do opening doors really have to operate? When building a model for a show, contest, or display, why not just have the doors open, with the leading edge inside the fender like its supposed to, and have 'em GLUED into position, without having to construct working hinges? The aircraft and military modelers ALWAYS do this, opening up hatches and cockpits for their contest models, without ever even THINKING about making them work. Like I said...I was just thinkin' about this. It really shouldn't matter at a contest, since judges aren't supposed to touch the models anyway....at least they SHOULDN'T be allowed to touch 'em! Anybody else have any thoughts?

Yes, what you describe are decals that are too old, and theres not a lot you can do, except get a new sheet. As a last resort, try clearcoating the entire sheet and using Solvaset to get 'em to lay down......but test that on a scrap piece first.

The Chevy Citation comes to mind...................

Lindbergs '34 Ford pickup, with a few bits and pieces from the parts box.........

What would I like to see? This................. What do I NOT want to see? This.................

I never cared much for LSR cars until about 5 years ago, when I had the opportunity to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats.......and left in awe. What an amazing place! And cars like this go back to an era when real men went fast! Awesome builds, sir!

Looks great, so far! If you want to be realistic, you shouldn't clear coat over the decals anyway.

Thats really nice. It could be either a street rod, a custom, OR a lowrider. very well balanced!

By all means, go check it out! Theres lot of knowlegable people over there. Just follow the rules! lol! Oh, and btw....you can't use your avatar over there either!

Oh, I'm a big-time cheater...if I wasn't, I'd NEVER get anything built!!! Awhile back, I wanted to build a pro-touring '70 Chevelle using some Pegasus wheels. It ended up becoming a model car version of dominos, in that every little thing I changed trying to do it realistically meant TWO more changes to something else. I ended up just getting out the Dremel and grinding till it looked good! And as far as what Luke'57 said about the real ones........I remember the first step in installing brand new headers was beating the ###### out of 'em so they would fit!

Wow...very nice! Nothing looks better than a well built Pontiac!

As long as you don't build a General Lee, you'll be ok..........

We're not "supposed" to have pets here, BUT..........................there was this sorta stray cat. I don't think it was actually a stray, I think it belonged to the old man that lived down the street, because it started coming around right after he passed away, but anyway, it showed up and instantly made buddies with my 9 year old. Its solid white with one blue eye and one green eye. She makes a great guard cat, as seen here when my son was sick and sleeping on the couch.....she didn't leave his side..... Here are those different color eyes......I think only 603 came from the factory this way..........

Put it on Ebay as "used paint to fit a 1960 Ford"...............

I got my fair share of unfinished stuff! I normally don't take pics of unfinished projects, but I DO have a few..... There's this stupid Trumpeter '63 Nova that I'm backdating to a '62. I got all the parts I need to complete it, but everytime I get started back to work on it, I get frustrated with it all over again....... Then I started on a VW....sort of a Volks Rat-Rod kinda thing. Well....the top is chopped and the fenders are gone....thats as far as I got......... How about a '62 Vette that I'm building as a car my cousin used to race in the '60s..................... Got a few more too.....a '55 Chevy Bel-Air street machine, a '56 Chevy dirt racer, and a Richard Petty '67 Belvedere.......just can't get up the ooomph to work on 'em! I know this is not a car, , but ALSO, there's what has become known as my "lifelong project", the helicopter from the '80s movie Blue Thunder. I'll work on this awhile, then put it up for a year or so, then work on it awhile, etc, etc....3 years now........ ######....now I'm depressed. I NEVER finish anything!

Not a bad idea, but it would take a lot of work still....the vert top is shaped more like a sedan top than the hardtop style.

Pretty darn impressive, sir! Yeah, I guess it might be difficult to find in-scale convertible top material. The article I have was using white fabric from a mens dress shirt, which would certainly be out of scale, but this was in the 60s....65,66?....back when Dremels ran on steam.

That is one awesome build you have there, sir.