jbwelda

yep...always one in every crowd. that's what my friends say about me: we like you because you are such a good bad example. jb

that's a kool pic there Mike! and with you in moms arms, getting your first model building lesson! jb

the truth is, if this guy was posting those cars here, no one would be saying anything. or they would be heaping praise on them (and, imo, rightly). the problem seems to be the guys self-description, not the cars. personally, I don't think they are all that bad and the "pro built", "45 years experience" stuff is the normal hyperbole you hear so much of these days. I say leave the guy alone; if you don't like his stuff, don't bid on it. jb

ok so yes amazon bent to the pressure and is charging it. and it is possible others might have to do the same. "possible" being the operative word; so far it is not countrywide (though I do have to pay CA tax for stuff originating in CA on ebay for instance). but the thing about amazon: over 35$ (used to be 25 but that's another post) qualifies for free shipping, so having to pay the tax is again cancelled out by not having to pay the postage. don't get me wrong; I don't think its right to local hobby shops, but its the reality: you are paying for them to serve you through the prices they have to charge just to be profitable. jb

>No fees. Don't forget, on the internet you pay for convenience. actually, I think you will find it cheaper to buy on the net, and think clearly when adding up the extras: shipping is certainly an expense, but it is often offset at least somewhat when you do not have to pay sales tax, like you do in most states in brick and mortar situations. and certainly you can find kits cheaper than at a typical mom and pop hobby shop, even with shipping charges. you might even say you pay for convenience of having the shop on the corner with real people you can talk to. unfortunately its going that way for all "customer service", you might have to pay to talk to a bank teller one day soon. jb

that Marauder is awesome, simply awesome and to be built from a ford galaxie? wow...and that's not even to notice the ultra detailing under the hood. im trippin on that master cylinder. ive got an airtrax VW karman ghia type 3 transkit for the Tamiya ghia, and would like to get to it soonish. jb

hey Mike thanks for the compliments, honestly I find it pretty easy to work in 1/8 scale and make details look good without a whole lot of work. I did work away on that tub for awhile, probably at least a year it lived on my kitchen table, which my girlfriend took in pretty good stride for the most part! I think I have heard that images of it appear somewhere other than here on MCM site, but I never figured out where. if you have a link could you post it or PM me with it, just out of curiosity? so one thing that struck me building the Big Drag especially, was how difficult it was to get a decent bond with superglue, which is pretty much my "go to" adhesive in smaller scales. I found I had to at least drill and pin all major connections, and/or use five minute epoxy. otherwise if they didn't fail immediately, only with a little handling pieces would fall apart. when I built this big tub, which as pointed out was some years ago, I pretty much pinned every connection as a matter of course, but when I built the Big Drag, I was hoping for more of a quick build (don't we all...) but it ended up taking some time re-doing joints I hadn't secured properly to begin with. did you find the same thing? whats your glue of choice? I haven't tried the real "solvent" glues of my childhood since I got back into models, but maybe that works a little better (with much less volume than when I was 12). again great build and im sure you will have similar success with future builds, I look forward to seeing them! jb

since I have completed so little this past year (lots of "almost" completed though!), I was thinking of bringing this along to the NNL this year. problem is, the first and last time I did, it got caught by a gust of wind on the way back to the car and the whole front end crash bang ouched against its travelling platform. has since been rebuilt (and improved some too) and the platform revised so maybe things will be better this time! thanks for the bump and sorry for interrupting the other thread, just thought I could offer a look at another out of the same idea (rescued from ebay!) jb

sounds like some sigs were messed up when they were collating the magazine. I would expect there would also be some issues with your missing pages repeated twice and the ones you have twice missing. that's how it works in the printing world jb

the little drag could also be made using the Little T, which includes the turtle deck although no other Big Drag specific parts, but combined with a revell speed parts pack, would be coming close. I just built a big drag after scoring the body and all the blue molded pieces and combined it with some old and some reissue frame and suspension. didn't paint anything just to leave it original plastic...but I broke down and painted the seat tuck and roll inserts and a couple of little details. I also got a Big Tub off ebay before they were reissued, and totally rebuilt it from the ground up. theres a thread somewhere on the workbench but heres a quick shot...wasn't much left of the original when I got done:

its a tough audience around here sometimes but that build not to mention the kool photos, well don't worry about being impressive, that's for sure! jb

just spectacular! thanks for sharing! jb

>I'm only just discovering the scalekraft mini's since I've been on this board and would love to get a hold of some if anyone knows of any >available . pretty much unobtainium at this point though they do conceivably come up on ebay from time to time. ive been watching for a few months now and nothing has appeared. I do have a countryman that I could part with so if you're interested PM me and maybe we can work something out, a trade might work better than other. I have a monte carlo rally donor kit and some extra resin parts to make it a rally wagon and might want it all to stay together... jb

