Dann Tier

Extremely well done on everything!!

I don't know if there has been a topic on this subject before, but here it goes: How many of you have problems with your tweezers (especially the super pointy ones) scratching the heck out of your finely finished parts, or even just can't seem to hang on too them? What I like to do with my tweezers is brush on a thin coat of Liquid Electrical tape on the inside tips of them. This gives them just enough grip to hold my pieces without damaging the part. The Liquid tape stays on VERY well, but when you want it off, it will come off with no issues. One more trick that I use for applying PE parts (other than the static from my Olfa knife) is putting a very tiny amount of RC 56 canopy glue to the tip of a toothpick. When dry, the glue remains slightly tacky, and after transporting your tiny PE part to its final destination, releases it without hinderance.

I'm with you, all my builds have taken home a lot of trophies, Best engine, interior detail, Best show , and so on, BUT I've never gotten a Best paint. Still my cars won overall, even though you couldn't see a 747 from 3000 feet in the finish. About weathering, you also have to know what way to weather a certain material, example: I saw a model in a magazine that had a VERY realistic rust job all over the body. problem was, it was a fiberglass Corvette. Realism gone.

Its hard to give you my opinion on the Camaro with all the residue left on it, but the Corvette to me doesn't look "out of scale" glossy to me. I think it looks pretty nice! All the seams look pretty crisp still, even with the slightly "fuzzy" photos.

Pretty darn sweet!

You've done an excellent job here!!!!! You shouldn't be sorry that you don't build to compete.....MANY of us don't compete anymore, doesn't mean your model cant be a work of art!!

Fujimis 340z kit is Extremely nice too!! it comes with two complete engines, and lots of extra parts! left and right side drive dashboards if I remember right as well.

I will agree to disagree with you too, no worries, these are the things that challenge our thoughts and keep us learning

I don't know why others don't have "perfect" finishes, but as for me, I refuse to polish. As I've said in other topics in the past, I STRONGLY believe that the finish MUST be scaled down like everything else, most people polish WAY too much. On my bodies I put two coats of filler-primer, sand with 2000, another coat of filler, sand again with 2000, then followed by three light coats of color, sanded with 2000 in between each coat, and then, last but not least, three to four coats of clear sanded between each coat with 2000. I will NEVER win best paint, because I refuse to do it the way everybody else does it, but I don't care. Guess that's my stubborn kraut side coming out, lol. To me, and many others, most of my builds look real, and that's good enough for me. Steve, your finishes are an exception to most of the rules. Like me, you probably re-scribe your seams, which helps keep things looking scaled down and sharp. most of the "polished beauties" out there are so polished/full of paint and clear that seams, and details disappear. If these finishes were scaled up to full size, ALL the edges would be REDICULOUSLY rounded, and chunky-looking. I don't know how many out there actually sand between every coat, but I would venture to guess that quite a few put the primer and paint down, then rely on the polishing to smooth the finish out. IMO, this would lead to the over-polishing look. There are ALWAYS exceptions to everything, and Steve, you are one of the very few who can pull-off a polish job and still have the model look real.

You'll make it look sweet!! -I wont start mine till April -gotta get this Ferrari F40 off the bench first.

Ya, I wont even paint any of the body parts until the rest is put together. All the photos I've seen of it built shows that everything can fit together well if one is careful.

That's what I meant.....To get it to look this good without all that "extra" stuff, says a lot about how nice the kit is, AND how well you built it!!!

Definitely off to a great start!!! -Good luck!, and I hope it goes together well for you! -this kit has people nervous about the final fitment. I've seen a couple of builders who attached the rear lower bumper before the rear cowl was tested with the doors on, and when he pulled the cowl to close the gap on the doors, it left a HUGE gap with the bumper area. He did it per directions, but when I do mine, I will attach the front and rear ends AFTER the rest of the car is together. Cant wait to see more!!!

LOOKING SWEEET!!!!

Outstanding looking build!!!!

Extremely nice job!!!!!

