Pete J.

I've ordered "backordered" and "out of stock" from them before. I have mostly gotten it within a month. Only once did it not show up, but I got a email telling me the company had discontinued it. If it is something you really need then place the order. They don't charge you until it ships. The stuff I ordered were WRC stencils for the radiator grills and metal transfers. They have a web site filter to remove the backorder/out of stock/discontinued stuff if you don't want to see it. Incidentally, it seems that they keep just about everything they ever sold on the inventory so it is a good recourse of who produced what, if you need that.

Very nice clean build! These large kits can be a struggle. I don't thing anyone who has not built a large scale kit knows.

I don't know how much stuff I have purchased from HLJ but never ever had an issue and I have been buying from them since 1998.

To be up front, I have a Sherline and it is about 5 years old now. This is the first time that I have taken a serious look at a Taig and am a little surprised by a couple of things. The first is the big honkin AC motor that runs it and the second is that you vary the speed on it by changing the belt and pulleys. I would have to give Sherline the advantage there. Sherline uses a quite powerful DC motor that has a variable speed that is easily controlled. This is an advantage for the modeler especially if you are cutting larger pieces. Keep in mind that as you work from the outside in, the actual feed rate of the piece can change dramatically. I have often started at one speed and as I get down to the final cuts, have to increase the rpm to get the right feed rate. Also in looking at the accessories, it looks like Sherline has an advantage also. I like the instructions that come with their accessories. Very detailed on how to use it. They have those instructions on their web site, so give them a look. The other reason I like Sherline is that they are really free with advise on how to do things. They have several retired machinists on staff who are there to answer you questions if you have them. I have never been steered wrong by them. They will give you the straight scoop on accessories. More than once they have helped me not purchase something that was the wrong tool for the job. Good company, great customer service. Worth a little more in my opinion.

What bothers me about this one is that is looks like a four door that somebody at the factory for got to cut out the rear doors. Weird looking car.

Been there, done that. Order is in at HLJ. Nice part is that I will have probably forgotten about and when it gets here, it can by my Christmas present to myself!

My order is already in. Thanks for the heads up!

One of the realities of the 21st century of doing business. The local/mom and pop stores loose out the big chains. The big chains loose out to the warehouse chains. All loose out to the internet. Unless they can find a way to fill a niche that the bigger fish have missed. I would rather buy from a local vender in all cases, but if they don't carry it then I go where I have to, to get what I want. I may be weird, but I won't buy something I don't need or want just to support a local store. Life has change. Adapt or die. It is the way of things.

I picked this up off the IPMS site. Although we don't use it like the armor and aircraft guys do, this is an excellent article that explains scale effect. Even if you don't use it, it is a great piece to tuck away in you general modeling knowledge data base. http://www.fcmodeltips.com/2013/08/el-filtro-atmosferico-y-el-efecto.html

Joe- I think you may be talking about my photo of the engine on a stand. I cut the chassis cross member off just to show the work on the engine. If I had left it in place it would have blocked the front of the engine and all the turned metal pieces would have been hidden. There is a very slight fit issue with the turbo heat shield. It needs to be very precise. Hiding all that work just wasn't in the cards for the display.

Or fly yellow! AKA Gallo Modena

You really have to read the whole story behind this car. It is a ONE OWNER car. He bought it from Luigi Conetii and picked it up at the factory. It is a totally numbers matching car. Probably one of the few high end cars that I can actually see the value in. Here is a video on RM's site. http://www.petrolicious.com/this-ferrari-275-gtb-4-s-spider-is-one-of-ten It is one of 10 made. One of the originals was destroyed when it was rear ended in LA. That car was owned and driven by Steve McQueen and was brand new at the time.

Easy list: 1. Pontiac Aztek 2. Pontiac Aztek 3. All the American iron from '72 to well the ugly had kind of petered out but it's still there. 4. Pontiac Aztek 5. Mustang II(what were they thinking) 6. Pontiac Aztek 7. Anything post war French and lot of the pre war stuff 8 Pontiac Aztek 9. Any of the new stuff designed by the Japanese for the Asian market 10. Pontiac Aztek Oh, and did I mention the Aztek!

