bigbluesd

I'm dying for an 89 bronco II, but I don't see how it could be done from anything available

Anybody know of a good tutorial that shows how to go about lifting a truck? Also, for those of you building all these mud trucks, where do you usually get your wheels and tires?

I knew that meng kit was going to make for some cool stuff.... This is phenomenal!

Does anybody have a copy of the instructions for this kit that they could scan or photograph for me? Won a kit on eBay but didn't notice that it was lacking the instruction book. It apparently is a difficult kit so I don't want to try and wing it.

That paint is miles deep, love it.

I think that sounds awesome, you will have some people who never deliver on their contributed prize, etc. but you'd have to acknowledge that it just comes with the territory. I am game.

Updated question in OP.

I've been using the Testor's clear part glue for most stuff and Scotch clear glue when I need something with a little more viscosity/quicker setup (like for rear view mirrors or printed license plates). Still not really happy with either though, would prefer something with a stronger bond that won't craze the clear parts.

Just curious how some of you guys go about opening up very tiny vents like the ones in the photo below.... I've seen it in a few threads but when I try to open up something even bigger with a Dremel I make a complete mess of it. Any tips? FOLLOWUP 07/07 - So I've gotten this far but my openings are still pretty messy: That is my smallest needle file shown in the picture... do they make anything smaller than that? I'm thinking if I had a small enough flat file that would be the best way to clean up the rough edges. Also (while we are on the subject), any suggestions on what to use to smooth out the panel lines that I've scribed deeper? I have been folding a piece of sandpaper in half and running it through the lines with marginal results.

Holy cow, that is SLICK.

Build thread here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=90769 Was really proud of the way this one was going up until final assembly, that is the point at which things typically turn to #&$& for me. Still not bad, looks good in the cabinet! Wheels from another Revell Mustang kit (3'n1), scratch built radio antenna (woohoo), painted with Duplicolor from the can and Duplicolor clear lacquer. The rest of the (rapidly growing) (and *slowly* improving) collection:

Thanks, just for the benefit of anybody else coming across this thread in a search, I threw it in some 70% alcohol before you guys replied and it worked really well. Didn't need to try the Windex!

Love that license plate

I have Future on top of chromed (from box) parts and Testor's enamels. Is there anything I can use to strip the future without harming the chrome plating and enamel?

I would think gloss coat from a spray can would not work well... you really have to mist it and the spray coverage is too course to have it look uniform without getting it too glossy. Would need to use an airbrush. * DISCLAIMER: I'm no pro either, could be wrong.

A little more progress, polished and waxed the body and it came out REALLY well. Unfortunately as it often does things tend to turn to #$*& at the last minute. First I fought the rear view mirror for the better part of half an hour (as I always do), then fought part of the exhaust that is supposed to run under the front suspension and attach to the motor after installation of the rest of the chassis, then broke half of the parts off the motor trying to get the chassis into the body shell. Of course once I got it in and glued a few contact points I realized I had forgotten to install the interior. DOH! Now putting it back together I get superglue on my finger which gets on my shiny new paint job. GRRRRRR. Now that's in and the ride height is screwed up, body is not sitting straight on the chassis and don't know why (see rear tire height, too high on one side, too low on the other). I'd take it apart again but I am learning to leave well enough alone to avoid a bigger disaster. At this point I have to wait until the headlights are done, I have added a little white acrylic to the Future as suggested and it does seem to look better. Still needs a couple of coats though. Thanks for the advice. Also scratch built a radio antenna out of some Evergreen and guitar string. Doesn't look too bad, really pleased with myself on that one. I'm waiting until the last minute to install it as I'm sure I will destroy it in the process of building the rest of the car if I don't.

You should be a translator.

Here is what I am working with: There is a clear lens that goes over the headlight portion itself (the middle section) but nothing for the side lenses. They look incredibly fake. I want to give them at least a minor illusion of depth so that it looks like there is a lens over them instead of just being chrome or silver. My initial plan was to dip it in Future many times and hope that the Future would look like a glass lens over the piece but the Future is way too clear and thin when it dries. I'm thinking of glopping Elmer's glue over the whole piece tonight in a thick layer, don't know how well that is going to work. Any ideas?

