Olle F

Thanks for the kind comments, guys! I sure appreciate it, especially since this is the only build I have been able to finish this year. Look out for the next one around 2010-2011 or so. Hej Hasse! The "leather" finish was actually kind of a mistake. I was going for a vinyl look, but picked a pastel powder that turned out to be much darker than I intended. I was going to wipe it off and try again, but then I thought: "Hey, a free upgrade to leather ain't that bad!" so I left it like that. In hindsight, I'm glad that I did.

Just have to second what has already been said: That is one sweet model! I just love the understated look of the color together with the steel rims and the dogdishes, looks like a predator waiting for its prey. And that vinyl top is probably the best I have ever seen on a model, it sure came out nice!

That's funny... The ones I have are also called "Wizard's O's", but are from Performance Detail Products. I don't know if that company still exists though. Yeah, those sink marks are extremely annoying! I was thinking about adding something like the mylar on my mirrors too, but wasn't sure if it was gonna look good layered with the rings. Still, the O-rings seem to hide the imperfections in the "mirrors" (or maybe they just draw the attention off of them), so the sink marks are not as noticeable as I thought they would be.

Rear view mirrors are usually molded with a totally flat "mirror" surface, which makes them look kinda ugly and toy like sometimes. While I was finishing up my '65 Impala, I happened to find some photoetched rings in my box of "might come in handy one day" stuff. I bought them about 15 years ago, and last night they finally came in handy (I just knew they would... ). I picked a ring that fit the mirror, and tacked it on with some Crystal Clear. Looks way better than a totally flat mirror, IMO. Of course, they can only be used on round mirrors, so other shapes might be something for the aftermarket manufacturers to include in their kit specific PE sets. But then again, it would certainly be better if the kit manufacturers molded them like this in the first place...

Alrrrrrright... Finally done! Pictures of the finished model: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16106 And a big thanks to y'all for all the tips and encouraging words, I sure appreciate it!

Ok, it has been a long time in the making, but here it is: Have been struggling with different other projects (work out of state, new kitchen, A/C installaton, misc. gun projects etc.) but I finally got it done. Here is the build thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5585 BTW #1: I found a neat way to make the rear view mirrors look better. I was digging around in my PE-collection and found some rings that fit perfectly on the mirrors, so I simply glued them on with some Crystal Clear. This was an easy detail to add, and made the mirrors look way more realistic than just a flat surface, IMO. BTW #2: Sorry for the lousy pictures. Still have to learn how to use this new camera...

Seems like I'm a day late, so here's a little something to make up for it. Just print it and take it to your favorite hobby store:

If you have got an airbrush, you can try this: Paint the body with gloss paint and apply the decals (as already mentioned, the decals won't stick to flat paint). Spray some gloss clear over the whole thing, let dry, and polish out any orange peel, dust etc. Then you take some of the gloss clear, thin it with lots of lacquer thinner (maybe 25% clear and 75% thinner) and dust it on, using high pressure. This will give you a finish that's more of a satin or semi gloss, depending on how much thinner you use, but it can be handled without leaving fingerprints. I use this method quite often when painting details such as engines, interiors etc, and it works great. I have even sprayed straight lacquer thinner on the paint to knock off the sheen and it works too, but you have to be very careful and just mist it on. I might better add that I have done this for years and it may take some practice before you get the hang of it, so you may want to try it on something else before you do it on your model.

Wow! Looks like something GM could have built. A nice build and a very cool idea!

Pete, I'm as aggravated as you are when I see a teenager speeding down the road while texting on the cell phone, but I can tell you that I have changed my opinion on the gizmofied cell phones quite a bit during the last few years. I used to carry a "telephone only" cell phone and was quite happy with that, but when it was time to upgrade, my wife convinced me to get a fancier model which happened to include a camera. So I had this for a while, using it for talking only until one day when I was on the phone with my office, trying to describe a layout problem on a construction site. After a long and somewhat confused discussion, I thought: "Hmmm... let's try the camera and see what it can do". So I snapped a picture, figured out how to e-mail it to the office, and all of a sudden I realized that I had a very useful tool that could help me a lot. Later on, I also realized that the text function was great for sending notes to my own computer, sending info to the office (ever tried to read a 25-digit serial number to someone on the phone?) and so on. Now I consider this as one of the more important tools in my arsenal, and I look closely at the features every time I upgrade my phone. So in short: I sure wouldn't mind having that Motorola!

Hey, that looks great, and you did a fantastic job considering what a miserable turd this kit is. I'm struggling with one right now, and the flip nose sure needed some surgery to fit the body. It was too tall, to wide, the pressings on the sides were shaped wrong and didn't line up etc, etc... The fit is halfway decent after some tweaking, but it will take a Herculean effort to make it perfect so I have decided to make this a primered weekend racer and just live with the imperfections. If it looks too bad, I can always display it with the nose flipped open... Here are some "before" and "after" pictures:

Same type of car as in "Mad Max", right?

Can't remember what I did with them... I got rid of mostly everything when I moved to the US, and I believe Claes B-F and Björn S. ended up with most of what I had. They should both be able to put it to good use though.

The funniest thing about that commercial is that there is no such thing as "Corinthian leather", it was just a name Chrysler came up with for the marketing campaign. But it sure sounds exotic.

