jbwelda

aright heres the thing: along the way somewhere i decided i would like a bit of a "yellow jacket" look to this car, and i decided a simple lengthened hoop style rollbar like the old monogram model the yellow jacket had would look kool. so i drilled some holes and of course they came out just slightly, but enuff for me to notice, off center. i had also liked the folded top that came with the kit and painted it up and it still fits over the holes for the rollbar when you take the rollbar off (i still havent figured out how to make the rollbar temporary enough to remove easily but still in there well enough to find its own center and stay there but that will come with enough blue tac or something). so here are photos of both in place...what do you think? and if you would like to expand beyond a simple choice of one or the other, by all means do... remember there will be a chopped down windscreen on this one, basically the stock windscreen chopped by half. the kinda rock and roll hoodlum look with the rollbar in place: or the more professorial folded top look: again thanks for looking!

thanks for your comments and interest everyone! tonite i hoped to address an issue that has bothered me ever since i epoxied the differential/rear axle into place: the wheel/tires were sitting too far back in the wheel wells. my hoped for solution was quick and simple (not to mention dirty): drill the brake drum holes oblong so i can move the wheel forward without disturbing the axle itself. then i plan on using epoxy mixed with india ink to bond and meld the axle/brake drum together unobtrusively. who is ever to know? well except those who read it here! anyway here are a couple pics of the chassis jigged up and the wheels in place. you cant tell from the photos but the wheels are sitting just about 1/16th forward of center, and that is all it takes to make them a lot more balanced looking in the body wheel wells. when i get them epoxied down i will put the chassis and body together for a shot to show what i mean. Shot at 2011-11-12 Shot at 2011-11-12 that magnetic chassis jig i got from micro mark continues to be of constant use! heres a shot of this portion of my work area: all austin including the surfite motor you might see there! no, i dont mean the dremel!!! see my next post for a poll i would like to see some response to! thanks again for looking and any and all comments are welcome!

looks like maybe the source of this kit is the original revell tweedy pie? anyone know?

hmmm seems we cant post as many pics as we used to. well only one way around that one: a look at the left side, sans wheels but with interior and motor in place. motor has all the accessories added as it will be. and heres a traditional hot rod monster motif for the grille with spun aluminum moon tank out front: motor with full equipment: dash with banjo steering wheel: and finally a shot of finished interior: thanks again for looking and watch for some completion sometime soon! lookin pretty kool so far if you ask me! i hope to get this wrapped up pretty soon here so stay tuned, comments always welcome so chime in!

successfully resisted using a bubble top but now that november is here and the harvest is in and all, i have some time to get back to this austin. there has been a bunch of fitting and fiddling and figuring but mostly sitting as usual. i plan on one more coat of clear tomorrow or sunday and then it will be near ready for final assembly! here are some progress photos that strangely resemble all the other photos in this thread, but i am now very glad i stripped the paint and started over. one big improvement will be the door lines because previously the door were glued unevenly and that was leaving an uneven door line; now they should be much better leaving them loose through the paint stages. so, i am looking for this sort of rake: something like this: lookin pretty kool so far if you ask me! i hope to get this wrapped up pretty soon here so stay tuned, comments always welcome so chime in!

looks great and from my experience you can get good luck with testors chrome silver buzzcan especially if you have a little luck, use very light coats and mostly spray only small parts. dont spray clear over it and try to handle it as little as possible and if necessary, with cotton gloves. it particularly looks great for a less shiny look with dullcote sprayed over it lightly. killer truck and you do have to watch that ghosting effect when eliminating molded in details. sometimes they take some time to come back hence they might not have shown under the primer at first.

just amazing and im only talking about that frame jig you rigged up there. ive tried so many times to build something like that and rarely came close. and the car itself, just incredible, incredible. thanks for the answer on the "why?" question too, very inspiring. please keep us up on progress! how interested are you in Maserati Birdcages?

whats he say? "if the girls dont find you handsome, at least they should find you handy"? that show cracks me up and i dont know anywhere to see it anymore (dont have and cant get cable)

re the manx: wow this "katch the kat" promotion where one manx body per case will be molded in red flake plastic vs the white for the rest sounds a lot like that one contest where the first prize was a week in Cleveland and the second prize was TWO weeks in Cleveland!

Well, sorta. I fully expect to finish my Austin rod and the Karmann Ghia and the Jaguar and the...uh well you get the picture; meanwhile i started on a Surfite i have been meaning to build one of these days due in no small part to the uber kool Austin motor and just the pure gestalt of the kit! the plan is basically out of box with ignition wiring added and i also am planning on smoothing the body seams and making the body lift off the chassis, so i am smoothing the chassis to make a nice presentation when stripped down to the bone as it were. so...first step of course is the shack. ready to spray it with dullcote and then leave it outside for the winter to, uh, age properly. meanwhile i have an excuse for not finishing up the car till the spring! as always, encouragements encouraged and haters can hate! i might build Ed a HA bike to hang outside the shack too if i can find that harley parts pack bike!

