jbwelda

thanks! one mans irony is anothers poor memory!!! that looks killer and those surfboards came out super nice.

i am pretty sure its an austin...and that was way before rover had anything to do with austin or morris wasnt it? that would still mean its basically from a (austin) mini rather than a (morris) mini, most likely.

yeah thats what it looked like but there seems to be some earlier mention of "new" SWC tooling. any clarification? or maybe that just means they retooled exactly the same parts as the original but in a new tool?

so...you would actually put one of your models on a stand like that, hanging from the wall? not here in earthquaky california you wouldnt! i remember making one of those and displaying a model on it when i was a kid...worked great until the cat made a jump at it to use as a sitting perch, which was about a half hour after i proudly put it up. durn cat.

i always wondered where they came up with that syringe holding witch doctor image that was with as i recall a 59 el camino? totally wicked and really pretty scary for the time...i think i first noticed in 62 or 63?

and here is an engine! btw just noticed scalemasters thread on his build of this some couple years ago. great and certainly a high water mark for mine! thanks for looking!

i just found this thread...can we have some finished pics? or maybe they are in the under glass section? thanks in advance.

so is this willys a new tooling or is it like stone wood cook or what? looks very familiar...

just so awesome! i have toyed with the idea of doing a (non authentic probably) race car of the revell jag but yours are just spectacular! fantastic...

ok i didnt mean to take this thread off on some tangent but i see what youre talking about harry...its just that i have been here since when that was more a "ask gregg and jairus a question" forum and not a "how do i do this" forum. but i see now what you mean. regardless its kool with me anyway because you guys set the rules, i was more or less just wondering why you pick on that when everyday posts are made in this "general" column that much more would belong in another forum. a particular example that happens all the time is the talking about new releases...i think there is a specific forum for that too but no one calls anyone on it. anyway no worries, i will start reading that q&a forum more then. but back to the original point of the thread i would recommend that chicks videos on airbrush use even though she is only using water based acrylics. i just watched them last night and learned a lot especially about cleaning and rebuilding an airbrush and its components. she has a great style (she even used that "thats what she said" line once to great effect) and really seems to know her way around a brush.

i am a complete nut on maserati birdcages, so even though i am not that about diecasts, i couldnt pass up the Minichamps 1/18 to go along with my cmc jewels! at under 100$ including shipping on ebay this is a real bargain. i have yet to compare it side by side with the cmc ones i have, i can see just by looking at it that its a bit more "model" looking than the "shrunk down to 1/18" look of the cmc, but the cmc is 3X the price and you sure get a lot here for not much money as fine diecasts go! cmc complete and chassis only: the real thing: i just wish some mainline model company (eg: not resin) would tool up a nice birdcage in 1/24 or 25th. i would seriously buy a crate of them. my favorite car ever for a long long time now. edit: just looking at the photos above you can see the minichamps is a whole level under the cmc...but thats what your money buys both ways!

>The Tips. Tricks and Tutorial section is for posting tips, tricks and tutorials. and not for ASKING for tips on something you're having a hard time with? yep, i guess "crazy" is the word all right.

well i promised i wouldnt bore us with this but heres the axle and wheels and grille in the jig, letting the white glue dry. again this little magnetic jig deal is very sweet once you get used to moving those magnets around with some finesse: but heres the beef: looks very nice from that angle but the front axle and wheels are sitting too far forward as this photo shows: on the other hand, it kind of has that classic Lotus Seven stance with the wheels kicked out in front of the fenders. it actually has grown on me over looking at these pics and at the model itself. the axle and grille could still move back just a bit... one thing i do notice though is the track is too wide still, and i am not sure where i can save any more width. its already tiny as it is and the backs of the wheels dont have much left to grind off. and looking down between the radiator blank and the motor front, theres plenty of room to move the axle and rad shell back if i grind a bit off the front tubing. that would also let the wheels sit up higher in the fenders if i tuck in the width a bit, and that would lower the front down a little more and might make it look even more mean. overall i think its lookin pretty aggressive right now but hopefully some tweaks will sharpen it up a little more.

