jbwelda

that interior looks sweet!

so its the blue one youre building, right? i think it looks great how it is, but in general i noticed in the photos above i liked it best either just slightly raked (like it looks now) without any fender skirts, or, it sitting level, with the skirts. and of the skirts i like the small ones better but raul does have a point about how the big ones kind of flow with the design. my problem with them though is that they are too tall and cover the chrome strip. or even if you remove the strip, they would still look kinda heavy. i dig the way you relieved the front of those big skirts though, now if they were just sectioned some to get them to stay below the beltline. its pretty interesting looking at your photos too, and seeing the side by side comparison. and thats rubber glue holding stuff together? and just wash it off? nice project.

thats sharp! i like those injectors and the motor looks very right! heres a similar sort of idea i did a few years ago, with the Thames wagon, the Simple Simon Pie Wagon, redone as a Lotus parts supply van, complete with white metal twin cam lotus motor! the motor sitting low in the engine compartment. when someone above mentioned sectioning the body this was the first thing that came to my mind: the motor would look a lot more impressive if there was less body around it! a couple of shots of the interior i fabricated, bench seat, headache rack, flocking etc: finally a crappy shot of the undercarriage, but you can see where i put a modern front end on it instead of the tube axle...key to getting the front end down in the weeds: maybe these will give you some ideas for the thames wagon, seeing yours makes me want to do another and this time put in a Rover/MGB/Morgan V8, derived of course from the aluminum Buick small displacement V8.

i like the way you think star! that bike looks nice.

chrysler has been circling the drain for years, decades really, and they have pretty much refused to confront the modern world with anything more than half hearted attempts so it shouldnt be some big surprise. "retro" (read: we cant come up with any good new designs so lets do some gravedigging) muscle specialty cars are a very small market and dont keep anyone afloat for long; its everyman transportation for cheap that runs for cheap that makes or breaks a mass market manufacturer. as for GM yeah youre right getting in bed with the govt, what the h*ll are they thinking? heres what theyre thinking: its this or end of the road. as a taxpayer i have a problem with it from the other side: i dont want my money furthering a losing enterprise. and as for ford, i think they are just not going public with their poor balance sheet yet, but the day will come, and probably soon. been to a ford dealership lately? inventory for miles. a big part of the problem of course is public confidence in the economy. without that no one wants to risk putting out the coin for a new car. and thats probably independent of country of origin (though arent most "japanese" cars manufactured here in the usa these days? at least the ones that are sold here?). last i was at a toyota dealer they seemed pretty heavy on inventory too. and dont laugh at fiat (fix it again tony) too much. as long as they dont go back into partnership with cuba and make lada's there for import here, their products are pretty good despite a spotty rep in some parts of the world (eg: where they never imported their cool cars...the usa specifically).

911!

mike, that "tuning parts" set looks really cool. two complete engines and other stuff? i took your advice and ordered that honda beat from those guys. hey i dont know if you can but if you can and want to please to order me one of those tuning parts sets and i will split the shipping with you.

ok then!

hey fujimi, could you give us a tour of that abarth nose porsche? looks like a completely unique body from any other kit? and when did tamiya bring out that older skyline? i need one of those. same with that little fairlady that looks like it has parts to make a competition version. man you guys are making me jealous!

>Daryl added a fair amount of detail to his model, including the dual shocks and diff. cooler, so that's why we added the >following note to that side panel illustration... "*Enhance the detail of your model as shown with wiring, plumbing, >photoetched parts and other accessories from a number aftermarket suppliers!" oh. thats kind of bogus if you dont mind me saying. i was looking at that photo of the undercarriage and thinking, wow AMT really did get detailed on this one. but i didnt see that note. now that you mention it i do notice it and think if i were looking at the kit in real life i would see it. but still im disappointed, i was assuming the kit came with all the race car parts. oh well.

what stickers? post a pic please!

well its possible the bidders dont grasp the concept and think its an entire kit, but i kind of doubt it. looks like a good clean job with maybe a bit of cleaning up to do (panel lines) but seems at least a few people think its worth that price. doesnt look like a particularly bad deal to me .

well thats a pretty sharp interior there dave, no arguing that. but more to the point, when i have attempted real leather, which has been rarely. its usually seemed too thick to really look right. then i read an article in a magazine much like our hosts, and the author was demonstrating how to thin the leather by slicing it and another trick or two to make it thinner. so i tried that and it turned out very nice. unfortunately its stuck inside a chopped top and you cant even hardly see it! probably shoulda opened the doors. doh.