We have an 8-year old son, so I'm very aware of how little it takes to get your computer screwed up. After struggling constantly with the garbage he installed by clicking on pop-ups, I re-formatted both our PCs, installed all the software again and set them up with one user and one administrator account. I did the same thing at my in-laws house, where they had the same problem. The only way to install software now is to log in as an administrator, and that's me and no one else. I also gave our son a lesson in "safe surfing", so now he will come to me and ask every time he sees something that looks suspicious. The user/administrator setup is not 100% safe, but it sure helps a lot. As an added bonus, it also keeps wy wife from installing all those "cute" screen savers that always seem to come with some kind of adware or spyware.

After a quick search on Google, I found that toluidine is one chemical that is used as an accelerator, but I sure don't know where to find that. However, I believe that the "natural" drying process is a reaction with the moisture in the air so you can make it dry a bit quicker by simply breathing on it (like if you were trying to fog up a mirror or something). This doesn't work as well as accelerator, but hey: It's free! Just dipping in water or spraying water on it might work too, but I haven't tried it.

The smaller one is for the radiator. Not sure about the larger one, but it looks like an ice can for the fuel.

I use APS from Hobby Lobby, and I have sprayed in on enamels several times without problems. It can leave some "water marks" sometimes, but it can usually be wiped off easily. BUT: I had a serious incident when I CA-glued a windshield and used this accelerator. I used a few, tiny drops of Loctite "gel" glue which has never really caused any problems before, but when I hit it with the accelerator, the whole #&%&#/¤ windshield fogged up in a fraction of a second. It was so much fun to polish a windshield that was securely glued in place on an almost finished model. Well, live and learn, I guess I should have known better.

You're right, I should have mentioned that this machine is best suited for cutting flat pieces out of flat stock, and that limits the types of parts you can make. And I'm not sure about the engraving yet, chances are that the engraved areas will show the lines from the engraving, very much like what you would see on milled parts. That could look kinda ugly and would be difficult to sand out on, for example, a license plate with raised letters. Another possible limitation is the heat generated by the laser. Let's say that you're trying to cut a spoke wheel for a dragster: You can easily cut one side of the spoke, but once you cut the other side, the spoke might get totally ruined from heat distortion. I have a lot of homework to do here. And I have thought about how to layer pieces, make multi-piece assemblies and so on, but some parts already exist (like '32 Ford frames) and I don't feel like I can make anything that's better than what's already on the market. Bat wings and other chassis parts would be easy to make though, as long as they can be built from flat pieces. Yeah, maybe so. I'm not taking any orders yet though.

Thanks for the replies, guys! So let's see... so far, we have this: -I-beam axles (easy to draw and cut, but finnicky to assemble) -Instruments -Custom chassis for hot rods (not sure if I can make the '32 rails look right though) -Box-truck conversion kit -Wood trim -Smooth firewalls for street rods (difficult to draw in CAD and make it fit...) -License plates with raised letters (I hope I can engrave this, would make an excellent detail!) -License plate frames (easy to draw, but PE parts would probably look better) -32 Ford grille with raised ribbing, custom grilles (another one that's difficult to draw in CAD) -Rocker panel trim -Wheel covers, custom wheel centers (more of a 3D thing, not sure if I can make this look good) -Slam locks for big rigs -Pulley sets/engine accessory brackets (great idea, and easy to draw!) -Wrench sets I might add that I would like to start with something fairly generic that can be used for as many models as possible. It will take some time to make a CAD-drawing, but I can duplicate the parts with ease once the drawing is done. So keep 'em coming!

Our company just bought a small laser cutter, and my first thought was of course: "What can I make for model cars?" My material of choice would be styrene sheets, which it can cut with ease. It can also engrave, by adjusting the intensity of the laser to cut partly through the material. Then there are special materials you can get, like thin film that's layered in different colors so you can make the engraving appear in a different color (think instruments, emblems etc). You could also make a back lit instrument panel by cutting through a sheet of styrene, inserting it in the dash and putting a small lightbulb behind it. One idea I got from another forum is a straight hot rod style front axle with holes. This could be made as three separate parts for the beam, and some added pieces for spindles, mounts etc. "Bomber" style seats for hot rods would be another thing that would be fairly easy to make, and there must be a thousand different parts you can use it for. You have to produce a CAD-drawing to run it, but that shouldn't be too difficult as long as you know the dimensions of the part you want to make. I'm not sure how much access I will have to this machine, but I would still like some suggestions for things that can be cut. I have a total mental block right now, so let's hear some ideas!

I haven't looked that close, but I know how annoying it is to find those things when you're building models of cars you know inside and out. Doesn't sound like it's too bad though. I want to build a nice, detailed Chevelle '69 so bad, but the only offering on the market is a turd so it will just turn into a 5-year scratch-building quagmire...

That's definitely not for the faint of heart! Still, it made me think that you can use a dentist's pick to carefully scribe the paint, instead of cutting it with a knife blade. As long as you use a sharp tool, a guide and of course, providing that the paint doesn't chip or act up when you scribe it... There's a lot of "ifs" and "buts", but I might just try this method on a scrapped body to see if it works.

How about using this? http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11856

That's good advice right there! I don't know how many times I have had to get a whole package of a certain profile just because I needed a tiny little piece of it. Just a couple of weeks ago, I bought a package of I-beam to make a pair of maybe 1/4" long spring shackles... As a matter of fact, I bought two different sizes, as I didn't know which one I could use. Granted, you never know what's in those grab bags until you open them, but it should be a very good start.