StevenGuthmiller

I apologize as well Christian. I prefer not to get into these arguments, especially on a model site, but sometimes the ball gets rolling & things go a little over board. Let's just call this one a draw! Steve

Not giving them a pass Jonathan. I get annoyed about poor kit engineering as anyone. Believe me, I've done my fair share of cussing when things aren't "as advertized". I just believe, in the grand scheme of things, it's not all that important. There are much more pressing things in life. whether or not a body line is incorrect or a roof is too high is of little consequence. Like any product, I think we should have a reasonable expectation that it will be done correctly, but if I have to choose between things I would like to be done correctly, I'd rather it were the brakes in my car than the engine size in the kit I just bought. Steve

You might want to do a little research before you start accusing people of things. I "NEVER" called anybody a "jack wagon", whatever that is. I merely brought up the HVAC thing as an illustration about why we should be focusing our "perfection" argument in other areas rather than something as basically meaningless as a model car kit. You're the one who made a production out of it! The way you jumped down my throat & used the tried & true "blame the Chinese" argument, I would have sworn you were a furnace salesman rather than an MD. I hope you treated your patients with a little more tact! Steve

Exactly! Everybody's an expert! & I'll bet that nobody here ever makes any mistakes & every thing they do & create is perfect. I don't like to settle for sub-par products either, but I don't pretend to know the model making business & even if I did, I think we should all have bigger fish to fry in our lives. Steve

There is no such thing as perfection! Good luck in you pursuit of it! Steve

Not buying it! If Honda can make a car that lasts me for 15 years & goes for nearly 300,000 miles, why can't Bryant make something that keeps my house warm, for 3 months out of the year, for 8 years? They can. They've done it in the past! The cars have greatly improved in reliability & longevity over the years & everything else has only gotten worse. Explanation? Steve

That's the problem! The house I lived in prior to this had a ten year old furnace & water heater in it when I moved in. Lived there 11 years & never touched either one. The washer & dryer that my wife & I purchased in 1987 is the only thing left in our new house that works properly!! I've had repairmen in my house cleaning or repairing the furnace and/or water heater a minimum of 12 times in the past 3 years. It's all garbage under the guise of progress. All of these companies managed for decades when they used to produce products that lasted 20 or more years! So, while some of these model companies may give us an occasional sloppy kit, which I assume is nothing more than an over-site, everybody else blatantly rips us off & tries to convince us it's because their products are greatly improved from the past! What a load of craaap!!! Steve

I think a lot of people are getting pretty worked up about a model kit! really? this is what people lose sleep over at night? You've never bought anything else that proved to be a disappointment? I built a house in 2001 that now needs every major appliance & system replaced from the furnace & water heater to the dishwasher & refrigerator. Let's talk about who's really passing off their junk on us in this country. I can live with a model kit with an "off" body line, how about somebody produce a furnace that lasts more than 10 years!!! Steve

Thanks Carl! steve

I usually pull the tape off as soon as the paint is dry enough to handle. Nice thing about Tamiya tape is, it sticks great, but it's also very easy to remove. Steve

For having several components of this build done, I still feel like I have a long way to go! Engine, interior & chassis are finished. Interior is basically right out of the box except for a few extra touches. Scratch built turn signal switch, door locks, gas & brake pedals & embossing powder carpet are the only additions. steve

Bingo!! Tamiya! The Scotch Blue is ok for grunt work, but I would never try to use it for anything critical. It's basically designed NOT to stick! Steve

Personally, I've never been a huge stickler for 100% accuracy. I leave that for the anal retentives among us. I'm just happy to have interesting & new subject matter & I'll be the first to say, Mobius kits are some of the finest I've ever seen in my 40 plus modeling career. So, keep up the good work Dave! You're doing it right!! Steve

They pretty much all do at some point. Some just more than others! Steve

Best & most obvious one so far!! Otherwise, it's all just preference. Steve

Very nice Rich! I do something pretty similar with these chrome headlights. I use clear acrylic mixed with a little metallic silver & just a touch of white. The affect is pretty much the same. Not 100% perfect, but close enough for guys like us! Just for future reference Rich, FoMoCo products from this era had the mirrors mounted on the front fenders almost exclusively instead of the doors. Especially with the high end cars. a few of the cheaper models had door mounted mirrors but they were usually the lower end round mirrors. Steve

Didn't know a '59 Rambler could look that good!! I always thought it would be kind of cool to do one of these "phantoms" in a factory stock style. Sort of a "what if" build. Looks like a nice start! Steve

I will concede that in certain display situations it may do what you intended it to do, but who's to say that there will be lighting consistency with the various places you may be displaying it. The lighting of different venues could vary greatly & in some circumstances might reverse your desired affect & make it look worse. Real cars are painted one shiny color & the body contours do the work of contrast. Military & figure models benefit from washes & high lighting because the are supposed to look used & dirty. Here are 2 pics of the same car, one indoors, & one out. There's plenty of shadow affect on both. I honestly don't see how shading the recessed areas would have helped. But, every one has their own techniques & no one should tell any one what they should do. If you like the affect it gives, go for it! Steve

Depends a lot on how far back you're going. White could be had with almost any color in the 50s. I imagine that started to lose favor in the mid 60s when the color matched interiors started to go out of fashion. Most of the ones from the 60s were, as you said, black & white. Steve

There's been a lot of them on ebay lately, which is strange in itself. These usually don't come up too often, at least not the kits. Finding a good one in that $65.00 range will be extremely difficult. steve

I'm with the skeptics on this one. I whole heartedly believe in washes for panel lines, cowl vents, grille & wheel back grounds, even interiors in certain circumstances. But unless you're going for a used or dirty affect, such as on engines or chassis, or even the body if you're going for a "laying in the back 40" affect, I don't believe it works on just your basic body crease. Shadows should be created by light, not paint. just like on the real car. Steve

I'll bet you won't find another in the same shape for $65.00 now! Probably not even close! Steve

Very cool John! Definitely something you don't see every day!! Steve

Thanks John! The inside ones are pretty simple. Basically just a piece of flat styrene shaped and sanded a little, & then a small plastic rod bent to shape. Easy!! The outside one on the other hand........ Steve

I get what he's saying. It would be nice to sort of "filter out the noise" of people you will never deal with while you're searching, kind of like having a "Zapper" on your phone to eliminate calls from people you don't want to talk to, (which is most people in my case). Believe me, There are a couple I would like to eliminate just to make sure I don't make the mistake of bidding on one of their auctions in the future if I happen to miss their name. Not because of prices, but for other reasons. There's one that I've given a chance to twice that I'll never buy from again because he likes to take poor & "favorable" photos & offer no information about condition that may be unfavorable to his sale. I realize I had taken a risk with him both times & both times I received garbage!! Another one flat out ignored the fact that I had bid, won & paid for an Item. I placed one bid for the starting bid price & won & strangely never heard from him again. When I started to question the situation through ebay, he claimed he never saw the "paid" message on his end & re-sold the item! I think we all know that he was hoping to get more for the item in the auction & when he didn't, he either re-sold the item or kept it & claimed ignorance. I of course got my money back, eventually, but the whole situation was so blatantly dishonest, it just burned my backside! guys like this should be banned from ebay in my opinion! Unfortunately Gary, I think William is right. I wouldn't hold my breath! steve