atomicholiday

Seriously looking forward to this one. I love that generation of Mustang.

Beautiful.

I don’t think I could throw together a glue bomb in two days, let alone a model that looks that nice! Looks great! How’d you do it?

I want to start this off by saying I think Round 2 in South Bend is doing a really good job. Much of the stuff we’re seeing come out of there is awesome. Of course they aren’t perfect (more on that in a moment), but they’re really making the effort. The problem isn’t with South Bend, but rather the molding facility they’re using. I’m not talking about any specific era of kits here. Seems to be across the board. Also I’m not talking about some of the engineering issues or inaccuracies of some of the kits. The problem that needs addressing currently by Round 2 is the molding process itself. I work in quality at an automotive plastics injection molding company, so I have some experience with the kind of problems a lot of us are seeing. Here’s an example: around the Christmas season I purchased five brand new amt/mpc kits. Three of the five had molding defects, two were beyond repair. Three kits had badly warped steering wheels (one was twisted 45 degrees off axis), one had the rear package tray warped beyond repair, and one had too many issues to list here. The 70 1/2’ Camaro was by far the worst model I’ve ever seen as relates to molding issues. It appears that the issue is related to one of two possible causes. Part of the molding process near the end is called “hold time”. Without going into too much detail, hold time is the stage after the plastic has been injected into the tool, when the mold is held closed while the plastic “sets”. If the tool is opened too soon, the plastic will still be soft. One way to increase production and shorten cycle time is to decrease hold time in the molding process. But the risk is poor quality. The other possibility is that the parts might be being packaged before they are properly cooled. I mentioned that South Bend wasn’t perfect. I suspect this has something to do with staffing shortages. I had contacted them about the problems I was having and requested two replacement parts. Took around two weeks before I got any acknowledgment of the request. But I did receive the parts eventually. However, one of the replacements had the exact same issue as the one I was replacing. When I contacted Round 2 about this I received no response at all. I plan to continue to purchase kits from them because I like the subject matter, but I’m aware that there’s a strong possibility there will be problems.

Older Porsche 928. Don’t remember the last time I saw one of these running around. I always liked these, and this one looks pretty clean.

Completely agree with you. While I have total respect and admiration for the people who load their models with detail, I don’t think it’s for me. I go more for the “old school” building style, straight out of the box. Heck, I don’t even kit-bash any more! Been too many times when I’ve robbed parts from a kit, only to decide later that I’d like to build it. All that being said, I do like to push my abilities and try new things on just about every build. This one is no exception.

Super clean. That's just beautiful.

Been building models off and on for roughly 45 years and this is my first spark plug wiring job! I need to go back and touch up the distributor but otherwise I’m calling that step done. If I’m totally honest it was a pain in the (cough).? I don’t think I’ll do it on every model, but I’ll add it from time to time when the mood strikes. I think I’ll have the motor wrapped up this weekend if all goes well. Thanks for watching!

Cool to see one of these done in stock trim. Looks great!

Pierre, those look great. Beautiful model too! Lots of really good ideas so far, and options I didn't know existed. I kinda want to try them all out!

That's really nice. Just about as good as it gets to me. Old Firebirds are hands down my favorite cars.

Got the interior finished just now.

That looks terrific. Really nice workmanship. I was just looking at the metal version of this kit last week.

Those look incredible. Actually, that whole build is stunning. How do you bend the tubing without kinking i? And where can I get tubing?

That’s really sweet looking. Love the color.

Thanks much! This is the first time I’ve done any serious body modifications. It’s been interesting…. A lot of filling and sanding and and repeating.

That’s my thoughts too David. I’m leaving it as is for now. Also, looks easy enough to change if I decide to later. Thanks to everyone for your opinions! I value them all, and really appreciate all your input! Today I finished detailing the dashboard. Not perfect, but not terrible for a guy with tremors. I can live with it. I should have the interior done this weekend if I have enough time. Of course my wife just informed me that we’re heading to a flea market this weekend. Heck yeah! More models hopefully!

Finished detailing the dash on my Pintera. I should have the interior buttoned up this weekend.

You know how a lot of the old side exhaust pipes that came with early kits were just flat where there should be an opening? How can I get a more realistic look with these? Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. The white pipe is the one in question, whereas the black one is more of what I to achieve. Thoughts?

I’ll throw my hat in the ring. Is it possible to make a Pinto cool? Who’s to say. But this is my attempt.

Beautiful build.

Looks great! It seems like every model you post is better than the last one. Nice job!

Those both look great. Really nice work there. I only recently became aware of the Corrine. Pretty cool little cars.

What is up with that paint?! That’s awesome looking! Is it nail polish?

Really nice looking model. Great workmanship.