Tommy Kortman

ummm... YES! I not only build cars (1/24, 1/25, 1/20), I also build Armor 1/35, aircraft (1/48, 1/72, 1/32), figures (1/4, 120mm, etc), and some sci-fi(Scale??? we dont need no stinking scale).

I blame it all on Pete Townsend! Didn't he start this whole "lets smash our equiptment" stuff?

Jody, I have not shot the Kustom Kolors line yet. I had heard some back and forth comments. I'm sure someone here can tell you how to thin it. I have used their actual automotive line though, and I can honestly say they were a breeze to use. I bought mine pre-thinned from Black Gold through Slixx. As for the base color question... I as assuming that these paints are similar to the HoK Shimirin line of pearls. For these you can use a base of white, silver, gold, and even black. Each will give you a different finished color. White and silver will give you a brighter final color, gold will make the same color "warmer". Part of the fun of painting with the Hok line is the fun of experimenting. Although if goes without saying (which is why I'm saying it), practice on a test piece before trying it on the real thing.

Well it looks like F1 boss Bernie (I look like an aging Harry Potter)Ecclestone has gone and stuck his foot squarly in his cake hole once again!! Maybe this time we'll finally be rid of him. Check the link. Speed TV Ecclestone story and another story Another Bernie storyfrom Fox news And again. MSNBC story about Harry...err Bernie Way to Go Jack A##!!!

Man, its ashame that we have to learn stuff the hard way. I can remember my Pop tryng to tell me things and showing me the right way to do something. I just never seemed to listen until I got much older. He used to have a saying he picked up from some of the old wrenches he met in Charlotte once. "If you think you know everything, you will never learn anything." in fact, he posted that on the wall inside our garage. ###### I miss that man.

Jeff, Bob has 2 articles in this months SA magazine, so I would say he is probably a frequent contributor. Look this hobby is small enough as it is without trying to alienate one another.

Your honor? I'd like to request a recess! Seriously though. This debate about using aids for judging has been going on for quite a while in the IPMS community. Personally I build a little of everything, (cars, armor, planes, sci-fi, figures...etc) and I attend a few different types of contests, so I have seen this debate up close and personal. I really think that while we love to compete, we don't necessarily like to be judged. It becomes especially annoying and personal when you see that someone has to don the apparatus just to pick out some minute flaw that would not be visible without it. (And I am not referring to the visually impaired). I have had discussions and arguments with friends that I know have perfect eyesight, yet become a Penlight Nazi as soon as its time to judge an event. It all seems to boil down to having to judge one model against another. You have to find a flaw so there can be a finishing order. I mean can you imagine someone having to judge cars from some of the modelers on this board and have to come up with an order? How do you judge cars from say Bob Downie, Tim Boyd, Clay Kemp, Bill Geary, and numerous others against one another. This is why I like the open judging system I spoke of earlier. I actually prefer the NNL style above all else. That way there is no one person someone can focus their anger against. This is a hobby that is meant to be a good time. A way to leave all of the pressure from the real life behind. I think we all need to relax, take a step back, take a DEEP breath and remember... IT'S JUST A FREAKIN HOBBY!!!!!!!!! we now return you to your regularly scheduled program...

Sorry man but as much as I dislike Kyles whining, the first thought that went through my head when I saw himw heading straight for the wall was Earnhardt Sr. Whether I like a driver or not, I never want to see anyone injured on a racetrack. Maybe it's just the old driver in me, and I will admit to putting the chrome horn to some guys, but I had a racin' incident where another driver was hurt, and it has stuck with me to this day. (He was OK and we beat on each other again a couple of week down the road, but it was still an upsetting event). Viz, I too have heard nothing but good things about Mark Martin. The man appears to be a class act. Maybe this is the man Kyle should be looking at as a role model. Look, a lot of people hated Earnhardt. The man was an extremely talented driver who would move you when he needed to. But, when he was on the other end of some pay back, you almost never heard him complain about it publicly. AND HE NEVER WHINED!!! Old low, I did notice the empty seats last night. What I thought was a worse indicator was the empty seats I noticed at Bristol.

