93Z34

I'll take Eleanor seeing as if the original builder has backed off. I have tons of detail pics of one of the actual movie cars that was purchased by a local individual that I can use as reference.

The Adirondack Modelers Mafia disbanded after 18 months of trying to make the club fly. A lack of participation and enthusiasm dictated the club's fate. Right now there is a small number of us who gather informally on occasion to swap ideas, view eachother's work, swap kits, etc. We don't call ourselves a club, but we do enjoy eachother's company.

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but here's the way I look at issues such as this with a kit. At the end of the day, we're modelers, right? Part of being a modeler has always been to build what WE wanted individually. While I understand the "bigger picture" of discussion here, I still say if there are inaccuracies in a kit the builder simply can't live with, then that's what the exacto knife, Dremel tool, filler and Plastruct or Evergreen plastic is for. I am a huge '62 Chevy fan myself and can't get enough of these kits. I loved them when they first came out and I still love building them today. Are there things with this kit that aren't accurate? Of course there are. But, what about the Revell '70 AAR Cuda kit or the AMT '68 & '69 Roadrunner and GTX kits? How about the new Nova from Revell? Do we see a pattern developing here? The bottom line is, each and every single kit out there has accuracy issues and no matter how much time is spent on researching the 1:1 subject, something will always slip through the cracks when it comes production time. Unfortunately, some accuracy issues are more obvious than others. Personally, I'll take a mis-cast door handle over a body that has severe issues with body lines and contours myself... We are always begging for new kits and new subject matter to build. Along with those ongoing requests comes the necessary evil of realizing that, no matter what kit it might be that's issued, there are going to be accuracy problems and things we don't like about the kits we see issued. It's simply up to each of us to make the changes we want to make to these kits to please ourselves individually. Some may decide to change the problem areas while others may be happy to simply build the kit the way it is and enjoy it for what it was meant to be, a simple, fun project. At the end of the day, the choice is ours on how much effort we put into righting the wrongs of any given kit. As long as we enjoy the project and are happy with the end results of our efforts, isn't that all that really matters?

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. I think the car looks great. You don't see many of these cars built for some reason. I think one reason is the shade of yellow. I know I have a couple sets of these decals and have held off building the car simply due to the fact i haven't found a shade of yellow that I think looks correct for the 1:1 car. You nailed this one down great though! It's great to have you back in the hobby again!!!

The members of a site dedicated exclusively to Mopar modeling has gotten together and decided to sponsor an award for a national model event in honor of Chris Louden. The "Chris Louden Award" will be presented to the best Mopar at this event. The event has yet to be decided upon as we are trying to find out what shows Chris attended with regularity. Alot of people here knew Chris on a more personal level and we are hoping someone, or a few people might be able to let us know which shows Chris attended regularly. Someone said the Birmingham Classic was one event, but I want to know for sure. Once we know, we can contact the organizers of said event and make the necessary arrangements to have the award given during the awards ceremony. This is an award that Mopars in Scale will sponsor annually at the show of choice. Any help and information anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Please contact me through PM here or e-mail with your input and information. http://mopars.proboards.com

Just a suggestion from experience. I see there is snow on the ground in your pics. I would highly suggest taking the car to a garage and putting it up on the lift to inspect the underside, especially the frame rails and so forth for rust. I looked at a Trans Am GTA a few years ago that looked to be in "good" condition, like this Camaro. However, when I got it on the lift, the real problems showed their ugly faces as the frame was rusted through as well as the floorboards. The car was basically only good for parts. Just a suggestion, as i said. But I'd make double darned sure there wasn't something wrong with the car that the owner isn't telling you. It just seems as though a quad for a Camaro is too good to be true, if you know what I mean...

Looks like they stole a Camry and rebadged it. All new cars are looking more and more alike. Where is the individuality the manufacturers used to take so much pride in?

After missing last year's show, I resolved myself to that fact I wouldn't let that happen again. I'd like to make it a 2 day excursion, but I definitely plan on being there for Saturday's show. Like so many others, I have a few projects that I need to get busy on to get finished for the show. Time to get busy gluing and painting!

