jbwelda

Why? Pretty much the same reason laundry soap manufacturers keep marking their boxes "IMPROVED!" when there is no viable improvement at all. jb

kool models! a friend of mine put bmw 2002 engine and running gear in one, lowered it down on modern radial tires, cut off the top (only attached along the windshield line with rivets as I recall and in the rear only by that 6" or so of metal...the factory converts were done the same way, chop off the top). that made it both kool and fast. I would love to build a model of his car. jb

Perhaps Mr Jordan might benefit from understanding ebay bidding before throwing in his two cents? jb

Another for the Checker! I don't think a body would do...what is the suggested donor kit for that resin body? and I don't think R&R has a good enough track record to buy one without eyeballing it in person first. I was pretty happy with their El Matador until I really started scoping it out: left side front is a good 1/4" lower than the right and kinda bent over to one side. now its destiny is as an interesting paperweight. even my friend jerry amaral pronounced it junk. jb

>You can't run! You can't hide!!! You can run but you can't hide! jb

Lotus Elize? oops forgot where we are...no one in America is interested in those! give us a Duck Dynasty Pacer! jb

at least it aint a Gremlin! or Pacer! some nice builds there jb

john I gotta admire you (for more reasons than this actually) for building that not once but TWICE! and your way with a camera is pretty spectacular I had to look at those pics of the transporter more than twice to notice it was a model! only thing that gave it away is the 5 foot tall (out of scale) grass! jb

no offense but I would just as soon throw a kit away as attempt to build in a time frame like that. maybe some see it as a "challenge" but I just see it as needless rushing through something that would be a lot better if some time were spent on it. jb

hey john, in that first pic you posted they seem to line up better than in the second...is that just the camera angle or something? that wagonmaster is awesome. saw the real thing at NHRA museum some years ago but didn't note the pipe arrangement. terminator: if it were me I would probably leave them as is too. heck I never even got up the nerve to build the kit myself though in my research on buick nailheads I think I will steal some parts from one of them to use on my next nailhead build. I have a buildup of the kit I bought on ebay some time and the center pipes are all katty-wampus...yours look much better to tell the truth, at least they look consistent in their angle from center. and I have a 1/18 die cast (GMP?) in which they are perfect but usually die casts are at least when youre paying 100+ for them. jb

here is a slight update on the rail itself: pieces, body panels, beginning of brake linkage under cowl. note the little brackets I made, they will actually be rotated about 30 degrees downward so the linkage bar is below the first frame rail not above it. also note clutch pedal to be attached to front of transmission case, "vintage" decals applied to body panels and sealed in clear, cowl has been extended about 1/8" backward to cover the instrument panel with overlap as per real car, polished aluminum firewall, disk brakes added to rear wheels again as per real car and upholstery tuck and roll upper pad with rolls oriented vertically and the center two yellow, again as per real car, and seat has had the rolls oriented vertically and yellow again as per real car (kit seat had the pleats running horizontally). by the way that's the broadspeed mini in the background awaiting chrome foiling and final assembly, an entirely different thread not updated in a while. thanks for looking and comments encouraged.

(wow what a struggle it is to post this stuff! I don't know what the deal is here but nothing goes where I put it and everything I see in the preview window is all screwed up) here is a Christmas eve update, tow vehicle done, Fujimi Nissan Cube with Parts by Parks spun aluminum wheel disks, Mooneyes interior and some other additions. made twin exhaust pipes from polished aluminum tubing. still need to tighten up gap between front bumper and body on the left side (some superglue inside the fender well will take care of that) and also paint front side marker lights with some clear amber, plus add a trailer hitch for the dragster trailer, but essentially its done. I also wish I had used that technique where you ink in the panel lines before painting but I forgot! also am going to add a trailer hitch and modify the trailer that comes with the revell midget kits to fit the dragster!