> a 32, and no matter what I do, the tank doesnt look right. yeah thats pretty much what i was trying to mimic, the look of a 32 ford with the tank stuck out front. in fact at one time i was considering slicing and dicing a vickie grille shell until i realized it would be pretty hard to do that to a photoetch grille! and hey Niko, thanks for the compliments, esp on the paint but unfortunately the camera is hiding a lot of problems in that dept. i really should have stripped it and started again when i got those pools of clear but i had already done that twice so i just didnt have the appetite for it. so it goes i guess...it looks pretty good in the photos but eeeuuccchhhhh in person! one good aspect of that is it has finally caused me to buy a compressor and airbrush and move on up to the eastside. thanks again for looking and the comments!

kool man thanks for the pic. we are neighbors by the way, i live about 40 miles from tracy out in the delta. maybe we should get our 240s together! ps: i am in the immediate need of a right front turn signal and a right side fog lamp if you got any originals lying around, please PM!

shell to the body? can you be more specific? like maybe you mean the body to the chassis?

um just a guess but maybe he is looking for tips. i stopped looking at that section though because it seemed to me some time ago some draconian regs were put in place that pretty much negate that section. maybe i had it wrong but i want tips and tutorials there and certainly asking for tips fits right in there to my thinking anyway. but im nearly a professional contrarian.

today i expected to get my order from micro mark including a paasche air brush to hook up to my new harbor freight compressor! gonna finally make the big jump or at least mess around with it. first project is a roth surfite...the yellow is always challenging as i have demonstrated in the horrible mess i have made of the paint on this austin. seriously...the photos cover it but its all pooled up in corners etc and just looks like heck. i am hoping to exercise some discipline and learn to paint properly! i am super excited about learning to airbrush! i also have waiting for me two display counter cases from my local hobby shop that unfortunately is going out of business. real bummer but finally scored some decent display counters! been trying to get some for a decent price for a few years now and these are excellent. so a bright light from behind the dark cloud. got a couple of kits from greg too, great deal for a great cause...

if "purple power" is the same as castrol super clean, it will definately remove most putties (i say "most" because i obviously havent tried them all but everytime i soak a body in csc the body work disappears along with the paint. killer build...now you say you built a 1:1 a few years ago...do you mean this hybridizing? i have never seen or heard of that before. i have a 96 s14 (just slammed into a big dog by the way...boo hoo). with the windscreen you should think about just hand filling the window black areas using a sharpie. works pretty good especially on the inside of the glass and do a coat then let it dry then another or two. looks great man, keep it up.

alright then, heres a couple shots of the tweedy pie rear bumper set in place along with a general view of how things are coming along, with the rear wheels epoxied to the axle and aligned: the rear wheels are pretty well centered in the wheel arches; in this shot unfortunately the body is sitting slightly too far to the rear, crowding the front of the tire. i checked and its really much better centered when adjusted a bit: so here is something i have puzzled with: how to attach the front axle. you can see the front of the tube subframe I made but there is no provision to actually mount the axle. what i am thinking is to mount the axle inside the grille shell and then mount the grille shell/axle to the front of the frame. this is going to require that i glue on the front wheels to the axle which i dont like because it makes it harder to get all four wheels flat on the ground if you are off any on your various alignments. aw what the heck: just white glue it together so hopefully we can better judge whats gonna work: comments or criticisms or ideas even cheerfully considered! meanwhile, i had this idea of hanging a moon tank out in front of the radiator shell but now that i have them assembled, i think it might look way too busy. besides i cant really decide if it would look better up high, blocking view of the shell insert, or further down and then it would be a matter of whether it was high enough off the ground. thats another reason to try to white glue stuff together so i can get a realistic mock up going on. hopefully i will spare us all photos of that session! i dunno...just looks a little cluttered out there. maybe it will appeal to me more when it is mocked up for reals. the alternative would be to mount a cap on the rear deck generally where i did on the original, not a bad concept but i had my heart set on something more radical...

why do i almost see a BMW 2002 sedan? must be that roof! kool body!

thanks for the pics john...as a coincidence, i hit a dog on the way home from work tonite. a big dog. my car got the best of it but still got smashed up a bit but i feel sorry for the dog. i like that exhaust system you did there too. great stuff.

>My G/F thinks it funny that I go to the auto parts store to get paint for models what is she gonna think when you tell her you go to beauty shops for fingernail files?

hey john, can i ask you a couple questions of your build of the Dixi? your doors...looks like you hinged them? did you get them to close nicely? happen to have any photos of it with the doors closed? i really like how your tires only stick out of the wheel wells a bit in the rear...mine are going to stick out further than that and they arent even half the width of yours! killer tub job by the way! looks like you cut out your grille from the shell too? and what do you have behind it, just a solid inlay? and you tunnelled your license plate and the rear lights? looks great back there. i am still puzzled over what i am using for headlamps, maybe some small Lucas flamethrowers on a stalk. my taillights i got covered; i am going to draw a further parallel to my other austin, built on a tweedy pie platform though pretty heavily modified, by using the tweedy pie rear bumper (thats what the holes on the lower rear deck are for) and it has molded in taillamps i just painted tamiya clear red. will post a pic with the bumper on next time... any other photos of your build (or anyones for that matter!) or stories would be appreciated!

john: thanks for posting those pics of your similar build. youre right: not often you see a similar build of such an off beat subject...great minds think alike! love that hemi V6 too...