bobss396

Thanks for the reply Phil. I'm not worried about scale with this one, the coupe body is pretty compact. I was going to channel the body over the frame anyway. I think I have the same chassis as the rat rod pick up and '29 sedan on hand, trying to find instructions for it. I have the complete unbuilt kit less some of the body parts. The Revell '32 Ford is an option, going to pick one up this week. Bob

I picked up a resin chopped '30 Ford coupe body and am looking for a chassis for it. I have what I think is an old Revell 1929 Ford chassis molded in orange. It looks like a possibility but has only the stock suspension under it. How would the Revell '32 Ford chassis work with it? That looks more modern and they are available. I expect to be doing a Z number on both ends. Thanks, Bob

Get ready for another great LIARS Model Car Challenge in Freeport Long Island, NY on November 10th. For Show or Vendor information contact: Rich Argus, his email is r.argus@juno.com. Tables are selling, so reserve yours NOW. The address is 130 East Merrick Road, NY 11520 if you want to get online directions of your choice. I'm going to scan in the show flyer sometime next week and will have it somewhere for all to access. Thanks, Bob

Last night was the Long Island LIARS Club meeting. Our faithful kit vendor Paul was there with a lot of goodies. I picked up a Jimmy Flintstone '30 Ford chopped coupe body for $9.

Moderator, please delete my original post. I got the answer somewhere else. Thanks, Bob

I'm Bob from Long Island, NY. I'm married for 26 years between 2 wives and have two boys are 19 & 15. The older is a college student (computer animation) and the youngest is in high school and an aspiring rock star. Both of them build off and on but I probably scared them away from the hobby. I work as a Production Engineer for a large defense contractor that was sold as of last Monday. No stress here... I started building planes and cars when I was about 6, but mainly did cars and trucks. I built up until I was 18, gave up the hobby until I was 40. I worked fixing cars up to 1980 but had to give it up due to injuries from a car accident in 1978. Had a few awesome street machines that got me into trouble along the way. Got into the machine shop business in 1981, started my own part time machine shop in 1988 and am still in business. I got into stock car racing as a part of my rehab in 1981, built a couple of successful race cars along the way. I hung up the firesuit in 1987. Got back into the hobby at 1995 as my kids got a little older. Really built some crude stuff at first, but soon discovered aftermarket parts and REAL paint. As a result of having machine tools around, I make a lot of my own parts and tools for myself. I have a dedicated hobby area that is pretty well set up but still needs a spray booth. I'm a member of the local LIARS club and have around 10 projects in the works right now. Bob

Looks like you have 3 choices. Light a match and blow it out. Burn a piece of toast. Or turn up the car heater full blast and lock all the windows so no one can open them up! Have a good one, Bob

I'm doing a 2-tone paint job (all Duplicolor) and need to mask off the underhood area, which is already painted white. I was thinking of brushing on some Micro Mask (the blue stuff) and going about applying the other color. How well does Micro Mask hold up with Duplicolor and a couple ot trips to the dehydrator? I figure I'll need about 3 coats with at least one wet sand between them. I can wet sand without immersing the body in water if need be, minimizing the exposure of the mask medium to water. Alternatives are to go with pure masking tape or masking tape for the bulk of the masking and Micro Mask for the exposed edges. Thanks, Bob

I hated to miss the show, but my ride bowed out at the last minute and I wasn't up to doing the trek alone. The pix were great, looks like I missed a good one. Hope to see many of you at the LIARS show on 11/10. Bob

Unfortunately I can't make the trip tomorrow. If anyone can do me a favor, I'd like a Replicas & Miniatures catalog if someone could grab me one, I'm more than willing to pay the postage for it. I'd like to order up some '49 Merc as well as some other parts. Thanks, Bob

W2W hobbies usually has my fix for me. I'm not much into buying kits unless someone has cheapo NA$CAR offerings for kitbashing donors. Looking forward to going Sunday, may even have a couple of models to put on the tables. Bob

Always good to see an AMT '49 Merc in the works. The '49 Ford kit is also excellent. Mercs were traditionally faster than the Fords of the day. Up into the early '70's, the latest features were introduced in the Mercury and then into the Ford line the following year. Mercury was always Ford's hot rod. Bob

Holy smokes, came out great. Nice build, bring it to the LIARS meeting on 9/20! Bob

The '36 is one of my fav Fords. Looks great with the 5-window chop top. I have to get one of those bodies for myself. Hope it comes out as nice as yours did. Bob

I heard that Replicas & Miniatures of Md will be there, welllll doggies. I just might make the trek. Nothin' worse than going to a show and bringing money home with you. Norm will fix that for me.

Nice to see someone still slice 'n dice an AMT Merc. One of my all time favorite kits since I built my first one in 1963. I still have a couple of chopped resin bodies that I plan to build. I'm not a big fan of Testors putty (or anything else that they make). You might want to try some of the Tamiya 2-part putty which is much nicer to work with and sands to a featheredge. For small areas, try some of the professional spot putties which dry hard and fast. Bob

I just saw this myself, had a busy weekend. I really don't think that a super long tutorial is the way to go. Just steer him away from the "john wayne wipe" sand papers, get him on track with the right primer and paint combinations. A good place to get decent sand paper is at auto parts stores. Many of them carry small packs of 3M paper in anything from 150-2000 grit. Stick with 400-2000 grit for model use. Always try to sand with the grain, also wet sand under a trickle of running water or use the dip method. Get into the habit of using the same brand primers and paint if possible. Experience tells you what else works, but keep it simple to start.

I keep mine in closed cases but still dust sneaks in at times. I use a make up brush to get most of it off. Those canned air things are pretty good too. When I was a kid, I would fill up the bathtub, put all my dusty models in for a while to soak, then take them outside to dry. It usually worked out ok, sometimes parts would fall off though. Not recommended for anything but worst case scenarios. Bob

It should work, but do a test panel first like Bill suggests. I compare mixing brands/ types of paints with a night out at the bar. You stick with tap beer or just wine all night and you should be ok the next day. But start out with wine, then switch to boat drinks and finish up with shots of Wild Turkey, all bets are off and try not to hit your shoes when Ralph O'Rourke comes calling. Bob

Scale Dreams used to carry a couple of different sized ones. They are in the process of going out of business, but may still have the site up with a picture so you can get an idea of how to make your own.

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