Danno

Josh, You said the most important thing to remember: It's one of your favorite builds. So enjoy it. Build for yourself, not for "the audience." A part of the problem with your model not getting the attention you think it deserves may be the subject matter. A model should stand out from the crowd in order to get attention. Frankly, the General Lee has been done way beyond death. They all look alike. "Just another General Lee." Even if yours is the only General Lee at today's contest, it still looks just like all the others people have seen over the years. Even if yours is the best ever, it's still just another General Lee at first glance. I build a lot of police car models. The same thing happens with them. EVERYBODY builds California Highway Patrol cars. The manufacturers always kit police cars with CHP decals. All the prefinished kits are or include CHP versions. Go to any contest where there are police car models and there will always be some if not all or most CHP cars. They've been done to death, too. Most audiences looking at a black & white police car model will assume it's CHP without actually looking closer. So, to stand out from that crowd and to get your police car model noticed, you have to build something OTHER than a CHP version.

Here in the good old USA, Father's Day is the third Sunday of June. Mother's Day is every other day.

I second what Vince and Cliff posted. Plus, there's a funny thing about monochromatic schemes. When done well on a 1:1, they look tuff or sinister. But on a model, they always look 'lazy.' What I mean by that is ... Full sized cars and trucks usually have chrome parts that we all recognize. When a 1:1 builder removes the chrome and paints the parts to match the vehicle (monochromatic scheme) it is obvious that's what the builder was trying to achieve. Model kits come with window trim and door handles and wipers, etc., molded in. A model builder must apply paint or BMF to "chrome" them to make them look like the 1:1. But way too many modelers are too lazy to make the effort, and display their models with the trim pieces untreated, in body color. Then when someone comes along and presents a model that was deliberately built to represent a monochromatic scheme, like yours, viewers see just another incomplete model with untreated chrome pieces and assume the builder was too lazy to make the effort. Contest judges look at it the same way. If there's no documentation with the model to indicate the monochromatic scheme was the goal, judges are left to wonder if that was the desired effect, or just another incomplete, half-baked model by a lazy builder. It leaves the judges with the same impression a model with out-of-the-box chrome grilles (no wash to replicate open areas) and chrome wheels or hubcaps (no wash or detail painting to replicate the 3-dimensional appearance). The impression of just-plain-ordinary incomplete modeling.

"handy-cap?" Why did it take you so long to get around to doing it? Once you "talked about it" you should have done it. Then no one else would have had a month and a half or even two weeks to steal your thunder. Appears you set yourself up. Besides, was it about helping, or was it about taking credit?

Looks great, Mike! Excellent job.

Very nice.

Interesting stuff about the Visible V8. I always thought it was a generic design with no real nod to any particular manufacturer.

I only pick on you, Jonathan, because . . . . . . well, because I can!

If you keep it sealed and you're not using it, the shelf life is probably quite good. When you start using it, it diminishes some from each use. Filtering it after each use doesn't take much time but will extend its usable life considerably. As it degrades, it will become less effective ~ taking longer and longer to strip paint.

Nice lokoking Fiat in that post, Greg.

Nah, but it'll probably have precision machined titanium valve stems and hand cast platinum light bar brackets.

G, I'm complimenting your contingent: I'm doing AZDPS HP, KHP, and CSP. Jonathan is doing Tokyo HP and Nagasaki Drift Police. And I heard Mark Gustavson is doing a Utah HP with chrome reverse wheels, wide whites, lakes pipes and a bubbletop.

It'll be nice to have this Chevelle convt available again, uptop or not. There are resin uptops available and the Cutlass uptop should fit the Chevelle fine. Taillights? Not a big problem, they're easily dealt with. Nice to see another "long lost" tool being resurrected! Just think what may still be just around the Round2 corner!! Missing thread? No big; it happens. It's been mentioned over and over, so now it's time to get over it.

Wow.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

There are some good ideas in this thread!

Oh, just kidding, dude! The Local Neighborhood Plastic Pusher has some more. I told him to save at least one for you! Gotcha

Hey, Jonathan. The Mustangs came in. But, I got so excited, I bought all he had left after Bernie, Dale, and a couple of other guys picked up one each. Sorry you missed out. Oh, well. I'll let you look at some of mine!

Very interesting hybrid! A lot of fabrication, there, Dave!

Another installment ~ ~ ~ http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/3d-printing-can-now-re-create-an-entire-classic-car-15566080 Very interesting as technology marches on!

God be with you, Terry; we certainly are, too. Keep us posted on your progress. That nasty stuff ain't gonna keep a good, old trooper down!

Don't those have a rubber or neophrene seal around the lid? If so, the solvents in the paint will rapidly degrade the seal . . . big leakage/spillage hazard.

Yep. One of them. Also a Colorado State Patrol, a Kansas Highway Patrol, and possibly another draft pick to be announced later. Nice looking kit other than the body issues and the cheesy cartoony highway patrol decals.

Nice.

It would be a MAJOR project . . . as would the Matador. Not for the average builder.