10thumbs

Hi Ken, I think letting it be an Admiralty Model is a great idea. Is the double planking on the hull finished? I've often thought about a ship with just the lower mast mounted. The Admiralty Models are absolutely fantastic, and your model would make a great example. Your first build was the Royal William? That's a fine ship! Michael

Hi Ken, The main deck looks correct. Nice and lightly stained, not too much tar between the deck planks, very nice. Probably a 3 mast ship, it wouldn't be the la Couronne would it? That ship and all of the old vessels had some serious rigging. Michael

Hahaha! Tim, the magnets! Upon your recommendation I acquired a whole batch of various sized Rare Earth magnets. I've had some serious mishaps will these silly magnets. I've never ever experienced magnetic fields like these things! Also, all of a sudden the soldering tip gets too close and I get a nice hot solder splash on a beautifully polished roll bar, or the magnets were too close and together and the whole construction collapses in the middle of soldering touchy parts together. Even to the point that small tubes were bent in the process and other joints had come apart! I haven't had many burn wounds yet, but a considerable respect for small special magnetic force has become rule of thumb. Question: With the new pics I see the double mounts for the shocks. I would say a small tube with flange pieces soldered on the ends, then brought into shape, and drilled. Could you give here some insight as well? Thanks for the explanation of the rod ends, I understand what you write. Extraordinary progress, I like. Michael

Hi Tim, I didn't notice, but now I can see the difference. The length of the bars lets the thicker material look right. I use 1mm tube so far, I'll give a little thicker material a whirl next time. Question; How have you constructed the rod ends? The "sleeve" looks correct on the ends, is it just a larger size tube slipped on to the ends? I also like the double brackets, so far I'm happy to get a single piece in position! I like this setup a lot. Michael

Wow! Tim, now things are starting to cook! The work looks fabulous. Michael

Hi Randy, not only do the individual pieces look fantastic, but the way the whole works fit together just kills me. Just excellent modeling! Michael

This is just an amazing exhibition of scratch building. I'm completely overwhelmed, and I can't really imagine that doing parts/cars in 1:1 would be much different in the fabrication progress. My compliments to a true artist. I'm wondering, just for the sake of comparison, maybe a pic of a 1:8 kit piece against you're fabricated piece. Maybe like a wheel to wheel comparison? Forget the motor comparison though, geez, your build looks better than real! Looks like a drop or two of gas and the thing will start to run! Thanks for showing your progress. Michael

Hi Tim, I really had to study this quite a while to even understand what you designed and fabricated! It appears now that this jig is not only for this build but can be used for the future as well. Totally adjustable, and you're able to remove it and replace it without changing previous settings. This is fantastic. I admire the cleanliness, this looks like it's from a top notch NASCAR Team, probably even cleaner. The rear end jig is phenomenal and I would like to try and get one like this setup for my future builds! The paper is a great idea for keeping things square as well. These are pics I'll come back too many times, thanks for sharing this. Just a quickie type question, the paper diagram, it looks like I could do this easily with Excel and print it out as often as I need. About how far apart are the lines, 5mm? The rear end housing, brackets and shocks appear to be absolutely 1:1 real. Amazing! Greetings, Michael

I hope you don't finish the car. I like too much the pics of your garage. The car is nice too.

Outstanding! I'm still not sure if they're models or not! Excellent photos too.

Occasionally here in Europe I see a newer type Camaro, Mustang and Challenger. I think they look pretty good for an American car of this old muscle car category. I just think personally they all look too heavy, and overweight. They sound good, and have good performance, but the aggressive look they exude is a bit too much in my opinion. They just look plain fat and lethargic in my opinion.

Steelies on muscle cars look right! Great looking project. Michael

Hi Tom, the cars are looking great. Question: The Rally wheels look real! Can you tell how you handled these? It doesn't look like kit chrome. Michael

Thanks Andy. Very nice job. The interior looks very good, the door panels look right. They look like plastic. They were plastic too. i always thought the interiors on the Cuda and Challenger were terrible, way below average back in the day. Your work looks better than in real life. Michael

Excellent! The garage is fantastic!

Very clean work and i like the crinkle valve covers and dash especially. The opening trunk is killer, could you show a few pics of the hinge construction please? Excellent work! Michael

Your fabrication skills are amazing, I really enjoy looking at this progress. Excellent! Michael

My experience with Heller models is only from the historic sailing vessels, Clipper Ships and 18th Century warships. The Heller models are the finest I've ever seen, extremely well detailed with lots of parts that fit very well with very little flash! The ships I have are 1:150. The rigging is pretty close to being exact, more detailed than any other model ship. I have the Gorch Fock, the Amerigo Vespucci and the Royal Louis, with the Preussen and Passat still in their boxes. Anyone familiar with historic sailing ships will know their value. I imagine the car kits are just as detailed and valuable. Michael

Very nice work, looks great.

Amazing! I like the shiny parts mixed in with the old rusty metal. The contrast looks cool. Michael

Wow! Good looking work here, I'm amazed how you make things look so real! Excellent detailing. Michael

Thanks Cameron, good info. I'm wondering about the wear of Alclad parts as time goes by. I recently did brass parts on a front suspension with Alclad Burnt Metal, then clear coated with lacquer. Other parts, wheels especially, seemed to not fare so well with much handling. The clear coated suspension parts are hold up very well. I really like the stainless headers you've done! Michael

Excellent! Hey, I had to Google what an anti-roll bar is. Waste of time, all you have to do is look above then you know. Tim, it appears you're having fun with machining, who needs a Rolex anyway. Michael

Good job! I like the stainless steel, I'll order some for sure. Do you feel the Alclad covered easier after clear coating? Have you ever cleared the Alclad? Michael

Oh boy, this is going to be one nasty looking ride. I'll be looking. Michael