I guess you can say I'm a Stewart fan. I was and still am a huge Earnhardt fan (Sr.) I'd like to see Jr. run better, but until he gets his head in the game and forgets about the celebrity lime light, that ain't gonna happen. Smoke can and will drive anything with wheels on it. He is a RACER! It's a shame that NASCAR put a muzzle on him. That Sport needs more colorful characters not just corporate shills. Hell, we cant even get a plastic kit of that Cr#p car they are racing now because of NASCAR's Greed and them trying to hi-jack Revell for huge licensing fees. Their greed has caused them to loose their focus. Big Bill must be rolling in his grave to see what his grandson has done to this sport. Kyle is OK. He's trying to be the bad guy. The problem is that it just doesn't fit him. If you want to be the black hat, then you cant go a whine when someone sticks you in the fence. You have to just file it away and then when they least expect it...you turn him around and send him to the infield.

I just finished watching the Coke 400 from Daytona. I have to say that that was an amazing finish. the thing is...it would have been just as good without the wreck. I can honostly say that this was one of the best NASCAR Cup races I've seen all season. It was competitive. I am glad to see Kyle Busch walk away from that wreck. It was a real hard hit about 3 different times. From where I sat, it was just a racing incident. I dont think Kyle needed to throw that last block, cause I dont think Smoke had the time to get by him. WOW!!!

AMEN BROTHER!!!

Very nice!! The whole package works well together. Great Job!

SWEET!!!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY from our country's birthplace!! I'm not sure if that's fireworks or gunfire I here out there on the streets today. Probably both. Hope everyone has a happy and safe July 4th.

Amen Brother!!! Cant we all just get along? There are some model builders that really enjoy building models for competition. The contest and the gold are the reason they build. I don't have a problem with that. Personally I prefer the NNL style show, where peoples choice determines the out come. With these events, the "cream" will usually rise to the top. You will usually not see a lot of magnifiers and other visual aids at these shows unless it is for personal eyesight reasons. I am not a big fan of the "judged" show. This is when you will usually see the Penlight Nazis come rolling out of the wood work. And it's epidemic proportions at an IPMS show. I guess the problem I have with it is I have seen judges do damage to someones model in their over zealousness to find a flaw in a piece. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd system of judging is probably the worst way to judge a contest in my opinion. When you have models that are so close in quality and detail that you have to break out the lap equipment just to find a flaw, then something is wrong with the system. I think it breeds this type of super scrutiny. There is a much better way to judge a contest. The AMPS (armor modelers) and the MFCA (military figure modelers) use what they call an open judging system. Instead of judging one model against another, they judge them against a set of standards and use a point total system to determine Gold, Silver, Bronze, and a Certificate or Honorable Mention. This way if there are say 20 models in a particular category, and there are 4 of them that are of a top notch calibre, then each of those 4 would receive a gold medal. The same goes for the medals (silver,bronze). While this does not eliminate all complaints, it definitely reduces them significantly. I guess what it boils down to for some people is that they see the Lab equipment and the Penlight Nazis as something left for the other guys (Armor & Aircraft) and their rivet counters, whereas model cars and their capacity to inspire boundless creativity and use of imagination should be beyond such pettiness. I mean how can you tell a guy that he painted his Hot Rod the wrong shade of Candy Red.

Do you have any closeup shots of the antennas in the fenders?

I think I came across a link to a Photo-bucket acct that has some great shots of the 2 F/C in question. Check out this link. The photos in question are on pgs 5 & 6 Nostalgia Fest - 09 And box art on pg 10

The ZZ Top car was a 3W Coupe

Thanks Dave. Oh...one more thing. Do you warm the paint cans? Or do you not have to worry about that because you are spraying in a temp controlled booth? If you don't, do you have an opinion on it?

