mikemodeler

Nice save Nick, way to go polishing that baby up. For future reference, if you decide to shorten the bed, you have to chop a bit out of the bed behind the wheel openings too. Said it before, your skills keep improving and it shows!~

Should be a nice one when done! Is that the Trumpeter body you are using?

Find a piece of property to buy outside the 6 county area and register your car at that address and you solved your problems! I know many people in the 6 county area who do just that and smile at the people in line at the emissions testing stations as they drive by!

Here in NC, to renew your plates you must have current insurance and your vehicle has to pass an annual safety & emission inspection. They check the function of your lights, wipers, brakes, etc. These are done at any shop that buys the test equipment and gets certified to perform these inspections, so it could be a new car dealer, Goodyear tire shop, local repair garage or my favorite, a shop that "specializes" in vehicle inspections. They charge $30 for any 1996 (OBD II ) and newer vehicle and the shop gets a large portion of that fee. To realistically perform a thorough inspection, a shop has at least 30 minutes of time involved and most shops going labor rate is $70-$100 per hour, so needless to say, they don't make money doing an inspection UNLESS they find something wrong with your car. There have been efforts to exempt any car that is less than 4 years old but the shop owners lobbying group cried about how unfair that is and how they keep unsafe vehicles off the road and whatnot. That got shot down because there were some shop owners and new car dealers in the state legislature that rounded up votes against passage of the bill. There have been shop employees and owners who have been caught passing cars that wouldn't pass by taking payoffs and they ended up in jail as a result. The other problem has been certain shops almost always "fail" a vehicles' wiper blades or there are a couple of "burned out" bulbs and those shops prey on people and that $30 inspection results in a $60-70 bill for the vehicle owner. I always go through the vehicle before taking it in and make sure everything is in working order and I also go to a reputable shop where I know the owner and am confident that I won't be scammed. I don't miss that racket Harry, I too was always amazed at the irony of the Illinois emission inspection program!

Best of luck to you and prayers for you and your family. Many great advances in medicine has made treating this disease much easier and not a death sentence. Be strong and keep us updated.

Congrats and keep up the healthy living. Take that cigarette money and put it to good use- buy more models!

I think that we would need someone connected to the industry to give an accurate estimate. While advances in technology may have reduced the tooling costs some, licensing fees and a smaller market can still play a large factor into the cost of developing a kit. It would explain why there has been 3 versions of the Revell Nova and also why we are getting yet another version of their 69 Camaro, , the COPO , which appears to be using parts from the COPO Nova kit. More kit sales without having to create new tooling! I wonder if the folks at Mobeius have some data they could share on this subject, in light of their recent all new tools, that would better help us understand what it costs and why certain vehicles get released.

Great job so far and keep the pictures coming! Your English and spelling is better than many here who were taught it as a first language in our schools!

I would hate to think how much money is sitting there, in tools and kits and parts. I have wanted to inventory my collections for some time now but mine will be a piece of cake compared to this!

Thanks Dan, I forget he was a "eBayer" !

The Modelhaus offers them in chrome versions, deep and deeper, and reasonable price.

X2

AMT had a 66 Nova kit that included a bare small block and engine stand. Revell had a 67 Chevelle kit that had Max Rat decals and was molded in lime green and was a pro street kit. Both of those kits are fairly common and should be easy to find.

As always Dave, great details and clean building! You have a knack for making these look easy. Thanks for sharing.

someone is working on a Cummins resin engine but to date there is not a Powerstroke diesel engine of any kind available in resin or kit form.

I would have to say that Mobieus has another couple of winners on their hands here with these kits- I know I am in for at least 4 of each! Is it September yet?

Steve, Understand the frustration but keep in mind that even with a patent on a product, someone could change your design ever so slightly and get away with it. My wife and I developed a couple of consumer household items and spent some $$$ on getting patents only to be told later that our protection was limited if someone wanted to imitate our product. For what it is worth, consider it flattery that someone copied your hard work. Doesn't make it easier to accept, but you have made us aware that there are poor copies out there and we shouldn't confuse them with yours.

Don Mills Models, based in Mass, has the correct scale diamond plate for 1/25. I have found it at swap meets and also through The Model Empire in Milwaukee, WI. The Plastruct 1/25 scale is not as accurate as Don Mills sheets.

interesting topic as recently someone posted asking if anyone has produced resin copies of the wheels in the newly released Rat Roaster kit! I have yet to resin cast items but if/when I do, i plan on doing so only for myself as I have no interest in starting up a company or being responsible for making parts for others. I wanted several extra snow plows that came in the Revell GMC kit and found it cheaper to buy the kits than to try and re-create them in resin. I will sell off the truck kits (minus the plows) and I will not have to worry about any "infringement". Ironically, the snow plow represented in that kit appears to be a Western brand but no where do I see Revell mentioning "that", nor did MPC mention years ago that the plow in their Jeep kits was a Meyers brand, but yet if you knew the design and colors those plows used, it was easy to figure out.

Thanks Dave, getting ready for some room on the bench for these babies! Sure hope someone is willing to make 4wd conversions for these kits as I have many ideas for 2wd & 4wd versions.

True words there Jeff, but frustrating nonetheless when a poorly copied part is competing with your higher quality part and as a whole, modelers are a cheap bunch! To Steve's original post, once you let that master out of your control, what happens to it is not up to you or the resin caster you sent it to, as you have found out.

If you are looking for some current or new releases, check out Tower Hobbies (Plastic-Models.com) as they have a free shipping promotion going on right now. I like to find stuff locally and try to support my LHS whenever I can, but realistically there are things I have to order online due to a lack of selection. I have yet to use eBay, although I visit there all the time to get an idea of what kits are going for and what is out there.

Brock, A lot of good suggestions of where to find kits and the bargains that can be found, if you just look around! Also stop by antique or estate sales type shops, they sometimes get a household of goods and could have models in them. Some folks also visit the thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.) as they occasionally have kits. From time to time places like Ollie's Discount Outlet or Big Lots will have models too, so keep an eye out. As was mentioned about model shows/swap meets, walk around and check out what the vendors have before shelling out your hard earned bucks, you might find a kit cheaper on the other side of the room. Happy Hunting

Tower Hobbies has free shipping on their website , if you haven't already checked them out- www.plastic-models.com

I am lucky to get one started and completed and now you want finer details?????????????????????? Good luck Casey, I am happy to just get a snap kit painted and finished in 3 months time, let alone thinking about cowl vents and windshield trim!