The kit came with two hoods Zack. One was clear and the other "regular" The clear hood had the carbon fiber decal option for it as well. Like I say, these kits have alot of different building options in them. they are a blast to build and nice change of pace from the "norm".

I enjoy building a Tuner on occasion and this is my latest diversion. The car has actually been done for a couple of months but I just forgot to post pics. The Revell Tuner kits are sweet and build up into great looking little cars when they're done. With the optional wheels, rear wings, hoods, etc., you have a wide variety of choices to build the car you want. This car was painted with the House of Kolor spray cans with silver base and Emerald Green for the color coat. Kit decals, flocking, plug wiring and detail painting all contributed to what you see here now. Again, nothing great. To be honest, I hate the way the green color coat seeped away from the edges and that's why I hate using candy colored paints. From a distance though it doesn't look too bad.

This is nothing special, just a quickie build to try to get back into the drag racing fever of modeling. Been hacking away at a few Mopars of late and decided to dig this car out and finish it up. I painted the bumpers Testors Metalizer Stainless Steel, blackwashed the grille, added foil, polished the gloss white paint and that is pretty much it. As I said, nothing spectacular, not even any drag decals. I may add some old sponsor decals later, but right now it's a poor man's racecar. Hope y'all enjoy the pics!

We don't do the plug in air freshener thing. I have model paint in my hobby room to freshen my air. Seriously though, I pulled the wall apart after it happened and found nothing to indicate a fire had started in the wall. Being a firefighter for almost 15 years taught me that fires can smolder for hours and even days before actually igniting. I have been rearranging my model room all day and sorting through electrical cords and unnecessary clutter in my room. One thing I realized was, that if a fire did break out in this room, it would quickly turn into a haz-mat incident with all my paints, thinners, and most of all, the styrene plastic kits stacked everywhere. Needless to say, I'm packing alot of the kits I know I'm not going to build anytime soon and storing them in our storage unit and in the shed behind the house. There's no way I could afford to replace all the plastic I'd lose.

The GFI did not trip as it was supposed to. I'm not sure if the failure occurred before the arcing or after, but regardless, I would have thought the GFI should have tripped before it got that hot. I have no idea who manufactured the outlet, but I'm just glad we caught it in time. Another couple of minutes and I hate to think what would have happened.

I wanted to share the experience my wife and I had this morning at about 3:15 am. Imagine being snug as a bug in a rug in bed sleeping peacefully only to be awakened by the sound of a loud piercing chirping noise. As I was laying there in a stupor trying to figure out what the heck the nosie was, I began hearing more loud, annoying squeals, chirps and buzzers. Suddenly it hit me that the smoke detectors were going off, one by one in the house. I began smelling an electrical smell burning and rolled out of bed onto the floor to crawl out in the hallway to see what was wrong. I saw small wisps of smoke coming from the doorway to my model and computer room. I crawled into the room to see sparks and arcking from an outlet that had my surge protector plugged into it under my model bench. Small wisps of flame were also coming from the outlet as well. I went back down the hall and cut the power to that room at the breaker box and proceeded to calm my wife down as she was trying to figure out what the heck was going on. After I somewhat regained my senses, I proceeded to investigate what exactly went wrong at the outlet. I had a power strip plugged into the bottom outlet with nothing plugged into the top outlet. Appraently there was a short in the power strip that went back to the outlet. I had two drop lights, my Dremel tool and a lead cord plugged into the 6 outlet strip. None of the lights were on and the Dremel was also shut off. I pulled the plug this morning and saw just how bad the oultet had melted inside the wall. We were extremely fortunate not to have had a serious situationon our hands. Also, if we didn't have smoke detectors, who knows what could have happened. We have a smoke detector in each room of the house and two in the hallway. I change the batteries in all of them every 6 months like clockwork as well. The electrician just left and we discovered that the power strip itself was defective which caused an overload in the outlet which, in turn resulted in the arcing and fire in the outlet. Had I used an actual surge protector instead of just a power strip, in all likelihood, this could have been avoided as the circuit breaker in the surge protector would have blown. So, we learned alot this morning at 3:15. I now have an actual surge protector to use, the outlet has been replaced, and we're thankful for smoke detectors. If anyone here is using just a regular power strip, think about replacing it with an actual surge protector. Had we not been home when this happened, we would have lost everything, no doubt. We got lucky this time. I just wanted to pass along what I leanred from my near catastrophe this morning. Don't take shortcuts in your model rooms, or in any room for that matter and above all, use smoke detectors. There is no doubt they, in all likelihood, saved our lives this morning. This is what was left of our outlet when I pulled it from the wall.

