modelercarl

Still have not received my stuff, coming up on 2 months. Says he sent another set of stuff, waiting on that now.

Insurance companies are not in business to pay claims, never have been, never will be. They analyze statistics of previous events (fire, theft, accidents, etc.) and then use that analysis to "bet" on the probability of any event occurring with those who sign up for coverage from their company, with the desired outcome being that they "win the bet" and never have to pay off. They use statistical probability plus a generous fudge factor to establish premiums and also incorporate clauses, qualifiers, etc to enhance the profit potential and ability to dispute claims. The only difference between insurance companies is that some are more aggressive (and devious) than others. They know that they have guaranteed business because only a fool would go without insurance in today's world.

Has anyone ordered from Czech Truck Model? I ordered a PE set for the GMC Astro a month ago and have not received it yet. I emailed them about delivery after waiting a few weeks and they sent me a copy of a shipping notice but there is no way of tracking shipments and I am now wondering if anyone else has had some experience with them.

Attached a are 2 pictures of past builds. I never really considered them done without some signage on them. Over the years I have tried making my own decals but it seems I like any artistic ability and also the computer technology (and printer) to do any good. I discovered a source that does custom decals as a hobby. He is very easy to work with, you send him the text and approximate area for the signage and he works up some samples of different fonts, arrangements and colors for you to pick from. He uses an Alps printer so you can get white and the decals are very sharp in detail. Usually turns everything around in about a week.....very good service and very reasonable cost. If interested contact Thomas Logan at speedwaydecals@yahoo.com

I have 2 of the Moebius Chrysler 300 kits and finally began building one of them up. Discovered that a bag of parts were missing, opened and checked the second kit and verified the missing parts. I emailed Moebius customer service and they requested that I pay $2.95 for shipping....I did so on 12-30 and received the needed parts today 1-4. Can't get much better than that!

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I was building up a Charger patrol car for a friend who is a trooper with the Michigan State Police. He had some decals for the MSP but they were outdated, wrong colors, outdated license plate, etc. I sent him pictures of the latest and he revised his decal sheet accordingly and I bought 2 sets of the new decals. The quality was excellent and they looked very good after application....the cost was reasonable also. The problem I had was that he was really backed up with orders and it did take some time for delivery but they were well worth the wait. The last time I checked into some decals for a big rig, his site said he wasn't taking any new orders until he worked through his backlog.

The show is Sunday, November 16th, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM at Macomb Community College Sport & Expo Center, 12 Mile & Hayes, Warren, MI.

Bill, After a couple years of retirement I looked around for something to do that wouldn't require excessive mental effort (was Director of Engineering when I retired), and eventually was hired by Hyundai/Kia engineering center to test drive their vehicles before they were launched for sale to the public. We drove 8 hours/day in all kinds of environments....urban, suburban, expressway, gravel, rain, snow, etc. At one time we had three of these vehicles in the fleet and put over 100,000 miles on them in a year's time. At first some of the drivers didn't want anything to do with these because they were small, manual transmissions, and being prototypes they were stripped down models. I absolutely loved driving these cars. They were fun to drive, handled extremely well and the engine and trans were sized appropriately for the size of the vehicle...very responsive in any traffic situation. Eventually they became the most popular cars in the fleet with all of the drivers and you can be sure that they were driven very hard...that was part of our job description. Of all the different models of test vehicles in the Hyundai/Kia fleet over the 20 months I worked there, the Rio's presented fewer problems than any other model, and those that did occur were minor. You have to keep in mind that the Rio as a "commuter vehicle" being very limited in interior space, although they do seat 2 adults comfortably and they do get exceptional gas mileage.

Just restocked my primer and thought I would pass this info on. Amazon has 6 packs of PlastiKote T-235 gray sandable primer for $28.55. If you buy just this you would pay $9.12 for S&H. But add (1) can of either white @ $8.97, black @$8.39 or red oxide A$8.76 sandable primer to the order and you are then over $35.00 for the total order and qualify for free shipping. This works out to about $5.78 per can, a big savings over auto parts stores.

Just returned from Dean Sills' new location in Owosso, MI. He bought some of my surplus from me and gave me a very fair price for about 30 kits, and immediate payment. I strongly recommend Dean's Hobby Stop to anyone for all of their modeling needs. His new shop is very well organized with hundreds of kits on display (cars, trucks, airplane, military, ships) and is much roomier than his previous shop. In addition, Dean is a great guy to talk to and very knowledgeable about the model hobby. Dean's Hobby Stop, 116 N Washington, Owosso, MI., 48867, 989-720-2137, www.deanshobbystop.com

I have been buying MCW products for years, his automotive lacquers are all I use for spray painting bodies and interiors, and his resin products are very high quality. I use his mail order form with credit card info and usually have my order in 2 weeks or less. He has never failed to reply to my emails in a timely manner. I have met Dave at Toledo NNL a couple of times and he is always willing to spend whatever time necessary with me to discuss his products......he is a great resource for this hobby. I put him, Tom Coolidge, and Modelhaus in a category by themselves for quality products and service for us modelers.

