jbwelda

youre probably there and back by now but theres also ace hardware in berkeley, near where university avenue "T's" into the university campus. the basement has a large and well stocked model department with a lot of obscure resin parts, slot cars and kits. there are also architecture modelling departments and a ton of hot wheels etc.

hey gray, shoot me an email at justw at dgweb dot com and i might have an extra body or even whole kit to give you...not sure its the same 911 though and its the testors rebox but should be the same thing...

i am working on an old big tub, 1/8th scale, and Ive been doing some kitbashing with among other variations, the lindberg T called the Big Red T. i dont know if this kit came like this originally (i got it started on ebay for cheap) but its got this red anodizing, or possibly candy red paint, all over it. reason i think it may have come like that is all the parts, including sprue trees, have this strange stuff on them. anyway one of the parts im considering using is the valve covers...and herein lies the rub. i kind of like them but i am sure the motor would look more "correct" with the chrome chevy finned covers that came with it. not only that, but i stole the exhaust headers off the same car (the red T i mean) and while i know a bit about chevy motors back then, i am not all that sure that the anodized valve covers as well as the exhaust system is really chevy...possibly ford! so with that in mind, let me know which you prefer...sorry for the quality of the photos: here is the red anodized valve cover: and here is the more correct finned cover: which one do you prefer? oh one more question while im at it: see those two holes on the front of the injection manifold? what are they for? are they some kind of vents or relief valves or something? surely they arent coolant input/output? i dont think ive ever seen those or noticed them before... many thanks in advance!

hi hans, yes originally i think that injection setup was from a custom engine kit, but this particular one is a resin (i think) repop of that, cleaned up and metalized, plus brass flared tubes. i have two or three of the originals and i picked this up almost exclusively for the tubes, but the manifold is cleaned up a bit too and the metalizer finish is very nice. the only criticism i have of the injection kit is that the tubes would be better in aluminum, but it was probably easier to flare brass than aluminum. as it is i polished the brass and then sprayed aluminum sheet buffing metalizer on them. look very good i think. also there are guide tubes down inside the tubes that i painted red and it looks like nice detail down there on what would be the injector nozzles. i will get some more pics up soon i hope...

ismael, did you get this at a hobby shop or did you order it from japan? actually what im wondering is, given fujimi's spotty track record with importing into the states, will this be available at the LHS? its so cool im about to break my vow not to get started with ferrari...

back from the glue bomb heap, heres some pics of progress on this City Styles project car, Summertime Blues: chassis is done and awaiting motor: close up of raised front axle mount, achieving about a scale 3" drop: heres the Hilborn fuel injection manifold as it came, along with some fuel blocks i made of questionable quality: finally a shot of the injection pretty much ready to mount to block: ive got a music festival to put on next weekend but after that i hope to concentrate on this for completion by end of august... oh yeah, "Summertime Blues" = anything painted blue. this particular car i picked up on ebay for pretty cheap but it was pretty well glued together with a faded funky silver paint job, and has sat around for two years or so, staring at me, finally decided to get it apart and do a quickie rebuild on it. well you know how that goes. engine is nearly ready to assemble and install in chassis, then its just finishing up the body and interior, which is going to be stark.

now *thats* what i call some cool box art!

i believe the model master "normal" clear coat is lacquer. or at least i know for sure its not going to harm the lacquer when sprayed over it.

this is possibly put on by BASHRS, bay area scale hot rodders, club. i think they have a website though ive not searched for it. might check in with them for details. should be a model contest/show at billetproof 07 as well which should be in september sometime, in antioch, another san francisco bay area suburb. http://www.billetproof.com/upcoming_shows/upcoming_shows.htm absolutely my favorite show ever.

wow thats very sweet! that top keeps getting better and better too. nice vintage photos too!

yeah i picked one up after work friday and had a chance to fondle it a bit later that night (something my gf didnt dig all that much thank you very much). really great assortment of spare parts and cool options...its a foregone conclusion i will be doing the full tonneau salt flat car or some variation there of. one thing that i noticed though: lots of flash on the small parts. those coil springs are the flashiest (not in the good way) of them so its strange they were a later addition evidently. but i guess we are all used to flash. some strange parts in there too...whats with that PTO winch? i didnt even notice it in the instructions. but the driver figure is muy cool and the three sets of wheels, nerf bars, two tonneau covers, two dashboards, fire and safety equipment and lots more...what a deal. one minor problem i noticed was that the stock hood had sprue attached to it in a way its going to be near impossible to separate it without damaging the hood but the blower cutout extra hood looks good except for that big hole in the middle! one of the most interesting kits ive seen in a while, for sure.

