jbwelda

well a little progress report, I have all three chassis assembled without major issues, just shot some dullcote over them and will take some pics and post them later. meanwhile I started checking out what I thought would be a minor procedure: assemble the interiors to all three cars and replace the driver seats with sparkco or similar racing style seats (the Honda beat comes with two of them). whoever might assume that Japanese kits just fall together might be on notice that these interiors, the one to the Suzuki Cappy particularly, are VERY vague in both fit and attachment points. test fitting is showing me that the dashboard is gonna be a real wild card and the side panels only vaguely fit the sides of the body and top edge of the interior, and the back package tray doesn't even sort of fit. don't know what I am going to do but it may involve cutting all that off and fabbing some new pieces. really a drag about the dashboard particularly because I was going to fit pilot figures and hopefully be able to construct them inside a self contained interior with seats and dash position fixed, but that's not going to work at all here. The Copen looks to be just as bad but I haven't actually tried fitting anything yet. The Honda Beat has a pre-assembled interior bucket and it looks like the dash might fit better there but again haven't tried fitting anything yet. fitting pilot figures and making them look halfway realistically posed is pretty difficult and its going to be impossible if I have to wait till the whole car is together to see actual distances between the body and the steering wheel (and shift knob too as I usually like to have one hand on the wheel and the other on the shift knob if I can manage it). getting back to the interior though, there are some tabs in the front of the interior floor that are not used and I think at one time might have held a battery pack to power an electric motor, so that might be where the compromises in fit come in. anyway I will keep at it until something breaks I guess...pics at eleven! jb

wow that's amazing! jb

those engine injector stacks are too big to be of any use on the showboat, or much of anywhere else I have found. I have some from parts by parks that are much better, smaller and more delicate. jb

so this is actually going to come out as a Monogram brand kit? wow that's wonky. can I say that here? jb

man "hard to cover yellow" or "sure to come back to haunt you red", I sure hope its molded in WHITE this time! jb

whenever I feel like opening them. I have other priorities a lot of the time besides looking at virgin plastic jb

one issue I remember with bmf at one point at least is that the adhesive seemed to be lacking around the outside so much of the sheet. so if you cannot get it to stick, try cutting some out of the middle of the sheet and see if it works better. if so at least you can salvage some of the sheet and in my experience the new improved so called stuff doesn't have this problem. I also have not had a problem with bmf "expiring" or anything and I have had some sheets many years. but I am out in dry California and it well could be it is humidity that makes it go bad. jb

as far as I know all issues of the 914 would let you build it kinda stock or racing versions. it may not have said so on the box, or in the instrux, but all the parts were there, except, maybe, the cut down windshield. jb

>I want to put a ford engine in my chevy. I'm going to put a ford engine in it. Who cares? A lot of people apparently. not Ed Big Daddy Roth, he got a big ford engine from the factory (3 actually; two went in the Mysterion) and he put it in his 56 (55 maybe?) chevy daily driver. so you got a pedigreed precedent there. jb

a bit of dullcote will make that glue mark go away I bet! jb

I just think its kind of tedious, not necessarily intimidating. at one time I had problems with adhesion but then they seemed to fix that problem. before that I was using Detail Master foil and it curled way too bad when it was picked up. now my current sheet anyhow seems to behave pretty well jb

>a box full of carp? i bet that smelled after a couple of days. hey thanks, that's probably whats been stinking up my model closet for the past couple of months. I will have to check it (or chuck it) out. jb

that barnabas Collins clown car, what a warped stupid pile of carp that one is. jb

then there is the nailhead in the Uncertain T but that is getting difficult to find jb be interesting to see what this new one is like compared to all the old ones. jb

thanks for the pics; they are enough to convince me I can save my money on this one jb

this place right here can be very inspiring to tell the truth; so is going to a major league model show like the NNL West. but pretty much I get my ideas from stuff I come across in real life somehow. jb

so you are saying the two engines above are meant to model the same engine, but the AMT one is way off dimensionally. additionally, the external size of the real engine did not vary much despite its ever increasing cubic inch dimension. and yeah I have the Riv too but I have not built that motor since back in the days of my youth. I do know that AMT forty ford is pretty much junk all around but I have a fond place for it in my heart again from back in the day when I must have built (and subsequently blown to smithereens with firecrackers and/or glue) a dozen of them. I happened to have one nearby when I had the urge to build a nailhead and it was one kit I didn't mind cannibalizing for the mill jb

thanks for the correx Bill, I modified my post above to more reflect reality rather than my increasingly faulty memory! jb

with the coming new tool Revell Buick nailhead V8 that should be coming out soon, I thought I would see if I could get some clarity on the situation of existing Buick mills. The two main ones I know of would be the old AMT nailhead that came with the 40 Ford that has been reissued over and over again for half a century, and the equally ubiquitous Revell "Parts Pack" V8, which has been most available over the years via the Tommy Ivo Showboat (with four engines per). I have built both of these basically for display by themselves and in doing so I have noticed a big difference in outside dimension. are these supposed to be the same displacement engines? or is the Revell meant to be the much smaller lighter aluminum block of later years vs the more boat anchor characteristics of the AMT offering? take a look at the photos here, I placed a ruler nearby to help gauge size but its not too effective, but it does help a bit. the AMT is much bigger, much chunkier, not just in width but also overall bulk. the Revell is much more delicate looking and way narrower most obviously, but it is as long or even longer (not counting transmission) than the AMT. its gonna be great to get a new tool of this motor, its always been pretty much my favorite mill for a street rod. AMT 40 Ford: Revell Parts Pack/Ivo Showboat: and a direct comparison of the two: sorry for the poor angle of engine to ruler, can't really tell how wide the Revell one is but it is at least 2 mm narrower than the AMT. of course neither engine above is stock out of the box, both have been enhanced with Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland induction systems, strombergs on the AMT and webers on the Revell, and the exhaust headers are just in position with white glue for eventual replacement if and when the engines end up in cars. the point is, are these supposed to be the same engines or are they meant to be different generation/size blocks? jb edit: thanks for pointing out I had the wrong source kit, the Ivo Showboat not the Thompson Challenger. and now that I actually think about it I believe the version I used here was from the Tony Nancy kit, it is all kinda academic because I pulled the blocks and accessories out of my parts box instead of straight out of the kit(s) so it was all a guess anyhow.

great build. I like that graphite kind of color, especially with the mile deep clear. too bad about the suspension but it will probably be well hidden, I don't really see a problem in the photos. but I would say that Hasegawa kits are right on a par with Tamiya and other Japanese manufacturers. jb

a blue bandito ordered after reading here it was already discontinued! also put a bunch of misc parts into my HLJ private warehouse awaiting the release of Tamiyas Gull Wing Benz. man with the dollar apparently high against the yen this is gonna be a great year! jb

if your goof up has any build height you might want to lightly sand it before putting on the Future. Future will bring the gloss right back when it is applied jb

yeah I do think 30 is kinda high, but I was considering letting you make a little something for your time and effort. but at 15 I would definitely buy one. when it comes time PM me (I might not be tuning into this thread at the moment) and I will be good for my word on it jb

do a search around here, there was a photo of the current packaging here somewhere recently. I believe it might be called "pledge with future shine" or something like that jb

coat it with future and that smear will disappear. then use future to glue the light on/in to the body. jb