Carl, I am impressed with what you are doing with this. I worked for a company that bought one of these when they came out and as Chief Engineer I got to use it frequently. Made several trips with the family throughout the Midwest particularly upper and lower Michigan. It was a real attention grabber. About 7-8 years ago I found one of these models and bought it. It was in fairly good shape, needed cleaning up but no broken/missing parts. I also want to detail the interior but have not been able to separate the upper body shell from the lower. Tried freezing the whole thing hoping the joint would "pop", tried many ways of prying them apart without damaging anything, but no luck. Would you share how you were able to get the upper and lower body shells apart without damaging them? Thanks, Carl Gowan

I built this garage 3 years ago (have been adding things continually since then) and wanted it to be sturdy enough to be moved around frequently and "storable". I used 1/4"x6"x12" basswood from Lowe's. This is 6"x12' in 1/25 scale. I cut all of the pieces and mocked them up with tape to make sure everything would line up and fit properly. Before finally gluing and screwing it together I painted the walls and added the door frame moldings/trim. After the final assembly I caulked all of the joints and touched them up with paint as necessary. I got the paint as samples from a local paint store (semi-gloss for the walls and gloss for the floor). To replicate the concrete finish on the front approach apron and window lentils I painted primed wood with Tamiya diorama texture paint, pavement effect, light gray. For the brick effect I used Housework's Brickmasters common joint brick sheet #H8206 made of styrene plastic. It comes in sheets 6" x 9" if I remember correctly. They also have the corner pieces which make it easy to get a proper looking corner. I would recommend getting the brick sheets first thing to help you lay out the windows and doors so that you have half bricks at all openings. I used Miniature Brick & Stone Mortar #OR599 Grey for the brick joints. You spread all over the brick surface and then use a small sponge soaked in vinegar to remove excess "mortar" until you have just the right amount left in the "joint". I am really happy with the diorama, always looking for things to add or making small changes and has withstood much handling.

Very nice!!! Unusual colors, really impressive!

Wow, I thought that I had updated this thread a long time ago. I was off the Model Car Mag forum for over a year but thought I had updated everything before that. As you can see I have "finished" the building and kind of filled it up with stuff but I have discovered that these are never done. Always changing or adding stuff as time goes by. The final bricking was done with Houseworks Brickmasters common brick sheet #H8206 (1/24 scale). It comes in 6"x9" sheets if I remember correctly and they make the corner pieces also. I used Miniature Brick & Stone Mortar #OR599 made by Orzene Mfg. The brick sheets have no mortar as supplied. The window lintels are basswood strips coated with a concrete type textured paint. I would like to add a ceiling with lights, trusses, etc. but it is tough getting motivated for that right now.

If there are licensing problems with tire manufacturers why not go with METZNER or MOEBIUS tires?

Just finished building this Galaxie 48 Chevrolet Aerosedan. I had a neighbor in the early 50's who had one of these and bought this kit about 6-7 years ago when I got back in the hobby because I always thought it was a great looking car. He took excellent care of It, always washing it and doing mechanical maintenance himself. This was a great kit to build. The only significant thing I did was to use styrene strip to make the "speed stripes" and strip under the windows then BMF them. The kit went together very well. The last image is this build with my recent Lonestar build in their display cases.

Finished my first Moebius Lonestar a couple of months ago and am just now getting around to posting a couple of pics. I have built 3 other big rigs but have to say that this was by far the most enjoyable big rig build. The ONLY issue is the poor fit of the hood in the closed position, everything else was perhaps the best fit I have experienced in a big rig kit. I plan on building at least one more of these and probably a ProStar when it is available. Being 72 y.o. I don't plan to much further than that.

Pat, Thanks for the speedy reply and update. Certainly understand that "priorities" dictate when things are likely to occur and don't mean to be nagging. My decal requirements are really pretty simple at this time.....some truck lettering and simple signage for starters. I am 72 and have a limited amount of money for modeling and so I try to keep it simple. I am learning CorelDraw for decal making as I found it to be much less costly than Photoshop. I am assuming that I will be able to accomplish everything that I need with CorelDraw. I am particularly interested in learning the best steps for printing, applying fixative and more importantly, decal application. Now that I have a better understanding of your plans for future tutorials, I can patiently bide my time by building and absorb your tutorials as they are posted. Carl

Pat....when are you going to be publishing the rest of the tutorials? Have bought the materials you noted in the previous I, II & III, now waiting for the rest so I can get on with making my own decals.

What is really frustrating about this forum is the double standard and favoritism. When Harry (moderator) wanted to find somebody it was OK for him to post in the general section instead of Where's Waldo? and there seems to be a real quick "trigger" used on some of the posters who don't always share the view of the moderators or favored members.

Pat...I want to thank you for doing this tutorial. I have struggled with making my own decals, never quite achieving the results I am looking for. Probably could get it right with more patience and practice but it seems to me that there are some parts of the process that are critical for success and they all have to be done right for that success. Got the supplies you listed in Part 2 on order and am looking forward to the rest of the tutorial. Thanks again.

I have had a Paasche D3000R for about 4 years now and have never had a problem with it, reasonably quiet and very efficient. It has a moisture trap/filter already plumbed in line and can be emptied/purged by pressing a stem protruding from the bottom of the filter. I do this maybe once while painting and it works fine. I spray Model Master Acryl paints and Model Car World automotive lacquers with it. I think that after you have played with it a little while you will be very happy with it. I am 72 years old and got back into modeling after being away from it for about 35 years and would like to offer this for your consideration....I admire your enthusiasm for getting into building models but would advise that you restrain yourself a little and actually start building some kits up before buying everything you see that can be used in building. I think that by starting at a somewhat slower pace you can "ease" into the hobby without over-reaching and maybe getting exasperated or overwhelmed and quitting too soon. I have discovered that although I can't build models that compare to some I see on this and other forums this is a very rewarding hobby that allows a person to proceed at their own pace and advance their skills within their own capabilities.

Thanks for the info!