blunc

the spots where paint won't cover/stick are usually called "fish-eyes" by regular car painters, they are usually caused by oil or silicon based contaminants either in the paint or on the item you are painting. try adding a filter and/or moisture trap to your compressor and make sure the items to be painted have been properly cleaned and dried.

it must be a California Mustang since you put the smog pump on it... nice engine!

I used brass before I found aluminum tubing was easier to work with.

did he have just "Firebird" or were they TA's? body trim and engine packages will change a bit depending on body type.

well, I was on the right track, I had looked through the Jordan info but didn't find the model that matched the sample.

beware the wandering saguaro cactus whose prickly arms give permanent embrace and his cousin the "jumping cholla" whose needles are barbed and have to be pulled with pliers. but seriously...if you can find room inside the house it will be better for your plastic friends, CD's left inside cars in Arizona warp especially if left in direct sunlight in a totally closed car (and you really need to close/lock your car when it's out of your sight). Some call Arizona "The valley of the sun", sometimes I call it "The surface of the sun". Keep in mind that I have lived here for close to 50 years, been through about five "100 year floods" and record temps that are usually only bested by Death Valley. Not too many on this board were out driving their car on the day when it hit 128deg F...but I was...in a car without air conditioning... I'm not entirely sure it didn't affect me.

have you considered the belt from dead ink jet printers? I think it may be easier to work with than zip tie plastic.

super kit bash!

reminiscent of 70's contest winners, excellent work! have you been hanging out with Ira...?

maybe he could find a way to just use the whole front subframe... if the length of the car is close enough he wouldn't have to mess with the steering geometry, just figure a way to connect the Falcon steering wheel to the rack-n-pinion.

so, let me see if I understand "concours standard" , this would be a factory optioned car that has been "blueprinted" rather than a car as you could get it off the showroom floor... correct?

how about some 25 T front fenders? they could flow under the turbos to the main body and provide a little transition from the front into the main body... the line/flow from the radiator shell to the cowl seems to be rather irregular, maybe making the shell taller would help.

this is just beggin for 53 Merc tail assemblies...

If building with added details I suggest getting in some internet research and save photos and illustrations to your computer for reference during your build process, printing them later is an option and you can in some cases magnify sections you need better view of. Adding details is great and shows extra effort, I'm guessing IPMS contests give preference to details that are correct/realistic to the function. (I've heard the term "rivet counters"...) If this is not the way you build then (as stated before) build what makes you happy.

make the driver look like the Stig, then send pics to Top Gear.

well, it's not a Hennway, we'vealready seen one of those.

I had to wait almost a year before the body of the 65 chevy I received as a gift was back in production but they did replace the body which was incompletely molded...about a one inch gap of missing plastic in front of the drivers door. In the box was a notice that I would need a UPC code for any further parts. This is the first time I have had to request replacement parts.

are you picking on the "safety car" ?

well, based on the cross ram intake manifolds, I'd guess is may be a mopar engine but maybe it's just a generic "engine block"... odds are that it was carbureted originally, it may have had "throttle body" fuel injection fitted later but I doubt it. the things on the end of the headers are probably mufflers.

Thank you for the kind words. Keep your magnifying glass handy, I have more in process.

Here is a link to some photos I took, it looks like Sunday is a little thin on car entries...most of the field where a lot of the cars I took photos of two years ago was empty this year. I got some photos of the winners though...might get some scale build ides from those. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blunc/sets/72157642306468053/

A lot of hard work by the Cactus Car Modelers and Moonlight Modelers clubs (and anyone else I may have missed) goes into putting on this contest which is free to enter. I thank the sponsors for making this possible including the Make-N-Take which gets the younger crowd involved. Follow link to Flickr for photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blunc/sets/72157642306467983/ (and yes, that's my 1/32 scale '34 Ford)

I have observed that a lot of contests have a "display only" area set aside for past winners or entries that won't be judged for awards. Anyone that just wants to hang out and socialize can enter their builds there and the people that enjoy seeing how their efforts measure up to other builders can enter their builds in the "judged" area. No need to swing from one end of the spectrum to the other, just make sure the entrants know they have an option.

Woot, first one on the tables! That's what happens when you work the night shift and have to enter your build before you go to bed before next shift. It was great playing catch-up with the old club members. Maybe I'll get time to do that some more today.

Changed the wheels on my Lindberg (1/32scale) '34 Ford. BEFORE AFTER (cell phone camera turned the red a little pink, didn't do color correction on the photo yet, it's all about the wheels)