jbwelda

look at the photo of the actual wagon, yellow and white, above, and notice that not only are the bumper guards lower/shorter than on the non-wagon, but they look to be wider and chunkier too. then look at the back of the wagon model. they are too high and also too narrow. so you are probably better off without them. especially since they look like they will foul the tailgate when it is folded down. also notice the artist rendition of the ones on the blue and white wagon are narrow. so maybe those are aftermarket guards on the yellow and white wagon? I know I remember those sort of guards in the jc whitney catalogue. jb

yeah I agree: the 1/24 scale stuff is way too big. I didn't know (didn't look close enough I guess) they had smaller scale stuff but I would recommend it over the 1/24 size jb

yes I also have the 24" super mini, plenty of room for 1/24 car bodies and I have painted 1/8 scale body with little trouble, though it was a bit tight. jb

it looks like kind of a kool kit, with some kool features, but the problem to me is the same now as in 1966: its just plain butt ugly and smacks of desperate desire to be "European" with design clichés lifted from here there and everywhere, that just succeeds in making it look very awkward and uncomfortable. appreciate that review Tim, very revealing and it is very impressive that the tooling has apparently remained so pristine after all these years. jb

yeah, what kits have those kind of stickers? I don't think I have ever seen anything like that. there are some, usually elementary, kits that have peel and stick kind of stickers but you don't cut them out (and they are 100% terrible). anything other than water slide (and maybe dry transfer) are not worth dealing with if you ask me. jb

I have a pace booth with lights. if I were to do it again I would not get the model with lights; I hardly use the built in ones. I bought some cheap clip on LED lamps one for each side, and they work perfect much better than the harsh direct close lamp in the hood. other than that I can recommend these booths if you don't want to bother with building your own. they are a bit expensive and mine got a bit bent in shipping but in the end I think it is very useful. the fan and overall ventilation is very very good, I never have any paint fumes aside from right in front of the booth before the fan sucks them out of the room. I forget which model I have exactly but its the "peace keeper" and sort of in the middle of the line; like I said I would save some money and not get the lighted model next time. there was some rumor that Pace was no longer in business but I do still notice their ads in magazines. jb

who is mark taylor? > the point is that you NEVER do a wet coat. are you (not) doing that to avoid orange peel or something? jb

yes the magical incantation is something like "tape me together before I ruin your day". you will be crying it sooner or later. but don't mention someone warned ya. mine was never taken apart before it did its thing. one day at the worst possible time it just popped off, but I think I am repeating myself, again. and I repeated myself again because I couldn't believe a Tamiya product was doing this, and again it popped the top part off and my paint job ended up in the dirt. that is without any encouragement from me, wasn't even holding it upside down if I remember right. that's when I got out the masking tape and did that magic thing that lets the top part still spin whilst the bottom part is firmly attached to the rotating stand. now usually I think Tamiya is toppa top but in this case their paint stand needs a little re-engineering. its not a sin compared to what other companies get away with on a daily basis, but it is a bit of a disappointment, especially when you consider the merits of the stands (stands because your 30$ buys not one but TWO stands, one for bodies and one for small parts), and there are many from the different size holes staggered on the parts stand to the clips on the outside perimeter to the multi position adjustable arms on the body stand. and despite the need to do the little repair mentioned above, the stand is excellent for painting up into things and the rotating upper part is perfect when you don't want to raise dust moving whole stands around, you can just give the upper part a gentle push and it will rotate. anyway, whatever. be sure to let us/me know how it goes. jb

I just ordered up some stuff from hobby link japan. if you are at all interested in Japanese imports, you should get yourself over there because with the exchange rate of US$ to JYen being almost unprecedented, things are very VERY cheap. and their private warehouse thing lets you gang shipments so to minimize postage costs. for instance, Fujimi kits that used to or typically sell for almost 40$ (or more some places) are on sale for more like 17$. even the full tilt kits are looking pretty reasonable, 40$ for what was a 70$ Tamiya kit for example. and accessory packs and aftermarket upgrade parts are especially good values. oh let me edit to add: a lot of stuff they list as "backordered" and if you are cynical like me you tend to read that as "not available". but I have found that when I order "backordered" items from them, they often arrive in just a couple weeks and HLJ notifies you to complete the transaction. so don't be put off on the backordered status too much. jb

hi Erik, thanks for the heads up, check your pm, I am ready to send $... jb

hobby design hooks came in so they are currently in my PW awaiting the Benzio SL300 coupe. also got some super duper (from the looks of it) Sparco seats, super detailed photoetch with them (that I kind of doubt will really show in most any application but hey its good to know its there!). maybe in the benz with the clear under belly pan? nah too far a stretch. but at least you could admire the detail. jb

yeah I had similar experiences myself, PB, but mostly with lighter fluid instead of gasoline! concerning this coming reissue, if it is in the Street Rods line like the last issue evidently was, I would bet there would be no change inside the box. could be wrong but I think that's the signal here jb