one thing you can do for leather is rely on the pattern embossed in the plastic of the seat etc if youre so lucky, then spray it with a flat color. then when it dries, take your finger and rub in on your nose a little to pick up some oil, and lightly rub that on the flat paint. makes a pretty convincing effect esp for black leather. im not sure but maybe scale motorsport makes a wood grain decal if they are still making those retro interior decal sets? if not the zebra skin always looks subtle! the wood thing is like said but ive also just painted some flat plastic with a brown and then washed it with a few earth tones. then wipe off the high spots. you can make pretty convincing knotholes too by using your dremel to cut out a small indent. then go around it in concentric sort of rings with a fine point sharpie or similar pen. then when that is dry brush some dullcote over it and it will smear out your pen lines and really make it look good. meanwhile fill the divot with india ink and smear that out too. usually if you overdo it you can get it more back toward the base color by wiping with a cloth or if its already too dry then some windex or something similar. heres an example though its 1/8th scale, and it really helps the realistic look if the piece is inside an enclosed interior! actually that photo doesnt show much too well but its all i could come up with on short notice. you can see the knothole i came up with, and its not really very good because the battery was going to sit there and cover it. this is on a big scale model but actually this technique works better on smaller scale stuff. hope that helps.

this is some *cool* azz box art! esp that engine bay and undercarriage! i usually dont but i am gonna have to get one of these!

wow i am always super impressed by well done 1/43 cars. i cant even hardly *see* those belt buckles much less think i could assemble them!

i think that top looks very cool with the duval windscreen. great build there.

yes very nice esp after the travails. i have to hand it to you, you work fast and good. personally finishing a car is always a bit bittersweet. its nice its done but kinda anti-climactic too. just goes on the shelf and then its on to the next thing!

i think it looks good in front but the back should be brought down just a bit to close up the gap between the rear tire and the wheel arch. it would still look like its raised in the rear with the front low, but it would just kind of lower the whole thing overall just a bit over how its sitting now.

wow thats looking nice! i love your subtle body work tricks there raul, its the kind of thing that makes one look at it and think, i wonder why that body looks so *slick* and then you either see the tricks or you dont. i really envy the ability to do that kind of stuff. its awesome.

i always loved the DS19, always thought it was one of the most beautiful cars ever, only surpassed by what the DS21? with quad headlamps and turning headlamps in the domestic market. one thing that made me think that was the day i was with my buddy in his perfect bodied perfect black laquer with red top and sunroof DS21 and pulled up to this convenience store. bunch of latino kids in front on their bikes and standing around. tom dropped it to the ground on the hydraulics and all those kids mouths dropped. it was one wicked looking ride down low. so of course when we left tom showed them the full range of movement. full to up, full down, then back up to go over the curb back out into the road. i wish i had taken some pics of that car because it was so beautiful.

if youre going to go back over the black but with a semi gloss finish, you might think about using a sharpie fine point pen to do it. you will get those edges really straight with a lot less effort (and eyestrain) than with paint. just a thought. looks killer and that paint is outstanding!

thanks kustom hearse, yeah it would be great to see this and the tognotti king t reissued but i think its pretty doubtful. for one thing even if they found the molds, even this original kit has pretty serious flash, esp on the chrome parts. i would hate to see how it would look repoped, though i imagine the molds might still be decent as it hasnt really been reissued since original aside from that MPC set of separate kits for each car. anyway now ive got sort of a dilemma. see the motor side panel in the photos above? notice the little octagonal raised area in the rear upper corner? at first i thought that was some kind of badge or maybe hood release button ala early MG style or something. but i cant find it in any photos i have of the car, and i have a few of them taken at cars shows of the era. and of course ive painted the panel already and taken some pains to make sure it had a rough match colorwise to the panels around them. the panels would appear to fit perfectly no matter what side was out, though of course they would have to swap side to side. so if those arent supposed to be there i could use the other side which does not have them, and has already been painted too. but the problem there is that is where the ejector pin marks lurked. i filled them but i would rather not take a chance on them coming back on me so i would rather use the side facing out. anyone have any idea how those panels are *supposed* to fit?

i am pretty sure those decals shouldnt do that; the ones from them ive used were super strong. maybe yours are too old? you might try contacting them and see if they will exchange them otherwise i would get another sheet because again that aint right.

dont worry mate, i wont bother your builds no more.