ACR-E Doug

i buy my carbide bits from "Drill Bit City" but with the carbide you have to be very careful because the do brake very easy, but do a great job drilling holes. I find they work very well in my Sherline lathe and mill, but because there is no side load I have not broken many. BTW I always buy their re-sharpened sets, they come 5 or 10 in each box. The re-sharpened ones work great on plastic and soft metals.

2:1 is a little thin for my set up, probably closer to 60-40.

I have ordered Zero Paint and the new Tamiya LP from Spot Models in Spain and have never had a problem. The companies have changed to 30mil bottles because that is the size that makes them able to ship over seas with no problems. Zero does not have all paints in 30mil yet but they are working on it, also I might add that MRP makes great air brush ready paints.

i would like to see these also

Zero clear is great stuff, also try Splash Paints 2k

Tamiya USA web sight has then listed as coming soon.

All I can say is go as big as you can afford, and fit on your bench. There have been a couple times that I wish I had gone bigger, not usually because of part size but a few times I've run into problems when I start using multiple fixtures on the table (like angle attachment and rotary table and vise) and then maybe using a slitting saw..... Now most of the time the smallest table is fine for our hobby, but I'm building mostly 1/12 Tamiya and MFH kits.

Shipping is not to bad, remember most of the products are made of aluminum

I have to agree with everyone, Sherline is the way to go. I love my Sherline mill and lathe I tried an import lathe my friend has and for the small parts we need to make I just didn't get the same feel as I do with Sherline. I know they cost more but well worth it, one last thing if you can, get them with the DRO option, worth every penny (for me anyway).

Wow, stunning work. I would like to see a forum on machining. I bought a lathe and mill last year and I see what you guys do and it just blows me away, I have such a long way to go.

A lot of the top teams were asking NHRA to go back to more of a factory production car like they used before Bill built his V8 Vega. But NHRA was not listening to them and this is what we ended up with. The cost of running these cars is way to high and unless they have major factory support you will never be able to compete. So NHRA now says you can run any brand body with any brand engine so they can say "see we have Ford and Dodge cars running" I know one private team that bought a Dart has run a couple races with a Chevy engine, I'm not sure if the Elite Mustang is a Ford or Chevy engine. I know this sounds light sour grapes but NHRA has never been a fan of Mopar, just look what they have done to them for 50 years. My opinion anyway.

A major problem the Dodge teams had was the new rules put a cap on rpm. They used the Chevy motor max power rpm as the standard which put a hurt on the hemi motor. The dodge teams advantage was the engine makes more hp at higher revs. The cost to develop a hole new engine was out of the question for so few cars and no other class running these motors. Also from what I heard the new fuel injection systems was tested with KB racing and around the Chevy engine, and these are sealed systems so all cars run the same one. This is why KB won every race at first when the new rules came out.

Codi, I am just starting to learn machining and was wondering did you use a magnetic polisher on the valve cover?

Try kyoko@modelfactoryhiro.com

Splash 2k, but you need an airbrush.

I was a Gravity guy but now Splash is my go to paint. Sam is a good guy to do business with.

Mr Surfacer 1500 is the best for me also. Stynelrez is nice stuff also, just a pain to clean airbrush

great news. Now if we could get the Sox & Martin Duster and Butch Leal's Duster

I always use Mr Color Leveling Thinner with my acrylic paints. It is a mild lacquer thinner and I have had no problem using it with Tamiya paints.

I know you are trying to save money but I have found nothing better than Mr Color matt and satin black paints and their primers. When you cut them 50/50 with thinner to spray it is really not that bad of a price to pay. Decanting TS paints and airbrushing them also works well, just more work involved.

You have to be careful of TS13 it can be hard on decals. It is a very good clear otherwise.

I see that they are not taking orders again until they get caught up on orders. I know last year he did this, and after that I did get my order fairly quick after that. I have been afraid to order after last summer after hearing of more problems.

Sam thanks for getting back to me. I had a talk with Sam at the NNL West this year about the need for F1 colors and he explained to me the problem of getting the proper color mixes. Don't know if I helped influence him or not but glad to hear he seams to be listening to us modelers.

For those that have ordered from Gravity Colors in Spain, have you found the paint to be not the same as USA as per the letter? I need some paint for a client job and Gravity Colors USA has I feel the best paint and color match that I have used. The last time took 4 months to receive my order so I am not sure I want to take a chance again, to bad because I used to order from Matte and he was very good about my orders. I need some colors for a couple F1 cars and Splash doesn't have them and the US dealer for Zero is out of stock plus I've had some funny results with Zero.