Out of curiosity, what adapters do you use for the air hoses with the bigger compressors? I have a brass reducer for my Badger compressor, but I'm curious what you'd use for one of the compressors with a tank. Any pics showing the mods would be helpful as well.

It's weird because it started spraying good last night, but after about 2 minutes it stopped spraying. I took the unit completely apart and cleaned everything and even after doing all that it still isn't spraying. I have an airbrush compressor as well so I know it's got enough air pressure. I spent almost 2 hours cleaning the entire unit last night and still nothing....When I place my finger over the nozzle and push the button, I have air going back into the paint cup, but nothing when i try to spray the paint. To me, that tells me the gun itself isn't clogged unless I'm missing something.

I'm a pretty private person when it comes to divulging my personal life. Just not into publishing an autobiography, if you will. But, to answer the question about what makes me keep modeling, it's pretty simple. In today's economy, where can you build a '71 Hemi Cuda for under $100 including paint and supplies? How about a Dodge Daytona? I build cars that I know I'll never be able to afford in this lifetime, but just can't get enough of. I do enjoy restoring the 1:1 cars, but again, cost is a huge factor and I am of the mindset that if I can't get the car I want to restore, then I won't settle for something else I simply wouldn't be happy with, even when it was done. Of course if I invested all the money I have in models and supplies since starting in this hobby 30+ years ago, I would probably have a Daytona sitting in my garage now. One thing that keeps me in the hobby is the comraderie that modelers share. We all have a passion for this hobby and regardless of what we choose to build, the core drive for building keeps us all together as a family. We can admire eachother's work and learn from eachother's efforts and apply what we've learned to our own projects. It's also a very relaxing hobby, except for when your current project gives you fits when you're trying to achieve perfection. To sum it up, it's just a cool hobby with the coolest people in the world associated with it and that in itself makes it addictive as all hell.

I have the Paasche Double Action Airbrush and right now is probably NOT a good time to ask me what I think of it. I have been trying to paint the interior pieces of my Daytona the past 3 nights and have had rotten luck with the airbrush. I have spent more time taking the airbrush apart and trying to clean it than I have actually painting and it still is not working the way it should. The airbrush simply doesn't want to spray the paint. I have owned this tool since 1990 and have always been meticulous about cleaning this thing after every paint job. It was always completely dismantled and cleaned thoroughly, yet now it won't even spreay plain thinner through the gun. I do like the dual action feature of my airbrush though, when it IS working. I like having the ability of controlling the amount of paint I apply as well as the size of the pattern. For whatever reason, I guess my current airbrush is no longer useable so now I'm looking at having to invest in another unit myself. I'm not happy about that prospect either at this point in time as money is already tight enough in my household.

I can say foiling is by far my most hated task when it comes to modeling. I know it's a necessary evil, but I hate it just the same. One thing I have learned is that I have better luck if I just paint the whole model and then foil the necessary areas. Trying to mask the trim areas before paint is a nightmare. I'm slowly getting batter at it though, but I find myself removing and replacing foil to try to achieve a better finish. This can get expensive quickly, that's for sure.