No photo update, always way too late when I finish up my modeling work for the night and never have time to take pictures! I did want to bounce something off of ya'll though... Trim paint is done, I ended up using Testor's flat black with a brush for all of the window trim and some hard to mask body trim (years of DIY painting house trim by hand have given me a pretty steady edge), the easier to mask portions got shot with an airbrush. Everything turned out really well with that, will post pictures later. Finished up airbrushing the taillight lenses (they had two varying shades of red, amber and flat black, a lot of masking and time for such a small part) and also blacked out the interior of the body shell and did some under the hood painting. Letting it all dry until tonight then it's generally ready for assembly. My problem child on this though (and the thing I wanted to ask for feedback on) is the headlights. I posted photos of them in my initial post and the problem is that there is no clear plastic lens that goes over the turn signals, etc., just the middle panel. Of course this looks very cheesy. For my first attempt in correcting it I tried multiple applications of dipping the whole housing in Future and hanging it to dry upside down (so the Future would pool a little on the surface of the lens area instead of running down into the housing). I'm up to about 7 applications now and the end result is that it doesn't make much of a difference... the future just dries too clear and makes the chrome look even shinier with no real sense of depth. I contemplated using Testor's window maker but I think it will be too clear as well -- the lens needs to obscure the chrome a little bit and be at least *slightly* opaque in order to look more like the 1:1. My Plan C is to use Elmer's white glue and literally just gob it onto the surface. If applied heavily and quickly it does tend to self level (and a little bit of water could make that easier). I did a few test spots on the chrome sprue last night but have not seen the results yet. Has anybody ever done this or do any of you have any better ideas to replicate that lens look on this piece? Any advice is appreciated...

Thanks Art, that was exactly what I wanted to know. I think I am going to seal the hood and doors and bondo over the gaps so that I can make new panel lines.

Dawn power dissolver just saved one that I had botched with duplicolor lacquer. Brake fluid and easy off weren't getting the job done, DPD did it with ease.took some effort to find it, I ended up buying a few bottles at Food Lion.comes in a blue squirt bottle (like Windex) with a white nozzle.

I picked up this kit the other day at Michael's for 40% off: http://www.amazon.com/Maisto-Assembly-Corvette-Stingray-Convertible/dp/B00G05GD5K/ref=sr_1_16?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1403642369&sr=1-16&keywords=corvette+model+kit The thing that bothers me about the metal kits is the huge panel lines where doors, etc. open as well as the fact that all of the corners look "soft" to me. Is it possible to strip these and sharpen corners, etc. to make them look more in-line with a plastic kit? I considered sealing all of the doors, hoods, etc. and making it curbside but it seems that even some of the non-opening edges are fairly bulbous (like the edges where the bodies meet the vents. Would trying to fix this be an exercise in futility?

I haven't been into this hobby long enough to know from experience, how long does it generally take before you start to see the new releases in the big chains (Hobby Lobby, Michael's, AC Moore, etc.)? Unfortunately I don't have a LHS so other than online ordering those are the only places I can pick them up but every time I go in there it's the same kits that I've seen for the past year that I've been into this. I've been itching to pick up some of the Revell releases from earlier this year and even last year with a 40% coupon but no go so far.

