sjordan2

Good to know it works in this application, and it certainly looks terrific. Everything I've used it for always peels off, and we eventually stopped using it because of health concerns. By the way, has anyone tried the Model Master vinyl top base coat and texturing sprays?

Very nice. This is my most favorite kit I've built, though I struggled with replacing molded plastic with real wire mesh for the radiator and stone guards. Your instrument panel glass is far better than the kit version. I suspected from certain clues in the kit, such as an odd construction inside the rear seat base that looked like it was supposed to contain batteries, that the kit was originally motorized. This was confirmed two or three years ago when I saw the extremely rare motorized version for sale on eBay (sold for well over $100). The original 1:1 of this Birkin Bentley is now in the collection of Ralph Lauren.

It would be really cool if you could do the mushroom air filter on Mitchum's '49 Caddy engine. I couldn't find any more pictures of it, but if anyone lives near the Don Garlits Museum in Ocala, FL, that's where you can take pictures of it. I might add that there are some kits and diecasts out there of the '49 Cadillac.

The guy with the beard in the third picture above is Popcorn Sutton, probably the most famous modern-day moonshiner whose travails have been covered locally over the past couple of years, and is from my neck of the woods (Knoxville, TN, home of Thunder Road as described earlier. I can see it in the distance, across a small valley, from my apartment patio. The site of the movie's wipeout is now the location of the city's biggest mall). The revenooers caught up with Popcorn and convicted him in 2008, and he decided to do away with himself a few weeks ago just before going to jail. http://dekerivers.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/obituary-of-marvin-popcorn-sutton-a-tennessee-moonshiner/

Thought you'd like to see a picture of the Caddy engine supposedly used in Robert Mitchum's first car in Thunder Road (Don Garlits museum display). Your model's engine is very close to it. http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/laura76/thunderroad.jpg

I think Harry has it right here, and someone else has mentioned that it's better to use enamels instead of lacquers in this application, since they take longer to dry and can hold the first-spray texture better before you use a final cover coat.

3M Spray Mount is NOT a permanent medium. I have used it for nearly 30 years in mounting advertising presentation materials and it will eventually peel and lose its grip. I urge you not to think of this as something to use in this application. Further, do not use it around equipment such as printers and copiers. The mist it creates will gum everything up, as my companies have found when trying to fix Xerox and other nearby machinery.

I don't know this kit, but I have one observation that goes with every single XKE kit I've ever seen, including the 1/8 version and the favorite one I've built, the original Revell 1/25 roadster: The chrome headlight surrounds are always too thick and need thinning out, perhaps in the inside diameter. This one little detail makes a huge difference.

My heart goes out to you for having to deal with some of the worst sink marks and clunky detailing (such as the gas tank lid) I've ever seen, outside of my Aurora Maserati 3500 GT – the sink marks on its chrome bumpers are unbelievable. Very uneven quality on those old Aurora-tooled kits.

It's not often that I see engine detail with hoses and wires that look so properly in scale as on the first engine. Most examples have plug wires that look too thick. Nice.

1. I can't believe you've accomplished all this in 1/24. 2. Where on earth did the driver come from? 3. The choreography with the music on the video is way cool. Don't know the band - did you sync your video edit to the music or is this custom post-scored music? Kudos. Can't wait to see the finished product.

That sounds pretty knowledgeable to me. However, I always recommend taking the kit or relevant assembly to the store with you so you can match the sizes of aftermarket parts with your eyes, side-by-side.

Just to follow up on my own train of thought, who could argue with the reduction to utter simplicity of some of the greatest American styling of all time? The 56-57 Lincoln Continental doesn't need any tinkering, but think about the first editions of the Olds Toronado and, later into the model years, the Buick Riviera, without the need of vinyl tops and extra chrome.

Okay, just to follow up on why I started this thread. It doesn't matter if you agree with me or if you don't, because this is an iconic car with a huge following, and let everyone choose his own preference for it. I am not at all a Mopar guy, and I am not a muscle car fan. But I think this era of the Dodge Charger is one of the most superbly styled cars ever. I think that all the 1:1 decals and aftermarket stuff have disguised the attributes of this beautiful car, and the later stylings of it in clean, Euro mode have shown what it could be. There's no reason to be on one side or another.

I don't know how you manage to find shots that don't turn up in my Google searches. Anyway, I'll say Model based on the hood ornament and the panel gaps.

That's about as good as it gets. Keep us informed with pictures of your other builds, current or past.

Here's an interview at SEMA 2008 with Steve Strope of Pure Vision, who built the car; he talks about the idea behind it and some of its features. http://www.motorator.com/videos/896 A very abbreviated summary from Hot Rod TV showing some of the building: http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/25869226/hot-rod-tv-mopar-power.htm

Many of you may know about this car, but I saw a really interesting show today on SPEED network, HOT ROD magazine TV series, about the re-doing of a '69 Dodge Charger for the SEMA show. Converted as a European-style racer with RHD, a Ferrari-style racing interior and lots of very cool stuff. I'm not a Mopar guy, but this is a beautiful piece of work. Thought you Mopar enthusiasts might want to see it. http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=1969+dodge+charger+515+gtb&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&start=0

An excellent example of why large-scale modeling is so cool and can be so authentically detailed – without having to be a megabucks Pocher. Beautifully done.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Is this something you could print on clear decal paper and put on a metallic surface? As an alternative, ask a local store such as Kinko's if they can do an individual sheet-fed laser printout on the metallic decal paper you mentioned, either from your file or hard copy. If you only need one color of chrome or gold, there is another process using heat transfer foil, duplicated on a copy machine that uses toner such as you might find at Kinko's, and is ironed on. The toner part is critical, since that's the only thing the foil will stick to and does not work on laser copiers. I have used this process to make chrome Mercedes horn button logos on ivory paper for a 300 SL steering wheel. Since it has to be heated, it doesn't work well on decal paper or clear stock.

Very nice work. Might have an extra-mean look if you added a windshield visor.

So sorry to all those who lost their buddies. Every dog I've ever had remains in my heart as a beloved family member. And I'd go absolutely nuts today without my best friend, Greta the White Miniature Schnauzer. When we had to put our Dalmatian, Sydne, out of her pain five years ago, we swore it would be a year or two before we could get another dog. But we got Greta after three months and she helped ease the sorrow tremendously. What breed was Midnight Special? He looks like a French Bulldog in the picture.

Absolutely love it. I don't know how you do that kind of customizing in metal.

It goes for $1,295.00. That's a lot for a 1/18 diecast. Or any scale.

Don't you mean 1/8?