bobss396

At least you have some recourse using a credit card, just call the number on your bill and tell them you paid your $$ but never received the goods. Explain that you tried to resolve it with no luck. They should make good on it. Again, there's only a couple of resin casters that I will mail-order from. The rest I do either on eBay or in person at shows. Saves me a lot of aggravation for sure. Bob

(Certain people are destined for occupancy of a small room with padded walls, we mention no names.)

I grab old ball point pens and harvest the springs from them. Sometimes they look ok, sometimes they don't. If you have an Ace Hardware store close by, ask to see their spring assortment which is behind the counter somewhere. Bring a caliper or another spring to match it up. If you can get a longer spring, it can be cut to make two. I have an MSC account (Manhattan Supply Corp) and they sell tons of springs that come as 10 to a bag. I find a couple that I like and stock up on them. Bob

I agree that wiring up and plumbing an engine is a big part of making a model look real. And agreeing with Andy, it has to look natural and in-scale to be effective. I judge at least one show a year and I get to see a lot of builds close up. I've seen some pretty extensive detail jobs that were rather sloppy in execution. In one class, a car that should have been a 1st wound up being a 3rd, losing out to cars of lesser detail that were built a lot cleaner. Bob

I wouldn't jump right in and try to do everything on one car at once. Drop in a wired distributor for starters, wire up the battery. Plumb the radiator and heater, maybe the AC. Add brake lines to the master cylinder. Peter offers great advice, ask other builders at shows what they use. Detail Master has a great line of braided lines and fittings, I use their battery terminal PE set. Replicas & Miniatures of Md. makes great resin distributor caps. I used to shop online at Scale Dreams but they're closing down. You can order direct from Detail Master, but also try Model Car Garage and PSF Hobbies. They all have a good mail order service. Or buy at shows if you go and parts vendors are there. Bob

Good point on the durability issue Bill. I do a lot of stock car builds using bodies that are non-native to the stock car chassis. I'll have a body on and off at least 100 times. I generally do the chassis first and the paint last, same as 1:1 cars for me. So that chassis will see some abuse. I like to use Krylon paints for those jobs. Even the Tamiya sprays will succumb to handling and need to be touched up at the end. My bro Will turned me onto the Tamiya acrylics. He has animals in the house (bird and dog) and paints in a spray booth and needed something easier on the noses. Bob

Ken, thanks for the compliments, just relaying what works for me. I'm fairly new to using acrylics and use them mainly for brush painting small details. I know that some people think that lacquer is like black magic, but the reality is that it is far easier to work with than anything, at least for me. I keep it real simple too and even though I have 4 airbrushes, I still go back to the spray bombs quite often. I find that the Testors cans spray horribly, the nozzles clog up at the least opportune times. So there must be something in the paint that is NOT paint. The HOK and Duplicolor cans have a fan spray type of nozzle and spray great. The Tamiya cans use a different nozzle but I have never had a problem with them, even down to the bottom of the can.

Either you are pulling our collective cricket bats or you know nothing about hobby paints or paints in general. I can't speak for the Testors Acryl line, but I have used Tamiya Acrylics. These do dry quicker than most paints, are relatively low in odors, but I find that they need to be clear coated to get a good shine out of them. It is also a softer paint and you have to be super careful if you polish it out. Enamels (which I no longer use) dry a lot slower, stay tacky longer so that can pick up dust. Once it is dry, it can be cleared or polished out. It is still not a hard finish and you have to be careful polishing. The Tamiya acrylic lacquer sprays are probably your best bet. They dry fast, the finish is harder than enamel but softer than lacquer, so they polish out well. You can clear over them too. Lacquers are what I use most of the time. Either Duplicolor, HOK or 1:1 car paint is what I prefer. For this you need a good automotive grade primer, that's the only trick to lacquers. Avoid laying on "too much too soon" and you should be fine with it. It dries hard and fast, over night usually works for me. I'll sand the crud out between coats if needed. Since it flashes over quickly, the dust never gets a chance to settle into it. You can color sand it (same as polishing) or clear coat it.

You'll be there no matter what! I'll try and make it, but a great forecast for sun, sand and surf might bump me going to the show. I'm right off the ocean and hot beach weekends are a premium from now until late October. Bob

I'm good for ONE can and will give it a fair trial. I haven't had any luck with anything in the Testors line and have been using mainly Tamiya, HOK and Duplicolor products. If the paint lays down nicely and the can sprays well, I might have just added another tool to the paint tool box. Bob

I'm not crazy about some of the re-releases, so unless they're cranking out new product, stick a fork in 'em, they're done. How long can they sit around and wait for MK Dave to consign for something? I was going to sell off a bunch of AMT kits earlier this year, but now I'm hanging onto them as they might become unobtanium in a short time. Bob

Hoppin Hydros used to carry a couple of blankets for lowrider displays. Pegasus Hobby in California used to have them, give their site a shot. Bob

Hmmmm... although the trip is 180 miles each way I'm considering it. The show is really nice with lots of kit and parts vendors. I scored a semi-grail last year for $15, so I was happy. The models are on the same level as the rest of the show, which is an improvement over previous shows. Bob

I see a lot of Winfield in it. Looking very sharp so far. I have one open myself and am contemplating an engine change myself. I'm not up to detailing the kit 3 x 2 carb setup, looks like a borderline lost cause. The '57 Ford engine is period correct for what you're going for. Post more progress pictures! Bob

Is this a promo style kit? IIRC the original AMT kit had an engine in it and a full chassis. Bob

Joe, I got an answer elsewhere that works, they're simple air inlet tubes for fresh interior air. I'm going to paint them so they kind of blend into the underhood scheme. Bob

I'm going through the parts in the kit and was wondering what part #47 was. These are called "air tubes" and they plug into the firewall. What the heck are they? Thanks, Bob

I had to laugh at the wheel falling off the car incident. It happened to me at a contest I was judging and I had to FIND the runaway wheel in a crowd of people, not fun. However the car was looked at again but ultimately did not make the top three picks in the class. Bob

Oh yeah, I give it 5-10 minutes to soak.

I also heat mine in a Pyrex cup with tap water, but do check it with a meat thermometer. I keep it about 105 F, above that I've had the bottom bulge out on a can as I shook it right after heating. Would have made a mess in my kitchen for sure!

If anyone wants to dispose or trade a couple of AMT '49 Mercs, I have a couple of resin bodies here that can use them. Revell releasing their new Merc sure will impact the sale of existing AMT offerings as well as the resin body market. They are just too clean and complete to pass up. I have one open here at work, have cleaned up about 90% of the parts already. The engine is definitely a Caddy. Telltale details are the intake manifold and exhaust manifolds. Probably is either a 331 or 365. Bob

If you have any slot car tracks around, stop by on race night. Those guys buy kits for just the bodies and not much else. Most of the time they're happy to sell the excess parts for a few bucks or less. Bob

You went to a Greek Fest? Then you should have no problem ising the REAR entrance at the lodge tonight. The rear parking lot is where the 1:1 car show will take place. The meeting room is right off it. Bob

Hey Rob, que pasa man? I should be able to get my mitts on a flyer soon and will scan it. Saturday 11/10 sounds right, but I will verify it. Bob

Very easy Len, just mail me an money order for $50 and I'll have my personal PM service do all the dirty work for you! Bob