El Roberto

Very nice. here's a photo of the real thing.

Or Hobby Lobby which insists on putting the price label over the paint bottle label.

Its all up to what effect you're looking for. A wash over a flat surface tends to spread out more giving a over all grungy look, while wash over gloss will flow to fill gaps etc and can be easily removed from surrounding areas where you don't want it. For example, if you wanted to use a wash around doors on a car to emphasize the gaps you would want a gloss surface underneath the wash. For shadows, dirt, and other crud on a chassis, put the wash over a flat coat. Aircraft builders use pin washes a lot to emphasize panel lines on wings and fuselage. The common way to do this is to apply a gloss coat, apply the wash then dullcoat.

The entire grill is different, as is the rear end of the body.

Yep, very similar. Works great for minor imperfections. Just paint it on, let it dry and sand.

Don't use the liquid surface primer for spraying. It's more like a liquid filler for sanding marks, etc. The aerosol can primer is great, very fine spray , dries smooth, and doesn't cover up the details on the model.

I love the granite seats, they should wear well although not too comfy.

Another problem I have with car kits has to do with doors, hoods, etc. Some of the kits have lines denoting door or trunk openings which are so out of scale on a 1:1 car you could put your hand in them. That's one of the reasons why I don't try to cut open doors or trunk lids. There seems to be no way for a tight fit on the door without a huge scale gap. I guess I get hung up on scale because of the other stuff I build.

I build aircraft, and armor as well as cars and I've noticed that the engineering on car kits is awful in comparison to the other kits. If a modern aircraft kit's fit and detail was as bad as with a car kit, people would be howling and the manufacturer would probably be out of business before long. I realize that there is a pretty big price difference between the kits, but I'd be willing to pay more to have a decent car kit.

For model car work you can't beat the Paasche H.

Are these kits or die cast?

You might try some superglue de bonder, although I've heard that it can damage some plastic.

Try Badger Stynelrez black primer. Nothin gonna show thru that stuff.. and it goes down super smooth so it won't hide the details.

I built (sort of) a Zvezda SU 27. Possible one of the worst aircraft kits I ever built. It only vaguely looked like a Su 27 and the fit and finish of the parts was garbage. However, I also built a Zvezda Yak 3 which was a great kit, tons of detail, good fit, good engineering. I think the quality of their kits depends on when they were manufactured. The newer stuff is nice.

Don't rush it......

Could you live with brass tubing? Albion Alloys has a huge selection.

Remember that beauty is only skin deep ……......……………….but ugly goes to the bone.

I think it was around $29 but I used a 40% off .

True, but I don't think I'll be alive long enough to make this kit into a silk purse. Might be easier to completely scratch build one.

As a added benefit your models won't get cavities.

Well, at least, it was cheap with the 40 percent off . I think a lot of the parts will be useable for scratch builds.

My Hobby Lobby had a couple of Atlantis Atlas with the launch pad kit. I couldn't resist and bought one, to my sorrow. Huge disappointment. I never saw so much flash on a kit (ever) and I could mention many other problems.

You can also try detacking the tape a little. Stick the tape to your hand or pants, pull it off and apply. Just make sure you don't have any hairs stuck in the tape.

I've found all sorts of useful stuff in the jewelry making section of Hobby Lobby. Thin wire, chain and lots more.

Probably not. The plastic cement actually melts the styrene plastic where it's applied. Kinda like welding metal. Once you get the parts apart, you can clean up the edges with a file, and sand (and possibly fill) the flat areas.