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Everything posted by bobss396
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Detailing Vs Overboard
bobss396 replied to DrewC's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Everything I build is a contest car, so that narrows down my building style a little. That doesn't mean that I detail out everything and cram it to the max with PE and scratch built parts. I strive for an overall balance in the build. Why go overboard on the engine detail if the interior is on the blah side? Who really cares if I have brake lines running to non-existent wheel cylinders? Not me. I try to make it interesting enough without having a project that I wind up hating, which I have had more than a few of. I try to build in multi-dimensional details that are easy to do. I like to see an engine compartment fluffed out with wires and hoses. Detailing up the battery is a nice touch. Make up a shifter boot out of styrene stock, swipe a bunch of straight pins out of the wife's sewing box to make radiator caps. Bob -
What Is It With Wives And Our Hobby!?!?
bobss396 replied to LVZ2881's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Mine used to HATE the hobby with a capital H. She even threw one down the basement stairs one time with a box of parts. Which I thought was the worst thing she could do, payback was a B***H and not really appropriate for this forum, no I didn't hit or even yell at her! Since then, she's softened somewhat after I started bringing home trophies and had cars in the model mags for tha past 9 years in a row. I have cut down on the amount of kits I buy, I'm good to buy maybe 5-6 a year for the past few years. I do blow a fortune on after market parts, but those are not as visible as kits. She is always trying to get me to sell some off, and not for the money. She just thinks that I have TOO many kits, she's right but that's MY hobby. As far as spending time building, she watches these inane "reality" shows on the tube, I prefer to whack plastic. I'll do the wash while downstairs building on a slow Sunday. Bob -
I had a bunch of Palmers as a kid and had fun with them. Some had motors which was quite a novelty. The Pyros were what they were, unless you expected too much out of a $0.69 1/32 scale kit with about 12 parts to it. My vote for some of the worst kits ever has to go to the Revell "Unbuildables". These were things that at age 10-12 were impossible to finish. Candidates are: '31 Ford Woody, '56 Ford PU, '57 Nomad, any of the gassers of the era. Problems were things like too fragile parts, parts that had poor symmetry and registration. Bob
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Yeah, I tried mineral spirits once in a similar situation, of course it took the lacquer off! Bob
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Here ya go, and welcome to the forum. Put the headlight buckets face down on some 2-sided tape on some cardboard stock. Just catch enough of each bucket so it stays put. Line them up so the spreader bar is in the right place. Shim up the spreader bar using some styrene stock, so it can be dropped in easily. My weapon of choice to hold it in place would be 5-minute epoxy. Mix some up, wait until the 3 minute mark (or when it isn't likely to run) place a dab in each recess on the buckets. Drop the spreader bar in place, adjust as needed and let it set up. Once it is dry, gently pull bucket off the tape. Bob
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Protect your models from those nasty tires!!
bobss396 replied to KT EASTMAN's topic in Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials
Really the only kits I had problems with tire marks on the glass were the old MPC stock car kits. I have some sealed up ones that I'll open when I build them and the ones I sell, I'll warn buyers that they may have damaged glass. Glass that is not in a separate plastic bag gets wrapped in a napkin and is placed in the bottom of the box. Decals get tucked into the instruction sheet. The new tires I don't worry about but do lay them on the bottom of the box flat. Bob -
How Do You Guys Separate Your Parts Boxes?
bobss396 replied to Clay's topic in Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials
I use those plastic $1 shoe boxes for all my new aftermarket stuff. I have one that I work out of for opened aftermarket stuff. I look for shipping boxes at work that are a certain size and have a closeable lid. Those get marked accordingly to the contents within. When I was a kid, I put all extra parts and old builds into this one huge coat box from a department store. It was probably 24" x 24" x 10" deep. That was a virtual junkyard that I kept under my bed. Bob -
Matt has always done right by me. I once needed a hood scoop for a deadline, he shipped it to me with no charge! Bob
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Cool Merc, and an AMT one at that. I always liked them and yours looks good in the black & purple. Bob
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More Pictures Of The Old School Fords...
bobss396 replied to Starliner Kustoms's topic in Model Cars
I just love the box-top '61 Ford. It sits right, the wheels and tires sets off the color. I wish that's one they'd come out with again. Nice job. Bob -
I had started playing around with a mini louver press on CAD but didn't get as far as I wanted with it. I don't recall the magazine article but vise grips could work or something that could be done in a drill press. If you are punching something like .010 or .012 brass it doesn't take that much pressure. Of course there's still some straightening and clean up involved once you get there. Bob
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I had wanted to come the night before too for the NNL EATS. Even though I'm only an hour away. Oh well, there's always 2009. I know they had a mad dash to get the event hall lined up, let alone anything special. But just think of a new place with MORE vendor room, 2 weeks longer to save up $$$ and 8 miles less (for some of us) to drive. Bob
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Giants! Superbowl Champions!
