majel

My other hobbies include my 71el camino which I'm trying to get back on the road, reading (Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and World War 2), Arizona Diamondbacks, NASCAR, and NHRA. But my favorite hobby is my three year old granddaughter!!

John: These are both incredible models, your work is truly amazing. It was great to follow both builds on the forum, it's just amazing how quickly you built them. Hopefully I Will see them next year at the DSC.

Raoul and Jonathan: thanks for the great pictures, and to every one involved in putting the contest together thanks for the good time. As always it was a quality show with great models!

Just finished this Ford Bigfoot model. It was built box stock and put on a base made of plywood, celluclay, railroad ballast, Arizona dirt, and coffee grounds. The two cars it is crushing are a 57 or 58 Ford (I really don't remember), and a Pontiac GTO Judge (never did like that model). The base and the two crushed cars were done about 5 years ago and had a different monster truck on them but I was never happy with the truck. Still not real pleased with the finished product of the truck, but as a whole I like the look of the whole model.

Just filled out my online registration for the Desert Scale Classic. Missed last year, but I will be there after the 200 mile drive. Just wish my 1:1 1970 el camino was up for the drive, but with no floorboards its a little to Flintstone for my taste!!!

This is going to be a very cool model. I remember going to Manzanita in the mid to late seventies to watch the super modifieds run, and remember watching Ron Shuman, he was a Manzanita staple.

Finally took the plunge and bought a decent airbrush! Don't know why I waited so long, I've owned cheap airbrushes before and always got cheap results. Gave up on most of them and went with spray can paint jobs, but got tired of that. I am extremely happy with the badger, it is very easy to use and clean up seems to be a no brainer. I am hoping to spray some alclad chrome next week on a monster truck I am finishing up, like the good airbrush I have never tried that before. Hopefully I will get good results. At 54 years old you can teach an old dog new tricks!!

Can tamiya acrylic gloss black be used as a base coat under alclad 2 chrome or does the base coat need to be an namel or lacquer?

That's a sharp looking build, very clean looking. Definitely makes for an interesting street legal truck.

You're a typical teacher Bill, always willing to purchase the items needed for your classroom. I left the profession after five years to start my own contracting business, but my wife has taught for thirty years and it always amazes me how much of her income goes back into the classroom. Once again thank you to you and all of the thousands of dedicated teachers.

Bill: it's great to see a teacher trying to get kids involved in our hobby. I did the same thing the one year I taught seventh grade, we did it as an exploratory class (basically an elective). The kids really liked it, we had a little show at the end of the class for the rest of the school to view their work. Unfortunately we didn't get kits donated, the school paid for all the kits, glue, and paint. I donated tools and paintbrushes from my stash and all twenty of us had a great time. I only taught the one year at the school and unfortunately the program left with me, probably because of the cost for the school. I applaud you for your patience and caring.

Great job on the el Camino, I agree the work on the dash is great!

Here is something I finally figured out this weekend after failed attempts at masking windshields on models that don't come with pre-cut masking film. I imagine others already do this, I'm just a little slow on the up-take!. I use tamiya masking tape to tape off the windshield which makes it difficult to see the "relief" area that is to be painted black. So I trace around the "relief" area with a mechanical pencil before covering the window with the masking tape. the pencil mark is visible through the tape and gives me a good outline to cut the tape out. Simple to do, and like I said its probably been done millions of times but hopefully this helps someone else.

Is realistic racing colors tru-match paint still available, and if so does anyone know who sells their paint. I am looking for a can of #1013 day-glo red for a nascar project

Very clean looking build, great job. Where did you get the hood pins from?

Great looking build Bruce! Did you heat wrap the headers or did they come with that texture already on them? If you did wrap them what did you use? Once again great looking model of a classic NASCAR.

Very nice looking build!! I built this same model as a Christmas present for a sister-in-law in baby blue with a tan interior. Like you said it went together very well, one of my favorite builds. Unfortunately she is now an ex sister-in-law and I have never seen the model again!

I just got back from the IPMS Best of the West contest in Las Vegas, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but I wanted to let you all know us car guys were very well represented in both numbers and quality. The quality of all the models (cars, military, and figures) was very impressive. The best of show award went to a car which I thought was impressive for an IPMS event. The show was very well run, everyone was friendly and I had a great time. Hopefully someone else who attended the show will post some pictures.

That is a fantastic job , incredible that all the lettering and numbering is hand painted, that takes a ton of skill!!

I am currently building a Ferrari 458 that I have done the engine cover glass outline in black two times now with terrible results.First time with sharpie, the trouble is they're not really a dark black, and trying to cover the first pass with a second coat resulted in a crappy finish. Stripped off the sharpie, taped the glass and painted black, glued to frame using Kristal Klear and got white (or clear) spots where the paint lifted. Stripped paint last night, going to tape and paint again and use a clear coat over the black before installing the glass. If the third time isn't a charm I may be forced to scream!

I am working on a Ferrari 458 and am trying to paint the black portion around the rear engine cover. I used Tamiya tape to mask it off, Tamiya spray black to paint it, and Micro Kristal Klear to mount the glass to the frame. As you can see from the photos the glue has gone through the paint leaving clear spots on the glass which weren't there after painting. Two questions: what can I strip the paint with that won't affect the glass and what can I use to glue the glass to the frame that won't show through the glass, or what the heck am I doing wrong?

Here is the first Craftsman Truck Series truck I have attempted. This is the first time I have tried scratchbuilding and detailing. The front chassis was scratchbuilt using Evergreen styrene rod, fuel cell and fuel system was also completely scratchbuilt. Aftermarket parts used came from ProTech, Detail Master and Slixx decals

This is my first time trying to post pictures, hopefully this works. This is a 1/16th Revell model that was built completely out of the box, including the box decals which are old but turned out ok. This is my first large scale model, boy the parts are much easier to see with my 53 year old eyes! Really enjoyed this build

Really wish I could be there next weekend. Always a great contest, great vendors, very nice people, and all around good time. Unfortunately I have to work on Saturday, but I suggest if you live anywhere in Arizona or southern Cal it is worth the trip!

Thanks for the suggestions, I ended up using 70% isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip and the sharpie came off with a little work. I then masked off the windshield and painted it black and it looks so much better. Thanks for the suggestions!