I guess it's ok for the original poster to voice his displeasure or dissatisfaction regarding something he or she is not happy with, but if anyone else voices their opinion then that's out of line? Something's wrong with that concept if you ask me. I didn't see one post where anyone was being crucified for their thoughts on the article. But, let me ask everyone one simple question. If it was YOU that put that much time and effort into a project and subsequent in-depth article only to have a bunch of controversy stem from your efforts, would you be eager to do more articles and show YOUR work in the future? If it was me I'd sure think twice about it, that's for sure. My point is simply this. If we bash those that take the time and efforts to contribute to the very publication that supports our hobby as well as this forum, then how long do you think it will be before we are either stuck with another boring periodical that is best used for toilet paper, or worse yet, seeing these forums and everything associated with this magazine go away for good? The great thing about Model Cars Magazine is that fact that Gregg and the crew dare to add variety, yet keep the theme on the automotive side of the hobby. We aren't forced to sift through mundane articles, read about new diecast releases, or be stuck reading articles from the same 3 or 4 contributors issue after issue. What more can we ask for? For what it's worth, the only person being bashed here is the contributor of the article and to me, that's just wrong. Instead of slamming someone for what many consider to be an extraordinary modeling project, try to take something away from the article and use it on a future project. I know I sure will and I hope I become a better modeler for it. And to Bill, I want to thank you for taking the time to share your work and tips for those of us who are looking for ways to improve their own future projects. Your work is inspiring and you are indeed an asset to the hobby. Keep up the fantastic work!!!!

It's very hard to establish a 1:1 club these days Jody. With the technical innovations of the internet and so forth, it's much easier for modelers to just click on their favorite model site and have at it. There are not very many modelers in these parts either, so don't feel bad. Without a good hobbyshop to publicize your interest in establishing a club, you're also at a distinct disadvantage. Just put the feelers out and see who might be around your location and maybe y'all can just get together for the informal occasional building session. Just a suggestion....

Billy, I can tell you right now, EVERY project has it's hiccups, some more than others. I have never built a model that didn't throw me a curve somewhere in the build and I've been gluing for close to 30 years now. If you ever master the perfect build where nothing goes wrong, you will have a corner on the market and will become a VERY rich man in a VERY short period of time because we will all want to know your secret and most of us will be willing to pay for your recipe for success! Seriously though, I don't know of one single modelr who has not, or is not experiencing what you are enduring right now. Of course outside issues will influence your desire to build as well. It's the nature of the beast called life. Just roll with it and when the time is right, you'll be back building again, I guarentee it!

Personally, I'm not above picking up a copy of Model Railroader to check out an article or two. I learned alot from railroad weathering that can be applied to just about any type of modeling you do. As long as Model Cars doesn't go the way of another certain publication, I don't see any issues at all with showcasing such a grand piece of modeling. No matter what the subject matter is, I try to take something away from each model I see, whether it be on here or in the magazine or at a show. That's part of becoming a better modeler. When you pass over an article, especially one as in-depth as the one in question here, you really tend to shortchange yourself in terms of learning new and improved techniques for building better models. To me, that's a greater loss than spending the time reading and studying the article and associated pics and asking what you can apply to your models from what a fellow modeler has taken his time to share with the hobby. Just my thoughts on the subject...

That has got to be one of the sickest Chargers I've ever seen. You did a fantastic job on that car, that's for sure. the flame job really shines against the silver paint. Pat yourself no the back for a great job on a super car!

My new LHS supplier called me this morning to let me know the new Challenger R/T arrived Thursday evening. I took all 6 kits he got, sight unseen. I did ask him about the new Challenger and he said his supplier was informed the relase probably won't be until mid summer the way it looks right now. No reasons given, just that the release was pushed back. I'm hoping Revell decided to hold off on the release to make sure the kit was an accurate representation of the 1:1 car. Maybe they learned from the mistake they made with the KR Mustang kit by releasing a kit based on the prototype, not the production model. If it's an accurate rendition of the 1:1 car, I'll be buying a ton of those kits for my collection as well. I will make the trip to my shop tomorrow to pick up my new Challenger kits though. I'm looking forward to that kit!