> some very thin pieces and lots of flash.. exactly!

the last version of the chrysler turbine car i had had tons of flash on the small fiddley bits. whats the prospect for that to be cleaned up on this issue? i assume they are being struck from the same molds as back through time? is there anything new or unique about the 1/8 scale hot rod, or is it basically the same as has and is always available in one of ten variations? looks like the show was pretty jumpin even away from the revell table!

i would like in on that and i would even be interested in a "subscription" sort of deal: so many releases a year delivered to your door...

i think youre going the right way. you can always strip it but i would go with sanding it a bit and if you didnt burn through the red to primer, i might even think about shooting tamiya clear red over it to enhance the candy effect. might be a mistake though, might just want to shoot with a coat of clear.

youre welcome gregg, its nice to know part of it goes to support this site. i will keep an eye on what you have listed and probably buy more; you have very reasonable prices so "buy it now" is warranted!

i have to agree: there are still deals to be had on ebay. but the "buy it now" stuff has gotten out of hand. whenever i list something on ebay i always start it low and let the audience decide what its worth. that works best most of the time and it actually gives a potential buyer a chance to maybe get it cheap...but usually not because if its worth more someone will bid it. it is the death of the place becoming a storefront and all this ridiculous buy it now when the price is 2X or more what anyone would ever pay. and by the way, that record i originally posted, i at first assumed his currency translator was wrong but its been listed more than once with that price, and even in yen it would be ridiculous assuming 100 yen still buy one US dollar. but ebay remains a constant source of entertainment if you keep your sense of humor intact. ps and edit: let it be known i have nothing against buy it now but it has to be reasonable. in fact i always check first the new auctions just posted to see if anyone posts a buy it now for real cheap and then i jump on it. but even reasonable buy it now are ok with me though it does take away the thrill and chance of getting something real inexpensive. funny thing is, i can tell when i have a hot item to sell by the number of people messaging and asking me to put a buy it now price of X on it. that often happens within an hour of posting the auction. they you know you got a hot item and it will probably end up going for at least 2X whatever the person offered you to end the auction early.

1 getting the inspiration from seeing what others have built 2 catching up with people who i might just see once or twice a year 3 checking the swap meet for bargains or hard to finds 4 talking to people about what i brought or what they brought and tips and techniques or whatever. 5. just wandering around looking at models at random, often more than once its nice to win a plaque or something but definately not mandatory. i like to share above competing.

heres one a little cheaper: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BAND-GRENADIER-GUARDS-MARCH-REVIEW-NM-LP-/370546438409?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D170709300169%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3460468464941581364

sorry, this isnt even model related but it might reflect some on some of the recent ebay posts, check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170709300169 mind you this has been relisted at least a couple times. and those are US dollars. i cant figure it out, whats the point? surely no one is giving 2.5 million dollars for any record. so why are they (presumably) paying the fee to list it, a fee that probably gets pretty high for a price like that? the "seller" (yeah he hopes!) is in hong kong or somewhere over there so its possible its a mistake but relisted??? huh.

for me, aside from paint, and of course foiling, its getting holes drilled straight, centered and even. now was that "measure once and cut twice"? maybe thats the problem. foil just bugs me: i do it pretty well to my eyes but then i just have to fix that right there...and next thing i know i am stripping it all off and having to redo it...never quite as well as that first time though. so its a struggle but its also a therapy.

one should never *soak* decals in water. thats what i used to do and got poor results...usually it was exposed to the water too long and the adhesive kind of disappeared. sometimes so badly the decal just wouldnt even stick unless i overcoated it and that was risky. i learned then (probably in one mag or another) to instead just dip them in the water and then lay them on a paper towel. sort of like the poster above says except you give them a jolt of water to assure they get evenly wet. anyway, 30 seconds or so of being on the damp paper towel and they are generally ready to slide right off with all adhesive intact. seems to work better than the alternative with old crumbly decals too though obviously those are still a major problem even with this method but at least all the little fractured parts arent floating around in your water! i ordered one of these trays just for GP but bearing in mind what i said above their real use might be limited...but one can still toss the decal into the slotted piece and the slots will make it easier to retrieve.

ummm yeah. thats an MGTC. not an MGA.

a correction...way back there i think i mentioned the great model scratchbuilder augie meyer. actually i think he was or is the keyboard player or drummer or something in sir douglas quintet! and probably doesnt know squat about models, though they did record one of the best songs ever, "shes about a mover"! obviously (errr...) i meant Augie Hiscano. sorry bout that.

those SE Finecast kits are great depending on level of detail (i forget what the A is like) but run 125+ if i remember right. nice MGTF too...

i have to agree on the sizzler; been trying to score one for a reasonable price (i would gladly give 100 for one in a good box but yeah like good luck with that!) for a couple years now and havent even come close. i love that out-size hemi in there.