>so if it gets taped, how does it turn? sigh. I think that was covered earlier. its magic. either that or the two parts taped together are independent of the rotating mechanism. somehow. probably magic. heres the thing: those who don't believe this are more than welcome to carry on. when your paint meets the dirt, be sure to post a breathless post on how could this ever happen??? OMG!!! or you could spend like about 30 seconds and either tape or tap the base so it won't happen to you. your choice. jb

sometimes (many times, seems to me) shipping the absolutely cheapest way will get the package to you just as fast as many of the more expensive options. its the luck of the draw as ultimately they throw all the packages on an airplane, its just whether that airplane might make a zillion stops before it gets to your package and sometimes it goes direct to you in an incredibly short time. I have had packages take 2 days or 2 weeks from hlj (and many other places) when I am using the same (cheapest) shipping method. I recently had a package I sent to England take two MONTHS to show up, and another I sent at exactly the same day from the same place at the same time arrived in about 5 days. you just never know...maybe to some its worth the extra $ to actually know. jb

I think the Mr Hobby one would be a Gunze Sangyo kit of a slightly earlier car. excellent job there, did you do the engine? really is a great kit, if you want one PM me and maybe we can work out a trade, I think I have at least one I might part with. jb

modified King T? jb

that's what I ought to do with my 95 240sx, but I would definitely finish off the rear end. then again, 70s barracuda? nah. like it better as a 240sx. jb

re the borax mule team, I go to DV at least once a year and I could pick one up for you, if they are still available there. I believe they are either in constant or very often reissue mode on those things, keep an eye on ebay and you will find them for less or equal list price, at least when I watched them a few years ago. I had one of them back when I was a kid and so did every kid on the block if I remember right. jb

I never used the stuff myself, though I do faintly remember trying to patch a hole in an engine block (real size) once. lasted about 5 minutes until it blew it out. jb

I think that shipping delay is something that happens with or without tracking, especially if you are using their cheapest shipping method. I personally think its a waste of 5 or 10$, the tracking I mean. jb

well thanks for those leads; I checked the hiroboy site but couldn't find any recovery hooks, maybe I did not look in the right place. sorry to be lazy but specific links would be appreciated thanks again jb

>when they open a Revell box, they're going to get an accurate, authentic reproduction of the real thing yep that sure was the consensus on at least one other thread around here lately. jb

one of my favorite cars, that safari version I mean, and what a great job of building it! jb

I saw it there. another in a series of breathtaking work on the table with your name on it. beautiful attention to detail! jb

here are some pics of the mostly completed chassis, no brakes because I am going to mount those to the wheels before mounting to chassis, and there are a couple exhaust tips missing since I will maybe be using extractors or something. all three side by side, from left: Suzuki cappy, Honda beat, Daihatsu copen: heres a close up of the Suzuki, front engine, rear wheel drive: the Honda Beat, rear engine, rear wheel drive: the Daihatsu Copen, front engine, front wheel drive: next up while the paint is drying down are the interiors. as I despaired above, the interior built up tub for the Suzuki was no way gonna fit so some surgery was necessary. heres a couple photos of the problems which have since been dealt with. both the other interiors fit into the bodies well and can have the dashboard mounted before mating to the bodies, though I am not sure I am going to assemble them like that, might fix the interior to the body and then grind down the base as much as possible to make room for the chassis up under the body, a problem I have found in several other tuner kits I have built. anyway this little ledge on the inside of the body was keeping the tub from lining up and no way was this back valance going to fit...it was supposed to go under the body but it kept the interior from even sort of fitting flush with the top body line, so it had to be trimmed away at the line, plus the two body tabs that the line shows there were removed (would have been nice to have realized that before I painted the body but...) and hence that curve was smoothed. so with that out of the way am proceeding to do some minor detailing in the interiors but like the chassis, no real heroics just some detail painting. not sure if I really want to make pilot figures, the figures I have got way too big of butts to fit into the sparco seats so some extreme liposuction would be in order (Dr Dremel at your service!). thanks again for looking and any questions comments whatevers gladly considered! jb