alright len thanks for the rave review, im waiting for my lhs to get them in (or back in...owner seemed confused as to whether they had them recently and sold out or what). sounds like a total winner.

i have a comment but im afraid its not of much help to you: i love how gunze calls their stuff "Mr" this or that. just seems so japanese to me.

yeah i know what you mean about everyone using magnets but i found after about a year of infatuation with magnets that its a lot more fun to do without, or at least with low power ones or "au natural" (that is to say just using the magnet in the motor for ground effects). but thats just me possibly...but i find its a lot more realistic feeling without all the stick afforded by a powerful magnet. it improves your driving style and really a magnet trumps pretty much all the real "tuning" you achieve with the other suggestions here. hell a big motor and a big magnet on a brick and youre still likely to win...maybe without even watching your car, ahem, brick go around the track! :shock:

has anyone bought this yet? i understand its a reissue of an MPC original with lots of extra parts, tonneau covers, cut down windshield etc. please someone post a review many thanks in advance!

just like real cars: lighten and lower magnets are cheating but mounting an open magnet motor close to the track is ground effects. reduce rolling resistance: hard skinny front wheels reduce resistance period: ball bearings on guide shoe and all four wheels. to corner well ive found, against all advice, that all four wheels should be planted firmly on the track. wont much matter with fast tracks but race on mine and youll need to make left and right turns, many of them decreasing radius, quickly. dont mount body solid to frame, let it drift a little so the frame can contort if it needs to on tight corners...esp if using strong magnets (but magnets are cheating). match tires to track: i find modern silicone tires work great on modern plastic track but not so well elsewhere. what jairus said

that was the first thing that occurred to me too...pretty easy trick, just dont show ANY of the original cards. you too easy. care for a quick game of three card monte? i dont really know how to play.

yeah be sure to let us know if you find any more good, errrr, i mean *bad* sites.

yes that is sweet! and the tangerine makes it even sweeter! its got a killer stance too!

yep r&d unique, that would be the one. still have one unopened tube front end and one A-arm suspension front end, also in metal that i will use on something one day paul, heres a pic of what im referring to, as i mentioned its not the style you want so i didnt face the dilemma of how to join the hairpin radius to a straight one-arm link: close up of the "batwing" front part: unfortunately i dont have a closeup of the rear bracket handy but maybe you can see what im talking about from these images. (this car has progressed a lot since these photos were taken but its still nowhere near complete and i keep putting it off to do other things...one of these days i will get serious again and you will see sparks fly) but back to your hairpin...you might try chopping off a small section of aluminum tubing, like maybe 3/32" or so (a mini tube cutter will help) then epoxying it to the radius of your hairpin after drilling a hole in the opposite side from where you will glue it to put the single link rod out of it. then i would fill the tube with black epoxy and call it a link. might look good, might not, but wouldnt take too long. you could use a paper clip for the actual hairpin rod and a section of straight pin for the single link and then attach the single link to your frame section with a drop of epoxy to represent a mounting bolt. you could take that idea and make it look really cool with a little work and ingenuity. good luck and post a pic!

great minds think alike. notice the wheels i got a videotape that shows development and racing of this subaru...its a real kick. doesnt look like you used the white metal parts nor the resin hood that were included in (at least my) kit. i lowered it quite a bit too which was kind of painful to do in a realistic manner. added a pilot for the diorama too. yours is very nice looking...i think you and me are the only ones who ever built this little micro. ive never seen another nor even another copy of the kit.

but maybe i misread your post...maybe you want the style with one attachment point in the rear that comes forward to the center of an arc with the ends of the arc continuing to the front axle. arent those type on the orange crate reissued fairly recently? seems to me they are. also seems to me they have abundant flash obscuring them.

chevy "calls out" toyota? hope their mommy is home when they get their butts whipped. mommy (usa govt) can impose some trade restrictions so they have a "level playing field" (my a$$). heres an idea: how about you build a car someone wants to buy? that means value for money, not just talk. a unique concept, i know.

thats exactly what its for, to reverse the polarity/direction of running. this will come in very handy if running on someone elses track that is wired the opposite of yours...you wont have to unscrew the body and reverse the leads on your pickup shoe. the 4WD is a gimmick. it will run much better and handle much better if you disconnect the front drive, at least in my experience (but not with this exact car...my experience comes mostly from rally cars with 4WD).

i have a metal dropped axle kit from somewhere that had some nice ones in it. unfortunately the rods themselves, being white metal, were way to wavy and soft...so i cut off the "batwings" and rear mounting brackets, drilled them and replaced the rods with pieces of paper clip or maybe it was cut down straight pins. looks great now. wish i could remember who made this set...model car garage maybe?