bobss396 replied to 58 Impala's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
I am a proud NYer! I had expected it would be a relatively low scoring game. Also not for the faint of heart no matter who you were rooting for. I had a small party at my house (too much to eat.. ooofffff) and my bro inlaw (the ultimate NY Giants fan) was with us. I was happy for him! Bob -
I lived close to Islip and if the wind was right, you could hear them at my house, which means I wasn't there that night, but wanted to be! I started getting into the races at the transition where they were moving away from the coupes and getting into the smaller bodies. Bob Park had a Studebaker Lark, Gene Suidzak had the Chevy II and so on. I remember ALL those cars. I even had a chance to BUY the Charlie J Vega back in 1983 for something like $3500 less the motor. I looked it over good, wish I had snapped some pix of it. But we didn't have the money to buy it. Bob
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Nice build of "Gentleman" Jim Hendrickson's Pinto. He also had a Vega and a Falcon that were equally as sharp. I used to watch him run at Islip when I was a kid, again, a great build. And it certainly fits the NA$CAR category since they were the sanctioning body at Islip. They usually flew a NA$CAR racing series sticker towards the top front edge of the doors, but he wasn't one to clutter up his cars. See the link below. Bob http://www.lasheefs.com/PagesDrivers/hendrickson1.html
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I was either 5 or 6, which makes it either in 1960 or 1961. The model was the Black Widow by Monogram. I had seen other model cars that my friends had and I noticed that the tires were real big in comparison. When I see a real one built up or run across a tire somewhere, it takes me back to that day when I built it. Bob
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Where Do You Keep Your Stash?
bobss396 replied to Clay's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Most of my cache of models is in the basement boiler room. The kids call it the vault. They've also spilled over into the finished side of the basement where I do my building. I have a few rare ones up in my bedroom closet. Bob -
I work in a Production Engineering department of a Fortune 300 company. I do mostly Manufacturing Engineering work, despite not being TITLED as such. Duties include: Tool design, work instructions, bill of material maintenance, addressing vendor issues, discrepant material review and a variety of other sh** details. I moonlight a few nights a week in a local machine shop mostly running CNC mills and lathes, at least I get a sense of accomplishment from that. Bob
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Just Wondering About The Confederate Flag...
bobss396 replied to JAFFA's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
I'm from up north and to me the confederate flag just reminds the world that the south is 0-1 in CIVIL WARS! Generally it means different things to different people depending on where you live in the US. It is definitely a holdover from the 1861-1865 Civil War era. Up north it is looked down on more as a "redneck" symbol and people that live in ramshackle house trailers with a still in the shed and 2 major appliances out on the front porch. Not to mention a lack of a dental plan and 3 motor vehicles up on blocks on the fromt lawn rusting to pieces. I hope that I haven't alienated anyone! Bob -
I've been using Tamiya TS13 clear over their paint and Duplicolor. It goes on thin, so you may need a few coats. I've always found it to be fast drying. But then everything in the final paint state goes into the dehydrator. As far as the Testors doing the fish eye thing, just another reason to use something else other than Testors products, just too many inexplicable things that go with them for my liking. Fish eye usually goes with surface contamination of some sort. Bob
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Modelhaus makes a set, definitely would fit the '50s but not sure of the '30s. They're real nice and come with 6 rubber tires. Bob
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The cap from the Proweld (comes with the brush) fits the Tenax bottle. All I did was cut down the plastic tube accordingly. Since the Proweld bottle is bigger I stopped buying Tenax since the prices are the same at my LHS. Is there any appreciable difference between Tenax and Proweld? Bob
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Super cool build, definitely different from the other 587 Revell Mercs that have been posted around the web! No slam at all, just that most have gone the traditional custom route, which is fine with me. Always good to see someone thinking outside the (kit) box. Bob
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Bad Weather, Stuck Inside, Time To Model...
bobss396 replied to 62rebel's topic in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
I was painting some detail parts outside Sunday in 20 degree weather, came out ok, just had to judge the wind! Bob -
Some guys cut out the trays, which I thought about and wound up making a "ring" instead out of aluminum flashing material. I've seen plastic sheet used too. Mine is 10" tall and I can fit a paint stand into it with ease. I still have room to put other things around it, only lower. The ring I made is attached to the bottom tray with pop rivets. The seam is also pop riveted. To get the length of material needed, measure the cover inside diameter and multiply it by 3.1416, add an inch for overlap. I should go into business selling these things, think I could get a c-note or better for one with temperature control and a thermometer thrown in? Bob