SfanGoch

If it was a van sold in NYS, or other areas with snowy winters, it would've been black from the anti-corrosion undercoating sprayed to protect against road salts.

You're still ending up with incorrectly shaped C Pillars. The Lindberg Dodge bodies can be had from Model Car Mountain for under six bucks and the roof requires a heck of a lot less work to make it look like the one in the photo.

I already mentioned the Testors ELO. Brush it on the parts (no need to soak the parts) and use a Q-Tip or old toothbrush to scrub the mess. When the paint has loosened and can be easily scrubbed, rinse under warm to moderately hot water, using Comet, Ajax or similar cleaners, and scrub with the toothbrush. The flat black paint will be gone and the parts squeaky clean.

Interesting. Seems like everybody sees something different. I don't see any similarities. Neither the '63 Tempest '63 Impala 2dr HT nor the '62 Impala 2 or 4dr HTs are good starting points because the C Pillars are too narrow, meaning increasing the width will be necessary; and, there is the beveled edge along the rear of the pillar which needs to be removed if Kurt wants to model the roof as in the photo he posted: The C Pillars on this are flat, slab-sided, with to beveled rear edge. The C Pillar of the '58 T-Bird HT roof is a lot wider than the pillar in Kurt's pic. This, too, needs to be addressed by performing surgery. The Lindberg Dodge roof, as I pointed out, shares most, if not all, of the characteristics he's looking for. BTW, you guys must have an odd sense of humor or a large pile of disposable income to even suggest using an AMT '63 Tempest as a donor. It must be nice to be able to hack up a kit that goes for almost 200 bucks just to use the roof on a 15-20 dollar snap kit and not think twice about it.

I'm looking at a Lindberg '64 Dodge 330 body and the roof from this looks like a better starting point.

True; but, ammonia does have a pretty strong aroma compared to chlorine bleach.

Get a machinist's square.

Testors ELO Paint & Decal Remover gets rid of that undercoat in around twenty minutes. Plain chlorine bleach will also dissolve chrome plating in a few minutes.

Add a clamshell lid on the back and you have a HUMMV clone.

No breaking news here. Rustoleum is a subsidiary of RPM International Inc., which also owns Testors. RPM International Inc.

I use Bondo Fiberglass Resin. You know that it's pretty forgiving when mixing small quantities like 1 oz. (I use those 30ml cough medicine dose cups). Just add 10 drops of liquid hardener and you have approximately 5 minutes work time before it gels, which is more than ample to fill in FUBARed panel lines and such.

Try fiberglass resin with microbeads mix. Fill in the gekakt lines and it'll be ready in about two hours max. Better than CA.

White primer provides a lighter base color which affects the intensity/hue of colors. Likewise, black, red or gray primers will cause colors to appear darker.

Believe it, or not, he's a dentist. Paul has been well known in the military modeling community for what seems like decades. Here's his website which I had bookmarked: http://paulbudzik.com/

Use GSI Creos' Mr. Surfacer White 1000 Spray. It's 100% opaque and prevents any bleed-through from colored styrene, especially red. I use it, and Mr. Surfacer Gray 1000 Spray on Johan kits molded in that color leaching red styrene we've all grown to love to hate over the years. This is a lacquer and will not craze, or otherwise damage, the plastic. You can even skip spraying additional white paint over it because of its opacity. Once dry, it can be polished to a high gloss. You can get a large (170ml) can from SCALEHobbyist for $8.29.

To each, his own. I have the UMM SCR-01/02/03 set and they suit my requirements. I also use the Hauler set I posted above. UMM also makes an ultra-thin scriber which is only .15mm thick, matching the blade kerf of their universal razor saws.

Bill, dollars to donuts it was John Vojtech, owner of UMM-USA. His instructional videos are still up on Youtube. Here's one: I also like the stainless scribers made by Hauler, HQT004 The scribers are only .18mm thick.

I used pen springs for the scratched rear shocks on an "H" Series Revell '55 Belair, the one with opening doors, hood and trunk. I fabricated functional leaf springs and shocks (each one composed of six parts), in addition to accurizing and detailing the chassis. I slipped the springs over the shock shaft and the shock is mounted to the spring plate while the spring is held in place when the shaft end is placed in a hole drilled into the sheet brass upper mounts on the chassis. The front springs were made from a heavy-duty spring I scavenged from a junk RC vehicle. You can barely see it; but, it is the proper scale thickness and diameter. I used the same kind of spring to detail the scratchbuilt front suspension I made for a Johan '64 Caddy DeVille. There are some cheap, Chinese-made hand tools that sell for a buck or so apiece at your local 99 cent store which have similar springs.

Check out scribing tools`at UMM-USA . There are stainless scribers from Hauler which I use and recommend. John Vojtech also makes his own scribing tools, which are excellent:

You might be able to pull it off using the turbine from The 1966 BM I mentioned. It looks to be smaller in diameter than the one pictured above. You would have to add a larger tunnel in the cockpit to clear the engine body and get a little creative in designing an exhaust (maybe a split type, exiting along the rear behind the tires).

Don't make assumptions as to the context or intent of my comment. Just stating a fact, as I see it. Simplicity and easy of use is foremost when I determine my tool and equipment requirements.

Well, AMT 1107, the 1989 Keaton Batmobile kit contains a "complete" turbine engine Unless one is resigned to the fact that a Cobra will require major surgery to stuff this baby under the body, it ain't bad looking. Honestly, I don't think this mod would be believable, engineering-wise.

Polar Lights 920 Has a turbine engine. The engine is 88mm long and 22mm in diameter at its widest point. The kit can be had for a paltry $29.04 from Shore Line Hobby, located in the wonderful, hurricane magnet state of Florida. Plus, the kit contains resin Batman and Robin figures to stuff into yer fancy new Bat Wheels.The kit itself is sehr kewl, too.

Nuthin' beats K&S Engineering's good ole Model No. 296 Tubing Cutter. This works as it's intended. No overly complicated Rube Golbergesque contraptions required: I swear by, not at, it. Grab one at Ace Hardware for six bucks.

Man, the Imperial Crown and Mako Shark are nice pickups, Tommy!