bobss396

Ditto on the craft store acrylics, dirt cheap and they do the job. Even the Tamiya acrylics are great and if you don't like what ya got, a spritz of Windex, a rinse and you're back to square one. Bob

Hey man, go for it. Drop a 421 Poncho with trips on it, maybe a tri-colored set of bucket seats and you'll be right at home. Bob

Simply astounding. You HAVE to do the Mopar to cover all of the big-3 offerings. Bob

I'm not big on Testors tube glue, there are so many alternatives. I agree on the CA glue, also look at 5-minute epoxy. The cool thing about the epoxy is that you can mix it up, wait until the 3 or 4 minute mark and then use it when it will be partially set up and not runny. I also pin a lot of parts together which helps my final assembly. The parts self-locate and wind up being stronger. For pins I use anything from plastic rod, paper clip wire, staples, craft wire, etc.

I've been using Mr. Color Thinner with nail polish, I thin it about 2 parts thinner to 1 part polish. I agree on anywhere from 18-20 PSI. I use the biggest nozzle and fan spray that my airbrush will take. I stay in real tight with it, maybe only a few inches away and take my time with it. Expect to lay down 8-12 coats, each coat will flash over in 10 minutes or less, but I've started doing a few coats and will now let it dry. On some of my early jobs, I can look into the finish and see where it has "leached" into the primer, just too much solvent going down too fast. If it can't gas out through the top, it will go into the primer.

Yeah, I'm very interested too and would be willing to spend some $$$$ on vacuforming equipment. I understand once you make the "buck" for the piece you're 99% there.

Either Satco or Stevens International makes a pair of pro-street tires that is pretty close to the sprint car LR.

Nice job on using the 'Stang parts, keeping it all Ford was the way to go. I'm toying with putting an AMT '66 T-Bird interior in mine. Anyway, nice neat job and I dig the purple paint. Bob

I always make up my own hinges for the opening door series cars. I've had too many experiences with them hanging up at shows and had one fall off a '58 Chevy. I use brass wire and tubing to attach it inside the fender with epoxy. Hanging the doors is a 2-step process. First it has to open and close with just the door on, less the interior piece. It shouldn't hang up at all. With the addition of paint and primer, the door will get bigger all around so plan on taking some off the door skin all around. The next step is to make sure that the interior piece doesn't hang up on the opening. I wind up taking some extra material off the bottom and on the latch side. I make up my own locating blocks for the interior piece or bond a strip across the whole thing so it has some decent surface area for attachment. 5-minute epoxy holds it on nicely and you don't have the hassle of applying it to the perimeter of the interior piece. Bob

Nice engine detail, is that a resin product or from a kit? I also concur with the Dominator Pizza theme. Bob

Ray wasn't that well known for his full-bodied rides so yours is good to see. Nice and low with a cage that looks period perfect. I always pick up an AMT stock car kit when I can for $5 or less, great 'bashing material for those short track cars. I have the same '69 kit here and a set of Herschel McGriff's Olympia Beer decals for it, I might have to get into that soon. Bob

Welcome Mike, another familiar name from model car lists here and there. This is a friendly bunch, you'll like it here. Bob

Welcome Albert, this IS the place to be for many of us who have shared your pain. Bob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_FE_engine This link should help with the Ford V8 family. Look at the '62 T-Bird kit for a decent 390, even the '58 Edsel and '60 Starliner are very good. Ford trucks had another variation on the 390 that was made for truck rentals only in the late '60s. I forget what it was but some odd cubic inch number maybe a 330. Some of the Ford truck engines like the 391 didn't share the passenger car blocks, they were new castings made specifically for heavy duty larger Fords. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Straight-6_engine This should answer all your Ford 6-banger questions. Unlike the Chevy 6, a lot of Ford parts didn't swap back and forth and had totally different blocks as well as other parts. I never saw a Ford 300 in a passenger car, but it was similar to the 240 outwardly at least. Bob

I snooped once when I was about 12 years old. My family had an upstairs storage room and my mom would "hide" all the Xmas gifts in bags. We rarely went in there, but one of us heard "santa" stashing gifts late at night. So when my parents were out, me and my brother took a look. One thing was an AMT kit of the gull winged Mercedes, which I didn't ask for. So we were talking about our Xmas lists at dinner and I mentioned wanting that Mercedes kit. Mom being no dummy didn't say a peep. Xmas came and went and I realized that no Mercedes kit had materialized for anyone. I said nothing and it was forgotten about until my birthday came around 2 YEARS LATER, guess what I got? That cured me for Xmas snooping for all time, I have never looked around for previews for any holiday or personal annual event. Bob

I was a big Tim fan back in the day. The car looks like the real deal too. The Powerslide decals are pretty good to work with, you have done well. Bob

I've used Krylon primer before but prefer to keep it in the same brand family. I look at it like mixing drinks, starting out with wine and going to scotch may have unexpected results! IMHO, Duplicolor primer lays down flatter and is more tolerant of a heavy hand. I've had more problems with Krylon primer over the years and have stopped using it, but maybe that's me. Bob

Have you tried Duplicolor? This should be available locally in auto parts stores, all you have to do is use their primer. If you are going to order paint, go with the real deal HOK Black Gold paint or the Tamiya sprays work well too. Bob

Nice! Put me down for two of them. Looks like great kit-bashing fodder. Bob

Yow, brass is cool stuff to work with. It machines easily but is about 3 times the density of aluminum. Meaning that it is heavy, but very forgiving. It will "work harden" from cold working, but heating it up will release the stresses and make it easy to form again. I prefer to work in aluminum and stainless steel myself, but can appreciate the work that went into your brass '32. Bob

Almost box stock, paint by HOK, Modelhaus WW slicks, parts box front tires, machined rear push bar, home made fuel pump, grille and headlight covers, collectors.

I think I got the pic posting thing down. This is the Revell Z16 kit on an AMT stock car chassis. Paint is Tamiya, decals are a mix.

1958-1960 were big "flop" years for the big 3 car makers as compared to the great success of the 1955-1957 years. Look at the sales numbers for the end of the decade, they dropped off quite a bit. I'm not sure what the economy was like, but 1960-1961 were the first years of the compact "ecomony" cars. Bob

Wow, the '49 Merc kit has been released? Only kidding, yours is very different. The under-hood detail is great, I like the new home for the battery as well. Bob

I started storing my enamel jars (yes I do like a couple of enamel brush paints!) upside down, now the lids come off easily. I really don't have this problem with the Tamiya jar paints, no matter how long they sit. I do keep a pair of Channelocks on the bench at all times just in case. If that fails, we go out to the garage.... Bob