>Guys- do any of you spray high volume stuff in your booths like Krylon / Rustoleum / Duplicolor large cans? >Do these booths handle that or are they better suited to airbrush only? I have a pace peacemaker, and I use Tamiya and model master buzzcans a lot of the time, only really use the airbrush to paint delicate stuff, and it doesn't have any problem exhausting the odor. I have heard it might not be great to really get a lot of paint going but so far for me it just gets gone. very nice airflow with this booth. jb

I could have used a bunch of those first ones you posted right now! built my own though...but PE ones would have been much more to scale. jb

yeah, what he said! jb

I believe they are referred to as "wobbly web" wheels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wobbly-web_wheel jb

I have a lot of stuff from them and a lot of stuff I saw in their catalog and then got cheaper elsewhere. what I have found is if they are selling a name brand (X Acto, Dremel, etc) then you can always get it at least 2/3 their price including shipping on ebay and often at half off and that includes shipping. if it is their more specialty stuff I usually just buy it from them. my latest purchases have been an opti-visor (bought on ebay) and their micro punch set. I use the punch a lot, really great for cutting out gauge decals for instance, anything in a circle, and from really really small diameter up to about a quarter in diameter. ive also gotten some photo etch saw blades and some dremel bits and a micro drill set. all seemed top quality jb

filters are readily available at any hardware store that sells furnace filters...which is what they use. as for expecting an answer to email sent two hours ago...I would say give it a few more hours before you start filling the grave. if they are out of business there are two ways I can look at it: there goes another "lifetime" guarantee down the drain...or kool now I got a collectors item. jb

fantastic, I never thought I would see two of them together! and the open cockpit vs the closed one is interesting. did you cut that all out and construct all the detail? nice job! there was a resin kit available at one time; I bought one. it really improved over the merit kit in its wire wheels, while they weren't photo etch, they did have a good depth and look to them at least compared to the Merit kit wheels. here are a couple of photos of the resin kit, main funny thing was that on the original kit, the left side headlamp cavity was really weak on the top half of the body. whoever did the resin copy reinforced that area but made it look a little less round and it looks kind of funny. and I have had two of the merit kits and in both the top side of the left headlamp area were shaped funny, almost short-shot in the molds. the other thing was the raised panel lines, those are a real experience. you can see I didn't even deal with it, but one of these days I am thinking about laying down some decal black lines where body panels break apart. those are two really nice build ups of a model that takes some doing to do properly!

let me just say that my favorite LHS closed a year or so ago, and I for one totally miss it. I mostly miss being able to pick up supplies and some aftermarket stuff, particularly Tamiya and Model Master paint, and I also miss being able to buy stuff cheap when it hit their clearance shelf, which kool stuff did with some regularity. and I miss interacting with the owners and their family. I do and did buy on the web, but its sad the human touch is so going out of the hobby at the retail end anyhow. jb

I am thinking that too, Art, strip it and start over. ive tried to save paint jobs a number of times and it always ends up not coming up to the standard and gets stripped and redone anyhow. great advice though on the Tamiya tape (heres a case where you really DO get what you pay for) and the spraying clear to prevent bleed stuff. another thing: if you do sand or even really rub the pearl coat itself, you will ruin it. "ruin" being a relative word, but you will have knocked over the sharp shiny bits that make the pearl snap, and it leaves a dull metallic look instead. so if you've sanded the pearl, I really would advise stripping and starting again, this time coat the pearl with clear before rubbing on it or really even putting tape down too hard on it. best of luck and don't worry, its just plastic and its hard to really wreck. edit: oh and wear some gloves when you paint! those nitrile ones are cheap and work well! jb

I have found the biggest challenge often is getting the body to fit the transkit without major (unforeseen) surgery. it just always seems to pop up, no matter how often I have test fitted pieces. gluing in the windshield and other windows is kind of difficult sometimes too and leaves unexpected clearance problems. ive never really had a problem with contamination but I always soak resin parts in westleys bleach white for 24 hours, and again after major sanding, which as indicated, can be extensive especially if you are looking to thin major areas of the body, a common procedure. I usually wear a dust mask and keep the work wet so the dust doesn't really blow all over, or better take it outdoors for the brutal grinding to get it near to correct. jb

and the motors. and the running gear. and that coupe body. and, you know, spares! oh yeah and one to park on the shelf next to the original jb

>Do you have anything particular in mind already? I do have a mooneyes dragster that might need a driver! jb