jbwelda

just did a buy it now on that trabant universal based on what was written here. kool little kar, gonna look better with a DOHC Lotus motor under the hood. jb

been "playing with customs" for about 20 years now believe it or not and haven't been called on anything on either side...ever. that's sending or receiving packages whose "value" could be from 1 US$ to 10,000 US$. I am speaking from experience here. but like I said go ahead and declare full MSRP if it makes you feel "safe". throw in a little extra just to make sure. I am sure your overseas customers will thank you for it. I would certainly never advocate publicly that one try to defraud the government. this message brought to you by the Concerned Mothers of 'Merica, birddogging your every move since 9/11/2001. jb

sorry, that's total paranoid BS. but go ahead and insist on stating an inflated or even true value if it makes you feel "safe". unless you are a business you are never going to be called on it. never. and rarely even if you are a business. jb

TLCs rule...its just beyond me that no one makes a 1/24 classic like the FJ60 or the "iron pig" FJ55. jb

yes that is quite clever! about testors enamels...a polishing kit is a life saver. I don't think much of anyone uses that paint without orange peel, but the polishing kit (and a light hand) will do miracles with it...just put plenty on so you can have some material to polish. I would have to guess that 90% of disasters are paint related. I know that is true for me. jb

does marking an item on the customs form as a "gift" change anything? Not that I am advocating customs fraud but pretty much anything I send overseas (from the usa) I mark as a gift and I assign a piddly dollar value to, like 1 - 5 US$. Most of the time no one pays anything extra that way. it was explained to me by an employee of the USPS that "value" is not necessarily what the item would sell for. it is the value to the sender...and for instance if you built it from nothing bought it is totally valid to assign "NCV" (no commercial value) to the item for purposes of a customs form declaration. same with a model...if its value to you is or could be negligible either because you don't want it or perhaps have multiple copies, or any other reason, it is rare someone will challenge that. jb

yeah toner has that right, I bought up a few of those years ago cheap, just for the skulls to use as shift knobs. or the Rep and Min ones are very nice and more finished looking jb

I too use devcon 5 minute epoxy and as mentioned, watching ratios, it seems very strong and certainly sands well and can be used for making headlight lenses, gauge glass, and similar. you can do that filleting thing with it as well. I usually apply it to both surfaces, then wipe off most of it, let it set up for 3 minutes or so and join the pieces. give almost instant adhesion but still allows some wiggle in final positioning. ive have pretty much made it my adhesive of choice for a lot of reasons. for mixing I save up defective CD blanks and mix on one of those. you can mix 5 or 6 small batches on one disk, and I happen to have once bought a 100 pack of fairly defective CD blanks so I am not going to run out of those anytime soon! jb

>So ... um ... on the engine with the finned heads, where do the radiator hoses attach? that may indeed be a good question, I forget what I did about that, but I do seem to remember they were plumbed with two hoses on the front of the heads. jb

Burglars, that has got to be the worst. to have your models destroyed by someone just for vandalism sake. It would be bad enough with a (soon-to-be-ex) wife, but a complete stranger would be unbearable. How are the gun laws and "stand your ground" laws in your state? jb

that's pretty neat! I have wondered what to do with phaeton bodies instead of just a tub, and I think you have found it! great original car too, this ought to be sweet! jb

that is looking super! these little Tamiya kits really rule! the yellow on the body, are the photos really showing a true shade, or it more yellow than it looks in the photos? it almost looks a pale green to me in the pics. beautiful work on all of that, and I am totally impressed that you have people calling you to have you build for them. of course the reason is clear. and the Tamiya magazine too. nice stuff! jb

is that 914 kit exactly the same as the revell versions? chrome tree? racing etc options? if so it might be something to look for if it is cheaper than the Revell version jb

I think this is the early years V12 I built for a giveaway project. some modification to make what you see here: jb

Real what? Real just because it wasn't made in the USA doesn't mean its trash real. plenty of trash to go around. just like all "competition" isn't in a straight line or a roundy round circle (referencing another thread there, just to clarify the reference). hope that helps jb

