Pete J.

Well, there goes that theory! I thought about adding "only in Southern California" when I posted this and that would have been true. Frankly, even I was a little surprised to see it here. There is another one running around San Diego and it is all gray. Nothing like a funky little French car to brighten the day.

I had some business over at the courthouse the other day and a judge rolled up in this. I am willing to bet that I am the only one here that has seen one of these this month! Heck, I willing to bet no one else has seen one of these this year.

Ah the Tifosi - Yes the master himself. Enzo!

What? No takers? Hint, it was someone who never set foot in an aircraft.

I am going to echo the sentiments of those who say the failing eyesight is no reason to move up in scale. The finest detail work I have ever done was a 1:12 scale 935 by Tamiya with the Scale Motorsports super detail set. Literally hundreds of little bitty part including some nuts and bolt as small at .015". The larger the scale the more detail you can add but the smallest manageable pieces still remain about the same size. Today is my 66th birthday and I have been using an optivisor for twenty years now. The only thing that has changed it the magnification of the lenses I use. When I bought my first one, I had 2,5,7,and 10 diopter lenses. I thought I would use 2 and 5 most of the time. I felt I had wasted my money buying a 10. Never thought I would use it. I now have two visors with the 7 and 10 permanently mounted. It is the only thing that has kept me building. By the way, they are usable over reading glasses. Looks weird but it really gives me all focus I need to do the tiny work. Good luck and keep at it!

Got to go with '69 for me. That year represented the mid 60's refined. The mustang of that year looked right with the quad headlights. Cuda' and Challengers and then there was a deep blue Chevell SS396 with white stripes that just knocked me dead. If you want to talk in your face then there was the Judge.

As a pilot, this is one of my favorite quotes - For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

I was privileged to be part of a group of auto modelers who were asked to rewrite IPMS automotive categories several years ago and accuracy was a subject that was hotly debated for quite a while in that group for exactly the reasons mentioned. Few judges are experts on the appropriate plumbing and wiring of all cars. All, however should be well versed in building models and that is what a model contest is all about. Unless there is an obvious error, such as a drive shaft attached to the muffler, it is not going to be a factor. The quality of the build in the primary focus. How skilled was the builder? However having said that, the need for judging the accuracy of a build was addressed by creating a new IPMS category, "Documented Replica". In this class the builder is required to provide documentation of the original subject. If you are building a replica in any category, it is always a good idea to provide adequate documentation. If nothing else, it shows that you took the time to do your homework. That carries a lot of weight with judging. Same with scratch building parts. If you made something, showing a photo of the raw unfinished part will give you a leg up, if you did it well. But again, all the scratch building and additions mean nothing if you have a blob of glue in the middle of your windshield. Basic model building first, then added detail. And last but not least, be a gentleman or lady! If your there just for the trophy, you are there for the wrong reason. It is a competition, but it is all about the fun of gathering with other model builders and sharing.

Because of the commercial interruption, I prefer the YouTube version. It has been around now. I just checked and there are about 400 entries. You might want to try that.

Nice model! Just wonder why they didn't chose the 427?

Mike, as I mentioned, it took 25 years to get to this point and the top of my desk is still a mess! Always is and always will be. That's just how I work. When it gets too much, I stop and clean the whole thing up and then start over.

You asked about basic tools. You are moving quickly to Dark Side in this hobby. Tools are a little like kits. You can never have too many and there is always a bigger, badder, better tool waiting to do that one great masterpiece. Here is what is now, after 25 years of building, what I consider my "Basic" tool set.

That's why I never by canned beer any more. Can't tell what is in there. Glass bottles forever!

I've actually gotten a lot of this BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH stopped with a very specific technique but it takes time and effort. I try to keep them on the line as long as possible by acting stupid and somewhat senile. To any of these people, they are after that one person who can be duped and that means figuring out if they have a sucker on the line and if not get off and move on. If you get a reputation of being a real time hog then they will quit calling. It can also be fun. My objective is for them to get to the point that they hang up after a comment like "You have been wasting my time!" To which I reply, "Don't want me to waste your time? Don't call me!" That generally results in them hanging up and occasionally some cursing thrown in for my amusement.

