Mike_G

(1) '78-'80 US-spec Ford Fiesta (2) 1/12 Hodaka Wombat (3) 1937 Delahaye roadster

I mostly use Bob Smith Insta-cure+ and 5-minute epoxy. CA glue can be used on clear styrene without crazing it if you only use a small amount and blow the vapors away while it cures- I've built several models using only CA glue, but now I tend to use the 5-minute epoxy on the clear parts just to be safe.

http://images57.fotki.com/v512/photos/7/2403537/11527624/428-vi.jpg /img Need to enclose the "/img" in brackets

Just need to type and /img (also enclosed in brackets) before/after the pic's url Nice build btw.

If your color coat is smooth there's no need to clear before decaling

My wife and I have been married 27 years and we still enjoy going out drinking and dancing 2 nights a week She goes on tuesdays, I go on thursdays

Neither of mine were broken to start with, but I managed to break them myself without too much effort.

They sell replacement sets for Pocher kits on eBay- just search for "Pocher screws".

The adhesive on blue "long-mask" tape reacted with my polished-out clearcoat (Duplicolor) resulting in a grainy surface which then needed to be re-wetsanded and polished out again. Fortunately, my clearcoat was applied thick enough to allow it otherwise I'd have been screwed. Tamiya tape is well-worth the expense, and that's coming from a confirmed cheapskate.

I spray a little puddle of MM "aluminum plate" metalizer on a piece of cardboard, let it gas out for about 10-15 seconds, then rub my finger in the metalizer and "tamp" the metalizer on the bare spot, wait ~15 minutes then buff it out. The metalizer will stick to the bare plastic better than the chrome so when it's buffed out it basically disappears.

Thanks for the kind comment, Charlie. I used MM "aluminum plate" buffing metalizer in the rattlecan for the headlight bezels- it has the best chrome appearance IMO

Wow, that's almost exactly like my Doyusha 1/12 LP500s- it sat in the LHS for months while I drooled over it, then they finally put it on sale for $58 and I bought it. That was in 1986, so about the same time. The gold wheels were what did it for me. I have a Gunze Sangyo "High-Tech" Ferrari 250GTO full-detail kit on eBay right now- I can't afford to build that.

Well, there was an old sock involved in the process Thanks for the kind comments- I do try to keep my paint layers very thin as I'm not a fan of the "syrupy" look either. My motto is "put plenty of paint on, then sand most of it off" I used worn-out 600 grit and Blue Coral polishing compound on my 1/12 LP500s back in '87- I learned some valuable lessons doing that one: Couple more that were done with 2,000 grit and Novus #2 (and a sock, lol) TS-13 clear over decals on this one: Duplicolor clear: The TS-13 is better IMO, but the Duplicolor stuff works pretty well and is cheaper and more available. -Mike

Well, I only finished 2 cars this year and this was the first, a Revell 1/25 1949 Mercury custom that I built to compete in box-stock class. I painted it with an old bottle of "Pearl Coral" Pactra R/C car paint over white Plasticote primer, then clearcoated it with Duplicolor clear lacquer which was then wetsanded with 2,000 grit and rubbed out with Novus #2 plastic polish. I built it in about 2 weeks and finished it at 12:30AM the morning of a model contest over on the coast where it won Best Paint and Best Custom sittin' there reeking of my hours-old Testor's flat black underhood paint, LOL Please forgive the low-res pics, my camera is an old 3.34Mp model Here's the completed chassis and interior: I kept the interior pretty simple since you can't really see it much with the chopped top- the white is just the primer, then I airbrushed flat copper acrylic panels. I painted the dash the body color, then masked off the radio and speaker grille and metalized them. The kit decals included 2-3 different gauge styles, which is a nice touch. Finished! The color is a little bit off in my pics- it actually shows a more "coppery" tinge in brighter light. Thanks for looking! -Mike

I feel your pain, Kevin. Depending on the particular contest's judging criteria, sometimes an entry with poorly done, non-scale appearing details will get that extra point that beats your super-clean but basically box-stock build. Here's another one for you- sometimes you lose a point if your motor isn't visible, like on a GP bike where it's covered with a fairing. So then you have to decide between going for the points by removing the fairing (which can be a booger) or displaying the bike the way you think it LOOKS the best. It's a meat-grinder out there I tell ya

"Should of" instead of "should've" or "should have" bugs me.

I use EZ-Off oven cleaner (lye) in a plastic bag- I've found that in addition to containing the noxious fumes, the fumes seem to have as much stripping effect as the actual liquid so it works faster in the bag than in the open air where the fumes are not contained.

I won the sedan delivery kit with the complimentary raffle ticket I got with my show entry at the OSSM show in Clackamas a couple of years back, I also recently completed the Aerosedan, but haven't had a chance to take any finished pics I dechromed the carbs and intake manifold and metalized them: The interior was kept pretty simple- the white is just the primer: Body color painted and kit decals applied- I ended up not liking the ones on the skirts so I nixed 'em: Finished: I attached the front fenders before painting the body on the Sedan Delivery, and followed the instructions on the Aerosedan- if I build another one I'll probably attach the fenders first, it seemed to turn out better that way although it was a little more work to wetsand. I also cut the top end of the front spindles so they would install "deeper" in the upper suspension arms, whose mounting points were also raised slightly on the Aerosedan so it would sit lower. They are great kits and well-worth building, but I did notice a couple of problems, the one that comes to mind is the chrome headlight bezels on both kits had sinks in the tops that were pretty noticeable- on the Sedan Delivery I stripped them and used some Mr. White putty to fill the low parts, then metalized them and buffed them out. I left the ones on the Aerosedan chrome as I was trying to finish it in time for a contest, which I did... at 4:45AM the day of the meet where it won 1st place in Box Stock class, sitting there gassing out paint fumes -Mike

Very nice builds- where are you getting the rotor wheels?

I only have one black car: Here's a funky video I made of my rotating display in action, LOL

I have 3 Ford Fiestas- I had 4 but I parted one out so now it lives in a bunch of boxes on a shelving unit. My '80 "S" has >450,000 miles on it, I used to run autocross events with it and it was very competitive in it's class (FSP) but now it's a babied grocery-getter. Kind of an old pic, but it still looks the same: I also have a couple of '78 base models: The car in the background is a '74 Mazda RX4 coupe which I sold last year- before I got into the Fiestas I was into old rotary cars and have owned 2 Mazda RX2s, 2 Mazda RX3s, 3 Mazda RX4s, and a 1st Gen. RX7. I sold my last RX3 to the director of R&D for Mazda North America.