jbwelda

the seats from replicas and miniatures of Maryland, while they don't have the oblong slots in the center, were certainly much cleaner castings that those, very very little cleanup and no drilling required. don't have as many holes either as the ones I am talking about have larger diameter holes. but still they look great. jb

hey Brian, those are some killer models! jb

thanks, I wish more manufacturers would set up their models like that, most all those fujimi silvia and skyline kits need a good 3" off their ride height. this one looks exactly right. jb

really? so like Volkswagens and porsches would also be excluded? somehow I don't think so. the problem with corvairs were their drivers: americans used to big American tanks with an engine in the front and the drive wheels in the back. much as I hate to admit it, Nader did a hatchet job on the car and the company, and by the time the second generation came out all that was behind anyhow. the second generation corvair was basically an American Ferrari in many ways, with a motor that rivaled the source of their inspiration, Porsche. But it got sent to an early grave along with many hopes of American manufacturers adopting some of the engineering ideas from Europe instead of lumbering along in the dinosaurs of the seventies. jb

really nice and I am a fan of LOW. did you lower it or did it come like that out of box? if you lowered it, how did you do it? jb

just a reminder that the Stockton NNL put on by Bob Karoll is this coming Sunday, July 12, at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton California. I am not sure the hours but I think the major swap meet starts early possibly 6am but certainly by 8am, and the model show and NNL (though selected awards are given out) shortly thereafter. judging is usually done by 2pm, with announcements and awards done by 3pm or so. Hope to see a big turnout, usually there are in the range of 200 or so cars, more if Mark Townsend brings a suitcase full. Model show is inside in the 1st building to the right as you come in and outside is the swap meet and 1:1 car show too. I think admission to the fairgrounds is 7$. I also believe there will either be an antique bike show or some kind of sci-fi anime sort of convention in the same building, but it rarely interferes with the model show proper, or vice versa. jb

not only do I build them, I steal parts from them whenever necessary. ps: how do you know that sealed kit contains anything other than scrap plastic sprues? don't laugh, its happened before. jb

I tried the technique of blacking in the panel lines before shooting color on my recent mazda cosmo. turned out pretty nice and the overall effect was achieved though the (white) body color paint did obscure the panel lines a bit more than I thought it would. made it perhaps a bit too subtle but overall I like it more than the overpowering effect of black on white. if the body had been anything much darker though, I think the effect might have been totally lost. jb

and evidently you don't park it anywhere either! jb

yes harry you describe like 1/10th of the daylight hours in a place that has a breeze. try it in Indianapolis middle of july 2pm sometime...oh and don't forget to follow that dairy cattle truck about 2 carlengths back! jb

I was referring to this: I guess I do see 40 ford in the grille now that I look closely but woody? jb

if you have owned a convertible for any length of time you come to realize two universal truths: 1. convertibles are NOT cool...at least not temperature wise. ask yourself: if you would rather sit in the shade or the direct sunlight? well put the top down on a 80+ F day and you are going to be roasting even if you are moving. 2. there is no such thing as "security" with a convertible. if you put the top up and lock the doors, someone will slice your top, costing an additional 1000$+. even IF your doors are unlocked but your windows rolled up, some azzhat is still likely to slit your top to get inside instead of just trying the doors. the only way to live with a convertible is to leave it with the top and windows down and leave nothing inside worthy of the effort to steal (8 track tape decks an exception). a convertible is like a Rolex watch: if you got one it shows you are rich enough to lose it and not really care. all others stick to Timex and four door sedans. life is too short to worry about mere material goods...they come and go, just like that leather interior that fell apart after being left out under the oak trees for a season. take it from a life long convertible owner.

when is a woody not a woody? what the heck is with that first red monstrosity? is that even a 1940 Ford anything? jb

I was poking around a friend of mines barn this morning and I came across what turned out to be the front 2 cylinders of a ford 289 V8 that had been cut off as a demonstration prop. crank turns, cam turns, pistons go up and down, valves open and shut, gears mesh and various other mechanical wonders ensue. hand crank welded to the front of the crankshaft. water passages painted blue and most of the rest left bare metal. mounted to a nice compact stand made from a brake drum. turns over with a little muscle; I think with some WD40 or TriFlow, it should spin around nicely. Koolest thing I ever saw. he said a teacher at the local college gave it to him 20 years ago or so and its just sat there since. made in the 60s as a class project in auto shop. weighs about 200 lbs so I am going back tomorrow or Friday with my truck and fetch it...will post some pics when I do. all of 50$ takes it away. jb

I really wish I had my camera with me today because as I was driving into "town" I was passed by what appeared to be some early 50s Pontiac big station wagon thing that I swear had some kind of wood paneling on the sides. looked like it was being driven away from the barn it sat in for 20 years. that's just an everyday occurrence around here, and we aren't even talking about 50 year old Mercedes shooting brakes sitting under haystacks where the farmer parked it and left it 20 years ago when it overheated from mice nests in the engine compartment. jb

the secret is to sneak up on them from the underside. thin that material enough and the vents will open themselves. a little cleanup with an xacto should be all that is needed if things work out perfectly. sorry if this has already been mentioned but I have always found it the only way to achieve this look jb

well booboo, if its enclosed like that and drawing all your overspray in exhaust past that fan, make SURE that fan is rated to be in airflow of volatile material. lots of stories of fumes building up and the spark from the fan causes them to explode and usually the wife does too. the only thing that made the original semi-ok was he is shooting water based colors. jb

wow on those 1:1 510s! jb

fred sterns is a long long time dealer in old and new model kits and buildups from the east coast. his transition to the web was certainly way late and seemingly not all that smooth. hopefully its just another speed bump. I have not dealt with him in many years but used to be a regular back in snail mail days jb

on the subject of swapping steering sides in Australia, when I lived there in the late 70s/early 80s, if you had a left drive vehicle you were required to attact a BIG sign to the back notifying people of that fact. that fact alone would probably make most people do the swap, for one thing you were treated like someone with a "STUDENT DRIVER" sticker (often in a provocative menacing manner) which was only a small step above someone with a serious mental birth defect as far as respect on the road. perhaps it has changed in the ensuing years. jb

Elmers white glue...its probably whats in that expensive little bottle! jb

I was going to suggest just buying another one and breaking the interior out of the ruined one, but flexibility is certainly the key! jb

especially given that you are using water based paint, I don't think its a particularly bad idea. not ideal certainly, but with an airbrush you shouldn't be getting that much overspray anyway, especially compared to with a buzzcan. more the problem mentioned of messing the place up and certainly it would be best to rig something nicer up. jb

what I would like to see is an analysis of those never ending just a little bit different from last time or maybe not even reissues that probably make up 90% of the majors offering. sort of a family tree of the model a from say AMT Revell Lindberg and that would probably be that. it would probably also boil down 100 "offerings" into 5 or so basic tools with little extras here and there and maybe a non-reversable tool change midstream or two. jb

nice work and really standout paint! looks better than the real thing! jb