I thought you meant the Geo Tracker was the catastrophe not the beanie bears jb

>I learned the hard way with the Tamiya stands as well. Now first thing is I tape the bottom stand to the top. >It does not spin, but it will not fall a part again. you can certainly tape the top to the bottom and still have it spin. the spinning takes place inside the bottom half if I recall correctly but you are right: that is the FIRST thing to do to those paint stands then they are pretty much golden. my biggest disaster involved a Tamiya karmann ghia I built. used Tamiya PS black instead of TS black. do a search in the work in process forum for the hilarity that ensued. took me quite some frustrating time to realize my problem. jb

So... <crickets> jb

>Turning a well done 1 dimensional drawing into a perfect representation of an actual piece takes skills I am afraid >the Koreans didn't possess when those molds were made. first of all, a drawing is a 2 dimensional thing in most all cases. second of all its not "the Koreans" who didn't possess the necessary skills...it may or may not have been one or more Koreans who actually got the job, but not "the Koreans" in general. just trying to keep it real. jb

No Va = No Go = Nova GMs critical mistake in marketing to a Latin American audience or could it be a Freudian slip and/or admission? jb

I am currently using the Z'ed frame from the XR-6 for a completely different build, and I plan on doing a proper build of the XR-6 itself in the next year. I always thought that car had some real potential despite the kinda clunky outboard fenders for instance, so I will have to pick up this issue to see whats up. I also always loved the asymmetrical styling and the six cylinder engine. saw it once in person at an auto show; could have been in St Louis in about 63 or 64 or so. edit to add: that cut away phantom view of the car also was a big influence on me back when I was 13 years old. always wanted to build the model that way somehow but could never figure out how. needed some of that invisible paint I guess. jb

>I've bought nailheads from as far away as Finland you do realize that most of the parts pack for this engine is available in many kits, the four of 'em style of the Tommy Ivo Showboat for one place I can think of right off hand. now of course you don't get the transmission from the PP, nor other accessories or intake manifolds, and it might not be chrome plated (most would strip it anyhow), but the basic engine is available in many places. right now I am building one I sourced from the old Fumin Fiat which was a PP based kit, but it is identical to the Ivo engines, and also I believe one of the mills in the Tony Nancy twin car kit. My point is only that its not that rare actually, though of course the actual PP is rare. Those build up into nice nailheads, all of them. jb

>The bike kits were always designed to be sold separately never together in one box...I designed all of the kits when >I was at Revell in the early sixties....any other questions? you do realize I was talking about the early 2000s for this release of all the motorcycles, or at least four of them, in one box. I know for a fact that I followed that possibility mentioned in most car model magazines as of imminent release, and also I believe advance flyers were sent out to hobby shops because I believe I recall seeing one at my LHS. then suddenly the project was shelved and I remember distinctly reading it was killed because some believed it would not sell. I of course was not referring to any such scheme in the sixties when I first started building and using these parts packs. more recently: and yes I do have another questions, possibly more. could we start with why exactly connection points were chosen the way they were? what I mean is a sprue connector directly in the middle of a hairpin radius rod pretty much spoils it. Another one: why exactly the inner detail of the motors, crankshafts, cams, lifters etc? were there plans for a garage diorama set for them to be displayed in? I always wondered why all that extra detail that was going to be buried in 99.99% of the cases. thanks again jb

Replicas and Miniatures do not do the "motorcycles"...what they offer is the AMT Triumph that was included with the 63 chevy pickup truck I believe it was. I don't think they ever offered the roadster speed equip either. personally I much prefer the stuff on the dragster speed equipment parts pack to the roadster one. though the roadster one does include that kool little master cylinder with handle for a hand brake...not sure if it was with the dragster one or not. jb

the plan as I understood it was to package four motorcycles into one box and sell it for normal kit price. I believe the bikes were going to be the hardly worthitson, the Honda, the bsa and the stockish triumph. I am positive that combo would sell as many or more than say your average Gremlin or Pacer reissue. jb