jbwelda

excellent work and really interesting to see the "before" pics! jb

how many pieces is the body? how many pieces is the up-top? jb

not really all that strange: upc and receipt means a good chance you bought the kit and are legit about needing the part(s). and so they take on the responsibility of making it right which means you shouldn't have to pay postage for something that shouldn't have had to be done in the first place no upc and no receipt means one way or another you are a scammer. they aren't gonna call you a scammer but they are going to get you the part on your dime. good business practice, keeps the bums at bay but lets them play the good guy if you play along. makes sense to me jb

ring ring seven am movie starts to roll again cold water in the face bring you back to this awful place... Magnificent Seven, The Clash and why aint the wife makin dinner? jb

fujimi enthusiasts model quad cam Porsche motor and drivetrain in Tamiya karmann ghia Lotus Europa engine into BMW Dixi: its something I really enjoy, kitbashing stuff like this jb

some of these might count: hemi head conversion on a Pontiac slant 4 in a Trabant Universal. rest of details haven't been thought out yet. lotus engine and drivetrain in Thames truck: another Lotus motor and drivetrain, this time in an MGTC: a few more to come jb

man I have to say I hate that junk cast in the side window area. gotta be really careful or you are in for some more remedial surgery. I wonder if that is there to support the roof? sure looks nasty to me and I (edit: oops) don't (end edit) seem to recall that from prior versions I have. its not like its a big deal, it just looks ugly. jb

I don't know about the engine looking clunky, in real life wasn't that engine kind of chunky anyway? it looks very nice to me; I see a lot of details usually left off kit engines like that front end detail, oil filter and that exhaust header (probably would not use it myself but its interesting to see how they reproduced that...wasn't a photo of that or similar (1:1) posted somewhere here recently?). its good to have Art on the case. jb

beautiful cars! what a model show we would have if everyone here got together under one roof with all their cars! talk about impressive! jb

well there ya go! good thing I am not driving a dragster! happy new year jb

a couple more to add: a Tamiya Honda S2000 that I experimented with paint on. below the beltline has been oversprayed with clear orange and clear pearl before the entire body was clear coated. turned out ok but I expected sort of more obvious. nice enuff though: and I found a pic of the Japanese scooter, kinda neat thing came from a wheel and tire set. nicely detailed little engine and fit together very well. Testors lacquer lime green metallic under wet look clear alright, happy new year! jb

yeah lets see the engine! so did it go together well and without surprises or is that part of what you are checking for them? I can see a bunch of different versions coming from this one. looks great! jb

>I've looked into the Mini Mite but its slow speed is 6500 RPM hmmm I am not so sure about that, esp if your old dremel corded ran at 5k. seems to me on low speed, which I hardly use because it is too slow, would be more around 650 - 1k rpm. plus the good thing about the mini mite is it gets better as the battery discharges and its torque gets reduced. you can stall it without hurting it, it can run that slow if you really want to. but I myself usually use it on fast speed and again its that lack of torque vs the AC model is what saves you from melting the plastic into a blob. jb

I actually got more done this year than I thought I would including stuff I had been working on for awhile and also quickie projects that caught my imagination. Most of these have been featured in On the Workbench or Under Glass threads so there isn't really much new here. Comments or questions cheerfully fielded! Moon Race Team with Nissan Cube and Mooneyes Dragster, plus trailer scratch re-built from the Attempt 1 kit, Trek 8000 mountain bike and RMofM pit wagon Gunze Isetta slightly modified (oops this is an in-progress shot; it looks much more finished now with that ragged color separation line cleaned up, window rubber installed and handles etc too, though I ditched those driving lights after one came off...looks much cleaner without them): fujimi Mazda Cosmo, pretty much OOB: Broadspeed Mini Cooper, resin body on Tamiya base kit: completed a Roth Mysterion someone else had built up the rolling chassis for: some misc stuff like engines for display, and also at least one Japanese Moderne scooter that I haven't taken photos of, etc: so overall a fairly productive year for me, and I am set up with 3 serious projects currently that I ought to get finished in 2015...if nothing else comes up in the meantime! jb