Great models Dave!!! They look great. Seeing them did give me a couple of questions though. (I appologize if you already explained this and I missed it) How would you use your technique for 2 toned or multi-colored paint jobs? How long do you wait before doing the tape outs? What tape do you like to use? When doing a multiple color job, do you spray light to dark or vise versa? Thanks.

Ahh Jason... I kinda figured that my lawyer comment would drag you out of the wood work. It's good to hear from you again. Hope the family is well. I think you might be underestimating the support for new racing subjects. I know how the replica stock crowd feels about anything that defaces "Gods work" but I think there may be a few more of us sinners out here than you realize. As you know I love all form of motorsports, but while we have deluged over the past few years with a ton of NASCAR variants (although I would have liked to have seen a COT kit), there has been a relative derth of new Drag Kits. Model King has done a wonderful job in bringing back some of the old tooling, and the Poar Lights kits from a few years ago were OK, (although most needed work to make right) but there hasn't been a new tool drag kit from Revell in quite a while. (Yes, I do realize that the Willy's gassers are not that old) OK, let me rephrase my last statement. There hasn't been a new Fuel drag kit in quite q while. (Top fuel, F/C, Altered) It has been even longer since there was a new Pro-Stock kit available. And dont get me started on Pro-Mod. The current class of Pro-Mod features some beautiful machines, automotive masterpeices if you will, but we still only have re-issued 55 & 57 Chevy nitrous cars to re-do. Oh...BTW...I hate the "Chase" format in any series!!! Motorsports is not a stick & ball sport and should not try to be one!!! At least the NHRA has not instituted that fugaze qualifying B/S. They qualify as it should be. GO HARD OR GO HOME!!! Hope to see you this coming Friday.

Clay, If you can, please try to post in here from wherever you are. Be safe!! And thank you for your service.

If you look in the obituaries, they all seem to die in alphabetical order too. Hmmmmm!!!

PS!! Sign me up for both of them. And I too would love to see new versions of Pro-Stock and Pro-Mod (especially a blown version or 2 or 5) Ohhhh and how about a new tool Fuel Altered!!!!!! I see that Slixx is now offering decals for the Rolling Stoned & Tweedy's Rat Funny Cars. These are 2 "local" nostalgia cars from here in the Philly metro area. I have seen both run at the Englishtown Funny Car Reunions over the past years. They are beautiful cars. Both are finished extremely well.(I guess i shouldn't say that the Rolling stoned is a nostalgia car. It is actually Joe Jacono's original car that has been restored and upgraded to meet current safety stds.) I was at E-town the first time Joe got back into his old car. He was supposed to make a burn out and dry hop only. Well...After Joe dry hopped, he staged and wailed the throttle for better than a half track pass. That is the first time i have ever seen a car come completely off the ground when the loud pedal was mashed. WOOOHOOO! No lie, there was daylight under all 4 tires. Then, the crazy (he really is) Son of a gun actually drove the car back through the pits to his trailer. What a sight. I was stoked!!! Faint rumblings are that Slixx may be producing another Philly racer's Funny Car. Rocky Perrone, Whose Boss Hydro & Big Time Memories Willy's Gassers (33 & 41 respectively) are currently available from the decal giant may be having his brand new Screamin Eagle 77 trans-am Funny car. But there may be some licensing issues because of the clear Harley Davidson tie-in. Here's a link to some photos of the car. Screamin Eagle F/C

It is possible that the reason Revell is doing the "Nostalgia" versions is because they do not run in NHRA sanctioned series, and therefore do not fall under the NHRA's copyright infringement. If any of you ever get to an NHRA National event, make sure you read the back of the ticket. You may be amazed at what you read. I was. Basically it says that the NHRA owns any photos taken at one of their events. Even if you are the ones taking them. They are granting you the privelidge of taking photos, video, etc for your own private use. Technically we are not even allowed to post the photos on the web. I appologize in advance to any lawyers who may frequent this board, but sometimes all of this BS seem like some lawyer is simply trying to justify why he has a job.