I've seen this car done a few times lately (must be something in the water), all of them certainly more impressive than my own but I'm happy with the direction it is headed at this point and it is definitely one of my better builds yet so I figured I'd go ahead and catch up with a WIP thread. I have no illusions about the fact that I am still a novice so I've yet to really venture too far away from the OOB builds, this will be one of those with a few very minor modifications that I'm beginning to get comfortable with. This is the Monogram reissue kit and it's not too bad. I'm not crazy about the way the suspension and exhaust attach but other than that I have few complaints. This is the car that I'm using for "inspiration". Not going for an exact replica, just thought it looked sharp, especially the way the paint goes blue in some of the photos of it. To get this effect I decided to try to custom mix Duplicolor blue and Pacific Green Metallic decanted from the can. I sprayed this through my airbrush and it was a disastrous rough finish, so it hit the bag filled with the Dawn cleaner and I started again from scratch, this time using the spray cans (if it ain't broke why fix it?). I did an undercoat of DC Bahama Blue Metallic and then a coat of Pacific Green Metallic. It ended up a bit darker than I had hoped and the blue isn't very noticeable (if at all). Whatever though, not a stickler! Finished it up with some Duplicolor clear lacquer (which is still curing prior to rubbing it out). Opened up the vent in the hood, made a bit of a mess of it but it's not too noticeable after a little putty and sanding. Also noticed in this pic that my decal on the hood is a little crooked, unfortunately I've already clear coated it so that ship has sailed. . The rear end (with the first coat of silver for the taillights). All of the trim will be masked and painted satin black in a few days when my next supply shipment comes in (or do you all think I should go flat black? feedback welcome). They included a nice decal for the "MUSTANG SVO" lettering but I couldn't get it to stick on top of the raised lettering on the kit. In retrospect I would have sanded down the lettering and used the decal but I didn't think about this until I had already painted the body (for the 2nd and a half time). TOOTHPICK PAINTING IT IS! Can't really tell yet because the glue is still drying, but I put some cigarette foil in the foglights and covered it with Testor's window glue/glass maker. Interior shot. Picked up some embossing powder today at Michael's for the first time, used it on the rear deck and it looks awesome, really like it. Wish I had some before I assembled the rest of the interior (I'm tempted to take it apart to do the floorboards). I'm really impressed with the gauge decals for this kit. Belly of the beast. I'm not huge on absolute historical accuracy and my hobby time is limited so I don't spend too much time dwelling on undercarriage colors. Basically just paint parts of it some color that looks normal and give it some variation to catch my eye and make it look decent. Made some exhaust tips out of aluminum tubing. Really wanted to convert it to a pipe on each side of the gas tank but my skill set isn't quite there yet so I opted for the simple solution. Need to find a good way to polish these in the future, working with something so small makes it impossible to sand and polish well. One of my pet peeves is crappy looking headlights on a kit. these look pretty bad on the box art, the side lenses have nothing to cover them, just the chrome piece. The headlight itself at least has a clear plastic lens but it doesn't obscure much and the flat chrome housing shows through and looks incredibly dull and fake. To counter this I've drilled a couple of holes in the housing and put pieces of clear sprue in there to (roughly) represent a bulb and bulb housing. Doesn't look too convincing here but I figure once the lens is in place it should be obscured just enough to look halfway convincing (at least better than it was before). I need some advice on the next part.... I am not sure how to go about making the side lenses look decent. I have two ideas at present... either coat the everloving #*$& out of the whole headlight housing part with some clearcoat, OR dip it in Future a few times, OR dip it in Testor's window maker. Either way it the contact points for the clear lens as well as the exterior borders will have to be sanded back down but that seems doable (?). Would be curious as to how some of you more experienced pros would do it? Tomorrow is beach and birthday party day so no more work on it until Sunday, the plan is to go ahead and rub out the body finish then mask the trim and possibly paint it (if I decide to go with the flat black.... unfortunately I have no satin other than some #*$&ty Rustoleum black). Also continue to work on the multi-colored taillight lenses. Any feedback or criticism is welcome and appreciated! http://i.imgur.com/yA2nCDo.jpg

I know this is a bit elementary, but can you please give me some detail on what exactly your process/technique is for opening these vents? It's one of those things that I am always yearning to do but forever scared to touch because when I've gone to open up larger vents and such it often ends in disaster, these just seem like I would wreck them immediately. Also, you keep talking about grinding down the thickness of the plastic which is another one of my pet peeves (thick walls at openings), what are you using to do that with? This build looks amazing.