wow that's a lot of really good building there! etzel speed classics offy motor? were these threads in the workbench and I missed them? jb

those are all very nice, kind of a lowrider theme going through the group from modern back to the fifties! jb

the funny thing is, some years ago, maybe 5 or 6, it was Revell that was the hands down leader in customer service. seems to me there was a website and also a phone number and all you had to do was get hold of them and claim you bought such and such a kit and it was missing such and such a part. it was just ripe for ripoff from all our unscrupulous brothers out there. I called them up one day and said I bought a tweedy pie kit and had built it but needed another set of the carb bells because I wanted them for another project. I expected them to tell me to buy another kit but surprisingly they said ok, took my address and sent me the whole chrome tree. I had specifically told them I expected to be billed for it but never got anything in the way of a bill. and I wasn't the only one; there is more than one thread here (maybe, still) from back in the day saying the same thing, I might have related the same story there too. point is, at one time Revell provided superior customer service and its a shame if they backed off from that. personally if I have to send in bar codes and other stuff, I just forget about it. but I could use some patience sometimes. jb

>I haven't seen an OEM kit yet that makes detailed side drafts check into the Accurate Miniatures/Revell Corvette Grand Sport kits. very nice ones in there. also the gunze lotus elan with engine, kind of hard to find and expensive though. jb

yes I was referring to the "Mini Mite" above, just couldn't think of the name, I was just referring to it as cordless though there is a bigger (too big) cordless model that I do NOT mean. with the mini mite you don't really need a flex shaft, in fact it gets in the way. the tool is small and comfortable enough in your hand you can get right down in there very easily and efficiently. I think my mini mite is my most important major tool in my toolbox. couldn't get along without it...and now I might try chucking up a q-tip for polishing, thanks for that suggestion jb

double the recommendation on the dremel cordless. corded variable speed goes too fast. I would recommend a Stylus but they are no longer made and the ones out there seem to be collectors items judging from the price they bring. remember: those who buy cheap, buy often. and that jive with the harbor freight one not being adaptable to dremel bits is a non-starter for me. jb

one thing in particular that I would be upset about is that when you cut apart that hood or try to cut the square of louvers out of it, if it was me doing it, taking into consideration that it is resin and not styrene, for sure the hood would fall apart in my hands. and then I would end up having to make a whole hood and it would never be as good as it could have been. thinking that way I would consider trying to get a replacement somehow...as long as it was better. is there a snail mail address for the company? that might get their attention. anyway best of luck and I'm sure it will come out great despite the hurdles! jb

there could be an entirely different set of circumstances in licensing "old" (read: air cooled) models vs modern or even 1st gen water cooled cars. for a whole lot of different reasons including just that VW doesn't give a darn about licensing their name out, so they play hardball and want a lot of $. personally I don't think VW is anything special since they dropped their support of their air cooled cars. but someone is buying the water cooled ones! and I have to admit some of their designs are pretty nice...still a lot of the "when I grow up I wanna bmw but meanwhile I will pretend with this jetta" feel to them though. jb

Probably licensing costs. VW is notoriously predatory in that regard and also notorious for siccing the lawyers at the slightest provocation. but the cars are so popular it could well be some model companies like fujimi or Tamiya may get around to doing some. jb

I dig the flares and the skunk baxter haircut jb

>Back in the day, a lot of cars sold here in Eurospec was retrofitted with "US spec" look headlights such as on >Mercedes W108 and W111 and there was many Volvo 240s and 740s with US-look quad headlights. and everyone in California was doing exactly the opposite, "Euro"-ing up their BMWs, Porsches and Benzes. lights, number plates and any number of other things. first thing I used to do when I got a new (or new to me) car was swap out the lights for some 110W high beams, usually Hella H4s. jb