Ok, one last set and I'm done, after all this is Mitchell's thread not mine. These are the hood pins out of the SMS set. You have to drill out the snap ring holes. This is what they look like when they are mounted. Finally shots of the completed model

I have a bit of a problem imagining driving one of these things on the autobahn at any speed! You would just be a speedbump

This car was also shown on "Chasing classic cars" when Wayne was viewing the whole collection and went to the auction. I still find it increadable that it went for $322,000. I guess I understand as there were only 320 produced and this is the best remaining example, but I think we might be on a bubble in bubble cars. Interesting history. Designed by Fritz Fend(the F in FMR) originally as transport for severely injured from the war, the controls were all on the steering yoke. You pushed it forward to go forward and pulled it back to go back. Messerschmitt contracted Fend to produce the KR series of them when people started buying them for basic transportation. The tiger was created as the "sport" version, with 4 wheels instead of 3 and a more powerful(or more correctly less underpowered) motor. Nice choice Harry.

Very nice Mitchell! The weathering looks very nice. When I built mine I assumed that the air boxes and piping was plastic. I later found a photo that shows them as bare metal. They look like cast aluminum.

Here are some shots of the cockpit and front suspension. The SMS set added a lot to the basic kit.

My build started with the Scale Motorsport detail set and just got silly from there. It took me three years to complete it. Since you are up going to do the engine next I will throw some photos of that up first. One of the real problems with the Porsche model is that if you do a killer job most of the work is hidden by the body work. To counter this, I cut up a separate chassis and made it as a display and detailed the bottom of engine that was in the car. Here is the cutup chassis finished engine This is my favorite shot of the whole build. I'll Throw up some more tomorrow.

Well, airbrushes work with acrylics and they are more "human" friendly. Lacquers and VOC solvent based enamels are really tough on the respiratory system not to mention highly flammable. I suspect the VOC solvent based paints in airbrushes are really very limited. Look at a paint rack and you will see a ton of non-solvent based paints.

Mitchel- Great build. I had a great time with mine and would be happy to forward any photos my build that you may want. I am not one to hijack somebody else's thread so unless you ok it I will not post photos of my build. Some of these parts do not look stock such as the front shocks. Are you using an accessory kit other than Tamiya?

Probably because they need to be airbrushed. Lacquers don't really brush well. They flash to fast. I suspect that the airbrush paint market for lacquers is rather small.

Well, I've seen my fair share of connecting rod ends, so it not to surprising that I would borrow some of the content. It is really a very common shape. I've seen a lot of bearings and other parts of machinery that are similar. I would bet there were probably 50 similar looking parts on a John Deere combine. In fact a lot of them had the treaded hole for a grease zerk. Main difference here is that I cut what looks like a keyway to let the pressure of the can escape.

I have not spent the most I have ever spent on at kit.....yet. Current to date is $650. Frankly that is not my most expensive buy on modeling. I have spent far more on tools. Also the accessories typically cost more than the kit. Was it worth it? Oh, 7734 yes! I suspect your question is not, "How much have you spent on a kit?", but "What is your hobby budget?". There in lies the real question. I spend a fair amount each year because it brings me great pleasure and I am old and don't have a lot of other expenses. For instance, I spent about $1000 to go to Eagle Quest in Dallas. Why, because it was fun and I got a chance to spend quality time with my modeling buddies. It meant a lot to me to see old friends. If you have young mouths to feed and the house if falling apart, well you probably would think $50 is way to much. Been there and done that too. I remember the days when winning a free kit at a contest raffle was a huge deal. The cost of kits is not really relevant when you have other priorities. This is a hobby. If you feel guilty about spending too much on a kit, don't! It isn't worth it. If you don't like prices, then look around. There are a lot of places to get good deals on kits. It just takes time and a little effort. Yard sales, flea markets, second hand stores, it doesn't matter and long as it gives you happiness and you feel good about spending the money. Get out from behind the computer and look around. Save some money, make new friends and feel good about the hobby all at the same time.

Actually, jewelers have the best stuff you working with little stuff. Pliers, tweezers, files etc. Here is my source. http://www.ottofrei.com/home.php