aha so that's why some of those headers on the tree have that funny bend to them! never knew that! jb

building models is a series of challenges under the best circumstances especially if you are doing any kind of advanced modifications and often even if just building out of the box. that paint stand: Tamiya? I taped the top to the bottom after doing just that at least a couple times. jb

I always loved those wheels so probably not...but nice try! they look great on just about anything! jb

Can't say I'm all that big on those modern wheels but that's some artist's prerogative I would say...but I am very impressed with your OOB build there. I have one of these in the purple molded color (the new reissue is white I think) and I gave up on thinking of building it due to extreme warpage of the body which I would assume was present on your copy too. Did it straighten up once the top insert and/or frame were attached? sure looks like that's the case by looking at your two builds, they look great! jb

yeah it does look like if you can rotate each engine inward (toward the center) about 10 degrees they will line up...but whether it is easy or even possible to do that at this point is questionable. I thought I was the only one found themselves in this position! still very nice work there jb

well I cannot copy and paste things here anymore (nice business decision I would say, right up there with ridiculing those who complain about their subscription mags arriving all torn up but I digress) (EDIT: ok foot in mouth time: turns out that "compatibility" thing under the "tools" dropdown solved my cut and paste problems so kudos to Casey for cluing me in on it) but I guarantee you that if you do a google search on "tommy ivo showboat photo" you will see they are not correct. don't even bother with that...look at the pic on the box top. just sayin jb

yes man great work there and its coming along nice. hope I am not the bearer of bad news but your middle exhaust stacks don't look right. from all photos I have seen they are supposed to form a straight line of 16 pipes right down the middle and yours looks like maybe you got some of the left/rights installed incorrectly giving them a staggered look down the middle. hope that a) that's on purpose because I don't know what I am talking about or they are easily removed and reinstalled. great work there on a major headache sort of project jb

thanks for that tip on the pencil lead, I have an excellent opportunity to follow that coming up soon! jb

Try putting a light coat of Future (aka Pledge with Future Shine I think) over that haze and it will disappear. Future (aka blah blah blah) is one of Gods gifts to modellers...you can coat (plastic) glass with it and it will then not react to superglue, or you can use it to do your gluing for you (especially effective on plastic "glass"), or if you fog your glass (or chrome) it will get rid of it with one simple coating, brushed on (its self leveling). In addition you should probably apply less, probably MUCH less, super glue, if it is fogging your chrome parts. a little goes a long way.

what is this doing in this forum? shouldn't it be in that ghetto known as the off topic forum? thank you

if you need wheels pm me as I may have an extra set. I started out like you, had bought two early bulds, one never painted and the other a decent but faded/dulled red color. then I found a used bunch of parts and then a complete kit, so I was ready to start on this as a winter project...its great to see this thread and the progress you are making. nice call on lowering the floor and cutting the belly pan, the belly pan at least I had already wondered what to do but that lowering the floor part is a great idea! I am always kinda torn about the fenders, they have that funky kool vintage look but I don't really like them, but I can appreciate for what they are...kinda like a Honda "Dream", squarish, flat. I would use them just to keep accurate I suppose, and I do really dig the assymetrical body and nice choice of powerplant. check out my thread on a build of tognottis king t for an indepth look at the kit wheels there http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58494

I have some photos of the motor sprue, the bicycle sprue and the kool azz Dayton wires (molded with micro spaces between the spokes) but somehow I cannot cut and paste into the reply block so I cant post them. kind of a pain honestly.

is anyone else having trouble posting here? specifically cutting and pasting text or images? I cannot do it at all at the moment through any of the defined or known methods: ctrl-c ctrl-v alt-e-copy alt-e-paste or even those funny little icons up there that never really work anyway. it is not my browser; it is up to date but hasn't been updated anytime real recently. last time something like this happened it took forever for anyone "in power" to even acknowledge the problem and then it was the standard fallback: download <insert buggy browser of the moment> answer that they teach you day one of ghostbusters. or maybe its just me? anyone else having issues with this sort of thing?