Hi to all you resin gurus. I recently acquired an all resin kit and have a question for you. How do you use Bleche Wite to clean the mold release from resin parts. I have heard about this stuff for years but never had a large enough chunk of resin to want to try and use it. Now that I do, I am not sure how to use it properly and really don't want to screw this kit up as it is a bit on the pricy side. Any advise would be appreciated.

This is a basic(and cheap!) tool. You always need clips and clamps of different kinds. This is one I use on every model I build in some fashion. It is a cloths pin clip. With a little modification the cloths pin becomes a very useful tool and you can buy a hundred of them for a few dollars. You just need to do a little modification. Take the cloths pin apart. Reverse the spring and push the jaw through the spring as shown. Then push the other jaw through as shown. This does two things. It reduces the spring tension on tips so it is much more plastic friendly. It also gives you a very long, thin jaw for holding parts. I use these for gluing, holding parts for painting and a dozen other uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omG-hZfN6zk Good enough. Actually it was the Chantays the did the original but I always liked the Ventures better. It just seemed a little cleaner.

Jesse, you going to bring one of these to the meeting next week. My second car was a 72 240Z. Loved it almost as much as the car that replaced it, my 911

Ok, here is a hint - One of the band members is described as being the master of the ticky ticky guitar. Once you hear it you will know definitely know it.

Ok, this is for all you old guys(yea, I'm one). Tickytickytickytickytickytickytickyticky boom da da boom da da boom da da boom da da boom da da boom da da da dada da da da da da da da datada dada doom.

HOLY BAT CAR ! Ok, now here is one you don't see every day. My son actually got this yesterday driving through La Costa in a residential neighborhood. Only in SoCal!

DuPont Lucite Black Gold Lacquer. Too bad they don't make it anymore!

Been a fan of my favorite college football team for 60+ years(as long as I can remember). Five national championship seasons, a history of great coaches and great teams, umpteen conference championships and almost always in the top 25. Just got a new coach and this is the worst string I can remember. 2 and 3 on the season. Two door mat teams and three losses to OK teams in the closing seconds of the game(one hail mary, one OT loss, and one holy stuff, I can't believe that with 50 seconds left, they can't run out the clock). I am just miserable. I believe in giving the new coach a chance, but he needs to bring his coaching up to the level of the players he is coaching. Time to step up to the plate. Oh, and we are through the easy part of the season! Now we are going to play ranked teams! Yea, I know, it's just a football game.

Hmmmmm, interesting question. Frankly one I have never thought much about. I suppose it depends on the build. If it is a complex one with lots of aftermarket stuff, then I start with a review of the instruction sheets and markup and make references as to where all the aftermarket stuff goes. Then I decide on subassemblies. My builds are all about doing a lot of assembling different parts that come together near the end of the build. But I guess it all starts with the instruction sheet. I may or may not use the recommended steps but I always look at it and make notes. I try very hard to keep it from becoming analysis paralysis. Nothing is worse the studying something too much and not actually building it!

Ok, I'm going to get some hate mail for this but, this is a pet peeve of mine. Throwing up a photo on the internet or pulling a photo off of a web site and saying "This it the correct color" is totally bogus! Color as displayed on a computer monitor varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and can be highly dependent on monitor settings. The same is true of digital photography. The only way to get an exact match is to go to the original paint manufacture with the correct code and even then it may not be the same as OEM paint varied from batch to batch. Also due to scale effect, the correct paint may not look "right" on a model because of the variance of lighting and perspective. I have painted models with paint from the same can as a 1:1 car was painted with and had it "not look right". You set the model on the real deal and it was obviously the exact same paint, but view them apart and it just had the wrong look. The best you can do is get paint from a good source and go with it. Worrying about a subtly of shade is a fools errand.