Love your work here!!!! ......I keep going back and fourth with whether or not I buy it. Q: did it go together well?, it looks like you've added extras to it -that says a lot about the quality and work you put into this box stock build.... well done!!

I agree too.

I disagree.....If you lay down an unsatisfactory finish, you can sand it, or buff it smooth. With NO disrespect to ANYONE, buffing a finish to a shine doesn't take skill, just careful persistence. Even the most untalented builder could win Best Paint if they wanted to. The actual detailing, and building (discluding paint designes that are of special design or application) is what takes artistic talent. IMO, the easiest type of model to build is a clean, brand new looking car. It takes more know-how to pull off a convincing "weathered" look. Its easy to have it go bad due to over-kill, or wrong placement (can't buff that out). A modeler who weathers also, usually has a ton more products to use and be good with. Sorry if anyones feelings are hurt, but lets face it, weathering is WAAAAY harder than somebody sitting down watching TV while they put polish on a rag and buff paint smooth.....literally anybody can do it. knowing when to stop isn't a talent, its called, "using your eyes". I Build my cars with what I call "slight" weathering, or as if they were brand new, and I have a TON of respect for those that can do a realistic weathering job!! -just a clarification: building Realistic "klean, or New" cars IS very hard to do, and IS art, BUT "weathering" is even darder than that.

Tom,those look pretty sweet!! -nice work. I don't know why I don't want to do super-detail all the time anymore. It actually bothers me a lot that I don't feel the same anymore. I'm actually having a really hard time just getting the motivation to work on a build, especially after 16 months, and two kits of working hard on a super detailed Tamiya Ferrari F 40. The first kit got some thinner splattered on the finished body, so I crumpled it up and threw it away. I refuse to strip anything, so I pulled out my 2nd kit and got started. This build went fine til the body had to go on. Regardless of my numerous attempts to seat the body, it didn't want to go down all the way, and when the glue started to set, I couldn't pull it appart, so I carefully tried to pry it appart, and chipped a HUGE chunk of paint off the body. I threw it at the wall, and it shattered into a million pieces. I've NEVER had this kind of trouble building before. Anyway, it was at that point I said "no more Tamiya F 40's, I'm gonna try the Fujimi F 40 that nobody builds." At that point, I didn't care about a fully detailed engine in this car, I just wanted an F 40 on my shelf. Long story short, I,ve got all but the body done on the Fujimi F 40 , but cant bring myself to finish it. it sucks.

I used the Milliput for the first time on my D-type Jaguar build, for the "bump" behind the drivers head. Its in the Under glass section -Jaguar XKSS if you want to see how it looks.....it was built 20-25 years ago, and no issues so far! -I also like to use it for making fender flares for my BMC Mini Coopers as well.

don't know what the heck happened with the double blank post thing.....

I myself like the Tamiya filler, but there is another one that I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that I really like to use a lot, and that's Milliput Super fine white. that stuff is outstanding!! -or maybe you guys stay away from it for some reason that I haven't found out yet?

My building has changed over the last four years or so. I use to detail the heck out of every single one of my builds, but now I only do it to certain ones. For instance: I have a Revell 70 Hemi Cuda, and a Revell 67 GTX, both have Hemi's, but only one of them will get the full-blown detailing, the other will get the hood glued down. I guess what i'm after these days is having ONE detailed-out example of a certain motor. I think I partially do it this way, because 1) I have a ton of MUST build before I die, and 2) It saves a ton on detail parts. Plus, as much as I love modeling, I find myself needing to do less detailed builds for a break. I think I have found a nice balance in my modeling. The only things that I will NEVER lack detail in are the interiors, and body works. Lets face it, they get built and set on a shelf to admire, then we move on to the next one. As long as it looks real sitting there, that's all I care about for the most part. Guess I got a little side-tracked.....When it comes to parts in a kit, "Its better to have more and not need, than to need and not have" -modified quote.

You should check out GeeBee's Trabant, he had excellent results with the very part you're talking about, AND he managed to still paint the rubber trim on top of it!!!!